Weisse Frauen

.

Origins

"Weiße Frauen" literally means "white women" in German. The association with the color white and their appearance in sunlight is thought by Jacob GrimmGrimm 1835, Chapter 32, pp 2-3.] to stem from the original Old Norse and Teutonic mythology of alven (elves), specifically the bright "Ljósálfar". These "light elves" lived in Álfheim (part of heaven) under Freyr [Bellows, p. 89; Crossley-Holland, pp. xx, 61.] (the god of sun, rain, and fertility [ [http://www.pantheon.org/articles/f/freyr.html Pantheon.org - Freyr] ] ). As mythology evolved, elves no longer lived in Álfheim (part of heaven) but lived on earth in nature. The White Women also may represent ancient beliefs in ancestral spirits or older native goddesses and nature spirits. Jacob Grimm noted in particular they might come from Holda, "Berhta, white by her very name" [Behrta as defined by Grimm, is more commonly known as Perchta or Berchta, per his description [http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/031_04.php Chapter 31 p. 4] ] and Ostara. According to "Grimm's Teutonic Mythology" and to the "Mythology of All Races" Series, the enchantment under which they suffer "may be a symbol of the ban laid by Christianity on the divinities of the older faith." [Marshall Jones Company 1930:221-222, citing in footnote "Grimm [a] 962f" ("Grimm's Teutonic Mythology").] Similar in name to the Witte Wieven of Dutch mythology, the Weisse Frauen may have come from the Germanic belief in disen or land wights and alven. [Reginheim 2002.]

Related beings

Grimm notes the image of the Weisse Frauen basking in the sun and bathing "melts into the notion of a water-holde [i.e. Holda] and nixe".The Weisse Frauen also have counterparts in both name and characterization in neighboring countries: In the Low Countries known as the Witte Wieven, and in France known as the Dames blanches.

Notes

ources

* Bellows, Henry Adams. " [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe06.htm Grimnismol] ". " [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/index.htm The Poetic Edda] " (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1936), pp. 85-107.
* Crossley-Holland, Kevin. "The Norse Myths". New York: Pantheon, 1980.
* Grimm, Jacob (1835). "Deutsche Mythologie" (German Mythology); From English released version "Grimm's Teutonic Mythology" (1888); Available online by Northvegr © 2004-2007, Chapter 32, pages [http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/032_02.php 2] - [http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/032_03.php 3] .
* Marshall Jones Company (1930). "Mythology of All Races" Series, Volume 2 "Eddic", Great Britain: Marshall Jones Company, 1930, pp. 221-222.
* Reginheim. [http://www.geocities.com/reginheim/wittewieven.html Witte wieven. 2002.] (in English) File retrieved 03-08-2007.