Hello this is the blogger antimonite. Ive decided to start blogging on geology in English again. But not here, since blogsome screws up so much. You can fins my new blog at sandbian.wordpress.com - Its newly started and will be about mostly geology from Sweden. Hope to see old and new readers!

/Daniel

I have several Belemnites in my collection. They are quite common here in the south of Sweden and most of them date from the Cretaceous deposits (few Jurassic deposits here).

Nordic folklore and mythology refered to the Belemnites as “Vätteljus” – Candles of Wights. Wights are some sort of small mythological people or spirits that people on the countryside used to fear back in the 19th century and before basically. People thought that these “candles” where left behind after the wights have danced in a certain place. People also thought that these candles could protect them from curses and spells from the wights themselves. The vätte is related to the pagan "tomte" and the "nisse" (two creatures thats the model for the modern illustration of Santa Claus "army" of helpers)

I have two questions. Are belemnites common elsewhere in the world, and is the small one on the photo below really a belemnite despite its different color and shape? An adolescent specimen perhaps?

Picture below: A real life Vätte (also known as "Tomte" or "Nisse".)