Mythical creatures [Bulgaria]

[[MC]Ronin[MC]]

 

Spirits
The Slavic spirits are provisionally called all the supernatural beings who, according to the Slavs, inhabit the surrounding world. The Slavs themselves most often call these beings demons, which in pre-Christian times denotes absolutely all spirits, demons, etc., regardless of their functions and character (good or evil). In essence, they are different from the gods.

The gods are omnipotent, they embody the basic characteristics of nature or of human nature and social life, and can accordingly direct, model everything on the World Tree - life, death, love, marriage, birth, disease, fertility, misery, strength, weakness , rains, droughts, earthquakes, light, darkness, heat, cold, etc. All of their actions give rise to some concern for humanity or nature, no matter how it manifests itself in this particular case - as a benefit or as harm. Care here is not necessarily in the interest of man, it is not only aimed at his well-being, but somehow has a definite lasting focus on maintaining a basic universal principle.

Much more elemental, inferior, and powerless are all demons, spirits, souls, and other supernatural creatures. True, they have one or the other magical possibilities, but these possibilities are in a rather narrow field and are used to achieve a very minor effect, which is more a projection of the instantaneous whim of the creature than a manifestation of a purposeful pursuit of anything. it was. In addition, the supernatural beings listed below are subordinate to the gods themselves, though to a lesser extent than humans. They are not so vitally dependent on divine favor, but are compelled to obey it in order not to be subjected to "heavenly punishment" and it is their punishment that distinguishes them from divine powers, which are generally unpunishable.

And if the gods are mostly subject to religious beliefs and reverence, then the other supernatural beings are subject only to mythology and superstition. Therefore, people are only afraid of them, as they fear beasts and diseases, while they treat gods with awe, respect, and even love.

BANNY - the spirit that inhabits the bathroom. Not much is known about him.

BREGINI - female spirits inhabiting the banks of rivers and lakes. They are believed to be abducting children.

WINGS - Spirits inhabiting marshes. If a person gets very close to a marsh, the marshmallows can suddenly pop out of the mud and drag it to the bottom, drowning it.

VILLAS, SAMOVILI - beautiful female forest spirits, related to the self-models, with human appearance and large wings. The villas live in hard-to-reach high mountain forests, where everyone takes care of a forest animal, tree, flower, shrub or mountain stream, jealously protecting it, mainly from human damage. These beauties are particularly fond of deer that they can talk to but are quite malicious to humans. They tend to divert them from their forests, and in this pursuit they often poison the streams. They have extensive knowledge of nature and herbs, and if one manages to eavesdrop on their gatherings after sunset, they can learn how to treat a particular plant or whereabouts of hidden treasure, as well as many other secrets about the world.

 

 

WATERS - Spirits, masters of rivers, streams and springs. The guide is the lord of the mermaids. It often harms people.

WILD PEOPLE, FOREST PEOPLE - wild women and men, humanoid demons, all covered with dark fur inhabiting the dense mountain forests. If a person unwittingly approaches the den where their children are left, they scream at him and tear him apart.

HOUSEHOLD - Spirit of the deceased ancestor or forefather of the family He is so attached to the home and his heirs alive that after his death he remains to live in the family home, to watch and care for future generations. His main concern is maintaining the family fire, which is why he lives in the hearth or furnace, the stove. The Slavs especially honor the brownie, set aside food from festive meals and leave it near the hearth to feed it. Before each new endeavor, the family prepares a special "housekeeping visit", invites relatives, and together asks questions and prayers for a blessing to the spirit, and then walks. It is believed that once the help of the brownie is requested, things will go well. When they move to a new home, the hostess picks up live coals from the old hearth, takes them to the new home, and asks the home spirit to settle there. The brownie sometimes hurts, sometimes it helps the owners, depending on whether they are respectful of him or his mood. It is especially important that the host does the job well and does not leave him hungry. When he wants food, he hits the rooms at night while people sleep. If they do not pay attention to them, the housekeeper turns away from them, and illnesses and misfortunes reach them.

HOUSEHOLD, HOUSEHOLD - female domestic spirit, homeowner's partner. Another name for Kikimora.

WELDER - the spirit that inhabits the yard of the house, guarding gardens, barns, hens and other ancillary buildings near the house.

FIREBIRD - a mythological supernatural bird with multicolored feathers shining like fire. The Firebird inhabits the crown of the World Tree and is the herald of divine will, as it has the ability to migrate between the world of the gods of Law and the world of men. The magic bird also protects the fruit of life - the golden apple that grows on the branches of the Tree.

JIVA-JUDA - Judah, a self-serving servant of the Goddess of Life and Creation Living, where her name comes from.

A dragon - a huge fire-breathing monster like a dragon. The serpent is a higher evil power, the messenger of darkness, who seeks to destroy the established by divine law - Truth. Serpents do horrific evils that often call into question the survival of entire village families. They cause droughts by tapping rivers, drying up lakes, or destroying rainstorms and hailstorms, causing mass famine. The first enemy of the serpent is the god Perun - the supreme master. He pursues the dragons and engages in combat with them, always winning after a long and dangerous struggle, during which fears and storms erupt.

 

KARACONJULI - Night Spirits. They appear in the form of low crooked people, with a large nose, bulging eyes, and a body covered with fur that wander the roads after midnight. They often sit at intersections and talk up late passengers, asking riddles or asking for services. If a person treats them with kindness and good will, karakondzhulas can help him or her, otherwise they cause him harm. According to some beliefs, they sit at the crossroads, because there are usually gallows, and the Karakondzhuls are meant to keep the spirits of the hanged from coming out of dead bodies.

KIKIMORA - a domestic feminine spirit, often identified with Domnitsa. Quite in the dualistic contrasting spirit of the Slavic faith, the kikimora simultaneously helps and harms the people, and traditionally everything depends on them. Thus, if the housewife keeps her house diligent, the kikimora will do the housework for the next night, breathe in the pleasure and peaceful sleep of the children, but if the hostess is careless, lazy, the kikimora will groan from dusk until dawn, pull her hair to the children, he will wake them up in the middle of the night and scare them, he will deliberately hurt, mess up and dirty, so that the little work done will go brazen. Probably the image of the kikimora initially arises as an embodiment of the spirit of a deceased older housewife from the same home. Here the home bears not so much the importance of a house, but of a collection of people - close relatives who live under one roof. When the grandmother, the oldest housewife, the founder of the clan dies, her heirs assume that her spirit remains in the house. She is so attached and attached to him that, even after her death, she carries on her homework, continues to watch over the order like a kikimora, moaning and wickedly forcing her heirs to do their jobs conscientiously.

KRAVESMORT - an evil spirit that sows plague and other contagion among rural flocks. It is most commonly seen as a black cow and mixed with cattle to do its destructive work. At night, cowmasters roam the roads, transformed into black cats or mutilated dogs, and sometimes even appear as the skeleton of a cow. The Slavs chase a craving with various rituals in which they kill suspicious animals in their flocks or burn them alive. The "suspicious" animal is defined as follows: in the evening they guard the cattle of the whole village in one barn, keep it until dawn, and at dawn take it out of the barn. Farmers begin to recognize their animals, and those who remain unrecognized are targeted for deaths and are burned.

CROPS - evil spirits (from the old Bulgarian crown - plague) - carriers of the plague and all deadly diseases. They appear as ordinary people and their breath sows contagion. Another time they spit in rivers, lakes and wells and infect the water, causing mass epidemics and dying out of entire villages.

KURDUSHI - small demons, helpers of wizards and witches. When devoting themselves to such people, devotees count them as Kurds, summoned and submissive spirits to assist in their magical pursuits. The Kurds are usually those who, at the behest of their master, collect bat wings, frog eyes, fingers of pendulums, strands of maidens, and any personal effects through which or over which magic will be exerted.

LESNIK - forest spirit, master of forests. In general, it is predisposed to humans, as long as they do not provoke it, do not disturb the order in the forest and do not harm it. Most often, the lessee will appear as an old man with a long green beard and will try to strike a casual conversation to check whether his interlocutor is polite enough, well-mannered, well-intentioned, and honors ghosts and deities. In the course of the conversation, he will gradually reveal his essence, becoming a petite weak old man with a strange image and cunning tone, and finally he will either advise the passenger on crossing the forest safely, or guide him if he is lost, or he will fool him if it doesn't cause him more harm, depending on the conversation. Sometimes a lesion can point the wrong way and seeing that his passenger has fully trusted, following the wrong direction, to "straighten" the roads so that they all lead to the right destination.

LESNITSA, LESOVITSA - partner in the forest. It is mentioned quite rarely and probably has a local character, only in some Slavic tribes.

LOWERS - forest spirits hovering around forest meadows.

MORA-JUDA - Judas, a self-serving servant of the goddess of death and winter Mora, where her name comes from.

DREAMS - unclean, bad dead, inanimate. Generally all evil spirits of dead people. The souls of people who have died unnatural deaths (killed, suicidal, accident victims) or who have committed grave crimes and who have committed great sins that are not allowed into the world of the dead and remain in Java (our world). Here they constantly suffer and turn into evil spirits - vampires, werewolves, etc., who go out at night and torment, harass and kill people. Some seas carry their heads and stand

 

 

OVINNIK - a spirit that inhabits barns, barns, hens and other farm buildings. It is similar to the janitor. If the cog is sympathetic, he watches over the grain, the straw, the stored foods, and they are kept well, and the domestic animals provide plenty of milk, many eggs. Otherwise, the stock is destroyed by moisture, mold and pests, and the cattle are sick and do not carry good breeding.

OPOYTS - a bloodsucker taking the form of a leech that nestles under a person's skin and sucks his blood. Tumors cause rabies. they can be implanted in the person whose blood they sucked.

POLEVIK - Polish spirits that sometimes interfere with agricultural work and sometimes help the harvesters. The Slavs respect them because they often squeal and hiss when they feel the deadly female spirit of Poludnitsa approaching, warning people working in the field.

POLUDNICA - A fierce Polish spirit with the appearance of a beautiful young woman in a pure white linen shirt. The all-white garment among the Slavs is a symbol of mourning, and in this sense of death. Noon comes from "semi" and "day", which supports the belief that it only appears at noon, in the middle of the day, which is considered as dangerous and unfavorable as midnight by day. These two times of the day and night are called "bedtime" and in it people stay at home, so that they do not get bad word, do not take lessons and not be met by evil forces that harm them, because in All demons and curses are activated at midnight. One particularly powerful demon is the midday one, along with her sister-in-law, the midnight nightmare.

MIDNIGHT - an evil female spirit with the appearance of an old woman in a pure white garment - sister to the noon. It wanders at "dead time" - from midnight to dawn - when all evil forces go out and the roads become tangled and "crucified", ie. lead in the wrong direction. The midnights often stand at the crossroads, along with the karakondzhuls, and if they meet a person, they cause him all the harm.

ROROG - an evil invisible spirit, flying with the winds. When the whirlwind twists, the bursts spit out evil spells, disease, quarrels, hatred, and pain in the wind.

 

 

 

MUSIC - female aquatic spirits sitting on the banks of rivers. When they cut their hair, it causes flooding. If their skin dries, they die forever. Usually, mermaids become the souls of drowned girls, killed and thrown into the river or dragged underwater by Vodnik. He is their master, but they secretly hate him and sometimes help people to confuse his plans.

SAMODIVES - beautiful female forest spirits with a purely human appearance, akin to the villas. Every night, they gather in the same clearing in the most remote dense forests called the "chorea", where they dance barefoot magic magic all night, dressed in pure white long linen shirts, perhaps paying homage to the gods. During the dance, they barely touch the ground with steps, and the trampling magic herbs convey a strong healing odor. Because of this, sick people who gather enough courage go to spend the night by the fire, and are treated by the self-styled people unusually favorably, while in most cases they are too ill-treated and cause a lot of harm. Quite naked, the amphibians often ride large deer with golden horns, which are their favorite. If a hunter kills such a deer during the hunt, his patron retaliates against the hunter by blinding him or sending him an illness, followed by certain death. No one can help such patients, and if they dare to appear in the fire place, the local samodives immediately recognize them and kill them with deadly screams. The modifiers have a hard time resisting the beautiful young men they help as much as they can - turning into white horses and carrying them where they want, and even giving them three white horse hair. In time, if he gets into trouble, the man can light one of the hairs, causing the corresponding samodiva to appear and pull him out of the situation. The Samodives are afraid of the sunlight and because of separation, everyone quickly leaves the fire and hides in the forest clearings, so there is no danger of an unpleasant encounter with them during the day.

SIMARGAL - A griffin-like dog with huge golden wings. It is associated with the solar cult, with soil, agriculture and fertility. Protects arable land and watches over cereals. In his role as guardian, Simargal is also perceived as a blasphemer of the law, bearer of retribution and punishment. It is quite possible that it would have been embodied in another Slavic deity and as such brought into the pantheon from the outside, which would otherwise have been a very unjustified action. It is one of the most obscure Slavic mythological images, probably borrowed from the northern Iranian Sarmatian tribes, who especially worship the mighty spirit of Simurgh, the helper of the sun, the guardian of the harvest.

THALASAMS - evil spirits characteristic of Bulgarian folklore, dwelling houses and abandoned buildings. During the day, they hide in the attic, in the cellar or in the outbuildings of the yard. Somewhere, they are perceived as the spirits of the "inanimate" - the dead from the grave. The wandering spirits seek peace, shelter, and when they find a suitable home, it can be hard to get them out of there. On the contrary, goblins do their best to drive away the people in whose house they have settled. According to Bulgarian beliefs, in order to get rid of the thalasso, the owner of the home must call him to a pre-prepared table and tell him that they are celebrating a wedding. Sweet as he stands on the table, one has to stand up and say that it is time to go to the wedding party, and then take the thalassas to a remote hut in the forest (there were many such shelters for hunters, shepherds and loggers at the time). When they reach the designated hut, the man opens the door, invites the thalasso inside, leaves him some food and knits the yarn and says, "Yeah, wait here, I'll find the wedding guests to bring them in" slammed the door outside. Thalassos are believed to be home-grown and cannot handle unfinished homework and needlework. They are immediately taken to fix everything that is scattered or spoiled, so that the ball of tangled thread captures their attention for a long time. However, it is dangerous, wandering through the forest, to enter another's huts, because if a thalass is left there, it will leave with it.

JUDA, JUDA-SAMOVILA - an evil female spirit with a human appearance, a relative of the villas and the self-styled. It inhabits forests and mountains and is especially po[CENSORED]r with the Bulgarian Slavs. The Jews have great magical abilities, dealing with herbs and poisoning. Sometimes they appear to young men and charm them with their beauty, thinking of marrying them. If a man marries a Jew, he abducts his soul into the world of the dead, and his body disintegrates. To protect themselves from the Jews, men wear girdles and basil sewn to their belts that repel evil spirits.

Jurata - a female aquatic spirit inhabiting the coast and shallows.

JAVINA - an evil spirit akin to a vampire. It appears from the blood of a murdered man forty days after the murder, and wanders through those places at night for as long as the killed man has to live under normal circumstances. Wandering, the spirit screams, jingles, cracks, creates great commotion, in the meantime