#Zmey Gorynych

[rabemar]

Я нарисовала коллекцию Царевен Союзмультфильма по аналогии с Принцессами Диснея. Часть четвёртая. В этом посте у меня Царевны из мультфильмов: I drew a collection of Soyuzmultfilm Princesses similar to the Disney Princesses. In this post (Part 4) I have Princesses from cartoons: «Конёк-Горбунок» 1947 (The Little Humpbacked Horse) «Сказка сказывается» 1970 (The Tale is Told) «Сказка о царе Салтане» 1984 (The Tale of Tsar Saltan) «Последняя невеста Змея Горыныча» 1978 (The Last Bride of Zmey Gorynych) «Молодильные яблоки» 1974 (Apples Make You Young)

[folklorecharacters]

In Slavic folklore, the Zmey (alternatively spelled Zmiy or Zmaj, depending on the regional Slavic language) is a powerful dragon-like creature, embodying traits of a classic mythological dragon but also uniquely adapted to the cultural and mythological context of Slavic peoples. The Zmey has a rich lore that spans the different Slavic nations, with regional variations across Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, and other Slavic territories. These dragons are portrayed as cunning, supernatural beings associated with elemental forces, often possessing multiple heads, and are both feared and respected within Slavic tales.

The concept of the Zmey likely has ancient origins, predating Christian influences on Slavic lands and stemming from pre-Christian pagan beliefs. Dragons in Slavic myth were seen as beings that could control the elements, particularly fire and water, often acting as intermediaries between the earthly and celestial realms. In Slavic cosmology, the Zmey could be associated with either positive or negative traits, depending on the region. They could symbolize natural forces, embody chaos, or even serve as protectors of specific communities. The early Slavic people viewed the Zmey as a complex creature, part guardian, part monster, reflecting their reverence for nature and fear of its destructive capabilities.

The Zmey’s physical characteristics vary across Slavic folklore but typically combine elements of a traditional dragon with uniquely Slavic attributes. Most tales describe the Zmey as a massive, serpent-like creature with powerful wings, scaly skin, and multiple heads. The number of heads is significant, as it is often a marker of the Zmey’s power. While most Zmey have three heads, some legends describe dragons with as many as seven or even twelve, each head representing greater strength, wisdom, and magical ability.

The Zmey is usually associated with fire, possessing the ability to breathe flames or emit intense heat. This ties them to celestial events like lightning or thunder, and many myths describe the Zmey descending from the skies in fiery form, striking terror into those who behold it. However, unlike many Western dragons, which hoard treasures, the Zmey’s purpose is more often linked to dominion over natural and supernatural elements, particularly storms, rivers, and sometimes mountains.

One of the unique aspects of Zmey mythology is its dual nature. In certain tales, the Zmey can be either a benevolent or malevolent force, adapting to the needs of the story and region. In Russian and Ukrainian folklore, for example, the Zmey is often portrayed as a malevolent creature that terrorizes villages, steals livestock, and abducts maidens. This creature is typically an adversary of the hero figure, such as the bogatyr (a Slavic warrior-hero), who must confront the Zmey in a battle of wits, courage, and strength. These stories often emphasize the Zmey's greed, destructiveness, and malevolence, painting it as a symbol of chaotic forces that must be overcome by human valor and bravery.

Conversely, in Southern Slavic folklore, particularly in Bulgaria, the Zmey sometimes appears as a guardian figure or a beneficial creature. In these tales, it can protect crops, ward off evil spirits, and even bring rain during times of drought. The benevolent Zmey is sometimes depicted as being in service to gods or other supernatural beings, acting as an intermediary between the divine and mortal worlds. These Zmey are often honored by locals and viewed as protective spirits, living in rivers, mountains, or hidden caves.

In Slavic folklore, the Zmey is a common antagonist in the "hero-versus-dragon" narrative. The Zmey, due to its connection with raw and untamable natural forces, represents an ultimate test for heroes, symbolizing humanity’s confrontation with chaotic and destructive elements of the world. The bogatyrs (heroes) who face the Zmey usually embody virtues such as bravery, purity, and wit. In tales where the Zmey abducts a young maiden or princess, it is the hero's task to rescue her, restoring balance and order to the community.

One of the most famous stories involving the Zmey is the Russian tale of Dobrynya Nikitich, a celebrated warrior who confronts the infamous dragon Zmey Gorynych. Zmey Gorynych is depicted as a three-headed dragon terrorizing the land, and Dobrynya’s victory over him is a testament to the hero's bravery and the triumph of good over evil. This story reflects the Slavic cultural emphasis on heroism as a means of protecting community values and family, which are often threatened by powerful supernatural beings like the Zmey.

Zmey Gorynych is perhaps the most renowned Zmey in Slavic mythology, appearing in numerous Russian folktales as a formidable dragon with three heads and a relentless desire for destruction. Unlike the more ambivalent or protective Zmey figures found in Southern Slavic folklore, Zmey Gorynych is almost uniformly depicted as an evil entity, a bringer of chaos and a creature that revels in terrorizing humankind. His association with fire, death, and devastation is prominent, and he is often found dwelling in remote, hostile environments such as mountain peaks or deep forests. The figure of Zmey Gorynych has become iconic, symbolizing the archetypal dragon adversary within Russian folklore.

Zmey Gorynych is defeated by Dobrynya Nikitich in a highly symbolic battle that represents the ultimate confrontation between good and evil, with Dobrynya using wit and strength to defeat this monstrous dragon. The tale of Zmey Gorynych’s defeat became a moral parable, representing the ideal of courage and the belief in a hero’s ability to protect the weak and restore harmony.

In Slavic folklore, the Zmey is often linked to the otherworldly and supernatural realms. Some tales suggest that Zmeys reside in Nav, the Slavic underworld, which is home to various supernatural beings, including spirits of the dead and ancient deities. In this context, the Zmey functions as a gatekeeper or guardian of forbidden realms, allowing only the most courageous or pure-hearted individuals to pass. This association with the underworld is reflected in the Zmey’s often grim and fearsome appearance, as well as in its ability to summon storms and command other elemental forces.

The Zmey’s supernatural origins also grant it abilities beyond mere physical prowess. Many stories attribute magical knowledge or psychic abilities to the Zmey, describing how it can communicate with humans telepathically, hypnotize its victims, or alter its shape to appear more human. Some legends describe Zmeys who take on human form to court mortal women or men, further blurring the line between dragon and human and emphasizing the Zmey's place within both the earthly and supernatural realms.

In contemporary Slavic culture, the Zmey has retained its place as an important cultural symbol. In some regions, it has been reimagined as a guardian spirit of the natural world, while in others, it remains a terrifying reminder of chaotic and destructive forces. Festivals, art, and literature continue to depict the Zmey, blending ancient lore with modern storytelling. For instance, the Zmey appears frequently in Russian and Ukrainian literature, fantasy novels, and film, where it is often portrayed as both an object of fascination and dread.

The image of the Zmey also serves as a symbol of national identity and resilience in Slavic countries, where the tales of brave heroes vanquishing dragons inspire cultural pride and connection to ancient heritage. In some ways, the Zmey represents the power and mystery of nature itself, a force that can either nurture or destroy, depending on how it is approached. In this sense, the Zmey remains a potent cultural and spiritual symbol, embodying both the fears and reverence Slavic people hold toward the unknown.

The Zmey stands as a deeply nuanced figure within Slavic folklore, combining elements of myth, nature, and morality into one creature. With its dual nature as both a destructive force and a protective spirit, the Zmey serves as a reflection of humanity's complex relationship with the natural and supernatural worlds. The tales of Zmeys and their heroic counterparts—whether through battles, supernatural encounters, or even acts of kindness—illustrate timeless themes of bravery, wisdom, and respect for the balance between order and chaos.

[northernolddragon]

Молодой Кощей с малышом Змей Горынычем.

[marine-indie-gal]

Zmey Gorynych

The Slavic Serpent Dragon of Russian Folklore, he is depicited as a Three-Headed Dragon or a Serpent with Human/Dragon character-like traits (sometimes he is also known for having Twelve Heads instead of Three). The Word "Zmei" is the masculine form of "Zmeya" meaning "Snake". But his full name means "Snake of the Mountains". Dragons in Slavic Mythology were mainly famous known for Being Tricksters, Destorying Lands, Kidnapping Mortal Women, and even fighting off Brave Knights to rescue the Damsel. In the Slavic Myth of Dobrynya Nikitich and the Dragon, Dobrynya's Mother warned her Son to stay off the Mountains (where the Dragon lives), but he disobyed his Mother's warnings as he bathed in the Puchai River after he went up to a Mountain but he encountered the Zmey Gorynych himself. Frightened at first, but he then found a Hat which belonged to the Greek Lands and used it to defeat the Dragon. Zmey begged the Soldier not to kill him as the Two made a Pact towards each other but Zmey later on disrespected his vow and kidnapped the Princess Zabava Putyatishna (the Niece of Prince Vladimir of Kev). Vladimir ordered the Soldier Dobrynya to rescue his Niece from the Dragon as the Soldier went back to the Mountain to rescue the Princess. Dobrynya trampled on Zmey's Dragon Pups but one of the Baby Dragons bit the Horse's Leg which immobilized it. Zmey was angry at the Soldier for the Death of his own Children and refused to let Zabava go without a fight. It took Three Days to slay off Zmey but when Dobrynya heard a voice from Heaven called out to him to slay the Beast, in which the Soldier does so finally. Zmey's blood didn't seep to the ground as the Blood was then swallowed by the Earth and Zabava was rescued.

SBSP Universe

Zmey Gorynych is the Three-Headed Serpent Dragon Prince of the Mountains. He is a sly wisecracker, argoant, as he is filled of mischief and pride. He often does to trick Humanity as he disguises himself as a Human Man to trick manipulate people throughout his entire schemes and even kidnap beautiful maidens (which often leads into Damsel Rescuing by Brave Soldiers who fought and Slay beasts). Zmey's main arch-nemesis was the Soldier, Dobrynya Nikitch (one of the most bravest and cunning soldiers of Russia who wasn't even afraid to fight a Beast).

Throughout the years, Zmey had many affairs with Many Human Women which ended up all getting eaten by Zmey since his Brides weren't really good enough for him as he would often usually get bored of them overtime after when he would first meet one. Upon his attention, his eyes was set on the Lovely Zabava (the Niece of the Russian Prince, Vladimir I Sviatoslavich), but since Zabava was actually in a courtship with her Boyfriend, Alyosha Popovich. To prevent her relationship with his Actual Lover, Zmey took the form of a Human and went over to Kiev to woo his Love for Her. Since Zabava was flattered by the impressions of the Disguised creature, Zmey kidnapped her and took her to the Mountains where he kept her as his Bride which made Zabava weep in tears for she was tricked and was forced to be the Wife of a Monster.

Alyosha knew that there was indeed something wrong with the Strange Man and seeing on how that the Serpent revealed himself, Vladimir ordered both Alyosha and Dobrynya to bring Zabava back. When the Two Heroes arrvived at the land, Zmey had capture her hoostage in her new room after they were wed, just so that the said Dragon could greet his Arch-Enemy and Zabava's Real Boyfriend over a feast at his Dinner Table. Fortunately, that ends up being ruined as Alyosha dumps the Wine into Zmey's eyes as the Dragon and the Two Men end up having a battle through the castle of the Mountains as Alyosha grabbed his Girlfriend to rescue her while Dobrynya and Zmey fought together outside of the Kingdom. Dobrynya eventually defeated Zmey as he managed to slay the Dragon. But after when Zabava finally came back home thanks to Dobrynya, Zabava married Alyosha but back at the Mountains of Zmey, his heads managed to pop back up after having his Heads cut off (turns out, he's a magicial dragon who was given immortaility as he can not ever be defeated and he only has one secret weekness). Whenever his heads are chomped off, it randomly grows back as he still manages to do tricks upon his own slef. Zmey isn't exactly a God despite being an Immortal being but he tends to trick around the Slavic Gods amongst their own Pantheon, he is most certainly netural on Chernabog as he is most definitely afraid of him at times despite being a champion towards the Brother of Belobog. He's not really a fan of Neptune nor Poseidon and finds most of the Roman and Greek Pantheon to be very unoriginal and boring. Needless to say, he's not really a fan of Other Pantheons and their own Gods.

[squishyhydra]

Hello, everyone! From today until the day after Black Friday, there will be a 30% off sale on all adoptables! Access the sale here: https://ko-fi.com/squishystories/link/BFRIDAY24 Enjoy :3

[raveagainstthemachine]

Finally got my version of Koschei the Deathless nailed down """Pro""" tip don't go overboard on detail smh This guy was fun to draw though!! My idea within one of my writing projects is that he at one point possesses Baba Yaga's cat and later on possesses the body of the great dragon known as Zmey Gorynych; that by borrowing the forms of others, he can thus prolong his own life.

[myakmyak]

Wow, I love fandoms that have almost no content ദ്ദി(°ᗜ°)

[the-indie-owl]

(Remake of an Old Cringey Post).

I can't tell if whether or not if Bolok is an accident coincidence of a Character, or that he somewhat reminds Me of the Zmey Gorynych.

[micromasterspaceshot]

THIS GOES FOR BLACK GOJITUMBLR TOO‼️ RB AND PROMOTE YOURSELF‼️ NON-BLACK GOJITUMBLR, SHARE THIS‼️

I’ll start. I’m Spaceshot (or Batta/Black Sun on discord) and my main project is Immortal Monster King: Godzilla, though I do transformers, Pokemon, and DC Comics art on occasion

og post belongs to @astro-nxy on twitter (her @ there is _astronyx_). Follow her she does good stuff

[a-koschyei]

the fact that the scar marya got from her trial with zmey gorynych pulses when yaga basically tells her to go find koschei in viy's country......... interesting interesting interesting

[tgrailwar-zero]

You went into your description of the events. It was quiet, the only sound being your collective voices. You decided to stick to the facts- clear, focused, concise- not letting the more emotional aspects of the situation end up clouding your retelling. The facts, and nothing but the facts.

The Lair Servants took in the information, their eyes making you feel like an ant under a magnifying glass. Briefly, your gaze shifted to DOBRYNYA NIKITICH.

…She was listening, absolutely. You saw no boredom in her expression, no eye-rolling or signs that your words were meaningless. But you felt as if she was looking for... more. Once you finished, she sighed.

NIKITICH: "Hm. Ever-stiller waters. Very calm, very polite. Do I look like your mother and so you are minding your manners? Do you not tremble when thinking about the dragon? No tears prick at your eyes, no twitches in your hands? You did slay the dragon, did you not?"

NIKITICH: "You speak to Dobrynya Nikitich about Zmei Gorynych. You speak to Dobrynya Nikitich, who was trapped in blighted dragon blood for three days and three nights, staring at an endless crimson sea, with forearms turned scarlet… forever changed. A dragon is a story, and so I wished for that- I did not wish for a report. Perhaps when war starts, I would like reports. Perhaps the others found the report good. But I asked for a tale. A tale tells more about a hero than the bullet points- all of us here are defined by our tales, after all."

NIKITICH: "So, I am thinking, as I look upon the surface of ever-stiller waters, I am thinking."

She sat back, as the Keeper rose from his seat.

PTOLEMAIOS: "Thank you, Slayer. Even if you weren't satisfied, I will say that this was illuminating when it came to providing another avenue to examine the situation from. You said the War Monitor Lucius was re-summoned? Do you have any proof that this wasn't under duress?"

MAX: "Right, if I may, Keeper Ptolemaios."

He stepped forward, confidently.

MAX: "We all know that the War Monitor Lucius was passionate about the arts. That was the one part of her being that could never be compromised."

You heard CLEOPATRA laugh from her seat, a gentle, cool sound like wind-chimes.

CLEOPATRA: "Oh, yes. She wished to write a play for one of the theatres in the Megalopolis. The scripts she wrote were mad, but… they were passionate. They were drenched with affection, almost sickeningly so. Trite, comedic things that were also bubbled in sadness and an almost imperceptible hollowness. But, despite all of the flaws…"

CLEOPATRA: "…They were hers. As a fellow lover of love, I couldn't turn her away. But at the last minute, she'd always back out… say that they weren't right yet. That there was something missing. I wonder if she's finished yet?"

You thought back to the scraps of 'Chaotic Heroic' that she was working on. Her journal, the bits and pieces of her memory that she tried so desperately to put together.

…Not yet. She wasn't finished yet.

MAX: "I believe that this item would not be granted under duress. The craftsmanship, the fact that it was effective in quelling the rogue Alter-Ego… such a thing would have to possess shared passion, the same passion that blesses the pages of her works, as Pharaoh Cleopatra noticed."

He presented the Aulos, as the rest of the Lair Servants looked on quietly.

PTOLEMAIOS: "It does have her magical signature. And... that's reasonable enough conjecture, if it aligns with everyone's perceptions of Lucius. It will be considered."

ADMINISTRATOR: "…At the very least, that's definitive proof of the Emperor's return."

She said, rather unexpectedly. She continued, eyes narrowed.

ADMINISTRATOR: "…However, the Servants that are currently contracted to the Interlopers are not the ones currently on trial. If you recall, nine heroes came on to our world, and they were doubtlessly noble souls upon arrival. I do not doubt the intentions and exploits of the proven, but the unproven can drag them down to hell."

MAX: "And so, what would be a suitable way for them to prove themselves? You're not exactly leaving much room for alternatives."

ADMINISTRATOR: "Accepting death quietly this time. The Heavenly Divinity approaches Her throne and will soon descend upon the Moon Cell, so nobly relinquishing themselves to Her would be the truest course of heroic action. There's no time for unknown variables… not here, and not now. What can they offer us? If the answer is nothing, then why waste resources on managing them when it could be placed elsewhere?"

...The Birth of the Heavenly Divinity. A great goddess that would destroy the Solar Cell upon emergence, and then according to SIGURD 'almost certainly destroy the Void Cell on the Moon', but the collateral damage made it a 'nuclear option'- one that the other Lair Servants didn't seem as if they had any alternatives other than said option.

SIGURD had presented a theory to you, one that the others had doubts of. That due to your unique composition, you could most likely survive getting close to the Void Cell and lead the battlefront against it. The others risked corruption, meaning that you possessed something they didn't. A new strategy, that didn't put the life of the Solar Cell at risk nor humanity. If you could convince them of that, then you'd probably have a chance.

However, as a some of you reasoned, you could attempt to undercut the ADMINISTRATOR's credibility by bringing up what had happened during the Theurgical Holy Grail War and all of the complications there. If she wanted to kill you that badly, then she'd have to fight for it, and you could battle it out. If she didn't have suitable backing there, you could probably make it out unscathed.

KEEPER: "Speaking of the Moon, Madame Administrator. You're chief among the War Monitors, do you know anything about this Message Disk? I don't recall anything like that that in our records."

ADMINISTRATOR: "…Right. It was a message from our First Self. The Heavenly Divinity, before Our apotheosis. Meant for the eyes of the Emperor, if she should ever recover her memories. Meant for her eyes, and her eyes alone. It's… personal."

CLEOPATRA: "Now that's interesting. That look on your face… so, there's a heart in your chest after all?"

SIGURD: "You don't often talk about your… the Divinity's past on the Moon, Tamamo Vitch."

ADMINISTRATOR: "…And we don't have to, Warrior King."

ADMINISTRATOR: "With that being said, I would request for the Message Disk acquired to be relinquished back into Our hands. It's irrelevant to this case."

[legends-collection]

Slavic Dragon

A Slavic dragon is any dragon in Slavic mythology, including the Russian zmei (or zmey; змей), Ukrainian zmiy (змій), and its counterparts in other Slavic cultures: the Bulgarian zmey (змей), the Slovak drak and šarkan, Czech drak, Polish żmij, the Serbo-Croatian zmaj (змај), the Macedonian zmej (змеј) and the Slovene zmaj. The Romanian zmeu could also be deemed a "Slavic" dragon, but a non-cognate etymology has been proposed.

pic by Virinchi Studios

A zmei may be beast-like or human-like, sometimes wooing women, but often plays the role of chief antagonist in Russian literature. In the Balkans, the zmei type is overall regarded as benevolent, as opposed to malevolent dragons known variously as lamia, ala or hala, or aždaja.

The Polish smok (e.g. Wawel Dragon of Kraków) or the Ukrainian or Belarusian smok (смок), tsmok (цмок), can also be included. In some Slavic traditions smok is an ordinary snake which may turn into a dragon with age.

Some of the common motifs concerning Slavic dragons include their identification as masters of weather or water source; that they start life as snakes; and that both the male and female can be romantically involved with humans.

Etymology

The Slavic terms descend from Proto-Slavic *zmьjь. The further derivation that Serbo-Croatian zmaj "dragon" and zemlja "earth" ultimately descend from the same Proto-Slavic root zьm-, from the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *ǵhdem, was proposed by Croatian linguist Petar Skok. Lithuanian scholarship also points out that the connection of the snake (zmey) with the earthly realm is even more pronounced in folk incantations, since its name would etymologically mean 'earthly (being); that which creeps underground'.

The forms and spellings are Russian: zmei or zmey змей (pl. zmei зме́и); Ukrainian: zmiy змій (pl. zmiyi змії); Bulgarian: zmei змей (pl. zmeiove змейове); Polish zmiy żmij (pl. żmije); Serbo-Croatian zmaj змај (pl. зма̀јеви); Slovene zmaj zmáj or zmàj (pl. zmáji or zmáji).

East Slavic zmei

In the legends of Russia and Ukraine, a particular dragon-like creature, Zmey Gorynych (Russian: Змей Горыныч or Ukrainian: Змій Горинич), has three to twelve heads, and Tugarin Zmeyevich (literally: "Tugarin Dragon-son"), known as zmei-bogatyr or "serpent hero", is a man-like dragon who appears in Russian (or Kievan Rus) heroic literature. The name "Tugarin" may symbolize Turkic or Mongol steppe-peoples.

Chudo-Yudo

The Chudo-Yudo (or Chudo-iudo, чудо-юдо; pl. Chuda-Yuda) is a multi-headed dragon that appears in some wondertale variants, usually considered to be water-dwelling. Some legends portray him as the brother of Koshchey the Deathless, and thus the offspring of the witch Baba Yaga; others present him as a personification of the witch in her foulest form. A Chudo Yudo is one of the guardians of the Water of Life and Death, and his name traditionally was invoked in times of drought. He can apparently assume human-like forms and is able to speak and to ride a horse. He has the ability to regenerate any severed heads.

The term Chudo-Yudo may not be a name for a specific type of dragon at all, but rather a fanciful term for a generic "monster". According to this explanation, the term is to be understood as a poetic form of chudovishche (чудовище) meaning "monster", with a -iudo ending appended simply for the rhyme. Chudo in modern Russian means "a wonder", and once also had the meaning of "a giant"; "yudo" may relate to Iuda, the Russian form of the personal name "Judas", with connotations of uncleanness and the demonic.

Three- and six-headed zmei, slain by the titular hero in "Ivan Popyalov" (Иван Попялов, "Ivan Cinders", Afanasyev's tale #135) appear as six-, nine-, and twelve-headed Chuda-Iuda in the cognate tale #137 "Ivan Bykovich" (Иван Быкович). The inference is that Chudo-Yudo must also be a dragon, even though the word "serpent" (zmei) does not appear explicitly in the latter tale. The six-, nine-, and twelve-headed Chuda-Yuda that appear out of the Black Sea are explicitly described as zmei in yet another cognate tale, #136 "Storm-Bogatyr, Ivan the Cow's Son" (Буря-богатырь Иван коровий сын). The Storm-Bogatyr possesses a magic sword (sword Kladenets), but uses his battle club (or mace) to attack them.

A Chudo-Yudo's heads have a remarkable healing property: even if severed, he can pick them up and re-attach them with a stroke of his fiery finger, according to one of these tales, comparable to the regenerative power of the Lernaean hydra that grows its head back.

Folktales often depict Chuda-yuda as living beyond the River Smorodina (the name may suggest "Stench River")—that is, in the realm of the dead, reached by crossing over the Kalinov Bridge ("White-hot Bridge").

Smok

The terms smok ("dragon") and tsmok ("sucker") can signify a dragon, but also just an ordinary snake. There are Slavic folk tales in which a smok, when it reaches a certain age, grows into a dragon (zmaj, etc.). Similar lore is widespread across Slavic countries, as described below.

Some common themes

Snake into dragons

The folklore that an ancient snake grows into a dragon is fairly widespread in Slavic regions. This is also paralleled by similar lore in China.

In Bulgaria is a similar folk belief that the smok ("Aesculapian snake") begins its life-cycle as a non-venomous snake but later grows into a zmei dragon after living 40 years. Or, if the body of a decapitated snake (zmiya) is joined to an ox or buffalo horn, it grows into a lamia after just 40 days, according to Bulgarian folk tradition published by Racho Slaveykov in the 19th century.

There are also among the East Slavic folk the tradition that a viper transforms into a dragon. In Ukrainian folklore the viper needs 7 years to metamorphosize into a dragon, while in Belarusian folklore the requisite time is 100 years, according to one comparison.

The weather-making dragon, ismeju (or zmeu), of Romanian Scholomance folklore is also locally believed to grow out of a snake which has lived for 9 years (belief found at "Hatzeger Thal" or Hațeg).

Weather

Locally in Ukraine, around Lutsk, the rainbow is called tsmok ("sucker") which is said to be a tube that guzzles water from the sea and rivers and carries the moisture up into the clouds.

There is the notion (thought to be inspired by the tornado) of a Slavic dragon that dips its tail into a river or lake and siphons up the water, ready to cause floods.

In Romanian folklore, dragons are ridden by weather-controlling wizards called the Solomonari. The type of dragon they ride may be the zmeu or the balaur, depending on the source.

The lamia and the hala (explained further below) are also generally perceived as weather dragons or demons.

Balkan Slavic dragons

In Bulgarian lore, the zmei is sometimes described as a scale-covered serpent-like creature with four legs and bat's wings, at other times as half-man, half-snake, with wings and a fish-like tail.

In Bulgaria, this zmei tends to be regarded as a benevolent guardian creature, while the lamya and hala were seen as detrimental towards humans.

Zmei lovers

A favorite topic of folk songs was the male zmey-lover who may marry a woman and carry her to the underworld, or a female zmeitsa (zmeitza) who falls in love with a shepherd. When a zmei falls in love with a woman, she may "pine, languish, become pale, neglect herself.. and generally act strangely", and the victim stricken with the condition could only be cured by bathing in infusions of certain herbs, according to superstition.

In Serbia, there is the example of the epic song Carica Milica i zmaj od Jastrepca (Serbian: Царица Милица и змај од Јастрепца) and its folktale version translated as "The Tsarina Militza and the Zmay of Yastrebatz".

Zmey of Macedonian fairy tales

In most Macedonian tales and folk songs they are described as extremely intelligent, having hypnotizing eyes. However, sometimes Zmey's could be men who would astrally project into the sky when there is a storm to battle the Lamia, a female evil version that wants to destroy the wheat. They were also known as guardians of the territory, and would even protect the people in it. Hostile behaviour was shown if another zmey comes into his territory. They could change their appearance in the form of a smoke, strong spark, fire bird, snake, cloud but almost afterwards he would gain the form of a handsome man and enter the chambers of a young maiden. They fell in love with women who were conceived on the same night as them, or born in the same day as them. He usually guards the girl from a small age and his love lasts forever. Some girls get sick by loving a zmey, and symptoms include paleness, shyness, antisocial behaviour, watery eyes, quietness and hallucinations. They didn't live a long life, because it resulted in suicide. Zmeys would kidnap girls and lead them into their mountain caves where she would serve him.

Benevolent zmei of the Balkans

There is a pan-Balkan notion that the zmei (known by various cognates) is a sort of "guardian-spirit dragon" against the "evil" types of dragon, given below. One explanation is that the Balkan zmej symbolized the patriotic dragon fighting the Turkish dragon, a way to vent the local population's frustration at not being able to overthrow the long-time Turkish rule.

Zmaj of Serbian fairy tales

The zmaj dragon in Serbian fairy tales nevertheless have sinister roles in a number of instances. In the well-known tale "A Pavilion Neither in the Sky nor on the Earth" the youngest prince succeeds in killing the dragon (zmaj) that guards the three princesses held captive.

Vuk Karadžić's collection of folktales have other examples. In "The Golden Apple-tree and the Nine Peahens", the dragon carries away the peahen maiden who is the hero's lover. In "Baš Čelik" the hero must contend with a dragon-king.

Lamia

The lamia or lamya (Bulgarian: ламя), derived from the Greek lamia, is also seen as a dragon-like creature in Bulgarian ethnic population, currently inhabiting Bulgaria, with equivalents in Macedonia (lamja, lamna; ламја), and South-East Serbian areas (lamnia ламња).

The Bulgarian lamia is described as reptile- or lizard-like and covered with scales, with 3–9 heads which are like dog's heads with sharp teeth. It may also have sharp claws, webbed wings, and the scales may be yellow color.

The Bulgarian lamia dwells in the bottoms of the seas and lakes, or sometimes mountainous caverns, or tree holes and can stop the supply of water to the human population, demanding sacrificial offerings to undo its deed. The lamia, bringer of drought, was considered the adversary of St. Ilya (Elijah) or a benevolent zmei.

In the Bulgarian version of Saint George and the Dragon, the dragon was a lamia. Bulgarian legends tell of how a hero (actually a double of St. George, denoted as "George of the Flowers", Cveten Gǝorgi, Bulgarian: цветен Гьорги) cuts off the heads of the three- or multi-headed Lamia, and when the hero accomplishes its destruction and sever all its heads, "rivers of fertility" are said to flow. This song about St. George's fight with the lamia occurs in ritual spiritual verse supposed to be sung around St. George's day.

One of the versions collected by ethnologist Dimitar Marinov [bg] begins: "Тръгнал ми е цветен Гьорги/Да обиди нивен сънор/На път среща сура ламя.. (George of the Flowers fared out / Going around his congregation /On the road he met the fallow lamia..)". Another version collected by Marinov substitutes "Yuda-Samodiva" in the place of the lamia. Three rivers gush out of the dragons head-stumps: typically one of corn, one of red wine, and one of milk and honey. These benefitted the crop-growers, vineyard growers (winemakers), and the beekeepers and shepherds, respectively. .

Other evil Balkan dragons

There is some overlap or conflation of the lamia and the hala (or halla), although the latter is usually conceived of as a "whirlwind". Or it might be described as regional differences. The lamia in Eastern Bulgaria is the adversary of the benevolent zmei, and the hala or ala takes its place in Western Bulgaria.

This motif of hero against the evil dragon (lamia, ala/hala, or aždaja) is found more generally throughout the Balkan Slavic region. Sometimes this hero is a saint (usually St. George). And after the hero severs all its (three) heads, "three rivers of wheat, milk, and wine" flow out of the stumps.

Hala

The demon or creature known as hala (or ala), whose name derived from the Greek word for "hail" took the appearance of a dense mist or fog, or a black cloud. Hala was believed to be the cause of strong winds and whirlwind in Eastern Bulgaria, whereas the lamya was blamed as the perpetrator in Southwestern Bulgarian lore. In Western Bulgarian tradition, the halla itself was regarded as the whirlwind, which guarded clouds and contained the rain, but was also regarded as a type of dragon, alongside the folklore that the smok (roughly equated with "grass snake" but actually the Aesculapian snake) was a crag-dwelling whirlwind.

These hala were also known in East and Central Serbia. Similar lore occur in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro.

Aždaja

The demon hala was also called by other names regionally, in some parts of Bulgaria they were known as aždarha (Bulgarian: аждарха) or ažder (аждер), in Macedonian as aždaja or ažder (аждаја, аждер), in Bosnian and Serbian as aždaja (аждаја).

The word aždaja or aždaha is borrowed from Persian azdahā (اژدها), and has its origins in the Indo-Iranian mythology surrounding the dragon azidahā. As an example, in some local Serbian icons, St. George is represented as slaying the aždaja and not a zmaj.

Pozoj

A pozoj is a dragon of legends in Croatia. In Međimurje County, the Čakovec pozoj was said to dwell beneath the city, with its head under the church and tail under the town square, or vice versa, and it could only be gotten rid of by a grabancijaš (a "wandering scholar", glossed as a "black [magic] student").

The pozoj is also known in Slovenia, and according to legend there is one living underneath Zagreb, causing an earthquake whenever it shrugs. Poet Matija Valjavec (1866) has published some tales concerning the pozoj in the Slovenski glasnik magazine, which also connected the creature to the črne škole dijak ("black school student"), which other Slovene sources call črnošolec ("sorcerer's apprentice"), and which some equate with a grabancijaš dijak

Dragons in Slovenia are generally negative in nature, and usually appear in relation with St. George. The Slovene god-hero Kresnik is known as a dragonslayer.

Representations

There are natural and man-made structures that have dragon lore attached to them. There are also representations in sculpture and painting. In iconography, Saint George and the Dragon is prominent in Slavic areas. The dragon is a common motif in heraldry, and the coat of arms of a number of cities or families depict dragons.

The Dragon Bridge (Slovene: Zmajski most) in Ljubljana, Slovenia depicts dragons associated with the city or said to be the city's guardians, and the city's coat of arms features a dragon (representing the one slain by Kresnik).

The coat of arms of Moscow also depicts a St George (symbolizing Christianity) killing the Dragon (symbolizing the Golden Horde).

Some prehistoric structures, notably the Serpent's Wall near Kyiv, have been associated with dragons as symbols of foreign peoples.

[adarkrainbow]

The Yaga journal: Witches and demons of Eastern Europe

The next article I’ll translate from the issue (I won’t translate all of them since some are not very relevant for this blog) is “Baba Yaga, witches, and the ambiguous demons of oriental Europe” by Stamatis Zochios.

The article opens by praising the 1863′s “Reasoned dictionary of the living russian language”. by scholar, lexicograph and folklorist Vladimir Dahl, which is one of the first “systematic essays” that collects the linguistic treasures of Russia. By collecting more than thirty thousand proverbs and sayings, insisting on the popular and oral language, the Dictionary notably talked about various terms of Russian folklore; domovoi, rusalka, leshii... And when it reaches Baba Yaga, the Dictionary calls her : сказочное страшилищ (skazochnoe strashilishh) , that is to say “monster of fairytales”.But the article wonders about this denomination... Indeed, for many people (such as Bogatyrev) Baba Yaga, like other characters of Russian fairytales (Kochtcheï or Zmey Gorynych) do not exist in popular demonology, and is thus exclusively a character of fairy tales, in which she fulfills very specific functions (aggressor, donator if we take back Propp’s system). But the author of this article wonder if Baba Yaga can’t actually be found in “other folkloric genres” - maybe she is present in legends, in popular beliefs, in superstitions and incantations. 

Baba Yaga, as depicted in the roleplaying game “Vampire: The Masquerade”

For example, in a 19th century book by Piotr Efimenko called “Material for ethnography of the Russian population of the Arkhangelsk province”, there is an incantation recorded about a man who wante to seduce/make a woman fall in love with him. During this incantation the man invokes the “demons that served Herod”, Sava, Koldun and Asaul and then - the incantation continues by talking about “three times nine girls” under an oak tree”, to which Baba Yaga brings light. The ritual is about burning wood with the light brought by Baba Yaga, so that the girl may “burn with love” in return. Efimenko also mentions another “old spell for love” that goes like this: “In the middle of the field there are 77 pans of red copper, and on each of them there are 77 Egi-Babas. Each 77 Egi-Babas have 77 daughters with each 77 staffs and 77 brooms. Me, servant of God (insert the man’s name here) beg the daughters of the Egi-Babas. I salute you, daughters of Egi-Babas, and make the servant of God (insert name of the girl here) fall inlove, and bring her to the servant of God (insert name of the man here).” The fact Baba Yaga appears in magical incantations proves that she doesn’t exist merely in fairytales, but was also part of the folk-religion alongside the leshii, rusalka, kikimora and domovoi. However two details have to be insisted upon.

One: the variation of the name Baba Yaga, as the plural “Egi-Babas”. The name Baba Yaga appears in numerous different languages. In Russian and Ukrainian we find Баба-Язя, Язя, Язі-баба, Гадра ; in Polish jędza, babojędza ; in Czech  jezinka, Ježibaba meaning “witch, woman of the forest”, in Serbian  баба jега ; in Slovanian jaga baba, ježi baba ...  Baba is not a problem in itself. Baba, comes from the old Slavic  баба and is a diminutive of  бабушка (babyshka), “grand-mother” - which means all at the same time a “peasant woman”, “a midwife”, a (school mistress? the article is a bit unclear here), a “stone statue of a pagan deity”, and in general a woman, young or old. Of course, while the alternate meanings cannot be ignored, the main meaning for Baba Yaga’s name is “old woman”. Then comes “Yaga” and its variations, “Egi”, “Jedzi”, “Jedza”, which is more problematic. In Fasmer’s etymology dictionary, he thinks it comes from the proto-Slagic (j)ega, meaning “wrath” or “horror”. Most dictionaries take back this etymology, and consider it a mix of the term baba,  старуха (staruha), “old woman”, and of  яга, злая (zlaia), “evil, pain, torment, problem”. So it would mean  злая женщина (zlaja zhenshhina), “the woman of evil”, “the tormenting woman”. However this interpretation of Yaga as “pain” is deemed restrictive by the author of this article.

Aleksandr Afanassiev, in his “Poetic concepts of the Slavs on nature”, proposed a different etymology coming from the anskrit “ahi”, meaning “snake”. Thus, Baba Yaga would be originally a snake-woman similar to the lamia and drangua of the Neo-hellenistic fairytales and Albanian beliefs. Slavic folklore seems to push towards this direction since sometimes Baba Yaga is the mother of three demon-like daughters (who sometimes can be princesses, with one marrying the hero), and of a son-snake that will be killed by the hero. Slovakian fairytales tale back the link with snakes, as they call the sons of Jezi-Baba “demon snakes”. On top of that, an incantation from the 18th century to banish snakes talks about Yaga Zmeia Bura (Yaga the brown snake): “I will send Yaga the brown snake after you. Yaga the brown snake will cover your wound with wool.” According to Polivka, “jaza” is a countryside term to talk about a mythical snake that humans never see, and that turns every seven years into a winged seven-headed serpent. With all that being said, it becomes clear (at least to the author of this article) that one of the versions of Yaga is the drakaina, the female dragon with human characteristics. These entities are usually depicted with the head and torso of women, but the lower body of a snake. They are a big feature of the mythologies of the Eurasian lands - in France the most famous example is Mélusine, the half-snake half-woman queen, whose story was recorded between the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th by Jean d’Arras (in his prose novel La Noble Histoire de Lusignan) and by Couldrette (in the poetic work Roman de Mélusine). For some scholars, these hybrid womans are derived from the Mother Goddess figure, and by their physical duality manifest their double nature of benevolence-malevolence, aggressor-donator. 

If we come back to the incantation of Efimenko, we notice that the 77 daughters of Baba Yaga each have a “metly”, a “broom”. This object isn’t just the broom Baba Yaga uses alongside her mortar and pestle to travel around - it is also the main attribute of the witches, and the witch with her broom is a motif prevalent in numerous textes of Western Europe between the 15th and 16th centuries. Already in medieval literature examples of this topic could be found: in the French works “Perceforest” and “Champion des dames”, the old witches are described flyng on staffs or brooms, turning into birds, to either eat little children or go to witches’ sabbaths. Baba Yaga travels similarly: Afanassiev noted that she goes to gathering of witches while riding a mortar, with a pestle in one hand and a broom in the other. Federowsky noted that Baba Yaga was supposed to be either the “aunt” or the “mistress” of all witches. Baba Yaga herself in often called an old witch, numerous dictionaries explaining her name as meaning старуха-колдунья (staruha-koldun’ja), which literaly means old witch. Even more precisely, she is an old witch who kidnaps children in order to devour their flesh and drink their blood. We find back in other countries of Europe this myth of the “bogeywoman cannibal-witch”, especially dangerous towards newborns and mothers, as the “strix” or “strige”. According to Polivka, in his 1922 article about the supernatural in Slovakian fairytales, the  ježibaba is the same being as the striga/strige. And he also ties these two beings to the bosorka, a creature found in Slovakia, in eastern Moravia, and in Wallachia, and which means originally a witch or a sorceress, but that in folklore took a role similar to the striga or  ježibaba. 

Vinogradova, in a study of the figure of the bosorka, described this Carpathian-Ukrainian witch as a being that attacked people in different ways. For example she stole the milk from the cows - a recurring theme of witches tales in Western Europe (mentionned by Luther in his texts as to one of the reasons witches had to be put to death), but that also corresponds to a tale of the Baba Yaga where she is depicted as sucking the milk out of the breast of a young woman (an AT 519 tale, “The Strong Woman as Bride”). In conclusion, the striga-bosorka is clearly related to the Slovakian version of Baba Yaga, the  Ježibaba. The  Ježibaba, a figure of Western Slavic folklore, also appears as numerous local variations. She is Jenzibaba, Jendzibaba, Endzibaba, Jazibaba, and in Poland she is either “jedza-baba” (the very wicked woman) or “jedzona, jedza-baba, jagababa” (witch). However this Slovakian witch isn’t always evil: in three fairytales,  Ježibaba is a helper bringing gifts, appearing as a trio of sisters (with a clear nod to the three fatae, the three moirae or the three fairies of traditional fairytales) who help the hero escape an ogre who hunts him. They help him by gifting him with food, and then lending him their magical dogs. And in other farytale, the three sisters help a lazy girl spin threads. 

In this last case,  Ježibaba is tied to the action of spinning. It isn’t a surprise as Baba Yaga herself is often depicted spinning wool or owning a loom ; and several times she asks the young girls who arrive at her home to spin for her (AT 480, The Spinning-Woman by the Spring) - AND in some variations, her isba doesn’t stand on chicken legs, but rather on a spindle. This relationship between the female supernatural figure (fairy or witch) and the action of spinning is very typical of European folkore. In several Eastern Slavic traditions, the figure of Paraskeva-Piatnitsa (or Pyatnitsa-Prascovia, who is often related to Baba Yaga), is an important saint, personification of Friday and protectress of crops - and she punishes women who dare spin on the fifth day of the week. Sometimes it is a strong punishment: she will deform the fingers of the woman who dares spin the friday, which relates her to the naroua (or naroue, narova, narove) a nocturnal fairy of Isère and Savoie in France, who manifests during the Twelve Days of Christmas and enters home to punish those that work at midnight or during holidays - especially spinners and lacemakers. In a Savoie folktales she is said to beat up lacemakers until almost killing them, hits them on the fingers with her wand, beats them up with a beef’s leg or a beef’s nerves, and attacks children with both a cow’s leg in one hand and a beef’s leg in another. These bans are also found in the Greek version of Piatnitsa: Agia Paraskevi, Saint Paraskevi, who punishes the spinners that work on Thursday’s nights, during Friday, or during the feast-day of the Saint (26 of July). But her punishment is to force them to eat the flesh of a corpse. Finally, we find the link between spinning and the demonic woman/witch/fairy through the Romanian cousin of Baba Yaga - Baba Cloanta, who says that she is ugly because she spinned too much during her life. And it all ties back to the “Perceforest” tale mentionned above - in the text, the witches, described as old matrons disheveled and bearded, not only fly around on staffs and little wooden chairs, but also by riding on spindles and reels/spools.  

Another typical example of “demonic woman” often compared and related to Baba Yaga is the character known as “Perchta” in her Alpine-Germanic form, Baba Pehtra in Slovenia, or Pechtrababajaga according to a Russian neologism. The name Perchta, Berchta, Percht, Bercht comes from the old high German “beraht”, of the Old German “behrt” and of the root “berhto-”, which is tied to the French “brillant” and the English “brilliant”. So Berchta, or Perchta, would mean “the brilliant one”, “the bringer of light”. Why such a positive name for a malevolent character?

In 1468, the Thesaurus pauperum, written by John XXI, compares two fairies with a cult in medieval France, “Satia” and “dame Abonde”, with another mythological woman: Perchta. The Thesaurus pauperum describes “another type of superstition and idolatry” which consists in leaving at night recipients with food and drinks, destined to ladies that are supposed to visit the house - dame Abonde or Satia, that is also known as “dame Percht” or “Perchtum”, who comes with her whole “troop”. In exchange of finding these open recipients, the ladies will thenfill them regularly, bringing with them riches and abundance. “Many believed that it is during the holy nights, between the birth of Jesus and the night of the Epiphany, that these ladies, led by Perchta, visit homes”, and thus during these nights, people leave on the table bread, chesse, milk, meat, eggs, wine and water, alongside spoons, plates, cups, knives, so that when lady Perchta and her group visit the house, they find everything prepared for them, and bless the house in return with prosperity. So the text cannot be more explict: peasants prepared meals at night for the visit of lady Perchta, it is the custom of the “mensas ornare”, to prepare the table in honor of a lady visiting houses at night. If she finds offerings - cuttlery, drinks, food, especially sugary food - she rewards the house with riches. Else, she punishes the inhabitants of the home.

But Perchta doesn’t just punish for this missing meal. Several stories also describe Perchta looking everywhere in the house she visits, checking every corner to spot any “irregularity”. The most serious of those sins is tied to spinning: the woman of the house is forced to stop her work before midnight, or to not work on a holiday - especially an important holiday of the Twelve Days, such as Christmas or the Epiphany. If the woman is spotted working ; or if Perchta doesn’t found the house cleaned up and tidied up ; or if the flax is not spinned, the goddess (Perchta) will punish the woman. This is why she was called “Spinnstubenfrau”, “the woman of the spinning room”. It is also a nickname of a German spirit known as Berchta - as Spinnstubenfrau, she takes the shape of an old witch who appears in people’s houses during the winter months. She is the guardian spirit of barns and of the spinning-room, who always check work is properly and correctly done. And her punishment was quite brutal: she split open the belly of her victim, and replaces the entrails with garbage. Thomas Hill in his article “Perchta the Belly Slitther” sees in this punishment the remnants of old chamanic-initiation rite ; which would tie to it an analysis done by Andrey Toporkov concerning the “cooking of the child” by Baba Yaga in the storyes of the type AT 327 C or F. In these tales a boy (it might be Ivashka, Zhikharko, Filyushka...) arrives at Baba Yag’s isba, and the witch asks her daughter to cook the boy. The boy makes sure he can’t be pushed in the oven by taking a wrong body posture, and convinces the girl to show him how he should enter the oven. Baba Yaga shows him to do so, enters the oven, and the boy finds the door behind her, trapping Baba Yaga in the fire. According to Toporkov, we can find behind this story an old ritual according to which a baby was placed three times in an oven to give it strength. (The article reminds that Vladimir Propp did highlight the function of Baba Yaga as an “initiation rite” in fairytales - and how Propp considered that Baba Yaga is a caricature of the leader of the rite of passage in primitive societies). And finally, in a tale of Yakutia, the Ega-Baba is described as a chaman, invoked to resurrect a killed person. The author of the article concludes that the first link between Yaga and Perchta is that they are witches/goddesses that can be protectress, but have a demonic/punishment-aspect that can be balanced by a benevolent/initiation-aspect. But it doesn’t stop here.

The Twelve Days are celebrations in honor of Perchta, practiced in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Still today, “Percht” is a term used to call masked person who haunt at night the villages of High-Styria or the land of Salzbourg: they visit houses while wearing masks, clothed in tatters and holding brooms. During these celebrations, young people either dress up as beautiful girls in traditional costumes (the schöne Perchten), either as ugly old woman (die schiache Perchten). These last ones are inspired by the numerous depictions of Perchta as an old woman, or sometimes a human-animal hybrid, with revolting trait - most prominent of them being the feet of a goose. This could explain in Serbia the existence of a Baba Jaga/Baba Jega with a chicken feet, or even the chicken feet carrying the isba of Baba Yaga. This deformation also recalls a figure of the French region of Franche-Comté, Tante Arie (Aunt Arie), another supernatural woman of the Twelve Days tied to spinning. The second most prominent trait of the “old Perchta” is an iron nose - already in the 14th century, Martin of Amberg wrote about “Percht mit der eisnen nasen”, “Percht with an iron nose”. Yaga also sometimes hag an iron nose, and this is why she was associated with other figures of Carpathian or Western Ukraine folklores - such as Zalizna baba or Zaliznonosa baba, the “old woman of iron”, who lives in a palace standing on duck legs ; there is also Vasorru Baba, the iron-nosed woman of Hungaria. Or Huld - another Spinsstubenfrau, often related to Perchta, but who has more sinister connotations. Huld has an enormous nose according to Luther, and Grimm notes that sometimes she appears as a witch with one very long tooth. This last characteristic if also recurring in Eastern Europe’s mythologies: in Serbia Gvozdenzuba (Iron Teeth) is said to burn the bad spinners ; and Baba Yaga is sometimes described with one or several long teeth, often in iron. But it is another aspect of the myths of Huld, also known as Holda or Frau Holle, that led the scholar Potebnja to relate her to Perchta and Baba Yaga.

According to German folk-belief, Huld (or often Perchta) shakes her pillowcases filled with feathers, which causes the snow or the frost ; and thunder rumbles when she moves her linen spool. It is also said that the Milky Way was spinned with her spinning wheel - and thus she controls the weather. In a very similar function, the Baba Jaudocha of Western Ukraine (also called Baba Dochia, Odochia, Eudochia, Dochita, Baba Odotia, a name coming from the Greek Eudokia) is often associated with Baba Yaga, and she also creates snow by moving either her twelve pillows, or her fur coat. According to Afanassiev, the Bielorussians believed that behind the thunderclouds, you could find Baba Yaga with her broom, her mortar, her magic carpet, her flying horses or her seven-league boots. For the Slovakians, Yaga could create bad or beautiful weather. In Russia, she is sometimes called ярою, бурою, дикою , “jaroju, buroju, dikoju”, a name connected to thunderstorms. Sometimes Yaga and her daughters appear as flying snakes - and the  полет змея, the “polet smeja”, the “flight of the snake” was believed to cause storms, thunder and earthquakes. In a popular folk-song, Yaga is called the witch of winter: “Sun, you saw the old Yaga, Baba Yaga, the winter witch, this ferocious woman, she escaped spring, she fled away from the just, she brought cold in a bag, she shook cold on earth, she tripped and rolled down the hill.” Finally, for Potebnia, the duality and ambiguity of Baba Yaga, who steals away and yet gives, can be related to the duality of the cloud, who fertilizes the land in summer, and brings rain in winter. Baba Yaga is a solar goddess as much as a chthonian goddess - she conjointly protects births, and yet is a psychopomp causing death. 

It seems, through these examples, that Baba Yaga is a goddess - or to be precise, a spirit of nature. Sometimes she is a leshachikha, the wife of the “leshii”, the spirit of the forest, and she herself is a spirit of the woods, living alone in an isolated isba deep in the thick forests. She is thus often paralleled with Muma Padurii, the Mother of the Forest of Romanian folklore, who lives in a hut above rooster’s legs, surrounded by a fence covered in skulls, and who steals children away (in tales of the type AT 327 A, Hansel and Gretel). This aspect of Baba Yaga as a spirit of the forest, and more generally as a “genius loci” (spirit of the place) also makes her similar to another very important figure of Slavic folklore: Полудница  (Poludnica), the “woman of noon”. She is an old woman with long thick hair, wearing rags, and who lives in reeds and nettles ; or she can rather be a very beautiful maiden dressed in white, who punishes those that work at noon. She especially appears in rye fields, and protects the harvest. In other tales, she rather sucks away the life-force of the fields - which would relate her to some stories where Baba Yaga runs through rye fields (either with a scarf of her head, or with her hair flowing behind her). Poludnica can also look like Baya Yaga: Roger Caillois, in his article “Spectres de midi dans la démonologie slave” (Noon wraiths in the Slavic demonology), mentionned that Poludnica was a liminal deity of fields, to which one chanted  полудница во ржи, покажи рубежи, куда хошь побѣжи !, “Poludnicaa in the rye - show the limits - and go where you want.” This liminal aspects reminds of an aspect of Baba Yaga as a genius loci, tied to a specific place that she defends. It is an aspect found as Baba Yaga, Baba Gorbata, Polydnitsa and Pozhinalka: Baba Yaga is either a benevolent spirit that protects the place and the harvest ; either she is a malevolent sprit that absorbs the life-force of the harvest and destroys it. This is why she must be chased away, and thus it explains a Slovanian song that people sing during the holiday of Jurij (the feast day of Saint George), the 23rd of April, an agrarian holiday for the resurrection of nature: Zelenga Jurja (Green George), we guide, butter and eggs we ask, the Baba Yaga we banish, the Spring we spread!”. This chant was tied with a ritual sacrifice: the mannequin of an old woman had to be burned. As such, Baba Yaga and her avatars, was a spirt that had to be hunted down or banned - which is a custom found all over Europe, but especially in Slavic Europe. At the end of the harvest, several magical formulas were used to push away or cut into pieces the “old woman” ; and we can think back of Frazer’s work on the figure of the “Hag” (which in the English languages means as much an old woman as a malevolent spirit), who is herself a dual figure. In a village of Styria, the Mother of wheat, is said to be dressed in white and to be born from the last wheat bundle. She can be seen at midnight in wheat fields, that she crosses to fertilize ; but if she is angry against a farmer, she will dry up all of his wheat. But then the old woman must be sacrificed - just like in the feast of Jurij.

The author concludes that the “folkloric” aspect of Baba Yaga stays relatively unknown in the Western world and the non-russophone lands. The most detailed and complete work the author could find about it is Andreas Johns’ book “Baba Yaga: The Ambiguous Mother and Witch of the Russian Folktale”. The author of the article tried to prove that, as Johns said, the Baba Yaga is fundamentaly ambiguous - at the same time a kidnaping witch, a psychopomp, a cannibal, a protectress of birth, a guardian of places, a spirit of nature and harvests... And that she is part of an entire web and system of demon-feminine figures that create a mythology ensemble with common characteristic - very present in Eastern Europe, but still existing on the continent as a whole. 

[draconesmundi]

I've been looking through this project and I'm curious: are there any sapient dragons in Dracones Mundi? Because there's quite a few sapient dragons in mythology, even some from Europe. Are the stories of sapient dragons just in-universe legends and fairy tales, like how there's talking animals in fairy tales? Idk if I've seen that mentioned on here.

No sapient dragons, I'm afraid! I do discuss legends and folklore related to each dragon, but with an understanding that the legends and folklore are not literal events that happen in the world of Dracones Mundi.

So it's exactly like the real world in that respect: wolves exist, but they cannot talk like they do in Little Red Riding Hood, and dragons exist but they cannot make bargains like Zmey Gorynych.

This book is not intended to be a factual encyclopedia, but I love to mention real world mythology and folk tales (more for 'cool trivia' reasons than 'education' reasons - I am not a folklorist, historian, anthropologist or linguistics specialist, I just really like dragons!). For each dragon species there is a description of it's habits and anatomy in a 'field guide' style, followed by information for dragon nerds, such as legends involving that dragon species, but it's made clear the dragons in the legends are a mythological counterpart to the biological dragon, if that makes sense?

Dragon intelligence is roughly the same as an alligator or crocodile. They engage in play behaviour and have cunning and problem solving skills, but they aren't developing language beyond a hiss for 'back off' or a rumble for 'this is my territory'. They have limited tool use skills as they can only manipulate tools with their mouths and, when you're a venomous flying crocodile there isn't much need for tools. They are as smart as they need to be, without a reason to evolve to be sapient or a sophont.

I think as a fun project I could imagine a sophont version of my dragons, like a 'dragonborn', but I don't really have a reason to add them to Dracones Mundi, especially as the worldbuilding implications of adding another sophont species to Earth will melt my brain more than just adding extra beasts to the ecosystem! XD

Thanks for the question! :)

[squishyhydra]

Hello, everyone! I'm Squishy, and I'm here to share my multi-headed and squishy adoptables with y'all :3 These are my currently available adoptables, which can be found at my shop: https://ko-fi.com/squishystories My Terms of Service: https://squishytos.carrd.co/ Also, I will be having a 30% off sale on all adopts from December 14th to January 4th :D Thank you for stopping by :3

[art777art]

Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra-robin hood-Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych-Esther-Hungarian Folk Tales-Jodhaa Akbar