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Once upon a Hex: A Spiritual Ecology of the Pennsylvania Germans
Stories from Gemany's Rhine valley, Switzerland's cantons, and France's Alsace all play a part in shaping the lore of America's most enduring ethnic the Pennsylvania Germans. Dennis Boyer, a folk tale collector,starts with those roots in Europe and then takes us on a field trip in the American places influence by the people known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. The book reveals the ghosts and spirits that are part of this almost forgotten culture.
- GenresReligion
279 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 12, 2011
Normally, I'm really into collections of ghost stories/fairy tales/culturally or regionally oriented folk-lore.
While this was an alright read, it wasn't the most compellingly written collection I've encountered. I appreciated that the author prefaces each story with information about the source, as well as some personal link to the story or place, but it got over-bearing at times.
I liked that the original narrative of each story was closely preserved; sometimes going so far as to write in the 'accent' of the story-teller, and adding in the interjections encountered along the way. Ultimately, I found it to be a distracting conceit; each story tended to be slightly on the wrong side of 'this is the story' and 'this is about the story teller'.
If I'm reading folklore, I want to know stories, plural, about say The Eulenspiegel, and not several paragraphs about how depending on which valley you're in, he's a baker, or a woodsmen. I'm also not really interested in how someone's Dad told them about The Eulenspeigel, but not until after you turned 6. I want a narrative that runs more like 'When I was a boy, my father told me about the Eulenspiegel...' and then several examples of his hijinks. More often than not, the back-story of each tale far out-stripped the actual tale itself.
While this was an alright read, it wasn't the most compellingly written collection I've encountered. I appreciated that the author prefaces each story with information about the source, as well as some personal link to the story or place, but it got over-bearing at times.
I liked that the original narrative of each story was closely preserved; sometimes going so far as to write in the 'accent' of the story-teller, and adding in the interjections encountered along the way. Ultimately, I found it to be a distracting conceit; each story tended to be slightly on the wrong side of 'this is the story' and 'this is about the story teller'.
If I'm reading folklore, I want to know stories, plural, about say The Eulenspiegel, and not several paragraphs about how depending on which valley you're in, he's a baker, or a woodsmen. I'm also not really interested in how someone's Dad told them about The Eulenspeigel, but not until after you turned 6. I want a narrative that runs more like 'When I was a boy, my father told me about the Eulenspiegel...' and then several examples of his hijinks. More often than not, the back-story of each tale far out-stripped the actual tale itself.
January 25, 2021
Impressively painstaking and meticulously researched, this collection of ghost stories falls between the stools of shirt-tail scholarship and entertainment.
June 7, 2015
Curious collection of ghost stories from the Pennsylvania Dutch. Probably the best, in my opinion, is the foul-mouthed Gray Lady. According to the Kittatinny Mountain Dutch, her "well-aimed cusswords" could blister the paint on carriages. The story also says that she once gelded a banker's stallion with her speech; although, some locals argue that her words just made his parts shrivel up...
Other stories are a little mundane but still offer folkloric insight into local traditions. There's one story about one town's reverence for their scarecrows. They must be burned by Halloween or town folk will experience bad luck. The story gives a brief history of the town and how this tradition first started.
Other stories are a little mundane but still offer folkloric insight into local traditions. There's one story about one town's reverence for their scarecrows. They must be burned by Halloween or town folk will experience bad luck. The story gives a brief history of the town and how this tradition first started.
September 18, 2012
Nice collection of short stories about the supernatural side of Pa German folk ways. The author is from my native county in Pennsylvanis, Berks.
May 20, 2014
Some of the stories are interesting, while others missed the mark.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews