[Steppes] bardic question

[Mike C. Baker]

Katya, I'm in "catch-up" mode on some of my mailing-lists, and didn't
see your request until this evening...

I've always been given to understand that the ghost story as we know it
was frowned upon in most of the "mainstream" European cultures after the
coming of Christianity until rather more recently.  Many of the elements
of such stories were used regularly, though, and at least one of the
major Norse (Icelandic) sagas is at heart a ghost / "undead" tale.

Part of your question becomes a matter of where, when, and in what
circumstances -- and whether or not we use "bard" in the broader meaning
typically adopted by the SCA or more narrowly, as was the case for
certain timeframes among the Irish and Cymri (Welsh).  Arthurian myth &
literature pre-1600ce includes several ghosts, or ghost-like creatures;
we have ghosts in Shakespeare's works; and even the Bible has
ghost-connected passages (err, depending upon one's viewpoint, a major
portion of the Book of Acts is dealing with what might otherwise be
termed a ghost by non-Christian standards).  In the Islamic market
tales, and especially the pre-Islamic originals, the ifrit and other
spirit beings (non-human, but perhaps derived from human and "fallen"
angelic ancestors) are capable of doing things ghosts in Western
European stories do.  I could go on at some length for non-European
cultures, but I think this gives a basic grounding.

Yes, dear Katya, there have always been "ghost" stories - who told them,
to what audience, and for what reason(s) changed dramatically over the
course of history.  As attitudes toward non-Christians calcified, the
ghost and spirit tales of the Pagan faiths fell out of favor and/or
morphed into Saint's Lives and the fodder of the beggars in the markets
who rattle off long and imperfectly preserved versions that could be
milked for a series of cliff-hangers (to improve the take).  The saga I
refer to above had a definite lesson (or several lessons), involved a
major landholder who died under less than optimum conditions, and would
still have been an entertainment when recited.

(And all of the above is the *relatively* short answer, stripped off the
top of my head in less than half an hour.)

Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe (Mike C. Baker)
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard)
Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em | alt. e-mail: KiheBard at hotmail.com OR
MCBaker216 at cs.com
Buy my writings!: http://www.lulu.com/WizardsDen |
http://www.livejournal.com/users/kihebard/


> -----Original Message-----
> From: steppes-bounces+kihebard=hotmail.com at ansteorra.org 
> On Behalf Of Karen Calhoun
> Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 1:11 PM
> To: steppes at ansteorra.org
> Subject: [Steppes] bardic question
> 
> In period, did bards ever tell ghost stories?  Typically, who 
> was the ghost (relative, person who died tragically etc.)?  
> What was the purpose of the story (lesson, strictly entertainment)?
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> Katya