Rå

In Scandinavian folklore, a rå (in Swedish) (pl rår), is a spirit who is the keeper or warden of a particular location or landform. The rå is known both in Nordic culture and in the Sami culture, where it is called radie.

It was important for humans to cultivate good relationships with them, since they had power over the natural forces and animals under their care, and could cause both good and bad luck for humans who interfered with the places and creatures under their watch.

Types of rår

The different species of rår are sometimes distinguished according to the different spheres of nature with which each was associated, such as skogsrå[1][2][3] or huldra (forest), sjörå (freshwater)[4] or havsrå (saltwater), and bergsrå (mountains).[5]

In accordance with old belief systems, every object, animal, and plant had its own rå or spirit which protected it. A rå could also have jurisdiction over places and items owned by humans, such as skeppsrået (rå of the ship) and gruvrået (rå of the mine).

Gender

Though specific individual rår depicted in folklore, such as the skogsrå and the bergsrå, were typically described as female, in general the rår could be both masculine and feminine.

See also

References
  1. Granberg, Gunnar (1935). Skogsrået i yngre nordisk folktradition. Skrifter / utg. av Kungl. Gustav Adolfs akademien för folklivsforskning, 99-0440828-9 ; 3 (in Swedish). Uppsala, SV: Lundequistska bokh. SELIBR 321677.
  2. Hultkrantz, Åke, ed. (1961). The supernatural owners of nature: Nordic symposion on the religious conceptions of ruling spirits (genii loci, genii speciei) and allied concepts. Stockholm studies in comparative religion, 0562-1070 ; 1. Stockholm, SV: Almqvist & Wiksell. SELIBR 541848.
  3. Häll, Mikael (2013). Skogsrået, näcken och djävulen: erotiska naturväsen och demonisk sexualitet i 1600- och 1700-talens Sverige (in Swedish). Stockholm, SV: Malört. ISBN 978-91-978751-2-7. SELIBR 13887591.
  4. Nationalencyklopedin, multimedia plus, 2000
  5. Grimberg, Carl; Åberg, Alf (1960). Svenska folkets underbara öden. 4, 1660–1707 (in Swedish). Stockholm, SV. SELIBR 8074835.
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