Guest Post: Spirits In Motion – The Wild Hunt
www.eroticmythology.com
Find out the folkloric background of the Wild Hunt, who leads it, and what might await you if you happen upon it!

For whom it might concern: I wrote a guest article on the Wild Hunt in Central European folklore - one that tries to be a bit more nuanced than “The Wild Huntsman is really Odin in disguise!”.

EDIT: Gah, I thought I had included a link! It should be fixed now.

  • Jürgen HubertOPMEnglish
    2·
    14 hours ago

    There are a number of tales - Wild Hunt or otherwise - where there is an explicit mention of a “Wode”. I don’t think linking that to Wodan/Odin is too much of a stretch.

    Still, the connections to Hulda are far more numerous, which I find fascinating. I mean, in modern discussions you almost never hear of the Wild Hunt being led by a woman, yet I have encountered quite a few such tales.

    • stenAanden@feddit.dkMEnglish
      1·
      1 hour ago

      There are some traditions from Sweden that are very explicit in referring to him as “Odin” or “Oden”, both in a wild hunt type spirit but also as a receiver of a harvest offering.

      WÄREND OCH WIRDARNE.

      »det är Odens jagt,» »det är Oden, som är ute och jagar»; »det är Odens hundar, som höras i luften»

      Härvid pålyste eller tillsade bonden alltid uttryckligen, att »detta skall Oden ha till sina hästar» eller »detta får vara åt Odens hästar». Underlät någon detta offer till Odens hästar, så troddes han få till straff, att åt året på sin äng erhålla en dålig gräs-skörd.

      Svenska folkets historia

      id något okändt buller, liksom af vagnar och hästar om nätterna, heter det att Oden far förbi

      The exact source should be this book but I haven’t been able to find the section (it’s in latin)

      äfven i Skåne och Blekinge, der bonden vid skörden brukade att lemna qvar en kärfve på åkern åt Odens hästar

      Wode from northern Germany is also described in some accounts as receiving an offering. The earliest description of a harvest offering to Wode is from 1593, by Nicolas Gruse. Or in this book from 1753, by David Franck.

      This article here describes some traditions from Jutland where he is referred to with various names, some are “Wojen”, Woen" and “Wold” though they vary a lot. And in these traditions the rider can be portrayed both as the wild hunter and receive some sort of offering or ritual, though much less often. In the end, the article argues that the Swedish, Danish and North-German traditions are related due to their similarities and that Odin appears in many of the traditions.