Kurenti in Slovenia Dondolashi in Croatia Bushari in Baranja Koledari in Serbia Kukeri in Bulgaria Mechkari in Macedonia Kolednicy in Poland Kolyadniki in Ukraine Okrutniki in Russia
Important part of the Slavic winter solstice celebration were masked processions. Younger men, clothed in animal fur, carrying horns and bells would march from village to village throughout the region, making an extraordinary amount of noise, fueled in part by the wine provided by the locals. Their primary task is to scare away evil spirits, and bring fertility to household. In this zoomorphic costumes they would represent ancestors, who came from otherworld to celebrate beginning of the new cycle with the living. In the time of winter solstice cult of ancestors and cult of vegetation are heavily intertwined.
Ooooh, we love this! There are veeeery similar costumes, characters and celebrations that still survive in very different zones of Europe, that are clearly remains of a very ancient and common religion or rite.
See how similar masked characters we have in Euskal Herria:
In mainland Greece, too, we have similar “monsters” and rituals in various areas!
Sometimes the bride (usually played by a man) is abducted and it’s said to be a remnant of a re-enactment of the abduction of the goddess Persephone by Hades.
In other areas, the Dionysiac character of the festival is accentuated by the presence of a man who pretends to be the god of wine, vegetation, happiness, Dionysos.
“My friend Taylor was a beautiful, fun, down to earth girl. Sweet as can be and always willing to help a friend in need. She had been playing ouija board, non stop for a few months straight. Sometimes it consumed her entirely. A few girlfriends and I went to her house to hang out & have a few drinks. Taylor suggested that we play ouija board, and we all agreed. Taylor turned off all the lights and lit candles. She had been drinking heavily so at this point she was really drunk, and slurring her words a bit. We all got ready & put our fingers on the patchulet, Taylor stops us before we start and looks each one of us in our eye.. She breaks the silence by saying “before we start, you have to say you don’t believe in God” .. We were all very confused.. We looked at each other not knowing what to do or say. She said it again, but this time with a bit more aggression. I remember the room becoming heavy… I felt something in the room but kept quiet. We finally started the game, active almost immediately. Taylor was obsessed, it was like she was in some kind of trance. The rest of us were creeped out, and one girl walked away saying she was done. We made contact with an angry spirit, who, when asked, said he wanted Taylor… Whatever that meant. It answered questions to situations that had happened to each of us. Stuff that only we would know the answer to. Taylor seemed out of it, and we asked her if she was okay, she didn’t respond to us. She just sat there staring off in front of her, and her muscles started to spasm a little bit. The air in the room felt thick & heavy.. I felt an energy in a dark corner behind me and felt a tug at my shirt. My 2 other friends and I got scared and decided we were also done playing the game. Taylor suddenly snapped out of her trance.. Eyes full of anger.. She slammed her hand on the table and said “we are not done here… Don’t you fucking walk away from this table” it didn’t seem like Taylor at all! It was like something had taken over her. We were all pretty spooked so we grabbed our things and left. Taylor blew out the candles and stood in the doorway, staring at us in the dark until we drove off. That was one of the creepiest ouija experiences I’ve ever had. A couple weeks later, Taylor cut off all her hair, jumped on a freight train and literally became a hobo. She has never been the same since that night, and she hardly comes around anymore.. She has completely lost it, I’m not sure whether or not the board is to blame.
*I tried to make this story very short and to the point so there were some details left out*”
You want to be delivered of your fears, doubts & scars you only have to believe in Christ. Follow this deliverance video, close your eyes and trust in the Lord and you will be delivered guaranteed!!! But you have to believe that He will set you free !
Rusalka(rus. русалка, the etymology is controversial), plur. “rusalki” (русалки) — female spirits associated with the water areas in slavic demonology, perhaps, one of the most well-known and complex сharacters in slavic folklore. Theoretically, there is a huge group of slavic female mythological characters, which could be called “rusalka”, but in this description I have concentrated on the most famous “classic” version. Even though legends and theories on rusalki’s provenance and entity are numerous and controversial, most of the sources categorizes them as “unholy dead”, noting, however, their origin from much more ancient beliefs in kind water spirits. Being reborn as unholy dead (in this case, from the girls, who died before getting married, from drowned ones and suicidals), rusalki are known for their hostile attitude towards people, as much as for their playful and exuberant temper. It was believed, that walking nearby their territory all alone could be really dangerous — rusalki loved tickling to the death and drowning unfortunate strangers, collecting in this manner young girls and kidnapping lads they liked. Moreover, unlike most of the characters in slavic mythology, rusalki are known to be very sociable and live in groups, which makes it even harder to escape their treachery. Those facts, however, did not prevent people from practicing numerous divinations involving rusalka. Besides, it was believed that certain herbs would scare of rusalki, along with other evil spirits. Despite the common misapprehension (created by western culture influence), rusalki did not have a fish tail. They could be only spotted by their fairness, partial incorporeality of a spirit and, most importantly, long unbraided hair, sometimes with a strong green color (in slavic culture wearing loose hair had sacral meaning and was unacceptable in everyday life).
P.S. I could go on forever on this theme, for the descriptions of rusalka (as it was mentioned) are very controversial and tend to wary depending in a region.
“I’d like thank grad school for a seemingly limitless supply of terribly qualified henchmen, who are at a point where they unquestionably follow the orders of a possessed shaman’s mask.”
At that time, John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” When the men came to the Lord, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind. And Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
So mosaics weren’t in the cards for all Roman citizens, so there were MANY ways to dispel the evil eye and spirits. May I introduce you to the tintinnabulum ie penis wind chimes.
Why yes, his penis is turning into a dog and trying to attack him.
Ok let’s start here I guess? More of a novelty procurement than anything else.
“The Lesser Key of Solomon” by S.L. MacGregor Mathers & Aleister Crowley
I don’t subscribe to western religion or Christianity. I’ve found bits and pieces of things that make sense to me from various classes of religious thought and yet none as a whole make sense to me. So why not dive into some hermetic texts too?
Does the Ouija Board really communicate with spirits or is it just a harmless game?
The first advertisements started to appear in papers by 1891: “Ouija, the Wonderful Talking Board". The board was described as magical because it answered questions “about the past, present and future with marvelous accuracy”. It’s price was $1.50.
The Ouija board (pronounced Wee-ja) is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, numbers 0-9, and the words “yes”, “no”, and “hello”, “goodbye”. The invention of the original design in still unknown.
The Ouija board was, at first, regarded as a harmless parlor game. It’s popularity grew out of the strong American 19th century obsession with spiritualism - the belief that the living are able to communicate with the dead.
The first patent was granted in 1891 to Elijah J. Bond as the inventor. Bond’s sister-in-law, Helen Peters (who was reportedly a “strong medium”), is credited for naming the board. While using the board, they asked what it should be named. The word “Ouija” was spelled out and when asked what that meant, the board replied, “Good Luck.”
To this day, mainstream religions and some occultists have associated the use of the Ouija board with the threat of demonic possession and have cautioned their followers not to use them.
Many believe that evil spirits, disguising themselves as deceased friends or family members, can trick the users of the board and unwittingly invite “them” into their homes. To be rid of such hauntings, Ouija “experts” advise either to burn the board or dispose of it in a lake since spirits supposedly cannot cross water.
