1 post tagged “bocke bockshitt hausbocke kornbocke”

BOCKE, BOCKSCHITT,HAUSBOCKE, KORNBOCKE
Scan. Teut. buck, housebuck, cornbuck. Used in the sense of he-goat, similar
to the AS. buc, G. boc, W. bwch. Most bockes live deep in the woods or fields
where they take residence in plant life. Their leaders are the Corn King, Corn
Queen or Cailleach. At all seasons children were warned to stay clear of
crop-land where they might be stolen, or violated by the Bockes. At the
harvest most of this race was cut down by the reapers, but the spirit of the
corn was preserved in the last sheath which overwintered in the homes of
men in the form of a harvest doll. In some places one sheaf was left uncut
to be consumed by Odin's steeds at mid-winter, or to serve as food for the
Boche during his winter hibernation. The Scandinavian Julbuk (Yule-buck)
lived deep in the woods at mid-summer but approached the homes of men at
mid-winter. On Mother Night (December 23) he entered dwellings where food
and drink were left for his use. If he felt the reception was lacking he would
upset the beer casks in the cellar, adds bugs to the flour and blight the
grain, causing it to rot. The German Hausbocke was a similar Yule-tide
visitor who arrived brandishing a 'klapperbock", which consists of a goat-skin
covered staff with a mechanical goat's head mounted on top. Sometimes
called Knecht Ruprecht, he had aquiline features and dressed in shaggy
clothing , fur, or straw. As a rule he acted civilly in spite of his horns, long
beard and acrid smell, but he might use his staff to "bite" at uncouth children
and was likely to roar in a frightful manner if angered. In addition to
appearing as a buck, this creature could shape-change into a human, a bird,
cat, or wolf, or any farm animal. Possibly the progenitor, or parallel to Black Peter,
or  Krampus, an associate

Krampus