Sträggele is the wife of the Dread Huntsman, der Türst of Lucerne canton in Switzerland. In Lucerne the huntsman, Sträggele and their grim entourage gallop like a shrieking tempest through streets and countryside. Sträggele plays a significant part in local lore.
Sträggele is described as a hideous hag with powers of evil. She can curse cows, causing them to panic in a herd, or run dry of milk. She can blight crops and bring grain diseases into the storage bins. She embodies the forces of Chaos and destruction.
Die Pfaffenkellnerin (literally "the parson waitress") is a female spirit with glowing eyes who may be with the hunters. She sits like a Mare atop fir trees in raging storms and drowns out the howling winds with her manic shrieks of laughter.
Die Pfaffenkellnerin most often appears on the Seebodenalp, Lucerne. Seebodenalp, literally Lake Bottom Alp, is now an alpine tourist attraction purveying Swiss culture and the beauty of the natural landscape.
In Lucerne and region many myths come together. Qualities of northern goddesses or entities appear in tales of the region. Many are localized to specific areas. Ancient lore remains, due to mountainous terrain isolating villages from societal and religious reforms sweeping Europe.
If one is in the area on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, or Dirty Thursday, the howling Pfaffenkellnerin might be seen in the grisly parade which falls on that day since 1990. It's the day Sträggele, der Türst and the mad entourage descend from the mountains.
Sträggele is a powerful spirit with many facets. She may be related to the Tyrolean Fänggen or Fangga Frauen, enormous female tree entities who eat men and protect the trees of the mountains and the little chamois who dwell on the alpine slopes.
Sträggele has qualities of a witch, ogre or troll. At the same time she's a weather spirit, able to call up howling winds and slashing rains. In the mountains, weather changes quickly. She can be a giantess as tall as a tree or appear in hag form as a wrinkled old lady.
Like many hags, Sträggele has the power to remove Aufhöcker, back-leaping spirits who grow heavier with the victim's every step. An Aufhocker can weigh down and kill a person if the afflicted can't find a cure. One way is to tempt the Aufhocker onto someone else's back.
There are different types of Aufhocker. Some are revenants who have led evil lives thus punish thieves, as represented by the statue below. In the Rhineland, werewolves might be Aufhöcker. Others prey on those they consider weak, such as old ladies.
Such an Aufhocker can be tricked by a hag. As it jumps on her shoulders thinking her easy prey, she works a banishing spell and the Aufhocker is thrown back to its place of origin, usually a graveyard or other dark place.
The winter activities of Sträggele resemble those of Frau Holle in the north and her cognate entity, Perchta in south Germany. She goes out in early January to be sure daughters and servants of households have finished their allotted spinning.
If they work hard she leaves them a silver coin. If not, she doles out brutal punishment. The standard European penalty involves pulling out the offender's intestines and stuffing her with straw.
On Dirty Thursday, Sträggele, the Dread Huntsman and followers known as the entourage of the damned descend in a horde from the caves of Mount Pilatus. They gallop through the streets and countryside with a pack of baying three-legged hounds.
The Huntsman may appear at other times throughout the year. His coming is the wrath of a storm. People must leave their barn and outbuilding doors open to let the Hunt swoop through. If the doors are closed, the mad party will smash them down.
Sträggele originates in the Middle Ages as a rebellious noblewoman. Headstrong and independent, she deifies the laws of church and state. During Lent one year, she goes deer hunting, which is taboo at the time.
Due to her misdeeds, while hunting she is snatched up by the Dread Huntsman, who makes her his wife. In Lucerne, followers are the army of the damned, tormented souls who must pay for evil they've done in life. The Host may include monsters such as werewolves or ogres.
The Dread Huntsman, Sträggele and entourage are a Swiss version of the Europe-wide Wild Hunt or Wilde Jagd, a supernatural phenomenon occurring in Scandinavia, Wales, France, Germany, Italy and other regions.
In Lucerne Switzerland der Türst and Sträggele are leaders of Hunt. In other myth, among the leaders are Odin, Frigg, Diana the Huntress, Siegfried of Xanten, Welsh otherworld figure Gwynn ap Nudd, German Frau Holle, Holda or Hulda and her southern counterpart Perchta.
In Northern Scandinavia the participants are called Juhlfolket or Yule Folk. Participants in the Wild Hunt may be giants, trolls, six-legged horses, witches, gods and goddesses, satyrs, dwarfs, warrior heroes and demonic riders. Revenants include the headless horsemen.
In southern regions of Germany and in Switzerland the event is known as the Furious Host or Wütendes Heer. In later years leadership of the Hunt is associated with the Christian devil and the event becomes populated with evil imps and creatures of satanic origin.
In traditional European lore, the crazed ensemble doesn't actually hunt anything. It's a riotous gathering. While some sources mention hunting humans as slaves it seems a later attempt to explain the myth. A lone rider in Germanic lands is said to pursue maidens.
Humans can be sucked up into the melee as punishment, especially those who have broken laws, such as hunting on a Sunday. These culprits must hunt eternally or until they've served a sentence. Others who hunt eternally may do so at their own request.
If humans finally return to their own realm, much time has passed and no one knows who they are. People can be drawn into the Wild Hunt by accident. In some regions the eldritch host is considered to pull the spirits of people from their sleeping bodies at night.
A specific Norwegian wild hunt is called aaskereida, aaskerej or aaskereia (lightning-thunder). The crone Goddess Reisarova, a warrior woman, leads a spectral army of riders who swoop down around Yuletide on black steeds with glowing eyes.
She's also called Gurorysse, from gurri, a Faerie creature with a long tail and hooves. The riotous hunt celebrations are audible for miles. During the storm of the Host overhead, the sound of a saddle tossed onto a roof is an omen of coming death for someone in the house.
In Slovenia the goddess leading the Wild Hunt is called Zlata Baba or ‘Golden Crone’. In some areas the hunt may be heard but not seen. If beheld, the sight of the Hunt can foretell death. A person in the path of a Wild Hunt is advised to lie down in the middle of the road.
At times a forerunner appears calling, "Mitten des Wegs!" (Middle of the Way). Anyone in the area must lie down and let the host pass or be sucked into the madness. In Lucerne der Türst has his cry: "Drei Schritt uswäg!" or "drü Schritt rechts, gang uswägs" ('three steps right, out of my way!')
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