Lady Midday

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Stamp: Mittagsfrau und Nochtenerin. Sorbian legend

Poludnitsa (from: Polden or Poluden, 'half-day'[1] or 'midday'[2]) is a mythical character common to the various Slavic countries of Eastern Europe. She is referred to as Południca in Polish, Полудница (Poludnitsa) in Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian, Polednice in Czech, Poludnica in Slovak, Připołdnica in Upper Sorbian, and Полознича (Poloznicha) in Komi, Chirtel Ma in Yiddish. The plural form of this word is poludnitsy (or poludnici). Poludnitsa is a noon demon in Slavic mythology. She can be referred to in English as "Lady Midday","Noonwraith" or "Noon Witch". She was usually pictured as a young woman dressed in white that roamed field bounds.[3] She assailed folk working at noon causing heatstrokes and aches in the neck, sometimes she even caused madness.

Legend[]

Poludnitsa, who makes herself evident in the middle of hot summer days, takes the form of whirling dust clouds and carries a scythe or shears; most likely the shears would be of an older style, not akin to modern scissors. She will stop people in the field to ask them difficult questions or engage them in conversation. If anyone fails to answer a question or tries to change the subject, she will cut off their head or strike them with illness. She may appear as an old hag, a beautiful woman, or a 12-year-old girl, and she was useful in scaring children away from valuable crops. She is only seen on the hottest part of the day and is a personification of a sun-stroke.[4]

Other mythology[]

In Wendish mythology, Přezpołdnica (in Lower Sorbian, Připołdnica in Upper Sorbian) is known as Mittagsfrau ("Lady Midday") among German speakers of Eastern Germany's Lusatia (Sorbian Łužica, German Lausitz) and in the now only German-speaking parts of what used to be the larger region of Old Lusatia. Farther north and west in formerly predominantly Slavic-speaking areas of Germany, especially in the state of Brandenburg (Low Saxon Branneborg, Sorbian Braniborska), a related mythological spirit appears to be the Roggenmuhme ("lady of the rye") that makes children disappear when they search for flowers in among the tall grain plants on hot summer days. In the Altmark, it is the Regenmöhme "with her heat" that will abduct ill-behaved children, and in the formerly Polabian-speaking heath region around Lunenburg (German Lüneburg) in Lower Saxony, the Low Saxon (Low German) name of this bugbear is Kornwief (formerly spelled Kornwyf, meaning «woman of the corn» or «lady of the grain plants»).

In the vicinity of Prudnik in Upper Silesia, people believed in the Cornflower Wraith (Polish Chabernica), a demon similar to Lady Midday. She was usually pictured as a young slim woman dressed in azure with cornflowers in her hair, that roamed field bounds during midday.[5] She was angered by people who trampled the grain or used sharp tools. Those, who she thought deserved punishment, were put to sleep with her whisper, after which she caused them headache, paralysis or low back pain. Sometimes she attacked her victims by breaking their arms, legs or neck. To avoid the wrath of the Cornflower Wraith, a worker had to take a break from work during the midday of Angelus.[6]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Ralston, William Ralston Shedden. The songs of the Russian people, as illustrative of Slavonic mythology and Russian social life. London: Ellis & Green. 1872. p. 147.
  2. ^ Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 227. ISBN 9781576070635.
  3. ^ Jones, Prudence; Pennick, Nigel (1995). A History of Pagan Europe. Routledge. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-136-14172-0.
  4. ^ Manfred Lurker (2004), The Routledge Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-34018-2
  5. ^ Podgórski, Barbara; Podgórska, Adam (2005). Wielka Księga Demonów Polskich. Leksykon i antologia demonologii ludowej. Katowice: Wydawnictwo KOS. p. 71. ISBN 83-89375-40-0.
  6. ^ Zych, Paweł; Vargas, Witold (2018). Bestiariusz słowiański. Część pierwsza i druga. Bosz. ISBN 978-83-757-6367-6.
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