BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Russian Culture Domovoi and other sprites

Hello all,

just finished writing an article on russian domovoi - the spirits of the household. Here it is..

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Leshii are another fascinating one - spirits of the forest. Have been walking in the woods a lot recently as it's Autumn, and especially when the sun is going down, it's very easy to get a sense that you are not alone!

That is a really delightful article, Marianne. Thank you for sharing that with us.

The Domovoi is like the Celtic Banshee, in that it attaches itself to one family, generation after generation. The Banshee, however, does not hang around unless there is an impending death in the family and then comes to sing the departed soul to the spirit world.

Tell us more about the Leshii. I love to hear about sprites and other such characters.

Hi Phyllis,

Yes, that is a good analogy, and shows the link in perceptions of the world across many traditional belief systems. I find that looking at these links often enhances understanding of individual cultures, don't you?

The leshii is not attached to the family and thus can be seen as more dangerous than the domovoi. Rather than responding to human life events, the leshii may harm or trick people who come out of the human space of house and field, and into the wilder space of the woods, which they do not control.

I hope to write a full article on the leshii soon.

Meanwhile, if anyone would like to describe a spirit or sprite from any traditional culture, let's see what parallels we can find - could be really interesting.

Many cultures have tales of water sprites, like "The Silkie Wife"
of the Shetland and Orkney Islands. People of this area call seals "silkies". Are there similar stories in Russian culture?

I look forward to reading about the leshii.

Oh yes, that rings a bell, I have some books on scottish and Irish tales, will look the Silkie Wife up. Obviously, Russian folk culture isn't so sea-based, but there are the Rusalki, who are pretty much mermaids, but they seem to inhabit lakes, pools, and rivers. They are said to be the spirits of maids who have drowned. They try to entice mortals to their death, to join them. So, these are human in origin, but there is also the vodianoi (voda in Russian means water). He is also seen as malevolent, but fishermen may win his good favour by giving gifts, and in fact, when I went out on lake Baikal, Siberia, the captain threw a tot of vodka over the side, so this tradition is still going.

I like that tradition for the vodianoi, giving a gift for friendship. It is good to keep traditions like that alive.