HAGE - NATUR - URTER - HÅNDARBEID - HISTORIE - MYTOLOGI
GARDENING - NATURE - HERBS - CRAFTING - HISTORY - MYTHOLOGY

Search This Blog

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

February - history and folklore.


Da er vi allerede over i februar måned.
Her kommer et lite utvalg historie og folketro om februarmåned, hentet fra boka "Hva dagene vet" av Sverre Østen:

I gammel tid hadde vi periodene Torre (13.01-11.02) og Gjø (12.2-13.3).
Navnet Gjø stammer fra sagnkvinnen Goa, av Snø den gamles ætt. Hun var datter av Torre. Torre betyr barfrost, og han var en av de det ble ofret til ved midtvintersblotet.

Blidemåned var også et gammelnorsk navn på februar.

We have already entered the month of February.
Here is a small excerpt of  Nordic history and folklore about February, from the book "What the days know" by Sverre Østen:

The ancinet names for this periode of the year were Torre (January 13th-February 11th) and Gjø (Feb. 12th-March 13th).
The name Gjø comes from the legend of the woman Goa, of Snow the old's decendants. She was the daughter of Torre. Torre means 'bare frost', and he was among those to whom the ancient Midwinter feast was celebrated.

An other old Norwegian name for February is Blide month (blide = happy or cheerful).



Februar hadde tre farlige dager man måtte passe seg for; 11., 17. og 18.
På disse dagene måtte man ikke gifte seg, for da mislyktes ekteskapet.
Det kunne bli vanskelig å helbredes hvis man ble syk på en av disse dagene.
Man skulle heller aldri flytte eller begynne i ny jobb på en av disse dagene, for da skulle man alltid være bedrøvet.

Dagene 1., 3., 10., 19. og 21. var utmerkede dager for bryllup, for disse dagene var kvinnene ømme og kjærlige.

Den 1. februar var en uheldig dag for låning, så da måtte man aldri låne noe eller låne bort noe.

February have been considered to have three dangerous days, on which it was important to watch out; the 11th, 17th and 18th.
Any marriage commited on these dates would fail.
If a person got ill on these dates, the illness would be difficult to heal.
One should also never move or start a new job on one of these dates, because it would lead to sorrow.

February 1st, 3rd, 10th, 19th and 21st, however, were excellent dates for weddings, as on these days the women were tender and loving.

The first day of February was an unlucky day for borrowing items or lending away, so that needed to be avoided.


På den 2. februar, Kyndelsmess, ble det sagt at bjørnen snudde seg i hiet.
Og at "så dyp snøen er denne dagen, så langt blir gresset sankthans".

Den 3. februar, Blåsmesse, ble det blåst liv i alle dyr i dvale og i vekster. Men også i alskens andre skapninger som trollene, så det var best å passe seg denne dagen.
Nordpå lot folk brenne alle sopelimer, ellers kunne de vente storm omtrent hele året.
Hvis man fant morgendugg denne dagen, og vasket seg med det ville man få vakker hud.
Men mildvær denne dagen betydde også at det ble mye troll i bærtiden.

Dersom man hugget trær i Blidemåned skulle tømmeret være godt egnet til husbygging.

On Candlemass, the 2nd of February, the hibernating bears were said to turn around inside their caves.
A weather saying is that "as deep as the snow is on Candlemass, is as high the grass will be on Midsummer's day".

On February 3rd, it was said that new life blew into any hibernating animal and into every plant. But into other creatures as well, like the trolls, so people had better watch out.
In the northern parts of Norway all brooms should be burnt today, or else there would be stormes all throughout the year.
If one found morning dew today, and cleaned the body with it, one would get beautiful skin.
But mild weather on this day also meant there would be many trolls to see during the berry picking season.

Trees that were chopped down during February made excellent timber for house building.

Dette var en måned der kulda kunne forårsake mye sykdom, og man måtte holde seg varm for å bevare sunnheten. Folk ble rådet til å få i seg mye varm mat og drikke.

Om det frøs på natten den 22. februar kunne man vente tretti dagers frost.

Et gammelt vær-ord sier at "dersom Torre er mild vil Gjø være mildere. Og om Torre er hard vil Gjø være hardere".

During February the cold and chill could cause a lot of illness, and people needed to do their best to stay warm in order to keep their health. An important advice was to consume plenty of hot food and drinks.

If the night of the 22nd was frosty, there could be expected frost over the next thirty days.

An ancient weather saying is that "if Torre is mild, Gjø will be milder. And if Torre is hard, Gjø will be harder".

5 comments:

marylene said...

Wow, how very interesting, I just read a story about the old Norse witch Groa (Groagaldr,the spells of growing, Poetic Edda), could she be the same as the woman Goa ?
I understand the stories about the dangerousness of February, It really is a period of change and renewal, but one has to be very careful.
Thank you for sharing :)
Imbolc Blessings to you too !

Hilde said...

Thank you Mary Lena :)
So nice you have read Groas galdr, it is an interesting poem, and I love the runic wisdom :)

Goa (or Goe) is from another story, but their names are very similar.

Kristín Hrund said...

That was really interesting! Thank you for sharing this!

Yael said...

I will watch out for the bears today, just in case one sneaks out of his hibernating cave to have a bit of fresh air! :-)
Thank you Hilde for all this lovely information.

Heidi said...

Så morsomt å lese! Artig å høre om hva folk trodde på i gamle tider! :-)

Jammen kom februar fort nok ;-)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...