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Altar Guardian (Making of)

Some time ago, I posted about the North German practice of the Bannkorb ((Spell)Binding Hive), a beehive adorned with a human face, which is supposed to keep evil spirits and honey thieves from a group of beehives.

While researching, I came across a publication by Aladin Borioli, who took some stunning photos of extant examples in German museum collections. I cut some of these out from a brochure of his publishing house (spector books), which I plan to frame and hang in my flat.

I’ve been thinking a lot about binding practices and how in different spiritual practices figurines and statues guard holy and sacred places. Since I felt such a resonance with these hive-figures, I wanted to create a miniature Spellbinding Hive for my Altar Space.

I collected a whole bunch of dandelion stems, that had already gone to seed and hung them up to dry. Once they were nice and crispy, I began braiding them into one long braid and startet sewing it to itself.

I’m currently in the process of forming the basket-structure. The next step will be to form the face/mask and attach it to the finished miniature hive.

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Die Fraiskette / The "Frais"-Chain

The „Frais“ or „Fraisen“-Chain (ger. Fraiskette, Fraisenkette) is a type of amulet similar to the rosary. Until the 19th century it was common in the south of Germany, specifically in the region of Bayerischer Wald.

Wearing the Fraiskette around the neck was supposed to ward off evil, spirits, ghosts and protect from witches as well as the “Frais”, which is a historical Bavarian term for a type of epileptic fever or seizures in general. The chain was commonly given to small children – hung around the bedpost or placed beneath the pillow – and adults, who would wear them around the neck.

The chain was made from attaching a mostly uneven number of charms to any type of string, twine or chain to form a necklace. According to some sources this stems from the believe that there were 77or 99 different types of fevers one could suffer from.

Examples of charms used are animal bones, teeth, claws, antlers as well as fur, (semi-precious) stones, snail- and seashells, coral, coins or rosary beads, or metal charms like the mano-figa (ger. Neidfeige), saint-amulets and crosses. Each charm was used for their respective properties, that could vary from region to region. Oftentimes the strap used was of a red coloration, to enhance the warding power.

The Fraiskette was not the only type of charm against the Frais-Fever, other wards were Frais-Stones, -letters, -bonnets and -shirts (for small children), -keys, as well as the Fraisbett, where a necklace of snake vertebrae or (coix lachrima) seeds was placed beneath a pillow. This indicates that the Frais was common enough for people to fear it and find a variety of remedies.

The Fraiskette might also be related to the charivari, which is still used today as ornamentation on the bavarian Lederhose.

Image source: “Angebliche Fraiskette […]”, around 1750, South-Germany/Austria, Objekte zu Religion Frömmigkeit und Aberglaube from the collection of the historical society of Neuburg, via https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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Der Bannkorb / The Spellbinding Hive

The Bannkorb or Spellbinding Hive was a special kind of beehive used in Northern Germany, especially the Lüneburger Heide between the 16th and 19th century. The form is that of an historical hive, made from braided straw and cow dung, to which a carved wooden face was added.

Between every group of regular hives one of the Spellbinding Hives was placed, to ward off the evil eye, bad luck, ghosts, plague or – as some believe – to scare the non-suspecting honey thieve, who would come during the night and spot a face between the other hives, and so abandon his pursuit.

The mouth of the mask would serve as the bee’s entry to the hive. In some examples the whole hive was formed like the torso of a person, but more regularly they took the form of the usual hives, to which a mask was fastened.

I couldn’t find much information about these online and I wasn’t sure of the terminology in English. There are some books about these I might invest in, if I find them sold somewhere.

In German this type of woven beehives are called “Beuten”, and the Bannkorb is a “Figurenbeute”.

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Burning of the „Hanserl“

Happy Summer-Solstice!

I had a bbq and bonfire with friends today, I ate a lot and feel full of love.

In southern Germany, especially in Upper Bavaria, the time around 21. - 24.6. is when villages and communities will have a bonfire for St.Johns Day (Johannistag), where it is common to also burn a puppet of straw, called Hans or „Hanserl“. This is supposed to ward off evil spirits and witches, as well as bring luck and protection in the upcoming harvest time.

I made a little doll from leftover dandelion stems and cotton thread to burn tonight.

Me and my friends (who don’t practice witchcraft) whispered our worries and fears to the Hanserl and thanked him before I placed him on the fire.

He burned quite prettily and I took a video I might turn into a GIF later.

I also burned all my old homemade incense bundles, that I had made years prior. The days around Johannis are particularly good for picking the Johanniskräuter (St. Johns Herbs), and before picking new herbs, all old ones have to be burned since they have absorbed the houses energy and thus lost their power.

In the future I might make a more detailed post about the Solstice traditions in Southern Germany, but for now I’ll enjoy the rest of the night!

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I’ve been working on my own set of prayer beads lately.

In the tradition of catholic rosaries, the beads are made of dried and crushed rose petals, that I combined with high proof alcohol and some rose perfume. I formed the beads with my hands and they came out imperfectly and not really uniform in size and color.

I added a pentagram (or Drudenfuß in German) and a holy Mary amulet, that has a tiny prayer engraved on it.

I’ve been using it rather intuitively as a tool for grounding myself and when I hold it, it smells faintly of roses.