I was looking at some beautiful pictures of Devil’s Postpile, and then I realized that there are a lot of things that the Devil lays claim to (most of them also seem to be in the West):
Devil’s Postpile
Devil’s Punchbowl
Devil’s Tower
Devil’s Lake
Devil’s Den
Devil’s Head
I’m sure there are a lot more, but my Google-fu is weak today.
So what’s the ‘straight dope’? Did early American pioneers believe that the Devil was some giant who left his mark across the land? And wouldn’t referring to these beautiful natural monuments and areas as the property of the Devil go against the belief that pioneers would’ve had about God created the Earth?
The belief is quite old in Christianity and is found in Europe as well as America. Sometimes the Devil is responsible, and sometimes giants or fairies or other supernatural beings. This is the devil of folklore, whose characteristics are a little different than the devil of scripture. Folk tradition has stories about the devil where he’s evil, but also a trickster figure who is prone to making mistakes. As a figure of legend, his mistakes tend to have larger-than-life consequences for the landscape.
There’s quite a lot of literature on the devil in folk tradition — Jeffrey Burton Russell has some good books on the history of the devil, and any basic folklore encyclopedias (Cassell’s, Funk & Wagnalls, Oxford, etc.) will go further on some of the folkloric devil’s distinctive characteristics. Wikipedia’s Devil article mentions the basics.
PS: Folk Motif G303 is “The Devil,” and notes “not clearly differentiated, especially in German tradition, from the stupid ogre.” G303.9.1 is “The devil as a builder,” including
Devil as builder of bridges
Devil as builder of dams
Devil as builder of mill
Devil as builder of walls
Devil as builder of palaces (châteaux)
Devil as builder of churches
Devil builds a road
Devil builds a ditch
Devil builds two islands in a lake
Devil builds an inn for a man in competition with a church being built
Devil builds Mont Saint Michel
Devil helps build Halverstadt Cathedral thinking a tavern is being built
Devil builds a building
Thank you for the speedy and detailed reply! It makes more sense that it’s one of those trickster devils from long ago that’s doing all this Earth remodelling. Though, I have to say, the Bible mentions Jesus was a carpenter… and he’s clearly being outpaced by the Devil. =D
Aut Caesar aut Diaboli, wrote Sir Ruchard Burton of naming things throughout Europe and the Near East, meaning that everything seems to be named after either Caesar or the Devil. It’s not really true – there are plenty of things named after local heros, too – Robin Hood’s Well, King Arthur’s Chair, and so on. But Caesar and the Devil would be famous individuals after whom a lot of thinhgs could be named, especially if they looked nasty. Heck, they’re still at it. Look up The Devil’s Stair as a mathematical entity.
Some folks, like Richard Loewen, see the naming of things as "The Devil
's whatever as some act of neocolonial oppression, submerging native names under the Devil’s appelation, or equating local spirits with demons, but, as Burton’s examples show, it’s just part of a long-standing European (and Near Eastrern) tradition.
People liked the word “Devil” because it sounded dirty, but they could tell the more straightlaced that is a perfectly cromplulent word from the Bible.
There’s Devil’s Hopyard State Park here in eastern Connecticut, named after the numerous potholes in the waterfalls allegedly caused by the Devil hopping around.
There’s also an area on the Farmington River in Connecticut with the picturesque name of Satan’s Kingdom.
Out here, we have several: Devils Kitchen, Devil’s Garden, Devil’s lane etc. I believe that it is caused partially by the rock art of the area. Painted red figures with horns are fairly common.
:dubious: Seems to me that if you’ve got a weird and difficult terrain, it’s pretty fun to name bits after the Devil. There’s no need to be afraid that the Devil actually did remodel the landscape. Besides, after dragging your ox team and wagon over some of that, you’d be annoyed enough to name it the worst semi-respectable thing you could think of.
(And Mormons don’t actually believe that the Devil has horns, or a red pointy tail.)
Other people have pointed this out above, but just to clarify re: belief.
Legends are believable, but not necessarily believed. And by “believable” I don’t mean “logical and scientific,” I mean “you can suspend your disbelief for the duration of the story.” There’s an extensive body of folklore scholarship on just how much people do and do not believe legends (anything by Linda Dégh or Gillian Bennett will do for a start), but the consensus seems to be that people believe in supernatural legends in much the same way that they believe in horror movies: it’s no fun if NOBODY believes, so most people kind of half-believe and assume that there are other people who believe sincerely, and a few people are skeptical through and through.
I don’t know what that means, since I don’t live in Moab. But just because one might choose to have a funny mascot that’s a “Red Devil” in tights and horns, doesn’t mean one actually believes in the reality of the costume. Christians, Mormons included, don’t believe that angels have wings either–it’s called symbolic imagery, and isn’t meant to be taken literally by anyone over the age of 5.
One of the things I recall from Utah is Devil’s Slide:
This is one of those cases where you can see why they ascribe owndership to the Devil – who else would want to slide on it? It’s asl serrated edges and rough rock.
