fredag den 24. december 2010

Nisse (Folklore & Mythology)


Today I bring you one of my local folkloric creatures, known In Denmark and Norway as a Nisse and in Sweden as a Tomte!


This folkloric creature is highly associated with Christmas in our time and has become the equivalent of the Elves who help Santa. But the Nisse is an ancient creature and hasn’t always been associated with Christmas. Many years ago people talked about Forest Nisser, Church Nisser and Farm Nisser. The name Nisse is an old form of the Danish name Nis or Niels.

The Nisse itself looks like a small person, usually an old man with beard and a red hat. The Nisse usually lives in a farm and if the farmer treats it nice by giving it porridge it will make sure that good things will happen. However, if you don’t care about the Nisse it can do annoying things or in some cases even kill you! But of course the Nisse isn’t respected anymore and has walked down the same road as for example the Japanese Kappa or even vampires. They’ve become a joke, because of the media’s “softification.”

Merry Christmas!!!

12 kommentarer:

  1. thats cool, never heard about these creatures. but now i know :)

    SvarSlet
  2. kinda like a gnome or dwarf kinda dealio. Looks christmasey!

    SvarSlet
  3. They look like Gnomes to me! Merry Christmas :D

    SvarSlet
  4. Looks harmless... Let's try to piss it off

    SvarSlet
  5. so is a nisse similar to a gnome?

    SvarSlet
  6. Don't f*ck with short scandies in red hats.

    SvarSlet
  7. Well, i'm going to stock up on porridge just in case I have a run in with one of these creatures.

    SvarSlet
  8. That is really nice story. It's always interesting the kinds of history from another culture has about it.

    SvarSlet
  9. Billy:
    Yes in a way. It shares some similarities to other little people of Europe like the Leprechaun and gnomes, but also Santa's elven helpers!

    Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate them! :)

    SvarSlet
  10. I was going to say they look almost like Gnomes, lol.

    Thanks for the comment, and a Merry Christmas to you too!

    SvarSlet
  11. I saw one of those in my neighbor's garden

    SvarSlet