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Others already told you the "official" definition, but it seems to me that you are referring to land- and place-wights, or the laundrette.
If that is so, read on, if not, ignore this post.
Landvaettir and Havartitiee the guardian spirits of a place/a home/country. Sometimes it is believed that they can shapeshift into trolls or similar creatures, and that they have supernatural strength or magical powers.
Such are the ones that protect the entire countries, for example Iceland is supposed to have 4 huge ones: a dragon in Vopnafj?r?ur, a bird in the west, a bull in Brei?afj?r?ur and a giant in the south. The four landvaettir can still be seen in the Icelandic coat-of-arms.
The most common wight every believer comes in contact though, are the house-wights, or the spirits of your dwelling. They can be benevolent, protect your home, even help with chores sometimes, but if you neglect them and make them mad at you,they can get mischievous and cause problems. For example, they are known to hide things or overturn pots of liquid. It pays to make regular offerings to your housewights to stay on their good side.
Land Wights are protectors of the land. They can be found in just about any feature of the landscape ? a hill, a rock, a tree, a stream. You can also try to win their favour with a small offering, and sometimes you can get them to communicate with you or do something for you; others are very protective of their place and will try to get you away from there, like for example tangle thorn branches into your feet.
They dwell in places like trees, forests or significant rocks, and if you try to cut down those trees or move those rocks, they can get really nasty. (like for example, your tools would break in your hands, you would injure yourselfs.. and so on.).
I hope this helps!
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Asatru - Heathenism Question?
