Also called Mare, Mære, Maran, Night-mare.
The tale
The mara is a being, often said to be a woman whose soul leaves her body at night, who sits on sleepers' chests and "rides" them, causing bad dreams and breathlessness. She could slip through keyholes, tangle hair and ride horses to exhaustion in the stable. Ynglinga saga tells that the Swedish king Vanlandi was trampled to death by a mara sent by a sorceress. Our word nightmare comes from her.
When they are met
- at night
- during restless sleep
Staying on their good side
- folk remedy: shoes placed with toes pointing away from the bed
- a knife or steel under the pillow or a sickle over the bed, in older custom
- a calm bedtime routine
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Old custom blocks the keyhole and turns shoes toward the door before sleep.
- If sleep paralysis troubles you, talk to a doctor; the old tales are a way people made sense of a real, common experience.
What their tales teach
- understanding sleep paralysis folklore
- comfort at night
Symbols
- a weight on the chest
- tangled hair
- a keyhole
- a sweating horse at dawn
Sources
- Snorri Sturluson, Ynglinga saga 13
- Kvideland and Sehmsdorf, Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend
More Norse folklore
- Huldra The hidden woman of the forest
- Nisse The little old man of the farm
- Draugr The restless dead of the sagas
- Trolls The old dwellers in mountain and stone
- Valkyries The choosers of the slain
- Fossegrim The fiddler beneath the waterfall
- Nøkken The fiddler in the still water
- Myling The spirit of the unburied child