Few people know that in ancient Russian mythology there are characters surprisingly similar to the traditional West African and Haitian interpretation of the mystical image of a zombie. Navi - so the inhabitants of Russia called the walking dead. How do they differ from the dead, revived by voodoo sorcerers?
Depersonalized corpses
In world mass culture, zombies are such a replicated image that it is difficult to find a person who would not have heard about these mystical creatures. Almost any modern man in the street knows that we are talking about a partially revived dead man. Moreover, zombies do not have a soul, do not remember their life, they are stupid and exist only through reflexes. These half-decayed corpses feed on human meat, especially brains.
In other words, zombies are impersonal people. They are not alive in the traditional sense, but they are not dead either. And although many popular films and TV series call a virus or epidemic the cause of the appearance of the walking dead, according to most followers of the religious and mystical voodoo movement, only a strong sorcerer is able to create a real zombie.
The origins of these beliefs are rooted in West Africa. The inhabitants of Nigeria and Benin have long believed that powerful sorcerers and witches revive the dead and force them to obey their will. In the languages of the Bantu family, the word "nzambi" means "dead spirit", and in West African dialects, the ghost is called "jambi".
Together with black slaves transported to Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba and other Caribbean islands, the mystical cult of voodoo spread to the New World. Prominent American journalist William Seabrook mentioned the numerous zombies working on the sugarcane plantations in his 1929 book Isle of Magic. The author referred to the stories of a Haitian sorceress named Maman Seli.
Then the zombie image was taken up by many writers, producers and screenwriters.
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Restless dead
From the very mention of Navi, a chill runs through the skin. The explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language, compiled by the famous scientist Vladimir Dal, defines these mystical creatures as the dead, the dead, the deceased people.
In Slavic mythology, the otherworldly, the afterlife is called "Nav". And its inhabitants can both cause serious harm to people, and help in a difficult situation, or indicate where the treasure is buried. Since ancient times in Russia, they celebrated "Naviy Day", when they commemorated their deceased ancestors. On the night of Maundy Thursday of Easter week, a bathhouse was specially heated for them, and treats were left. So people wanted to appease the spirits of the departed.
However, the navias were not incorporeal creatures. According to popular belief, they are the Russian analogue of zombies. The revived dead could get out of their graves, wander around, terrifying living people. These are those who did not find peace after their death, whom the afterlife did not accept.
How do they become?
There are several reasons why after death a person does not finally go into another dimension. Navi are obtained from:
- sorcerers who have done so much evil that their bodies are rejected by Mother Earth herself;
- people cursed during their lives by their relatives;
- suicides;
- died by sudden premature death;
- long-livers who artificially prolonged their allotted years with the help of magic;
- persons buried in an inappropriate place and without observing all the necessary rituals;
- those who have an important unfinished business in their lives.
Sometimes the navi did not harm people, they simply could not realize the fact of their death. They talked about women who rose from their graves when they heard the cry of their children. Or the blacksmith could return to the workshop and forge the sword promised during his lifetime to the local prince. To protect against such navias, it was enough to say only "Chur me!" or wear a special amulet.
But most of the navias did harm. They sent sickness, madness and thoughts of suicide to people, killed cattle. It was the walking dead that the inhabitants of Russia blamed for a poor harvest or unfavorable weather conditions. It was believed, for example, that the drowned navi, who could not quench their thirst in the next world, caused drought.
Sometimes the restless dead sought to exterminate their spouses and children in order to quickly reunite with them in the afterlife. Therefore, it was not customary to mourn the deceased much and miss them greatly. People believed that it was not worth disturbing their eternal sleep.
How to get rid of them?
It was possible to get rid of the Navias by contacting a healer or a sorcerer. He performed a magic ritual that allows the dead to find peace.
And if a person was not let go to the next world by some unfinished business or an unpaid debt, then he could be helped to complete all earthly worries. For example, a blacksmith would go back to the grave forever after forging a sword. And the woman no longer worried about the children if she saw that one of the relatives was taking care of the babies.
Another way to get rid of the walking dead is to destroy the so-called "navi bone". The grave of the deceased had to be dug, and if the decayed corpse was there, the only bone untouched by decay had to be found. It was believed that it was in her that the mystical power of Navya lay. Having destroyed the bone in any possible way, there was no need to worry anymore: the soul of the dead man went to the afterlife forever.
According to popular belief, the traditional stake in the heart, which got rid of ghouls and ghouls, also helps.
Poppy seeds or any other grains were scattered on the graves so that the dead were carried away by collecting them and forgot to disturb the living. Metal objects were used to protect the houses: needles were stuck into the door frames. People believed that such magic would save them from the walking dead.
The main differences
Despite the obvious similarities, Russian Navi are very different from African zombies.
1. Our dead rise from their graves not by the will of the sorcerers, but due to the fact that for various reasons they are not fully accepted by the afterlife.
2. Navi do not obey anyone, they act on their own, unlike the corpses controlled by Haitian witches.
3. African and American zombies do not remember their lives, do not recognize relatives, do not have a soul. Their Russian counterparts know who they were before death. First of all, they are driven by a spirit who has not found rest.
4. Zombies do not have intelligence, they are not able to think independently. Navia is not stupider than people.
5. The Russian dead are not necessarily evil. Among them there are also good people who are simply entangled between the worlds. On a special day, they are even invited to the bathhouse, they leave treats, seeing them as deceased ancestors. And good zombies do not exist, they always strive to eat human brains.
6. Navi are individualists, they even harm the living in their own way. In contrast, the African and American dead can act collectively, attacking people in groups.
7. Zombies inflict only physical harm on people. Their Russian counterparts act more often on a mystical level.
8. Navi do not feed on the brains of the living and human flesh.
9. You can get rid of zombies only by completely destroying the corpses. It is necessary to burn them, tear off their heads, tear them to shreds. While the main way of protection against navias is mystical rituals and protective magic.
It can be concluded that the Russian walking dead are more like living people than zombies.
Orynganym Tanatarova
