Russian myths and folklore come from two sources: the pre-Christian Slavic paganism, and the legends and tales composed after Russia became Orthodox Christian. The pagan myths of the ancient Rus told about a number of gods (mostly nature deities) and many kinds of spirits and faeries. The bylinas are Old Russian heroic stories that feature characters and figures including dragons, giants, spirits, knights, epic battles, underwater realms, and whistling brigands. The “do and dare” idea, which has been an inspiration and source of amusement for ages, is a key element in these stories.
Who Invented the Ancient Slavic Gods, and Why?
Russian legends takes its foundations in the agnostic convictions of old Slavs and presently is addressed in the Russian fantasies and Folklore of Russia . Epic Russian bylinas are additionally a significant piece of Slavic folklore. The most seasoned bylinas of Kievan cycle were really recorded generally in the Russian North, particularly in Karelia, where a large portion of the Finnish public epic Kalevala was recorded also. One early Folklore of Russia object of love was the “Sodden Mother Earth”,and a later, perhaps related divinity was called Mokosh, whose name signifies “wet” and may have Finnish beginnings. Mokosh was the goddess of ladies, kids, and creatures, and was adored for her association with fertility.Russian soil is by and large excessively slender for powerful agribusiness, precipitation is inconsistent and awkwardly coordinated in a significant part of the space, and the developing season is generally short.
Top Russian Mythological Creatures
The ancestors of today’s Russians were the ancient Slavs whose beliefs were devoted to nature and its forces. Those beliefs affected life, prosperity, and their wellbeing in general. Ancient Russians believed that nature and its surroundings are full of supernatural creatures. They believed that those creatures will bring them luck, curse their fate, protect their home or help them face life challenges. These beliefs created these folk tales and legends in Russian mythology, i.e. Russian folklore. There are a variety of Russian creatures and Russian monsters that are the focus of interest of many Slavic folklorists, even today.
The spirit of forest. He is considered to be the main of his kind, his wife is named Leshìha & children are Leshak’i. He protects forests & hunting. Ancient people believed that if Leshi was in a good spirit he might help them, if not he might be the reason why they got lost in forests. Thunderstorms were believed to be quarrels between Leshij & his wife. Leshy or Lesovik is the spirit of the woods in Slavic mythology. It inhabits every forest, but it especially loves a spruce forest. Leshy dresses as a man – a red girdle, the left lap of a kaftan usually is wrapped up behind the right one but not vice versa as everybody wears. Shoes are mixed up: the right bast shoe is put on the left foot and the left one on the right foot. Its eyes are green and glow as coals. If you look at him through the right horse’s ear he will shimmer bluish color because his blood is blue. He hasn’t got eyebrows and eyelashes and he is crop-eared. Leshy can turn into a stump or a hubble, a beast or a bird, a bear and a blackcock, whoever he wants, even a plant, indeed he is not only a spirit of a forest, but also its essence. It is overgrown with moss, it sniffs as it is murmur of the forest, it crawls like moss-grass.
Vodyan’oj
The spirit of water. He is alike Neptune in the Roman mythology, however mostly he protects rivers, lakes & ponds. The modern interpretations present Vodyanoj as evil, however, I doubt about it. They say he makes people drown, scares & causes various incidents. He sleeps during the winter, awakes in spring when the ice is melted & begins to behave disgracefully, as he is hungry & angry as a bear.
Domov’oj
The home spirit. He is alike Juno in the Roman mythology no matter he is male. As a rule Domovoj is kind, he protects the dwellings, helps his masters. He likes to behold the house arranged & to have sweets & bakery in his own corner somewhere in the kitchen. If these demands are not fulfiled, he knows to turn the daily routine in a chaos, makes his masters poor & ill. If they refuse to comprehend his alarms, he might even burn the house.
Gamayun is a prophetic bird of Russian folklore. It is a symbol of wisdom and knowledge and lives on an island in the mythical east, close to paradise. Gamayun is a prophetic bird of Russian folklore. It is a symbol of wisdom and knowledge and lives on an island in the mythical east, close to paradise. In the books of the 17th-19th centuries, Gamayun was described as a legless and wingless bird, ever-flying with the help of a tail, foreshadowing the death of statesmen by her fall.
Land of the Dead in Slavic Mythology
Russians are no strangers to fairy tales, and reading fairy tales to children is part of the journey of raising them. Although fairy tales may simply seem like stories for children, they hold much more cultural significance than we give them credit for. Fairy tales reflect the beliefs of a people, their moral values and often their incredible imagination.
TSAREVICH IVAN, THE FIREBIRD AND THE GREY WOLF
The Firebird is one of the best-recognised characters of Russian folklore. Despite its beautiful appearance, this bird is not all that nice. In the fairy tale, she continuously steals golden apples from the garden of a king. The king sends his sons in search of this mythical creature and promises the finder half his kingdom. The title lets slip that the one to do so is the youngest son, Ivan. To find out how the grey wolf fits into this whole story, you’ll just have to read it for yourself.
Creatures from Russian Myths and Fairy Tales
Leshy, Baba Yaga, Koschei, Kikimora, Tsarevna-Frog
Russian Slavic Mythology Creatures
Slavic paganism is the deification of the environment. Endeavoring to explain natural phenomena or the lives of their ancestry and tribes, Slavic people created many fabled beings, gods who were similar by their ambitions and actions to people themselves. Their deals don’t run counter to common sense, the war between good and evil, light and darkness comes to pass among them too. They aren’t unapproachable celestials, they are here. Slavic myths contained not only faith in animateness of all flesh in nature – stones, fire, trees, but also faith in ability of spirits to pass into another body. Most myths were based on the abilities of characters to pass into animals, people, and trees. According to these myths, our world is penetrated by superhuman dangerous powers, but it’s not aggressive.
Baba Yaga is the primordial character of the Slavic mythology. Initially it was a godhood of death, a woman with a snake’s tail, who guarded the entrance in Erebus and saw off souls of the dead in the kingdom of the dead. It is believed that Baba Yaga could have lived in any village pretending to be an average woman: looking after cattle, cooking, fostering children. Baba Yaga is a more dangerous essence having bigger power than any witch. Most commonly she inhabits a primeval forest which always dismays people, since it is perceived as a border bet-ween the world of the dead and the living. Her hut on chicken legs is surrounded by a palisade-type fence made from human bones and skulls. In many fairytales she eats long pig. This old witch rides over the world in an iron mortar (that is a gravity chariot). When she goes for a walk she forces it to run faster banging with an iron beater or stick. The witche’s broom is attached to the iron mortar. Frogs, black cats, ravens and snakes are in her service. She foretells the future, has untold wealth and hidden knowledge.
KOSCHEI THE DEATHLESS FAIRYTALE MYSTERIE
Koschei (Kashchei), aka Koschei the Deathless, is a cultic character in Slavic mythology, whose folkloric image is extremely far from his initial one. Undoubtedly, he was the most powerful among the dark gods. He was lord over the powers of darkness and learnt it perfectly, allowing him to have control over spirits and the bodies of the dead. Legends say he didn’t like reincarnation and virtually all the time was in his initial image of a tall and stoop-shouldered, but powerful old man with long grey hair and a pinched face (some-times with the skull instead of the face). In case of emergency, he could turn into a dark raven. His horse is partly alive and partly dead. All his vital force was concentrated in the Egg, created by Rod at the beginning of the Crea-tion according to the legend. This is that character which our remote ancestors invested with nay-wards of human nature that is primordial, immortal, and invincible. Koschei is a male archetype in Slavic folklore who appears in a few stories, most recognizably being the Russian version of The Frog Princess. His main role in stories is to abduct the wife of the hero in the story.
KIKIMORA MYTHOLOGY CREATURE
Kikimora is one of the most ambiguous characters in Slavic mythology. There are a variety of contradictory legends which speak of this creature but they all concur that Kikimora is an ener-getic creature free from a body but is able to affect the material world. In all legends, she is des-cribed as a ghost creature that can dissolve into the darkness. They usually come for children and people with low energy. Their attacks are attended by whip-lashes of uncontrolled fear. Kikimora can rustle in the dark corner at night, frighten a child, drop a mug on the floor, throw dust all over the place, and stealthily pull somebody’s hair. Her suit consists of the linen shirt’s rags. Sometimes she wears beads that made from black sto-nes and different bijouterie. Kikimora can sing. Her songs have magical features and decoy lone travelers.
TSAREVNA-FROG SLAVIC FOLKLORE CREATURE
A fairytale about Tsarevna-Frog is one of the most famous Russian folktales. This fantastic tale is repeatedly used by many painters to create picturesque paintings, as well as script-writers for numerous theatrical productions, cartoons and feature films. An evil sorcerer has turned a beautiful girl into a frog because he was sure that no one fine fellow will not be able to love this animal, which means his wizardry will affect forever. However, a lucky circumstance or providence turned an Ivan Tsarevich’s arrow in a swamp, where an bewitched maiden was, and after she spoke to him with a human voice this heroi romantic fairy plot actually began.
According to popular beliefs, a frog refers to the lunar animals that bring rain and are a symbol of fertility, as well as embodies a renewal of life and resurrection. According to folklorists, the story of the frog coming out of the water on the earth and its skin, which the heroine periodically skins passing a successive test, symbolizes stages of a female initiation. A colorful description of the tsarevna’s dance also has analogies in spring profane rites – Rusalii, during which the princess carried out ritual actions, splashing wine and throwing bones. The purpose of these rites is the revival of nature, this is what the fairy tale points at, when as a result of the princess’ dance, a forest, water, birds and other animals arise. Tsarevna-Frog honorably passes all tests. Interestingly, it was after them her name Vasilisa the Wise firstly mentioned, but the successful completion of this process is disrupted. Haste and impatience of Ivan Tsarevich, who no longer wants to endure brothers and sisters-in-law’s jeers, make a new round of tests. Burning frog skin is the beginning of a new chain of events in consequence of which a male initiation occurs. And Ivan Tsarevich turns from an infantile, gullish and trustful boy into fairytale hero.
Indigenous Peoples Literature 