|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Grim Reaper |
|
The Grim Reaper is a well known
figure in English folklore, representing death and illustrated as a skeleton wearing
a monk like habit and carrying a scythe. Some believe that the Reaper causes
a person’s death by visiting them, others that he is more of a psychopomp, a
benevolent figure who serves to gently sever the last ties between the soul
and the body, and who guides the deceased to the afterlife. |
|
In England, a personification of death featured in medieval
morality plays and was often referred to in traditional folk songs. However,
he only came to be called the Grim Reaper in the late 1800s, the earliest
known reference being in the 1847 book, ‘The Circle of Human Life’ by the
Rev. Robert Menzies. However, mythical personifications of death go back much
further in Anglo Saxon English folklore. In common with other Germanic
peoples, death was originally the realm of the goddess Hel and her name is
still associated as a place where the dead go. However, in the Saxon
worldview, her realm of Hel was not a place of fiery torment as it became in
medieval Christianity, but rather a place of renewal and rebirth. Like the
Hindu Goddess Kali, Hel was portrayed as being both white (life) and black
(death) and having a beautiful face (life) and as a skeleton (death). Another Germanic tradition around death was that of Odin
and Freya who each collected a portion of warriors fallen in battle in order
to build great armies for the final battle of Ragnarok.
This is more of a later Norse myth and we can’t be
sure how much of it the Anglo Saxon English recognized, but it is interesting
that Odin was also known as Grimnir which means the
hooded or masked one. Odin was also seen as a psychopomp and so there are
some distinct similarities between the two that suggest some form of
continuity in mythology. |
||
