Because we have the original dragon riders, that's why!
Garabonciás are wizards in Hungarian folklore who learn their magic in a school (rings a bell yet?). 13 of them study together, and when their schoolyears are over, they all have to sit on the Wheel of Fortune, and the first one who falls down dies - the other twelve receive magic. Some say it is because they learn their magic from the Devil, and a life is the price they have to pay.
Garabonciás carry their magic in their books (they say this comes from the Middle Ages when any stranger who happened to walk into the village and was carrying books with strange signs in them - traveling students returning from abroad - was supposed to have great knowledge). They constantly travel from village to village; they can bring good or bad luck according to how people treat them. They usually drink milk. Just sayin'.
Garabonciás have powerful magic. They can fly, appear and disappear, bring luck, hunt witches, break curses, see buried treasure, make trees grow to the sky; but what they are most famous for is summoning storms and riding dragons. They can tame dragons that live in the lakes and rivers, saddle them, and fly on their back across the sky, hidden in stormclouds. There are hundreds of tales and legends about them; people used to believe in their existence until quite recently.
Nothing says badass like a tame dragon and a book full of magic.
Thanks for sharing this folklore.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to your challenge run…
--Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
Oh Hungarian myths and lore, sounds fascinating! We have crazy stories in the Romanian culture too (like vampires ;) ) and that's a really great source of inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI know, right?!
ReplyDeleteWe have vampires too, people ask me about them all the time when I am in the USA... :D
Awesome challenge! I'm definitely loving these Garabonciás. Really, nothing does say badass like a book of magic and tame dragons! Excellent post!
ReplyDeleteTalk about being the odd man out! I'm loving all of this Hungarian folklore.
ReplyDeleteI shall post more of it :)
ReplyDeleteinteresting. this sounds like some wizards from romanian mythology, called hultans or solomonars.
ReplyDeletethe hultans don't need to sacrifice someone to gain powers, but they learn it in an underground school of magic, as well from a demon called Uniilă.
The summoning of storms and dragon riding is one of the things they have in common.
But the garaboncias sound more op and have more powers than the hultans, i guess these are the perks of sacrifices lol.
and since they can teleport it makes me wonder why they need to ride dragons xD