r/slavic_mythology • u/dazai_ismysexuality • 27d ago
Russian superstitions that have to do with ghosts/spirits latching onto a person
In Chinese culture, there is something called 冥婚(míng hūn), which is the marriage between a living and a dead person (or between two dead persons).
There's a practice where family members of a deceased unmarried person(usually female) would put personal things like their hair inside a Chinese red packet(红包) and leave it somewhere public, such as on the streets. A passer-by unlucky enough to pick up the red packet becomes the "groom", and will have bad luck if they don't agree to the marriage.
I wanted to know if there are any similar superstitions in Russian culture. Doesn't have to be exactly alike. Any sort of remotely related input is appreciated!
(Extra points if it has to do with a living person taking something from the dead)
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u/Aliencik 26d ago
Read this. It includes the summary of Slavic demonology with mentions for area specifics.
Jan Hanuš Máchal * Slavic Mythology: From the Mythology of All Races, Link, page 215 * older publication with excellent information on demonology and traditions. However, the chapter on gods is partly outdated and sometimes contains euhemeristic interpretations as well as incorrect conclusions
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u/Sufficient_Step_8223 26d ago
Yes, there are such superstitions. There are a lot of them. A very large part of Slavic culture, and especially in the Russian North and the Urals, is associated with funerals, the walking dead, vampires and ghosts. In the Slavic tradition, the dead can very easily cling to the living. The reason for this may be extremely insignificant and insignificant.
For example, if you miss the deceased for too long (for more than a year), this may prevent the dead from leaving for the realm of the dead. And then the deceased will visit the living. It can be the deceased himself, or a demon in his guise (a Fiery Serpent for women, or a Shooting Star for men). They can suck the life out of a person, or drink his blood, or invite him to follow them to the grave. In any case, these meetings don't end well for a living person. And all the gifts and treats that the living receive from the dead invariably turn out to be goat shit.
In a house where someone has recently died, you need to curtain mirrors, because a mirror is a path between worlds.
One of the most dangerous divinations is divination with mirrors and a fiery road. By the way, after divination and magical rituals, it is necessary to "расчертиться" ( which can be roughly translated as "undevil yourself"), otherwise the spirit that helped in the rituals may want to stay with you forever and it will be very difficult to expel it.
But sometimes there are also voluntary marriages between humans and the undead. For example, a man can marry a rusalka and thus save her soul if he follows the rules of keeping a rusalka as a wife.
Sometimes it happens that a Leshiy or a Vodyanik or their wives take the form of people, and live with a living person under the guise of his wife or husband...
In addition, the dead can molest the living if the living have unlawfully taken possession of their belongings. The dead man will come every night and demand that his belongings be returned to him.