Religion(New York, 1939), 41–42. See, more recently, Herman Pollack, Jewish Folkways in Ger-
manic Lands (1648–1806): Studies in Aspects of Daily Life(Cambridge Mass., 1971), 27–28; Dov
Sedan, Shay Olamot: Three Hundred and Ten Worlds: Twelve Folkloristic Studies, ed. Dov Noy
(Jerusalem, 1990), 7–24 [in Hebrew]. I thank Aaron Cohen for referring me to Sedan’s article.
- Hamburger, Shorshei Minhag Ashkenaz, 413, prefers to see the custom as strange and mys-
terious. The subtitle of his chapter is “a rare and inexplicable custom.” - Viktor Waschnitius, Perht, Holda und verwandte Gestalten(Vienna, 1913), 4–179; Lotte
Motz, “The Winter Goddesses: Percht, Holda and Related Figures,” Folklore116 (1984): 151–66;
Bernhard Kummer, “Frau Holle,” HdA, 2: 1772; Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, ed. Elard
Hugo Meyer (Tübingen, 1953), 1:207–62, esp. 212–13; 220–34; Bernhard Kummer, “Freyja,”
HdA, 3: 79–82; Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 2: 79; F. L. W. Schwarz, “Stampa,” HdA, 8: 354–
7; idem, “Frau Rose,” HdA, 7: 781; idem, “Perhta,” HdA, 6: 1478–93; Hans Naumann, “Befania,”
HdA, 1: 974–75. Motz, “Winter Goddesses,” 151, points to a connection between these figures
and Scandinavian figures. Frau Holle and Hulda were related to Scandinavian earth and winter
goddesses. See Rudolph Simek, “Huldana” and “Hulda,” Dictionary of Northern Mythology, 153–
54, 165. I thank Dr. Oren Falk for his help on this point. - Will-Erich Peuckert, Deutscher Volksglaube des Spätmittelalters(Stuttgart, 1942), 97–112,
devotes his chapter to Frau Holle. See also Karl Beth, “Brandopfer,” HdA, 1: 1492–93, who dis-
cusses the burning of the first woven product each year as a sacrifice to Frau Holle; Lutz Mack-
ensen, “Altweibersommer,” HdA, 1: 354; Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 1:356, 495. - Supra, n. 17; Paul Sartori, “Advent,” HdA, 1: 200; idem, “Fastnacht,” HdA, 2: 1252; F.
Ranke, “Kinderschreck,” HdA, 4: 1369; Paul Sartori, “Lucia,” HdA, 5: 1442–46; Karl Meuli,
“Maske, Maskereien,” HdA, 5: 1784; Ludwig Herold, “Schaf,” HdA, 7: 974; Carl Mengis, “See-
lenüberfahrt,” HdA, 7: 1570; Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 1:280; F. Eckstein, “Backen,” HdA,
1: 758, idem, “Brei,” HdA, 1: 1604; idem, “Essen,” HdA, 2: 1026; idem, “Gebildbrot,” HdA, 3:
394–6; idem, “Kuchen,” HdA, 5: 651; idem, “Neujahrs und Dreikonigsbäcke,” HdA, 6; 1051;
idem, “Pfefferkuchen,” HdA, 6: 1572; idem, “Pfannekuchen,” HdA, 6: 1552–65. - Motz, “Winter Goddesses,” 155; Waschnitius, Perht, Holda, 55.
- Burchardi Wormaciensis Episcopi, Decretorum, Liber 19, PL140, 962, “Credidisti ut ali-
qua femina sit quae hoc facere possit quod quaedam, a diabolo deceptae, se affirmant necessario
et ex praecepto facere debere, id est cum daemonum turba in similtudinem mulierum transfor-
matum, quam vulgaris stutitia holdam vocat, certis noctibus equitare debere super quasdam bes-
tias, et in eorum se consortio annumeratam esse? Si particeps fuisti illius incredulatitis, annum
unum per legitimas ferias poenitere debes,” trans. John T. Mc Neill and Helena M. Gamer, Me-
dieval Handbooks of Penance: A Translation of the Principal Libri Poenitentiales(New York, 1990),
331; Heidi Dienst, “Zur Rolle der Frau in magischen Vorstellungen,” in Frauen in Spätantike und
Frühmittelalter. Lebensbedingungen-Lebensnormen-Lebensformen, eds. Werner Affeldt et al. (Sig-
maringen, 1990), 178–79. - Waschnitius, Perht, Holda, 60, 321 quotes: Tractatus de septem vitiis: “Hodie pueri non
ministrant Domino, sed diabolo, prius vadunt ad choream, quam ad ecclesiam, ante sciunt cantare
de domina Perchta quam dicere Ave Maria.” - Idem, 18–20; 52–55; 152. Norman Cohn, Europe’s Inner Demons: The Demonization of
Christians in Medieval Christendom(London, 1993), 166–71.
24.SHP, nos. 171–72; 1565–67. Sefer H·asidimalso provides means of defense against them.
See, for example, SHP nos.1465–67.
25.Sefer Or Zaru’a, 1:362; Perles, “Die Berner Handschrift,” 26; Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic,
41; Grimm, Deutsches Mythologie, 1:384. - Popular culture linked the Virgin Mary and Frau Holle. See Waschnitius, Perht, Holda, 20,
36, 128, 178; A. Wrede, “Maria,” HdA, 5: 1650; Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 2:735.
27.This is what the sources seem to suggest. However, it is possible that the custom was more
widespread.