In
Norwegian folklore
Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been under mutual influence with, folklore in English folklore, England, German folklore, Germany, the Folklore of the Lo ...
, a deildegast is a type of
ghost
In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
connected with the sanctity of
boundary stones, and what happened to those who dared to move them. The deildegast-tradition was most prevalent in the southern parts of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
and is also connected to the
gjenganger
In Nordic folklore; , , ("(a)gain-walker"), among more, is a term for a revenant (folklore), revenant, the spirit or ghost of a deceased from the grave, meaning "someone which goes again", from the Scandinavian verb of "going again" () in the s ...
phenomenon.
A deildegast, it was said, does not receive peace in the
afterlife
The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...
as a result of enlarging his own territory while alive by moving the boundary stones dividing his own and his neighbour's territory. After dying, the deildegast was forced to haunt the area near the boundary stones until he was able to lift it back to its correct place. This feat proved impossible, however, as the stone would always slip, causing the deildegast to emit a sorrowful scream before trying again to no avail.
Etymology
In Norwegian, "gast" approximately means "ghost", but ghosts in Norwegian and
Scandinavian folklore
Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been under mutual influence with, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and S� ...
differ greatly from the modern perception of ghosts, often having a corporeal body and being violent in nature. "Deild" is an archaic word for "border-stone". The approximate translation of deildegast then, is "border-stone ghost".
Description
The first mention of a deildegast in literature comes from ''
Draumkvedet
"Draumkvedet" ("The Dream Poem"; NMB 54, TSB B 31) is a Norwegian visionary poem, probably dated from the late medieval age.Knut Liestøl: "Draumkvedet. A Visionary Poem from the Middle Ages", ''Studia Norvegica 3, 1946'' '', written near the end of the Middle Ages. The belief itself quite likely predates this (and is documented by the Draumkvedet), though no proof exists.
The deildegast was also said to be able to transform into a bird, most often an
owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
, called ghost (''gasten'') by the local people. In human form the deildegast looked like a normal human, except for his clothes. Often having died many years ago, the deildegast wore the clothes of its own days, which often meant that they looked very outdated to those that saw it.
As a
social phenomenon
Social phenomena or social phenomenon (singular) are any behaviours, actions, or events that takes place because of social influence, including from contemporary as well as historical societal influences. They are often a result of multifaceted pro ...
, the deildegast served different social functions. The threat of becoming a deildegast deterred any attempt at tampering with border stones, keeping land disputes under control. It might also have prevented people who suspected that their border stones had been moved from enacting physical revenge on their neighbours, in safe knowledge that they would get their metaphysical revenge when the wrong-doer died.
See also
*
Deildegasten Ridge
References
Bibliography
* Hodne, Ørnulf (1995) ''Vetter og skrømt i norsk folketro'' (J.W. Cappelens forlag )
* Sivertsen, Birger (2000) ''For noen troll'' (Andresen & Butenschøn)
{{Scandinavian folklore
Scandinavian folklore
Corporeal undead
Boundary markers