Applied Anthropology Profile: Margot Errante, Award Winning Photographer

Portrait of Margot Errante

Margot Errante has led an interesting and cosmopolitan life.  Born and raised in Italy Errante has lived throughout Europe and Asia, both working and studying abroad.  She holds an undergraduate degree in Chinese and French Translation with an emphasis on Ethnolinguistics, as well as a Masters in Cultural Anthropology that she earned at Yunnan University in China.  She landed in China as a result of her first job as a travel photographer.  Her editor charged her with photographing and learning more about the local people, and she jumped at the opportunity.  Her past and current photographic work has been widely influenced by people, and she credits her cultural anthropological work as providing her the insights required to better understand the socio-cultural complexities of the people she captures on film.  Her body of work is not just related to photography but ethnographic film and a television series picked up by CNBC.  Errante made the transition to artistic photography as a result of 15 years of her work being stolen.  This traumatic experience caused her to shift her attention away from reporting to capturing the artistic essence of her subject, which was already present in her photojournalistic work.  Her photographs have been on display in galleries throughout Asia and Europe, and she has won various photography prizes.  It is through her ethnographic study and cultural immersion that Errante knows how best to capture the essence of her subjects, thereby enriching the subject matter of her work.  

 

Bibliography

Errante, Margot. MargotErrante.com. 2020. Electronic. 8 December 2020.

Ramakrishnan, P. "A Woman’s Eye: Margot Errante." 4 May 2018. Prestige. Electronic. 8 December 2020.

Zhang, Jing. "Margot Errante: The anthropologist and photographer on finding stillness, overcoming darkness and her return to Italy." 5 November 2020. Prestige. Electronic. 8 December 2020.

 

 

Jólakötturinn: The Yule Cat

Artistic depiction of the Yule Cat (Source: Frostyknowsbest)

 

Do you or have you ever received socks for Christmas?  Ever wonder why your family exchanges pajamas the night before Christmas?  Ever gotten the death glare for being ungrateful for that sweater someone knitted and gifted you for Christmas?  All of these seemingly benign traditions might actually be steeped in a larger cultural myth that comes from Nordic and Icelandic groups, specifically related to a monstrous Christmas creature known as the Jólakötturinn, or simply the Yule cat.  Today’s blog post will explore the myth of the Yule cat, as well as address the history and motivations behind this odd belief.

 

The Jólakötturinn is identified as a gigantic cat that towers over buildings and roams through the Scandinavian countryside throughout Christmas.  It is part of a series of Christmas monsters known as the Grýla, supernatural creatures that haunt the region and wreak various types of havoc, mostly eating naughty children.  These supernatural entities were first documented in the 1800s, although their origins stem back to the Dark Ages or even before when the Vikings populated the area.  It is believed that the original monstrous Christmas creature as not actually a cat but instead a goat, but as goats became less prevalent and cats took over the creature changed to a cat to match the social and physical environment.

 

The Jólakötturinn’s sole purpose is to eat naughty children who did not receive new clothing either before or at Christmas.  According to Icelandic tradition new clothes were gifted as a reward for good behavior, meaning the absence of new clothing, particularly among children, was a mark of disobedience and a poor work ethic.  It is also told that families that could not afford to give their children new clothing would actually have richer members of the society provide those clothing to them.  All in all the purpose of this myth was actually to encourage obedience among children and a distribution of wealth within communities.  Given that Iceland and Scandinavia get incredibly cold around Christmas time it makes sense that new clothing should be shared at this time to provide for the basic needs of individuals for their survival in the cold, harsh winters. 

 

While the Jólakötturinn story may seem harsh it is in line with other Christmas traditions that exist throughout Europe, such as the tale of Krampus who would steal naughty children away, and the United States, wherein Santa Clause would gift coal to naughty children.  Ultimately, these tales reinforce the cultural ideals that dominate the Christmas season: good will and charity, as well as those more cultural specific, such as work ethic among Scandinavian groups.

 

Bibliography

Lewis, Danny. "Each Christmas, Iceland’s Yule Cat Takes Fashion Policing to the Extreme." Smithsonian Magazine 19 December 2016: 1. Electronic.

Staff Writers. "Do Icelanders really believe in a giant evil child-eating Christmas Cat? ." Iceland Magazine 27 November 2018: 1. Electronic.

Su, Minjie. "The Yule Cat of Iceland: A Different Kind of Christmas Tradition." n.d. Medievalist.net. Electronic. 7 December 2020.