#kloka

But in the morning, as she was getting up, she felt a terrible pain in her face - half of her face was dark blue and covered in blisters. The old woman got very scared, because she realized that she had accidentally scalded a vätte¹ with her hot laundry water. Vättarna² are, as is [commonly] known, little earth spirits that usually appear in the shape of little toads.

They called for a wise old woman³. This woman went from house to house, begging for money - one and a half styver⁴ was called "halvannan peng⁵" - and she should get nine of those.

It wouldn't be acceptable for her to receive the money by any other means than begging. When she had collected the money, she sent the sick old woman out to acquire milk from a cow that was completely red.

Now when the milk had been collected, an offering was made to the king⁶ of vättarna. A hole was dug next to the rock where the woman had done her laundry, and the money and milk was thrown into [the hole]. Then the sick [old woman] had to remain indoors for nine days, and she wasn't allowed to show her face to anyone [that was human].

After nine days, the sick [old woman] was feeling a lot better, and after she had bought lampante olive oil for twelve shillings⁷ and used it to moisturize her face, she soon made a full recovery."

- sägen from Tving, Blekinge, as told by Ebbe Schön in Svenska sägner

¹ land wight

² land wights

³ one of the kloka; a practitioner of traditional folk medicine

⁴ a coin of low value

⁵ lit. "one and a half coin"

⁶ Ebbe Schön notes that the king might have been added to the sägen by the person recording it, but that the description of the offering is consistent with how traditional folk medicine was practiced. He writes "The curing [ritual] is, like so often within folk medicine, complicated - [because] this will make it more potent. The number nine, that is three times the magical number three, seems to be of vital importance in this ritual. "

⁷ Swedish shillings, skilling

Bonus: pictures of (some of) the traditional cow breeds that originate from Blekinge/southern Sweden:

Ringamålako (Ringamåla cow)

Granemålako (Granemåla cow)

クローカのチョコレート🍫

My personal thoughts on cats is that they are amazing and I love them.

In Scandinavian folklore, cats are associated with luck and misfortune, which might sound contradictory, but it actually isn't that strange when you look into it. But first: history.

Freja has a chariot that is pulled by cats. Cats were quite rare in Scandinavia until the 11th or 12th century, and some have suggested that the cats were added by Snorri. However, archaeological finds suggest that cats were sacred, or at least of religious importance¹. Cat skulls were placed under the foundations of houses. Cat skeletons have been found in graves. There's also evidence of cats being raised for their fur.

Anyway. Cats have been associated with the "feminine" sphere, that is the house, home etc. This might be the reason why they are associated with luck. However, it might also be one of the reasons why they are seen as bad omens.

We have the generic black cat thing. If you meet a black cat, or if a black cat crosses the road, you need to spit three times. And so on.

The devil could take the shape of a cat. Typically a gray or black one. Witches could also turn into cats, or use cats in their magic.

Näcken could also shapeshift into a cat (usually a white or black one). And if you sacrificed a black cat to Näcken on a Thursday night, he would teach you how to play the fiddle. One of Näcken's many names is Strömkatten, meaning "the stream cat'.

Interestingly enough, maran would also take the shape of a cat sometimes. The size (huge, like a calf or a dog) and the colour (usually gray) might give you a hint, but you could never be too sure about any cat!! Better be careful!

Cats could turn children into mares, or werewolves. If a cat crawled under a coffin, and then under the bed of someone giving birth, the child would become a mare. (Or a werewolf, depending on who you're asking.) Sometimes it only took a cat looking at the crib for the curse to set in. In other regions, the cat had to sleep in the crib with the child for this to happen. According to other traditions, you could 'put' children's diseases onto a cat by placing the cat in the crib, next to the child. ('Putting away' diseases was a common strategy in Scandinavia's traditional medicine. The disease would be transferred from a human to an animal or a tree.)

Either way, it was important to make sure that the first animal the baby touched wasn't a cat. If the child touched a cat first, it would affect their ability to heal from injuries.²

At the same time, cats (as well as their body parts and feces) were commonly used in the traditional medicine. Kloka (practicioners of traditional Scandinavian folk medicine) were supposed to have black cats as pets, according to some sources.

Some people cured their sick cows by rubbing a cat against the sides of the cow. If a cow didn't enjoy her life on the farm, throwing a cat at her three Thursdays in a row would help, according to some sources. (Don't try this at home.)

But in Nysätra, Västerbotten, medication lost its effect if you used it when a cat was nearby...

Cats have a strong association with rain: If the cat eats grass, it will rain. Same thing goes for when cats are scratching on trees, when they are lying on their backs, or when they groom themselves in certain ways. (Though in other regions, like Österbotten, the same grooming was perceived as a sign that there soon would be guests arriving to the house.)

Shooting a cat was a bad thing to do. It would ruin your gun and rob you of your 'hunting luck'. Harming a cat would bring you all kinds of misfortune. But in Västmanland, people chopped off the tip of the cat's tail, because they believed that it would otherwise bring home snakes.

But cats were also lucky animals! White cats and tortoise shell cats are considered to be extra lucky.

Cats bring the luck with them. If you give a cat away, you need to get something in return (like a low value coin), otherwise you give away the luck with the cat.

Farmers in Småland and Halland believed that keeping the cat well fed would make sure that all of the other farm animals would thrive. This belief might be connected to the belief that cats were friends with the trolls.

When moving to a new house, people often let the cat in first. If it ran back out again, this was considered a bad omen. If it stayed, the home would be happy and prosperous. According to some versions of this tradition, the cat would absorb or get rid of all the 'evil' that could potentially be residing in the house.

One of the dialectal names for cowslip is kattstövlar ('cat boots')

Catsfoot is called kattfot in Swedish. I guess both languages saw them as thought PAWS.

The reflection of the sun is called "solkatt" ('sun cat') in Swedish.

I could go on, but let's save some for another day.

¹ Anna Janulewicz: Katten i graven: En arkeologisk studie av tamkatter i svenska vikingatida gravar

² Carl-Herman Tillhagen: Folklig läkekonst

Other sources:

Isof

I didn't know that telling people to stay out of a closed Swedish practice went against the grain, but yeah, the practice of kloka has always been closed.

And honestly, that's probably for the best. Some parts of this tradition have the potential to cause so much harm if used incorrectly. Like, people could actually die from it.