12th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy

The twelfth edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy is finally here! This edition happens to be the Halloween edition, and as such, the topic for this edition was on folklore, myths, legends, ghost stories or stories from Central and Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, this edition is smaller than others in the past, but here are the submissions:

First off, we have an article from Jessica Oswalt of Jessica's Genejournal. In A Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale That Goes Well With Halloween ..., she writes about a fairy tale (and of other fairy tales similar to it) that fits more with Halloween than it does with a person's stereotype of the typical fairy tale.

Well, that is it for this edition. The next edition will be hosted by Elizabeth O'Neal of Little Bytes of Life, and the topic for this edition is will be on "What resources are you thankful for in your Central/Eastern European genealogical research?" as a topic, in honor of Thanksgiving. A "resource" could be a web site, book, family member, or anything that has helped with one's research." Submissions are due on November 23, and the edition will be published on Thanksgiving, November 27. You can submit your articles here.

(Anyhow, on a side note, I just realized that I did not create a facebook notice for this carnival, and that is probably why the turnout for this submission was poor. If anyone has any other suggestions for ways that I can increase the number of submissions or suggestions for topics please e-mail me at: jess_history at yahoo dot com. Also, if anyone is interested in hosting future editions of this carnival, please contact me at the e-mail above. Thanks!)

A Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale That Goes Well With Halloween ...

At first, I was not too sure about what I should write about for this edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, but then I decided to write a little about one of the Grimm's fairy tales that I felt fits very well with the Halloween season. I am not trying to pick on the Germans, but when I was thinking of something to write about that fit the folklore topic and Halloween, I remembered that there were a couple stories that would would work. Of course, I should state that this fairy tale is not a typically fairy tale that most of us think of when we think of fairy tales. This tale is creepy, and as such, I think parents should read over the story first before they let their children read it.

So, what is the tale? The tale is called "Fitcher's Bird," and it is a story about a murderous sorcerer and a young woman. You can read a English-translation version here. It is probably too disturbing of a story for young children, but there are a few stories in the Grimm's fairy tales that are similar to that one. Another story that is similar is "The Robber Bridegroom." Of course, there are also less disturbing fairy tales in the Grimm Brothers' collection, and if you would like to read some of the other stories, there are more here.

So, how do I know about these stories? Well, I own a book that has the complete collection of all of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales in English, and I came across these stories when I was reading them. To be honest, before I got that book, I did not know that fairy tales could be that gruesome. Of course, I do not know much about other folklore or fairy tales from other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Do other countries have stories that would fit with the Halloween season? If so, are there any books or sites that I could look into to read some of these stories? Thanks.