Everyone has experienced a nightmare at least once in his/her life. People have found various ways to interpret the meaning of these dreams, but this is not the subject of this entry.

Have you ever wondered what the word nightmare means?

It is pretty obvious where the 'night' part comes from. This is quite easy; we usually sleep at night, so this is the time for a nightmare to occur.

But what is a mare? A horse? No, certainly not.

There are similar words in many languages like mara (dän.), mahrt or mart (north Germany), and even the german Albtraum (Alb=elf; Traum=dream) is closely connected with it. The mare is one of the first spirits to appear in Germanic mythology, and equivalents can be found in legends all over the world. The mare is an evil creature which comes at night to torment sleeping people.BR/>The mare enters the room through cracks or keyholes, sits down on the body of the sleeper and presses on his breast or throat, so he can neither breath nor scream: this is called elf-pressure. To accomplish the same purpose, it may also put its tongue into the throat of the victim. The sleeper is frightened, tornmented and can even fall ill or die because of the mare.

Animals such as horses can also be tormented by mares; they sweat and snort, their hair gets matted. Sometimes elfes may ride these animals, or even humans, who are often turned into horses for this purpose. The nightmare is therefore also called mare-ride. Plants or stones can be tormented by an elf, as well; the shaking leaves of a tree, or its stunted branches show the elf's pressure.

The mare can leave a room only the way it came in. If somebody blocks the hole, it is caught. The same thing can happen if someone calls its name. Then it shows it's real appearence in the morning.

The shape of the elf varies a great deal: it may be an animal (a dog, cat or worm), a monster, or a human with features of living or dead relatives, old women or young girls. The mare may cause terror one day, and be be loveley the next.

Very important for legends is the idea of the mare as an elf who has sex with mortal people, men and women. They come from their far away home for a union with humans. Many legends of gods and mortals ¹ or fair elves dancing in the woods at night for young men, or even Lohengrin² are the descendants of mares.

If the sleeper finally awakes he gets rid of the mare. The mare can be banished by a sound from outside, an early morning call, the cry of the rooster, a shaft of light, the arrival of dawn, or anything else which wakes sleeping people. Therefore mares often dislike light and disappear when other people enter the room. When the victim of a nightmare awakes with a cry, it may hold a pillow or some straw in the hand; this led to the belief that elves can turn into straw, a feather or similar substance, and can be cought in this shape. If cought in this manner, the mare finally has to turn into its real shape again, and can be banned, punished and/or put out of action. The outcries of the sleepers led to the legend that the elf has to leave when somebody calls its name. This is the reason why people who marry elfs are not allowed to ask for their name or race.
From this legend evolved the belive in ghosts and human fantasy saw the faces of dead or living relatives in the mare. Thus, the mare had to be a soul. But if the mare was not known to the dreamer its home was thought to be somewhere in nature: the woods, the fields or even on the wind. That's why ghosts can torment people, too; they are the descendants of mares.

The mare can also be the soul of the sleeper himself. The soul may come out of the mouth of the sleeper in the form of a dark cloud, or an animal, such as a mouse, and then leave to torment another sleeping person³. But if someone tries to wake the soulless sleeper, he or she may die, and the soul may never return to the body. This led to the later believe that the soul can turn into the shape of various creatures, such as black dogs or horses, so that every animal you see might be a travelling soul or an ominous ghost. Odin's soul, for instance, could turn into a raven. In later mythology, he had two ravens called Hugin and Manin⁴.

The mythological aspects of nightmares are closely connected with two of the most important phenomenons of human believes: ghosts and souls. They are the roots of many legends, although this roots are often hidden under the surface of a story.
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