In modern medicine, the Latin word “pestis” (literally “infection”) means such a terrible disease as the plague. Pesta is probably the most creepy creature created by the folk imagination, which is found in the myths of northerners, mainly Danes and Norwegians. The fear of a plague epidemic during the Middle Ages was so strong that characters personifying this disease began to appear in the folklore of European peoples. In the north of Europe, such a creature was called Pesta.
As you know, plague is a disease characterized by a very high infectiousness and a huge number of deaths. There are two main types of plague - bubonic and pneumonic; fleas are carriers of the causative agent of this infection (the so-called "plague bacillus"). For humans, rats are especially dangerous, their nests can be foci, a kind of incubators, from where infection occurs. At the time of the emergence of the myths about Pest, the death rate from infection with the plague reached almost one hundred percent. Despite all the efforts of the then doctors, it was extremely rare to stop or at least localize the epidemic of this terrible disease.
In addition to the fact that the plague does not leave the sick person a chance of survival, the course of the disease is accompanied by a very serious general condition, with fever, damage to the lymph nodes, and often the appearance of abscesses. The most famous case of a plague pandemic in history, called the "black pestilence", occurred in the period from 1346 to 1353, when, according to various sources, up to sixty percent of the population of Europe was destroyed. Repeated outbreaks of the epidemic occurred until the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, they were no longer so large-scale.
It is not surprising that this kind of disaster led most people to search for the "guilty", exacerbate religious fanaticism, identify "witches", "sorcerers" and other "distributors", destroying which, the population tried to ward off "God's punishment". Also, these events contributed to the emergence of various superstitions, new beliefs, in some regions - a return to pagan rituals. In a word, panic-stricken people tried to find at least some kind of protection from imminent death.
Death triumph. Painting of 1562.
In the fall of 1348, the plague reached Norway. To the locals, she was presented in the form of Pesta - an old woman wrapped in a black robe, holding either a broom or a rake or a pitchfork. If the inhabitants of the Norwegian village saw a broom in the hands of Pesta, no one had a chance to survive, the settlement died out completely. If the old woman came with a rake, this meant that about half of the inhabitants would die. In most legends, Pesta, as befits a messenger of death, has an ugly, repulsive appearance, exudes a stench and emits a dreary, terrifying howl. Less often, the old woman appears as a faceless creature in black, silently standing at the village outskirts or city gates. Having collected his harvest in human lives, Pesta moves to the next settlement.
Among the many monsters of Scandinavian folklore, Pesta holds a special place. The emergence of such a character, not related to traditional Scandinavian mythological creatures, such as trolls or alves, was caused by the fear of an invincible and ruthless enemy in the face of the plague. After the appearance of Pesta in Norway, the population of this small country in a short time decreased, according to some sources, by more than half.