Volkodlak, Volkolak, Volkulak, Vovkulak, in Slavic mythology, the wolf-man; werewolf; a sorcerer who can turn into a wolf and turn other people into wolves. Legends about the werewolf are common to all Slavic peoples. The concepts of the wolf have combined features of a folklore image and borrowing from ideas about Christian demonology.
The exceptional archaism of ideas about werewolves is evident from the fact that in other Indo-European traditions (in particular, in the Hittite), the transformation of the groom into a wolf is associated with a common form of marriage - abduction (forced abduction of the bride).
The antiquity of this image is also confirmed by the chronicle of 1282, which tells about the wolf, which “chases the clouds and eats the moon” (the Slavs have long kept faith in the magi-cloud-chasers, who turned into wolves, ascended to the sky and called rain or scattered clouds).
According to F. Buslaev, "the remainder of this legend has survived to this day in the proverb:" The gray wolf catches stars in the sky. " Unlike the mythology of the peoples of Europe, the werewolf was originally a positive character among the Slavs, and the fact of werewolf was perceived in principle as a normal phenomenon. Unusual - yes, but in no case - not terrible and terrible.
This is indirectly confirmed by the ancient Russian conspiracy recorded by Sakhorov:
“On the sea, on the ocean, on the Buyan island, in a hollow glade, the moon shines on the aspen stump, in the green forest, in the wide valley. A furry wolf walks near the stump, all the cattle are horned on its teeth, and the wolf does not enter the forest, and the wolf does not wander into the valley. Month, month - golden horns! Melt the bullets, dull the knives, wipe out the clubs, let fear on the human beast and the reptile so that they don't take the gray wolf, they don't tear the warm skin from it. My word is strong, stronger than sleep and heroic strength."
The transformation into a wolf was likened to one of the most revered and powerful beasts endowed with supernatural powers. The name of this beast was so sacred that it could not be pronounced out loud, therefore instead of "wolf" they said "fierce", and men of some tribes were called "lyutichi".
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The ability to transform into a wolf has been attributed to "especially strong" sorcerers since ancient times and, apparently, was a necessary part of certain rituals. To "turn around", "to turn around" (to transform) often literally meant "to roll over", that is, to roll over, "throw over oneself" or over the conditional border.
“Turning around,” a person seemed to be turning over with that side of his being, which is attached to the higher forces of the world, to revered animals, birds, fish - “ancestors, relatives and patrons”.
In the stories about werewolves, the line between man and beast is a narrow strip of knife, rope, branch, in essence, it passes through the werewolf himself: he is both a man and an animal at the same time. The practice of werewolves was so widespread among the Slavic tribes that Herodotus describes the annual transformation of the Neuros (a Slavic tribe that supposedly lived in Belarus) into wolves for several days as a matter of course.
And the Slavic heroic epic, in general, characterizes the protagonist of a werewolf as a being of divine origin. At the birth of the Russian wolf hero Volga Vseslavovich:
And the month brightened in the sky, And a mighty hero was born in Kiev, As if young Volkh Vseslavievich.
The earth spawned cheese, Longing for the glorious kingdom of the Indian, And the blue of the sea cracked
For the sake of the birth of Bogatyrskov, Volha Vseslavievich is young.
Similar cataclysms and natural phenomena accompanied the birth of elemental Slavic deities. Many researchers draw parallels (albeit very conditional), according to which Volkh is the Kiev prince Oleg, who was considered prophetic (another word for volkolak was a word derived from the verb vedati - “to know”: Ukrainian vishchun - “werewolf”, Old Czech vedi - "werewolves", Slovenian vedomci, vedunci, vedarci - "werewolves").
However, such a werewolf prince was also the no less famous Vseslav of Polotsk (second half of the 11th century), who “… ran around the princes of the city, and he himself prowled like a wolf in the night … sprinkled the path of Kherson the great wolf …” (The Word about Igor's Regiment).
Another Slavic werewolf, the hero of the Belarusian and Serbian epics, was the Fire Wolf Serpent. His image also goes back to the common Slavic myth about the wolf hero. He is born from the Fiery Serpent, is born in human form, "in a shirt" or with "wolf's hair" - a sign of miraculous origin. It can turn into a wolf and other animals, including a bird; performs feats, using the ability to turn himself (and the squad) into animals.
Many of the creatures of lower mythology also had a tendency to werewolves, for example, the goblin very often turned into a white wolf (white king) or a wolf shepherd.
With the adoption of Christianity, all the former deities were overthrown and declared demons. This fate did not escape the werewolves, who from the deities-helpers and hero-heroes became terrible monsters of nightmares. Among Russian peasants of the 20th century, the belief in werewolves is generally dying out, although stories about werewolves - wolves and bears are still popular in some parts of Russia.
FEATURES OF WERFING
The main feature of a wolf, like a wolf-hero, is a noticeable from birth "wolf hair" (Serbo-Horv. Vuchka dlaka, Slovenian. Volcja dlaka) on the head (compare the identical Old Icelandic sign - vargshar, "wolf hair" of a werewolf).
You can also recognize a werewolf by the fact that their hind legs are turned forward, like a human, and not backward, like an animal. Forced wolves do not harm people, except for those who "spoiled" them. Those should not be seen by them.
When a werewolf comes to drink to the water, it is not a wolf that is reflected there, but a human image.
Were-animals were distinguished by their unusual behavior, less often by some features in their appearance (white stripe on the neck of a wolf, white color of the skin, absence of a tail).
METHODS OF CONVERSION
The very first known way of transformation was wrapping with conspiracies and rituals ("wisdom"):
Vtapory Volkh learned the wisdom:
And studied the first wisdom
Wrap yourself in a clear falcon
To another wisdom he learned Volkh
Wrap myself like a gray wolf
Volkh learned to the third wisdom
Wrap around a bay round - golden horns.
Throwing. The most common way. A person endowed with “supernatural” abilities becomes a wolf, “having thrown” (turned over) through a knife or ax stuck into a smooth stump or ground. They were also thrown over a rocker, a stump, hoops, twelve knives, a rope, a tree branch, a fire on a stove pole, through the core of a fallen tree, or simply tumbling "against the sun", etc.
Ordinary people could become wolves by stepping over the thing plotted by the sorcerer. Also, in order to turn a person into a wolf, a sorcerer or witch throws an animal skin, a ribbon or belt (tying them) over him.
Dressing up the wolf skin. One of the oldest methods of transformation, it was practiced by the Magi.
Transformation at weddings. It was believed that especially strong sorcerers could "let wolves" whole wedding trains. To do this, the sorcerer takes as many belts and wipes as there are people on the train, whispers a spell over these things, and whoever then belts with such a belt becomes a wolf. Sometimes a witch digs a small ditch for the train traveling from the crown: as soon as the train hits this depression, horses fall dead, and people run away in animal form, etc.
Transformation "at the word of the mother." Same as Curse Transformation. The wolves transformed at the word of their mother should not in any way eat raw meat, otherwise they will forever remain wolves.
Children abducted by evil spirits become werewolves.
WAYS OF RETURNING THE HUMAN APPEARANCE
Throw over the magic object in the opposite direction.
Pull the magic ax out of the stump.
The wolf will become human after the time specified by the spell.
Cover the wolf with human clothing.
Some sorcerers impose special conditions for the return of a human form: in a storybook, a soldier makes the dead woman, who turned the wedding train into wolves, show the way to their salvation; for this you need to collect werewolves: “I'll give you a pipe. Trumpet into this tube - they will all come to you. I will tear off your shmat from the shroud. Smoke them with this - they will be people again. (Pskov region).
Feed the werewolf "blessed food", ie the kind of food that has been blessed.
Tie a werewolf with a belt with knots, tying which they whispered "Lord, have mercy."
WAYS OF PROTECTION AGAINST SOLDIERS AND WOLF
Newlyweds and wedding trains were always guarded by a specially invited sorcerer - a polite and friend, "best man from the groom's side", in the south called "the wolf".
It was possible to protect yourself from a werewolf (primarily from a werewolf-sorcerer) by hitting him with a backhand, crippling (injuring a werewolf, shoeing a witch-horse).
The “snake ax” (the ax that killed the snake) protected from werewolves.
If you steal the clothes of the sorcerer or the object through which he turned around, then the werewolf will not be able to take on human form.
To prevent the werewolf from becoming a ghoul after death, his heel tendons were cut, and his eyes (or mouth) were clamped with coins.
An image similar to the wolf-man, the wolf-man, the werewolf, is in the beliefs of many peoples (English Beowulf, German Werewolf, etc.). Belief in wolves dates back to an era when it was possible to represent a person in the image of an animal and when people, being in constant communication with animals, were able, according to the proverb, to howl like a wolf with wolves: oddly enough it may seem, but the chroniclers really attributed this art to some individuals.
So, in the Laurentian Chronicle, we read: "… and as if it was midnight, and Bonyak got up and got away from howling, and howl like a wolf, and the wolf lifted up to him, and started wolfing down."
One way or another, the idea that under the skin of a wolf there can be a man or a woman reflected the belief in the kinship and unity of all living things: here the wolf is the "owner" of the forest, animals and at the same time the "senior" relative, patron, ancestor of man, "strong "Sorcerer, wolf-sorcerer. Man, in turn, is a "transformed wolf" who (especially a sorcerer) draws strength from this relationship, and at critical moments in life can again become a wolf.
NOTES
White wolf, White Tsarik - a wolf endowed with special magical powers; king over wolves; goblin, taking the form of a wolf; forest "master", king; werewolf. The wolf is believed to be the forest ruler, the "master" of animals. White color distinguishes such a wolf as a superior creature endowed with supernatural powers: it is an "elder" wolf or forest king, "master", a werewolf. In the narrative from the Smolensk province, the white tsarik (white wolf) leads the wolf packs: “Tay the white tsarik, if you touch the chilavek, then you should also use the yago; but not touch, then neither touch nor one. " In a story recorded in the Russian North, a werewolf guy becomes a white wolf. The tradesmen of Siberia endowed black and white wolves with supernatural properties, the so-called “princelings”, “which were an exception against the background of the prevailing gray color. The peasant who killed such a wolf was trying not to tell anyone about it. Some secretly kept the skins of such princely wolves or geeks, as it was believed that this brings happiness (the person who keeps the skin becomes, as it were, a co-owner of the magical power that the wolf possessed).
Polite, polite - an honorable nickname for a sorcerer at a wedding. The duty of a polite person is “to protect the wedding from damage, to destroy malicious enchantments and to warn everyone considered a bad omen, for example, so that the horses on the wedding train to the crown do not stop, do not unharness, do not break impulsively, do not sweep over with snow or dust, etc. In order to eliminate this, the polite examines all the corners and thresholds in the house, counts the stones in the stoves, puts the lock on the threshold, blows on the tablecloth of the wedding table, whispers various slander over the clothes of the young and under the horse harness, gives the young pendants to crosses around their necks, etc. etc. " (Yenis.) In Siberia, as in many other regions of Russia, a friend called a polite, watchman, highway, dangerous, was "a special connoisseur of all rituals in their accepted sequence."
In some places, this activity of the buddy was called "letting the wedding go" and coincided in its purpose with the role of a priest, although the performance of the Christian rite was also certainly present. If the actions of the boyfriend at the same time too clearly came into conflict with the church and this became known to the authorities, he was subjected to church punishment. The polite man also seats the groom and the groom in the front corner on felt (raw goose, bread, salt shaker are served on the table); after the blessing, he sweeps out under the beds and on the threshold of his hollow hut; sculpts pieces of wax to the manes of horses, etc.