Trolls, tompten and the healing nature of Christmas magic
At Christmas we are very aware of those who are no longer with us here on Earth - our beloved spouses and partners, our parents and grandparents, some close friends and, so sadly, sometimes even our own children. One defense for this sadness is to think about happy times. So here we are, very close to Christmas Eve, and I am full of such thoughts.
A month or so ago, I ordered four books, all stories about Scandinavian trolls and tompten (elves), including two copies of the illustrated book by John Bauer, the artist famous for his paintings of the lives and exploit of trolls, troll families and their encounters with humans. These beings are a big part of Scandinavian Christmas decorations. So the tompten decorations are out and about here in my house.
Two of the books are gifts and two are gifts to me. I already have quite a collection of Scandinavian folk tales. But these are very nice additions.
Trolls and tompten are central in Scandinavian folk tales and mythology. It's all just imagination and fantasy of course, but trolls are alive and well in these folk tales. And they play a big part in understanding nature, especially in the forests and in the lakes that dot the landscape.
I got to thinking about all this because in a recent call from my granddaughter, Tara, she was remembering about the troll stories we used to read them as children, and how the stories felt magical to her, and how she enjoyed and valued that experience. She said how she's tried to pass this on to her own young son, Asher, who is about 3 now. She reads him the troll storybooks I sent him when he was born. She wanted him to have this same sense of imagination and magic.
She told me a cute story that sums it up. Recently she bought a birthday gift for Asher and hid it up in a closet where he could not get it. But he knew it was up there. One day she found him sitting in front of the closet very upset. She asked, "What's wrong?" He answered, "My magic didn't work!" He had tried to get the gift down by his magic! So I see she succeeded. And of course he got his present.
My nephew Ritchie is also very interested in these folk tales and read them to his children when they were young. He even tracked down the Bower book on the internet and bought it for them. So sweet.
As in human society, some of these mythical creatures are better than others. But tompten with the red hats are basically nice and helpful as long as the people are good to their animals. They help with chores around the barn and the household and feed the animals. But they cause mischief if there's any bad or negligent behavior on the part of the humans. There's a good message in that.
The point is: Here we are at this special time of the year and we all could use a little Christmas magic. There's great hope in the next generations - our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. That's a pleasant and cheerful thought. So as I'm preparing to make a holiday roast leg of lamb, I am comforted by that thought.
My beloved Baheej loved his grandchildren so much, and I wish he could know his great-grandchildren and great-nephews. He probably does. Merry Christmas to all.
• Susan Anderson-Khleif of Sleepy Hollow has a doctorate in family sociology from Harvard, taught at Wellesley College and is a retired Motorola executive. Contact her at sakhleif@comcast.net or see her blog longtermgrief.tumblr.com. See previous columns at www.dailyherald.com/topics/Anderson-Kleif-Susan.