According to one of the legends, the impure forces spread to the Earth after the Lord, angry at the construction of the Tower of Babel, mixed the languages of people. “The instigators, having deprived the image and likeness of a human, God sent for eternity to guard the waters, mountains, forests. Who at the time of the curse was at home - became a brownie, in the forest - a devil …"
Goblin began to manage the forest; water, swamp, kikimora live in rivers, swamps, lakes; The brownie, having landed in an open chimney, has been living next to people ever since. The ancient Slavs, who considered the undead a natural spirit, knew that he could be both good and evil in relation to people - everything depended on a person's ability to behave correctly in relation to the world around him.
HOUSE KEEPER
He is called the Master, Grandfather, Benevolent, Good-willed and even Provider. The brownie is perhaps the only one of all spirits who goes to people with goodness. He protects the house from all kinds of misfortunes: thieves, fire, natural disaster, etc., protects the household members themselves from diseases and evil spirits. It is believed that every house certainly has one such invisible tenant, who has been treated with attention and respect since ancient times, although they were slightly afraid.
His most important difference from other representatives of evil spirits can be called the fact that the brownie never really hurts the owners. Yes, and he does not like being called evil spirits, he is angry and mischievous.
In addition, the brownie has no fear of the cross and icons. This is explained by the fact that the guardian of the house, although he was expelled by God, is considered repentant and partially forgiven. He even has a chance to receive full forgiveness and get into the Kingdom of Heaven, but for this, the householder needs 70 years to live with one master, help him in every way and protect him.
Its origin is explained in different ways. Christian sources say that one of the deceased family members could become a brownie, and each time with the death of the owner, he assumed the image of the deceased. Interestingly, the age count for the brownie goes from ascending to descending, he is born wise and old, lives for about 700 years, and dies as a helpless baby.
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Few can boast that they saw a brownie, but eyewitnesses describe him in almost the same way: a sturdy, squat man, half a meter in height, arms and legs are short, but at the same time the feet, palms and head are disproportionately large. And the most important thing is that he is all unusually hairy - even his palms are covered with thick reddish wool.
It is said that he becomes like tenants when they live together for a long time. Many often hear his quiet crying, muffled restrained moans, and sometimes abruptly short or, conversely, soft and gentle, but always unintelligible exclamations.
True, if the quick-witted owners manage to skillfully call him and ask a question at the right time, then they can hear a completely articulate answer.
When people moved to a new place, the brownie was always called with them with the help of a special hospitable ceremony. Many people know the tradition of being the first to launch a cat into a new home, but few know what this is connected with. It turns out that this hearth keeper enters the room on it.
It is known that the brownie has a habit of expressing his disposition to people in a peculiar way, namely, to lean on his chest in a dream and press.
One night Catherine F. woke up terrified. Something pressed on her chest and neck. Remembering the stories of the grandmothers, which the brownie does so often, foreshadowing trouble or happiness, she, breathlessly, barely squeezed out of herself: "For better or for better?" And I heard in response: "For worse." A few days later, her mother-in-law died.
Bioenergetics believe that the owners, by the signs of the brownie, can always find out about impending troubles: crying - to the dead, howling in the pipes - to litigation, wetting in a dream - to illness, rattling dishes - to the danger of fire, affectionately stroking - to good. If you want to get rid of such attention and affection, then use an ancient effective means: use the most refined and complex expressive expressions of the Russian language that you know - the higher the number of storeys, the better.
Brownies do not like quarrels and disorder in the house. There are cases when the brownie prevented the adultery of his owners, leaning on the culprit at night and slightly strangling him. They are also quite jealous. There is a known case when young people got married and the husband moved to his young wife. But only he could not sleep in a new place, someone pushed him at night and pinched his leg, and in the morning bruises appeared. This continued until he was advised to make friends with the brownie - to leave a treat for the night and ask permission to live in his apartment. The guy followed the advice, and over time, the situation changed dramatically.
Some of the brownies are starting a family. His wife is a housewife (or housewife), and his children are a housewife. And it was the brownie that could sometimes be seen, since, unlike his father and mother, he still has a poor command of invisibility and extradimensional movements.
The brownie can feel in advance the approach to the house of damage. And if a person comes into your home with bad intentions, the brownie begins to worry and give signs. A dashing person can drop a cup from his hands, suddenly tear his clothes, spill something on the tablecloth. You are kind of signaled - pay attention to this person, he intends to harm you.
Brownies have their own holiday. This is the New Year, which they celebrate on the night of February 10-11. These days it is imperative to congratulate your brownie and his family. In fact, brownies sleep in the winter, unlike other Christmastide evil. But on this night they wake up and walk, have fun and make noise.
SERVANTS OF VELES
Even the name "Leshy" comes from the word "forest" with a slightly changed pronunciation in the Old Russian way. People say that you can see the devil only in the form in which he himself wants to appear. Most often it is a completely humanoid appearance: a cheerful old man or a huge man with a knapsack and a staff, in sloppy clothes of a greenish shade or in a red caftan, on which the buttons are on the left, and the belt is fastened on the contrary, the left bast is put on the right leg, and the right on the left.
When the goblin sits down on a tree stump, he always puts his left foot on his right. The eyes of this demon are emerald in color, radiate with energy. But most of all, he loves to appear before people in the form of a shaggy, scary old man with a beard, horns and goat legs. Clothes, if present on it, will necessarily be inside out. There is a belief that this evil has the properties of a werewolf, so sometimes it can appear in the form of any animal, except for birds, and even a tree.
It is believed that the goblin are the eyes and ears of Veles. It is through the goblin that this animal god and the keeper of the herds oversees the forest, intervening if necessary in the course of events. In ancient times, it was believed that through the goblin one can communicate with Veles, acquiring sacred knowledge about the world.
In northern Russia, the devil was considered dumb, but vociferous: he could sing, but without words, encouraging himself by clapping his hands. He sometimes sings at the top of his lungs (as a forest makes noise in a storm) and calms down only with the first crowing of a rooster. Goblin does not wear a hat, he has no right ear, he combes his hair to the left. And in the Karachay and Bryansk forests he was always seen with a huge club in his hands.
There are cases when the goblin showed people mushroom and berry places and even led out travelers who had lost their way in the forest. But, if a person did not like the forest spirit or came to the forest with the aim of doing harm, the goblin will start to scare him, making loud and plaintive sounds, howling of the wind, and crackling of trees.
He can lead the path to the side, lure into a swamp or "drive" - make him walk in circles in the same place. However, he usually does not expose a person to serious danger. People who happened to meet the devil told me that he speaks without opening his mouth, sending the necessary images and thoughts to the brain.
There is a version among the people that the souls of the damned and dead people, as well as babies stolen by evil spirits before baptism, become devil. It is known that suicides were not buried in cemeteries, they were called false dead, they were carried out to swamps, into ravines and in no case were they thrown with earth.
So, it was these deceased who could turn into gobies of a very evil disposition. If the goblin is dissatisfied with the activities of people, he goes to the village, scares women, kidnaps children, whom, in a fit of anger, the mother rewarded with careless curses.
And he also loves to exchange his leshachat, ugly, evil and loud, for human children. Unlike many other unclean spirits, devil are social. They have a hut where they live with their wives and children. It is believed that the wives of the devil come from the souls of the girls ruined by him, who were cursed by their parents. There is only one way to find the goblin's hut - to follow him. Although it is very difficult to get out of this hut, and if the devil himself does not want to, then wherever you go, you will all return to her.
Despite all this, the goblin is considered a character more positive than negative. Especially if a person, entering the forest, shows respect for its owner and leaves an egg or cheese somewhere on a hemp. It is these products that the goblin loves more than others. According to legend, the goblin, like other spirits, celebrates the arrival of spring and waits for Easter, so there is a belief that the best gift for him is an Easter egg.
Many said that they visited the devil, drank with him, had fun, while completely losing track of time. It seemed to them that the feast lasted for several hours, but in fact the person was absent from home for several days.
I AM WATER
The waterman in various places is called the waterman, the water grandfather, the river master and even the king. If it comes to him, then certainly with such characteristics as anger, cunning and rancor. It often interferes with the rescue of drowning people.
Outwardly, the water one, like the rest of the perfumes, looks half-human-half-animal. An interesting fact is that no one ever describes the lower part of his body. One can only assume that he has either a mermaid's tail, or he has membranes between his toes, like waterfowl. Most of the eyewitnesses who have seen the waterman claim that this is a tall old man. It is all covered with moss and marsh grass, only clothes or leather is not clear.
There is certainly a long green beard, which he combs on the beach during the full moon. A distinctive feature of this character is huge red eyes and a large nose. Sometimes he takes the form of a naked youth, throws himself into the nets of fishermen, making huge holes in them.
And sometimes it turns into an unrealistically large pike, and if a fisherman accidentally touches such a fish with a prison, then expect trouble: both the boat and the people will drown. Usually he moves on a catfish, and therefore in some areas this fish - "devil's horse" - is not advised to eat.
In addition to the version that the water one is one of the demons cast down by God to Earth, there is another, according to which he descended from the children of Adam, whom he hid from God. And, of course, it is quite possible that the aquatic descended from the cursed people, the hostages of the dead, whose corpses were often thrown into the waters of lakes and pools. His age depends on the phase of the moon: when a new one is born, he is young, and on a full moon he is old.
Like a real master, the merman watches over his possessions. He does not tolerate noise and conversations near the water about hares, bears, clergymen, and especially mentions of the Almighty. Memories of one of the Novgorodians have been preserved: “There is a raceway near the winter road. Uncle Stepan said that there are a lot of fish in this place, just don't say anything. I got knockers out of my hands three times. As soon as I see a fish, every time I will say: "Well, thank God, there are a lot of fish!" And every time it cracks on the top, it will lower all the fish. Apparently, the watery disliked that he remembered God, well, he didn’t give any fish”.
It is interesting that when the wife of a mercenary has to give birth, he turns into a man with water constantly dripping from the left hem of his clothes and hair, and goes to the village for a midwife, who is generously paid for her services.
Once the fishermen found a baby in the nets who behaved in a strange way: frolicked in the water, and in the house became lethargic and apathetic. The kid turned out to be a water child. The fishermen returned it to their father on the condition that he would provide them with a rich catch, which was observed.
There is a belief that a drowned man remains a servant of the waterman until he finds a replacement for himself, that is, he drowns someone. But even then he does not leave the underwater kingdom, but himself becomes watery.
LIFT MY EYES
Everyone remembers N. V. Gogol's story "Viy". But few people know who he really is. There is a version that he serves Chernobog and is a conductor of his deadly power, as well as a jailer for sinners in the underworld, whom he punishes with his own hand.
He is able to kill with a look, and that is why the eyes of this creature are constantly covered with heavy eyelids. He cannot lift his eyelids on his own, the demon's eyelids are lifted by the servants with a pitchfork. It is believed that his name comes from the Ukrainian viya - "eyelashes". But it is quite possible that it came from the verb "curl", since outwardly Wii resembles a plant, his body is covered with clods of earth, ugly roots and skin similar to the bark of an oak tree.
Some researchers associate this character with Saint Kasyan, who also had the ability to kill with a glance. According to legend, Kasyan does not see anything because of the heavy long eyelashes reaching his knees, and only once every four years, on February 29, is he allowed to raise them and look at the world. And that living thing, which he looks at, instantly perishes.
Is it because it is believed that a leap year is always accompanied by crop failures, hunger, disease and other misfortunes?