The Wilis are ghostly beings, originating in the Slavic and Central European tradition. The nature of the spirits varies depending on the tradition. In Serbia, they are maidens cursed by God while in Bulgaria, they are girls who died before their baptism. The earliest literary description of the Wilis appears in Heinrich Heine's De l'Allemagne in 1835. In this work, Wilis are described as the spirits of young women who died before marriage, often at the fault of men. They arise from their graves at night wearing long white dresses and veils, sometimes decorated with flowers, indicating their bridal innocence. Wilis are restless spirits who were not able to satisfy their passion for dancing during their time on earth, so they spend their nights luring men into the forest, forcing them to dance to their deaths.
The most enduring iteration of the Wilis is in the ballet Giselle. In the second act of the ballet, Giselle, having died from grief after discovering her love, Albrecht, was betrothed to a noble woman, joins the Wilis under their queen, Myrtha. Giselle and the Wilis lure Albrecht in the woods and force him to dance to his death. As shown in the image attached, the Wilis hold their arms as if they are cradling a baby - choreography that represents the children they were denied from having during their lifetime.
Beautiful, yet merciless, the Wilis send a cultural message about the importance of marriage and childbearing in 17th-19th century central European culture.
Interesting! I had never heard of Wilis. I like that you pointed out how they are used to regulate/ encourage women to marry.
ReplyDeleteI find the fact that they are used, more or less, as a tool of control very fascinating. Sort of like Doctor Huber was saying, is that the Wilis seem to me like agents or tools of patriarchy in a manner of speaking. As you pointed out, in Bulgaria, they were also a tool of scaring women into getting baptized.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to me how many religions have these sorts of demons which serve as a sort of sexual tempting force, that apply to only men. Lilith is a very funny example of this to me because she was originally just the female version of the tempting Lilu demons, demons which sexually tempted both men and women, but throughout Jewish history was changed to be a demon who exclusively sexually tempts men.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how dancing turns into a form of punishment in the supernatural context, reminiscent of the phrase, "dance with the devil", where movement becomes inescapable and fatal. This also reflects how folklore uses female spirits to represent unfairness in love and death.
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