Slavic Folklore Aesthetic

Paganism in europe has existed well before recorded history.

Slavic folklore aesthetic. In certain slavic countries dragons can viewed either as good or evil depending on their sex. Most slavic superstitions and traditions are reminders of times before the dark ages. Slavic culture boasts one of the most amazing tales ghost stories and legends about witches. The strzyga is a demon related to a vampire in slavic mythology although it has a particular association with polish folklore it is a creature born from human parents but has two hearts two souls and most creepily two sets of teeth with the second set barely visible.

Slavic folklore arose from the need to give meaning to the hardships of life and to understand the brutal world around them the foreboding forests the thunderous seas and the wars that raged. Unfortunately slavic mythology originated in the days when writing was not a norm and because of this it has never been recorded officially by slavs but rather by christian chroniclers. Some tales define him as a naked old man. Slavic folklore is fascinating.

The vodianoi is a male water spirit of slavic origin. Lucky for us it is possible to restore some of the ancient legends thanks to oral folklore rituals folk beliefs and such notes made by ancient chroniclers. One of the least well known is the slavic pantheon of gods spirits and heroes that persisted before and after. Reports of his appearance vary.

Slavic mythology baba yaga babe yaga is a supernatural beinge who appears as a deformed and or ferocious looking witch. One of the lesser known dragons is that of the zmaj a dragon that can be found in slavic folklore. 10 weird beings from slavic mythology and folklore. In bulgarian legends for instance male dragons are believed to be the protectors of crops whilst the female ones are bent on destroying the fruits.

Greek and roman mythologies are so common in western culture that most people have never heard of the polytheistic pantheon of other cultures. However zmay in slavic folklore is represented as rather benign creature created from certain animals which lived up to 30 or 100 years rooster carp horse ox ram or dog. It always had either one or even number of heads and traits from animal that it borrowed. The czech and slovak equivalent is called a vodník polish is a wodnik while russian is vodianoy a south slavic equivalent is vodenjak he is viewed to be particularly malevolent existing almost exclusively to drown swimmers who have angered him by their boldness.

Baba yaga flies around in a mortar wields a pestle and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs or sometimes a single chicken leg baba yaga may help or hinder those that encounter or seek her out. Soon there came a crowd of crawfish and amongst them a gigantic lobster as large as a year old calf illustration by emily j.