Hello Mama Lisa:

I just found your wonderful website and am hopeful someone there can help me find the following information…. I have been trying to research this question now for almost three years!

The Story of the Man in The Moon – the Italian version… the character’s name is pronounced something like (AIR-IT-TEY), not sure of the spelling… phonetically something like… Erite, Aeritei, Eretei?

I would love any help you and/or your readers could be in solving this mystery for me…

Thanks, Debra

If anyone can help Debra with the Italian name of the Man in the Moon and/or any other info, please let us know in the comments below. I think it would be fascinating to learn what the Italian legend of the Man on the Moon is all about.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

Japanese people do dress up in costumes and celebrate the holiday with Halloween parties. Though they don’t go out trick-or-treating like the Americans do.

Japan’s scary monsters are called yōkai. Yōkai has come to mean demon, spirit, ghost or monster in Japanese. Yōkai are found in Japanese folklore.

The oni are one of the best known yōkai. Oni are demons which are often depicted as fighting the samurai heroes. (Interestingly, they’re also an important part of the Japanese holiday called Setsubun. It celebrates Springtime on February 3rd. The tradition is to chase out the demon oni from your house. People chase away men disguised in demon masks, by throwing roasted soybeans at them.)

Another popular yōkai is the kappa. The kappa resembles a turtle and likes to challenge humans to sumo fights! But if you’re smart, you can outwit him, and get out of the dual.

Check out The Obakemono Project online to learn more about the different yōkai monsters.

Happy Halloween!

Mama Lisa

*****
Image info:

1st image – Ōkubi by Toriyama Sekein c. 1779 (Ōkubi are Giant Heads of Men or Women that appear in the sky when a disaster is about to happen)
2nd image – Oni from the Cleveland Museum of Art
3rd image – Kappa by Toriyama Sekein in the 18th century (with a bit of editing by Mama Lisa).

The rhyme is associated with a custom called the quaaltagh. The quaaltagh or qualtagh is actually the first person who steps foot into your house on the morning of the New Year. Young men would go from house to house singing the rhyme on New Year’s morning. After singing the rhyme, they’d be invited inside for food and drink. For superstitious reasons, it was important that the boy or man with the darkest complexion enter first – that he be the quaaltagh. It’s considered bad luck for a person with light hair to be the first to enter a house in the New Year.

Here’s the rhyme:

Again we assemble, a merry New Year
To wish to each one of the family here,
Whether man, woman, or girl, or boy,
That long life and happiness all may enjoy;
May they of potatoes and herrings have plenty,
With butter and cheese, and each other dainty;
And may their sleep never, by night or day,
Disturbed be by even the tooth of a flea:
Until at the Quaaltagh again we appear,
To wish you, as now, all a happy New Year.

Happy New Year to all of you! Remember on New Year’s morning to have the person with darker hair and complexion enter the house first and be the quaaltagh. It’s considered good luck that way!

-Mama Lisa

The song below ends with the tomtar showing up at the door. The question is, are they there to help or hinder?

Here’s the song Tomtevalsen (The Elf Waltz) in Swedish, followed by an English translation and the midi tune.

Tomtevalsen
(Swedish)

Lilla lisa i sitt kök
Rustar till et värre stök.
Suckar bittida och sent
Aldrig får man rent.

Från sitt allra sista golv
Trött honn somnar då

Men när klockan den slår tolv
Knackar tomten på

The Elf Waltz
(English Translation)

Little Lisa sits in the kitchen,
Preparing for a difficult clean-up.
Sighing, early and late,
Never will she clean.

From the back of the room where she sits,
Tired, she dozes off.

But when the clock strikes twelve,
The elves come knocking.

Midi tune of Tomtevalsen

Ed Gawlinski sent me this song. He was the director of a Santa Lucia festival for over 20 years. He told me that this song was sung by the 4 year olds who dressed up as tomtar (elves) for the performance.

Many thanks to Ed for sending me this song and the midi, and to Jason Pomerantz for helping with the translation.

-Mama Lisa

In Sweden the tomtar are an important part of Christmas. The tomtar are a kind of tiny, benevolent elf or gnome. There are many holiday songs about them. Here’s one called Tomtarnas Julnatt – The Gnomes’ Christmas Night – in both Swedish and English followed by a YouTube recording of the song.

Tomtarnas Julnatt

Midnatt råder,
tyst det är i husen,
tyst i husen.
Alla sover,
släckta äro ljusen,
äro ljusen.

Tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp, tippetippetipp tapp! Tipp, tipp, tapp.

Se, då krypa
tomtar upp ur vrårna
upp ur vrårna,
lyssna, speja,
trippa fram på tårna,
fram på tårna.

Tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp, tippetippetipp tapp! Tipp, tipp, tapp.

The Gnomes’ Christmas Night

Midnight reigns,
It’s quiet in the houses,
Quiet in the houses.
Everyone sleeps,
The candles are put out,
Candles put out.

Tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp, tippetippetipp tapp! Tipp, tipp, tapp.

Look, there comes
The gnomes out from the corners,
From the corners,
List’ning, watching,
Sneaking on their toes,
On their toes.

Tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp, tippetippetipp tapp! Tipp, tipp, tapp.

“Tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp, tippetippetipp tapp! Tipp, tipp, tapp” is the sound of the tomtar tiptoeing around on their small feet.

Many thanks to “Whendin” for the great video and to Leif Stensson of Project Runeberg for contributing and translating this song!

-Mama Lisa

Come visit the Tomtarnas Julnatt page on Mama Lisa’s World for a longer version of this song and more about the tomtar.

The term “little people” also refers to fairies. They’re usually seen as being mischievous. Sometimes they’re considered to be good, sometimes bad. Fairies are usually hard to see, I believe because they don’t want to be seen – at least not by adults!

This all ties in with an email I received the other day from Joy Barlow, who wrote…

I really enjoy your site and have found a couple of things that bring back memories. I’m looking for “The Little Man that Wasn’t There”. It’s a poem about who spills the milk and does all those naughty things that the kids always say, “I didn’t do that.”

Joy’s description of a little man fits in very well with the description of a fairy. Yet I can’t find a poem or rhyme that talks specifically about a little man who wasn’t there.

I did find a poem about a man who wasn’t there…

As I was walking up the stair
I met a man who wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there again today.
I wish, I wish he’d stay away.

This one was written by Hughes Mearns.

It seems there’s got to be another little man out there who’s been written about in a poem or rhyme. If anyone is familiar with this poem, please let us know in the comments below.

Meanwhile, watch out for the little man who isn’t there. He is supposed to be mischievous after all!

-Lisa

UPDATE: There’s a song called “The Little Man Who Wasn’t There” from 1939. It was based on the poem above. At different times, it was sung by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, Mildred Bailey, Bob Crosby & His Orchestra, and Jack Teagarden.