In Norwegian legend and folklore in the days before Yuletide, the Oskoreia ride through the skies. This ghostly horde of the restless dead and witches spreads terror through the wintry night sky.
The Oskoreia is not dissimilar to the continental European legend of the “The Wild Hunt”. There is a common root throughout all these forms of the legend and this suggests some antiquity despite the many regional differences.
In the Norwegian tradition, the Oskoreia is most often led by Sigurd and other ghosts of the restless dead, and a female vette called Guro. Guro has some similarities to the Swedish Skogsra, a beautiful forest guardian with a cow’s tail. Unlike, the Skogsra, Guro has a horse’s tail. Similar though, she can be appeased with flattery and may spare those caught by the Oskoreia but any mention of her horse tail and she’s immediately angered.
Those who are unfortunate to be outside when the Oskoreia ride through are taken – some only for a short ride, but others, forever.
There may also be links to the Volsunga Saga from Eddic Poems of Iceland sagas where the ghost leading the Oskoreia, Sigurd might be Sigurd Fåvnesbane and by extension Guro might be Gudrun Gjukesdotter, Sigurd’s wife and in Volsunga Saga. There is no definitive links but in the modern dialect “Guro” is a form of “Gudrun”.
Leanbh Pearson 