Hayvanlar Alemi Bilinmeyenler 1
ENCYCLOPEDIA
LOKID-MIF Moscow 2000
BBC
E687
Compiled by: Kirill Korolev
Editor: Albert Egazarov
Selection of illustrations: K. Korolev, A. Egazarov
Design: A. Egazarov
Layout: S. Klyushnev
FOREWORD
A Chinese author, who was repeatedly quoted by Jorge Luis Borges, made a very curious classification of animals. According to the Eastern sage, animals are divided into a) belonging to the emperor, b) embalmed, c) tamed, d) suckers, e) sirens, f) fabulous, g) individual dogs, h) included in this classification, i) running like crazy , k) countless, k) drawn with the finest camel hair bone, m) others, n) breaking a flower vase, o) looking like flies from a distance. The distinctive features underlying this classification at first cause bewilderment and a smile, however, if you think about it. they perfectly correspond to the author's goal - to classify all animals without exception. The situation is similar with supernatural beings: one who sets himself the task of not just listing them, but to develop a classification, it will inevitably come to definitions like “bloodthirsty, but kind in soul” or “hating priests, hypocrites and teetotalers.” Therefore, when starting work on the encyclopedia, the compiler decided to abandon the classification of supernatural beings according to “occupation”, “habits and habits”, etc., and focused exclusively on the so-called “generic characteristics”. In other words, supernatural beings in the text of the encyclopedia differ in their status, as and focused exclusively on the so-called "generic traits". In other words, supernatural beings in the text of the encyclopedia differ in their status, as and focused exclusively on the so-called "generic traits". In other words, supernatural beings in the text of the encyclopedia differ in their status, as
then: gods, angels and demons, demons, fairies, etc. (naturally, the gods mean pagan gods, and not the single deities of monotheistic religions).
Probably, already at the very beginning it is necessary to determine who these supernatural beings actually are. The supernatural refers to beings that have abilities that are more or less superior to human ones - for example, they can fly, change their appearance at will, send a drought or a storm. By the way, in what abilities people attributed to a particular creature, one can discern ancient ideas related to rituals and magical rituals. For example, Baba Yaga, as V.Ya. Propp, embodies the "rite of passage of youth at the onset of puberty." The hut on chicken legs, in which the yaga lives, is the entrance to the kingdom of the dead. To get into the hut, the hero must utter a certain spell, name a password or name - in other words, make a “verbal sacrifice”. Here we can recall the Egyptian "Book of the Dead", which Wallis Budge quotes - door locks, thresholds and locks require the deceased to call them by name and let them through only when he fulfills their demand. It is the same with the Yaga's hut: the hero - Ivan the Fool or another - pronounces the sacramental: "Hut, hut, stand in front of me, back to the forest" (that is, he reads a spell) - and only then gets inside. Further, signs of the rite of initiation (initiation) are also revealed: for example, the food and drink with which the yaga treats the hero opens the way for him to the kingdom of the dead, for they are from this kingdom. the hero - Ivan the Fool or another - pronounces the sacramental: "Hut, hut, stand in front of me, back to the forest" (that is, he reads the spell) - and only then gets inside. Further, signs of the rite of initiation (initiation) are also revealed: for example, the food and drink with which the yaga treats the hero opens the way for him to the kingdom of the dead, for they are from this kingdom. the hero - Ivan the Fool or another - pronounces the sacramental: "Hut, hut, stand in front of me, back to the forest" (that is, he reads the spell) - and only then gets inside. Further, signs of the rite of initiation (initiation) are also revealed: for example, the food and drink with which the yaga treats the hero opens the way for him to the kingdom of the dead, for they are from this kingdom.
V. Ya. Propp says the following about the connection of the yaga with the rite of initiation: “The initiate was led into the forest, introduced into the hut, appeared before a monstrous creature, the ruler of death and the ruler of the animal kingdom. “We know that he was subjected to symbolic blindness ... We know that at the same time circumcision was performed, which was not preserved by the fairy tale, and the front teeth were knocked out, also not preserved ... The actions that are performed on the young man,
they remind us of the actions that the hero of the fairy tale performs on the Yaga ... However, there is one fundamental difference between the rite and the fairy tale. In the rite, the eyes are closed to a young man, in a fairy tale - to a witch or a character corresponding to her. In other words, the myth or fairy tale is the exact conversion of the rite.” This appeal is due to the fact that human perception transferred the suffering of the initiate to the source of suffering, to the tormentor himself, in this case, to the yaga.
“Ritual roots” are also found in such characters as Koschey the Deathless, the Fire Serpent, the Firebird, in the ideas of the thirtieth kingdom - or, in the European version, of Avalon, Broceliande and the wonderful country of Kokayne, where milk rivers with jelly flow shores.
But, of course, it would be rather absurd to reduce the whole variety of supernatural beings only to rituals. Here we must not forget about mythological thinking, which is strikingly different from modern rational thinking. Mythological thinking is based on collective representations (“archetypes” in the terminology of C. G. Jung), it. in contrast to the rational, pra-logical Its main distinguishing feature is mystical involvement, in the words of L. Levy-Bruhl. This mystical involvement is manifested, for example, in the fact that a certain object is itself - and at the same time something else; that a person is one with his totem or forest spirit, etc. As Levy-Bruhl noted, “the life of people ... depends on the basic and initial fact that in their ideas the sensual world and the “other” world constitute something one. A collection of invisible beings... inseparable from the totality of visible beings. The "other" world is given no less directly than the visible one, it has greater effectiveness and inspires more fear. This other world, quite naturally, has its inhabitants, who are no less real for a person with mythological thinking. than pets.
Nowadays, mythological thinking has been preserved only in literature, more precisely, in science fiction. True, science fiction offered its own hypothesis about the origin of supernatural beings. In the American fantasy novel
ta K Simak’s “City” several times mentions outlandish creatures called goblins. As follows from the text, these goblins live in a certain parallel dimension from where they make forays into our world. In many other works of Simak and many other authors, not only goblins but also bentley gnomes are found brownie dragons and other supernatural creatures As a rule, in most cases they turn out to be inhabitants of other dimensions parallel to ours or in some other way in contact with it. In truth, it is preferable to that which reduces everything to the superstitions of ignorant ancestors, whose imagination, shocked by the majesty of nature,and populated the world with elves and manticores, nymphs and house griffins and roc birds
However, ideas about supernatural beings as inhabitants of a different plane of being are in no way the “exclusive property” of science fiction - or, more broadly, of literature as a whole. These ideas originated in ancient times, modern literature, if I may say so, has returned them into the light of God Myths and legends of various peoples tell that from time to time mysterious creatures appear among people - sometimes evil, sometimes benevolent,endowed with miraculous abilities, beautiful or, on the contrary, monstrous They are the constant companions of man throughout world history, they are present next to us, invisible or not noticed They are our neighbors, neighbors on the planet, and it is desirable to at least know our neighbors in person Therefore, let's look into the faces of those who relentlessly watching us from afar, whether it be Fairyland, the thirtieth kingdom or Brahmaloka.
It is worth making a reservation right away: the main attention in the text is given to the characters of Indo-European and, so to speak, “Far Eastern” (China, Korea, Japan) mythology. Such an approach to the selection of material is explained by the following - these mythological systems
we are, firstly, very detailed, and secondly, clearly structured (unlike, say, the mythology of the peoples of Oceania, where it is rather difficult to distinguish between categories of spirits). In addition, the main emphasis is on the so-called "lower mythology" and folklore, that is, on spirits, and not on deities, although the latter, of course, are also not ignored. In addition to deities and spirits, the encyclopedia presents wonderful animals, fish and birds, tells about wonderful trees and plants, as well as places of "permanent residence" of supernatural beings.
I sincerely hope that the book will find its reader and will be at least to a small extent useful topics. who is interested in it.
K. Korolev
TEXTOLOGICAL
PRINCIPLES OF EDITION
The main and auxiliary (referring to other entries) dictionary entries differ in fonts.
Materials from scientific and literary sources are printed preserving the spelling and punctuation of the original.
All works cited in the text are listed in the list of sources and literature used.
At the end of the book, for ease of reference, there is a complete index of dictionary entries.
Sneaking at a Nome Bsled.
O! throne b forest depths! O! l ^ nobenye chatter!
O! what a pity that the meeting is fleeting!”*
J. R. R. Tolkien. "Goblin Footsteps" Translation by K. Korolev
ABHASWARS
a
Vishnu as a fish (detail) (XVII century)
ABHASWARS
In ancient Indian mythology, the lower deities included in the Ghana of deities, assistants to the god Shiva. They obeyed not so much Shiva as Persecution, who was an intermediary between the lower gods and Shiva.
AVAKIM
See REPHAIMS
AVANC
In Welsh folklore, a ferocious water creature, similar, according to some sources, to a huge crocodile, according to others, to a gigantic beaver.
There is a legend about an avank who, from time to time, appeared in the backwaters of Llyn-ir-Avank. He dragged cows, horses, sheep and even people under water. It was possible to get rid of him only by cunning. The girl he loved lulled the avank with her songs, and he fell asleep. Sleepy, he was chained, and two bulls dragged the bloodthirsty creature away from the water. Avank began to break free, but could not overcome the bulls and exclaimed woefully:
“Oh, if only there were bulls.
If only you could see me!”
There is also a legend that one of the knights of King Arthur went to battle with Addank - that is, with an avank. The beloved gave him a stone with her, thanks to which he could see the avank, while remaining invisible himself. The knight entered the avank cave, took the stone that the lady gave him in his left hand, and the sword in his right hand. And when he entered, he saw Addank and immediately cut off his head with a sword.
AVATAR
See AVATAR
AVATARA
In ancient Indian mythology , a deity who descended into the world of people and incarnated into a mortal being in order to protect those who worship him and restore peace and justice.
In "Adiparva" (the first book of "Mahabharata") it is told that on earth more and more demons began to be born kings.
AVATARA
Varaha (boar) - the third avatar of Vishnu
endowed with power. And then the "creator of beings" the god Brahma ordered other gods to reincarnate on earth in "separate parts" to curb the demons. As it is said further, “the celestials ... incarnated according to their desire in the clans of brahmins and royal sages. They killed the danavas. Rakshasas. Gandharvas and snakes, as well as cannibals and many other creatures.”
The most famous in the ancient Indian mythological system are the ten avatars of the god Vishnu: the fish (Matsya). turtle (Kurma), boar (Varaha). lion-man (Narasinha), dwarf (Bomana). Frame with an ax (Parashurama). Frame. Krishna (or Balarama), Buddha and the white horse (Kalki). Turned into a fish. Vishnu saved many sages-rishis from the flood. as well as the seeds of all plants; in the form of a turtle, he participated in the churning of the oceans: in the form of a boar, God slew the demon Hiranyaksha - the duel lasted a thousand years, after which the boar lifted on its fangs the earth drowned by the demon in the ocean. In the guise of a lion-man, Vishnu defeated the demon Hiranya-kashipu, in the form of a dwarf he took away the Daityas from the kingheaven and earth, and having embodied in Parashurama, he destroyed many kshatriyas. Rama and Krishna are the main avatars of Vishnu; each of them subsequently became the center of its own cult (when Krishna acts as an independent deity, the eighth avatar of Vishnu is called Balarama). In the form of Buddha, Vishnu seduces the unstable to renounce the faith, and in the last avatar, sitting on a white horse, he destroys evil. so that the world may perceive the coming revival.
AUTOMATIC
In medieval European ideas and the alchemical tradition, mechanisms that are given a human appearance and that can act in the image and likeness of people. See HOMUNCULUS.
AGISKI
In Irish folklore , water horses can be found in almost every sea bay. Most often they get ashore in November; if you catch agiski and saddle him, he will make a wonderful horse. But that one. whoever wants to keep an agiski should remember: in no case should he be allowed near the water (and even allowed to smell the smell of the sea), otherwise the agiski will drag his rider to the bottom and tear it to pieces there. It is also said that wild agis sometimes attack livestock. Usually they take the form of foals with a lush mane.
AGROSTINA
In Greek mythology , the nymphs of mountains.
AGUANA
Narasimha (man-lion) - the fourth avatar of Vishnu
in Italian folk
lore demonic creatures. Tall beautiful women with long flowing hair, aguans roam the alpine meadows, bathe in rivers and lakes, in which they protect the purity of the water. Aguana people are friendly, but woe to anyone who dares to even muddy the water in a mountain spring! Before you cross the stream (and even more so - how to swim in it), you must ask the aguana for permission. Those who disregard courtesy will face a terrible
ADITYA
Kara; aguans drag them under water or lure them into their caves, and then devour them. The same punishment is prepared for the rapists, for the aguans do not forgive the abuse of women.
Aguans often come down from the mountains to people to warm themselves by the fire in the tavern, gossip with the housewives and help them with their homework. In the summer you can see how they work in the fields, how they breastfeed children who are carried in baskets behind their backs (their breasts are so long that they throw them over their backs).
In winter, aguanas usually dress in furs. As a rule, they appear to people in the form of ugly old women with goat hooves or feet turned backwards.
There is a legend that once a late traveler heard a woman's voice:
- Please draw a circle on the ground!
At first the traveler thought he heard it.
- I beg you, draw a circle!
From afar came the barking of dogs.
The traveler took a stick and drew a circle on the ground. As soon as he finished, a young pretty aguana found herself next to him. In that. the same instant the dogs of the Wild Hunter came running, but they could not penetrate the circle, and therefore they left without salty slurping. So the passerby saved the aguana.
Vishnu on vahana Garuda
ADITYA
In ancient Indian mythology, a group of deities are the descendants of the goddess Aditi. These include, among others. Varuna. Indra and Mitra, and later tradition introduces Adityas and Vishnu, whom
considered the greatest of them. Adityas keep the peace and integrity of the universe (as it is said in the Rigveda, "the three bright celestial spaces guard the Adityas"). People who have the miraculous power of adityas are favorably treated: they help in a moment of danger, keep them from bad deeds, and give a long life. At first, there were seven Adityas, in the post-Vedic period their number increased to twelve, and each of them was correlated with any month of the year.
HELLS DOGS
In English folklore, a pack of creepy headless dogs. They hunt both men and demons They say that dogs serve the devil; however, one legend says that they somehow appeared in Plymouth following the ghost of a navigator - more precisely, a pirate - Sir Francis Drake, who was recognized as their master.
AITU
In the myths of the Polynesians (Samoa, Rotuma) the general name of supernatural beings. Aitu include deities, spirits , etc.
AYTVARAS
In Lithuanian folklore, a fiery serpent or dragon (may also take the form of a black crow or cat). Like a basilisk, aitvaras hatches from an egg laid by a seven-year-old rooster; you can also get it by selling someone's soul to the devil (not necessarily your own). Aitvaras brings prosperity to the house in which he settles: he delivers food and money to his owners. His favorite pastime is braiding horses' manes and giving people nightmares. If the aitvaras becomes too annoying, he can be driven away and even killed; the latter, however, should not be done, because the murder of aitvaras will inevitably lead to a fire in which the killer's house will burn to the ground.
ALA
See HALA.
Indra. OK. 800. Ellora, Kailasanath Temple
HELLS DOGS
A demon in the form of a winged lion from a Babylonian seal of the 2nd millennium BC.
AL AD
In Sumero-Akkadian mythology , a demon. At first, the Alads treated people with indifference.
AL-BURAK
personally, later they were considered good guardian spirits. Each person had his own alad. It is believed that the winged bulls at the entrances to the palaces of the Assyrian kings are images of alads.
AL-BURAK
See BURAK
Sumerian winged deity with animals (alad).
Louvre, Paris
ALCONOS
See Alkonost.
ALKONOST
In Byzantine and Slavic legends, a wonderful "paradise" bird with a human face. Alkonost lays eggs on the seashore, then immerses them in water, calming the sea for six to seven days, after which chicks hatch from the eggs. The voice of the Alkonost is so wonderful that the person who heard it forgets about everything in the world. In addition, the alkonost has a habit of grabbing its own tail with its beak. In church symbolism, the alkonost personifies God's providence.
ON THE. Klyuev wrote:
"Reznik Olekh - a forest miracle
Liaza - two geese, ore.
Raised a bird with a girlish face.
The lips are cursed with a secret cry.
Half and cheeks at the tree
And the voice is flimsy, like the splash of sedge. The carver smelled: “I am Alkonost, I will drink tears from the eyes of goose!”
ALOADS
In Greek mythology, two brothers, Ot and Ephialtes, endowed with extraordinary strength At the age of nine, they planned to climb
to the sky and for the sake of this they piled mountains Ossa and Pelion on Olympus. For such audacity they were punished by the god Apollo. From here came the saying - "heap Ossa on Pelion", that is, to do something unreasonable. Aloads were also considered to be creators of goodness and bearers of culture (cultural heroes
Bird Alkonost Russian drawn lubok
In Apollodorus, the myth of the Aloads is stated as follows: “Kanaka gave birth to Hypleus from Poseidon. Nirea, Epic, Aloe I and Triopa. Aloe married Iphimede. the daughter of Triop, who fell in love with Poseidon and constantly made walks to the sea, scooped up sea water with her hands and poured it on her chest. Poseidon, who descended with her, gave birth to two sons, Ot and Ephialtes, called Aloads. These Aloads each year grew in width by a cubit, and in height by a sazhen. At the age of nine, having a width of nine cubits and a height of nine fathoms, the Aloads dared to fight with the deity and heaped Mount Ossa on Olympus, and Mount Pelion was also piled on Ossa: they began to threaten that from the height of these mountains they would climb into heaven, which they will turn the sea into a continent, filling it with mountains, and the earth into a sea. Ephialtes began to woo Hera, and From - toArtemis. They also tied up Ares, but Hermes stole him. Artemis destroyed the Aloads on the island of Naxos by deceit. Taking the form of a deer, she jumped and stood between them: the Aloads, trying to hit the animal with darts, pierced each other.
ALVA
In Scandinavian mythology, nature spirits In the "Younger Edda" it is said that elves are divided into light and dark. The Light Ones dwell in Alfheim. “And the dark elves live in the earth.
they have a different appearance and a completely different nature. The light elves are more beautiful than the sun in their appearance, and the dark ones are blacker than resin. The wonderful blacksmith Velund rules the elves.
In the Elder Edda, it is said that Velund was captured by King Nidud, who wanted the blacksmith to work only for him. Wayland thought for a long time how to take revenge on Nidud and how to escape. He began to slowly forge wonderful wings. And one day, the sons of Nidud looked into his smithy, and this happened:
“He sits, he does not sleep, he beats everything with a hammer - he hurries to forge Nidudu kovy.
And Nidud's children, two sons, thought to look at the treasury, which is on the island of Sevarstead.
They stood up at the hiding place.
they asked for the keys. - hunger ruined them, as they looked inside: many young people see treasures, red gold, and jewelry.
[Velund said:]
“Come again!
One come! - and I will give you all this gold! But only not a word to either the virgins or the servants, but no one would have found out. that you are with me."
Soon brother to brother.
one to another
they say: "Let's go
Let's look at the gold.
We stood at the hiding place, asked for the keys. - hunger ruined them, as they looked inside:
cut off the children's heads at once, put their legs under the blacksmith's fur.
and the skull of each, having torn off the skin, set it in silver, sent it to N godudu:
made them out of their eyes
semi-precious stones.
sent them on purpose to his wife Nida yes, and laid out the teeth of each with a pattern, set them in two hryvnias ... "
After that, Wayland put on wonderful wings and flew away from the island on which Nidud held him. And that left only to regret:
"The worst news
you could not bring me - the words of the worst
would not hear, Wayland!
Where is that one. so high that he will take you off your horse, where is the best archer that he will reach with an arrow when you swim in the sky!
Laughing Wayland.
takes off into the air:
Nidud is in sorrow, he is sitting in the seat.
★ (Translated by V. Tikhomirov)
In the English county of Berkshire there is a place called Wayland Smithy. i.e. "Velund's forge". If, having arrived there, you leave the horse and the payment for the work, and leave yourself, after some time the horse will be shod. They say that Velund himself shoves horses.
ALRAUNES
Alraunes. Woodcut. Augsburg, 1486
In the folklore of European peoples, tiny creatures that live in the roots of the mandrake, the outlines of which resemble human figures. Alraunes are friendly to people, but they are not averse to making fun, sometimes quite cruelly. These are werewolves capable of transforming into cats, worms, and even small children. They are distant relatives of kobolds.
Alraun
Recently, the alrauns have changed their way of life: they liked the warmth and comfort in people's homes so much that they began to move there. Before moving to a new place, alrauns, as a rule, test people: they scatter all sorts of garbage on the floor, throw clods of earth or pieces of cow dung into milk. If the people don't sweep the trash and drink the milk, Alraun understands that it's quite possible to settle here. It's almost impossible to drive him away. Even if the house is burned down and people move somewhere, alraun follows them.
See also MANDRAGORA.
ALSEIDS
In Greek mythology , the nymphs of the groves.
Amazons
AMAZONS
In Greek mythology, warrior maidens, presumably living in Asia Minor or, as Aeschylus claims in Prometheus, in Libya. Strabo in his "Geography" reports the following about the Amazons: "...Amazons use time only for themselves, performing individual work, such as plowing, gardening, caring for livestock and especially horses: the strongest of the Amazons are mainly engaged in hunting on horseback and military exercises. From childhood, they all burn their right breasts so that they can freely use their right hand in every occupation, and above all when throwing a spear ... In the spring they have two special months when they climb the neighboring mountain separating them from the Gargareans. According to some ancient custom, the Gargareans also ascend this mountain, in order, having made a sacrifice together with women, to meet with them for childbearing: they converge secretly and in the dark, whoever with whomever: having made the women pregnant, the Gargareans let them go home. All newborn female Amazons are left at
AMBROSIA
themselves, but they bring male babies to be brought up by the Gargareans.
Many heroes fought with the Amazons : Bellerophon fought with them. Hercules obtained the belt of their queen, Achilles killed the Amazon Penthesilea, who fought on the side of the Trojans. The Amazons founded the city of Ephesus and built the Temple of Artemis there, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Apollodorus reports that the hero Theseus, the winner of the Minotaur, fought with the Amazons. The Amazons laid siege to Athens to punish Theseus, who kidnapped one of them. “For a long time, both sides hesitated, not daring to start, but in the end, Theseus, following some kind of divination, sacrificed to Horror and hit the enemy ... The left wing of the Amazons stretched to the present Amazon, while with the right they were advancing on Pnyx along Chrysa. The Athenians started a fight with the right wing ... In this battle, the Athenians retreated in front of the women and were already at the temple of Eumenides, when their other detachment, which arrived in time from Palladius, threw the Amazons back to the camp itself, inflicting heavy losses on them. The war ended with a peace agreement.
AMBROSIA
In Greek mythology, food and fragrant anointing of the Olympian gods. Ambrosia maintains eternal youth and gives immortality. Nectar, a divine drink, has the same effect. According to Apollodorus, the young man Ganymede, once kidnapped by Zeus from the earth for his beauty, gives nectar to the gods.
AMESHASPENTA
Wounded Amazon. Roman marble copy after a Greek original by Phidias (440 - 430 BC). Rome, Capitoline Museums
In Iranian mythology , the deities that make up the immediate environment of Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd). These deities (lit. "Immortal Saints") are the patrons of the sacred elements and animals, each of them has a personal distinctive symbol - one or another flower. Amesha Spenta includes: Spenta Mainyu ["Holy Spirit"), Vohu Mana ("Good Thought"), Asha Vahishta ("Better Truth"), Khshatra Vairya ("Desired Power"), Armaiti ("Sown Piety"), Aurvat ("Integrity") and Amertat ("Immortality"). Wohu Mana is considered the patron saint of livestock. Asha Vakhishta - the patron of fire, Khshatra Vairya patron-
AMESH Spenta
favors metals, Armaiti - earth, Aurvat - water, Amertat - plants. Spenta Mainyu patronizes a person. The Prophet Zarathushtra communicated in turn with each of the seven Amesha Spenta in different localities.
The Avesta (Zamiad-yasht) says about Amesha Spenta:
“Khvarno Holy Immortals. Commanding and perspicacious, Exalted, most powerful. Divine and the fastest. Imperishable, pious.
Seven unanimous.
Seven unanimous, Seven autocratic. Having a thought and a word.
And it's the same thing.
And one parent, And one master -
Ahura Mazda the Creator.
Ahura Mazda in the winged circle. Persepolis
Seeing each other's soul
In thoughts of a good thought.
In thoughts about the word good.
Thinking about a good deed. . Flying through the light
ways.
Leading them to libations
pits.
Creations of Ahura Mazda They are creators, creators. Creators, and keepers, And guardians, and patrons.
By your own will
Creation will be turned into life Without dying, without withering And without decay,
Ever-living, ever-growing And autocratic.
Will rise from the dead
And come alive
Immortal Savior And transform the world.*
★ (Translated by And Steblin-Kamensky. Khvarno is a sacred power, the personification of a higher principle).
AMRITA
The Mihr-yasht says that Amesha Spenta created a heavenly chamber for the sun god Mithra:
"Immortal Saints
The abode was created
In foresight, according to Vera.
The whole Sun is full.
From high Hara Mitra
All carnal things see the world.”*
* (Translated by I. Steblin-Kamensky).
AMRITA
In ancient Indian mythology, the divine drink of immortality, akin to Greek nectar (see AMBROSIA) and Iranian haome.
The Mahabharata tells how the gods and asuras mined amrita:“There is the incomparable Mount Meru, brilliant, rich in brilliance. With its peaks, burning with gold, it reflects the brilliance of the sun. Wonderful in a golden dress, she is visited by the gods and Gandharvas. Immeasurable, it is impregnable for people burdened with sins... On its high, shining peak, studded with many precious stones... once all the mighty gods that live in heaven ascended and sat on it. Being in repentance and vow, they gathered there and began to deliberate about this. how to get amrita While the gods were all meditating and conferring there. Lord Narayana said this to Brahma: “Let the gods of the crowd of asuras churn the ocean. While the great ocean will churn, there will be amrita and with it all sorts of medicinal herbs and precious stones will be obtained.
There is the best among the mountains - Mandara ... It is visited by kinnars and apsars. as well as the gods. It rises above the earth by eleven thousand yoljans, and by the same number of thousands it goes down into the earth.”
Tree God. From the Babylonian seal of the 1st millennium BC. e.
Ashur as a tree god
This mountain was uprooted from the earth by the serpent Shesha. The gods, together with Shesha, came to the ocean and said that they would knock down the amrita. The ocean agreed to endure, but demanded a share of amrita for itself. “Then the gods and asuras turned to the king of turtles, who maintains the world: “Be kind to become a support for this mountain.” Saying "good," the turtle turned its back. And on her
AMPHISBAENA
Angel before the Emperor. State of the Great Moguls. Hindu Museum, Kolkata
Indra, with the help of a special structure, established the foot of that mountain. I. making Mandara a whorl, and the snake Vasuki a rope, the gods and all the daityas and danavas then began to churn the ocean ... seeking amrita. For one horse, the king of snakes, the great asuras took up, and the wise all grabbed the tail. Narayana. since he was an infinitely great deity, he raised the head of the serpent up, then lowered it again.
While the serpent Vasuki was swiftly pulled by the gods, winds along with smoke and flames burst out of its mouth more than once ... While the mountain rotated, mighty trees inhabited by birds, colliding with each other, fell from the top of the mountain. And fire.
Two-headed amphisbaena. From the bestiary of the 12th century.
arising from their rhenium. blazing every minute with flame... enveloped Mount Mandara... Then Indra, the best of the immortals, extinguished that burning fire everywhere with water born from the clouds. After that, heterogeneous secretions from mighty trees, as well as many grass juices, flowed into the waters of the ocean. It was from the drinking of those juices endowed with immortal power, as well as from the outflow of gold, that the gods achieved immortality.
AMPHISBAENA
In Greek mythology, a monster, a giant snake. Lucan characterizes this snake as follows: "Terrible, with a double head raised up, amphisbaena." She has two heads - from both ends of the body. Piasa amphisbaenas are bursting with flames. It is so hot that it melts the snow.
The amphisbaenes are said to have fed on the corpses of soldiers as Cato's army marched through Libya. Prophetesses and women from the upper strata of society wore bracelets in the form of amphisbaena on their wrists. to emphasize your
ANAKTY
position. John Milton mentions the amphisbaena, along with the scorpion and the asp , among those monsters whose disguise is often taken by the demons, the helpers of Satan.
ANAKTY
In Greek mythology , guardian demons , who are often confused with the Kabiri Kuretes and Dioscuri - the sons of Zeus, participants in the campaign for the Golden Fleece
Angel
So. Pausanias says: The inhabitants of Amfissa also perform a secret service in honor of ... the Lords (Anakts). what they call them. The children of what gods these Lords are, they say about this differently: some say that they are Dioscuri aggyu, others say that they are Curetes. those who consider themselves more knowledgeable in this matter call them Kabirs.” Perhaps. that the Anakts are in fact the descendants of the giant Anakt. son of Uranus and Gaia.
ANGANGA
In the myths of the Polynesians (Samoa), the spirit of a living being, which is opposed to "tino" - flesh. The body of the deceased, abandoned by the spirit, is called "angaanga".
ANGELS
Archangel Michael and dragon
In Judaism. In Christian and Muslim mythologies, incorporeal beings who serve a single god, fight with his enemies, give him praise, convey the will of the deity to the elements and people (translated from Greek, the word “angel” means “messenger”). Those angels who fell away from God turned into demons . Initially, the angels were one, but later in the Kabbalistic tradition there was a division into the so-called. “nine angelic ranks. These nine ranks are divided into three triads. According to this hierarchy, the angels themselves, together with the archangels and the authorities , belong to the third triad, which is characterized by close proximity to the world and man. As for the appearance of angels, it is impossible to describe it in any way.
ANGIAC
authentically, for the true angelic appearance is inaccessible to human perception. Angels most often appear to people in the form of fiery symbols (as Pseudo-Dionysius says, theology “represents fiery wheels ... and fiery animals, and lightning-like men ...”); sometimes they take the form of people, animals and plants.
Brihaspati is the personification of the planet Jupiter. 12th century Orissa
ANGIAC
In Eskimo folklore, "a living dead child." In famine years, it often happens that the elders of the tribe take an unwanted child and leave him to die of hunger in the snow. As long as the tribe does not change camp, they will be haunted by the ghost of this child - that is, angiak. Every night he will suckle his mother's breast, gaining strength to take revenge on the elders. The only way to prevent the appearance of angiaka is not to give the child a name: after all, only a name gives a person a soul.
ANGIRAS
In ancient Indian mythology, demigods with wonderful voices. There were seven Angirases, they were considered the sons of heaven and gods. In the Rig Veda it is said that the Angirases
singing found cows hidden in the cave of the demon Valu:
“According to the law, by splitting the rock, they blew it up.
The Angirases roared along with the cows...”*
(Translated by T. Elizarenkova).
ANDROGYNS
Some songs say that the rock was broken by the god Indra, who is sometimes called the chief of the angirases. In addition, the Angirases found the god Agni, hidden in a tree trunk, and fought on the side of the gods with the asuras.
ANDROGYNS
In the myths of various peoples, bisexual creatures that combine male and female sexual characteristics. In Greek mythology, such is Hermaphrodite - the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, a young man of extraordinary beauty. At the request of the nymph who fell in love with him, the gods merged her and Hermaphrodite into a single bisexual creature. The Scandinavian myth about the creation of the world mentions that. that the first khrimturs Ymir independently conceived and gave birth to his children. The Egyptian god Ra copulated with himself and gave birth to other gods, as well as people.
Androgyne
Plato in the dialogue "Feast" speaks through the mouth of Aristophanes: Once upon a time, our nature was not the same as now, but completely different. First of all, people were of three sexes, and not two, as they are now. - male and female. for there was still a third sex, which combined the signs of both of them: he himself disappeared, and only his name was preserved from him. become abusive - androgynes. and from it it is clear that they combined the appearance and name of both sexes - male and female. Then each person had a rounded body, as many legs as arms, and each had two faces on a round neck, exactly the same: the head of these two faces. looking in opposite directions, there was a common one, there were two pairs of ears, two shameful parts. Such a person either moved straight, to his full height. - just like we do now, but any of
ANZUD
two sides forward, or, if in a hurry, walked like a wheel, bringing his legs up and rolling on eight limbs ... Terrible in their strength and power, they nourished great plans and even encroached on the power of the gods ... ”The gods began to confer on what to do with androgynes , and Zeus offered to cut them in half to weaken them. “... he began to cut people in half, as they cut rowan berries before salting, or how they cut an egg with a hair ... And when the bodies were cut in half in this way, each half rushed with lust to its other half, they embraced.
Hermaphrodite
intertwined and, passionately wanting to grow together, died of hunger and, in general, of inaction, because they did not want to do anything separately ... So, each of us is a half of a person, cut into two flounder-like parts, and therefore everyone is always looking for the corresponding half ” .
ANZUD
In Sumero-Akkadian mythology, a divine bird, an eagle with a lion's head. Anzud is an intermediary between gods and people. Anzud stole the tablets of the god Enlil and flew with them to the mountains, which disrupted the course of things. In pursuit of the bird, the god of war, Ninurta, set off. He shot Anzud with his bow, but Enlil's tablets healed the wound. Ninurta managed to hit the bird only from the second or even from
ANILA
the third attempt (in different versions of the myth - in different ways).
ANILA
In ancient Indian mythology , the deities of the wind The chief of the anils is one of the vasus Anilas belong to the gana of deities that obeys Ganesha and helps Shiva
ANITU
Spirits in the myths of the peoples of Oceania . The true appearance of the anitu is unknown because they are invisible, but it is not difficult for them to instill a fish or a bird in the body of an animal. Anitus are powerless against a person; he is able to deprive them of their power for a while and even destroy them.
Anzud. Vase. Lagash, Mesopotamia III millennium BC
ANCA
In Muslim mythology, wonderful birds created by Allah and hostile to people It is believed that ankh exist to this day, they are simply so few that they are extremely rare Anka is in many ways similar to the phoenix bird that lived in the Arabian desert
ANCU
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the Brittany peninsula, a harbinger of death Usually anku becomes a person who died in a particular settlement last in the year Anku appears in the guise of a tall man with long white hair e; from a person carrying a funeral wagon Sometimes anku takes the form of a skeleton
ANTALOP
In medieval bestiaries and European "Eastern" folklore, a wonderful beast It was often depicted on shields and banners The antalope has a tiger head, two jagged horns, and the fur is in tatters along the ridge and on the thighs. It has a ferocious disposition. and you can catch it, you just have to wait until the beast gets tangled in the bush
Antalope on a coat of arms
The “physiologist” says the following about the antelope: “The antelope has two horns, He lives near the river of the ocean at the edge of the earth. When he wants to drink, he drinks from the river and gets drunk, rests on the ground and digs it with his ro'ami. And there is
ANUNNAKI
Solar deity of mountains. Akkadian seal. Mesopotamia, III BC e.
tree called tanis. strongly resembling a vine with wide branches and thick twigs - and, pushing through the twigs, the antelope gets entangled in them. - then the hunter catches him and overcomes.
So is man. Instead of horns, God gave him both Testaments. Old and New. Horns are resistance to force... The ocean river is wealth. Tanis is worldly pleasures. A person who does not care about faith gets entangled in them, and the devil finds him and overcomes him.
ANUNNAKI
In Sumero-Akkadian mythology , the deities of the earth and the underworld. The number of the Anunnaki is not precisely established: according to various sources, there are from seven to six hundred. The main duty of the Anunnaki is to determine human destinies, that is, they are patron gods. Along with the Anuniaks, Sumero-Akkadian mythology knows the Igigi - the deities of the sky.
ANCHUTKA
In East Slavic mythology, the evil spirit of Anchutka is water - river, swamp - and air, that is, they can fly. Most often, they are referred to as “fingerless anchutka” or “fingerless”, which emphasizes the closeness of the anchutka to demons. The very word "anchutka" is often used in the meaning of "damn".
Ra in the form of a cat kills the serpent Apep
JSC
In ancient Chinese mythology, a giant tortoise with three mountains on its back is Yingzhou. Penglai and Fangzhang. Immortals live on these mountains. According to some sources, Ao is not a turtle, but a huge fish with a human head.
However, Yuan Ke in "Myths of Ancient China" claims that the turtle is not alone, that initially there were fifteen of them, and they held five sacred mountains - the three named above, as well as the Daiyu and Yuanjiao mountains. It so happened that the last two mountains sank into the abyss of the world, along with the six turtles that held them, and of the fifteen turtles, only nine remained.
AONIDES
See MUSES.
APOP
In Egyptian mythology, a huge serpent, the enemy of the sun god Ra. Alon lives underground. When Ra, with the onset of night, sets sail on the underground Nile, the serpent drinks all the water from the river in order to destroy the god. But Ra defeats Ap opa every night and makes the monster spit water back.
APSARAS
See Apsara.
apsaras
Dancing girl Bulandibagh (Pataliputra). Terracotta, beginning of Iv. BC.
In ancient Indian mythology, demigods who live mainly in the sky, but also inhabit rivers, mountains, etc. According to the Vedas, apsaras can send love madness to people, but patronize gambling people, especially dice lovers. These are werewolves who can take on any form, but most often they appear in the form of beautiful women in rich clothes, adorned with jewels and flowers. Apsaras are celestial dancers, later courtesans: the gods often send them to demon-asuras or to ascetics who need to be seduced, otherwise asceticism will make them equal to the gods. According to the Ramayana, Apsaras arose at the dawn of the universe, when churning
world ocean. They number from several tens to hundreds of thousands. They are the wives or lovers of the Gandharvas.
AR-RUH
See RUH
ARTHUR
In Celtic mythology, Western European folklore and medieval literary tradition, the greatest of the knights, the ruler of a country called Logr or Logris. In terms of territory, it approximately coincided with the current Britain and partially went into the Fairy Land. The legends of the "Arthurian cycle" are closely intertwined with the legends about the knights of the Round Table. This table stood in Camelot, King Arthur's castle. Its once
built by the sorcerer Merlin for Arthur's father, King Uther. Everyone at this table
were in an equal position and no one felt offended by the fact that someone was sitting in a more honorable place.
Knight of the Round Table
The knights of King Arthur and he himself bravely fought against the cannibals and monsters that Logris was infested with, freed the prisoners, saved beautiful ladies. Arthur's nephew, Sir Mordred, mortally wounded his uncle, but in fact Arthur did not die: he was taken to the island of eternal youth Avalon, where he rests in anticipation of the hour when he will be needed again.
Britain. Then he will rise
together with his knights and crush the enemies of the fatherland.
Thomas Malory in Le Morte d'Arthur tells that in one of the churches, opposite the main altar, a stone suddenly appeared - "about four corners, like a marble tombstone, in the middle on it - like a steel anvil. and under it - a wonderful naked sword and around it golden inscriptions "Whoever pulls this sword out from under the anvil, that is, by right of birth, the king over all the land of England." How many knights have not tried to extract this
P Espalargues Archangel Michael weighing souls
“it happened. that Sir Ector came to the tournament .. and with him his son
In the Kabbalistic tradition, the archangels make up the eighth of the nine angelic
a sword, no one succeeded. And once Sir Kay and young Arthur, who was his foster brother. . As they were heading for the tournament field, Sir Kay missed his sword - he left it in his father's house - and he asked young Arthur to go for his sword.
- All right, I'll go with great pleasure. - said Arthur and galloped at full speed for the sword.
When he rode home, it turned out that the lady with all the servants went to watch the tournament. Then Arthur got angry and said to himself: “I will jump into the churchyard and take the sword. stuck between rocks and anvil, I will not let my brother. Sir Kay was without a sword on such a day."
Arthur easily drew his sword, then did it again at the request of Sir Ector, and everyone knelt before them and recognized Arthur as King of Britain.
ARCHANGELS
In Christian mythological representations, the elder angels According to the names of the archangels, the three heavenly archangels Tig Michael, the participant in the Annunciation Gasriel and the healer Raphael are known first of all. In the ranks and together with the angels and authorities , the images of the dead form the third triad, which is characterized by
close proximity to the world and man. As Pseudo Dionysius says, the rank of archangels “communes with the most holy principalities and holy angels. With the former, that he turns to the transcendent Principle through the authorities, he conforms to it as much as possible, and keeps unity among the Angels in accordance with his harmonious, skillful, invisible guidance. according to the nature of the Hierarchy, transmits them with love to the Angels, and through the Angels informs us to the extent that someone is capable of Divine illuminations.
Abraxas
ARCHONTS
In Christian mythological representations, the spirits-world rulers Usually archons are referred to as demons. Satan is called in the Bible the “archon of this world” (in the synodal translation - “prince”) The Shostiks believed that the archons were ambivalent by nature and that it was they who created the material cosmos. The Gnostics identified the supreme archon with Abraxas - a strange creature with a human body, a rooster's head and snake tails instead of legs. This Abraxas. as Manly P Hall explains, a supreme deity with five emanations:“From the human body ... two supports grow - Nus and Logos, symbolized by snakes, which means inner feeling and quick understanding. His head of a rooster, that is, a bird, personifying Providence, represents Phronesis. Jorge L Borges, expounding the doctrine of the heresiarch Basilides, wrote: “ Basilides believes a certain God to be the basis of his cosmogony. This deity shone but is devoid of both name and origin. This God is motionless, however, from his rest emanate seven deities subordinate to him and. degrading to movement, they create and head the first heaven. From this first creative crown comes the second ... This second conclave is reproduced in the third, that one infollowing, and so on up to the 365th ... The original numerical cosmogony degenerates in the end into numerical magic' 365 heavenly floors of seven rulers on
ASILKI
2555 pairs of pei require mind-blowing memorization for everyone: the years reduce this language to the graceful name of the savior, Kaulakau. and the motionless god, Abraxas."
ASILKI
In East Slavic mythology, the rich are also known as velets or volots (according to V. I. Dahl, “before us there were volots”). These heroes erected mountain ranges, laid rivers; when one of them threw his club up to the sky, thunder rumbled. They were so proud of their power that they began to threaten God and were destroyed.
ASP
In Greek mythology, a wonderful snake. Lucan, listing the terrible snakes found in Libya, mentions the asp among them:
“The first to raise his head from that poisonous dust.
There was a bloated asp who sent sleep with his neck.
A lot of blood and thick poison got into him.
And not a single snake is denser than it has thickened.
He needs knowledge. goes to the cool edge
He is against his ashes, only crawling up to the Nile sands.
* (Translated by L. Ostroumov)
Most often, the asp hides in a hole, from where it can be lured out by spells. True, sensing evil, it presses to the ground with one ear, and closes the other with its tail so as not to hear how it is lured out.
Asrai - the most timid and most beautiful of the fairies
ASRAI
In Scottish folklore, water fairies. Timid, shy, they live at the bottom of the sea and in deep lakes. Asrai rise to the surface once every hundred years. to admire the moonlight In the sun, they evaporate, leaving only a tiny puddle of them. The main enemy of the asrai is a man; these little beings in female form are so beautiful. that people cannot resist the temptation to seize them.
ASURAS
Despite their very respectable age, the asrai are small, from two to four feet. They have long green hair and webbing between their toes. They don't wear clothes.
There is such a legend. One man was fishing on the lake on a full moon and suddenly felt the net flutter. Pulling out the net, the fisherman saw a girl of unspeakable beauty. It was asrai. She fell in love with the fisherman so much that he did not want to let her go in any way: he sat her on the bottom of the boat, covered her with reeds. The girl was cold as ice, and the fisherman even burned his hand on her.
Ignoring the girl's weeping, he took the boat to the far shore. The sun has risen. At the same moment, Asrai screamed.
The fisherman turned around and saw that there was no one in the boat. Only a puddle of water at the bottom of the boat and a burned hand reminded of the night guest.
ASURAS
In ancient Indian mythology , deities and demons with magical powers. In particular, from this point of view, the adityas belong to the asuras. Agni, Indra, and others. In the Atharva Veda, only demons are called asuras. Asuras originated from the breath of Brahma (or from his abdominal cavity). In heaven, the asuras had three cities - iron, silver and gold; besides, they have
Hindu deity with three heads and many arms. Subrahmanya-chola, south. India. OK. 11th century
there were cities and underground. All three heavenly cities of the asuras were incinerated by the god Rudra. and the asuras themselves he cast down to the earth.
In Buddhist mythology, asuras are creatures that form one of the six sections of samsara (worldly existence). They once dwelt in heaven, but were expelled. Now they live in the cave of the sacred mountain Meru and wage continuous wars with the gods, in which they constantly suffer defeat.
According to A.N. Afanasyev, “the Indian asuras, who are smitten and driven into deep
there are Greek titans, underground beings. hostile to Zeus and the Olympian gods."
ASES AND VANs
There are two groups of gods in Norse mythology. Ases live in the heavenly city of Asgard. This city was built for them by a giant from Utgard - or Jotunheim - the abode of the Jotuns. In addition to Asgard and Utgard, there is also Midgard - the “middle world”, the abode of people (John R.R. Tolkien used this term in his famous trilogy “The Lord of the Rings; in English Midgard is MiysPe-EagSh, and in Russian it became Middle-earth). Midgard and Asgard are connected by the Bivrest rainbow bridge, about which A. N. Afanasyev says: “This is the best of all bridges in the world, it is firmly made of three colors, and the bright gods move over it on their horses...
One end of this bridge reaches the dwelling of the god Heimdall. who is assigned to protect the bridge from demonic giants... At the end of the world, when the evil sons of Muspell will go through it. the bridge will collapse. The Vanir live in their own country - Vanaheim, which approximately coincides with Alfheim, which makes it possible to identify the Vanir with the Alvs.
At first, the Ases were at enmity with the Vanir, they had a war. The Elder Edda says:
“The first war in the world happened ...
because of Gullveig, who was killed and burned three times in the dwelling of the High One (they burned three times, she was born three times, they burned many times - she is still alive.
Asgard - home of the Aesir
Heid is her name), a seer witch entered the houses.
everywhere she harmed with evil, with a rod, with an evil word, with spoilage - the joy of harmful women.
They agreed to the court.
they sat down on the lavas, all the higher gods held a council: should the ases
Loki tells Hed to shoot Baldur.
take a refund or they should
revenge to have:
One threw - the warriors fell
(this was the beginning of the war in the world), but the walls of the fortress of aces collapsed - the seer-vans gained the upper hand. ”*
* (Translated by Tikhomirov)
The Aesir decided to make peace and gave the Vanir hostage to Henir, and took him hostage
Freya riding a cat. Painting in the church. 12th century Schleswig
Njord and Frey. Since then, Aesir and Vanir have always been together. The aesir themselves, ruled by Odin, are twelve; besides Odin it is Thor, Bragi. Kor. Heimdall, Head, Vidar, Ali, Ull, Forseti. Baldr and Loki. In some Western European languages \u200b\u200b(for example, in the same English), the names of the days of the week are formed partly from the names of the ases: lѵebpeesіau ("Wednesday") - "Odin's day" (or Wotan, which is the same; here Odin seems to act as the Roman Mercury , the god of trade, to whom Wednesday is also dedicated). Ytigeyau ("Thursday") - "Thor's day", Ggibau ("Friday") - the day of Freya (this is the name of the daughter of Njord, the goddess of love and beauty).
In the "Younger Edda" it is said that the Ases appeared in Scandinavia from a country "near the middle of the earth." That's how it happened; “There was a prophecy to Odin and his wife, and it revealed to him that his name would be exalted in the northern part of the world and would be honored above the names of all the kings ... He took with him many
ATA
a lot of people, young and old men and women, and many precious things .. ”First, he came to the tran saks to rule which he left his sons. “Then Odin went even further north to the country that is now called Sweden. The name of the local king was Gulvi And when he learned that these people, who were called Ases, were from Asia, he went out to windward and said that Odin could rule in his state as he wished. And they were so lucky along the way that in any country where they licked, there were times of abundance and peace, And everyone believed that this was happening at their will. For the noble people saw that neither in their beauty nor in the wisdom of the Ases did they resemble the people they had seen before. One accepted Gyulvi's invitation. and the Æsir remained in the north
ATA
Aces Leader - Odin
In the myths of the Polynesians (Samoa Tonga) , the spirit of a living person or just
deceased, in contrast to atua, which exists on its own, without connection with the physical body
ATLANTS
In Greek mythology, as well as in the "esoteric" (theosophical) tradition, the wonderful people of the inhabitants of the country called Atlantis - Plato in the dialogue "Critius" says that when the gods divided the whole earth into possessions, this island country went to Poseidon by lot. who populated it with his children conceived from a mortal woman: “Having given birth five times to four male twins, Poseidon raised them and divided the entire island of Atlantis into ten parts, and to the one of the older couple who was born first, he gave his mother’s house and surrounding possessions as the greatest and best share, and made him king over the rest. The names of all he called these are the eldest and the king -
that name. by which both the sharp and the sea are named, which is called the Atlantic, for the name of the one who first received the kingdom then was Atlant. in which the eldest was always king and transferred the kingship to the eldest of his sons ... and they accumulated such riches as no royal dynasty ever had ... For many generations, until the nature inherited from God was exhausted.
the Atlanteans obeyed the laws and lived in friendship with the divine principle akin to them ... " But over time, the Atlanteans began to degenerate:" ... when the share inherited from God
weakened many times
Capital of Atlantis
dissolved in mortal admixture, and the human temper prevailed, then they were no longer able to endure their wealth and lost their decency. For one who can see, they were a shameful sight. ." And then the gods punished the Atlanteans - overnight, their island was swallowed up by the deep sea.
Manly P. Hall, in the spirit of theosophical teaching, develops the myth of Atlantis and the Atlanteans as follows: “Everything. what the primitive tribes remember of the Atlanteans is the radiance of their golden robes, the excellence of their wisdom, and the holiness of their symbols, the cross and the serpent. The fact that they got off the ships was soon forgotten, because the uneducated mind and the ships considered something supernatural. Wherever the Atlanteans converted the local tribes to their faith, pyramids and temples were erected... This is the origin of the pyramids in Egypt, Mexico and Central America. The grave mounds in Normandy and Britain are the same as those of the American Indians, since both are remnants of the same culture. In the midst of the Atlantean program to colonize the world and its
ATUA
Souls of Ra and Osiris
The soul of the deceased in the form of a bird with a human head (from Egyptian papyri)
addressed from. I learned the kata trophy that swallowed up Atlantis. As can be seen from the quote, the Theosophists considered the Atlanteans the ancestors of the current civilization. For example. M Handel puts the Atlanteans in the gap between the Hyperboreans and Lemurians on the one hand - and the Aryan race, to which the current civilization belongs, on the other. In addition, he divides the Atlanteans into several races, namely the Rmoagles, the Tlavatli of the Toltecs. "original Turans" and "original Semites" - fasu-embryo "for the seven races of the current Aryan Epoch
Many researchers gave life to the search for Atlantis, many authors - such as P Benoit K Hein and others - described it in their works, but so far all descriptions remain a figment of fantasy and all searches turn out to be fruitless.
ATUA
In the myths of the Potinesians (Tonga Niue), spirits capable of moving into human bodies and into the bodies of animals later are deities
AUDUMLA
In Scandinavian mythology, a wonderful cow In the Younger Edda "it is said that when the world was created from the world abyss, Audumla came out of hoarfrost " As the hoarfrost melted, a cow named Audumla immediately arose from it. and four rivers of milk flowed from her udder, and she fed And the world. ” This cow licked salty stones covered with hoarfrost. there is a parent."
OH
In Egyptian mythology, one of the elements of human nature for the robe incarnation of a person. Initially, ah belonged exclusively to the pharaohs who turned into him after death: later they began to believe that every person has ah Ahu is the plural form of "ah" - the intermediaries between the deities and people
AHURAS
In Iranian mythology , the deities who fought against the forces of evil and chaos, Ahuram,
ASHVINS
there were so-called "younger gods" - devas (curiously, in Iranian mythology, devas are evil gods, and in Hindu mythology they are good). However, in Iranian mythology, the devas, along with the Akhurs, were sometimes ranked among the good patron gods. Akhuras belonged, in particular, to Ahura Mazda and Mitra. The prophet Zarathushtra taught that akhuras are abstract good forces of the universe. Subsequently, the word "ahura" had a synonym - "yazaty". Ahuras do not have an anthropomorphic appearance, but in their incarnations they are able to take the form of animals and birds.
It is believed that the Ahuras will finally defeat the devas only after a few millennia.
According to the Avesta, the Ahuras were asked for help in undertakings:
“I want to repay you [Ahuras], harness fast horses
Victorious, serving your exaltation.
Strong in devotion to Arta and Vohu-Man, O Mazda,
Those on which you rush to us.
Get ready
Symbol of Ahuramazda(?). Rel- help me.” * ef on the tomb of Xerxes in Nakshi-Rustem. 5th c. BC e. ( * “Yasna”. Translation by I. Braginsky)
Iran
ASHVINS
In ancient Indian mythology, the divine twins, belonging to the number of heavenly gods During the day, Ashvins travel around the universe and drive away darkness. They heal, bring the dead back to life, heal the blind and lame.
Ashwins are ancient, but eternally young gods, strong and beautiful. The Mahabharata tells how they helped the god Indra defeat the asura Namuchi. Ashvins in general very often help both gods and mortals out of trouble.
God Ashur in a winged disk.
9th century BC e.
The Aranyakaparva (the third book of the Mahabharata) tells that once the Ashvins saw the beautiful Sukanya coming out of the water after bathing and offered her to choose a husband among them. However, Sukanya already had a husband, a decrepit hermit Chyavana, so she refused. Then the Ashvins said: “We —The best of the gods to heal her and make your husband young and beautiful. And then choose for yourself the only spouse between the two of us and him. Sukanya consulted with her husband and agreed, “The Ashvins, having learned about her consent, showed that royal daughter. “Let your husband enter the water Then Chyavana, desiring to acquire beauty, immediately entered the water, and Ashwin also entered the lake. At the same moment they all three amazingly beautiful, young, equally beautiful came out of the lake. and the sight of them gladdened the soul. Sukanya, following the voice of her heart, chose Chyavana among them. And he told Ashvi to us: * You are hopeful. send me old with beauty and youth, I got such a spouse, and therefore I will gladly make sure that you both are among those who taste soma (the divine drink of immortality - K K.)before the King of the gods. Hearing this, the Ashvins went to heaven with joy in their hearts, and Chyavana and Sukanya lived happily like gods.
ASH-SHAITANS
See SHITAN.
BA
Soul birds. Bas-relief from Memphis. Egyptian Collection, Munich
BA
In Egyptian mythology, one of the elements of human nature, the personification of the life force of man, continues to exist even after the death of the body. Ba had not only people, but also settlements. At first, only the gods and pharaohs had ba, later they began to believe that every person has it. Ba can separate from the body, leave the tomb, eat and drink. One of the guises of the god Osiris was the image of the Ba bird, which was often seen on the steps of temples near busy places. The plumage of this bird was turquoise with a scarlet border. At sunset, the bird's profile changed to that of Osiris.
BAAVAN SHI
In Scottish folklore, evil, bloodthirsty fairies. If a raven flew up to a person and suddenly turned into a golden-haired beauty in a long green dress, it means.
in front of him is the baavan shi. They wear long dresses for good reason, hiding under them deer hooves, which the baavan shi have instead of feet. These fairies lure men into their homes and drink their blood.
There is a legend about how once four young people went hunting, stayed until dark and decided to spend the night in an empty shepherd's hut. To have fun, one began to play the pipe, and the rest began to dance, regretting aloud that they had no partners. Suddenly, four women appeared. Three immediately began to dance, and the fourth stood next to the musician. He blew his tune for some time, and suddenly it caught his eye that his
friends, as if wounded in a cruel cut, bleed. He rushed out of the hut, hid behind the backs of the horses, and the baavan shi did not find him, for the iron of horseshoes protects against fairies. At dawn, the women disappeared. The musician returned to the hut and saw there the lifeless bodies of his friends, in which not a drop of blood remained.
BABA YAGA
Ba Egyptian "Book of the Dead"
In Slavic mythology and folklore, a werewolf, an old sorceress living in the forest with a “bone leg”. She lives in a hut on chicken legs, around which there is a fence of human bones topped with skulls. He likes to lure small children and good fellows to him, whom he then roasts in the oven. The Baba Yaga moves in an iron mortar, driving with a pestle and covering her tracks with a broomstick. V.Ya.Propp distinguishes three types of yagi: a donor, from whom the hero receives a horse or a magic item; a kidnapper, who steals children; warrior. with which the hero fights not for life, but for death. Sometimes she acts as the mother of the serpent or serpents. In German folklore there is a similar character - Bertha or Frau Holle.
V.I. Narbut wrote: “And in a mossy, lopsided hut
fumbled, crawled. -
and soon a keen eye
peered into the yard through the glass.
And in the silence of the gatehouse you can
heard like a hand
groped carefully
Baba Yaga. A. N. Benois. Illustration for the book: ABC in pictures. - St. Petersburg, 1904
b a and a i ha
latch near the jamb. Without creak, rustle and knock
Baggain
can pretend to be a man, but if you look closer
the hunchback got out, and suddenly
in a thin, sinewy bitch
turned around, and-into the meadow.
BABITSA
See NIGHT LIGHTS.
BAG
In English folklore, a type of bogie. It's one of the so-called baby bogies." that scare naughty children. Many bugs have their own names - Skin and Bones. Tom Look-Through-the-Crack. Lazy Lawrence (he guards orchards), Jenny Green Teeth and so on. Shaggy monsters, like bears, bugs enter children's rooms through the chimney. However, appearances are deceiving: in fact, they are almost harmless, since they have neither claws nor teeth, and all they can do is make faces.
BAGABU
See bug.
BAGGAIN
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the Isle of Man, the insidious werewolf. He hates people and harasses in every possible way. Baggain is able to grow to gigantic sizes and take on any appearance. He
more body, you can see pointed upwards
ears and horse hooves, which will still give out baggain.
There is a legend that one baggain lived near the waterfall. Usually he appeared in the guise of a large black calf, crossed the road to travelers and jumped into the water, and there was such a sound as if someone was rattling yepami. One day, having taken on an appearance more or less similar to a human, he appeared in the village, kidnapped the girl and dragged her to his lair. But the girl was not a mistake: at the very lair, she managed to get a knife out of her pocket, cut the apron, for which the baggain was dragging her, broke free and ran away
BAGERN
See bug.
BAENNIK
See BANNIK.
BAIJIE
In ancient Chinese mythology, a talking beast endowed with omniscience. As stated by Yuan Ke. baijie 'were led by all the spirits of heaven and earthly demons. He knew countless of all the werewolves (into which the restless wandering souls turned) living among the mountains. forests, rivers and lakes. He could. without confusing, name what werewolves, spirits and monsters live on such and such a mountain, what werewolves and dragons are found in such and such a river, what jokes evil spirits make on the roads and what kind of werewolves and spirits wolves roam the graves. Emperor Huangdi. envious of the wisdom of the baijie, he ordered to depict on the map all the spirits that the beast mentioned, and to provide the drawings with signatures. There were eleven thousand five hundred and twenty drawings. And since then, it has become very convenient for 'Huan-di to control all the evil spirits.'
BAKA Vampire
In the Haitian voodoo cult, the vampire. Counts. that the dead return to their tribe as baki - skeletal spirits. Before killing the victim, the tank usually maims it. However, things do not always end in death.
BAKABA
Banyyip
I pour a man: sometimes the tanks get tired of mocking the victims and they leave them on the road, injured, but alive.
BAKABA
In the myths of the Indians of Central America (Maya), there are four divine brothers who support the sky. Each of them stands in its own corner of the universe. The first brother, Hobnil, lives in the east, his color is red; the color of Kan-Tsik-Nal, who lives in the north, is white; Sak-Kimi rules the west and is associated with the color black; Hosan Ek belongs to the south and the color yellow. Most often, bakabs took on human form, but sometimes they appeared under the guise of animals and even insects (especially since Hobnil was the patron saint of beekeepers). Some legends say. that there are actually eight bakabs: one quarter supports the sky, and the second - the vaults of the underworld.
BALL
In Tibetan mythology , giants and dwarfs belonging to the Dregpa. Giants born from nine eggs. guard the main directions of the world, frighten enemies with loud cries and tear them to pieces. Dwarfs guard treasures and weapons.
BANIIIP
In Australian Aboriginal mythology, a monster. Banyip lives at the bottom of pools and sea bays, appears on the surface on moonlit nights only to grab some passerby. He is especially greedy for women. The baniyip has a long, elongated body, covered with either fur or feathers; instead of legs, he has fins, with which he violently beats when angry. Those. those who have seen him claim that he is translucent
injured. According to other sources, a bunch of algae sticks out on the head of the baniyip, its legs are turned heels forward, the tail is like a crocodile, and the body is like an emu or a bandicoot. In winter, the baniyip sleeps, burrowing deep into the wet sand.
BANNIK
In East Slavic mythology, a kind of brownie, the owner and caretaker of the bath. A bannik lives behind a heater or under a shelf. In order not to irritate the bannik, he should leave water, soap and a broom, otherwise he will start splashing with boiling water, throwing hot stones, or let out a frenzy. According to A.N. Afanasiev, “bannik does not like those who bathe at night, and strangles such daredevils, especially if they perform ablution without prayer.” Usually a bannik is invisible, but it can take the form of a naked old man covered with clods of dirt and leaves from brooms, and also appear in the guise of an animal. If you leave a child in the bathhouse, the bannik can replace him.
Bannik attacks a man
With the help of a banner, a girl can find out who she will marry. If at midnight you go to the bathhouse and lift your skirt or stick your hand into the chimney, the bannik will touch the human body: if he touches it with a shaggy paw, the groom will be rich, and if with his bare hand, he will be poor. To protect yourself from the bannik, you should bring bread and salt to the new bathhouse or bury a black rooster or chicken under the threshold.
Sometimes a bannik hosts with his wife - a bannikha or a banyan mother, who looks like a shaggy naked old woman.
S.V. Maksimov reports: “The girls gathered for a conversation about Christmas time, and the guys were angry with them for something, they didn’t come. It became boring, one girl and says to her friends:
Let's go, girls, listen to the bathhouse, what the baennik will tell us.
The two girls agreed and left. One says:
Sun-ka, girl, hand out the window: the bannik will plant gold rings on your fingers.
Come on. girl, come on, you first sun, and then me.
She put it in, and the bannik said: - So you got me.
He grabbed his hand and planted rings, and iron ones: he forged all the fingers in one place, so that it was impossible to unclench them. Somehow she pulled her hand out of the window, ran home in a hurry and in tears, and her face was not in pain. She barely gathered herself with these words:
- Here. girls, look what kind of rings the bannik planted. How am I going to live now with such a hand? And what a scary bannik: all hairy and his hand is so big and also hairy. As he planted rings on me, I roared all the time. Now I will no longer go to the baths to listen.
Barabao
BATH FAIRIES
In English folklore, the guardians of baths and baths. They keep order, so that the attendants do not deceive visitors, and willingly bathe themselves.
There is a story about how a bath attendant decided to look into his establishment on the weekend.
Several times he tried to open the door, and she gave a little - and immediately slammed in front of his nose. At last the attendant got angry and pressed on so hard that the door swung open. And then the dumbfounded attendant saw tiny little men in green clothes, who seemed to be bathing without taking off their outfits. He called out to them; And then everything suddenly calmed down, the little men seemed to have disappeared into the air. Subsequently, the attendant more than once or twice tried to catch the fairies by surprise again, but nothing came of it.
BARABAO
In Italian folklore (more precisely, in the folklore of the Venetians), a mischievous, mischievous creature, from which no one has peace. Most of all, barabaos like to pester women. They turn into threads, climb onto women's chests and start shouting all sorts of nasty things. And as soon as the woman is going to slam the barabao, as he has already disappeared. They also love to peep through keyholes, crawl under blankets, do not disdain even to hide in chamber pots. Barabao are werewolves, so it is not easy to see them in their true form, but it is known that the height of the barabao is two or three feet, they wear red clothes and red caps and are very prone to corpulence.
There is a story about that. that one night a poor Venetian was returning home and suddenly heard someone sobbing bitterly. Soon he saw the door wide open and a baby lying on the threshold. And it was very cold.
The passer-by took pity on the baby and took him to his home. The Venetian's wife warmed the baby, wrapped it in diapers and put her son in the cradle.
Beast of our era. Joseph Charles, 1933
The next morning the cradle was empty. The Venetian ransacked the whole house. then he ran out into the street and noticed in the distance a fat man dressed all in red, who was rubbing his palms contentedly, chuckling and saying: “What a stupid woman! She even gave me milk! And I didn’t guess that the barabao was drinking!”
BARGEST
In English folklore, a horned creature with sharp fangs and no less sharp claws, distantly related to bowties and hobgoblins. The barghest can change shape at will, most often taking the form of a shaggy black dog with bowl-shaped eyes that blaze with flame. Meeting with the barghest
usually portends misfortune and even death. Most often, barghests frighten capricious children; a child who does not indulge them is not interested. At night, they rush through the streets of cities and villages, disturbing the sleep of good people with their heart-rending cries.
Magic horse. Ceramics. Tehran
There is a legend about that a barghest once followed a sailor on his way home from a bar late at night. On the way, he tried for a long time to scare the sailor with the clanging of chains, but nothing came of it. Then he ran forward and began to wait for the sailor on the porch of his house. Climbing up to the porch, the sailor saw in front of him a huge black ram, whose eyes shone alternately red, blue and white. The sailor tried to drive the animal away, but it did not obey. Suddenly the door flew open, and on the threshold appeared the sailor's wife, known throughout the district for her sharp temper. The barghest was so frightened of the woman that he instantly disappeared and never showed up again.
BARZDUKI
In Prussian mythology , the dwarfs henchmen of the god Puskaits Barzduk live underground; under the elderberry bushes - the sacred tree of Pushkaits - they store bread, beer and other food. Listening to people's requests. Pushkaites sends badgers and their Markopolian cousins to fill the human barns with grain. Most often, badgers are shown under the moon; Patients see them first. The badgers' nickname means "bearded ones".
BASSARIDS
See Maenads.
BAYARD
In medieval European folklore, a wonderful horse, distinguished by extraordinary agility. He was kidnapped from the dragon 's cave by a certain sorcerer Emperor Charlemagne gave Bayard to the four sons of the knight Aemon. If only one of them climbed the horse, the animal was no different from the usual one: but when all four mounted, Bayard's croup stretched in length. Sometimes Bayard can be seen galloping through the sky on the day of the summer solstice. Ludovico Ariosto in his poem "Furious Roland" describes Bayard as follows:
"Ardent horse under the master's spurs
Everything crushes and demolishes on the run -
No ditches. no rivers, no rocks, no branches
They will not turn him off the path. *
★ (Translated by M.Gasparov)
HIPPO
In the Old Testament traditions, a monstrous beast, which is considered the king of mammals. It is so huge that it can drink an entire river and swallow a thousand mountains in one sitting. By the will of heaven, they
Leviathan before. how to produce offspring, must fight to the death, otherwise they simply do not have enough space on Earth. Therefore, Leviathan hid in the depths of the ocean, and the Behemoth went into hibernation and sleeps to this day: his body has turned into a mountain range of the Himalayas (climbers who conquer Chomolungma and Annapurna are unaware of where they are climbing!).
Behemoth and Leviathan. U.
Blake. London, 1825
The Bible says: “Here is the hippopotamus that I created, like you: he eats grass like an ox: behold. his strength is in his loins, and his strength is in the muscles of his belly: he turns his tail.
like a cedar: the veins on his thighs are intertwined: his legs are like copper pipes: his bones are like iron rods ... the mountains bring him food ... ” (Job 40, 10-15).
BEDOVIK
In Russian folklore, a person who has been haunted by trouble since birth. V.I. Dal notes: “... whatever such a person touches, only the worst is expected from this: they pity him, they don’t want to offend him, but everyone is closer to himself, and the poor man is no less escorted out of the threshold if he wherever they go, they don’t keep them in the same working artel, they don’t let them stumble anywhere, they don’t even dare to give help, fearing harm to themselves and others.
BECKE
BECKE
white lady
In the mythology and folklore of the Germanic peoples, field spirits 1 They help the cereals grow and grow together with them (the higher the ear, the stronger the becke). Bekke ride the waves that the wind drives through the fields, not forgetting to scare the kids who come to the fields to pick cornflowers. When crops are harvested from the fields, bekkas have a hard time - they either hibernate or are killed. Previously, when the grain was harvested by hand, the reapers chased the bekke all over the field until there was only one uncompressed area left: if they were reaping that too. the bekke died, and if the ears were left standing, the bekke fed on them all winter.
In the past, compassionate people brought bekke into the house on the eve of winter: now the spirits come by themselves, before Christmas. If he considers that he was insulted, then he breaks the beer barrels in the cellar, throws weevils into the flour, and makes the grain rot. In some localities, the bekke is even confused with Saint Nicholas (that is, Santa Claus). Mothers scare the bekke of naughty children.
The appearance of the bekke is difficult to describe, for they are prone to shapeshifting and often prefer to remain invisible. They can appear to people in the form of a goat, a bird, a cat, a wolf, and even an insect. Many bekke have a human head and torso, and goat hooves. One of the bekke, known as the Knight Ruprecht (the one who is often confused with Santa Claus), walks in a shapeless robe or wraps himself in furs. Behind him is a bag of ashes, and in his hand he holds a staff crowned with a goat's head. If the bekke is angered, he will bare his teeth and growl.
WHITE LADIES
In the folklore of the Germanic peoples, supernatural creatures, which are often identified with ghosts and forest spirits
births of gold and silver, help women give birth and take care of the house, predict the future, calm storms, and so on. However, it is very easy to anger them with ingratitude and cruelty, and then they severely punish the offenders.
People don't see them; only a person born on Sunday is able to see a white lady. or that one. who carries an elven talisman. Then he will see a young woman of dazzling beauty with long blond hair, in a white dress with lace.
There is a legend about a boy.
white lady
somehow climbed high into the mountains and found a girlfriend there. She was very beautiful. - with bright blue eyes and a wreath of gentian and edelweiss on golden hair, not at all like all the other girls. It was a white lady. They played together for a long time, and in parting the white lady gave the boy some stones that sparkled dazzlingly in the sun. When the boy returned home, he saw that the stones had faded and turned into golden bars.
Years passed, the boy turned into a young man. Soon he spent all the gold he received as a gift on clothes and drink, and began to run after women. It so happened that he brought another acquaintance to the place where he had once met his blue-eyed girlfriend. And there he told the girl that he loved her, but was not going to marry.
The white lady, who had heard his words, decided to intervene. She pushed the young man off the cliff, and gave the girl a slap in the face - so that she would not encroach on other people's lovers (until her death, the unfortunate handprint remained on her cheek). Her children, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren, wore the same mark. And the young man's family did not get off so easily: within a year, the white lady killed every single man of this kind.
BENDIT-AND-MAMAI
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the Isle of Man , fairies They kidnap children, ride horses.
who are also stolen from mortals, it happens that they visit people's houses to get a treat - a cup of milk. The Bendit-and-Mamai are descended from Slay Beggy , the original inhabitants of the Isle of Man. Since they have extremely sharp hearing and hear everything people say, one should be careful in conversations and in no case speak badly of the fairies: it is no coincidence that their nickname is translated as “mother's blessing” - the better you speak of them, the less they will annoy.
There is a legend that in one year fairies. many children were kidnapped. The widow woman had an only child, a hand-written handsome man, the neighbors assured that the fairies had long laid eyes on him. One day the woman heard a frightened lowing of a cow, and went to the barn to see what was the matter, and when she returned, she saw that the crib was empty. She searched the whole house and finally came across a gray-haired short man who called her "mother." A year later, a wise man taught her how to test the baby. The woman took a raw egg, half-peeled it, shook the contents, and when the baby asked what she was doing, she answered that she was cooking soup.
~ • The child exclaimed: “I
One of BenditiMamaI
I heard from my father - and he from my grandfather - that the acorn appeared before the oak, but I never saw soup boiled in the shell. It turned out that it was a changeling. Now it was necessary to return the child, kidnapped by the fairies. The woman went to the crossroads four days after the full moon and began to wait for midnight. At midnight the Bendit-i-mamai cavalcade appeared: the woman remained silent, although she saw her own son among the fairies. The next day she again turned to the sage. He advised taking a black chicken, twisting its neck and frying it on the fire, without plucking. The woman is so
came: the changeling immediately disappeared, and from the street came the voice of her son. The boy, thin and emaciated, did not remember anything, only repeated that he fell asleep to the sounds of wonderful music.
BENNY
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the highlands of Scotland, a close relative of the banshee. Otherwise, she is called the "little laundress by the stream." The nickname comes from the fact that Benny can be found along the forest streams, in which she washes the bloody clothes of those who are destined to die.
Benny - or Little Laundress
She is usually dressed in a green dress, her legs are red and webbed, like those of geese or ducks. If the person notices Benny before she sees him and gets between her and the water, she will grant three wishes. Benny will answer three questions, but she will ask as many
same, and to dissemble with her in no case should not be. The one who gathers courage and falls with her mouth to her pendulous breasts, she can recognize as her stepson and will help him. However, if Benny gets angry, she starts whipping the man with linen, and the unfortunate man's arms and legs begin to fall off.
According to some sources, benny are the spirits of mortal women who died during childbirth, and will find peace only when the time comes to leave this world (that is, on the day on which they would have died of old age).
BEREGINI
Bes Bronze. Egypt. 8th century BC uh
In the mythology of the Eastern Slavs, female creatures close to mermaids. According to A.N. Afanasiev, this word “could be used in the sense of a mountain oread ”, and also serve “to designate water maidens. wandering along the banks of rivers and streams"
Demon. David Nevreti. Nuremberg, 1717
Demons. Drawing from Wintler's Book of Virtues. Augsburg, 1486
DEMONS
In the myths of various peoples, evil spirits, opponents of deities. This word also applies to Indian asuras. and to the Iranian devas, and to the Greek demons. In the Christian tradition, demons began to be considered as servants of the devil (among the Slavs - devils): they send the evil eye and damage, in every possible way harm people and through them God, for some reason marriage causes special hatred in them. It is impossible to negotiate with demons, because they are stubborn in evil and do not want to do anything that has to do with good. Christianity identified demons with fallen angels.From their "angelic past" they retained supernatural abilities, namely: power over space and the elements, the ability to inspire people with thoughts and deeds. In addition, they retained the ability to become invisible and change appearance at will. As a rule, a characteristic sign of the appearance of a demon is a suffocating smell of sulfur. They can appear in the form of angels, take the form of a person, or turn into monsters or animals - reptiles, birds or black dogs and cats. Iconography and folk fantasy have fixed an image for demons that most of all resembles the image of a Greek satyr: this
a horned and tailed creature, whose legs end in goat hooves: he has wings behind his back, and small horns of demons on his head are tempters, so they first of all pester saints, hermits and monks.
Among the host of demons, the most famous are the main servants of Satan - Beelzebub, Azazel.
Belial, and also Mephistopheles, who tempted Dr. Faust,
BEYUY
In ancient Chinese mythology, a monstrous fish, which was called the turtle fish or the one-horned dragon fish. The beyu fish has four paws, it lives in the sea, but can go on land. It cost her nothing to swallow the boat. The beyu's back and belly were covered with sharp spikes. As soon as the fish appeared on the surface, the wind began to blow and the waves rose. Sometimes the beyu is called lingyu or hill-fish and they say that he has the body of a fish, and his head, arms and legs are human.
Devil
BIINAO
Biyingyao
In ancient Chinese mythology, wonderful birds. They looked like wild ducks with green and red plumage, each with only one wing, one leg and one eye. Biyingao could only fly in pairs (some claimed that one of the birds in a pair was green, the other red). According to Yuan Ke, biyingyao were found near the Country of hard-chested people: "People there had one characteristic feature: the bones on their chest protruded forward, like an Adam's apple in men." Biyingyao was considered a symbol of a happy marriage.
BILVIZA
Man on monster bingfeng
AT
Bifan
BILVIZA
In German folklore, evil tree spirits They live inside a tree, on the big toes of their left feet they have sickles instead of nails. Bilvis are especially dangerous on Walpurgis Night (May 1). They devastate the fields, tease and harass people in every possible way. Those who climb onto the fields guarded by the bilvises are threatened with an “elven strike” - paralysis, which, according to the ideas of the Germanic peoples, is sent by the fairies . Therefore, before entering the field, you should throw a knife with three scratches on the handle to the ground and shout: “Hold it, bilviz !" Bilvis gets scared of the knife and runs away
Bilvises appear in the evenings, in linen clothes and dark brown cocked hats. They are accompanied by spouses, the so-called roggenmeme - "rye aunts", who go naked, showing their black breasts, from the nipples of which poisonous milk oozes.
Italian folklore knows a distant relative of the Bilvises - pavaro. He also guards the fields and bites off the legs of those who steal peas at night. His appearance is very exotic. a dog's head, fiery bowl eyes and a huge mouth - not a mouth. and the real mouth from which iron fangs stick out. The nails on the hands and feet of the pavaro are also iron, and the hands themselves stretch several meters in length.
BINFEN
In ancient Chinese mythology , the monster It looks like a wild boar, covered with black bristles: the bingfeng has two heads - in front and behind.
BISTWILACH
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the highlands of Scotland, a terrible monster Sometimes it takes the form of a one-legged cripple, sometimes it appears in the guise of a dog, uttering terrible cries, hearing which people hide in horror at home.
BIFAN
In ancient Chinese mythology, a wonderful bird. Her appearance near human settlements causes fires
Dragon initial. Master E.S.
BLAGIYDVOR
In Scottish folklore , fairies are divided into two families - the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court. The fairies of the Seelie Court are quite friendly to humans. They give bread and grain to the poor, help those who provide them with any services. However, they do not allow themselves to be insulted with impunity. Mortals who dump garbage on the magical hills are initially warned, and if they do not heed, they are punished by destroying their homes. True, the Seelie Court does not punish anyone without a reason.
FORNICATION
In Slavic folklore, a forest spirit that leads travelers astray and makes them wander through the forest. In this, fornication strongly resembles a goblin, which, according to S.V. Maksimov, “everyone. who has gone deep into the thicket in order to pick mushrooms or berries ... either he will “lead” him to a place from which he can’t get out, or let him go. into the eyes of such fog that it will completely confuse, and a lost person will circle for a long time in the forest in the same place.
BOA
In Italian folklore , a monster, a cross between a dragon and a giant snake. It has purple-green scales, a forked tail, and long, sharp fangs. The boa crawls from farm to farm, sucking out the milk of domestic animals and then devouring them. E. Topsell in his treatise "The History of Serpents" reports that the boa is "a dragon that Italy gave birth to, it feeds on the milk of cows ..."
BOGGART
In English folklore , fairies are mischievous. Those people in whose house they live are, as a rule, quite friendly,
Egyptian goddess Hathor in the form of a cow (XVIII dynasty)
God-dagger. Yazilikaya. II millennium BC uh
however, they are capable of evil tricks and then they behave exactly like studs. Boggarts prefer to wander alone, as they don't get along very well with each other. Shaggy, with long yellow teeth, not too distant, boggarts are not popular even among faeries. Their favorite trick is to sneak into the bedroom at night, run a cold, wet paw over a person's face and pull the blanket to the floor.
According to legend, the boggart pestered a certain farmer. Especially from him got to the children. He stole bread and butter from them, hid their bowls of porridge, and they couldn't catch him. But one day the farmer's youngest son stumbled upon a hole in the back of the cupboard and stuck an old horseshoe in there. She flew back and hit the boy on the forehead. From that day on, the children began to harass the boggart by stuffing all sorts of rubbish into the hole. Soon a real war broke out between them, and the farmer decided to move out of harm's way. On the day of the move, the neighbor asked:
- Are you leaving?
-Yeah. This damn boggart is worse than a bitter radish. You know, he almost killed my mistress.
And then from a pile of things came a deep voice:
-Yeah. Yeah!
- Boggart! exclaimed the farmer. - And how did he get there? We'll have to stay, in a new place he will harass us no less.
They stayed in the old house, and the boggart tormented them until then. until he got tired of it.
BOGGL-BU
See bug.
GODDESSES
In the mythology of the Western Slavs , female demons abduct and replace children. They look like ugly old women with a large head, sagging breasts, a swollen stomach and crooked legs; they also have black fangs instead of teeth. They can also appear in the form of pale girls or in the form of some animal. Women in childbirth who died before the ceremony become goddesses
cleansing kidnapped children women suicides perjurers child-killers, that is, the mortgaged dead (see DOMOVIK) Goddesses live in rivers, ponds and swamps, sometimes they settle in ravines or in the forest - they often wash clothes in water, loudly banging rolls; knocked off
the roads of travelers send damage to people and livestock.
BOGL
boggle
In English folklore, close relatives of goblins These are malicious and mischievous creatures. but sometimes they are also capable of good deeds. They go first of all to criminals, those who deceive widows and orphans, and other villains. You can drive the god away by showing him the Bible.
There is a legend that a settled stole candlesticks from a widow. Soon after that, he saw a black figure and a shot in his hell at night. shot at her with a gun. The next night, the figure reappeared and said There is no flesh or blood in me, your bullet will not kill me. Give back the candlesticks Having taken what was required, the bogle pulled out the man's eyelash and disappeared From that time on, the man's eye twitched until the end of his days
DEITIES
Isis and Harpocrates. Egyptian image
In the mythological systems of various peoples, supernatural beings endowed with omnipotence and omniscience These creatures rule the world of people Literally everything in a person’s life depends on them - from birth to death True, the deities themselves are not omnipotent, fate rules over them A typical example is the Scandinavian myth of the bright god Baldre, who was destined - destined to die at the hands of the blind god Khed Mother Baldr. Frigg. took an oath from all things, creatures and objects that they would not harm her son from all but mistletoe And so it happened. that the gods have become
to shoot accurately from bows at Balder, invulnerable to arrows, and Head, at the instigation of the insidious Loki, fired an arrow from the mistletoe at Balder, and the bright god died. In general, the motive of fate, fate as the sovereign arbiter of not only human, but also divine destinies in one form or another is present in any mythology.
Deities include gods proper, demigods, that is, offspring of deities from alliances with mortals, as well as cultural heroes (see HEROES) and demiurges. A cultural hero is a mythical character who creates - or extracts - for a person something that is necessary for him in everyday life.
Battle with a deity with a head in the form of the sun Mesopotamia. Beginning II BC e. Oriental Museum, Chicago
Andrea Mantegna, Battle of the Sea Gods. Amsterdam
existing in nature, but hidden from people, hidden. He brings fire (here the Greek Prometheus immediately comes to mind), teaches people the craft and hunting, establishes laws. Some
cultural heroes also participate in the world order, they extract land from the bottom of the oceans, establish the alternation of day and night, they help create people . which, having represented a sheet as a Finnish model of the universe, Ilmarinen makes the sun, the moon, and a miraculous me. It is not surprising, therefore, that in many mythological systems the image of the demiurge often merges with the image of the god of the creator. In literature, it is customary to distinguish between a cultural hero and a demiurge according to “functional features”: the first creates mainly culture, while the second creates the cosmos.
In almost every system, explicitly or implicitly, there is a supreme god (although this does not mean at all that monotheism has existed since ancient times) In addition, in any pantheon you can find the image of the creator god who created the earth and settled living beings of the thunder god on it (Perun Thor) the god of the warrior (Ares, Mars. 'Por) the god of fertility, he is also the god of sacrifice (Baldr. Adonis. Attis; this god died sacrificing himself and resurrected again, which symbolized the withering and spring flowering of the plant) In the female part of the pantheons, it is obligatory the presence of the goddess of fertility, love and hearth As a rule, evil spirits, demons or demons are opposed to deities
Tara - goddess of mercy
All world religions consider the ancient pagan gods as demons, more precisely - idols
BOLOTNOY
Winged antelope. Drawing from a Persian vase, 5th c.
BOLOTNOY
In Russian folklore, the creature that lives in the swamp Bolotny looks like a man with unusually long arms, only his body is covered with thick gray hair, and below his back he has a hooked tail. See also WATER.
BONACON
In medieval bestiaries and European "oriental" folklore - a strange beast that lives in Asian forests. The growth of a bonacon with an antelope, its body is covered with thick wool, its horns are folded into rings. Escaping from the chase, the bonacon defecates directly on the pursuers, moreover, with fire and lava, which instantly spills around and a fire breaks out in the forest.
BORAMETS
In medieval bestiaries and European "eastern" folklore, a plant-animal, a delicacy of wolves, It has the appearance of a ram, its stem and leaves are covered with golden fluff. If you cut the skin from borametz, bloody juice will flow.
BOROVIK
See Leshy
BOSORKAN
In Hungarian folklore , a witch is an ugly old woman who has the ability to shapeshift and can fly. It is not difficult for her to cause drought, to put damage on livestock or on a person. Bosorkan is especially active on Midsummer Day and also on December 13 and April 24, on the day of St. George - the patron saint of livestock
BOAGIE THE BEAST
In English folklore, a close relative of the bogey This mischievous hobgoblin annoys capricious children and at the same time saves them from trouble - does not let them go to the pools in which they can drown, does not allow them to climb into other people's gardens and trample on flower beds On the Isle of Wight, the bogey-beast in the guise of a huge hairy caterpillar guards gooseberry bushes
capable of causing harm only when it is paid attention to. Therefore, in order to protect yourself from the bowtie beast, you need to think not about him, but about something else.
BOAGIE
In English folklore, mischievous, very malevolent hobgoblins. Usually boges settle singly, but sometimes they gather in a company. All of them have the ability to shapeshift, many have cold and wet fingers and yellow eyes that glow in the dark. Sometimes boges take the form of huge black dogs and run along the roads. Most often they get murderers, thieves and deceivers, because the gods do not tolerate injustice. They have a favorite prank: they jump on a person from behind and cover his eyes with their hands. They free thieves from prey. The Slavs have a fairy tale about tops and roots - how a peasant deceived a bear. In England the same tale is told about the peasant and the gods.
Perhaps the most famous bowtie is the Hadley werewolf. They say that the Hadley werewolf, nicknamed the Cowshed, was a real plague for maids: he either imitated the voices of boyfriends, forcing girls to jump out of bed in the middle of the night and look out the windows, then knocked over buckets of cream, dissolved knitting and tangled the yarn. Or he took on the form of the best cow in the herd and rushed through the meadow, and when he was finally caught, he slipped out of his leash with a loud moo and threw off his tail. One day, an elderly woman was returning home along a country road and suddenly noticed a large black pot in a ditch. Looking inside, she saw that the pot was full of gold. It was beyond the power of a woman to carry it in her arms. Then she tied one end of her scarf to it and dragged it along like a cart. Some time later a woman
decided to rest, turned around and saw that she was carrying not a pot of gold, but a silver ingot. This ingot then turned into a piece of iron, and that, in turn, into stone. At the very house, the woman untied her handkerchief, and then the stone jumped, in the blink of an eye it became the size of a haystack, it had four legs and long ears: waving its tail from nowhere, it rushed away, laughing like a mischievous boy. It was, of course, the Cowshed.
The sight of a brownie makes people feel sorry
BOHAN
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the highlands of Scotland, a mischievous hobgoblin Sometimes he throws out quite cruel jokes, but sometimes he helps people.
There is a story that a Bohan settled in the house of a Scot. He greatly annoyed the owner, but he never refused to help with housework. They even often fought - for example, when the bohan stole the best handkerchief from the farmer The farmer went to look for the bohan. He sat by the road and rubbed his handkerchief with a stone. “Good, master. Good. that you came. If I rubbed a hole in a handkerchief, you would die. But you won't get it that easily. We'll have to fight. In the fight, the farmer took away the handkerchief. Then the firewood ran out in the house and the snow fell so much that it was impossible to milk it to the forest. Suddenly there was a dull blow, and a birch felled by a bokhan collapsed to the threshold of the house.
Over time, the Scot decided to move to America. As he entered his new home. Bohan met him. "Hi!" - he said. - "And I'm already here!"
BRAVNI
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the Cornish peninsula, fairies are the patrons of bees. When the bees begin to swarm, you need to call the brawns, and they will rush to the rescue - remaining invisible, they will gather a swarm. Some argue that the brawns are the bees themselves.
BROWNE
In the folklore of the peoples of Western Europe, creatures living in people's homes and in many ways similar to Slavic brownies, growing from a child, they are dressed in brown rags.
neo color. The appearance of a brownie is peculiar: many do not have a nose, more precisely, the bridge of the nose - only two nostrils, some do not have fingers and toes. others have fingers, but fused together, only the big one is set aside. Brownies show up at night and do the chores that the servants left unfinished, counting on a reward - a bowl of cream and a gingerbread with honey. In the Highlands of Scotland, brownies help farmers brew beer. There is even a stone called brownie stone: it speeds up the cooking process. They are not averse to being naughty, and if they are angry, they can destroy the owners of the house. Worth offering brownies new clothes
or any treat other than cream, as he immediately leaves the house and does not return, because he counts.
that they are trying to bribe him. An angry brownie turns into a boggart.
Brownies are very easy to offend. Enough to criticize the work he did. If you treat him kindly, he is ready for anything - he can even run for a doctor if the mistress has started giving birth.
There are a fair number of legends about brownies and even many poems have been composed. One of them sounds like this:
“The brownies clean up the conference room, sweep away crumbs and candy wrappers, climb walls and build cement fortresses,
to repel invasions of cockroaches and mice.
They are skilled craftsmen: they have sharp knives forged by Zurich dwarves;
with these knives they carve bas-reliefs on the walls
and walnut shell figurines.
and at their banquets
drink soda, not drunk by people.
Once they lived in the village, but now they have learned how to handle electricity and plumbing.
Throw a half-eaten sandwich on the floor.
BREGOSTEN
Brownies will be picked up and thank you.*
*(Translated by K. Korolev)
BREGOSTEN
See ASUAN.
Wandering Light
In the folklore of various peoples, the name of marsh lights. In a literal translation from Latin, the expression "і§піз Еаіиз", which Western Europeans designate stray lights, means "the light of fools." The stray flame has a lot of nicknames - Will-Pixle of Smoke, Hobby Flashlight, Jill-Scorched Tail, Jenny with a flashlight. Kit with a candle... According to some sources, a stray light is a kind of boggart; according to others, it is a restless, restless soul. Most often, a stray light is a belated scare. which knocks off the road and leads into a swamp or a cliff.
It is also believed that stray lights indicate the border of the Magic Land. And they are worn by fairies, who are not allowed to go home. These fairies are so worried about their future that they constantly pester everyone with questions about it and, being carried away, lead people astray.
At sea, stray lights are called St. Elmo's fires: they appear on the masts of ships before a storm. The northern lights are also pranks of stray lights or, as they are called in Scotland, Slick Guys and Merry Dancers.
There is a story about that. how a certain shepherd took a young guy as a shepherd. And the guy, considering his mentor an old fool, did not want to listen to what he was telling him. The shepherd also had a good friend - Jackie - Ogonyok. Somehow. when the guy once again did not obey the elder, Jackie decided to teach him a lesson, knocked him off the road and led him into the river. The guy was soaked to the skin, and Jackie laughed wickedly and disappeared. The shepherd returned home subdued. Jackie, on the other hand, was sitting on the roof of the shepherd's hut, chuckling and eating oatmeal, which the old shepherd put on his plate.
BROLLAHAN
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the highlands of Scotland, this is the name for all fairies devoid of a permanent appearance. Brollahans are vicious and cruel. True, according to some sources, a brollahan is a Scottish brownie with dark hair with long arms to the knees and a shapeless hairy body. He speaks extremely rarely, and when he gets scared, he bleats like a goat (though it’s not so easy to scare a brollahan, rather, he will scare someone whatever) Sometimes he has goat hooves and
BREG
Headless man. Rice
Hulsius, 1559
In English folklore, leprosy is a rather cruel werewolf . Most often, he appears to people in the form of a horse and is also able to transform into a calf with a white scarf tied around his neck into a donkey, into a headless naked youth, and so on. He does not like people and often arranges all sorts of dirty tricks for them.
There is a legend about a man who had a white suit, which brought only trouble to the owner. When he put it on for the first time, he met Brag, the second meeting took place when he was returning from church in this suit. Brag turned into a horse before his eyes, a man he was not afraid and jumped on his horse. He reared up, then rushed off at a gallop and finally threw the rider into the pond, after which he galloped off rather chuckling
BUBAH
In Welsh folklore, fairies are friendly and hardworking and help people around the house. To enlist the favor of the bubakhs, you should sweep the kitchen, make a fire in the fireplace for the night and put a saucer of cream on the mantelpiece. If in the morning it turns out that the cream has disappeared, then the bubakhs have accepted the gift and will definitely work it out.
Bubakhs can’t stand hypocrites and teetotalers like allilam
There is a story about how boo bang attacked a priest who was very pious and preferred prayer to a mug of good ale.
BOUBRI
in the evening, bubakh pulled a chair out from under it, and the good priest fell to the floor: the next evening he rattled his fireplace tongs, then arranged it so that dogs howled during prayer ... In the end, he became so insolent that he dared to attack the priest. He described his condition as follows: “I was walking through the field, reading a prayer book, and suddenly fear seized me, and my legs literally gave way. A shadow crept in from behind. I turned around and saw myself - in the same cassock, with the same prayer book - and lost consciousness. After that, the priest decided to leave. A neighbor's boy claimed to have seen a bubakh jump up on a horse behind the priest's back. The horse's eyes became like fireballs, and it galloped away, while Bubach grinned from ear to ear.
BOUBRI
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the highlands of Scotland, a giant water bird. She feeds on livestock that she steals from people. Those. who saw boobri. they say that her neck is about three feet long, and her beak is about seventeen inches and hooked like an eagle's. The voice of the bird is loud and hoarse, like the roar of a bull; paws - short, with webbed and long claws. Its traces can be seen on the shores of many Scottish lakes.
Buka
BUKA
Fairies in Welsh folklore . local brownie. If to
be treated with respect and put out a saucer of cream to him every evening, he will not refuse to help. But if over
to make fun of him or, even more so, insult him, he will be angry. For insulting a beech, he takes revenge very severely: he rearranges furniture, throws people into the air, pinches sleeping people, tears clothes to shreds, tells family secrets publicly and even beats his offenders. In such cases, it is necessary to force him to leave the house, because the former
BUKKA
he will no longer become a good-natured beech. Iron, holy water or a rowan tree cross are recommended as protection against beeches. If it is not possible to cope with the dispersed beech on your own, you should call the sorcerer - or the priest.
There is a story about how one beech made friends with a maid. He helped her clean the house, and every evening she left him a saucer of milk. But one day the girl, to her misfortune, decided to play a trick on a beech tree and instead of milk she poured urine into a saucer (she had such a perverted sense of humor).
7'
Buka - home spirit
Buka was terribly angry. He pulled the girl out of bed and began to chase the poor thing around the house. Then the rest of the servants woke up, the beech got scared and fled.
However, he ran away not far - he settled in the neighborhood. He got on very well with his new owner. But he was taken into the army, the beech became bored, and he began to have fun - he frightened people with loud howls, beat dishes, and tortured pets. His antics angered the farmers, who summoned a magician who grabbed the beech tree by the nose and threw it into the Red Sea.
In Russian folklore, a monster used to frighten naughty children. V.I.Dal interprets this word as "an imaginary scarecrow with which reasonable educators frighten children."
BUKKA
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the Cornish peninsula, an evil spirit. Various sacrifices are brought to him: fishermen leave fish on the sand, farmers during the harvest throw a piece of bread over their left shoulder and pour a mug of beer on the ground. Apparently, bukka is distantly related to goblins. They scare naughty children with it: they say, if you don’t stop being capricious and crying, bukka will come and take you to her (compare with the Russian beech).
Mohammed on the magic horse Burak Miniature of Ahmet Musa, middle of the 14th century. istanbul museum
BEETROOT
Dagger Man Pur-bu. Tibet
BEETROOT
In Muslim mythology, a wonderful animal on which Muhammad made the "night journey" from Mecca to Jerusalem. This animal is in size something between a donkey and a mule; it is white, with long ears on its legs, it has white wings. Subsequently, the beetroot raised Muhammad to the sky.
In addition to Muhammad, the burak also carried other prophets. In Jerusalem, a ring is still preserved, to which they all tied an animal
Bhavanavasins
In Jain mythology, a clan of deities living in Kharabhaga - one of the "lower worlds" There are ten tribes in this clan. The first tribe is Asu raku mara ("demonic youth"), they have black bodies and red clothes; second - Nagakumara ("dragon youth"), they have light skin and dark clothes • third - Vidyutkumara ("lightning youth"), they have red bodies and black clothes, the fourth knee - Suparnakumara ("eagle youth"), with golden skin and in white robes: the fifth - Agnikumara ; "fiery youth") red, in black robes; sixth - Vayukumara ("windy youth"), dark, in crimson robes seventh - Stanitakumara(“thunder youth”) they have golden skin and white clothes, the eighth tribe is Udadhikumara (“ocean-
BHAGAVAT
Kai youth") light, in dark clothes; ninth - Dvipaku mara ("island youth"), red in dark coats tenth - Dakku mara ("youth of the directions of the horizon") - golden in color, in white clothes
Asurakumara oversee warriors and pestilences, nagakumara udadhikumara and stanitakumara oversee floods vidyukumara, agnikumara and vayukumara oversee the movement of stars and fires, suparnakumara. dvipakumara and dikkumara are responsible for metals and precious stones. Battles between suparnakumara and nagakumara cause earthquakes .
BHAGAVAT
In ancient Indian mythology, the epithet of higher deities In translation, this word means "happy," sacred "," divine ".
BHULINGA
In Indian folklore, a wonderful bird She is known for picking pieces of meat between the teeth of a lion, climbing into his mouth, although she herself instructs people not to be reckless. As stated in the Sabhaparva (the second book of the Mahabharata), "living beings follow their nature like a bhulinga bird."
Dagger deity Pur-bu with multiple heads. Tibet
BHUTS
Chinnamastaka. Contemporary Hindu depiction
In ancient Indian mythology, demonic creatures make up the retinue of the god Shiva, who bears the title of Bhuteshvara - < lord of the bhuts in " Bhuts live in cemeteries and eat human meat. They are werewolves hostile to people who can change into various animals. Sometimes they become the guardians of the village or house where they settled. Bhoots are sometimes identified with pretas Abu Reihan Biruni in his work "India" classifies the Bhoots as beings endowed with the third of the three primary powers. < If a person acts - says Biruni, paraphrasing you udevu. - then it acts for the types of bhuta and pisacha, that is, devils. The consequence of this power is punishment and descent from the human level to the level of animals and
BANSHI
plants." Below, Biruni defines bhoots as "human beings closely associated with spiritual beings and standing in the middle (between the latter and humans}".
BANSHI
In Irish folklore and among the inhabitants of the highlands of Scotland, a special kind of fairy. The banshees have long flowing hair, gray cloaks over green dresses, eyes red with tears. Banshees take care of starin
Banshee
great human races, utter heart-rending cries, mourning the death of one of the family members. When several banshi come together, it portends the death of one of the great people. To see a banshee - to an imminent death. The banshee cries in a language no one understands; in her cries, the cries of wild flies, the sobs of an abandoned child and the howl of a wolf seem to merge together.
Sometimes the banshi takes the form of an ugly old woman with matted black hair, a single nostril and protruding front teeth. Sometimes she becomes a pale-skinned beauty in a gray cloak or shroud. And sometimes it appears in the form of an early dead innocent maiden from among the members of the clan. She then sneaks among the trees, then flies around the house, filling the air with piercing screams.
There is a story about that. how a certain woman saw a banshee in her window. She sat outside, on a ledge of stone, with red hair that looked like it was on fire against her white dress and deathly pale skin. She hummed something monotonously, and then suddenly disappeared, as if melted into thin air. The next morning it turned out that the woman's brother had died that night.
BES
God Bes. Karnak, Egypt
There is also a story about how a certain farmer met the banshi at the bridge. He saw an old woman sitting on the railing, said hello, and only then noticed that the old woman had very long hair, red with a purple tint. The old woman sat drooping, as if saddened by something. When she turned to face the farmer, everything inside him froze: his skin was pale, like that of a corpse, his face was spotted like a turkey egg ... The old woman straightened up to her full height, and it turned out that she was three times taller than the tallest man. The farmer mentally said goodbye to life, but then the old woman stepped off the bridge into the water and disappeared. The next morning the farmer learned that an old neighbor, the last of an ancient family, had died that night.
BES
In Egyptian mythology , the patron deity of the family. Bes drives away evil spirits from a person, scares them away with his ugliness - he looks like an ugly bow-legged dwarf, bearded, with a face distorted by a grimace. In addition to the appearance, the bass frightens the spirits with a knife or a musical instrument. who is holding in his hands.
BAALS
Baloo striking the earth with lightning. Stele. White limestone" Ugarit. 1st half of the 2nd millennium BC e.
VAAL
In Western Semitic mythology, one of the common designations for the deities of certain localities. In addition, common gods were called Vaals, for example, the god of thunder, the god of the sun, etc.
The word • baal is the Greek variant of the biblical “baal-. into which the original West Semitic “balu” (“master is the lord”) has turned. Another meaning of the word “vaal” is “idol”.
VAIMANIKA
In Jain mythology, a family of deities living in Urdhvaloka - the upper world, the lower limit of which is only a hair higher than the top of the sacred mountain Meru. Wymanika. who reside in the kalpa (the eight lower heavens of Urdhvaloka) are divided into twelve tribes. Those who are above are called 'I am Ahamindra - "their own ruler" Ahamindra wears neither robes nor adornments, they do not know sensual pleasures. attachment to things and pride All Waimanika have a regal appearance, do not cast shadows and do not blink, neither nails nor hair grow in them
WEISSE FROY YEN
See WHITE LADIES
VAQINYAN
In the mythology of the Indians of North America (Sioux) the spirits of fire, thunder and lightning They live in the east and are inextricably linked with stone and red. which patronizes warriors and is at enmity with the spirit of water Winktehi
Bacchantes
See Maenads
Valakhily
In ancient Indian mythology, wise dwarfs belonging to the category of lower deities According to the Vishnu Purana, from a crack
In the dry land, where the hair of the great rishi Kratu fell, a swarm of strange creatures appeared - as tall as the thumb of an adult and capable of flying faster than birds. These were the Valakhilyas. It is believed that they live in the sun, feed on sunlight and guard the chariot of the luminary. The Balakhilyas must not be offended, for the insult is not in vain even for the gods; when Indra offended the dwarfs, they indulged in austerities, as a result of which Indra's enemy, the king of birds, Garuda, was born. The Adiparva (the first book of the Mahabharata) tells how Indra, who was carrying firewood for the sacrificial fire, laughed at the Valakhilyas who were all carrying a stalk of tray. Indra laughed at them and passed by, and the angry Valakhilyas made a libation to the fire, uttering these mantras:“Able to change his strength at will and move everywhere according to desire, may the Indra of all the gods be born, terrifying the king of the gods. Surpassing Indra a hundred times in valor and strength, quick as thought and terrible in appearance, let him be born today ... " Only the intervention of Kashyapa, the lord of creatures, saved the world from the birth of the second Indra - but Gkruda appeared, " Indra among birds, endowed with extraordinary strength and power.
VALKYRIES
In Scandinavian mythology, twelve warrior maidens, companions and helpers of the god Odin. They monitor the course of battles, choosing which of the warriors should die, and take the fallen to the wonderful hall of Valhalla, where they continue to fight even after death. And in the intervals between battles, the warriors drink honey, while the Valkyries delight their ears with music and songs. Valkyries have dazzlingly bright blue eyes and long blond hair, they are usually dressed in armor, they have horned helmets on their heads, and swords and spears in their hands. "Elder Edda" calls the Valkyries by name:
Thunder bird (Haida Indians). Painted tree. London, British Museum
“May the horn of Christi Mglista give me, also Sekirnia and Protyka, Sich and Strength, Strad and Druzhina, Mechezvonitsa and Kopemecha:
a Protection and IDada.
and the Counselor also brings beer to the Einherjars" *
★ (Translated by V. Tikhomirov)
Richard Wagner created his opera tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen based on the plots of the German-Scandinavian mythology. According to Wagner, one day Odin ordered the Valkyrie Brynhild - she is Sigrdriva - to help Sigmund of the Velsung family in battle:
“Briddle the horse, maiden of war, - a hot battle is ready to break out! You rush into this battle - let Velsung win it! Fly and run!
Hurry into battle!"
However, Frigg. Odin's wife convinced her husband that Sigmund did not deserve help, and then God demanded that Brynhild doom Sigmund to death. The Valkyrie refused to fulfill his demand and tried to help Velsung herself, but Odin's intervention in the course of the battle disrupted her plans. Sigmund died, and the disobedient Brynhild Odin punished like this - put to sleep and left on the top of the cliff:
Valkyrie carries the fallen warrior to Valhalla
“Your sin is your execution: you executed yourself! By my will
you were created
and rejected my will;
you inspired
my commands -
and despised my commands: mine. spirit
was yours
and he rebelled against me;
your shield
was mine -
and he climbed up on me;
you, who knew, my choice - in spite of me, the lot decided: you called.
me fighters -
summoned them against me!
You will no longer enter Valhalla: you will not go to battle with the fighters.
you will not introduce heroes into my hall!
At the feast of the gods, it is not you who will give me a filled horn ...
He will take everything who will take you!
Here on the cliff
you are banished: a helpless dream will bind you:
that traveler will take the maiden, whoever finds and wakes her up. *
Brunhild on a bed of fire
* (Translated by V. Kolomiytsev)
Many years later, Brynhild was awakened by Sigmund's son, the brave Sigurd (or Siegfried), who promised to take her as his wife. But the wedding did not take place because Sigurd, having tasted the drink of oblivion, forgot about Brynhild and married Queen Iўdrun. Brynhild, offended, took revenge: at her instigation, Sigurd was killed, and she herself climbed the funeral pyre of her fiancé. An old book says that she went to Hel, the kingdom of the dead, and so said to the mistress of the underworld, who did not want to let her in:
“It will take a long time in bitter sorrow to be born on the sows of husbands and wives! with Sigurd
I won't leave now! Get lost, get lost.
VAMPIRES
giantess brat!"*
*(Translated by A Korsu to)
VAMPIRES
In the myths and folklore of various nations, the dead drink the blood of living people. During the day, vampires lie in secluded places, and at night they crawl out and pounce on their victims, sucking the blood out of them. Their special treat is blood.
Vampires are easily recognizable by their fangs.
young girls. By sucking blood, the vampire prolongs his existence, while his victim becomes weaker every day, and when he dies, he himself turns into a vampire.
The true appearance of a vampire is as follows - bat wings, wolf paws, sharp white fangs, ears pointed upwards; There is a disgusting smell coming from his mouth.
Vampires can turn into fleas or spiders. You can drive away a vampire with a thorn branch, holy water or a crucifix. They will not cross the threshold on which mustard seeds are scattered or garlic is laid out. And silver bullets bring death to a vampire; he can also be killed by piercing his heart with an aspen stake.
The most famous among vampires is Count Dracula. This fame brought him a novel by Irish writer Bram Stoker and numerous films, the last of which to date is the comedy Mel Brooks Dracula: Dead and Happy with It ”(1996).
VANAMANTARA
See VYANTARA.
VANAPAGAN
In Estonian mythology , evil giants live in caves, at the bottom of lakes and underground. Vanapagans are skilled craftsmen, they are engaged in blacksmithing, they make shoes, etc. Sometimes they invite people to visit them and give them coals: if you put these coals in an apron, they will turn into gold. Vanapagans build bridges across lakes and seas (the soul of a person who crosses such a bridge will go to the devil). In fairy tales, giants often behave like a Russian devil and over and over again remain in the cold.
The Estonian folk epic Kalevipoeg tells how the hero Kalevipoeg competed with a vanapagan in throwing stones:
"The lot fell to the waterman
Starting a game is fun. He grabbed the stone with a rough paw ...
Unrolled ten times.
Only then did he throw the stone.
Throwing away faster than the wind.
Vampire
Where did that stone fall? He landed on the coast...
Kalevipoeg began to throw... From his sling he threw a stone. Threw away faster than the wind. A long whistle cut the sky. Clouds in the sky rustled
Dust rose, waves roared.
The stone is far away. He fell near Lake Chud.
Crashed into the shore on a grand scale" *
★ (Translated by V. Derzhavin and A. Kochetkov)
A magical dagger with human heads on the hilt and a crowned snake on the blade. Tibet. Folklore Museum, Dresden
VANACHALBA
In Estonian mythology, evil forest spirits that lead travelers astray, forcing them to stray through the forest for a long time, Glos vanahalbov - an echo; they appear as gray-haired elders herding wild animals. The hunter who managed to negotiate with the vanahalb can count on rich prey.
VANI
In Japanese mythology, a magical animal that looks like a crocodile, a sea snake and a shark. Some myths say that Vani is a sea deity, the lord of all crocodiles. Every year this deity appears from the sea, accompanied by many fish. His appearance portends trouble for people, and the meat of these fish cannot be eaten, as it is poisonous.
BATH
See ASES AND BANS.
VARGI
In the folklore of the Scandinavian peoples, wolves are werewolves. werewolves.
BASILISK
Living in Libya , "the king of boundless deserts ... and destroying without poison" (in the words of Lucan). The word "basilisk" itself comes from the Greek "aziieus" - "king, basileus" - and means "little king". It is the most formidable and deadly of all snakes. The basilisk, whose head is crowned with a crest in the form of a diadem, hatches from an egg laid by a rooster (or a toad) and incubated by a snake (although Lucan, mentioned above, refers it, along with the asp, amphisbene and other reptiles , to the offspring of the Gorgon Medusa). Despite the serpentine appearance, he does not move along the ground, but as if alternately sweeping forward a body folded in rings. The appearance of the basilisk was first described by Pliny the Elder in his "Natural
stories". According to Pliny, the basilisk is a snake with a white fold like a star on its forehead; this fold rises above the muzzle of the animal like a crown. However, the appearance of the basilisk changed in the Middle Ages: they began to believe that the beast had the head of a rooster, the body of a toad, bird wings and the tail of a snake or dragon, with a poisonous sting at the end. (It is curious that the English word "cocaigise" - "basilisk" - comes from the Latin "cocaigix", which translates as "ichneumon" (a predatory mammal from the civet family. It must have once been believed that basilisks are similar to ichneumons). The basilisk kills with a touch, turns to stone with a glance, and even the birds flying high in the sky cannot stand its breath. Only a weasel animal can cope with a basilisk in battle, but for a person the most effective way is to put a shield or a mirror in front of you: upon seeing its own reflection, the basilisk will immediately die. In addition, it is known that the basilisk never appears near the places where the rue grows, and the crow of the rooster makes it disappear (as the Russian
Basilisk.
Nuremberg, 1510
proverb: "The rooster sings - it means that the dark time has passed for evil spirits"). In the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, it is the basilisks that personify evil: “For behold, I will send snakes, basilisks, against which there is no speaking, and they will stung you, says the Lord.” According to English legend, the country was once literally teeming with basilisks, which there was no salvation, until a certain knight was hung from head to toe with mirrors and went on a campaign: the basilisks, who tried to attack him, fell down dead, intercepting their own reflection in the mirrors.
Most legends about the basilisk are associated with the image of a rooster, and not a rooster in general, but a specific one - a black seven-year-old. Only such a rooster can lay an egg, from which, buried in hot manure and hatched by a snake, a basilisk will then hatch. (In Russia, according to A. N. Afanasyev, there was
Dragon snakes on the Gudea vase, Lagash. Louvre, Paris
a similar belief about a rooster older than seven years, if this rooster is kept in the house, he lays an egg from which. Oh, the fiery serpent hatches ). True , V.I.Dal expounds a different belief . People sometimes claim that roosters are allowed to lay only one such egg at a hundred years old, and if a girl wears it under her arm for six weeks, then a basilisk will hatch from it.
Most often, basilisks settle in natural deserts, but it is not difficult for them to turn any area, no matter how fertile, into a desert. Around the lair of the basilisk, grasses and trees turn black and dry up, becoming poisonous water in springs and rivers, even rocks are destroyed.
In the guise of a basilisk, especially the “medieval” one, as it was depicted in bestiaries and on rhizar shields, there is much in common with a dragon - the same wings, the same snake tail. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that these creatures are “relatives.” Like the dragon, the basilisk symbolized death and was the emblem of the forces of evil and horror.
Vasu
In ancient Indian mythology, the group of deities Vasus, there are eight. Together with Rudramnas, which are eleven, twelve Adityas. as well as two supreme deities, they form the ancient Indian pantheon. As it is said in the < Mahabharata, the vasus “due to the curse of Vasiishpsi and the command of Indra were born from the Ganges. The youngest of them was Bhishma. judicious and eloquent, expert in the Vedas, crusher of hordes of enemies ” According to legend, due to the curse of Vasistha, the Vasus were born on earth as the sons of King Shantanu from the goddess Ganga, who subsequently drowned everyone, with the exception of Bhishma.
VASUKI
In ancient Indian mythology, a monstrous serpent When the gods and asuras together churned the oceans to extract the drink of immortality from it - they used Amrita as a whorl Mount Mandara (Meru), which they put on the back of a giant tortoise that had fallen to the bottom of the ocean Instead of a rope, Mandara was tied with an ali kite B; females See AMRITA
VATIKI
In ancient Indian mythology, air creatures related to the Siddhas and Charanas
WITCH
In the folklore of various peoples, women are endowed with special powers. Witches are different. Often ordinary mortal women become witches, but there are also witches, so to speak, "supernatural". Their abilities are approximately the same - both affect people and perform miraculous deeds - change their appearance, fly through the air, cause damage and the like. In addition to malicious ones, there are also good witches who fight their evil companions. E Jong describes the witch thus: "Shemuch more beautiful (and more terrible) than the mind tells. She is a chimera, but she truly exists. She loves you, but her love is overripe, like an abscess, and opened up by divination and black magic. She hates you, but not a hair will fall from your head if you gave yourself to her, went to her into bondage forever. She is subject to love and death, harvest and bad weather, but as a reward for her help, she will demand your life - no more, but no less. She is a witch."
Witch before flying to the Sabbath
The witch has a lot under
manual means. Among them, a special place is occupied by a wonderful glass ball, which helps to send the evil eye or damage, and a pomelo rubbed with magic ointment (on such broomsticks, witches flew to the Sabbath). Every self-respecting witch has an assistant - or. how
modern witch
he is called "buddy", - who participates in witch rites. Most often, rats, bats, owls and black cats become such assistants. You can recognize a witch by the "witch's mark" - a special form of a birthmark. If the witch is pricked in this place with a needle, she will not feel pain - there will be no bleeding either.
Almost all witches have the evil eye AN Afanasiev says: Evil. an unkind eye spreads its influence on everything that its glance only touches: if it looks at a tree, it immediately dries up; if she looks at a pig with piglets, she will probably eat them; etc. An evil eye entails illness, loss and all sorts of misfortunes, and such an action does not even depend on the will of a person. sewn or deeply sunken."
Once a year, usually on the first of May (Walpurgis Night), witches flock to the Sabbaths that take place on the Bald Mountains (in Germany - Brocken). At sabbats they worship Satan, report to him, arrange demonic dances and boil babies in a cauldron. Curiously, Walpurgis Night coincides in time with one of the oldest pagan holidays among the Celts, namely with Beltane, or Beltane On Beltane, fairies appear among people, they feast with
mortals and kidnap beautiful girls, whom they later marry. To protect themselves from fairy pranks, people on this day carry with them and hang rowan twigs in their homes. The main event of Beltane is a large fire that is lit on top of a hill. The flame of the fire destroys all evil spells and scares away the fairies.
The Scots have a legend about a witch called Kaliah Weir. She was also called the Blue Witch, because her face was very blue, and her hair was exactly the same color. With a blow from her staff, she could freeze the soil for miles around. When spring came, she hid under a holly bush and did not crawl out from under it until the onset of winter. In winter, she fed stray animals in her cave. But one day the witch got tired and fell asleep near a mountain spring. From there suddenly gushed a high-water stream, and all the attempts of the awakened witch to stop it were in vain. Upon learning how many horses and cows had died, Kaliah Weir turned to stone from grief.
THE WITCHER
In the mythology of the Eastern Slavs, a man with supernatural powers and, as a rule, using them to harm people. You can be born a witcher, or you can become a witcher after appropriate training. It’s usually not difficult to recognize a born witcher: he doesn’t grow a mustache or a beard, he doesn’t have genitals, but he has a tail, and the reflection in the pupils is turned upside down. The witcher has two souls - human and demonic. The witcher is a werewolf, all the witches of the area where he lives obey him. Unlike witches who hold covens on the Bald Mountains, witchers flock to the Red Mountains. The Witcher can send damage, or maybe protect a person from witches and mermaids. Before death
he must choose a successor and pass on his knowledge to him. When a witcher dies, a drought sets in, or vice versa, pouring rain pours down. When burying a witcher, it is necessary to cut off his head, lay him face down, put a stake in his mouth and put a piece of aspen in the coffin. Otherwise, he may turn into a ghoul
GIANTS
Giantess Skadi chooses her husband by shoes
god Thor married with a miraculous hammer.
For the most part, giants are not too
In the myths and folklore of various peoples, creatures endowed with gigantic growth and colossal strength. Some are descended from the gods, others are descended from ancient monsters. The divine giants include, for example, Bran the Blessed. Bran was so great that he looked like a living mountain and easily forded the straits of the sea. The severed head of Bran brought prosperity to the area where it was located; as long as this head was kept in London, Britain could not fear enemy invasions. You can also mention the jotuns, the inhabitants of a cold, rocky country far in the northeast of the world. Jotuns are at enmity with gods-aces,they steal treasures from those wives, they also attack people whose abode - Midgard - protects the armies - smart and not very bloodthirsty. However, among them there are also cannibals, which can only be dealt with by cunning, and even then it is necessary either to be a sorcerer yourself. or have a magical assistant with you. Cannibal giants, as a rule, do not
how many heads They are not distinguished by a special mind, but they are very grumpy. Recently, the term "ogre" (from the English odge - "ogre-eater") has become very common in fiction. This term, as a rule, denotes cannibals, but it can also be used to refer to some hostile people that are not related to giants (such a designation simply once again emphasizes hostility towards this people)
There is a legend about how one day a giant named Skillywidden wrestled with the devil himself. The devil tripped the giant, and he scattered all the stones that he carried to people. Skillwidden silently picked up the stones - and threw the largest of them into the forest where the devil hid, giggling. Both realized that the two of them were cramped in the world, and decided to arrange a competition - who would throw the stone further. The devil lost, and then Skillwidden grabbed the devil by the tail, first dipped him into the sea, and then threw him who knows where.
VELVA
In the Scandinavian mythology , a witch, who - apparently at the request of the god Odin - sets out the history of the universe and prophesies the future ("Divination of the Velva" in the "Elder Edda"). Velva says this about himself.
• Knowing to her:
Heimdall's sound is hidden under a tree that overshadows the sky: she knows: moisture is sharpening from Odin's mortgage. Should I still broadcast? Or enough?
She was not sitting in the house, then the Lord of Ases appeared as an old man, she looked into the eye: “What do you need?
Why are you asking?..”
Should I still broadcast? Or enough?
Wendigo creeps up on a man
Werfolf
Rings yes hryvnia
Parent Ratei gave me, the seer, fall of those prophecies: I know everything, I see everything, I see all the worlds!
7 Translation by V. Tikhomirov)
WENDIGO
In the myths of the Indians of North America (Algonquins), forest spirits are cannibals, devouring lost travelers. Despite their extreme thinness, wendigos are known for their insatiability. Their bodies are translucent, because they are made of ice. They lure their victims with a whistle that resembles the rustle of the wind. Hearing this whistle, a person seems to go crazy, and his legs themselves carry him to the tree where the wendigo is hiding.
The first sign of a person turning into a wendigo is the urge to vomit. If this urge does not stop, despite all the efforts of the shaman, the person can no longer be saved.
WEREWOLF
In the myths and folklore of the peoples of Western Europe , a werewolf who turns into a wolf at night attacks other people and livestock. The transformation is very simple: in the evening, the werewolf puts on a wolf skin, and takes it off in the morning. If you find a werewolf hide and burn it, the werewolf will die. By the way, you can turn around not only as a wolf, but also as a bear, a cat and even a hyena. In English, the root tege- in combination with the designation of an animal means a werewolf capable of taking on the appearance of a particular animal: for example, tegeeag - “werewolf bear” , tege / oh - “werewolf fox”, IT.D.
At night, it is almost impossible to catch a werewolf, because he moves with the speed of lightning, and bullets do not penetrate his skin. But during the day it can be identified by wounds inflicted at night with cold steel.
The ancient Romans especially valued the tail of the werewolf, from which they prepared a potent love potion.
According to legend, crippled boys go to towns and villages on Christmas and convene
people to worship demons. Those. who does not want to go with them voluntarily, they beat with iron whips until they bleed, and from this people turn into werewolves. “They are attacking. on herds of cattle and sheep flocks, but do not have sufficient strength to kill a person. This transformation is valid for twelve days, after which the wolf form disappears and they regain their human appearance.
VETALS
In ancient Indian mythology, evil creatures, vampires. Vetals live in cemeteries and have the ability to inhabit corpses. Together with the bhutas and pramathas, they make up the retinue of the god Shiva.
Werfolf. Film frame
windmills
See MARINES.
VESHTICA
In the demonology of the southern Slavs, a woman endowed with supernatural powers, who has much in common with a witch and Baba Yaga. Usually a veshtitsa looks like a gray-haired, hunched old woman, shaggy and ugly. Her ptase is mowed, her legs are hairy, her eyebrows are fused, her nose is long and hooked. Any woman who has been possessed by an evil spirit can become a Veshtitz, usually in the form of a black butterfly with red dots on her wings.
Veshtitsa
Like a witch, a veshtitsa causes damage to people, takes milk from other people's cows, causes drought, hail, famine and pestilence. In addition, the veshtitsa is a werewolf and a vampire. Her favorite treats are human hearts. As soon as she touches the chest of a sleeping person with her
VIVENE
Wigt
with a wonderful wand, how the chest opens; the veshtitsa takes out the heart from the sleeping person and devours it, and the chest grows together by morning Those people whose hearts the veshtitsa has eaten seem to die from accidents - lightning strikes them, they drown or fall into the swamp. blood, devours babies
From time to time the eggs fly down to the gatherings. Like witches, they smear themselves with magic ointment, utter a curse and fly out into the chimney riding a broomstick - or on a person True, I fly things not to the Bald Mountains, but to forest glades, to crossroads, or arrange gatherings in abandoned houses
To protect yourself and your home from the intrigues of the veshtitsa, there are many means. You can stick a knife in the door or put it under your pillow, scatter garlic at the threshold, put a megloa on the porch turned upside down with rods, or read the corresponding amulet formula.
VIVENE
See AGUANA
wigts
In the folklore of the Germanic peoples, household spirits They know how to work tirelessly until all the work is done. But if the wigts want to play pranks, they play pranks so that the victims of their mischief become furious. They are capable of anything: pull off a blanket from a sleeping person, tickle their heels with cold fingers, paint faces, mix mustard and pepper in a sugar bowl, release pigs from a pigsty, and so on. . However, when they are in a serious mood, wigts do most of the housework - looking after the children, feeding livestock, sweeping the trash and fetching water. Like brownies , they refuse to accept new clothes as a gift (although some of them are not so principled: if you put clothes in a secluded corner, they will not be offended at all and take them).
They have long gray beards, deep-set eyes, and fat bellies. legs thin as twigs and rough low voices. They wear old-fashioned cross and some outfits or in
red jackets and red stockings, and when walking they lean on birch sticks.
Whigts are sometimes confused with the Unseelie Court, though it's hard to imagine what they have in common.
There is a story about how a Wigt fell in love with a beautiful girl. He looked after her. day and night, begging for reciprocity. But the girl only laughed at his pleas.
- Still not enough, to become the bride of an ugly old man! You're older than my father!
For a long time, the love-blind Wigt put up with cruel ridicule. But his patience snapped when he saw the girl flirting with the village boys.
Waiting for her to go to the mountains alone, the Wigt lowered an avalanche on her. It was only later that he realized what he had done. Having dug up the girl from under the snow, he took her body to the nearest church and mourned for a long time the lost beloved.
Vidyadharas
Demigods in ancient Indian mythology. They live between earth and sky, accompany the god of thunder and lightning Indra during his campaigns; or they, together with the yakshas and kinnars, are referred to the retinue of Kubera, the god of wealth.
Vyala-yaksha with legs in the form of snakes. Bas-relief from Mathura, circa 2nd c. BC. Archaeological Museum of Mathura
Vidyadharas are werewolves who can change shape at will. They often intermarry with mortals. Abu Reyhan Biruni, retelling an ancient legend about a mountain that decided to block the path of the sun, says “The mountain ... rose so high that it approached paradise and the seat of the spiritual creatures of the Vidyadharas. These latter hurried to the mountain, because it was pleasant there, and delightful in its gardens and meadows; they settled on it and were in joy; their wives strolled along it, and their children played there with each other.
VIY
another: and when the wind blew on the white clothes of their daughters, they trembled like flying banners. True, in another chapter of his work "India", Biruni calls the Vidyadharas evil spirits - sorcerers, whose witchcraft "does not work continuously."
VIY
In the mythology of the Eastern Slavs, a creature possessing, like a basilisk, a deadly gaze. Viy has huge eyelids, which he himself is not able to lift, so his assistants lift his eyelids with pitchforks. Viy lives underground, in a cave or in a pit. Retelling the ancient legend, N.V. Gogol (the story "Viy") retained all the main features in the image of the viy. He described the viy as follows:“And suddenly there was silence in the church; a wolf's howl was heard in the distance, and soon heavy footsteps were heard, sounding through the church; looking askance, he saw. that they were leading some squat, hefty, clubfoot man. He was all in the black earth. Like sinewy, strong roots, his legs and arms covered with earth stood out. He stepped heavily. stepping back every now and then. Long eyelids were lowered to the ground. Khoma noticed with horror that his face was iron.
A character similar to Viy is known in Celtic mythology. This is Balor with the Ruinous Oiaz, one of the leaders of the Fomorians. Here is what is said in the legend "Battle of Mag uired":
“Then Lug and Balor with the Ruinous Eye fought in battle. The evil eye was in Balor and opened only on the battlefield, when four warriors lifted his eyelid with a smooth stick passing through it... fomorians, and three times nine of them died nearby ... "
VILKOLAKI
See VILKTAKI.
VILCTAKI
In Lithuanian mythology , werewolf wolves, in many respects similar to the Slavic werewolves and Western European werewolves , Vilktaks are either born or become
- after the 1st, as the sorcerer will bring damage to Vilk - it looks like a wolf, but his teeth are human, and there is a white spot on his chest (a trace from a neckerchief) you can become a somersault over a willow stump For people, those werewolves who have become wilkts in their own way are dangerous, they rarely deny themselves the pleasure of feasting on human flesh. Some of the wilktaks become werewolves only for a while, losing the power of speech
FORK
In the mythology of the southern Slavs, beautiful girls with supernatural powers, Vila, walk in magical dresses. whoever takes away such a dress will bend it to his will Vitas live in the mountains and can fly. If you take away the wings from the pitchfork, she will lose the ability to fly and become an ordinary woman Under long dresses, the pitchfork hides horse or goat hooves An angry pitchfork can kill with a glance like a basilisk They have the gift of foresight and can temporarily "lock" water in wells and lakes
Vila can be seen on the banks of rivers and lakes in ashes or on garbage heaps. Most often they appear at night and before dawn, as well as on new moon and full moon - usually in spring and summer. Vila are born from grass or morning dew. Where they dance. circles of mushrooms grow and the grass becomes sparse - or vice versa, very thick.
Pitchforks are generally quite benevolent towards people, especially men. They help with housework, heal wounds, give gold and silver. Children of a pitchfork from a mortal have extraordinary strength and beauty. But if the mind is angry, it can cause illness, cripple and even kill. In addition, vils are very envious and take revenge on people for that. what they don't have. Therefore, certain precautions should be observed: do not drink water collected after sunset, do not step on the place where the pitchfork danced, etc.
WILDE MENNER
Durga Mahishamardini
WILDE MENNER
In German folklore , giants who every spring fall into a rage and send storms and hurricanes They uproot the trees in the forest and chase the forest spirits . then!)
There is a legend that one shepherd saw several wild menners chasing aguane. The shepherd was a cruel man, and therefore he laughed and exclaimed:
- Good luck hunting guys! Bring me a piece too. - He knew that not a single stump with three crosses could be found in the forest.
The next morning, the shepherd came out of the house and saw that the bloodied body of an aguana was nailed to his door. Shaking with horror, he rushed into the forest, cut down the fir tree and hastily carved three crosses on the stump. Then a monstrous wind arose, the shepherd was thrown back to the house. He saw that the bloodied body had disappeared. This incident had such an effect on him that until the end of his days he carved three crosses on the stumps
VIRICA
In ancient Indian mythology, tiny creatures no more than eighteen inches tall. Their skin is fiery red and their teeth are sharp and bloody. Viriks revolve around those houses in which someone is about to die. Only a sorcerer can drive away Viriks , however, there is another way - to erect a small altar and burn fresh flowers and incense on it every day. Then Viriks can leave
WITTE UEFFERN
See WHITE LADIES
VORTEX-DEVIL
There is evil in Russian folklore . As P. S Efimenko notes, “a whirlwind is an impure silt, which, seeing that a thunderstorm is rising, runs further from it so that the arrow does not hit it. Whoever wants to see an evil spirit - a whirlwind ... must take off his cross and look in an inclined position between his legs. Those who look in this way seem to have seen a whirlwind
VISHVA
in the form of a huge man waving his arms and running as best he could ... "
In addition, the vortex itself (as a turbulent air flow) is associated with evil spirits. It is believed that evil spirits celebrate weddings in whirlwinds. A whirlwind should be distinguished from a wind, since a whirlwind only means something evil and hostile, and the wind can be both evil (and bring illness) and blkhim.
VISHVA
See VISHVEDEVA.
VISHVEDEVA
In ancient Indian mythology, a special kind of association of deities Vishvedeva is usually addressed during sacrifices. Sometimes this word refers to smaller groups of deities - for example, the Maruts.
In the fifth mandala of the Rigveda, one of the hymns addressed to all the gods (vishvedeva) begins like this:
“Let these Mitra Varuna. Aryaman, Ayu, Indra, Ribhukshan, Maruts enjoy with us
Or those who create under worship
Praise be to the generous Rudra, unanimous!”*
★ (Translated by T. Elizarenkova).
As follows from the text, Vishvedeva was actually an association of various gods, almost completely covering the pantheon.
AUTHORITIES
Mother Goddess. Mohenjo Daro. Clay. III millennium BC
In Christian mythological representations, angelic beings. According to the Gospels, the authorities can be both good forces and minions of evil. Among the nine angelic ranks , the authorities close the second triad, which, in addition to them, also includes dominions and powers. As Pseudo-Dionysius says, “the name of the holy Authorities signifies equal to the Divine Dominions and Forces, slender and capable of accepting Divine insights Chini, a device of supreme spiritual dominion, which does not use autocratically for evil bestowed domineering powers, but freely and beneficently.
crowberry
sedately to the Divine, both itself ascending, and others holyly leading to Him and, as much as possible, becoming like the Source and Giver of all power and depicting Him ... in a completely true use of his sovereign power.
Water horses and other fabulous sea creatures from medieval bestiaries
VODYANITSA
See MERMAIDS
WATER HORSES
In the folklore of the Germanic and Celtic peoples, wonderful animals that live in the water, and when they go ashore, take the form of a horse. - kelpie and shell rock kabil-ushti and eh-ears of avanka and bragi Each horse has its own temper, but one thing unites them - the habit of luring people and jumping into the water with the riders. These jumps end for people in different ways: who gets off with a swim, and who is eaten.
WATER
In Slavic mythology, evil creatures living in the water and commanding it. As a rule, the merman outwardly resembles a person - most often, an ugly old man entangled in mud with a long green beard and thick green mustache .
Water people live in pools, they especially like to settle under water mills. The millers are friends with the mermen, because otherwise they can ruin the wheel or ruin the dam. To propitiate the merman, a rooster, a goat or a pig is sacrificed to him - always black
Water is constantly dripping from the left floor of the merman. The merman is prone to werewolf - he can pretend to be a log or fish, as well as some kind of animal. He loves to ride the catfish, which is why the catfish is called the devil's horse.
S.V. Maksimov describes the habits of the merman in this way: “On quiet moonlit nights, the merman amuses himself by clapping his hands on the water much louder than any person, and when he gets angry, he will go to break dams and break mills: wrap himself in mud ... gird himself with mud. put on sharp
WATER
his head a hat made of kuga ... he will sit on a snag and swim to mischief. If he decides to saddle a bull or a cow, or a good horse, consider them for him; they will either get stuck in the lake shores, or ... drown. They (watermen -K.K.) bring only harm to people and joyfully meet in their co-ownership all those who have blundered, accidental and intentional drowned people ... The hostility of the waterman towards people ... is expressed in that. that he tirelessly watches over every person who, for various needs, appears in his damp and wet possessions. He takes away to his underground rooms, to an irrevocable life, everyone who decides to swim in rivers and lakes in the summer, after sunset, or at noon, or at midnight. In addition, he grabs with tenacious paws and, with the speed of lightning, drags deep into all those who, when immersed in water, overshadow themselves with the sign of the cross ...
serve as a visual
evidence that these unfortunate visits are Water. Splint. 19th century
whether in the paws of a merman. He does not always return human corpses... but he almost always leaves animal corpses for family food.”
There is a legend according to which the water ones are fallen angels, expelled by God from heaven and fallen into the water.
WOLVODLAKS
WOLVODLAKS
In Slavic mythology , werewolf wolves It is believed that everyone can become wolf-lacks without including the participants in the wedding procession on which the sorcerer casts a spell . death, a coin was inserted into his mouth, as if locking his teeth. Their habits werewolves do not differ in any way from the Balts kyi vilktaks and Western European werewolves.
MAGI
See WIZARDS.
wongwi
In Korean mythology, evil spirits are the ghosts of people who died violent deaths.
WOUVI
In the mythology of the Australian Aborigines, a monster with the body of an ant and the head of a lizard. If children or livestock disappear in the village, this is the work of the wowwie. Vouvee's mouth is so huge that he is able to swallow an adult human in one sitting. The monster has a long and thin tail.
wovey
with which it cuts down trees Vouvi attacks only under the cover of night and during the day sleeps in a cave under the ground. To destroy the wowwi, you need to smoke it out of the cave: in the light of day it immediately becomes clumsy and sleepy and can be stabbed.
MEETER
In Russian folklore, a demonic creature, a representative of evil spirits. DK Zelenin reports: “this is an unclean, evil spirit that, in the form of an air strip, rushes like an arrow along the roads behind
VUIVR
the soul of a dying sinner, especially the murderer himself.
VUIVR
In French folklore , a fiery snake in whose forehead a precious stone sparkles - a fiery red ruby. When a voivre bathes, he leaves a stone on the shore, a person who contrives to take possession of a ruby will become fabulously rich: he will receive part of the underground treasures that the snake guards. On a summer night, you can see how voivre flies across the sky Vouvres live in abandoned castles and fortresses
wovey