In Slavic mythology, water- a frequently encountered character. Who is he? How is Grandfather Merman different from other spirits?
Vodyanoy - in Slavic mythology, a spirit that lives in water, the owner of the waters.
Grandfather of the water in Slavic mythology is the real ruler of the river or lake bottom. He has his own farm, livestock, consisting of fish and waterfowl, and mermaids and other inhabitants are considered his subjects. Although the merman is not very evil, he will not miss the chance to lure unwary swimmers to the bottom so that they will entertain him there. That is why in Slavic mythology the merman is not considered a positive character. His image personifies the very element of water: dangerous, unpredictable.
The appearance of a merman in Slavic mythology
The water grandfather is described in different ways in mythology. It was usually believed that he was like a fish: bulging eyes, a tail, and covered with mud. However, the appearance of the merman is changeable; this is one of the spirits capable of werewolf:
He does anything. He sticks his head out onto land and puts it on. The flowers can be blue or like burbot, colored... Nyago only has two mustaches. He looks like a fish with a boast. It has two wings at the bottom.
A merman is capable of becoming a fish, a person, a horse, a snag:
Veresina floats in the middle, under the bridge. Suddenly he laughs, he bursts into laughter, you won’t understand... He pretends to be all sorts of things.
The Slavs also described that Vodyanoy personifies the river itself. They explained that the mud was his hair, and the foam on the surface of the water was the drool that flowed from his mouth.
The merman lives in deep places, especially near the water mill. Water grandfathers could also live in springs, and they were considered especially strong.
Mermen are very fond of cattle, and from time to time they let their herd out for a walk along the river bank. There were beliefs that a clever person could take possession of the cows and horses of the water grandfather with the help of special rituals. But in general, it’s better not to approach the herd, so as not to anger the Water Grandfather.
How dangerous is Vodyanoy for people and how to protect yourself from it?
Previously, every swimmer knew about the danger of drowning. Before swimming or going on a boat, you had to ask Vodyanoy’s permission. It was also impossible to walk on water at night, and if it was impossible otherwise, then it was also necessary to turn to the spirit. It was also necessary to bathe only at the appointed hour, and not to remove amulets while bathing. Vodyanoy does not like it when they make noise, mention the hare, the bear, himself, or generally talk a lot. There are times when Vodyanoy is especially dangerous. This is the period of the Kupalina day, the time of flowering of rye, midnight, noon, especially night. Back then they were afraid to even walk past the banks of rivers or lakes.
The relationship between the waterman and the miller in Slavic mythology
Millers who constantly worked near water especially revered the water grandfathers. Because of this, they were often considered sorcerers who knew the other world. When the water mill was first built, various sacrifices were made, for example, horse skulls, food supplies, and conspiracies were read. The mythology of the Slavs says that the Mermen are very fond of black animals, which is why they were always kept in mills. Any dam breaks or millstone breakdowns were associated with the mischief of Vodyanoy.
Days of veneration of the merman in Slavic mythology
To prevent Vodyanoy from attacking a person, once a year, in the spring, he was honored: they brought him food, made sacrifices so that no one from the village would drown.
April third They carried gifts to the water man: “Keep, save our family.” They threw flour straight into the river: “Keep and feed our family.”
In the fall, the fourth of October, said goodbye to Vodyanoy - they carried the required goods and wished them a calm winter.
Vodyanoy is the personification of a powerful element, so our ancestors believed that he existed. Much has been forgotten since then, but we are trying to revive the spirit of antiquity, to show all the diversity of Slavic mythology. This is a real treasure!
Read more about Slavic mythology.
The water snake, or as it is popularly called the “chess viper,” is often found in the vicinity of the common snake and lives near both flowing and non-flowing water bodies. His appearance on the beach quite often causes real panic among vacationers. People immediately crawl onto land, and the fate of the troublemaker, alas, is sometimes unenviable. I suggest you learn some interesting facts about this snake.
“Are you taking a picture of a viper,” I heard a voice behind me, “Be careful that it doesn’t bite.”
No, not a viper, but a snake,” I answered, without looking up from the camera viewfinder and taking another close-up.
Yes, vipers are now crossing with snakes: they turn out to be black, and gray, and checkered, and all terribly poisonous!
Something like this conversation happens every time someone sees me catching or photographing water snakes
The notoriety of these snakes is just the fruit of the fear of people who are not familiar with reptiles. Water snakes lack the characteristic feature of a non-venomous snake that is familiar to everyone - the yellow-orange spots on the back of the head that the common grass snake (Natrix natrix) has. For this reason, unknowing people classify all snakes without such spots as vipers and consider them poisonous and dangerous. Many divide all legless reptiles into snakes and simply “snakes,” meaning vipers. So they say: “Is this really or a snake?”
There are many different names for water snakes: “hybrid of viper and snake,” “chess viper,” “chess viper.” When shouting “chess snake” on the beach, swimmers jump out of the water and wait for the snake to swim away, or until a “dared person” is found and kills the snake with a stick. You often hear stories from fishermen about “meter-long vipers” that swim across rivers or climb into cages with fish.
All these stories are not actually related to vipers, they are about water snakes. The specific name of the water snake N. tessellata is indeed translated from Latin as chess snake, but the water snake has nothing to do with vipers. It belongs to the genus Natrix sp., just like the common grass snake.
For humans, the merman is already harmless. This snake's defenses include loud hissing and foul-smelling excrement when threatened. Unlike an ordinary snake, a merman almost never pretends to be dead.
The main food of water snakes is fish, which they catch among aquatic plants, snags, or lying in wait, lying on the bottom. The snake cannot swallow the caught prey under water, so it rushes to the shore, where it swallows the fish, having first turned its head towards itself.
If the prey is too large, the meal can drag on for an hour or even longer. Some snakes die without calculating their strength and choosing too large a fish.
“The water snake is quite widespread: from southwestern France, the valley of the river. The Rhine is in the west, the southern border of the range runs through the eastern part of northern Africa (to the Persian Gulf, Pakistan), in the east it reaches north-west China, and the northern limits of the occupied territory pass through the Volga-Kama region,” says Candidate of Biological Sciences, employee Volgograd State University, herpetologist Dmitry Gordeev.
“This species belongs to the class Reptilia, the order Serpentes, the family Colubridae, the genus Natrix, and the species Natrix tessellata. The water snake is a relatively large, non-venomous snake, like all representatives of this family. Moreover, females, as a rule, are longer than males and can grow up to 1.1 m. Despite its impressive size, it is somewhat smaller than the familiar and easily identifiable common grass snake, which can reach up to 1.14 m.
The muzzle of a water snake, compared to an ordinary one, is more pointed, and there are no yellow-orange spots on the sides of the head. Because of the latter circumstance, it is often confused with such poisonous snakes as the common viper and the steppe viper. Adding fuel to the fire is the pattern on the back of the water snake, which vaguely resembles the zigzag stripe of vipers. I have repeatedly come across dead snakes, which, apparently, the local population mistook for poisonous and mercilessly exterminated. On one of the expeditions, I came across a “mass execution” site, where I counted 25 killed “chess vipers.”
However, the water snake has a number of external signs by which it can be easily distinguished from poisonous vipers. The most recognizable head is that in vipers it is triangular in shape and most of the scutes (scales) on it are small, while in the water snake it is oval and all the scutes are large. If you pluck up courage and look into the snake’s eyes, you will see that vipers, like real predators, have a vertical pupil (like a cat’s), while snakes have a round one. In addition, vipers are much smaller than snakes: the largest common viper reaches a length of up to 0.73 m.
The water snake settles near water: along the banks of rivers and irrigation canals, in flood meadows, where it finds food for itself. Despite its peaceful nature, it is an active predator. It prefers different types of fish - perch, roach, loach, and can even hunt pike. That's why scientists call it an ichthyophage. The snake drags the caught prey to the shore, where it eats it. Much less often it includes frogs and their tadpoles in the diet.
In the literature there is information about the discovery of even a baby viper in the stomach! The size of the victim can exceed the size of the snake’s head, and the movable connection of the lower jaws and some bones associated with them helps to swallow it. Swallowing occurs by alternating movement of either the left or right half of the lower jaw. This gives the impression that the snake is “crawling” onto its prey.
The active season lasts almost 9 months, emerging from winter shelters in April. Soon after this, mating begins, and snakes are then found in large numbers. One female can lay from 4 to 20 eggs, from which young animals will appear in July, under favorable circumstances. Refuge for them are reed thickets, tree roots, substrate crevices, rodent holes, stumps and snags. They leave for the winter at the end of October in large groups, sometimes together with the common grass snake. They prey on snakes: hedgehogs, muskrats, muskrats, foxes, and some birds: osprey, gray heron, kites, snake eagle, crow, rook and some others.”
Every time I hear mention of the “terribly poisonous checkerboard,” I talk about water snakes, their way of life, and try to convince them that these snakes are absolutely not dangerous. But every time I come across misunderstandings, it is easier for people to be afraid of the “chess viper” than to admit their belief in rumors and stop killing all the snakes that lack the “identification marks” of an ordinary snake.
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The owners of any bodies of water were popularly called mermen. They could live in rivers, ponds, lakes, whirlpools or swamps. True, a merman living in a pool was called “omutnik”, and an inhabitant of a swamp was called “bolotnik”. Of all the Slavic spirits, the water spirit was considered the richest. In the thickets of reeds or sedges stood his rich chambers, built of shells and multi-colored gemstones. The watermen also had their own herds of horses, cows, and sheep, which they drove out of the water at night and grazed in the nearest meadows. Mermaids or beautiful drowned women became wives of the mermen.
In , when, due to the spring melting of snow or many days of heavy rains, the river overflowed its banks and broke bridges, mills and dams on its way, the peasants thought that this waterman was celebrating a wedding. When the time came for the merman's wife to give birth, he took on the appearance of an ordinary person and went to a city or village to invite a midwife to his underwater mansion. If the birth went well, he generously rewarded her for her work with silver and gold. However, if a merman came to people, taking on a human form, it was not difficult to recognize him. The fact is that water was constantly dripping from the left hem of his caftan; wherever he sat, a wet spot remained, and when he began to comb his hair, water flowed from his hair.
They say that one day a breastfish got caught in a fishing net. He played and frolicked while he was in the water, but as soon as he was brought into the hut, the child began to cry and... As it turned out, it was the brainchild of a merman. The fishermen returned him to his father on the condition that their nets would always be full of fish. In the future, this condition was strictly observed.
Our ancestors believed that when in their domain, a merman usually rode around on a catfish. Therefore, in some areas, catfish is called “devil’s horse” and they do not dare to eat it. It is better to immediately release a catfish caught in a net back into the river, so that the merman does not decide to take revenge for it. The merman was most often represented as a man with horns, a fish tail and crow's feet instead of hands. He was also described as an ugly old man, covered from head to toe in mud, with a huge belly swollen from water and a swollen face. His beard is long, gray or green, like seaweed.
In the summer, the merman was awake, and in the winter, when the water was covered with ice, it hibernated. In April, an angry and hungry merman woke up and, out of frustration, broke the ice, raised waves and dispersed the fish. To appease the angry owner of the river, the peasants poured oil on the water and threw a roast goose into it - the waterman’s favorite dish.
It would seem that any person is able to answer the question, “Who is a merman?” After all, everyone watched cartoons. We read children's fairy tales, and in general, at least superficially. Familiar with this character of myths and legends. But in fact, the answer to the question “who is a merman?” is not so simple, since it is a rather complex and ambiguous representative of evil spirits, perhaps one of the most ancient representatives of pagan superbeings.
So, let's start answering the question “who is a merman?” in order. To begin with, Vodyanoy is an evil spirit who embodies the element of water. The merman acts as a negative and very dangerous character. Belarusians had a belief that the wider and more dangerous a lake or swamp, the stronger and more dangerous its water.
It was believed that there were a great number of merman and they were everywhere where there was water, even the smallest pond had its own merman.
The merman was also called the waterman, the water grandfather, the water king, and so on. All names indicated that he was the master of water. But due to the fact that he was still a dangerous spirit, prefixes often appeared in his name, indicating that he belonged to an evil spirit, for example, water devil, water demon, sea water devil.
The places where the merman liked to live most were deep and dangerous places on rivers. Vodyanoy was certainly associated with “dark waters,” that is, those sections of rivers or lakes where whirlpools were observed, or the water behaved in some strange way. Often such places were called “devil’s houses.” But water mills were especially loved by the waterman in thickets of reeds and sedges.
Appearance of a merman
What does a merman look like?
The merman was described as a man, more often even as an old man. In some traditions, the merman was also credited with a huge swollen belly and a swollen face.
According to beliefs, the age of a merman generally depends on the phases of the moon. So, during a young moon, he looks like a young man with fresh, seaweed-green hair, and at the end of the moon he turns into a gray-haired old man.
The appearance of the merman combined not only human, but also animal features - paws instead of hands, horns on the head, etc. An indispensable attribute of the merman was a beard and a green mustache, and he himself, as a rule, was entangled in mud from head to toe.
Origin of the merman
According to popular beliefs, a merman is not some kind of “self-formed” natural spirit, but a person who did not die a natural death.
In some traditions, they believed that children cursed by their parents or children of the devil become mermen. There is also a belief that mermen are children that Adam hid from God. And there are even myths that say that watermen are stones that the Almighty used to strike sparks during the creation of the world and man.
And, of course, there is a widespread belief that mermen are angels cast down from heaven.
Often the image of the merman was very close to the image of the devil. So, for example, a merman was often described as a man, very broad in the shoulders, with long and thin legs; in stories he sometimes has small horns, his body is covered with scales; tail “three quarters long”; the fingers and toes are very long, with curved, strong nails, and membranes between the fingers.
The image of the merman sometimes became close to the image of the goblin. So, in some places they believed that he looked like a goblin, only his fur was very shaggy.
Why is the merman dangerous?
The merman is initially hostile to humans. He can deliberately drag people to the bottom, sink boats, make fun of people, often quite evilly. It was also believed that a merman could come out of the water at night and harm livestock - dragging it towards him or riding on it. In this case, they still believed that the animal on which the merman rode would not last long, it would soon get stuck in a swamp or drown. They especially tried to keep an eye on the animals grazing near the water spirit’s abode, since they were the ones who were at increased risk of being corrupted by the evil water spirit.
Only in rare cases did a merman descend to help a person, for example, he could help someone not to drown or even provide his protection. Not many could boast of this, most often those to whom the waterman belonged, more or less favorably, were beekeepers, fishermen and millers. It was even said about the latter that the merman often invited them to visit him, where he presented various gifts.
But it should be understood that such closeness with the merman was very risky, because in the event of any troubles, the merman’s anger would first of all fall on those who were closely acquainted with him. Therefore, winning over the merman was the first thing for fishermen and water millers. Propitiating sacrifices to the waterman were most often made during the construction of a dam or mill, at the beginning of the fishing season, and so on.
As a rule, they used fish, bast shoes, boots, a pinch of tobacco, geese carcasses, flour with water in a bread cup, lamb or rooster heads, a horse skull, butter, an awl, soap, lard, poured vodka into water, and so on. .
Water millers, wanting to please the water mill, buried a black rooster alive when building a new mill.
It was already mentioned above that beekeepers depended on the favor of the waterman. At first glance, it may seem that there is no logic in this statement. But the whole point is that, according to popular belief, the first bees once “respawned” from a horse that was driven over and abandoned in a swamp by a waterman.
The harm that water can cause to bees is that it can make the air more damp, and bees do not like this. They also believed that the merman could send rain to the hive and completely flood it. Therefore, the mermen appeased the water spirit with fresh honey and wax, and sometimes even the first swarm of bees.
Ordinary people living next to any body of water also depended on the behavior of the merman. They also tried to somehow appease the water spirit. One of the most popular and effective sacrifices was the sacrifice of a horse, which, in some cases, was deliberately drowned in a lake or river. First of all, they resorted to this when people began to drown too often.
The merman rules over everything that is in the reservoir in which he lives, that is, all the fish, frogs, plants surrounding the reservoir, and so on are subordinate to him. It also has the power to lure living creatures from other rivers or lakes. Therefore, fishermen always tried to appease this water spirit, especially since if this is not done, the water spirit gets angry and begins to commit various atrocities, for example, it costs him nothing to fill fishing nets with river grass instead of fish, or even tear them.
In general, fishermen largely depended on the favor of the water spirit, so they developed a number of different prohibitions associated with this spirit of water. For example, in order to avoid damage from the merman, they tried to leave the house for fishing secretly, so as not to meet anyone along the way, and not to answer the question “where are you going?”
The merman manifests itself in different ways. Sometimes he likes to imitate various sounds, especially human and animal sounds. He can squeal, moan, whistle, hoot, howl, and so on. And if a merman screams, it means he is calling out to the goblin. But at the same time, the merman himself does not like unnecessary noise, so he severely punishes those who disturb his peace, even to the point of drowning. Moreover, this applies not only to those who swim on the water, for example, fishermen, but also to those who, say, walk along the water talking loudly or whistling. The merman can jump out and drag such a person into his underwater kingdom.
There was also a belief that a merman could drag away someone who bathes without a cross or without crossing himself, without prayer or at an inopportune time, that is, after sunset. Moreover, the merman does not immediately kill a person, he first pulls him under the water and pushes a silt stone over some snag and waits for him to choke. According to some beliefs, if a merman is very angry, he can even tear off a person’s skin.
In other cases, the merman did not kill people, but made them his slaves forever, forcing them to do various jobs - pouring water, carrying and washing sand, grazing herds of fish, and so on. The merman could force some of them to wander the earth and steal and drink vodka. That is why in some places the drunkard was associated with the merman or the servant of the merman, classifying him as an evil spirit.
Sometimes they believed that a man whom a merman had made his servant could pay him off and return to earth again. True, the ransom was difficult - you had to drown one of the people for yourself. But there were beliefs that even in this case, he would still not leave the water kingdom - he would simply cease to be a slave, and he himself would become a water one.
The merman loves to ride around his pond on a snag or catfish, which is why people called it the “devil’s horse.” The catfish was respected, as it was considered the favorite of the merman, so if they caught it, they never scolded it, fearing the revenge of the merman.
On moonlit nights, the merman likes to float to the surface and swing on the water, admiring the full moon and at the same time having long conversations with himself. He loves to splash and make noise, slap the water, raising small fountains of splashes.
They also believed that a merman often comes out of the water onto some bridge and washes himself and combs his long beard.
In many ways, the behavior of a merman repeats the behavior of the body of water in which it lives. Therefore, when the water splashes in the river, they say that the merman is playing, and when the water ripples, he is angry. And if there was a flood, they believed that the merman was celebrating his wedding.
According to some beliefs, the merman eats only dead fish, especially loves eels and burbot, and the offerings that fishermen and water mill owners donated to him. And although the waterman’s food is usually meager, nevertheless, the people believed that, like any evil spirit, he loves to give feasts, calling all his relatives to them. And after such feasts, the merman loves to gamble, and sometimes it comes to the point that he completely loses all the water and fish from his pond.
Housing and habitat of the merman
The merman's house itself was usually represented as being deep underground, and the water served only as the entrance to his abode, which, according to popular ideas, was sometimes very impressive. For example, they believed that the mermen had crystal chambers, decorated with gold and silver from sunken ships, as well as “gem” stones, illuminating the seabed brighter than the sun.
Such chic was not inherent to all mermen, but only to those who lived in the seas or near it. The northern merman, living in rivers or lakes, had more modest mansions. They were content with a sandy floor, tree branches instead of decorations, and rotten stumps instead of furniture.
According to some beliefs, the merman does not have his own home at all, so he has to struggle wherever he can - in holes under snags, in underground burrows, and so on.
In its home, the merman usually hides from cold weather and winter. During this period, he usually goes into hibernation and sleeps until Nikita Veshny or until the ice melts from the river or lake in which he lives.
It was also believed that the merman had their own herds of cows, horses, pigs and sheep, which they grazed in the coastal meadows at night. The cows and horses of the waterman, according to popular belief, have miraculous properties: for example, they believed that his cows gave twice or three times more milk than ordinary cows, and that the horses had extraordinary beauty and endurance.
The life of a merman
The merman has a wife, who is called the vodyaniha. As a rule, she is either a mermaid or a woman who did not die a natural death (a drowned woman), who was described as an ugly woman with huge breasts.
Mermen, according to popular belief, get married during high water (after melting snow or heavy rains).
The children of a merman and a vodyani are called vodyans. They often amuse themselves by tearing fishing nets. Although, according to some beliefs, a merman and a merman cannot have children at all, so they drag away the bathing children to themselves.
Magical properties of the merman
The merman was credited with the traits of werewolf, so they believed that he was able to turn into a small child with colorful hair.
It was believed that a merman could also take the form of a half-man, half-fish, which makes him similar to mermaids, since he was also sometimes described as a person who has arms, but no legs, instead a fish tail.
The merman also takes the form of an ordinary fish, for example, burbot, catfish or pike. It can also take the form of a bird, but only one associated with water - a swan, drake, goose and the like.
It should be noted that when a merman turns into an ordinary fish or animal, he still exhibits some anomalies, some unusual features. So, for example, if he turns into a pike, then it will not have fins.
The same applies to his human appearance - he will also differ in some details, the most noticeable of them - blood is constantly dripping from his clothes, and the place where he sat will always be wet.
In some places it was believed that a merman's abilities as a werewolf were much broader and that it would cost him nothing to turn not only into a fish or some kind of monster, but also into a horse, dog, bull, frog, cow, pig, or even into a log. But the log is unusual, with wings that can fly over the swamp and scare lost people.
© Alexey Korneev
The merman cannot be called either evil or good - he is a willful spirit guarding his pond, which, however, does not mind playing tricks on those who come there. The merman looks like an old man with a large beard and a fish tail instead of legs, the old man's hair has a green tint, and his eyes look like fish. During the day, the merman prefers to remain at the bottom of the reservoir, and with the rising of the moon it rises to the surface. The spirit prefers to move around the pond on horseback, mostly swimming on catfish.
The spirit lives in large freshwater bodies of water: rivers, lakes, swamps. However, sometimes it comes onto land and appears in nearby villages. On reservoirs for housing, the merman prefers to choose the deepest places or places with a strong circular current (whirlpools, places near water mills).
The vodyanoy jealously guards his pond and does not forgive those who treat him disrespectfully: the guilty spirit is capable of drowning or severely injuring. However, the merman can also reward people: it is believed that the merman can give a good catch, but he is also capable of leaving the fisherman without a single fish at all. The spirit also loves to play pranks: he scares people at night with strange screams, he can pretend to be a drowned man or a baby, and when he is pulled into a boat or pulled ashore, he will open his eyes, laugh and flop back into the water.
Mermen live in families; usually a merman has many wives - mermaids. Dragged to the bottom by spirit, people remain in the service of the waterman, entertaining the owner of the reservoir in every possible way and carrying out various assignments, however, you can buy him off, but the price will be commensurate - you will have to give up your first-born.
Capabilities
The merman is the owner of the reservoir in which he lives, he has complete power over it. Thus, the spirit is able to control water: raise waves, remove a reservoir from its banks and create a strong current; all inhabitants of the reservoir also obey the water one: fish, drowned women, etc.
A merman is capable of changing its appearance, turning into fish, animals and even trees. Although it is possible that the appearance changes only in the mind of the observer, since the mermen skillfully influence the human psyche, making them believe in anything.
Enemies
In his native element, a merman has no enemies, but when the spirit goes out onto land and, especially, when it penetrates into human settlements, here it is opposed by and. On land, the merman has practically no chance of winning, but, nevertheless, he often enters into fights, the outcome of which is known in advance: the spirit runs away into its body of water.
How to fight?
It is almost impossible to fight a merman in his native element, but you can scare him away from you with iron or copper, which in the end will only anger him more. Therefore, in ancient times they preferred not to anger the merman, and if he got angry, they tried to appease the spirit by throwing bread into the water, or sacrificing a black animal (chicken, cat). On land, the strength of the merman is significantly reduced and he tries not to engage in open battle with anyone, but by cunning he lures the victim into the water, and here the main thing is to resist the spell and not enter the body of water. To awaken from the water’s witchcraft, you can prick yourself with an iron needle, then you will momentarily see its true appearance and be able to break out of the spirit’s spell.
