Nordic 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� ...

; , , ("(a)gain-walker"), among more, is a term for a

revenant In folklore, a revenant is a spirit or animated corpse that is believed to have been revived from death to haunt the living. The word ''revenant'' is derived from the Old French word (see also the related French verb ). Revenants are part o ...

, the spirit or

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 ...

of a deceased from the grave, meaning "someone which goes again", from the Scandinavian verb of "going again" () in the sense of a deceased person haunting post-mortem; compare ("Re-walker"). Other forms include: , , stemming from ("re-walker"); , ("again-travel or after-journey").

Etymology

''Gjenganger'', and thereof, consists of two parts; the prefix ''gen-'' (), a shortened form of (), the same as "again" → (a)gain; and the suffix ''-ganger'' (), "-ganger, -goer, -walker" (compare doppelganger); thus meaning "again-walker" (), "walking again", as in "walking after death". It is related to the Scandinavian verb of "going again" () with the sense of haunting post-mortem, for example: , "a dead which goes again → a dead person which refuses the afterlife to walk the earth again as a revenant". The Norwegian form means the same but uses the prefix (compare ), meaning roughly "re-", but also "again", "once (again)" (), "back" etc; thus meaning "re-walker", which is also found as a root-cognate in and . The forms, , , switches the suffix for , , "travel, journey, trip", related to "fare", "ferry" etc.

Characteristics

A ''gjenganger'' could have several reasons to return from the afterlife. Murdered people and their murderers could seldom sleep peacefully in their graves. People who had committed suicide often came back as ''gjengangere''. At other times, people came back from the grave because they had left something undone. Most often they needed someone to help them do this, before they could finally be at peace. The ''gjenganger'' in the Scandinavian tradition took on an entirely

corporeal Corporeal may refer to: *Matter (corporeal, or actual, physical substance or matter), generally considered to be a substance (often a particle) that has rest mass and (usually) also volume *Human body, Body, of or relating to the body *Corporeal ( ...

form. It normally had no spectre-like qualities whatsoever. In older traditions, the ''gjenganger'' was very malicious and violent in nature, coming back from the grave to torment its family and friends. Their relatives took extensive precautions to make sure they stayed in their graves. This tradition of the violent ''gjenganger'' goes back to the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

, where they are present in many of the Icelandic sagas, among others:

Grettis saga ''Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar'' (modern , reconstructed ), also known as ''Grettla'', ''Grettir's Saga'' or ''The Saga of Grettir the Strong'', is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It details the life of Grettir Ásmundarson, a bellicose Icelandic ou ...

Eyrbyggja saga ''Eyrbyggja saga'' (; ) is one of the Icelanders' sagas; its title can be translated as ''The Saga of the People of Eyri.'' It was written by an anonymous writer, who describes a long-standing feud between Snorri Goði and Arnkel Goði, two stron ...

and The Saga of Eric the Red. In this tradition, the ''gjenganger'' was a mortal creature. An example of this is Grettir slaying the ''gjenganger'' Glámr with his sword. These Viking-age ''gjengangere'' were often called ''

draugr The draugr or draug (; ; ; , ''drauv''; , ''dröger'') is a corporeal undead creature from the sagas and folktales of the Nordic countries, with varying ambiguous traits. In modern times, they are often portrayed as Norse mythology, Norse super ...

'', and the two are likely to be different names for the same phenomenon.

Protection and prevention

People had numerous ways of both defending themselves against the ''gjenganger'', and stopping people from becoming one in the first place. * Crucifixes and Christian incantations * Painting symbols, especially the cross * Coffin was carried three times around the church before being buried. The tradition of a pile of stones or twigs (''varp'') often marked a place where someone has died. It was believed that when you passed this place, you should throw another stone/twig on the ''varp'', to commemorate what had happened there. Doing so would sometimes bring luck on your further travels, while not doing so would result in bad luck and dangerous accidents. Many of these ''varps'' have now disappeared, but in a few places the ''varp'' is marked with a sign or something similar.

Modern era

In slightly newer tradition, the ''gjenganger'' remains a violent

entity An entity is something that Existence, exists as itself. It does not need to be of material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is Lif ...

, though in a less direct way, now becoming more of a disease-spreader. These ''gjengangere'' would attack people with their so-called dead man's pinch (''dødningeknip''). The pinch was often administered when the person was asleep. Both the forest creature (''

huldra A hulder (or huldra) is a seductive forest creature found in Scandinavian folklore. Her name derives from a root meaning "covered" or "secret". In Norwegian folklore, she is known as huldra ("the rchetypalhulder", though folklore presupposes ...

'') and the water spirits (''

nøkken The Nixie, Nixy, Nix, Näcken, Nicor, Nøkk, or Nøkken (; , ; ; Norwegian ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; or ) are humanoid, and often shapeshifting water spirits in Germanic mythology and folklore. Under a variety of names, they are common to the stories ...

'') were also accused of doing the same, using bites instead of pinches, often aimed at the victim's face. This belief in beings attacking people in their sleep was used as a warning against going to sleep in specific places; near the graveyard, mountains or water. In later Swedish folklore, a distinction is made between the traditional ''gjenganger'', in Swedish called ''gengångare'', and another type of ghost known as ''gast''. Whereas the ''gengångare'' looked virtually identical to a living human, the ''gast'' was known to be transparent and/or skeletal in appearance, making it impossible to see who the phantom had been while alive. And whereas the Swedish version of the ''gengångare'' were usually said to be rather harmless, it was the ''gast'' who was known to cause diseases. They were also known to cause accidents and scare people for no apparent reason other than that they enjoyed doing so. Today it mostly compares with the modern perception of ghosts, most often being

ethereal Ethereal may refer to: * Ethereal (horse), a horse that won Australia's Caulfield Cup as well as Melbourne Cup in 2001 * Ethereal (musician), American rapper and record producer * Ethereal wave, or simply ethereal, a subgenre of dark wave music * W ...

in form, and non-violent in nature. The word ''gjenganger'' is being used less, the contemporary word ghost (''spøkelse'') having mostly taken over. Where the term ''gjenganger'' does occur, it may be treated simply as a synonym for ghost. The corresponding verbal phrase walk again (''gå igjen'') is just one way of saying "haunt" with reference to ghosts.

References

Bibliography