The pantheon of pagan gods is infinitely diverse. But it would remain incomplete without the small keepers of the house and the economy, who live under different names in fairy tales, proverbs and signs of the peoples of the world. These mythical creatures - brownies - were an important part of the life of our ancestors.
Bolshak, grandfather, bro
The pagan tradition considers as brownies one of the ancestors of the clan, assigned for the sins of the service of the descendants, or just an ancestor buried without obligatory funeral rites. It was also believed that the god Rod created the brownies to preserve the well-being and prosperity in the family. With the advent of Christianity to Russia, a new version of the origin of brownies was born. According to legend, the Lord threw unclean spirits to earth, who raised a rebellion against him in heaven. Some of them began to settle in human dwellings and eventually took root among people, began to take care of them, help them with household chores.
Whatever the origin of the home keepers, they were always treated with respect and even some caution, they were often not called directly so as not to bring trouble into the house. In general, the variety of names for brownies is almost endless. The home spirit is called a golbeshnik (from a baking partition), a baker, a baker in the "place of residence", or a master, a beaten highway, a well-wisher, a ruler in terms of status in the house, or dashing, the other half, a fatty line by belonging to evil spirits.
Usually the brownie is invisible to people, but in special cases it can appear to the owners. In this case, he looks like an old man of small stature, shaggy and overgrown, dressed over a shirt and trousers in a warm zipun, but often barefoot, which is understandable: the baker has nothing to do on the street. If everything is all right in the "subordinate" household family, he appears in light clothes, but if the household is in trouble, his clothes turn black.
Although disposed to people, but still undead, the brownie is able to turn into animals. He can appear as a cat, dog, calf and even a snake or bear. In this case, the animal's hair will have the same color as the hair of the older man in the house.
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Brownie classification
The brownie breed is not at all limited to the well-known Slavic bakeries. They have "relatives" in almost every European country, and their appearance and habits are very similar to each other.
The closest relatives of brownies are English brownies. These are small men with unkempt brown hair (hence their name) and bright blue eyes. Unlike brownies, they never settle in houses, preferring to live in secluded places or burrows near human habitation. Brownies do not like loneliness, and they gather in small tribes, traditionally it is believed that women are not among them. These nocturnal creatures run the houses while people are resting: they weave, wash, clean, guard pets from predators and thieves. And in return, the brownies expect to find for themselves a jug of milk or cream left by the hostess in the corner and a fresh bun. It is impossible to personally present brownies with offerings - the little men are very offended by this and leave their wards, the same happens if you offer brownies new clothes. And a wild homeless brownie becomes dangerous, he can lure a person into a forest thicket or swamp, and, according to legend, only sincere prayer can save him from an embittered man.
In Germany and the Scandinavian countries, brownies are called whigts. These pot-bellied stalwarts on thin legs with a gray head and eyebrows have a very complex character. They are also inclined to help people with the housework and willingly sweep the garbage, make sure that food does not burn in the hearth, look after the cattle and even look after the children so that they do not play naughty. But the Vigts themselves hooligans much more than the most disobedient children: several times a night they can throw blankets from the sleeping owners, sometimes they open the doors of all the pens so that the pets can get out into the wild, they don't need to put sugar in the soup, and in the porridge - salt. In a word, there is absolutely no sweetness with them, if only they want to make a trick. The only way to calm the whigt is to give him warm woolen stockings to warm his thin legs. The gift should be hidden in a dark corner of the underground and under no circumstances should it be checked whether the gift was taken or not.
Even more mischievous home perfume went to the inhabitants of Switzerland and Northern Italy. Servans - as they are called - go in pranks much further than their relatives. They entangle horses and cows with their tails, drive horses onto rooftops, steal little things that are needed in the household, beat and break household utensils. You can cope with them, just not attaching importance to their antics: if you treat the servans with condescension and laugh at what they do, you can make them help with the housework, take care of animals and benefit people.
There is a breed of brownies that serve the owners not on a territorial, but on a professional basis: they are servants of magicians and witches - familiars. They, like all other household spirits, do housework, but they can also spy on the host's enemies. Legends say that sorcerers could rely on their familiar as a close friend and trusted him in everything. Familiars usually take on the guise of an animal or bird: a cat, a dog, a crow, and sometimes a frog or a toad. The familiar image of the familiar is the cat Behemoth in Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita.
My master, brownie, take a broom, put things in order
The brownie located to the owners is an excellent assistant in the household. According to popular beliefs, he takes up any household chores: he can blow up and keep the fire in the oven, clean the house, dry grain, walk on water. The little keeper protects household property, often recounts it so that nothing is lost. Pets, especially horses, are especially fond of brownies. The brownie gives them water and feeds, cleans, combs the horses' mane, even braids it in pigtails and ties red ribbons. It is no wonder that well-groomed cattle become healthy, smooth, and fertile. It is interesting that the attitude of the brownie towards animals depends on their color: if the color coincided with his hair color, love and care for the animals were provided. If the cattle was withering and losing weight, it was believed that it fell into the hands of the brownie. They tried to sell such animals,since the brownie could well have completely lime it.
In addition to household help, the home spirit predicts the future by its behavior, can warn of future troubles. If it is expected that many good things await the household, the brownie will laugh, stroke people at night with a shaggy or warm hand. If, on the contrary, trouble awaits the family, the baker will start howling, knocking, slamming doors, and the hand stroking people at night will be cold or "naked." According to legend, before the death of the owner, the brownie appears in his hat. If the house can catch on fire at night, the brownie wakes up the older man in the house in time, and if a calf or chicken can be carried away by a wild animal or thieves, he lures the hostess into the yard.
The brownie will feel if someone enters the house with bad intentions, or just an envious person who wishes the owners evil. Seeing him, the brownie will immediately start giving signals - worry, whisper to the family. If this does not help, the signals will become even more obvious: the “attacker” will fall out of his hands and break a cup or plate, his clothes may suddenly rip, or he will spill something on the tablecloth against his will. All these oddities mean that a bad person has entered the house.
However, if the owners are lazy, or too wasteful, or get along badly with each other, you should not expect help from the brownie. If the baker grandfather gets angry, he will start to scare people, make noise at night, break dishes, eat everything that is not hidden at night, curl the hair of the household in tangles and cause a lot of all kinds of damage to the household and family.
Agreement with the brownie
If the owners of the house are interested in forging a good relationship with the little guardian of their home, they must observe a number of traditions. You should contact the housekeeper politely, with respect, and you can talk out loud, if there is a need to ask him for a service, you need to promise him a treat or a gift in return. In general, from time to time it is good to pamper the brownie with a treat: a saucer of milk, porridge or sweet - sweets or cookies. You need to put food in a secluded corner, especially if there are cats or dogs in the house and say at the same time: "Master-father, honest brownie, here I brought you bread and salt."
In addition, the brownie can be pleased with the gifts that the spirit of the home loves to play with: old beads, shiny buttons, coins. The offering should be folded into a beautiful box and, like food, put in a secluded corner where no one should touch the gift.
If a move is planned, and the owners want the brownie to follow them to a new place of residence, they conduct a special ceremony. Hosts should prepare a bag where the house spirit will creep in when no one is looking, and place a plate of porridge in front of it. You need to call the brownie from the bottom of your heart, saying with a kind feeling: "House-brownie, come with me, lead the housewife-mistress, as I can, I will reward." The fact is that the brownies get very used to the house where they live, and are very reluctant to leave it for a new place. If you do not manage to persuade the baker to move, he will remain in his old place in longing and sadness. But if the little stubborn man can be convinced, he will follow the owners who love him even to the ends of the world, and will serve them in a new place with faith and truth.
Ekaterina Kravtsova