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Once upon a time, people believed that good-natured house spirits lived next to them. This evil, unlike demons, never harms its neighbors in the house. And if the owners like the home spirit, it can help to cope with household chores, warns of changes in life.
Once upon a time, brownies were revered and loved, because they were believed to support the well-being of the family.
10 Looks like
This spirit can take on different forms. He was also seen in the form of a cat, dog, chicken, bear, owl. He can transform into the owner of the dwelling. But he himself is an incorporeal and wingless spirit.
Most often, people see a brownie in the form of a little old man with a gray beard, overgrown with wool in a rich family, and naked in the poor. The hair on his head and in his beard is matted and long.
He can walk both with his head uncovered and in a large shaggy hat. He is always barefoot, but never appears without clothes. The brownie wears a long white or red shirt, and on holidays he puts on a blue caftan and girds himself with a red belt. If he is shown in black, this portends trouble.
9. Origin
There are many legends and tales about the origin of this spirit. According to one of them, brownies are fallen angels. Once God, because they turned away from him, threw them to the ground. And those that fell into people’s houses became brownies.
According to another version, it becomes a deceased relative. This is either the ancestor of the family, or a man who departed to another world without repentance. There was a belief. If a woman deliberately dropped her child while no one saw it, at the age of 7 he became a brownie. They also believed that the first inhabitant of the new house would later become this spirit of the dwelling.
8. Where lives
The place that this good-natured spirit has chosen cannot be occupied, otherwise you can get sick, it is not allowed to put some things on them. He loves warmth, so he often settles near the stove. But it can also live at the doorstep, in the attic or in the basement.
Often he moves to the stable. He takes care of the horses that he likes: feeds, braids, cleans. Animals that are not to their liking, he begins to torment, can bring to death.
7. What does not like
The people always respected the brownie, they were afraid to offend. Therefore, they tried not to pronounce his name just like that, without purpose.
The brownie does not tolerate goats, as well as mirrors. Angry at those who go to bed near the threshold. He also does not like whistling, he can leave the house where they like to whistle.
He does not like it when household members smoke. He gets angry if the owners leave unwashed dishes in the kitchen. He can’t stand lazy people.
6. What does
The brownie has a lot of things to do: he guards the house, cleans it, goes after the cattle. He could predict the future, warning the owners of misfortune in advance. Like any evil spirit, the spirit can kidnap children, especially if they were cursed by their mother. Once upon a time, if you had to stay in a house with an unbaptized child, a fire burned in the house all night.
The brownie helps in everything, wakes up when a thief gets into the house or a fire starts. The well-being of the home depends on it. He can shift the lost thing to a conspicuous place or close the open gates.
5. angry brownie
It’s easy to piss him off. The brownie will be angry if women sleep without linen or leave the house with their hair down. He does not like quarrels, swearing, those who stand on a garbage heap, sleep without dinner, or work, feed children at night.
If you anger this house spirit, he begins to play dirty tricks. He throws dishes, throws open doors and windows at night, pinches and beats sleeping households, pulls their blankets off them, makes noise, tangles yarn, etc.
4. How to Appease a House Spirit
He loves cleanliness and order, so you need to regularly clean up, take out the trash, do not scatter things. You can give him beads, beautiful buttons, coins by putting them in a box. You need to hide this box in a safe place and be sure to say that you are giving it to him.
Brownies also like handkerchiefs, shreds, snuff. Previously, every first day of the new month, the household spirit was treated to milk, and on holidays a piece of cake was left for him. He also likes porridge, cookies, sweets. Putting the treat in the corner, you need to announce that you have prepared all this for the brownie.
3. Predictions
The brownie could warn the owners about upcoming events. If joy awaits them, he sings songs, roams, laughs, plays the scallop. So he predicts a future wedding or other happy event.
When the brownie groans and cries, this indicates an imminent misfortune. If one of the family members should die, he knocks, slams doors, howls, meows, leaves bruises on the person’s body. A bad omen is when he strokes someone with a cold and bare hand. Before death, the head of the brownie family can be seen wearing a hat.
2. Resettlement
If the owners move from an old house to a new one, the spirit is called with them. Otherwise, it will remain in ruins. The abandoned brownie yearns, suffers and groans. Sometimes you can hear their cries and groans in the ashes or abandoned housing. Therefore, they always tried to call him with them.
So, the hostess, having heated the stove for the last time, scooped out all the heat into a clean pot and sentenced, inviting grandfather to move to a new home with them. In the new house, she poured the contents of the pot into the stove. As soon as they started cutting bread at dinner, they hid the first piece under the hut, they could bury it in the right corner, inviting their tenant to move into this new house.
1. Brownie Day
On Ephraim the Syrian, this domestic spirit loves to play pranks in dwellings. Therefore, on this day (February 10, according to the new style), they tried to appease the owner. So that he would not act like a hooligan, a special treat was prepared for him: a bowl of milk and a pot of porridge.
At midnight, he was supposed to come out from behind the stove and taste the treat. A well-fed brownie became helpful and humble, helping with the housework all year.
If the owners forgot to treat the grandfather, all their undertakings ended in failure, the household members began to get sick. On this day, late in the evening, the whole family got together and told entertaining stories, the main characters of which were brownies. They said that he also hears them and calms down.
This spirit also likes to play pranks on John of the Ladder, i.e. April 12, after 12 noon. It will not work to calm him down, but he himself will calm down when the roosters crow.