Mythical creatures of the ancient Slavs

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The mythology of the Slavs is colorful and varied. Ancient Russia included many tribes, and each of them had "their own" mythical creatures unknown to neighboring peoples: all kinds of banniks, ovinniks, anchuts and others. The Rus endowed the heavenly bodies and natural phenomena, mountains, trees and reservoirs with supernatural abilities. Ancient mythical creatures accompanied our ancestors everywhere: at home, in the field, at the stable, on the road, on the hunt…

Goblin

Goblin seemed to be a tall, shaggy old man. The Slavs believed that he kept the forest and all its inhabitants, protecting trees and animals from uninvited guests. Goblin loves to play pranks - to confuse the traveler by showing him the cherished mushrooms. But if you seriously piss him off, he will get angry, lure him into the wilderness!

Some researchers believe that the image of Leshy was reborn from the image of the ancient god Veles - the patron of pastures and cattle, steppe and forest animals, the giver of hunting luck.

Brownie

In every hut there certainly lived a Brownie - the keeper of the hearth, who cares about the well-being and prosperity of the whole family, guarding livestock and crops, helping to find the lost. Perhaps Brownies are the mostnumerous mythical creatures. Pictures with their images, various sayings and proverbs, fairy tales and songs speak of people's love for little owners.

It was customary to feed the good-natured Brownie, leaving all sorts of goodies in the kitchen at night. Especially loves Brownie porridge seasoned with butter. Everyone tried to live in harmony with the house keepers, not to anger them. And it’s easy to get angry, by the way: it’s enough to run the house, not to take care of order, to offend household members and animals. Then blame yourself! Oh, and the good grandfather-Domovoy will take revenge for such a disgrace!

Kikimora

In the view of the ancient Slavs, Kikimoras are evil mythical creatures that live in every home. But, unlike Domovoys, they do not help the owners, but on the contrary: they confuse yarn, spoil the tow, disturb sleeping children, torture cattle, break dishes … Kikimora was represented as a gray-haired, hunched old woman, with a long nose and a nasty squeaky voice.

Water

The Lord of the river and lake depths - Water - can be merciful to a person, for example, help in fishing. But if you make him angry, he will take away the fish, hide the fords, dry up the streams. Or maybe drag it to the bottom. How to annoy the Waterman? And it's very simple: litter on the banks, throw unnecessary trash into the water, thoughtlessly devastate the we alth of reservoirs.

Mermaids

Vodyanoy's helpers. The ancients believed that these mythical creatures were the souls of children who died unbaptized. According to another version, mermaids becomedrowned women. In Russia, mermaids were represented as young girls with long lush hair and pale skin. It was believed that at night they go out to dance on the shore. By the way, they did not have any tails. The week before the holiday of God Kupala was called Mermaid - at this time the girls left gifts for the mermaids on the shore: multi-colored ribbons, beads, patches.

Serpent Gorynych

One of the oldest creatures. His former name is Triglav. The task of the Serpent was reduced mainly to the abduction of young maidens. Many historians believe that the image of the Serpent arose due to the raids of the steppes, who took the girls captive.

Baba Yaga

Yaga is not just an old sorceress living in the forest in a hut on chicken paws. She was considered a guide from the world of the living (Yavi) to the world of the dead (Nav). By the way, Yaga's hut acquired chicken paws only thanks to Soviet cinema. Initially, the word "chickens" meant something completely different. Before the adoption of Christianity in Russia, the dead were burned by placing a domino (coffin) on a fire. So that the deck with the body of the deceased does not warp, it was propped up with special legs - chicken. This word has the same root as "fumigation" - slow burning. So the hut of the mystical Yaga received such a funeral attribute - chicken legs.

In old fairy tales, Yaga almost always plays the same role: he torments the main character with riddles and soars in the bathhouse of the main character, supplies him with all sorts of magical things (sword-hoarder, invisibility hat, boots-walkers) or guidingattributes (a ball, for example), and then - lets go. Beyond the threshold of her hut, a mystical path begins, full of trials. All these manipulations are also associated with the ideas of the ancient Slavs about death and the afterlife.