A very common figure in Hungarian folktales is the magic horse or táltos. It carries the hero or heroine to all kinds of adventures, can fly, talk, give advice, and occasionally fight. Táltos is also the same word we use for shamans, or people with shamanistic knowledge (see the Daughter of the Táltos King in my new folktale collection), so it is not a far reach to connect the figure of the horse-spirit to more ancient symbols.
And then, there is the fact that they eat embers.
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| Illustration by Jankovics Marcell |
(Do not try this at home.)
But... why would you feed fire to your horse?
Researchers have been arguing that the táltos horse is a metaphor for the shaman's drum that carries its owner to other worlds during a ceremony. One of the main arguments for this connection is that Central Asian shaman drums need to be held above fire to tighten the skin on them. "Feeding embers" to the horse is therefore symbolic for a shaman getting their drum ready for a spirit journey.
The more you know.
What an interesting symbol! I’d love to read some of these folktales. There are, of course, magical horses in other countries’ folktales, but I haven’t heard of the fire eaters before.
ReplyDeletehttps://suebursztynski.blogspot.com.au/2018/04/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-2018-e-is-for.html
This is beautiful. Something I've never heard of before.
ReplyDeleteEnd of the World by McFly
Cool! I mean, hot! :-) As always, a massively intriguing post.
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful that you are keeping/recording these folk tales.
ReplyDeleteFolk tales like these must never die and be retold time and time again. The connection between embers for horses and the shaman's drum is remarkable.
ReplyDeleteGreat post thank you! The fire or the dying fire, ie the embers and horse seem to belong and need each other for the skin to be tightened on the drum I checked out your WFT myths, I had a good laugh! Thanks for that too ..
ReplyDeleteYou made me think of the fire mares from Krull :) - not so much a folktale, but I bet it nicked all sorts of things from them :).
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings - Movie Monsters
I love seeing how real historical and ethnological connections can be the basis for magical stories... but I also like to keep the stories simply magical. Because magical horses that eat embers are a lot cooler than plain old drums!
ReplyDeleteI need a horse like that.
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Horse = drum - interesting metaphor. I remember the story of the talking horse in the Goose Girl, even when its head it cut off, it still talks to the heroine. No eating of embers, though.
ReplyDeleteSophie
Ghostly Inspirations - Sophies A to Z
Could the horses that are fed fire then breath fire? That would be cool ;-)
ReplyDeletehttps://iainkellywriting.com/2018/04/05/e-is-for-echternach-luxembourg/
Very interesting. I love anything about horses and that metaphor is fascinating. Shamans are fascinating. Great post.
ReplyDeleteAll these folktales are fascinating. So different from any I've read before. I imagined the embers would have been a way to turn a horse into a dragon!
ReplyDeleteThis is utterly fascinating. I always think of embers as a sort of between state bridging one element and another.
ReplyDeleteWill be looking at embers very differently from now on:)Thank you.
DeleteLoving the illustration and the shaman connection, especially the bit about holding drums above fire --dream like and all magical, yet somehow seems as real as ancient wisdom.
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What a fascinating connection between drums, shamans and horse and embers. Thoroughly enjoying your A to Z.
ReplyDeleteA tale to tell around a fireside! Enjoyed this :)
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I love the idea of something that eats fire. Normally I would run from such a thing but having a steed powered by a belly full of embers is totally metal.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you back here in the challenge. That image really grabs my attention. Gives "being on fire" a new meaning.
ReplyDeleteWOW. This one seriously rocked me, I love the idea of the drum eating the embers -- I love collecting little nuggets from other cultures, and that may just wind up in my novel somewhere!! (With credit, of course -- you know how big on credit I am!)
ReplyDeleteJamie Lyn Weigt | Theme: Odds and Ends Dragons | Writing Dragons
Fascinating. I have read this kind of character, I crearly remember the feedign of embers, though I dont' remmeebr the story. And I love the symbolism.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I'm so behind with reading blogs. This year the challenge has been particularly hard for me, due to hectic work schedule, but I'm working on catchng up... though it'll be in May.
Loving your series.