Slavic folklore

The Russian Fairy Tale of Vasilisa The Beautiful

The typical pattern in Slavic fairy tales is when a hero goes on a quest and, on the way, helps animals or spirits who are in trouble at the moment. Later, when the hero is in danger, all those…

Side notes on Slavic goddesses: 1 Slavic culture isn’t like, for example, Greek one. The pantheon is underdeveloped, a lot of mythology is lost, and the names, attributes and myths strongly vary throughout different regions. All this is richly compensated by intricate and detailed folklore about spirits and creatures (and I’ve got a whole highlight ‘Slavic folklore’ about that). 2 Remember me saying that the details about the deities vary a lot? That is, for instance, true for Zarya…

Watch out for Russian mermaids, and if you see a Kikimora - prepare for tragedy.

Probably the most ancient cult, along with the cult of the ancestors🌳 An important thing to be said about all my Slavic folklore and mythology posts: the names, the terms, the traditions strongly vary. There is no monolith canonical lore. There are a lot of places, peoples, cultures, local variations, etc. To summarize it I sometimes need to oversimplify things, and I am sorry for that. When I read anthropological research, I see that even two different families living in the same village…

VASNETSOV, Viktor Mikhaylovich (1848-1926) Sirin and Alkonost – Birds of Joy and Sorrow, details 1896 Ed. Orig.

An illustration for the fairytale "Vasilisa the Beautiful"

Posts about Ethnography and Customs written by Lamus Dworski