Man has always had a fear of everything unknown. Inexplicable natural phenomena have always been food for the birth of myths and legends among the people, as well as for man's intolerable desire to know the unknown. The Komi people, converted to Christianity by the end of the XIV century, originally believed in the magical powers of nature
For many centuries, the pagan faith attributed inexplicable natural phenomena to the anger or grace of the gods who command the elements. Echoes of paganism are heard on our land to this day. Many believe that from time to time a door opens between the real and the other worlds, showing miracles.
Since the main occupations of the Komi people from ancient times were hunting and gathering, there are a great many myths and legends about miracles in Parma. However, our fellow countrymen-contemporaries, tempted by the blessings of civilization and accustomed to interpreting everything inexplicable from the point of view of science, are bewildered by many inexplicable phenomena.
Many villagers firmly believe that their departed relatives become guardian angels and protect them from dangers in the real world. As a resident of the Syktyvkar microdistrict Lesozavod Margarita Kichigina said, none other than her now deceased mother helped her to get out of the forest thicket, where she got lost picking mushrooms. When she was already exhausted from the vain search for the way home and sat down on a tree stump, she mentally turned to her parent for help. After some time, an echo was heard in the distance: "Rita, go home!" She was surprised how much this voice sounded like her mother's, and hurried to the call. The voice did not move away and did not approach, it ceased to be heard only when she went out onto the road, where no one was visible. Immediately a car appeared on the road, and the driver who had picked up the woman said to Margarita,that at such a late hour in the forest he did not notice anyone.
The Komi hunters still have very strong customs, according to which the unspoken rules of respect for forest spirits cannot be violated. A traveler who has visited a forest hut must maintain order in it, behave quietly so as not to disturb the forest, and after resting, be sure to leave a supply of matches, food and a piece of bread for the forest spirit who guards this hut. To a group of teenagers from the Ust-Kulom region, this custom seemed like a grandfather's fairy tale. Gathering on a trip to the forest, they stocked up not only with the necessary food, but also with a fair amount of alcohol. Having reached the forest hut, the teenagers decided to come off to the fullest. Getting drunk, they began to smash the woodpile carefully stacked by the foresters near the house, scattered the dishes, turned on the radio at full volume, shaking the forest thicket with shouts and laughter. We went to bed after midnight, without even putting out the fire,and when they woke up, they were surprised to find that the woodpile was neatly folded back, the dishes were in place, the fire, with the logs not yet burned out, was extinguished. As if someone reproached them for their negligence.
The hooligans decided to immediately go home and quickly got home, taking as a souvenir from the forest hut along with their belongings and a smoked spoon. Having wandered in the forest all day, they, hungry and tired, returned back to the same hut. Since there were no matches or food there, they went to bed hungry, and for the rest of the night something wandered around the house, sighing deeply and heavily. The second attempt to get home was also unsuccessful; the path invariably led them back to the hut, as if reminding them of their sin. And only on the third day, they guessed to put the spoon in place, and left a mug of wild strawberries as a gift to the forest spirit. Without even being guided by the compass, they went out on the right path, as if their feet had brought them home.
Komi hunters believed that forest spirits enter the souls of forest animals. Forester Anatoly Kuznetsov from the village of Bolshaya Kuzhba, Ust-Kulomsky district, told the story of how once, intending to kill a bear, he killed a bear. He took off her skin, hung it up, and when he looked from the side at the skinned carcass, he was thrown over like a tub of ice water - the body of a naked woman lay on the ground. Both the figure and the anatomical details were strikingly similar. At night he dreamed of a bear who approached his house and looked at him reproachfully. For a long time after that, he was not at all lucky in hunting, and he swore to hunt bears forever. Now, feeling that a bear is wandering next to him in the forest, he speaks loudly to him and apologizes for his past mistake. Maybe his forgiveness was accepted, once the bear accompanied him from the forest to the very house and,after spending the night near his bath, he went back to the forest.
There are also places in the forest expanses of Komi where anomalous phenomena occur. According to the Komi writer Yevgeny Kozlov, near the village of Ezholty, Ust-Vymsky district, there is a place where, according to the beliefs of the villagers, the goblin is teeming. A resident of this village, somehow finding himself there, cursed and swore loudly. He doesn't remember what happened next. He returned home exhausted, in rags. The clothes seemed to have been cut into shreds with a sharp knife. According to him, the man was lifted into the air by some invisible force and swung through the air for a long time, touching the tops of trees, and then threw him to the ground with a swing.
As a resident of the same Ust-Vymsky district, Yuri Patov, said, there is a strange place near the village of Kokvitsy, where even old-timers have not dared to go for more than a decade. Near Kokvitskaya Gora within a radius of two or three kilometers, the trees seem to be pressed to the ground by some unknown force. The radius is very clear. There are no historical sources that would tell that a meteorite fell into this place or a powerful hurricane passed. In this place, a mosquito or midge rarely flies, mushrooms do not grow, animals and birds are not found. There is evidence that people have disappeared here.
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Near the village of Zhiganovka, in the Knyazhpogost region, active archaeological excavations took place for some time. In the XIV century, there was a self-burial of Chudi - a people who did not want to accept Christianity. The pagans buried themselves alive along with household belongings and pets. Archaeologists have dug this place so that it looks like a military training ground. Raspberries have grown on the windbreak, and locals love to come here for berries. According to the stories of one resident, this place is cursed and you cannot go there. Once she went there for raspberries and filled up a bucket with berries three times, but as soon as she turned away, the bucket, standing on a flat surface, turned out to be overturned. For the fourth time, she watched it happen, and was just numb with horror. The ground under the bottom of the bucket seemed to heave, it tilted, and the berries spilled out onto the ground. Not remembering herself, she rushed away from this cursed place. According to her, the chud, disturbed by archaeologists, does not find peace and takes revenge on everyone who continues to disturb her peace.
In the Ust-Kulom region there is a lake called Syod ty (translated as Black Lake). It looks like a huge blue eye in the middle of a peat bog and is very clearly visible in good weather from the opposite high bank of the Vychegda. At first glance, it seems that he is close at hand. But this opinion is wrong. In addition to the fact that the path to it through the swamp is very long, the approach to the Black Lake is blocked by dangerous swamps. The daredevils who made their way to go fishing say that when you come to the shore of the lake, you feel a feeling of languishing melancholy and piercing cold. The water in the lake, fed by groundwater, is terribly cold, and the water surface is completely black, since the bottom is covered with peat. The crucians found here are also completely black. Those who ventured to swim in it no longer burn with such a desire: the depth and cold blackness of the lake inspire terror and panic,the person begins to drown.
Man is not given to fully penetrate the secrets of nature. The unknown always gives rise to fear. However, according to the old-timers, one should not be afraid of forest spirits, let alone be angry with them. An immutable rule is to go into the forest with good intentions and thank the spirits in advance for what they will present you. After all, even science has proven that negative energy always attracts a similar one. As Nietzsche said: "The more closely you gaze into the abyss, the more closely the abyss peers into you."