INTRO:

Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

We are embracing the cold this week, and looking at a folklore figure that most of us in Western countries know, if not by the name I’m using, but by another - but beforehand I’d recommend grabbing a hot chocolate and snuggling up in a big blanket before this episode. 

DESCRIPTION:

Yes, this week we’re looking into one of the personifications of winter - Jack Frost. 

Jack Frost is actually quite a tricky one to summarise and describe for this week, as he doesn’t really have a defined look or appearance that I can reference. However, he is mostly depicted as an elf or sprite like creature that either causes mischief or becomes the hero of the story he is in. 

I’ll go over some descriptions though, most depict him with icy blue hair, pale skin and bright blue eyes, much like the white walkers from Game of Thrones actually. He’s very slim and tall, and usually has a staff of sometimes to use his magic, as well as a paintbrush and bucket of paint. 

He is the very literal personification of winter, and is sometimes a variant of Old Man Winter, another and the main personification of the winter seasons. He’s responsible for the symptoms of the seasons changing over from summer to winter, including painting the fall leaves orange, leaving frost on windows and causing the ‘nipping’ of the icy winds when humans are out in the cold, especially toes, fingers, ears and noses.

However, another one of his powers is to empower people to have fun in the winter months so that people believe in him and bolster faith in him and his counterparts. That’s about it though for a description, he’s a little boring in this section I’m afraid!

ORIGIN:

Onto etymology, now you might be wondering, well his name is Jack Frost because Jack is a name and Frost because he is frosty duh. But actually it’s a little more interesting than that, Jack is an English name, and back in the day, was known as a kind of throw around name much like Tom, Dick and Harry, if you didn’t know what to call someone such as Jack the Lad or Jack of all trades for example. Another monster actually is called Jack, Jack Springfellow from English folklore, who we’ll cover in another episode. The Frost part of his name is just that though, that part is not as interesting. 

But you may be thinking, well Erin, you’ve just said that it was named by the English, but you’ve not told us specifically where this monster is from. Well it’s most likely from Anglo-Saxon and Norse mythology, which is our best guess here - the Anglo Saxons were the old-timey Brits, and we are very heavily linked to the Norse culture back then due to the Viking invasion and also just the proximity and similarities between our two nations. 

However, the first mention of him was in the 1734 book called Rounds About Our Coal Fire which doesn’t have an author listed with it unfortunately. In the first chapter it says ‘when Jack Frost commonly takes us by the nose’ which means that Jack Frost was already established as a folktale beforehand - although, might have just been a turn of phrase rather than a character in his own right. Therefore putting his creation mostly in the hands of the English. 

But we do have the Norse to thank for the potential name sake, which are from two minor gods, Jokul and Frosti, the gods of ice and frost - who were the sons of Kari, or the god of the wind. Kari was one of the three sons of Ymir, the first being that most of the Norse world is built out of - so we think that there might be some links here to the Norse mythos, but there is nothing to actually link them over than the Brits potentially hearing this from the Norsemen, but we do not think that the Vikings were using Jakul and Frosti to personify the nipping of toes in the cold. 

However, it does make sense that we moved away from this folklore that came from the Norse myth, as in Britain our winters did get milder, whilst the Scandinavians are still bitter cold to this day - and the patterns on the windows showing his telltale sign are easier to spot in the dark, and considering Denmark for example, in the winter gets dark at about 2:30pm, it makes sense that the myth might be more prevalent there with the frost giants. 

There are actually other deities that Jack Frost often is associated with, such as Boreas from Greek mythology, who was god of the north wind and the winter. He was known to cause the winter by blowing his ice cold breath over Thrace when winter struck and the seasons were changed by Persphone, the goddess of spring and queen of the Underworld, would depart from her mother Demeter, the goddess of the harvest for the underworld for the winter. Another is Ded Moroz, or Father Frost from Slavic folklore. He would go around on a sleigh pulled by 6 white horses, dressed in furs and protecting you from the winter winds if you were good, or leave you to freeze to death if you were bad. Sound familiar? Yeah, it does, doesn't it. Although a little harsher than the Santa Claus known in the Western world, Ded Moroz is much more associated with St Nick now than Jack Frost, but you can certainly see the original link in folklore. 

So why don’t we hear much about Jack Frost nowadays? Well that’s pretty easy if you’re from a more developed country who experiences colder weather. We now have double glazing in most houses here in the UK especially, but also in Europe altogether if the weather is cold enough, and our houses are very well insulated. This is why we get annoyed when Americans complain about us complaining about heatwaves, because our houses are designed to not let the heat out, and we don’t have aircon because it’s historically not been hot in this country - so during heatwaves, we really do struggle and people do die. So there - we’re not just being British and dramatic!

Anyway, now there is double glazing and better preparation for winter weather - the telltale sign of Jack Frost, the frosty patterns on windows, is no longer possible, unless you’re in a particularly cold place. And yes, of course the cold in your extremities is still prevalent when it’s cold, but not many people would say that it’s Jack Frost nipping your nose anymore - other than Nat King Cole I suppose. 

There is a certain thing about Jack Frost on the internet following the release of Rise of the Guardians, which came out back in 2012, and people were obsessed with his character, especially on tumblr, which was very popular back then. I would recommend that if you do go to look these up, that you have your NSFW filters on if you don’t want to be horrified at what you see, or don’t, but it’s your funeral, sunshine. 

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we have a few - but not a crazy amount this week, but they are actually for Jack Frost, so this is always fun. 

For art, I would really recommend looking into independent stuff this week, although I would also advise avoiding tumblr for this character, it is not a pleasant experience. But my favourite portrait is actually Jack Frost by Thomas Nast from 1865, which depicts him as a soldier in the American Civil War, and is very cool. 

In movies, we have; Rise of the Guardians, Rankin Bass’ Jack Frost, The Ugly Duckling, Jack Frost (1997), Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman, Jack Frost (1998) they are not the same series by the way, Morozko & The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.

For TV, we have; Rosario + Vampire, Jack Frost (1934), Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July & Frosty’s Winter Wonderland. 

In video games, we have ones such as; Scribblenauts, Shin Megami Tensei, Adventure Quest, City of Villains, Granado Espada, OverSoul, Persona, Jack Bros, Guild Wars, Runescape, Magic Sword, Killing Floor, Ragnarok Online, Rise of the Guardians & The Sims Freeplay.

My book recommendation this week is for Winter Tales by Dawn Casey for some lovely winter stories with myths from all around the world, and also The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories: From Hans Christian Andersen to Angela Carter which has a load of different holiday stories if you’re specifically into Christmas stories too.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

Now I’m going to say no for this one, mainly because it kind of proves itself right? It’s more of a personification of winter for kids to imagine causing trouble, much like other holiday icons. I won’t mention who just in case kids are listening. However, I do love the idea of having this mischievous spirit going around causing your ears such intense frostbite you think you’ll never be able to feel them again - that’s fun I guess. 

I used to walk to school back in the day and it was a good 25 minute walk uphill, and I remember walking in a solid -2 snow storm back in like 2009, and thinking that my ears and nose were going to fall off - maybe that was Jack Frost - who knows. 

But what do you think? Did Jack Frost roam the winter skies? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

What an interesting one to cover this week, it’s certainly a little different than something we’d usually cover but it was good for a wintery monster at least - I honestly didn’t think I’d have enough content for this one so I’m pretty happy it’s turned out this way too.

Next week, we’re heading over to Slavic mythology which we’ve not done in a long while and looking at a legendary cryptid, watch out for houses with rooster feet next Thursday as we look at Baba Yaga!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.