At the end of November I participated in Folktaleweek, an international 'drawing challenge'. For a week I posted an illustration on Instagram every day that was based on a Dutch folktale. Every day had a different theme; birth, ritual, courtship, solstice, death, harvest and dance.
And I really enjoyed doing this! In the weeks leading up to the challenge, I scoured my bookcase and the entire internet (or at least a large part of it) in search of folk tales. Because if you have a choice of all the sagas, fairy tales, legends and myths from all over the world, which one do you choose? In any case, I thought they should belong together, so that they had the same country or culture in common. After much deliberation, I chose Dutch stories. Mainly to show the world that we may not have the imaginative mind of Hans Christian Andersen or the collecting mania of the Brothers Grimm, but that there are certainly stories here that are worth sharing.
I got my inspiration mainly from the book 'Verhalen van stad en streek' by Willem de Blécourt, Ruben A. Koman, Jurjen van der Kooi and Theo Meder. A very heavy paperback that reviews folk tales per province, what a reference work! If you ever thought that Dutch storytelling culture is boring, this book will definitely change your mind.
I finally chose the following eight stories: The Ommelebommelesteen in Urk; The fever tree in Overasselt; The White Ladies in Zwiep; Blowing the midwinter horn in Twente; The blue cloud in Enschede; The foal of Volendam and The hare dance in Garderen. And one more to announce it, The mermaid of Edam.
My plan is to make a book of these eight illustrations, where I rewrite the stories in my own way. And if I ever find the time, I will definitely do that. For now I will tell you two, in short, with my two favorite illustrations. You can find all illustrations here.
In Zwiep, near Lochem in the Achterhoek, three White Ladies live in a clay pit. Farmer's daughter Johanna and Albert are madly in love with each other. However, her father thinks Albert is of too low birth and he would rather see her marry the rich farmer's son Hendrik. To give them both a chance, the father sends them on horseback to the White Ladies' pit where they both have to throw a hair spit into it to defy the white ladies. The one who returns first gets his daughter's hand. 'Hendrik has a faster horse, so he will win' thinks father. But the closer the gentlemen get to the pit, the more scared Hendrik becomes until he turns around. Albert continues, throws the hair spit and is soon chased by a furious white lady. Fortunately, he reaches the farm and the stable doors close just in time. He gets the girl and they live happily ever after.
The second is about blowing the midwinter horn in Twente. This is not really a myth or a saga, but there is a nice story behind it. Because in the east of our country, the midwinter horn is blown from the beginning of Advent until Epiphany. The low, far-reaching and heavy tones keep the darkness at bay and chase away the demons. Because of this, the tradition seems to have its origins in the Germanic Yule festivals and it also resembles fireworks (that is my interpretation 😉).