Shishiga, shishimora, kikimora - all these are the names of the same ancient spirit, which in our minds we firmly associate with the swamp evil. However, this idea is not entirely correct: the kikimora did not always live in a swamp …
Kikimora swamp and domestic
In everyday life, kikimors are often called a grumpy, boring woman who is always unhappy with everything. Their appearance also does not differ in attractiveness: a sharp nose, small eyes, a skinny stooped figure and disheveled hair. Such a portrait is quite close to the description of a domestic kikimora, or the wife of a brownie. It was believed that such a creature could live in a hut with a careless mistress. During the day she sat behind the stove, and at night she rattled with a grapple and pots, confused yarn, not tidied up for the night, could harm poultry or sheep. It was possible to get rid of kikimora only one day a year - March 17, on the day of Gerasim the rookery. On this day, they swept all the corners of the hut with an old broom with sentences and took this broom away from the house. It was also believed that it was possible to return the kikimora to its human form by catching it and cutting the hair at the crown of the head with a crossand after that it is necessary to baptize, but this task was not up to everyone.
However, in some sources, kikimor is firmly associated with the swamp. These lands must also have a mistress: forest kikimors (wood gobies or chanterelles), as the wife of a goblin, settled in the swamp and entertained themselves by leading travelers into the bog, frightening mushroom pickers and berry pickers, and sometimes even stealing children left unattended.
Daughter of fire
The origin of the kikimor can be different: it can be children who died unbaptized or damned by their mothers, as well as babies who were kidnapped and raised by evil spirits. It was also believed that a carpenter could plant a kikimora in the house, which would cause great anxiety to the owners. If the owner did not pay off the employee on time, then all sorts of disgraceful things began to happen in the house, but as soon as the carpenter gave his wages, all the troubles ceased. The Russian peasants had a belief that kikimors were children of a special type of evil spirits - a fiery serpent. This evil appeared to a woman yearning for her beloved in the form of a charming handsome man who became her secret lover. The fire serpent preferred to reach the house of its victim in the form of a fireball flying through the air or "creeping fire." The fruit of such love wascursed, of course. Even from the mother's womb, the baby was taken away by evil spirits and brought up in itself. The kikimora has been growing for seven years - a straw body, a head with thimbles. Runs fast, knows everything about human sins, the whole century does not age and does without clothes and shoes.
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In some regions, special marsh creatures - hummocks - can be engaged in stealing children. This belief is especially widespread in the south of the Urals. During the day, the bumps sit up to their shoulders in the swamp, exposing only shaggy hair to the surface, and behave quietly. But with the onset of darkness, these undersized wrinkled creatures crawl out of the quagmire and go in search of lost children. If the victim is nearby, then the hands of the hummock stretch out like ropes, twist around their victim and pull to the bottom, from where there is no return in human form,
Mistress of the Ural swamps
The echoes of these myths are very tenacious - in remote places you can still hear stories about the tricks of the kikimor, and sometimes even see them. Mikhail Proshin, who visited distant relatives in a small Ural village, still recalls such a meeting.
The village of Polozovo has retained its ancient spirit - huts that have darkened from time to time, some already heavily sloping, wells and the lack of electric lighting. Here, on the outskirts adjacent to the swamp, lives a local legend - grandmother Shishiga. No one already remembers her name, and no one dares to say how old she is - by the most conservative estimates, about a hundred. They say that as a child she got lost in a swamp and returned to the village a few years later, when she was no longer expected. Her parents had died by that moment, and the people who had moved into their house thought it best to return it to the orphan: who knows what to expect from a person who returned from the dead swamps. The girl was not offended, but more often than not, they avoided it - they turned only if someone was seriously ill: no one knew better about herbs and potions than Shishiga. So she lived - like in the village, but alone. Can,therefore, during his almost two-week stay in Polozovo, Mikhail never saw her. His vacation was coming to an end, he wanted to take more forest treasures to the city - mushrooms and berries. So he went for blueberries, and so that things would go faster. brought along a scoop to collect. I spent the whole day in a blueberry, and on the way back I decided to take a shortcut through a small swamp - it seems that the places are already familiar. But either he got lost, or he simply overestimated his strength, but only on the way back the city dweller fell into a swampy place. All around the wilderness: no one will hear how you shout. In panic, Mikhail plunged deeper and deeper into the cold quagmire, when out of nowhere appeared a small wrinkled old woman. Mikhail had no hope that a weak elderly woman would be able to pull him out, however, the stranger turned out to be stronger than one might think. He thanked the womanand she only shook her head in response: “Why,” she says. - rob the forest? - and shows the scoop. Before Mikhail had time to answer, he turned around - not a scoop, not an old woman, but he himself was standing on a solid path, and the village was already a stone's throw away. There he was already told that it was he who met Grandma Shishiga.
Mikhail took other berries with him, but since then he uses only his hands for picking, and in general he began to treat the forest more carefully. That's how she is, the mistress of the Ural swamps.
Swamp relic
Kikimor are also found in other places, but their appearance is not always traditional. In the remote Pskov bogs, there is also its own "evil spirits", with which Vladimir Smelyansky had a chance to meet. Together with his friend Sergei, he came to his relatives to hunt. The city guests were greeted warmly - for several days Grigory Severinich, Sergei's uncle, took the hunters around the local lands. Although the places in the Pilistovo-Lovatsky swamp massif are reserved, hunting is allowed for some birds. When all the nearby lakes and rivers had already been surveyed, the huntsman suggested going to a distant large lake. They left before dawn, walked for a long time, but the sight was worth it - not every reserve can boast of such an abundance and variety of birds. As the enchanted hunters watched the birds, the weather turned bad and heavy rain poured down. They had to go back straight, through the Rotten Swamp, which Severinich was very unhappy with: the road through swampy places is dangerous, and the evil spirits are playing pranks. Friends promised that they would follow the instructions of the guide, and at the expense of evil spirits … the 21st century is in the yard. Already in the middle of the journey, despite all the precautions. Sergei still fell into the quagmire. While Severinich with the greatest care was pulling the drowning man by the belt from the gun, Vladimir turned to look for a longer stick. It was here that he had to freeze - a strange animal was sitting on a grassy island nearby. Grayish green scaled body with very short webbed feet and a thick tail. The head is large and flat, like a fish, and the wide mouth is full of small, sharp teeth. The hunter's instinct worked ahead of all other thoughts, and Vladimir shot at the monster. The shot did not cause any harm to the monster, but made it retreat - with a splash, the one and a half meter animal plunged into the water. By this time Sergey and Severinich were already standing on the path. “This is our kikimora,” the huntsman commented. Hunters and local residents have met this monster in these places before, which, according to its description, is most similar to the prehistoric animal of ichthyosteg. According to scientists, ichthyostegs lived more than 300 million years ago and were a transitional form from aquatic animals to terrestrial ones. The remains of these ancient creatures have been found in what is now eastern Greenland. Similar finds were also made in Europe, but no one imagined that in the Pskov swamps, under the guise of a kikimora, a living specimen of an ancient monster was hidden. Now, not only folklorists have something to puzzle over here.
Natalia 30L0T0VA. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" No. 33 2008