The hunt for werewolves and sorcerers was not a wonder in Russia. Real witches, those who did their unclean deeds even in the recent past, did not place advertisements in newspapers - such an idea would not have occurred to them. On the contrary, they hid their abilities in every possible way, and bewitched on dark nights …
It happened about fifty years ago in the Shilovsky district. A teenager from a village family had a fight with his peer - the son of a recognized witch. The boy's mother, although she knew what her neighbor was famous for, went to swear with her. Scolded? scolded, and then, in the heat of a quarrel, the witch told her: "I will make sure that you do not recognize your children." And that one had four … A few years later the woman developed severe sclerosis. Over the years, memory has deteriorated. She ended her life in the Ryazan mental hospital, for several years before her death she did not even recognize her children …
For such? then things on witches and the whole village took up arms. When they talk about hunting them, why? then they always remember only Europe with its Inquisition. But in medieval Russia - and in particular on the Ryazan land - bonfires were also blazing. And not only in the era of Ivan the Terrible, but also under Alexei Tishaish. There were other methods of punishment in remote Ryazan villages. For example, in the Shatsk region, witches' ears were cut off. But there, according to legend, these witches were not simple, but werewolves.
This is now a werewolf - necessarily a wolf (by Hollywood standards). And our Ryazan witches had much richer imagination: they turned into a pig, and into a cow, and into a cat, and even into a wheel. And it happened, transformed almost in front of everyone. The Shatsk land has preserved many stories about how witches were caught converting, and immediately off with their ears. But as? then the village boy noticed that a wheel was rolling along the road behind him. He hung it on the palisade. And the next day he looks: and this is already a person hanging …
In the village of Chernaya Sloboda, a woman wanted to marry one guy to her daughter. And he went to another, to a neighboring village. And every time he returned, the black pig was waiting for him at the crossroads and ran home after him. Once he took a knife with him and, seeing a pig, rushed to it and cut off its ears. The next day the whole village was talking about it. But more about the fact that his failed mother-in-law lies at home and does not come out. Since then, she hid her ears under a scarf …
Matchmakers? sorcerers?
Since ancient times, in the Ryazan region, they believed that a real witch could suppress the will of a person and force him to do what she wanted - one spit. Will the witch whisper? whisper - and the groom is ready! Then prove that you have bewitched … And this art was passed down from generation to generation, it passed through the Soviet years, and now in the villages on this topic will tell a lot of interesting things.
In the same Shilovsky district, about 12 years ago, such a story happened. The guy and the girl were going to get married, and a few days before the wedding, the groom went to a neighboring village to see his relatives. And he was gone. Neither hearing nor spirit. We decided to run away. A year later, the girl married another guy who was very similar to the first … She did not live long with him, and soon divorced. But then she came from the village, to which the missing groom, the woman, had gone before the wedding and told that the guy … got married. Although he came with the opposite goal - to invite friends to the wedding. But a day later he went to get married to a completely unfamiliar girl. “We have half the village doing magic,” she said. - And the guy still walks like a stoned one. So you talk to him - nothing, but talk about the family as under hypnosis,glass eyes … Something they did or something else for him …”The same girl, whom he did not marry, told about this, but asked not to be named.
In general, they deservedly, the witches, cut off their ears …
Who grazes the sheep …
Witches passed on their skills by inheritance, from mother to daughter, or together with what? some talisman - to a stranger. In principle, it could be any conspiracy thing, but in the Ryazan province it was believed that only a fern or hemp flower was reliable. And if a woman came to the witch and asked to teach her witchcraft, she first arranged a test for her: both took a piece of bread wrapped in a white cloth and went into the forest. There they put bread on the ground. According to legend, insects and snakes soon attacked the witch's piece, and the bread of an ordinary woman remained untouched. "Look, this is how demons will torment my soul after death," the witch warned the woman. If the applicant was not afraid, the witch undertook to teach.
But there weren't many sorcerers on the Ryazan land, not very much? then the men got into all kinds of mysticism. However, they were replaced by shepherds - even in the 19th century, "sorcerer" and "shepherd" were almost synonymous. This is understandable: what in the village was valued as highly as the cattle that this man looked after? But to such a "sorcerer" and the attitude was completely different. If they stuck knives against the witches in the lintel so that they would not enter the house, or hung thistle twigs (some still do this), then the appearance of a shepherd in the hut was almost a blessing! The villagers always tried to appease him with eggs and bread. The shepherd was even commemorated in daily prayers, wishing him every health. At the same time, they were afraid of him, believing that he was connected with the other world and therefore possessed secret knowledge. This faith was so strongwhat even in 1930? In 1900s, shepherds were still required to demonstrate special magical rituals to preserve the herd. And he went around houses and read spells over sheep and cows … Even the shepherd's whip in many Ryazan regions was called a "mermaid" - an echo of his "friendship" with evil spirits.
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With a whip and a grip
But witches were sometimes used for the best purposes: for example, when an epidemic of typhus or cholera raged in the district. Then, in order to protect their village from misfortune, unmarried girls, in only white shirts, barefoot and with loose hair, secretly gathered outside the outskirts late at night. They took a plow with them, with which they had to plow the whole village around and thus protect it from misfortunes. In front, one girl carried a small icon with a candle stuck to it, another was harnessed to the shafts, and the rest from the sides helped her pull the plow. One girl whipped the air with a whip to ward off the devil from their procession, and others, too, were necessarily armed against evil spirits - some with a grab, some with a poker. At the same time, they quietly sang prayers.
Generally? then everything is not so scary … But if they suddenly came across a stranger on their way, he got the whip!
Visiting the devil
Witches would not be witches if they did not lead a close acquaintance with evil spirits. Therefore, even more evil eye or damage was feared in the Ryazan region of "flaws" of any devilry …
Ethnographers recorded a story about a forester from Vysha (this is the Shatsk region), whom his own grandmother, apparently with great resentment, sent to the demonic team. And she warned him that in three years he would pick the thistle or flax - then he could return to the people. In general, she cursed and sent to hell. At first he thought that grandma was joking. I went in a clip to the pond near the mill to swim. And he was gone. People came and looked: the clothes were lying, the team was standing, but it was not. They decided that the poor fellow had drowned. They celebrated a requiem for him, his wife cried, and gradually everyone calmed down. But three years later, apparently, he found a thistle by his grandmother's order, because he came to his wife. She was frightened and did not let him in: he looked terrible and was all overgrown with wool. I tried to explain to my wife - they say, he drove the devils, but she didn’t believe in any, only squeals and does not open the door. Then he went to the neighbors. They recognized him, were not frightened, gave him clothes and took him to the village priest. At first, he also did not believe, convinced the guy, what in general? then he is long dead. Then the guy says: “Do you remember, father, you were driving with hay and turned over? So it was we and the devils who overturned your cart,”and accurately named the place. “It was like that,” the priest agreed. “Do you remember when you went to baptize the child, so your sleigh overturned on the hillock? This is us too. " The priest was convinced, baptized him, and even put on the cross. The guy thanked him, sighed with relief: “Finally? then! It was hard there. And now I won't come close to the pond - otherwise they, devils? then they'll tear me apart right away. " In the end, the wife was persuaded to accept the faithful back, but after that, ethnographers, alas, are silent about how his relationship with his grandmother developed. At first, he also did not believe, convinced the guy, what in general? then he is long dead. Then the guy says: “Do you remember, father, you were driving with hay and turned over? So it was we and the devils who overturned your cart,”and accurately named the place. “It was like that,” the priest agreed. “Do you remember when you went to baptize the child, so your sleigh overturned on the hillock? This is us too. " The priest was convinced, baptized him, and even put on the cross. The guy thanked him, sighed with relief: “Finally? then! It was hard there. And now I won't come close to the pond - otherwise they, devils? then they'll tear me apart right away. " In the end, the wife was persuaded to accept the faithful back, but after that, ethnographers, alas, are silent about how his relationship with his grandmother developed. At first, he also did not believe, convinced the guy, what in general? then he is long dead. Then the guy says: “Do you remember, father, you were driving with hay and turned over? So it was we and the devils who overturned your cart,”and accurately named the place. “It was like that,” the priest agreed. “Do you remember when you went to baptize the child, so your sleigh overturned on the hillock? This is us too. " The priest was convinced, baptized him, and even put on the cross. The guy thanked him, sighed with relief: “Finally? then! It was hard there. And now I won't come close to the pond - otherwise they, devils? then they'll tear me apart right away. " In the end, the wife was persuaded to accept the faithful back, but after that, ethnographers, alas, are silent about how his relationship with his grandmother developed. Did you drive with hay and overturn? So it was we and the devils who overturned your cart,”and accurately named the place. “It was like that,” the priest agreed. “Do you remember when you went to baptize the child, so your sleigh overturned on the hillock? This is us too. " The priest was convinced, baptized him, and even put on the cross. The guy thanked him, sighed with relief: “Finally? then! It was hard there. And now I won't come close to the pond - otherwise they, devils? then they'll tear me apart right away. " In the end, the wife was persuaded to accept the faithful back, but after that, ethnographers, alas, are silent about how his relationship with his grandmother developed. Did you drive with hay and overturn? So it was we and the devils who overturned your cart,”and accurately named the place. “It was like that,” the priest agreed. “Do you remember when you went to baptize the child, so your sleigh overturned on the hillock? This is us too. " The priest was convinced, baptized him, and even put on the cross. The guy thanked him, sighed with relief: “Finally? then! It was hard there. And now I won't come close to the pond - otherwise they, devils? then they'll tear me apart right away. " In the end, the wife was persuaded to accept the faithful back, but after that, ethnographers, alas, are silent about how his relationship with his grandmother developed. The guy thanked him, sighed with relief: “Finally? then! It was hard there. And now I won't come close to the pond - otherwise they, devils? then they'll tear me apart right away. " In the end, the wife was persuaded to accept the faithful back, but after that, ethnographers, alas, are silent about how his relationship with his grandmother developed. The guy thanked him, sighed with relief: “Finally? then! It was hard there. And now I won't come close to the pond - otherwise they, devils? then they'll tear me apart right away. " In the end, the wife was persuaded to accept the faithful back, but after that, ethnographers, alas, are silent about how his relationship with his grandmother developed.