I've been getting into the Witcher 3 lately and was wondering more about the folklore that inspired it. Please contribute any /x/ happenings, dark folklore, or anything generally strange about East Europe, particularly Poland. I'll start with one of my favorites:
Marzanna (in Polish), Morė (in Lithuanian), Morana (in Czech, Slovene, Serbian, and Croatian), or Morena (in Slovak and Russian) or also Mara, Maržena,Moréna, Mora or Marmora is a Baltic and Slavic goddess associated with seasonal rites based on the idea of death and rebirth of nature. She is often described as a demon and is associated with death, winter and nightmares. In Slavic rites the death of Marzanna towards the end of winter is juxtaposed against the birth of Jarilo – a Slavic god representing the coming of spring.
In modern times the rituals associated with Marzanna have lost their sacred character and are a pastime – an occasion to have fun and celebrate the beginning of spring. The tradition is usually celebrated around the spring equinox (March 21). Usually schoolchildren and young people participate in the celebrations alongside local folklore groups and other residents. A procession consisting of men, women and children carries handmade Marzanna (and often also Marzaniok dolls, the male counterpart to Marzanna) to the nearest river, lake or pond. The participants sing traditional songs and throw effigies of Marzanna into the water. Sometimes the effigies are first set on fire, or their clothes are torn. On the journey back to the village the focus falls on the copses, adorned with ribbons and blown egg shells. The procession, still singing, returns to the village. In some locations (e.g. in Brynica – a district of Miasteczko Śląskie), the beginning of spring is then celebrated with a feast.
>>17702014
Interesting. There is one guy here who claims to be practicing slavic paganism, so he should know best.
>>17702014
Polishfag here tfw I still remember throwing marzanna into our river Stobnica when o was 7. As far as dark rituals/folklore in my parts its all been tainted by Christianity and every demon turned into a satan. Only think I can think of was this lonely crazy lady who used to cast curses at ppl who chcieć with her and made herbal extracts and village meds. My mother rubbed my chest and back with badger fat from this lady when I had flu. Obviously a witch since she didn't go to church every Sunday. Everything else was mediocre ghost / devil stories.
>be a small slovak kid, about 7yo
> spending all the holidays at grand grandmas house
> village of Cachtice, where the Bathory Blood Baroness used to live
> grandma s house on the hill near the main castle road to Bathory castle
> woods all around
> usually play with local kids, most of them being gypsies
> we always wander around in the woods playing all sorts of games like forest wars n shit
> one summer day we re on it again
> 2 teams/sides, each having its territory, bunkers, headquarters.. Shit was pretty cash in fact
> with 1 other guys we are being positioned as "spies"
> basically we have to find the enemies and ninja spy on them
> you have to be extra careful to move silently in the forest but we re pretty good at it
> we suck at orientation however
> doing our job sneaking quietly, looking for anything suspicious
> we dont see anyone while wandering like this for what seemed an hour
> dude I think we re lost as fuck
> suddenly hear what seemed like singing
> more voices singing in unison
> stupid kids as we are, we decide to investigste
> ninjamode.gif , we move in closer to where the singing is coming from
Cont.
>>17702086
> we approach a small clearing/meadow
> see about 6 women dancing in a circle
> they move in a way like they dont make steps but flow above the ground a few cm
> the whole thing is bizarre af, like from a dream or something
> we freeze on spot for god knows how long, just watching the scenery like hypnotized
> fucking Vilas dude
> wat
> its almost completely dark now, night approaching
> friend ks a gypsy kid and they dgaf about their children but I need to get hope asap or I ll be in serious trouble
> nope the fuck out of there while he stays
> eventually find my way back, pretty deep into night now
> grandma and parents supermad, tomorrow we leave for home as a punishment ffor my shitty behavior
> we leave in the morning
> didnt return until the next year
> ive never seen the gypsy kid again and nobody whom I asked seemed to even remember the guy
> biggest nope of my life
I dont know, it still seems like a dream to me, but its one of thd most vivid memories that I got from that age.. Also, a lot of other weird shit happened in those forests as I got older like satanistic Blood rituals n shit. Can greentext later if required.
>>17702109
Did you find bliss and serenity looking at the fair folk?
>>17702109
Gypsies doing gypsy shit тбх
>>17702109
Sry, written on a tablet so there are a few typos.. Android keyboard is shit.
>>17702124
Not really, but it was a very eerie experience. I guess I got interested in paranormal ever since I saw it thst night.. The feeling was like nothing ive ever felt before/after.
>>17702109
>>17702086
Woah, another Slovak. (Although don't ask me to write in it since I'm only half and my Slovak is very informal).
Cigáni can be pretty spooky. I've always wondered about whether they practise magic or anything. Not the ones in the suburbs or cities but the ones in the country. I'm going back this summer and might be visiting the country so I might do some looking around. I've heard rumours about sacrifices though.
>>17702086
>>17702109
Samodivas (Bulgarian: Caмoдиви) or samovilas (Bulgarian: Caмoвили) or Víla are woodland fairies found in South- and West-Slavic folklore and mythology. In Romania they are known as Iele.
Samodivas are believed to be very beautiful women with an affinity to fire. They have the power to bring about drought, burn a farmer's crops, or make cattle die of high fever. It is said that, when angered, a Samodiva would change her appearance and turn into a monstrous bird, capable of flinging fire at her enemies. This, combined with the power of their seductive voices, makes them somewhat similar to Harpies in Greek mythology. Their vindictive nature also complements this notion.
They are usually hostile and dangerous to people. Men who gaze upon a Samodiva fall instantly in love (or at least in lust), and women go so far as to take their own lives at the sight of such beauty. Sometimes a Samodiva would seduce a man, commonly a shepherd or a trespasser in her forest, and take him as her lover. However, in doing so, she would take all of his life energy, his essence. The man would then become obsessed with the Samodiva and chase her relentlessly, unable to think about anything else (including his own nourishment). The Samodiva, fuelled by the energy stolen from her admirer, would then proceed to torture the man until he dies of exhaustion.
Another important aspect of the myths surrounding samodivas is their dance. Neverending and beginning at midnight to finish at dawn, their dance symbolized the raw, and often harmful to the unprepared, energy of both nature and the supernatural world. Accompanied and following only the rhythm of the wind and their own singing, their dance was said to have been often witnessed by lost or late travellers, some of them choosing to join it, seduced by the beauty of their song and visage, only to die of exhaustion at dawn, when the samodivas finally disappeared.
Poludnitsa is a mythical character common to the various Slavic countries of Eastern Europe. She is referred to as Południca in Polish, Пoлyдницa (Poludnitsa) in Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian, Polednice in Czech, Poludnica in Slovak, and Пoлoзничa (Poloznicha) in Komi, Poludnitsa is a noon demon in Slavic mythology. She can be referred to in English as "Lady Midday" or "Noon Witch". She was usually pictured as a young woman dressed in white that roamed field bounds. She assailed folk working at noon causing heatstrokes and aches in the neck, sometimes she even caused madness.
Poludnitsa, who makes herself evident in the middle of hot summer days, takes the form of whirling dust clouds and carries a scythe or shears; most likely the shears would be of an older style, not akin to modern scissors. She will stop people in the field to ask them difficult questions or engage them in conversation. If anyone fails to answer a question or tries to change the subject, she will cut off their head or strike them with illness. She may appear as an old hag, a beautiful woman, or a 12-year-old girl, and she was useful in scaring children away from valuable crops. She is only seen on the hottest part of the day and is a personification of a sun-stroke.[
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt6_65LDZ60
thought of posting this, idk why
>Slavic neopaganism or the Slavic native faith is the contemporary continuation of the ethnic religion of the Slavic peoples (codified in the corpus of Slavic mythology). It is characterised by a pantheist and polytheist theology, a focus on Slavic culture and folklore, and the worship of Slavic deities. In English sources the religion is often called Rodnovery and its followers Rodnovers (an adaptation of Russian terms Poднoвepиe Rodnoverie, from Russian poднaя вepa rodnaya vera, "native faith"). The term Ridnoviry, from Ukrainian, is also in use.
Anyone here practice this?
Plus music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiyOajnJnTg
>>17702014
>associated with death, winter and nightmares
Isn't everything slavic?
>>17703787
hahaha just go on any slavic pagan facebook group to see how fuckin stupid clueless they are
>>17702014
I burn Morana with other villagers every spring, it's pretty comfy, familia. Other than that, I don't know anything about our old customs since it's been eradicated by Christianity so thoroughly. Only legends about creatures such as vodník (waterman? he's a humanoid being that lives underwater and drowns people) remain.
![1288266300.3816-2bf4beefa45f02a-b[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/qqJi5Fz.jpg "1288266300.3816-2bf4beefa45f02a-b[1].jpg")
Vodnik (it means something like "water man") is a character from myths known in Slovakia and Czech republic. It's a demonic bogle who lives in a lake or river, sometimes nearby water mills. He drowns innocent people and collects their souls or harms them and their farm animals. It's said that he can walk out of water and have completely dry (usually green) hair and clothes. He's also quite social and visits pubs nearby. Sometimes he even falls in love with a human girl.
He usually has green skin, green hair and green clothes, but can be portrayed differently. He smokes pipe and has a green hat.
He appears in fairytales, books and myths. Nowadays he's sometimes portrayed as a good guy or he's used to scare children.
Here's a link to a great compilation of scholarly articles related to the various regional and interegional slavic paganisms:
http://sms.zrc-sazu.si/En/kazalo.html
The only issue is that the majority of them are, surprise surprise, in slavic languages which I cannot read. If any of the bunch in here claiming to be from places like Poland or the Czech Republic could give it a stab, it'd be appreciated for all of us here I'm sure.
>>17705561
Thanks for the link! Shit, if I had the time, I'd translate it to English.
>>17705561
Czech here, if enough people are interested, I may translate something. It will be slow, though, because I'm in the middle of my finals. Also, very few of these texts are in Czech, I may have overlooked something, but so far I only know about two (something about revenants and then a text about vodník).
Would you guys be interested in those?
>>17705653
Absolutely, Czech-bro.
>>17705653
I know that feel. I could translate from Czech, Slovak, Polish, Croatian, Serbian, or Macedonian, but I have no time with my grad school, a job, wife, and three cats. I have no time for hobbies
>>17705653
I'm guessing most of it is Russian because of course it is. I'd like to be wrong though. I'd be interested in it. Any /x/ related contributions you could make would be better than none!
Polish paganism wasnt as much paganism as it was a shamanic tradition at first. Ik for sure that there have been evidence of human sacrifice somewhere (cant give source, so dont trust 100%). When studying the modern paganism you should cross reference with hindu mythology, and mongolian shamanism, and the original indigenous belief will be something in the middle of those three. We had some influences from the hindu pantheon before we split up and went west, for example slavs worshipped Siva as god/goddes of death. He was neither male nor female, with long hair, both characteristic of the hindu shiva, however he was not close to a central figure in our beliefs.
We most likely didnt have much of temples, but rather outside meeting circles (we have found sacrificial pits, and stone circles (which however may have nordic roots) ) and sacred forests. Aside from shamanism we most likely had some form of animism in place.
And a history i know from a friend who frequents the buddhist temple around our capital. When the Lama who established it came to bless the temple grounds, he said there is an issue, a local spirit is mad at the buddhist 'takiing' the land, and had to be appeased by some sacrifices (not animal, some normie stuff). The lama performed some egsorcisms, and pleased the spirirt, which now is a protector of the temple. Apparently he was worshipped a long time ago, according to what the lama said.
The Nocnitsa in Slavic mythology, is a nightmare spirit that also goes by the name kriksy, plaksy, plachky, plaksivicy, kriksy-varaksy, kriksy-plaksy, night hag, night maiden. She is referred to as Nocnica or Płaczka in Polish, гopcкa мaйкa (gorska majka), нoшнo (nošno) in Bulgarian, Шyмcкa мajкa (Šumska majka), бaбицe (babice), нoћницe (noćnice) in Serbian, mrake, vidine in Croatian, nočnine, mračnine in Slovene.
The Nocnitsa is also present in Russian and Slovakian folklore. She is known to torment children at night, and a stone with a hole in the center is said to be a protection from the Nocnitsa. Mothers in some regions will place a knife in their children’s cradles or draw a circle around the cradles with a knife for protection. This is possibly based on the belief that supernatural beings cannot touch iron.
The Nocnitsa is known to sit on one’s chest, drawing «life energy». Because of this, many refer to Nocnitsa as a type of vampire. The Nocnitsa will often continue visiting. According to some folklore, night hags visit when one sleeps on one’s back, with the hands on the chest (a position allegedly called «sleeping with the dead»). According to some folklore, night hags are made of shadow. She might also have a horrible screeching voice. She might allegedly also smell of the moss and dirt from her forest of origin.
The Nocnitsa is almost certainly linked to the common apparition seen during the hypnagogic state of sleep.
In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed and/or ferocious-looking woman. Baba Yaga flies around in a mortar, wields a pestle, and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs (or sometimes a single chicken leg). Baba Yaga may help or hinder those that encounter or seek her out. She sometimes plays a maternal role, and also has associations with forest wildlife. According to Vladimir Propp's folktale morphology, Baba Yaga commonly appears as either a donor or villain, or may be altogether ambiguous.
The Leshy (Russian: Лéший; IPA: [ˈlʲeʂɨj]; literally, "[he] from the forest") is the tutelary spirit of the forests in Slavic folklore. The plural form in Russian can be transliterated leshiye (with accent on the vowel after the l).
Leshiye are masculine and humanoid in shape, are able to assume any likeness and can change in size and height. In some accounts, the leshy is described as having a wife (leshachikha/leszachka/lesovikha) and children (leshonki/leszonky). Because of his propensity to lead travelers astray and abduct children, which he shares with Chort, or "The Black One," the Leshy is believed by some to be evil. Others view him as more of a temperamental being like a fairy.
Bannik is the bathhouse (banya) spirit in Slavic mythology. Slavic bathhouses resemble saunas, with an inner steaming room and an outer changing room. A place where women gave birth and practiced divinations, the bathhouse was strongly endowed with vital forces. The third firing (or fourth, depending on tradition) was reserved for the Bannik, and, given his inclination to invite demons and forest spirits to share his bath, no Christian images were allowed lest they offend the occupants. If disturbed by an intruder while washing, the Bannik might pour boiling water over him, or even strangle him.
The Bannik had the ability to predict the future. One consulted him by standing with one's back exposed in the half-open door of the bath. The Bannik would gently stroke one's back if all boded well; but if trouble lay ahead, he would strike with his claws.
Chernobog (Proto-Slavic *čĭrnŭ 'black' and *bogŭ "god"), also spelled as Chernabog, Czernobog, Chornoboh, Crnobog and Tchernobog is a Slavic deity, whose name means black god, about whom much has been speculated but little can be said definitively. The only historical sources, which are Christian ones, interpret him as a dark, accursed god, but it is questionable how important or malicious he was really considered to be by ancient Slavs. The name is attested only among West Slavic tribes of the 12th century, hence it is speculated that he was not a very important or very old deity. Older scholarship assumed him to be the counterpart of Belobog.
A veneration of this deity perhaps survived in folklore of several Slavic nations. In some South Slavic vernaculars, there exists the phrase do zla boga (meaning "to [the] evil god," or perhaps "to [the] evil [of] God"), used as an attribute to express something which is exceedingly negative.
>>17710426
The basis for this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLCuL-K39eQ
