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.
He was with you on that night when you got wasted and the evening when you tried smoking for the first time. He is the most handsome man you have seen, always in black, never sober, not that it stops him from driving his fancy cars way too fast. He does it no matter what you ask for, and now seems to own everything and everyone your life consists of - the house you live in, the liquor store where nobody notices your age, the jewellery you wear, your favourite night club, your friends, your thoughts. You ask how you can pay your debt - he chuckles, leaving another bruise on your frail body, and asks for your soul.
Latawce [pronounced la-tav-tse] and their female counterparts latawice [la-ta-vee-tse] were demons believed to be souls of the aborted or stillborn children, but also of people who died suddenly (for example hanged criminals). Originally, they weren’t seen as particularly hostile to people, though could be dangerous due to their restless nature, identified with the unpredictable forces of the wind.
Their appearance was resembling birds, particularly black ones like ravens or rooks. We could interpret that they were shapeshifting in nature, because many tales describe them with human parts (for example face or legs), or even looking like regular people, only with e.g. wings instead of arms. They were mostly night creatures, often arriving with winds, whirls, and storms. People also believed that latawce could die when hit by a lightning.
If bribed with the right offerings, spells and prayers, they could’ve become home spirits and help around the household, for example to guide moderate winds to the windmills. But an offended latawiec could become vicious - in some regions of Poland it was even believed that the fires started by lightnings were caused by these demons, and that they were seducing young people with their irresistible form of appearane, whispering in the winds and eventually driving their victims insane.
Due to the influence of Christianity in Poland, this folk belief was changing over the centuries: for example the origin myth of their creation started including also the unbaptized children. Restless nature of latawce was demonized, compared to devils, and overly sexualized. Still in early 20th century girls were warned not to go out alone on windy or stormy nights, because a latawiec could lure them and force to commit a “sin of impurity”. Over the time, the female verb latawica became even a popular synonym for a promiscuous woman in the Polish language.
The word latawiec in the modern Polish language means also a kite. They are derived from the verb latać meaning to fly.
Wilis,orVilas, are vengeful Slavic witch-spirits; in life they were maidens deceived by lovers and died before their weddings. In death, they haunt the forest from midnight to dawn each night, forcing any man who wanders into their path to dance until he dies of exhaustion. Russian Vilas, like Valkyries, had charge of the rites of death and the guiding of souls. They came to be feared as the angry, dangerous souls of drowned women, who drew into the waters any heedless wayfarer who happened to see them dance by moonlight. (x)
Domovoy (rus. домово́й, literally “[he] from the house”) — the main domestic spirit — the protector of the household and one of the most well-known pagan characters in slavic mythology. Domovoy has numerous names (which is typical for most of evil spirits), that refer to his place of inhabiting, his respectful status among people or his demonic nature. Primordially, the role of the protector of the family and household was associated with the progenitor of the family — a long gone ancestor, but with time all the individual traits had faded, and the generalized image of the spirit-Domovoy has been formed in the popular mind. This fact explains some human-like traits, uncommon for the evil spirits, — according to the legends, it is only a small size, big hands and bare feet that distinguish Domovoy from human. However, is is believed that there is almost no chance to see Domovoy in the flesh. The prosperity, wealth and even health of the family members were thought to be dependent on Domovoy’s will, which is why there were loads of rituals and traditions performed to make Domovoy happy. It was believed that pleased Domovoy would help with household chores, keep the house safe from the rest of evil spirits, predict misfortune. Being tied to a place, Domovoy was unable to leave the house, and that’s why the family (with the help of rituals and gifts) tried to convince Domovoy to join them in case of resettlement. According to the lore, the abandoned Domovoy trapped in the old house might get truly evil (or even insane), bringing harm and danger to anyone entering the house, so moving out of the house with Domovoy was thought to be crucial. Here we can see an interesting parallel withbannik, whose resettlement with the family was also really important.
Sleep well last night? We hope so, because the subject of this week’s Mythological Throwback Thursday might give you nightmares. Nothing to do with us, though: that’s literally its job. Let’s get to grips with the nasty little dream-goblin, the mora!
In modern English, the word nightmare has a complicated etymology, but ultimately shares a root with this creature of ancient Slavic folklore. In Croatia, Serbia and Romania mora were said to be ancient, malicious spirits that visited sleepers and tampered with their dreams.
Some tales reported them to be dark spirits that took on the shapes of beautiful women, that would torment men in their dreams by filling them with desire, siphoning the life from them. More commonly, though, they were thought to be squat, ugly creatures like goblins, that would sit on a sleeper’s chest and cause bad dreams. Ever had that crushing feeling in your chest after waking up from a nightmare? Just saying…
A mora possessed many supernatural powers besides visiting nightmares upon folk. In its spirit form, people believed it was supple enough to enter a room through an aperture as small as a keyhole. Difficult to keep out!
There were however several measures that people thought could work against a mora. Turning one’s pillow over and making the sign of the cross, keeping an upside-down broom in the bedroom, reciting a special prayer before sleep, or leaving a belt on top of one’s bedsheets during the night were all methods used to ward off mora.
These days, we understand the feeling of not being able to move on waking from bad dreams, as if being weighed down by something, is related to a condition called sleep paralysis. While the condition is difficult to track in sufferers, it is known that sleep disorders and other conditions that disrupt REM sleep are more likely to cause incidents of sleep paralysis. The mind perceives the paralysis as a threat, and is inclined to hallucinate a threatening presence to account for the sensation. The mind is a pretty weird thing, when you get right down to it.
Hopefully you’ll be better prepared for bad dreams tonight. Sleep soundly, everyone, and don’t forget to check in next week. We’ll be Hapi to see you!
Kriksa (derived from rus. крик (krik) - scream)akanochnitsa (derived from rus. ночь (noch’) - night) — is an evil spirit in west-slavic mythology. It is believed that kriksa appears from a transformed soul of a witch, in case if she died childless. Apart from the image of long-armed woman in black, nochnitsa could turn into a bat, a worm or any kind of nocturnal birds. Their main trait is to crawl into a house at night and torture the children in various ways, which resulted in cries, insomnia and nightmares. To protect their children from nochnitsas, mothers avoided carrying a child out of the house after the sunset, washing diaper sheets in a water that stayed in a tub for a night and to rock an empty cradle.
When someone says ‘nymph’, this is not what you think. You don’t think upper arms that bulk from the broadness of their shoulders or bodies so heavy with muscle that the earth trembles beneath their feet. You don’t think chlorine hair or five-thousand-calorie diets. You certainly don’t think sweat dripping onto the floor where a puddle has already formed as they settle yet another twenty-kilo weight onto the machine. You think skinny; elegant; desirable. But these women — The Naiads of Greece, Team Iara from Brazil, the Russian Rusalkas — they are not the delicate, fragile flowers of the myths. To them, it’s the feeling of perfecting an inch of a stroke; of that tenth-of-a-second cut off their times after half a year of sweat, tears and vomit; of watching the sun rise over the pool as they finish their first practice of the day… It’s power, not elegance or femininity. They don’t care about the attentions of men. All they care about is winning.
Thevesnaorvesnas were mythological female characters associated with youth and springtime in early Slavic mythology, particularly within Croatia,SerbiaandSlovenia. Along with her male companion Vesnik, she was associated with rituals conducted in rural areas during springtime. In the nineteenth century, Russian peasants celebrated the return of spring on March 1 by going out to the fields, carrying a clay figure of a lark on a pivot which had been decorated with flowers. They sang songs naming the spring season Vesna. The word “vesna” is still the poetic word for “spring” in the Slovene language, as well as Czech and Slovak. Also, vesna (Russian: весна́) is a Russian word for spring. The month February is sometimes named vesnar in Slovene language. In Slovene mythology, the beautiful women called “vesnas” lived in palaces atop mountains where they discussed the fate of crops and of human inhabitants. A magical circle around their palaces kept them from leaving the mountain top except during the month of February, when they would travel in wooden carts down to the valley below. Only certain people were capable of hearing them singing. People who snuck up to their mountain palaces might learn their fates, but risked an unpleasant end if they were caught by the vesnas. [source]
Rusalka, in Slavic mythology, is the lake-dwelling soul of a child who died unbaptized or of a virgin who drowned. They appear in different forms depending on the region in which they dwell. Around the Danube River, where they are called vila, rusalki are beautiful, charming girls, dressed always in light robes of mist, singing sweet, bewitching songs to the passersby. The rusalki of northern Russia are ugly, unkempt, wicked, invariably naked, and always eager to ambush humans. All rusalki love to entice men—the vile to enchant them and the northern rusalki to torture them.
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