Exploring the wild and wicked world of Slavic mythology trough artwork!
Baba Yaga, folklore creature living deep in Slavic forest.
She is often depicted as an old woman, flying on her mortar and pestle, sometimes with sharp iron teeth and long silver hair. Like most of Slavic folklore creatures Baba Yaga, altho very dangerous, sometimes would help the heroes. Baba Yaga lives in her chicken legged house surrounded by a fence of skulls.
One of the most famous Baba Yaga stories is the one about Vasilisa the Beautiful. In this story Vasilisas stepmother sends her to fetch light for the candle from Baba Yaga. Going through the forest she sees the riders. First the white rider came, then the red...
Baba Yaga's famous chicken-legged house. Located deep in Slavic forest and surrounded by the fence of skulls. It is said the fence misses only one skull, which is the skull of the hero.
Devana/Dziewanna slavic goddess of nature, the wild and the hunt. Devana is a daughter of Perun (supreme slavic god) and Mokosh (goddess of women's work and protector of women). Often accompanied by wolves and foxes Devana would roam slavic forests, on her white mare.
There is also a story how Devana rebelled against her father Perun. As punishment he made her marry his rival Veles. Devana and Veles were never in love but considered each other partners.
Kresnik, Slavic god often in form of deer with golden antlers.
Kresnik lives in a golden/glass castle at the mountain representing the top of the world.
Being the son of Svarog Kresnik is associated with fire, summer solstice, but also storms.
Leshy is a forest spirit, guardian of the forest and can shapeshift into different animals and creatures, he is quite natural towards the humans while his behaviour can change and he can sometimes lead the travellers astray!
Leshy also grows bigger if it is closer to the heart of the forest. Being on the outskirts of the forest he can be smaller than a leaf.
Mokosh also known as "Great mother" is a protector of woman and woman's work. She is wanderer and spinner. She is wife of Perun and monther of Morana, Devana and Jurilo.
Often in the form of a big black cat, Ovinnik was very feared since he could set the barn on fire. Which meant destroying the food source for the village.
To please the Ovinnik peasants would offer him roosters and bliny (Russian pancakes).
On New Year's Eve, Ovinnik's touch could determine your fate.
The warm touch would bring you happiness in the upcoming year, while the cold touch would bring you pain and misfortune.
Veles is slavic god of land, water and underworld. He is oponnent of Perun, supreme slavic god.
Veles is also associated with the harvest, cattle, wealth, music, magic and trickery. His tree is willow. Veles is one of a few Slavic gods that was worshiped across all Slavic nations.
Triglav, Slavic three headed god representing Heaven (Yav), Earth (Nav) and the Underworld (Prav). Also in some sources he is manifestation of three main slavic gods, whos names can varry ... so decided to focus more on Triglav as representation of three dimensions of reality and three dimensions of time.
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