Buschgroßmutter

What it is

Buschgroßmutter is a female being in German folk tales, a spirit of the woods rather than a goddess or a saint. Storytellers place her in Thuringia, Saxony, Silesia and the German-speaking parts of Bohemia. She is said to live deep in the forest and to be seen only once in a hundred years. Her body is small and bent, her skin wrinkled, and her long hair white but tangled and full of lice. Her stare is fixed, and some versions give her an iron head. She carries a stick or crutch and a basket.

Where it comes from

Nineteenth-century writers shaped the figure for later readers. Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Mannhardt called her the leader, even the queen, of the moss people, a rank compared with that of an elf queen. Ludwig Bechstein put her beside Hulda and Bertha, characters then treated as old goddesses. This reading lost favour in the early twentieth century. Buschgroßmutter and Buschweibchen were then set down as crude woodland spirits. In Transylvania, German-speaking Saxons told of related beings under names such as Baschgrîs, Baschmôter and Baschäinjel.

How it is done

Stories describe encounters rather than a rite. The Buschgroßmutter asks a person to comb or delouse her hair. The task is hard because her head feels as cold as ice and the helper's hands may go numb. A willing helper is said to receive an endless ball of yarn, a spindle full of strands, or leaves that become gold if kept. Mockery brings a different result: she may breathe on the mocker and cause illness, often a rash, or sit on them. As Buschmutter she is shown attacking berry pickers and disturbing cattle.

Tools and materials

Her signs are simple and rural. A gnarled stick or a crutch is put in her hand. She wears an apron tied as if it holds something, and a basket rests on her back. Moss covers her feet. In one account she rides in a little cart or waggon with her daughters, the Moosfräulein. Rewards in the tales are also household goods: yarn, a spindle, green or yellow leaves that later turn to gold. The Transylvanian Baschmôter gives a plant called Springgras, described as heart-shaped with a gold or blood-like drop. Its owner is said to be able to burst iron, opening fetters and locks.

What it is for

The tales use her to teach caution and to explain odd events. She is a child-scaring figure in some districts, and the name Buschmutter is used in the same way. For a helpful person she is a source of yarn or sudden gold. For a person who laughs at her she is a cause of illness or of a heavy weight on the body. The Transylvanian Baschmôter warns woodcutters away from forbidden acts in the forest, such as littering or smoking, and is said to punish repeat offences with a landslide.

Peoples and places

The main tales come from German-speaking regions: Thuringia, Saxony, Silesia and Bohemia. Silesian German names include Pusch-Grohla and Buschmutter, while Bohemian tales speak of 's Buschkathel and Buschweibchen. The Transylvanian Saxons, a German-speaking community in what is now Romania, tell of Baschgrîs, Baschmôter and Baschäinjel. There the figure is a wood sprite with shaggy hair, large fiery eyes and big teeth. A dishevelled person could be called Baschäinjel in nineteenth-century Transylvania. The Baschmôter also appears in white to woodcutters.

What people believe

In this folk belief the forest is populated by beings with their own rules. The Buschgroßmutter is neither wholly kind nor wholly cruel; her mood decides the outcome. She is usually alone, but sometimes leads a troop of Moosfräulein, described as her daughters. When fog covers the hills in spring or autumn, the tale says she is cooking. An April hailstorm with veiled mountains means she is crossing them. During holy nights she is said to travel with her daughters in a small cart, and country people keep clear of the route.

When it is done

Her appearances are tied to rare times. She is said to show herself once every hundred years. The holy nights are the season when she roams with the Moosfräulein. Fog on the hills in spring and autumn is read as her cooking, and an April hailstorm with mountains hidden in cloud is read as her crossing them. The Transylvanian Baschmôter is met by woodcutters at their work, especially when they do something forbidden in the woods.

How scholars and sceptics see it

Nineteenth-century mythologists tried to fit her into a larger pattern. Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Mannhardt made her the leader or queen of the moss people, close to an elf queen. Ludwig Bechstein identified her with Hulda and Bertha, figures then read as ancient goddesses and ranked with recorded Germanic goddesses. Friedrich W. Schuster made the same kind of claim for the Transylvanian Baschgrîs and Baschmôter, linking them with the Norse Hel. By the early twentieth century this approach was dropped, and the figures were treated as crude woodland spirits instead.

Compare and confuse

Buschgroßmutter belongs with the moss people of German tales, and her daughters are called Moosfräulein. Regional names vary: Pusch-Grohla and Buschmutter in Silesia, Buschweibchen and 's Buschkathel in Bohemia. The Transylvanian Saxon equivalents are Baschgrîs, Baschmôter and Baschäinjel. Nineteenth-century writers also tied her to Hulda and Bertha, but that link was later set aside. The English phrase 'shrub grandmother' translates the German name.

Questions people ask about Buschgroßmutter

Good reading and sources

• Buschgroßmutter on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data