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Now only a small child can be frightened by Baba Yaga, and several centuries ago, Russian people firmly believed in unclean forces. If some thing was lost at home, they sinned on the brownie. Lost in the forest – the goblin is to blame. Mermaids, banniki, ghouls – both adults and children were afraid of them. People told each other terrible stories, from which the blood froze in the veins.
Modern man is no longer afraid of evil spirits. He considers all this fiction, fantasies. Of course, before there was no Internet and TV, what other entertainment could you come up with?
Still, one should not so radically reject the existence of evil spirits. Perhaps these are not just fantasies, otherwise people would not believe in the existence of these creatures for many centuries in a row. In any case, this is our history: myths, legends, beliefs.
Below is a list of traditional representatives of Russian evil spirits. You can get to know them better, find out their habitats, character, as well as ways to deal with them.
10 Anchutka
That’s what they used to call devils. It is an evil spirit of small stature, covered with hair, with a snout instead of a nose. Their distinctive feature is the absence of a heel. According to legend, a werewolf bit off the heel of one imp, then this part of the body disappeared from other anchuts. They can be found in the field, near the reservoir.
Anchutkas are not afraid of people and often settle next to them. Devils can turn into animals and people, they love to play pranks. Often such jokes were the causes of death among people.
The nature of the anchutka depends on its habitat. The most dangerous are water anchuts. They can drag a person into a swamp or river, drown him.
Bath and field are considered less dangerous, they can joke, scare, but do nothing wrong.
Anchutkas are afraid of salt and iron, so people used to always carry a pin with them.
9. Mavka
That’s what the mermaids were called. It is easy to confuse them with ordinary mermaids, but this is a completely different character. Mavki – drowned girls or children who died at the hands of their mothers. These creatures appear to people in different guises, in female or childish. They are usually very beautiful.
According to some beliefs, the Mavoks have no skin on the back, and all the internal organs are visible. Mavki are quite harmless, but they hate those people who are to blame for their death. They are active only during the mermaid week. At this time, they can be found near ponds, rivers.
Mavki are not afraid of spells and prayers, there are only two means of dealing with them – holy water and fast legs. It is enough to sprinkle holy water, and the creatures will disappear. You can also just run away from them. Mavki do not leave their habitat, they cannot go far from the water.
8. Kikimora
Kikimora – the wife of a brownie, a brownie in a female guise. Kikimors settle in residential buildings. This is a small thin creature, she has no clothes and shoes on. Most of the time it remains invisible.
If she likes the household, she will not harm them. It can play a little trick: creak or knock at night. If someone from the household causes her dislike, her jokes become evil and even dangerous. They know all about the fears of people and send them nightmares of similar content.
Kikimora loves to spin, sitting in a corner. You can appease her if you wash the floor at home with a tincture of fern roots. To permanently drive her out of your home, you can use a special conspiracy.
7. Ghoul
So called the dead people, whose soul could not calm down. Ghouls became criminals, unbaptized children, people who died an unnatural death. The European vampire is handsome and aristocratic. In ancient Rus’, they looked somewhat different. Usually this is a half-decomposed dead man who walked through the villages and villages in search of a victim. He needs human blood.
Ghouls are active at night, usually they do not develop tactics, they simply pounce on the victim. Apparently in Ancient Rus’ they were very afraid of these creatures. How else to explain such a large number of means of combating them? Aspen stake, garlic, there were more interesting methods. At the cemetery in the evening they scattered poppy seeds, the ghouls were very fond of counting. Instead of going hunting, they practiced their knowledge of mathematics.
6. Bannik
Mythical character, the owner of the bath. He could be both good and evil at the same time. He guards the bath from evil spirits. He looks like a little old man with a long beard, his clothes are replaced by leaves from a broom. Bannik did no harm if people followed all the rules and cajoled him regularly. Bread was brought to him, soap and a towel were left for the bannik to steam too.
Those who ignored the bannik and violated the established rules got what they deserved. A bannik could scald with boiling water, inflame, close in a bathhouse, throw a stone. Women were especially afraid of the bannik, they were forbidden to visit the bath alone. Again, the bannik could help in solving many problems, they turned to him with requests, asked for health and wealth.
5. Mermaid
In Ancient Rus’, there were 4 types of these mythical creatures. We have already talked about mavkas, the remaining three species differ from them in a more vicious character. What did the mermaids look like? There are a lot of opinions on this. In some legends they are young beautiful girls, in others they are ugly old women.
Many people imagine mermaids as girls with a tail, but in Ancient Rus’ they didn’t have any tail. Patchwork are beautiful young women who lure single men and caress them to death. Lobasta is a plump woman, the eldest, in charge of the rest of the mermaids. Kills everyone who gets in her way. Vodyanitsy – young girls with long hair, kind, but they love to joke, people often died from these jokes.
4. Brownie
Cousin of the devil. It lives in apartments and houses, it is friendly to people. He is not afraid to live with pious people, he is not embarrassed by icons. This little old man in shabby clothes will never offend a person if he does not harm him. On the contrary, it protects the house from the invasion of evil spirits. He likes to joke, can play dirty tricks, often hides things.
It is customary to coax a brownie, leave him milk, bread on a silver platter. In ancient Rus’, there was a rite of attracting a brownie. If there was a tense atmosphere in the house, many strange events took place, it was believed that there was no brownie in the house, but evil spirits settled. People performed this ceremony, evil spirits disappeared.
3. Water
A spirit that lives in the waters and protects reservoirs and lakes from strangers. An old man with a long beard, with a tail instead of legs, green skin, fish eyes.
The water one is the oldest among all the inhabitants, mermaids, fish, and other inhabitants of the underwater world obey him. He controls the water, the current, creates waves. He loves to scare people with screams, interferes with fishermen.
If a person disturbed the peace of the water one, he can drown him. If a person fell into the hands of a water man, he has no chance of salvation, he has no equal in the water element.
2. Leshy
The spirit of the forest, its keeper and owner. Usually it is an old man with a beard in peasant clothes inside out. In some sources – a hairy creature resembling a huge beast.
Leshy sometimes gets bored, then he starts to play pranks. Approaches mushroom pickers, hunters, asks a question. A person’s life depends on his answer. In any case, the goblin will not let anyone go just like that, people wander through the forest for a long time, then the goblin releases them or severely punishes them. Of course, this rarely happens, but he can open the doors to a parallel world. Then the lost person does not have the slightest chance of returning.
Much depends on the mood of the owner of the forest. When meeting with him, you need to strip naked, and then get dressed again, while turning your clothes inside out. In some cases, prayer or mate helps.
1. Baba Yaga
The most famous mythological character of the ancient Slavs. Even the smallest children know about its existence, thanks to Russian folk tales. She has great power, is able to reincarnate, become a witch, ghoul or other representative of evil spirits.
Baba Yaga lives in a hut. But contrary to popular belief, her legs are not chicken, but chicken – pillars, stoned with smoke, that is, black. Everyone knows what Baba Yaga looks like – an old woman in a spacious dress.
It is better for people not to catch her eye, Baba Yaga is prone to cannibalism. She is also engaged in the fact that she leads all witches and representatives of other evil spirits, punishes and encourages them. She also delivers human souls to the underworld.