The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

I had heard a friend refer to "Jokul Frosti" but when I went searching around I couldn't find any source info for either that or Jack Frost.  Does anyone have any starting points for the myth origins?

From what I could find there's no real references to Jack Frost earlier than a couple of hundred years ago. Jack Frost may simply have started as another name for "Father Winter/Old Man Winter."  Catja might know more as folklore is her speciality.

Sorry if this ones been covered before- I searched and only found references to Father Winter.

I had heard a friend refer to "Jokul Frosti" but when I went searching around I couldn't find any source info for either that or Jack Frost.  Does anyone have any starting points for the myth origins?

 
Off the top of my head, there doesn't seem to be any myths--that is, sacred stories--about Jack Frost figures. The folk narratives I know are all Russian variants of ATU tale type 480, "The Kind and Unkind Girls" (abused stepdaughter is sent on errand, is kind to supernatural being and gets rewarded; true daughter is sent out, is rude to supernatural being and is punished), with Grandfather Frost (Morozko) as the being in question. Incidentally, it was meditating on these types of stories that led Vladimir Propp to develop his "31 functions" method of fairy tale analysis: he realized that in all the stories of this tale type, it almost never matters whether the supernatural being is Morozko or a leshy (forest spirit) or a talking bear or whatever, because their *specific* nature as Morozko or leshi or talking bear or whatever is not in play--what matters is the ROLE they assume within the story. So, in the folklore material I'm familiar with, Morozko/Jack Frost is noteworthy because of how UNSPECIFIC he is. There's also the literary figure that shows up in 19th- and 20th-century stuff, but he seems to be more a poetic conceit than an actual *being*.

Great topic! I have been trying to research this for a while, but probably came to all the same dead ends that you have.

The only reference I have found *in the last while to Jokul Frosti is this one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokul If you go down to the Kari section he is briefly mentioned.

*I used to have another great link on my old computer, but when it died so did all the stuff I had on it....... :mad:

Good but sad to know! Thanks!