A Welcomed Place

The Yaga journal: Witches and demons of Eastern Europe

The next article I’ll translate from the issue (I won’t translate all of them since some are not very relevant for this blog) is “Baba Yaga, witches, and the ambiguous demons of oriental Europe” by Stamatis Zochios.

The article opens by praising the 1863′s “Reasoned dictionary of the living russian language”. by scholar, lexicograph and folklorist Vladimir Dahl, which is one of the first “systematic essays” that collects the linguistic treasures of Russia. By collecting more than thirty thousand proverbs and sayings, insisting on the popular and oral language, the Dictionary notably talked about various terms of Russian folklore; domovoi, rusalka, leshii… And when it reaches Baba Yaga, the Dictionary calls her : сказочное страшилищ (skazochnoe strashilishh) , that is to say “monster of fairytales”.But the article wonders about this denomination… Indeed, for many people (such as Bogatyrev) Baba Yaga, like other characters of Russian fairytales (Kochtcheï or Zmey Gorynych) do not exist in popular demonology, and is thus exclusively a character of fairy tales, in which she fulfills very specific functions (aggressor, donator if we take back Propp’s system). But the author of this article wonder if Baba Yaga can’t actually be found in “other folkloric genres” - maybe she is present in legends, in popular beliefs, in superstitions and incantations. 

Baba Yaga, as depicted in the roleplaying game “Vampire: The Masquerade”

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Hello, do you know anything on black salt in Ukrainian folk magic? I'm asking because i found this supposedly traditional Ukrainian recipe for black salt, but i never heard about black salt in folk magic, always thought about it as a kind of new age thing. This recipe says to mix salt, ashes from herbs, rye flour and water and make dough, and then burn it on charcoals, and specifically make it on Holy Thursday. What do you think?

Variations on Thursday salt, as it tends to be known here, are quite well-known, indeed. Burned on charcoal, or in a cast iron vessel should only a stove be available, with herbs, or flour, depending on the region and availability - one traditional manner would be to attach it to a wall of a wood oven and allow the concoction to burn through.

Perhaps the simplest recipe involves cooking it on a dry cast iron skillet with a bit of rye flour and prayer till it blackens.

"Найбільш яскраво межова семантика виявляється у віруваннях, приурочених до трьох безмісячних, «пустих», днів. У координатах місячного часу межею називають фазу Місяця, яка передує його народженню, так називають і відповідний час (на межі, переміна, перекрій, чернець). Вірять, що той, хто народився на межі фаз Місяця, не буде мати дітей. У безмісячні дні не сватались і не справляли весілля, вважаючи цей час несприятливим для подальшого подружнього життя. З межовою семантикою таких днів пов’язане вірування в місяшників – трансвеститів, у яких перемежовується жіноча й чоловіча самоідентифікація: «Се такий мущинина, що він раз жинка, а раз чоловік. Місьишники ходьи ув дню у мущинскім убраню. Домашні знати можут за се, хто у них місьишник, більше ніхто. Він може бути годину, дві, днину або ½ місьицьи жинков; се находит єго при зміні місьицьи» 

- Фольклорна семантика фаз місяця в часовому коді традиційної культури східних слов'ян, О.Ю. Чебанюк

"The semantic association with liminality is expressed the most vividly in beliefs about the three moonless, "empty" days. Among the coordinates of lunar time the edge is the phase that preceds its birth, the appropriate time is called likewise (on the edge, the change, the cut, chernets). It is believed that those born between moon phases shall remain childless. People would not get engaged or married on the dark moon, as this time was believed to be inauspicious for married life. The liminal association is tied to the belief in misiachnyks - transvestites whose male and female self-identification is interchanged: "It is the kind of man, that he is at some times a man, and some a woman. Misiachnyks walk in a male dress during the day. The family might know which one is misiachnyk among them, but nobody else. He may be a woman an hour, two, a day, or half a month; this happens to him with changes of the moon".

- Folkloric Semantics of Moon Phases in the Time Code of the Traditional Culture of Eastern Slavs, O.Ju. Chebaniuk

Forgotten Galicia

Forgotten Galicia - A Protection Symbol for the Home: The Six-Petal Rosette оn the Crossbeams of Galicia

The Six-Petal Rosette The six-petal rosette, the flower-like symbol created by overlapping seven circles, as well as the expanded variants w

The Six-Petal Rosette

The six-petal rosette, the flower-like symbol created by overlapping seven circles, as well as the expanded variants with 7 interlocking rosettes and 19 interlocking rosettes (the latter is called the “Flower of Life” in the New Age movement), is an ancient symbol that has been used across cultures and religions for millennia.

The rosette is a solar symbol in many cultures and many peoples believed it to be magical. It was commonly used as a decorative motif to adorn doors, ceiling beams, crosses, cornices, coats of arms, everyday objects, furniture, musical instruments, ritual items, graves.

In ancient Slavic tradition, the rosette was associated with the chief pagan god Perun, the god of thunder and lightning, and was supposed to protect against lightning and generally ensure the favor of the Thunderer. Appropriately, the symbol is also called the “symbol of Perun” and a “thunder mark” in Ukrainian.

The Rosette on Crossbeams

Supporting a ceiling with large wooden crossbeams (“svolok” in Ukrainian and “sosręb” in Polish) was once a common construction practice, found in noble residences as well as in burgher homes, and through the early twentieth century in regional construction, especially in the Carpathians.

The crossbeam was not only an important structural element of the home, but also a symbolic and decorative one: it was in the center of this beam that the rosette was engraved to protect the house against misfortune and especially against fire. Additionally, the date of construction, decorative motifs, the name of the owner, the name of the carpenter, mottos, or religious symbols could be engraved on the beam, turning the crossbeam into a vital record of the house.

Detailed information about the use of crossbeams and the rosette in the architecture of the peoples of Galicia can be found in excellent works of research from the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries by Władysław Matlakowski and Kazimierz Mokłowski. Władysław Matlakowski, a surgeon, ethnographer, and researcher of Podhale architecture and folk art, published Budownictwo ludowe na podhalu (Folk Buildings in Podhale) in 1892 and Zdobienie i sprzęt ludu polskiego na Podhalu (Decoration and Domestic Utensils of the Polish People in Podhale) in 1901, while Kazimierz Mokłowski, a Polish architect and art historian, who later lived and worked in Lviv, published Sztuka Ludowa w Polsce (Folk Art in Poland) in 1903. These three works include thorough descriptions as well as a plenty of illustrations of various elements of the architecture and applied art of the region.

Crossbeams in the Folk Architecture of Galician Highlanders

Though historically used across much of Ukraine and Poland, today the rosette is most associated with and best preserved in the culture of the Carpathian highlanders of Galicia, in particular in Hutsul, Boyko, Lemko, and Goral folk architecture, woodwork, and household objects. Accordingly, in Ukrainian it also has such names as “hutsulska rozetka” (Hutsul rosette), “boykivska rozetka” (Boyko rosette) and in Polish “rozeta karpacka” (Carpathian rosette), “rozeta podhalańska” (Podhale rosette), “rozeta góralska” (Goral rosette).

Goral Cottages

Podhale is a region in the Polish Tatra Mountains inhabited by highlanders known as Gorals. Władysław Matlakowski writes in his book Zdobienie i sprzęt ludu polskiego na Podhalu that the “gwiazda” (meaning “star”—another name for the rosette in Polish) is “the most common and the most characteristic ornament in Podhale: it is found everywhere, but mostly on every crossbeam.” Indeed, throughout this book as well as his other book Budownictwo Ludowe na Podhalu, the gwiazda appears in illustrations of such items as spoon racks, chairs, distaffs, and lintels, but most notably on crossbeams.

Examples of old crossbeams with rosettes from the Podhale region can still be found in Poland, especially in open air museums which have preserved the local folk architecture.

Hutsul, Boyko &  Lemko Cottages

The Hutsuls, Boykos and Lemkos inhabit what is today the Ukrainian and eastern Polish Carpathian Mountains. Just as among the Gorals, the rosette is found in the architecture and folk crafts of these highlanders.

A testament to the ubiquity of the rosette in the folk architecture of the Carpathian highlanders is Lviv’s Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life, which features examples of the architecture of the Hutsuls, Boykos, and Lemkos. The rosette can be seen all over the open air museum, including on several crossbeams inside the homes. It is no wonder the museum uses the rosette as its logo.

Crossbeams in Renaissance Buildings in Lviv

In addition to examples from the Carpathian Mountains, Kazimierz Mokłowski’s book Sztuka Ludowa w Polsce includes illustrations of crossbeams from buildings in Lviv which include the rosette, as well as other solar symbols, often along with the year of construction and religious symbols.

Fortunately, not only do these original engraved Renaissance-era crossbeams, as documented by Kazimierz Mokłowski, still support the ceilings of the buildings in Lviv’s historic center, but many of them are open to public viewing as they are generally located in shops, restaurants, and museums.

Crossbeams in Zakopane Style Villas

A widespread symbol among the Gorals, the rosette was a popular symbol in the architecture and interior decor of Zakopane Style villas. Zakopane Style architecture emerged at the end of the nineteenth century when architect Stanislaw Witkiewicz, rejecting foreign building styles that had started to appear in the booming ski resort of Zakopane, chose to embrace traditional Podhale-style architecture, enriching it with elements of Art Nouveau. The new Zakopane Style villas included large intricately engraved crossbeams prominently featuring the rosette, such as can be found in Villa Oksza (built in 1894 by Witkiewicz, today an art gallery) and in the guest house Villa Orla (built 1901). Though by this time the symbol likely lost its meaning as a “thunder mark” and was used purely as a decorative element cherishing the local culture.

A Sign from the Past

Today, the rosette has found new places to thrive across Galicia—for example, it is used as logos for museums and a microbrewery, and found on folk-inspired accessories. Although its history, meaning, and usage may have been forgotten, the “Carpathian” rosette is in fact still alive and well today.

So don’t forget—next time you enter a Carpathian highlander’s cottage, a Renaissance building in Lviv, or a Zakopane Style villa, look up! If you are lucky, you will find an authentic example of this ancient and mystic symbol.

Written by Areta Kovalska

(Wonderful photos on the page)

“Years of My Youth, Come Visit Me” - Maria Prymachenko (1909 - 1997), Ukrainian artist. Prymachenko is well-known, frequently posted and much loved. Her art was like a fountain, coming out with great force, never losing its magical quality and representing the best in Ukrainian fork art.  

“In 1936 Maria Ovksentiyivna was invited to experimental workshops. Folk talents were gathered here, Pryimachenko was among them.

In 1936, at the First Republican Exhibition of Folk Art, Pryimachenko’s paintings were given a whole hall. This exhibition was seen by Moscow, Leningrad, and Warsaw. Maria Prymachenko was awarded a first-degree diploma for participating in an exhibition of folk art in 1936. Since then, her works have been exhibited with constant success at exhibitions in Paris, Warsaw, Sofia, Montreal, and Prague. In 1937 the artist’s works were exhibited in Paris. She became famous.

Mysterious and emotionally charged, the works of Maria Pryimachenko, a folk master of Ukrainian decorative painting, seem to absorb the age-old traditions of many generations of Ukrainian master-craftsmen who, from the depths of the centuries, have brought forth their understanding of good and evil, of ugliness and beauty.

Images often had арреаred to the artist in dreams and later materialized in her compositions. Maria Pryimachenko’s art works depict fabulous mythological beasts and take their roots in folk legends and fairy-tales, nourished by real life and culture of the Ukrainian реорlе.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Prymachenko

Is there a creation story in Slavic mythology ? Or multiple versions of a creation story ? I’m quite curious about it

Oh yes, multiple creation stories can be found in Slavic folklore. Although they were significantly transformed by centuries of co-existing with Christian belief and theological teachings, they contain elements that betray them as blatantly un-Christian in origin. They have quite a lot of regional variety but also many common themes.

The concept of primordial waters is almost universal and it frequently appears in conjunction with the story of an animal or a person diving and bringing a grain of sand from the bottom of the waters to it’s surface to create the earth. This is sometimes referred to as “the motif of fished out world” (”świat wyłowiony”, it sounds much cooler in Polish and other Slavic languages). 

In one of the stories the God (unnamed, or more likely rendered nameless by Christianity) dives into the primordial waters and a grain of sand gets stuck under his fingernail. Where it falls out the earth is formed. The God is frequently accompanied by another character, in later folk tales rendered as the Devil. Here we have our un-Christian element. The two supernatural characters are of equal or nearly equal standing and have to co-operate to create the world. According to the tale found on the territories of Poland and Bulgaria, God orders the Devil to dive to the bottom of the primordial waters and bring back a small lump of soil. In Bulgarian version the Devil fails to achieve this feat by calling solely on his own power but succeeds when calling upon the joint powers of himself and God. In other tellings the Devil has to turn into a bird to complete his mission. In certain regions, especially in Russia the devil has clearly ornitomorphic qualities, an idea borrowed from neighboring Finno-Ugric and Mongolian peoples. In a Carpathian folk songs we can find the world created by a pair of pigeons diving for the dirt, a trace of two divine powers, both with ornitomorphic form.

From this scrap of soil brought to the suface by the Devil God shapes the world, like an island on the endless waters. The Devil becomes jealous of his cration and wishes to rule the newly formed land alone so when the God falls asleep the Devil attempts to push him off the island into the water. To his suprise no matter how much he pushes, drags and rolls the God around, the earth seems to stretch below them, like dough under a rolling pin. In the end they do so much pushing, dragging and rolling that the great wide world we know is created. In a different telling (known in Russia and Ukraine) the Devil hides some of the fished out soil under his tongue hoping to create a land of his own, but the lump of dirt starts miraculously growing, bursting out of his mouth and forming mountains. In other versions of the story God accidentally creates too much dry land and there is no longer space for water - so God either eavesdrops on the Devil or asks his advice in order to solve the issue (Balkans).

And they said: “We know how man was created”. And he asked: “How?” The two of them said: “God was washing in a bathhouse, and he began to sweat, and he wiped himself with a cloth of herbs, and he threw it from heaven down to earth. And Satan began to argue with God about who would create man from it (the cloth). And the devil created man, but God put the soul in him. That is why, when a man dies, his body goes to earth and his soul to God”.

- Tale of Bygone Years

This leads as to another common motif, the stories in which the earth is a rocky, barren place and God either sacrifices his own body to make it habitable or sends a magical prophetic rooster to provide people with water (Slovenia).

The heathen also recounted that the world was totally barren, nothing but rocks. It bore no fruit, but there was no need for food anyway. Among the people lived God himself, with spirit and body, and he fed people with manna from heavens. Yet people were unhappy, for they feared God’s greatness and splendour. Constantly trembling, they could neither enjoy their food and drink nor make merry. God felt pity for them. He separated from his body and moved to heaven. His body decomposed and turned into fertile soil. In God’s soil, people cultivated their own food and no longer needed the manna from heaven. It was only then that they started to enjoy their life and were happy.

- Supernatural beings from Slovenian myth and folklore by Monika Kropej

Then we have some tales in which the world drifts on top of the primordial waters, possibly supported on the back of a giant fish or a sea snake. On the territories of Slovenia and Serbia we find mentions of the world being supported by a bull or a fiery dragon. Some slavists also speculate on the existence of “Cosmic Egg” creation story based on the common bird motifs and certain themes that can be found in traditional fairy tales.

Sources: Álvarez-Pedrosa, J. A., Sources on Pre-Christian Slavic religion (p. 287) Gieysztor, A., Mitologia Słowian (p. 156-159); Kropej, M., Supernatural beings from Slovenian myth and folklore (p. 17-29); Szyjewski, A., Religia Słowian (p. 27-38).

Not an anon, but still curious: what are your thoughts on braids and binding one's hair, particularly in the context of Ukrainian folklore? What is its use and meaning? I believe we have discussed this before but it has been on my mind lately, so I would be interested in any thoughts you might have.

There is, of course, the practical part to it - in a historically largely farming area, it makes sense to put your hair away from your face. And thus a long, thick, preferably black braid becomes an indicator of someone’s well-being and an important part of the folk beauty ideal, alongside dark, arched eyebrows, red cheeks, and a strong yet slender figure. It also signifies a woman’s neatness and modesty. In Ukrainian, when someone is described as простоволоса, it not only speaks of their unbound hair, but also implies, in the best case scenario, the individual’s distress or mental illness, or their existence outside of society and its norms, often through strange or immoral behaviour. In that sense a braid is as much of a mark of civilisation as a belt is.

The perspective on hair can be traced not only through a belief that is straightforwardly about it, but also through rituals and superstition that involve it. We see the obligation for married women to put their hair up and thoroughly cover it, otherwise she may be the cause of illness and misfortune upon her household or even entire village - it would have been easy to dismiss it as a mechanism of societal control, if unbound hair was not featured in rituals with a clear magical purpose, or during childbirth, with aim being to help the newborn pass through into this world, to untie everything that may hold it back. Hair becomes, pardon my unintentional pun, thoroughly entangled with the notion of a life path, of experience and personal, even magical power.

We see a similar sentiment in certain marriage rituals, in which the bride’s hair is braided into one strand and even cut off. The former was more common in the past: the hair is let down the morning of the wedding, and into it braided coins or items symbolising protection and prosperity. It after can be cut off to regrow in the marriage, by her older brother or the husband, and the woman’s head is immediately after covered never to be shown bare to anyone outside of her immediate household. That is the moment she becomes a wife. In the modern day, the ritual, still widely practiced in West Ukraine, usually looks like putting some money into the bride’s hairstyle or, more traditionally, a single braid, and letting a younger brother comb it out before putting a bridal veil on.

Magically, hair can be used to represent an individual for potentially malicious spells, and it is believed that if a bird takes the hairs someone loses to build a nest, they shall suffer from headaches.

And so, hair put up traditionally shows personal decency and reproductive and societal role, the hairstyle serves a protective function for a part that signifies someone’s life, power, and the very person - but also, even though it is not so frequently talked about, it serves to divide time and space. It is acceptable not to cover your (still braided once the person leaves childhood) hair when unmarried, and so it separates single and paired life. It is acceptable not to be covered in the presence of your husband, and so it separates home and intimacy from the outdoors and more practical relationships. It is acceptable to let your hair loose for a ritual, often performed at night in solitude or in the company of other women, and so it separates a magical action from a mundane one.

The principle is expressed in my own practice, even though I shall be the first to admit not to have given it that much thought: I myself cover my head for formal prayer, put my hair up when I expect to be in front of strangers, and last I cut it was very much in the first couple of weeks of speaking to my beloved. I am starting to suspect ancestors were involved in the last decision. Dead people, I swear.

Your body is an ancestor. Your body is an altar to your ancestors. Every one of your cells holds an ancient and anarchic love story. Around 2.7 billion years ago free-living prokaryotes melted into one another to form the mitochondria and organelles of the cells that build our bodies today. All you need to do to honor your ancestors is to roll up like a pill bug, into the innate shape of safety: the fetal position. The curl of your body, then, is an altar not just to the womb that grew you, but to the retroviruses that, 200 million years ago taught mammals how to develop the protein syncytin that creates the synctrophoblast layer of the placenta. Breathe in, slowly, knowing that your breath loops you into the biome of your ecosystem. Every seven to ten years your cells will have turned over, rearticulated by your inhales and exhales, your appetites and proclivity for certain flavors. If you live in a valley, chances are the ancient glacial moraine, the fossils crushed underfoot, the spores from grandmotherly honey fungi, have all entered into and rebuilt the very molecular make up of your bones, your lungs, and even your eyes. Even your lungfuls of exhaust churn you into an ancestor altar for Mesozoic ferns pressurized into the fossil fuels. You are threaded through with fossils. Your microbiome is an ode to bacterial legacies you would not be able to trace with birth certificates and blood lineages. You are the ongoing-ness of the dead. The alembic where they are given breath again. Every decision, every idea, every poem you breathe and live is a resurrection of elements that date back to the birth of this universe itself. Today I realize that due to the miracle of metabolic recycling, it is even possible that my body, somehow, holds the cells of my great-great grandmother. Or your great-great grandmother. Or that I am built from carbon that once intimately orchestrated the flight of a hummingbird or a pterodactyl. Your body is an ecosystem of ancestors. An outcome born not of a single human thread, but a web of relations that ripples outwards into the intimate ocean of deep time.

Your Body is an Ancestor, Sophie Strand

Is Slavic polytheism closed or open to anyone? Does it depend on the branch so to speak? I know Slavic polytheism is a broad term.

Hello! Regarding your post about opening asks, I was wondering if you have any advice about searching for Ukrainian sources about folklore/magic/superstition etc that are actually specific to Ukrainian beliefs? Every time I try to do research I find things that *say* Ukrainian, but all the sources are Russian. For example when I try to read about Mokosh, who is said to be an earth goddess for "all slavic people" (already a red flag statement) I can only find Russian sources and stories. People tend to lump us into one group, an issue Im sure you're familiar with. Either way, thank you for your time!! <3

That is a simple one - you would have to be more specific in your research. Do not look up Ukrainian beliefs about Mokosh, Ukraine nor Ukrainians (or Russians, for that matter) did not exist when this deity was worshiped. Research the history itself, or any particular region, subject, or group, and make your own conclusions.

With Mokosh, however, the trick is that the one reliable primary source in existence, the Tale of Bygone Years, also known as the Primary Chronicle, only states the name itself, without a hint towards gender or patronage. The rest, academically, is conjecture derived from romantic pet theories and the images of the Virgin Mary and St. Friday in folk imagination. This is not to say there is no earth goddess making herself known through this name, or through the saints mentioned, for that matter, but it has to be acknowledged there is no way of knowing who this being was at the time of writing.