Creatures Of Slavic Mythology: Beautiful And Frightening

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Slavic mythical creatures: beautiful and frightening

Slavic myths were inhabited not only by childishly naive and kind brownies, stupid kikimors and water ones. In the bestiary of the ancient Slavs, there were many creatures that were no less frightening than the ancient gods of Lovecraft.

Mythical creatures of the ancient Slavs

The night lady, or midnight, is an evil spirit who was portrayed as a gloomy and ugly woman with dark skin. Among some peoples, the bat was also endowed with long and sharp claws, and in the territory of modern western Belarus it was believed that it could turn into a black hairy worm. The midnight lady came, as you might guess, at night. She was hostile towards people, especially children. It was believed that it was she who was responsible for children's crying at night, screaming and poor sleep.

Usually, myotis did not come alone, but two or three individuals

But you shouldn't think that during the day the Slavic man had nothing to be afraid of. Midday (noon) personified a dangerous, sultry period in the middle of the day, when the sun beats down so much that it can easily take the life of a Slav who has worked in the field. It was believed that she killed offenders of the midday rest on the spot, cutting off the head. For the children forgotten on the street, noon also felt no pity - either she killed them, or she took and put a changeling.

Midday was usually presented as a blonde girl with a sickle, with which she cuts off heads.

By the way, about changelings. These characters also appear in Western mythology, for example, among the Anglo-Saxons, where fairies are mainly in charge of replacing children. In Slavic mythology, changelings are also found, and almost any other mythical creature can leave them. Changelings are werewolves who take the form of a child and take its place in the home. It was believed that a changeling could be distinguished by a bad or abruptly changed character, soreness, increased or decreased appetite. Most societies did not condemn abandoning such a child. Therefore, if there were already too many mouths in the family, then the parents could declare one of their children a werewolf and leave them in the forest. And it's really scary.

Baba Yaga is a much more versatile and interesting character than you might think. She repeatedly changed her hypostasis from positive (assistant and advisor) to negative (cannibal, evil witch) and back. In the broadest sense, this character represents a connecting link between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Baba Yaga is a wise woman (not necessarily an old woman) who knows how to cross the border between the worlds and be a guide for the hero. No wonder she has one leg - bone.

In a negative guise Baba Yaga often kidnaps and eats children

There were many brownies in Slavic mythology, and they differed among themselves by "specialization". There were also classic brownies living inside a residential building and helping or hindering the hostess. There were also barns living in barns and sheds. There were also courtyards - in charge of the local area. The brownie has always been a neutral creature, whose behavior depended on the attitude towards him. It has always been believed that the brownie loves comfort and cleanliness, and the filthy and slothful teases, nibbles, and may even kill. Brownies were often blamed for suffocation in their sleep. It was believed that if it's hard to breathe at night, then the brownie is dissatisfied with something. The next morning, as a "payoff", he was left with a plate of milk and bread by the stove.

In the early version, the brownie is not a compact spirit the size of a kitten, but a large creature that is in charge until the owners of the house can see

There were also numerous werewolves in Slavic mythology. The most famous of them are wolves. These are people (usually healers or sorcerers) who know how to take the form of a wolf. Unlike the Western concept of werewolves, the Slavic wolf, as a rule, retains free will and reason, but does not know how to talk. The South Slavic peoples mix the concept of a ghoul and a wolf, they often have one character performing both functions (werewolf and blood sucking).

At different times, ideas about the appearance of wolfs have changed a lot - from huge rabid animals to ordinary wolves, which do not betray their belonging to people in any way

Viy is also a character in the Slavic bestiary. Gogol describes it, relying on myths, and the image known thanks to N. V. Gogol mostly corresponds to the ideas of the ancient Slavs. Viy is a creature from the underworld, whose gaze is capable of killing (in this he is similar to a basilisk). His eyes are covered with huge, exorbitantly long eyelids and eyelashes. Viy cannot lift them on his own, and therefore next to him there is usually a retinue of minions (at least two) who lift his eyelids with a pitchfork.

Viy is mentioned in the fairy tale "Ivan Bykovich" as the husband of a witch

Verlioka is a character in fairy tales, where he has a clearly assigned role. This is a typical brute-destroyer, not distinguished by intelligence and ingenuity, but possessing tremendous physical strength. Verlioku was portrayed and described as a man of enormous stature, with broad shoulders, with one eye (it is not specified whether this eye is in the center of the forehead or not), with a hooked nose and a shaggy beard. In the classic tale about Verlioka, he kills an old woman and her two granddaughters with his bare hands, after which the hero (or a group of heroes) kill him using cunning.

Verliok cannot be defeated by relying on strength alone

Kikimora, contrary to popular belief, lived among the ancient Slavs not in swamps, but in houses and courtyards. This creature was a person who died a "wrong" death: a suicide, a baby, the damned. With the external appearance of the kikimora, everything is complicated - she could be described as an ugly old woman, and as a girl with long braids, and as a skinny man or old man. But still, the image of a skinny woman with an elongated face like a duck's, disheveled hair and long arms was fixed behind her. Kikimora usually appeared in houses where something was going wrong. She communicated with the household using knocks or ordinary human speech. But mostly she did not speak, but engaged in all kinds of lewdness - she threw and beat things, strangled the inhabitants of the house in their sleep, frightened children and adults with a sudden appearance in a terrible guise.

Kikimora was usually invisible, and her presence could only be recognized by a suspicious noise in the house.

Slavic mythology is much more extensive and interesting than you can count. Unfortunately, there are very few reliable facts and images of characters, but this is enough to get a more complete picture of the ancient bestiary of the Slavs.