Saturday, December 4, 2021

A Bestiary of Winter and Christmas Monsters

 



A Bestiary of Winter and Christmas Monsters



                It’s getting to be that time of year again. The skies are grayer, the days are colder, and the nights are longer.  You don’t need to be Ned Stark to know that winter is coming. Our modern minds associate Winter with crowded stores, holiday travel and WHAM’s Last Christmas being played every hour on the hour for 6 straight weeks.  But in the not so distant past, Winter was a grim time when death was close at hand.

                The crops were gone and whatever food you had stored up would have to last until Spring, supplemented only by what you could kill. Likewise, hungry predators would be on the prowl as well and anyone caught out alone might find themselves becoming a meal to a mountain lion or a pack of wolves. Cold weather could be lethal and without the modern convenience of weather forecasts and GPS, venturing out was gambling with life and death.

                Every people in every culture have imagined fantastic creatures that filled the world around them. Most of these were evil monsters that represented their anxieties and fears. Some were helpful creatures that could be prayed to or believed in as a source of hope during the grim season. As cultures, and religions became amalgamated, some of these creatures took on dual identities symbolizing hope and fear.

                What follows is a bestiary of Winter monsters, and a few deities, from around the world. At the end is a special section devoted to those entities associated with Christmas, a holiday which is itself an amalgamation of cultures and religions.

Japan

Yuki-onna ((雪女, "snow woman")



                The legend of the Snow Woman goes back at least to 14th century Japan. A Yuki-onna is strikingly beautiful woman with pale skin, dressed in white. She can freeze people with icy breath. She is often encountered on the road on snowy nights. Sometimes those traveling through the snow may hear her calling out to them. Answering her call could be deadly as she is likely to freeze them or throw them down into a snowy ravine. Sometimes she is encountered holding a child, entreating travelers to warm her child by holding it. If a traveler agrees, they find that the child suddenly becomes very heavy, pulling them down into the snow (weirdly similar to the St. Christopher story). If however, one were strong enough to hold the child and bear its weight, Yuki-onna might reward them, or at least not kill them.

                She has the qualities of a succubus and a vampire, seducing men and stealing people’s vital essences while they sleep. One can imagine that a lonely man huddled next to a fire on a cold, dark night, would be easy prey for a beautiful woman who suddenly appeared at his door.

                Yuki-onna could have a softer side though, or at least a less lethal one. There are stories of her sparing a young man that she found particularly attractive, perhaps even occasionally marrying one and having children together, though since she is immortal, the couple never grows old together.

                Though most Yuki-onna are independent, some are servants of local mountain gods. Her one weakness is, not surprisingly, heat, especially hot water. If splashed with hot water or thrown into a hot bath, she will disappear, leaving only icicles behind.

In popular culture- Yuki-onna has shown up in several Japanese comics, games and movies. There was a well done movie , The Snow Woman (1968).  Yuki-onna is also the subject of one of the ghost stories in the 1964 film, Kwaidan.

 


Tsurara-onna  (つらら女, "icicle woman")

                The Tsuara-onna is similar to the Yuki-onna though not dangerous (unless angered). She is an ice spirit given human form by a man’s loneliness in winter. When a lonely man, while looking at an icicle, reflects upon his desire for companionship he may be visited by a Tsuara-onna. She is likely to appear as a traveler looking for shelter. She is beautiful and seems like a normal human, the men never realizing her true nature. She is likely to fall in love and stay with the man indefinitely. However, Tsuara-onna seems to be a bit naive about her own vulnerability to heat. There are numerous stories of her disappearing after sitting next to a stove or after taking a hot bath.

                Though she is not evil, her ephemeral nature can create a perilous situation for any man who professes his love to her. Even if she avoids fire all winter long, she will eventually disappear with the coming spring. The following winter she will reappear to the man and their love can renew. However, if he has forgotten her and found a new woman, Tsuara-onna can become very jealous. More than a few men have been found murdered, impaled on an icicle, after forgetting their love to  Tsuara-onna.

 


North American



Chenoo

                The Chenoo is a giant cannibal. It towers over normal humans and possesses great strength.  Sometimes, they are normal humans who were cursed after consuming human flesh. In other cases they were normal humans who were cursed with evil magic and became a Chenoo. Either way, the end result is the same.

                Chenoo live in the wild and brutally attack and eat their victims. However, they aren’t dull witted savages. They can use tools and cast magic spells and are intelligent. They can, when they choose, talk and interact with humans and even live amongst them though this is a dangerous proposition for the humans. The female Chenoo are even more dangerous than the males, being bigger, faster and more viscous. Chenoo are territorial and will fight and eat each other.

                Killing a Chenoo is no easy task.  Dismemberment will temporarily hinder the creature but the source of its power is its icy heart. The heart must be thoroughly destroyed; no small task since its as hard as a chunk of ice.  It is possible to turn a cursed Chenoo back into a human by tricking them into drinking a potion that causes them to vomit up their icy heart.

Wendigo



                Thematically similar to the Chenoo in many ways, the Wendigo is the best known of all the North American monsters. The Wendigo is a cannibal demon that embodies all the selfish human desires. It has an insatiable hunger that only grows stronger the more the creature eats. One Wendigo, after having its legs chopped off, began sucking the marrow from its own bones!

                More than just a ravenous cannibal, the Wendigo is an evil force that lives outside the laws of nature. It can summon blizzards and storms, darken the skies, and cause disease. It is particularly strong during the winter months because it is during these times, when food is scarce, that it can take advantage of human desires.

                The Wendigo can send out its spirit and possess someone who has given in to gluttony or greed. A person possessed by the Wendigo will become a ravenous cannibal eating anyone, even children, to satisfy its hunger. Though the spirit can be exorcised, usually the only way to deal with the possession is to kill the person. Certainly, anyone who engages in the taboo of cannibalism is practically inviting the Wendigo to take them over.

In popular culture- The Wendigo has shown up in many movies, either directly or indirectly. Although the Wendigo doesn’t appear directly, its spirit is definitely felt in the dark comedy-horror, Ravenous. Most recently it appeared in the 2021 film, Antlers. The Wendigo has also been an ongoing villain in Marvel comics fighting both the X-men and the Hulk.

Inuit Monsters

                Though the Inuit people live in North America, they deserve their own separate category by virtue of the sheer amount of cold weather monsters in their mythology.  Given that a lot of their life involves ice and snow, it’s no surprise that their mythology reflects that.



Akhlut

                The Akhut is a shapeshifter that goes back and forth between the shape of a wolf and an Orca (killer whale). It doesn’t seem to be an evil creature, but as both of its forms are predatory, it would probably be best to steer clear of it. The presence of an Akhlut can be inferred from wolf tracks that start at the water’s edge or wolf tracks that seem to walk off into the water.

Amarok

                The Amarok is a giant wolf. Unlike normal wolves it hunts alone rather than in a pack. It preys on lone hunters and travelers. In most respects it is like any other wolf only bigger. It does have one terrible power reserved for any who kill an Amarok’s pups. It can rip the person’s spirit from their body, leaving them alive but soulless.

Ijiraq

                The Ijiraq is a shapeshifter. Its natural form is that of a human however the eyes and mouth run vertically rather than horizontally. It can take on any form it wishes though it prefers to be invisible. They are very hard to see and are usually only noticed peripherally out of the corner of one’s eye.

                The Ijiraq are associated with being lost. They cast an enchantment around their lairs that will disorient even the most skilled tracker. They are known to kidnap people. Anyone who ventures too far from home is at risk of being lost and perhaps becoming an Ijiraq themselves.

Mahaha



                The name sounds like onomatopoeia for an evil laugh and that’s not far off from the truth. The Mahaha is a maniacal creature preying on people in the wilderness. It has an emaciated appearance with sinuous arms and long, stringy hair. You are likely to hear its laugh long before you see it.

                It prefers to capture people and “tickle” them with its razor sharp talons, which amounts to cutting the person to pieces. Victims are found dead and frozen with an insane smile on their face.


Qallupilluit

 


                The Qallupilluit is a combination sea hag and female boogeyman, living in icy waters. She hides near the shore or under the ice where she jumps out and snatches her victims. Her favorite victims are children which she either eats or takes back to her lair.

                The Qallupilluit can lure her victims with a siren like call. She may also catch the attention of children by tapping on the ice. When she catches a child, she puts them in a pouch in her parka. Though usually the Qallupilluit has to depend on her predatory skills to acquire children, unscrupulous or abusive parents can summon the Qallupilluit and ask her to take their children away. This might be used as punishment for a misbehaving child or as a way to get rid of an unwanted mouth in lean times.

Qiqirn

                The Qiqirn is a very large hairless dog (except for odd tufts of hair around its mouth or feet). It has the power to drive both humans and dogs into convulsions, sometimes killing them. Its appearance can be quite terrifying, but it is wary of people, especially any kind of shaman, therefore its prey tends to be lone travelers.



Tariaksuq

                Known as the Shadow People, the Tariaksuq have a body that is half human and half caribou, though they cast an enchantment that makes them appear as normal humans. They live alongside humans, either living amongst them or in communities of Tariaksuq near human settlements. They were clothes and lives in houses.

                They are discernible from ordinary humans only by the fact that they can’t be seen clearly straight on. Seen peripherally or obliquely they appear normal but if you look straight at one, the illusion becomes shadowy or hazy. This is due to them not existing exclusively in our world. They exist partially in our world and the spirit world at the same time. If they are killed the enchantment is broken and their true form is evident.



European

Barbegazi

                These dwarves are usually found above the tree line in the French and Swiss alps. Their name roughly translates to “frozen beards.” They are distinguishable from other dwarves by two features. First, they are either covered with white fur or wear thick white furry garments. Second, they have enormous feet. These feet serve them well as either natural skies or snowshoes.

                Barbegazi are perfectly suited to alpine life and quite happy in the cold. During warm weather they hibernate in caves and return the next winter. They communicate with whistles and howls that can be mistaken for the wind or animals. They have been known to warn travelers of impending avalanches.



The Nuckelavee

                The Nuckelavee is a demon of northern Scotland. It is kept at bay, perhaps in another realm, during the warm weather months by the Sea Mither, a benevolent deity. However, it breaks free during the winter and wreaks havoc.

                The Nuckelavee resembles a giant horse and rider that have merged into one creature. It has the body of a great horse with the torso, head and arms of a man budding out of its back. The horse head has one great, red eye. The Nuckelavee has no skin so its muscles, veins and organs are on full display. The horse head breathes a foul miasma that can sicken people, wither crops and drive normal horses mad.

                The Nuckelavee cannot be killed.  People must endure its devastating effects until the Spring when the Sea Mither is able to lock it up again. Anyone being chased by The Nuckelavee has but one hope; to make it to a spring or river of fresh water. The Nuckelavee cannot cross fresh water.



Winter Goddesses

                Winter deities often serve two roles. They represent death in the cycle of death and rebirth and as such often have a sinister edge. At the same time, they offer protection against the harsh elements as the world grows darker.

Cailleach

                Cailleach is a goddess from Celtic mythology. She presides over Winter, sharing the year with the fertility goddess Brigid. Cailleach rules from Samhain to Beltane (November 1st to May 1st) after which Brigid takes over.

                Cailleach is shapeshifter and can become animals or a beautiful maiden but is usually a blue skinned hag with one eye and teeth like rusted metal. As a winter goddess she has a natural association with death, but she isn’t evil. In fact, she may be protective over certain animals in the winter.  She carries a hammer that is used to shape the land and a magic staff that turns the ground to ice. She is also a storm goddess capable of conjuring bad weather.



Louhi

                Louhi is a witch-queen from Finnish mythology that rules over Pohjola, a desolate cold land to the north. She is a shape changer and generally opposes the forces of good. She is able to hide the Moon and Sun, thus plunging the world into darkness.

                Interestingly she has many beautiful daughters that are highly sought after as wives. She uses the girls as bargaining chips with heroes, getting them to perform near impossible tasks in exchange for the promise of one of her daughters.



Skadi

                Skadi is a giantess from Norse mythology. Her father, also a giant, was killed by the Norse gods and she went to Asgard looking for revenge or recompense. She showed up decked out in war gear and she must have cut an impressive figure because the gods chose to appease her rather than fight. She required of the gods two things: First, that they do something to make her laugh and second that one of them must be her husband.

                Loki (in true Loki fashion) took care of the first part by tying his testicles to a goat. As the goat tried run off this made Loki scream in pain which made Skadi laugh.

                The second part was a bit trickier. Skadi could choose any man she wanted from Asgard but had to choose based solely on their feet (maybe Quentin Tarantino was involved). She picked the nicest looking feet she could find, thinking they must belong to the hunky Balder. However, those feet belonged to Njord, god of the sea. As a mountain goddess, she was not very happy living on the ocean. The marriage didn’t last long before she packed up and went back home.

                Skadi is the goddess of mountains and is skilled at hunting in the winter. She also invented skis and snow shoes. She is a particular helpful deity to have on your side in the winter.

Christmas

                Christmas is a bizarre holiday so it’s no wonder that the entities associated with it are bizarre as well.  Christian and pagan beliefs have merged creating a group of often terrifying personalities. Some of these were previously benign entities that were demonized as Christianity spread. Others were already scary and then made less so as they were incorporated into the Christian Christmas mythology. Reoccurring themes are reward and punishment, gratitude and protection.

 


Gryla

                From Iceland, tales of Gryla go back at least to the 1300s.There are many anti-Santas, Christmas entities that punish rather than reward children. Gryla, however, goes far beyond that. A witch-giantess, Gryla kidnaps children and eats them. In fact, child flesh seems to be her favorite food. She has the ability to detect children and the naughtier the better.

                Gryla lives in a mountain cave with her lazy husband. During Christmas time, she descends down the mountains to round up children for her and her husband to feast upon. She’s actually on her 3rd husband. She killed and ate at least one of the former ones, which makes you wonder why her current husband doesn’t try to do more to help out.

                Beyond being just a Christmas cannibal, Gryla is also the matriarch of a sinister Yule tide family being both the mother of the Yule Lads and the owner of the Yule Cat.

In popular culture- Gryla and her Yule Lads make a memorable appearance in the Christmas episode of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Hans Trapp

                Hans was a medieval knight who engaged in sorcery and sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for wealth. When the Church caught wind of this he was excommunicated and his lands and riches were taken. He was banished and lived in the woods. He went insane and became obsessed with the idea of cannibalism.

                He dressed himself up as a scarecrow to stalk the roadways and one night found a lone boy on the path. Hans stabbed the boy to death, drug the carcass home and cooked it. As he was just about to take his first bite, he was struck dead by God.

                However, such a malignant soul shouldn’t go to waste. His spirit rose and he now acts as the counter to Santa, kidnapping and eating naughty children.

 


Huldufólk (the Hidden People)

                The Huldufólk of Iceland are elves that straddle the area between our world and the world of the Fey. They are usually invisible but can sometimes be seen and appear as grey, dark haired humans. They generally live amicably (although unseen) amongst humans, so long as those humans show respect for their surroundings. They may engage in the odd bit of mischief such as stealing a cow from a herd, but they may also help a lost traveler find their way home.

                There are 4 festivals each year to celebrate and pay homage to the Hidden People (Midsummer Night, Christmas Night, New Year’s Eve and Thirteenth Night, January 6th).  The Huldufólk may invade your home or barn on Christmas for the purposes of revelry so it is customary to clean your house before Christmas and leave some food out for them.



 Kallikantzaros

                These troublesome imps are known by various but similar names in Mediterranean and Balkan countries. They live deep in the earth most of the year but they come to the surface during the 12 Days of Christmas to wreak havoc.  They are usually satisfied with conducting petty mischief but aren’t above more evil deeds. They are small and have dark, hairy bodies.

                People wishing to protect themselves from Kallikantzaros have a few strategies that they can employ. The most popular is leaving something outside on your doorstep for the imps to count. They have trouble with counting, so this consumes a lot of time. A colander is the most frequently used item as the holes will grab their attention. Another strategy is to leave food outside to appease them. Those with chimneys would do well to keep a fire burning through the holidays to prevent the imps from entering the house that way.

                They hide during the day and roam around at night. They terrorize anyone that they find outside, sometimes hopping on the victim’s back and forcing them to take the imps to wherever they want to go. Though they are creatures of petty evil, they actually end up being de facto punishers of evil by virtue of their nightly activities. Anyone using the cover of darkness for their misdeeds, such as a thief trying to break into houses or an adulterer sneaking out on their spouse, is likely to find themselves at the mercy of the Kallikantzaros.

                One sinister note of their legend is that any child born during the 12 Days of Christmas might become a Kallikantzaros upon reaching adulthood.



Krampus

                Having lived in relative obscurity for several centuries as an entity known only to Germanic peoples, Krampus has enjoyed a renaissance over the last decade or so and awareness of this interesting creature has spread across the globe.

                In many cultures, Santa Clause has a helper that travels with him dispensing Yule Tide justice. Santa brings the presents for good kids and some other entity will dole out bad presents (coal, sticks etc.) for the bad kids. Krampus though, takes things a step further.

                Krampus is certainly a Satanic looking figure with black fur, horns, and goat legs. He beats children and may actually kidnap them, carrying them away in a wicker basket on his back. If toys from Santa isn’t enough motivation for kids to act right, Krampus definitely provides some extra motivation.

In popular culture- Take your pick, it won’t be hard to find a Krampus movie. The most famous is the 2015 movie titled (not surprisingly) Krampus. But the most fun pop culture appearance of the Yule demon was in The Venture Bros. Christmas special.

 


Jolakotturinn, the Yule Cat

                The Yule Cat belongs (if such a word can be used in this case) to Gryla the child eating witch (as John Wayne said in True Grit, you can’t really own a cat). Like other Christmas entities the Yule Cat appears around the holidays, stalking the countryside at night. However, this gigantic feline isn’t preoccupied with children like his mistress. He likes to eat people who are wearing old clothes. While this sounds like a terrible form of discrimination for a monster, it has roots in practical reality.

                Today getting new clothes is a matter of money and a trip to the store. But a few hundred years ago, clothes were often made at home, using the wool, cotton, or other materials grown, harvested and processed by the family or some other nearby neighbors. So if people didn’t get their work done, there were no new clothes, and the Yule Cat was always hungry.



Mari Lwyd

                From Welsch tradition, Mari Lwyd is an undead horse that roams the streets on New Year’s Eve trying to get into your house. To keep her at bay you have to engage in a kind of rap battle, going back and forth in rhyming verse. When you run out of songs, she gets in where presumably you have to feed her. All in all, not too horrible compared with some of the more malicious Yule tide creatures.

 


Perchta

                A morally ambiguous character, she probably used to be a pagan goddess, but with the spread of Christianity found herself demoted to a seasonal witch.

                Perchta presents in two very different ways. One version of her, Schönperchten, is a beautiful white snow maiden. The other, Schiachperchten, is a demonic looking hag.  Likewise, Perchta has a dual personality, one that rewards good children with presents, and the other that rips out their guts and stuffs their bellies with straw. While it seems like you’d always want the pretty one over the ugly one, Ugly Perchta could be quite useful when it came to driving out demons (evil against evil).

                She travels with a band of fury demonic beasts, the Straggele. Visually similar to Krampus (hairy bodies, horned heads), they serve Perchta, especially when it comes to doling out punishment to children.



Tomte

                Also known as a Nisse, these Scandinavian gnome like creatures are most often found around the farm. Like Perchta, Tomte are morally ambiguous characters with motives that are difficult to fathom. A Tomte values a well run, efficient farm. He will help around the farm and tend the animals and in general protect the farm, so long as he is shown respect, which includes leaving him a giant bowl of porridge on Christmas Eve. If he is disrespected or doesn’t think the farm is being run well he shows his displeasure in a variety of ways from pranks, to beatings, to killing the livestock! He might even resort to using his poisonous bite, which could be fatal.

                The Tomte may make his home in an out of the way spot on the farm, like in a loft. On the other hand, he may also live amongst the corpses in nearby graves.

                On Christmas, the Tomte might be found traveling the countryside handing out gifts. Just don’t forget to leave him some porridge!

Werewolves

                Werewolves? No, there are no Christmas lycanthropes, spreading holiday cheer. There is, however, a lot of folklore connecting werewolves to Christmas time.

                Modern werewolf mythology is very detailed and specific; silver bullets, full moons, etc. Like vampire mythology our modern ideas about werewolves have been shaped more by Hollywood than by folklore and one of those ideas concerns how people become werewolves. In the movies, a person who is bitten by a werewolf becomes a werewolf. In ancient and medieval times, however, lycanthropy was a curse.

                There is a long tradition of powerful beings, including Christian Saints and Greek gods, cursing people with lycanthropy. Sometimes curses were earned as punishments for transgressions and sometimes you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

                Similar to the Kallikantzaros, in many parts of Europe, tradition held that a baby being born on Christmas was in danger of being a werewolf (possibly as punishment for competing with the Christ child?). In other parts, the time was moved back a few days to the Winter Solstice. In other parts, the time was extended through the whole week of Yule.  Some stories say that a baby conceived during this time was at risk for becoming a werewolf as punishment for the parents engaging in hanky panky when they should have been focusing on more holy pursuits.

                Really, none of this should be surprising. This was generally considered a dread time of the year where the veil between worlds was thin and spirits might move more freely. There are stories about werewolves terrorizing towns during Christmas; some stories say lycanthropes can only change into wolves on Christmas and yet others say that’s the one day that they can’t change. One amusing story involves a group of werewolves hanging out at a town’s wall and having contests to see who could jump over it!

In popular culture- Hammer Films' Curse of the Werewolf features a great folk horror story about a boy cursed with lycanthropy for being born on Christmas.


Yule Lads

                The Yule Lads are credited as Gryla’s children, which would seem to be a precarious position given her predilection for eating children. Certainly, they are not human children, and perhaps that makes the difference. Unlike their voracious mother, the Yule Lads aren’t particularly dangerous, though their impish behavior can make life miserable, especially during a long, cold winter. Each Lad has a particular area of interest that he is obsessed with, and a colorful name to go with it.

                The lads begin their reign of terror on December 12th, each one arriving on a different day until Christmas Eve, when they would all be present in the victim’s home together (making for a rather rowdy night). Starting on Christmas day they leave, one per day, leaving in the order that they arrived until the last one leaves on January 6th.

                Even though they have comical motifs, you can see how they would prey on some of the anxieties associated with winter. Most of them relate to stealing the precious commodity of food, especially foods that would last a while through winter, like bread, sausages and yogurt. They are, in the order of their arrival:

-Stekkjarstaur (Sheep Cote Clod)- He likes to suckle from sheep but has a hard time getting in the right position given his wooden legs.

-Giljagaur (Gully Hawk)- He hides in gullies until he can sneak into the barn and steal the cow’s milk.

-Stúfur (Stubby)- He likes to steal pots and pans and eat any encrusted food, which actually sounds like a helpful service if you ask me.

-Þvörusleikir (Spoon Licker)- He licks spoons. This is both disgusting and malnutritious. As such, he is very skinny.

-Pottaskefill (Pot Scaper)- He steals leftovers, which is pretty low down since leftovers are the best part of any holiday meal.

-Askasleikir (Bowl Licker)- He hides under the bed and steals any food left in bowls on the ground, which basically amounts to stealing the food from your pets!

-Hurðaskellir (Door Slammer)- Good luck getting a good night’s rest with this guy around.

-Skyrgámur (Skyr Gobbler)- He eats up all of your skyr which is basically Icelandic yogurt. Weird.

-Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage Swiper)- He hides in the rafters and steals your sausages. Yep. You read that right.

-Gluggagægir (Window Peeper)- His name makes him sound like a perverted voyeur, but really he’s a kleptomaniac, looking for things to steal.

-Gáttaþefur (Doorway Sniffer)- He loves bread and he lurks around doorways hoping to catch the scent.

-Ketkrókur (Meat-Hook)- He has a hook that he uses to steal your meat, which actually sounds kind of scary.

-Kertasníkir (Candle Stealer)- Good luck finding your away around in the dark after a visit from him.

 

 

   



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