The church grim is a guardian spirit in English and Nordic folklore that oversees the welfare of a particular Christian church, and protects the churchyard from those who would profane and commit sacrilege against it. [1] It often appears as a black dog but is known to take the form of other animals. [2] [3] In modern times, when black dogs are kept as pets in churches and their attached parsonages, these are called church Grims since they reside on and guard ecclesiastical property. [4]
The English church grim usually takes the form of a large black dog with red eyes and guards churchyards from those who would profane them, including thieves, vandals, witches, warlocks, and the Devil himself. In the 19th century, folklorists believed that it had once been the custom to bury a dog alive under the cornerstone of a church as a foundation sacrifice so that its ghost might serve as a guardian. [2] [3]
Like many spectral black dogs, the grim, according to Yorkshire tradition, is also an ominous warning and is known to toll the church bell at midnight before a death takes place. During funerals, the presiding clergy may see the grim looking out from the church tower and determine from its aspect whether the soul of the deceased is destined for Heaven or Hell. The grim inhabits the churchyard day and night and is associated with dark stormy weather. [3] [5]
When a new churchyard was opened, it was believed that the first person buried there had to guard it against the Devil. To prevent a human soul from having to perform such a duty, a black dog was buried in the north part of the churchyard as a substitute. [3] [6] According to a related belief in Scotland, the spirit of the person most recently buried in a churchyard had to protect it until the next funeral provided a new guardian to replace them. [3] [7] This churchyard vigil was known as the faire chlaidh or "graveyard watch". [7]
A folktale of the Devil's Bridge type is also an example of the motif of a dog (in this case, a dog also named Grim) being sacrificed in place of a human being. In the North Riding of Yorkshire, attempts were made to build a bridge that could withstand the floods' fury, but none succeeded. The Devil promised to build one on condition that the first living creature that crossed it should serve as a sacrifice. When the bridge was complete, the people gave long consideration as to who should be the victim. A shepherd who owned a dog named Grim swam across the river then whistled for Grim to follow, who went over the bridge and became the Devil's sacrifice. [8] The bridge then became known as Kilgrim Bridge [8] and was later renamed Kilgram Bridge, which today crosses the River Ure in North Yorkshire. [9] [10]
The Scandinavian church grim is also known as the Kyrkogrim (Swedish), Kirkonväki (Finnish), and Kirkegrim (Danish) [2] [3] [11] is likewise defined as the protective revenant of an animal buried alive in the church foundation. In Sweden, this tradition is mainly found in the formerly Danish areas in the south (Scania, Halland, and Blekinge).
It is also connected with a creature called the "natteramm" in Scanian or, in English, "night raven". [12] It dwells in the church tower or some other place of concealment, wanders the grounds at night, and is tasked with protecting the sacred building. It keeps order in the church and punishes those who perpetrate scandals. [11]
It is said that the first founders of Christian churches would bury a lamb ("church-lamb") under the altar. When a person enters the church when services are not being held, he may see the lamb, and if it appears in the graveyard (especially to the gravedigger), then it portends the death of a child. [2] [11] In some tellings, the lamb is said to have only three legs. [13]
The lamb is meant to represent Christ (the Lamb of God) as the sacred cornerstone of the church, imparting security and longevity to the physical edifice and congregation. [11] Other animals used to create the church grim included a lamb, boar, pig, and horse. [2] A grave-sow (or "graysow"), the ghost of a sow that was buried alive, was often seen in the streets of Kroskjoberg where it was regarded as an omen of death. [1] [2]
There are tales of the Danish Kirkegrim and its battles with the Strand-varsler that tried to enter the churchyard. Strand-varsler are the spirits of those who die at sea, are washed up on the shore, and remain unburied. [11]
In Swedish tradition, a person attempting the Årsgång, or year walk, a divination ritual that involved circling a churchyard on New Year's Eve, would have to contend with the church grim, which was the natural enemy of the year walker. [14]
The Last of the Giant Killers published in 1891, includes a story where Jack the Giant Killer defeats an evil church grim that takes the shape of a goat. In this tale, Jack is helped by the ghost of a young woman who, like the church grim, was buried alive as a foundation sacrifice. [15]
"The Church-grim" by Eden Phillpotts is a short story published in the September 1914 edition of The Century Magazine , New York.
In the novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling, the Divination teacher, Sybill Trelawney, associates Harry's tea leaves with the Grim, which she calls a "giant spectral dog that haunts churchyards." [16]
The character "Ruth" in The Ancient Magus' Bride manga and anime series is a church grim.
In the mobile game Year Walk , the player's task is to reach the church and consult a church grim to see what the future holds.
In the subsequent Year Walk: Bedtime Stories for Awful Children, the fifth chapter is devoted to the Church Grimm. [17]
In Scandinavian folklore, the mylingar were the phantasmal incarnations of the souls of children that had been forced to roam the earth until they could persuade someone to bury them properly.
The bogeyman is a mythical creature used by adults to frighten children into good behaviour. Bogeymen have no specific appearances and conceptions vary drastically by household and culture, but they are most commonly depicted as masculine or androgynous monsters that punish children for misbehaviour. The bogeyman, and conceptually similar monsters can be found in many cultures around the world. Bogeymen may target a specific act or general misbehaviour, depending on the purpose of invoking the figure, often on the basis of a warning from an authority figure to a child. The term is sometimes used as a non-specific personification of, or metonym for, terror, and sometimes the Devil.
English folklore consists of the myths and legends of England, including the English region's mythical creatures, traditional recipes, urban legends, proverbs, superstitions, and folktales. Its cultural history is rooted in Celtic, Christian, Nordic and Germanic folklore.
In Northern English folklore, the Barghest or Barguest is a mythical monstrous black dog with large teeth and claws, though in other cases the name can refer to a ghost or household elf, especially in Northumberland and Durham, such as the Cauld Lad of Hylton.
Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson was an English folklorist. She was a scholar at the University of Cambridge and The Folklore Society, and specialized in the study of Celtic and Germanic religion and folklore.
A hellhound is a mythological hound that embodies a guardian or a servant of hell, the devil, or the underworld. Hellhounds occur in mythologies around the world, with the best-known examples being Cerberus from Greek mythology, Garmr from Norse mythology, the black dogs of English folklore, and the fairy hounds of Celtic mythology. Physical characteristics vary, but they are commonly black, anomalously overgrown, supernaturally strong, and often have red eyes or are accompanied by flames.
Builders' rites are ceremonies attendant on the laying of foundation stones, including ecclesiastical, masonic or other traditions connected with foundations or other aspects of construction.
Fossegrim, also known simply as the grim (Norwegian) or Strömkarlen (Swedish), is a water spirit or troll in Scandinavian folklore. Fossegrim plays the fiddle, especially the Hardanger fiddle. Fossegrim has been associated with a mill spirit (kvernknurr) and is related to the water spirit (nokken) and is sometimes also called näcken in Sweden. It is associated with river streams and particularly with cascading streams and mill races.
Brazilian mythology is the subset of Brazilian folklore with cultural elements of diverse origin found in Brazil, comprising folk tales, traditions, characters and beliefs regarding places, people, and entities. The category was originally restricted to indigenous elements, but has been extended to include:
The black dog is a supernatural, spectral, or demonic hellhound originating from English folklore that has also been seen throughout Europe and the Americas. It is usually unnaturally large with glowing red or yellow eyes, is often connected with the Devil, and is sometimes an omen of death. It is sometimes associated with electrical storms, and also with crossroads, barrows, places of execution and ancient pathways.
Folklore of the Low Countries, often just referred to as Dutch folklore, includes the epics, legends, fairy tales and oral traditions of the people of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Traditionally this folklore is written or spoken in Dutch or in one of the regional languages of these countries.
Cornish mythology is the folk tradition and mythology of the Cornish people. It consists partly of folk traditions developed in Cornwall and partly of traditions developed by Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium, often shared with those of the Breton and Welsh peoples. Some of this contains remnants of the mythology of pre-Christian Britain.
Corpse roads provided a practical means for transporting corpses, often from remote communities, to cemeteries that had burial rights, such as parish churches and chapels of ease. In Britain, such routes can also be known by a number of other names, e.g.: bier road, burial road, coffin line, coffin road, corpse way, funeral road, lych way, lyke way, or procession way. etc. Such "church-ways" have developed a great deal of associated folklore regarding ghosts, spirits, wraiths, etc.
Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other beliefs hold that the spectre of death is only a psychopomp, a benevolent figure who serves to gently sever the last ties between the soul and the body, and to guide the deceased to the afterlife, without having any control over when or how the victim dies. Death is most often personified in male form, although in certain cultures death is perceived as female. Death is also portrayed as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Most claims of its appearance occur in states of near-death.
In Danish folklore, a helhest is a three-legged horse associated with Hel. Various Danish phrases are recorded that refer to the horse. The Helhest is associated with death and illness, and it is mentioned in folklore as having been spotted in various locations in Denmark.
Cyprianus is a name given in Scandinavian traditions of folk magic to the "black book" ("Svarteboken"): a grimoire or manuscript collection of spells; and by extension to the magical tradition that these spells form a part of. There is no standard text called "Cyprianus"; it was a general label given to a collection of spells.
Canadian folklore is the traditional material that Canadians pass down from generation to generation, either as oral literature or "by custom or practice". It includes songs, legends, jokes, rhymes, proverbs, weather lore, superstitions, and practices such as traditional food-making and craft-making. The largest bodies of folklore in Canada belong to the aboriginal and French-Canadian cultures. English-Canadian folklore and the folklore of recent immigrant groups have added to the country's folk.
Kilgram Bridge is a crossing point across the River Ure in North Yorkshire, England. The bridge, which has six arches, is thought to date back to the 12th century, and it is thought that it is built on the old Roman ford crossing point of the river. Kilgram bridge is traditionally associated as being at the eastern and lower end of Wensleydale and is now a scheduled monument.
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