Sanguanél, Salvanèl, Mazariol, and Mazaròl
Continuing recent essays about quirky northern Italian stories, here are some intertwined creatures that roam through their folklore. These particular stories, not very well known in English sources, touch upon memory loss, losing one’s way, and environmental concerns.
Sanguanél and Salvanèl
The first little creature has two slightly different characteristics and spellings. The Sanguanél originated in the Veneto Region, and the Salvanèl hails from the Dolomites of Northern Italian Alps.
The Sanguanél is described as a lively and mischievous elf or gnome, and he wears a red cap. When wandering through the countryside he leaves a trail of footprints that always lead deeper into the woods.
If a man happens to step into those footprints, that individual cannot veer from their path and cannot stop walking. In spite of exhaustion or hunger, the unfortunate man will end up forever lost.
A woman however is in almost greater peril. Should a female step into the footprints, she will soon give birth to a monster.
The Salvanèl is a little different. Sometimes a diminutive elf, he is dressed in red from head to toe. Other versions of the story affirm that he is a larger and powerful man-creature, covered in hair or fur.
In either version, elf or hairy man, he can cause people to lose their way. Although not always malevolent, he is merciless to those he believes have harmed the forest or nature.
The Salvanèl has a back story. According to legend, a girl with long blonde hair lived in “Val di Non” (a real place), and found herself mysteriously with child. As her pregnancy advanced, her neighbours watched her with growing suspicion; perhaps she was not a regular girl after all, maybe she was a witch.
The girl was frightened by what her neighbours were thinking about her, so she ran away, deep into the mountains until she reached a peak called the Ozol. There she hid herself in a crack in the rocks until her child was born.
She named him "Salvanèl" and dressed him only in red. The boy grew into a man with a thick black beard.
He walked about only at night; the locals rarely saw him and he was feared for that reason. Still, he was not always a cruel creature, and was known to help those in trouble, particularly the elderly.
Except… he could not abide with anyone who harmed any part of the natural world, and if he saw someone abusing plants or animals, the abusers would be in mortal peril.
The Mazariol or the Mazaròl
The Mazariol has a different history. Also from the Veneto region, he too was a creature dressed in red, wearing a pointed hat and pointed shoes. His face was deeply lined, his beard and hair were long, and his expression was forbidding.
He was a solitary individual, walking the woods and valleys alone, only minding his sheep and goats. But should someone step into his footprints, that person would lose all memory of the way home.
What makes the Mazariol stand out historically is his possible tie to real history. It is said that he saved the town of Oderzo from Attila and his Huns by upsetting and frightening the encampment of soldiers during the night. Even today it is said that during the nights of a full moon, the Mazariol sails a raft in the Piave River and sings “I am the Mazariol who defeated Attila, the Scourge of God”. In reality the town was sacked by Attila in about 452 CE.
In the Italian Alps, our protagonist is slightly different: As the Mazaròl he was an old man dressed in red with a large ugly hat and a black cape. Sometimes considered benevolent and sometimes not, he could be cruel. Disobedient children were kept hidden under his cloak.
If you stepped into his footprints, you would be enchanted and forced to march to the Mazaròl’s cave. Once there, he would give the unfortunate person a drink of milk from a black goat, at which point the person would forget everything about themselves.
According to one old story, the Mazaròl would occasionally kidnap people and turn them into his slaves. A young girl from the village of Primiero crossed his path, and he blew into her face. At that moment, inhaling his breath, she forgot everything about who she had been and so remained in his service for many years.
The Mazaròl taught her to make butter and cheese. He promised to teach her where to find wax and how to use whey, but he never found the time to do so before a hunter from her village spotted her and brought her back home (shades of Little Red Riding Hood and the hunter/woodsman who saved her!).
The villagers tried to help the girl remember who she was, but nothing worked until she drank the milk of a white goat (as opposed to the black goat mentioned earlier). She immediately remembered everything — who she was and what had happened to her. In gratitude to the villagers for having liberated her, she taught them how to make butter and cheese, but they say that in the town of Primiero, they still don’t know where to find wax, and what to do with whey.
Would you like to read other posts? If so, please click the Home Page link below:
You, Dear Reader, are much needed and appreciated.
Everything written requires a reader to make it whole. The writer begins, then you, dear reader, take in the idea and its image, and so become the continuation of its breath. Please subscribe so that my words can breathe. Consider this my hand, reaching out to yours.