The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #123578   Message #3170212
Posted By: GUEST
13-Jun-11 - 10:57 PM
Thread Name: Folklore: The Devil The Color Black
Subject: RE: Folklore: The Devil The Color Black
Poster is Lady Jean.
As a child I was partial to "Hot Stuff the Little Devil" comics. They were produced by the same people who did Casper the Friendly Ghost and Wendy the Witch. Hot Stuff and his large devil family (He had a number of aunts and uncles, I remember.) were all red. Though Hot Stuff wore a white diaper.

Saint Perpetua dreamed that she overcame the devil, "In the guise of an evil Egyptian". Evil being the important qualifier.

Cotemporary stories of the devil, showing up at dances, squiring girls to parties, or joining in on a Sunday poker game, all have him as a handsome man, no race mentioned. In the older stories, he's recognized by his cloven hooves. In a more recent story, he gives himself away by floating above the floor.

Christian tradition gives the devil and demons cloven hooves. Jewish tradition gives them goose feet. I'm not sure what that says about the different cultures.

I do know that, when I found cloven hoofprints in my back yard, I planted daisies and St. John's Wort near them, just to be on the safe side.