[Woodcarver] Nisse chat

[Mike & Patty Wilcox]

No problem  thanks for the actical-- there have even done a movie on it but
I didn't see the whole thing,,, I think something like PBS  not sure

>


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


> Mike:
>
> My apologies.  I mistook the carving for a small Santa.  Not knowing what
a
> Nisse really was - I always thought it was a Scandinavian Santa :o) - I
> looked it up on the Internet. For those interested, I found this
explanation
> of a Nisse.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> --------------------------------------------
> Nisse
> by Jason Clarke
>
>       In Scandinavian folklore, a "household spirit" responsible for the
> care and prosperity of a farm. A nisse was usually described as a short
man
> (under four feet tall) wearing a red cap with a tassel.
>
>
>
>       While belief in guardian spirits is a very old tradition in
> Scandinavia, belief in nisser was prominent in the late eighteenth and
> nineteenth centuries in Denmark, southern Norway and southern Sweden. Many
> farms claimed to have their own nisse. The nisse took an active interest
in
> the farm by performing chores such as grooming horses, carrying bales of
> hay, and other farm-related tasks. These chores were usually done much
more
> efficiently and effectively than by their human counterparts.
>
>       However, nisser were very temperamental, to say the least. If the
> household was not careful to keep its nisse satisfied (usually in the form
> of a single bowl of porridge with butter in it left out on Christmas eve)
> the spirit could turn against its masters. In one story, a girl is
> instructed by her family to give the nisse his porridge, but decides to
eat
> it herself. The nisse responds by forcing her to dance until she nearly
> dies. Sometimes the offering themselves could backfire: in another tale, a
> grateful farmer gives his nisse a pair of nice white boots, and afterward
> the nisse refuses to go out into the rain to stable the horses for fear of
> getting his new boots dirty.
>
>       The folklore roots of the nisser extend to Germany, where they grew
> out of the legends of St. Nicholas. Thus the nisser are related to the
> modern conception of Santa Claus.
>

>       I hope others find this as interesting as I did.