I was surprised that you did not reveal the essence of Baba Yaga. I studied her at the university during a folklore lecture course. Baba Yaga is neither alive nor dead, neither bad nor evil. She is a guide to the world of the dead, she literally has one foot there - that’s why one of her legs is “bone”. Her hut on chicken legs is literally what a Slavic burial looked like.
Rusalka is the name of a Ukrainian dace group that is in my area. They are incredible dancers. I danced and have friends who dance for Rusalka Ukrainian Fance Ensemble. I had no idea of the meaning of "Rusalka". Learn something new every day
thank you for these videos, I myself am a Slav and unfortunately only now in my forties I became interested in our Slavic culture and mythology, I hope you will continue to do so, warm greetings from Slovakia
Love that your channel just popped in my feed out of nowehere, probably because some months ago I was looking for content on Vasilissa the Beautiful. I plan to study Russian/Slavic languages in the future, but I'm chiefly interested in Slavic folklore. I'll definitely check your recommended books, but do you know of a collection of Russian/Slavic fairy tales similar in spirit to what the Grimm Brothers did for German tales? Thanks and looking forward to see your channel grow.
Hey thanks for watching! Vasilissa the Beautiful is a great character to add to my next video. As far as collections of folk tales, if you’re looking to read them in English, Slavonic Fairy Tales by John Naake is a great collection. There are many anthologies in Russian / Polish / Ukrainian that I can also suggest but I am not sure if that’s what you’re looking for!
Hejkal - usually malicious forest spirit, known for loud voice (hejkat, hulákat ~ to yell, cry), killing and terrorizing villages/settlements when they were causing troubles to forest. Meluzína - wind spirit, we call so also the sound that is made by wind in the chimney. and my beloved bludný kořen "wander root" - makes bad people to lost in woods, for good people it can be save when they are lost.
Yep, half of them is something that my grandmother used to threaten with if I continue to misbehave… Especially Polednice which is basically a wraith (sometimes it’s old woman, sometimes its a beautiful lady)that kidnaps babies at noon or really scary is Vodnik, which is a creature that looks like a man - not necessarily bad looking, but his skin is all green and he will drag you under the water for fun and keeps your soul in a jar in his underwater lair…
Hah, yeah scary folkloric characters are responsible for well-behaved Slavic kids 💯 I will definitely tell my kids they’ll be eaten by baba yaga if they venture into the woods without me!
European peoples seem unique in this regard, and it really stands out. They have forest minds and folk souls which are affectionately rooted in nature, landscapes and mythology. These same kind associations and avenues of expressions are not entirely universal. Among other peoples of arid and tropical regions, the natural world is often largely unpleasant, potentially dangerous and the relationship almost adversarial. Unlike the lands of European peoples including North America with its distinctive four seasons. Definitely not places of enchantments and pleasures.
Quick question- all of my family is dead and I have alot of slavic in my ancestors. Do you know any references for family research specific to slavic background?
I really like your channel! Not only do I like the topics, but also your voice and the way you present them makes it very pleasant to listen to. Kindof exactly the cosy feelgood vibe mixed with mythical lore & spiritual knowledge I enjoy so much. I clicked the notification bell and am looking forward to hopefully many more videos! I really do think your channel has potential to be big! 💜✨
First time i heard of the kikimora, but i do like all of them ^_^ While firebird is a pretty well known one ( most people probably know it as a phoenix ) The few stories that i managed to find of it are also different enough from what i remember as it could be a bringer of doom or a savior of sorts. Would triglav also fall under this or would that be a deity as i've seen translations that put him as a normal creature similar to the 3headed monsters from greek while there are also translations that have him as a deity instead. Oh and the Vila, or is that just a different name for the rusalka?
Good call on the fire bird - definitely need to add that to my next video! I don’t know much about the Vila but it’s my understanding that they’re slightly different from Rusalkas. I’ll have to do some more research on that one. Thanks for watching! 😊
Very interesting! In Ukraine we have other such creatures from demonology: Bolotianyk, Viy, Mavka, Chugaister, Lisovyk, Povitrulia, Poterchata, Did'ko, Shcheznyk..and some more that I can't remember right now :)
Not interesting fact(and without STUPID politics): Mavka also popular somewhere in south of Russia, I think, that this is because Russians and Ukrainians have got a lot in common, because they are with Belarussians a long time ago were one nation. I'm Russian, but I'm not a hater of the Ukrainian people
Depending on the country, the north, east or south of Slavic Europe have different names for the busts, including tossame, but also additional ones. Search for the Slavic Vedas and about cosmology, about nature according to. Slavs and it is very old. There is little knowledge left, but something remains. And it is a very old theory, and there is a theory that it had an influence on the Hindu Vedas, because the scope of Slavic influence was up to modern India, and the strange fact is that the highest caste of priests in India differs from the rest of the inhabitants of India in that their skin is lighter and they have more European facial features. Much respect for your interest in the Slavs, because Europe actually knows nothing about us.
Had an interesting "discussion" online recently. Someone argued that a particular supernatural monster was a real folkloric creature....they were sure they were correct. Although I wrote the story and created the bloody 😂thing!
Thank you for watching! I just mentioned this book to another commenter: Slavonic Fairy Tales by John Naake is a great collection of folk tales from Slavic regions. Russian Fairy Tales by Aleksandr Afanasyev is another great one that has all of the most prominent myths and stories as well as gorgeous illustrations! I hope you enjoy those, let me know if you want any other suggestions!
I believe baba yaga is primarily featured in russian folklore but polish folklore has some mentions of her, as well as a character named Jedza who appears to have a lot of similarities to baba yaga
@@AnastasiaArcana According to the written sources I have, both of these characters have common linguistic and cultural roots. The words yaga and yędza they both come from the Old Slavic yeza, yęga, which long ago Slavs used to described a demon/spirit that brought illness, pain and suffering. But it is also an old term for a witch, and not a good one, but one who kidnapped, imprisoned and ate children. So it seems that Baba Yaga is an East Slavic individualized and personalized evil spirit from common ancient Slavic beliefs.
I’m actually not familiar with Bruxa, but a quick internet search shows that it’s based on Portuguese folklore. I’ll have to read more into it! That being said there are tons of references to Slavic folklore in the Witcher (love that show haha). In fact there is a swamp kikimora in the opening scene of season 1!
@@AnastasiaArcana From what I understand the books had an interesting theory that because the creatures were from another dimensional world lacking in silver, that's why the silver sword works on them. Though, look up Legendy Polskie here on youtube. The channel is Allegro. Their take on Slavic creatures and gods was really interesting.
Interestingly, in not a single fairy tale did Baba Yaga eat children or adults, she only frightened them with this, the “victims” defeated her and ran away. It is believed that these tales described an initiation rite.
Sweden we play hockey and I love you and the ice and say I to a great player Peter Forsberg a center players and I love you warrior for god from Canada
The Leshy is one of the most chaotic and unpredictable entities I've ever worked with, even for a nature spirit. Being a follower of the left hand path for over a decade, most of my evocation & invocation experience stems from infernals or "demons" (unfortunate term). Both celestial spirits and infernal spirits follow a certain set of rules and boundries, which cements a foundation of reassurance for the practitioner. The Leshy is at its core a fae, or nature spirit. These entities are ancient and de facto the first denizens of this world. They do not adhere to a unified hierarchy, but exist in an eternal state tribal conflict with outsiders & each other. The only thing uniting them is their unpredictability. Leshy's greek equivalent is Pan, god of satyrs.
So you are the pagan equivalent of a Satanist then, maybe that's why Leshy doesn't like interacting with you , also no the Greek equivalent of Leshy is not the God Pan .
❤❤❤ are you the actres of the movie under world and kingdom. Of north and i love your people and i see your eye and don't worry i don't mess. With you and you are so amazing its firt look a king of pentacles a warrior my name was harold and i was there my reincarnation before I was a king before in the north people are quiet and maybe i m gonna live their and i love people who are brave we talk later and thanks to my divine mother hey it is a game of thrones and thanks to my dragon
All of these creatures are specific for Russian folklore, so you shouldn't use term "slavic" for them. Other slavic nation have other creatures, some similar and some toatlly different.
Russia is part of Slavic culture 😊 also many of these characters are found in other Slavic countries like Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland. I think the term “Slavic” is appropriate, although of course not every mythological creature of the region can be covered in a 20-min video.
The term slavic applies to people and regions from Germany (Wenden and Sorben) along the baltic coast and far into parts that are russian politically, as well as the Balkan. Why don't you leave current politics out of this? Mother Nature doesn't know nations, just people sharing a cultural heritage.
Not exclusive to russian. I am Ukrainian and share much of this. So do most previous USSR countries. We have different language, traditions, history, and even different genetics origins from russians but there is much cross over in culture and folk lore as these groups of people were very close and mixed into each other throughout Eastern European history
Excellent video and story telling! Как у бабушки раньше в детстве :)
I was surprised that you did not reveal the essence of Baba Yaga. I studied her at the university during a folklore lecture course. Baba Yaga is neither alive nor dead, neither bad nor evil. She is a guide to the world of the dead, she literally has one foot there - that’s why one of her legs is “bone”. Her hut on chicken legs is literally what a Slavic burial looked like.
Rusalka is the name of a Ukrainian dace group that is in my area. They are incredible dancers. I danced and have friends who dance for Rusalka Ukrainian Fance Ensemble.
I had no idea of the meaning of "Rusalka".
Learn something new every day
appreciate the introduction to slavic creatures and spirits. also caught your wheel of the year video.
Love this topic ☺️☺️.
Lovely channel 😊
Great video! Also; I know most of these from reading, so it was nice to hear their names were pronounced.
fun fact in Bulagaria zmei is considerd a good dragon that helps poeple aginst its rival the lamia
at 22:50 a spooky messenger spirit was bringing me a notification from the gods
The discord spirit 😂
thank you for these videos, I myself am a Slav and unfortunately only now in my forties I became interested in our Slavic culture and mythology, I hope you will continue to do so, warm greetings from Slovakia
Thank you for watching!! ❤️
Love that your channel just popped in my feed out of nowehere, probably because some months ago I was looking for content on Vasilissa the Beautiful.
I plan to study Russian/Slavic languages in the future, but I'm chiefly interested in Slavic folklore.
I'll definitely check your recommended books, but do you know of a collection of Russian/Slavic fairy tales similar in spirit to what the Grimm Brothers did for German tales?
Thanks and looking forward to see your channel grow.
Hey thanks for watching! Vasilissa the Beautiful is a great character to add to my next video.
As far as collections of folk tales, if you’re looking to read them in English, Slavonic Fairy Tales by John Naake is a great collection. There are many anthologies in Russian / Polish / Ukrainian that I can also suggest but I am not sure if that’s what you’re looking for!
@AnastasiaArcana thanks for the tip.
Those anthologies would be useful as well, if you want to share them.
You should totally do a part 2
❤❤❤you got all my respect warrior mademoiselle
Hejkal - usually malicious forest spirit, known for loud voice (hejkat, hulákat ~ to yell, cry), killing and terrorizing villages/settlements when they were causing troubles to forest.
Meluzína - wind spirit, we call so also the sound that is made by wind in the chimney.
and my beloved bludný kořen "wander root" - makes bad people to lost in woods, for good people it can be save when they are lost.
Yep, half of them is something that my grandmother used to threaten with if I continue to misbehave…
Especially Polednice which is basically a wraith (sometimes it’s old woman, sometimes its a beautiful lady)that kidnaps babies at noon or really scary is Vodnik, which is a creature that looks like a man - not necessarily bad looking, but his skin is all green and he will drag you under the water for fun and keeps your soul in a jar in his underwater lair…
Hah, yeah scary folkloric characters are responsible for well-behaved Slavic kids 💯 I will definitely tell my kids they’ll be eaten by baba yaga if they venture into the woods without me!
@@AnastasiaArcana or Leshy :)) cheers !
European peoples seem unique in this regard, and it really stands out. They have forest minds and folk souls which are affectionately rooted in nature, landscapes and mythology. These same kind associations and avenues of expressions are not entirely universal. Among other peoples of arid and tropical regions, the natural world is often largely unpleasant, potentially dangerous and the relationship almost adversarial. Unlike the lands of European peoples including North America with its distinctive four seasons. Definitely not places of enchantments and pleasures.
Quick question- all of my family is dead and I have alot of slavic in my ancestors. Do you know any references for family research specific to slavic background?
6:39, hydra
Wow you are crazy beautiful by all my gods you make Freja herself jealous!
I really like your channel! Not only do I like the topics, but also your voice and the way you present them makes it very pleasant to listen to.
Kindof exactly the cosy feelgood vibe mixed with mythical lore & spiritual knowledge I enjoy so much. I clicked the notification bell and am looking forward to hopefully many more videos!
I really do think your channel has potential to be big! 💜✨
Thank you! That means so much ✨
First time i heard of the kikimora, but i do like all of them ^_^
While firebird is a pretty well known one ( most people probably know it as a phoenix ) The few stories that i managed to find of it are also different enough from what i remember as it could be a bringer of doom or a savior of sorts. Would triglav also fall under this or would that be a deity as i've seen translations that put him as a normal creature similar to the 3headed monsters from greek while there are also translations that have him as a deity instead.
Oh and the Vila, or is that just a different name for the rusalka?
Good call on the fire bird - definitely need to add that to my next video! I don’t know much about the Vila but it’s my understanding that they’re slightly different from Rusalkas. I’ll have to do some more research on that one. Thanks for watching! 😊
Slava!
Very interesting! In Ukraine we have other such creatures from demonology: Bolotianyk, Viy, Mavka, Chugaister, Lisovyk, Povitrulia, Poterchata, Did'ko, Shcheznyk..and some more that I can't remember right now :)
Not interesting fact(and without STUPID politics): Mavka also popular somewhere in south of Russia, I think, that this is because Russians and Ukrainians have got a lot in common, because they are with Belarussians a long time ago were one nation. I'm Russian, but I'm not a hater of the Ukrainian people
holy shit! i didn't even know about Koschie the immortal! I made a skeletal mage like guy who follows the FMC around and has a Magic needle!!!
That’s awesome! You’ve reached it in the greater consciousness 😅
How big are upyrs?
Depending on the country, the north, east or south of Slavic Europe have different names for the busts, including tossame, but also additional ones. Search for the Slavic Vedas and about cosmology, about nature according to. Slavs and it is very old. There is little knowledge left, but something remains. And it is a very old theory, and there is a theory that it had an influence on the Hindu Vedas, because the scope of Slavic influence was up to modern India, and the strange fact is that the highest caste of priests in India differs from the rest of the inhabitants of India in that their skin is lighter and they have more European facial features. Much respect for your interest in the Slavs, because Europe actually knows nothing about us.
The highest mountain here is Slovenia where I'm from is named Triglav.
That’s very cool!
@@AnastasiaArcana The mountain Triglav is also stylized in our flag. Triglav is our national symbol.
Had an interesting "discussion" online recently. Someone argued that a particular supernatural monster was a real folkloric creature....they were sure they were correct. Although I wrote the story and created the bloody 😂thing!
Really informative video, thanks. Any other books you'd recommend, besides the two in the description?
Thank you for watching! I just mentioned this book to another commenter: Slavonic Fairy Tales by John Naake is a great collection of folk tales from Slavic regions. Russian Fairy Tales by Aleksandr Afanasyev is another great one that has all of the most prominent myths and stories as well as gorgeous illustrations! I hope you enjoy those, let me know if you want any other suggestions!
i have a question, as with other folktales slavic is broad, is baba yaga russian or is she associated in polish folklore as well
I believe baba yaga is primarily featured in russian folklore but polish folklore has some mentions of her, as well as a character named Jedza who appears to have a lot of similarities to baba yaga
@@AnastasiaArcana According to the written sources I have, both of these characters have common linguistic and cultural roots. The words yaga and yędza they both come from the Old Slavic yeza, yęga, which long ago Slavs used to described a demon/spirit that brought illness, pain and suffering. But it is also an old term for a witch, and not a good one, but one who kidnapped, imprisoned and ate children. So it seems that Baba Yaga is an East Slavic individualized and personalized evil spirit from common ancient Slavic beliefs.
In The Witcher series, which uses Slavic creatures there was a Bruxa, and I'm curious how similar/different that was to the show's version.
I’m actually not familiar with Bruxa, but a quick internet search shows that it’s based on Portuguese folklore. I’ll have to read more into it!
That being said there are tons of references to Slavic folklore in the Witcher (love that show haha). In fact there is a swamp kikimora in the opening scene of season 1!
@@AnastasiaArcana From what I understand the books had an interesting theory that because the creatures were from another dimensional world lacking in silver, that's why the silver sword works on them.
Though, look up Legendy Polskie here on youtube. The channel is Allegro. Their take on Slavic creatures and gods was really interesting.
Koshei is best Man !
🎄THANK YOU PRINCESS🎄-🎀☃☃☃🎀-🌟🌟🌟-🌖🌕🌔🗼🗼
Interestingly, in not a single fairy tale did Baba Yaga eat children or adults, she only frightened them with this, the “victims” defeated her and ran away. It is believed that these tales described an initiation rite.
My grandmother scaried my baba jaga in Poland when I was nauhty 😂😂😂
Same! 😅
Sweden we play hockey and I love you and the ice and say I to a great player Peter Forsberg a center players and I love you warrior for god from Canada
#TGT
The Leshy is one of the most chaotic and unpredictable entities I've ever worked with, even for a nature spirit.
Being a follower of the left hand path for over a decade, most of my evocation & invocation experience stems from infernals or "demons" (unfortunate term). Both celestial spirits and infernal spirits follow a certain set of rules and boundries, which cements a foundation of reassurance for the practitioner. The Leshy is at its core a fae, or nature spirit. These entities are ancient and de facto the first denizens of this world. They do not adhere to a unified hierarchy, but exist in an eternal state tribal conflict with outsiders & each other. The only thing uniting them is their unpredictability. Leshy's greek equivalent is Pan, god of satyrs.
So you are the pagan equivalent of a Satanist then, maybe that's why Leshy doesn't like interacting with you , also no the Greek equivalent of Leshy is not the God Pan .
Your new ? Well welcome aboard we will see you your capable of
im actually making a dark fantasy based on slavic lore
❤❤❤ are you the actres of the movie under world and kingdom. Of north and i love your people and i see your eye and don't worry i don't mess. With you and you are so amazing its firt look a king of pentacles a warrior my name was harold and i was there my reincarnation before I was a king before in the north people are quiet and maybe i m gonna live their and i love people who are brave we talk later and thanks to my divine mother hey it is a game of thrones and thanks to my dragon
You forgot the vrykolak
There are much more
nie kasze ino Kościej xD
Baba Yaga is not mythological. She is real.
And her name is John Wick
kasze sie je. koscieja raczej nie xD
All of these creatures are specific for Russian folklore, so you shouldn't use term "slavic" for them. Other slavic nation have other creatures, some similar and some toatlly different.
Russia is part of Slavic culture 😊 also many of these characters are found in other Slavic countries like Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland. I think the term “Slavic” is appropriate, although of course not every mythological creature of the region can be covered in a 20-min video.
The term slavic applies to people and regions from Germany (Wenden and Sorben) along the baltic coast and far into parts that are russian politically, as well as the Balkan. Why don't you leave current politics out of this? Mother Nature doesn't know nations, just people sharing a cultural heritage.
They are not exclusive to Russia , perhaps in these specific names, but that's to be expected .
@@agnes1250, more than just cultural
Not exclusive to russian. I am Ukrainian and share much of this. So do most previous USSR countries. We have different language, traditions, history, and even different genetics origins from russians but there is much cross over in culture and folk lore as these groups of people were very close and mixed into each other throughout Eastern European history