The old women from the village always said I have the Kuppelchen.
Mum remembers.
They came to strip feathers for down bedding.
Touring one anothers’ houses to help with the chore.
Mind. Gran interrupts in equal reminiscence.
Your granddad always had to strip the first three feathers.
Lest the bedding compresses.
Something doesn’t sound right.
Something rings a bell.
Something switches on a light,
In the crevices of my porous memory.
Ah ja!
Found it.
The Alb.
The Albtraum.
The Alptraum.*
The Nightmare.
Caused by an evil spirit: Alb.
The creature sits on unsuspecting chests
– Hence the pressure,
Not compression as in gran’s story.
The implicit magic of the protector of the house.
Thwarts the evil of the spirit.
And so he strips the first feathers.
Dutifully, as will all the men, in the other houses.
Lest the bedding compresses.
Old stories change.
Meanings move.
Rituals remain.
Unbeknownst the Why.
Known the Urge
To follow the motions.
Explanations scribbled nonsensically over tip-exed origins.
More appropriate to the logic of the times.
Yet the magic can’t be erased.
Just scratch gently
And the whitewashed layer comes off.
*For more explanation on the Alb: Google Bard
The direct translation of “Alpdrücken” in English depends on the context in which it’s used. Here are the most common interpretations:
1. Nightmare: This is the most common translation, capturing the feeling of a suffocating or paralyzing dream with a sense of oppression.
2. Sleep paralysis: This refers to a state of consciousness while the body is paralyzed during sleep onset or wakefulness. Alpdrücken often involves terrifying hallucinations and a feeling of being unable to move or breathe.
3. Incubus: In folklore, an incubus is a demon that sits on a sleeping person’s chest, causing nightmares and difficulty breathing. While not a literal translation, it conveys the similar theme of a nightmarish entity causing physical pressure
Poetry by Nathalie 