Thursday, July 9, 2015

DOMOVOI

DOMOVOI
"He had not the courage to look at them; he only saw one uncouth monster standing by the wall, with long, shaggy hair and two flaming eyes."
Nikolai Gogol, The Viy

"A few sources note that the spirit had tiny horns and a tail or horse ears;"
Linda J. Ivantis, Russian Folk Beliefs

"Commonly, it was said that he resembled a dwarf-like old man, with tangled locks and a shaggy beard that hid his face, apart from a pair of bright eyes, and soft fur that covered his body, including the palms of his hands and soles of his feet. Hirsuteness was a characteristic feature of demonic beings in general and may be connected with the pictorial representation of devils in icons."
Elizabeth Warner, Russian Myths




8 comments:

  1. This IS how dwarfs are supposed to look like. Thorin Oakenshield be jealous!

    On a separate note, good timing with this post. I am watching the Nazi Gospels right now as we speak.

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  2. Domovoi is actually the "plural" form of these Russian "House Spirits"... keep them "Happy"... or they "turn" on you and your home...

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  3. Actually, I think Domovoi is the singular and Domovye is the plural: "The plural form in Russian can be transliterated domoviye or domovye (with accent on the vowel after the v)."

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  4. Thank you good Sir... our Russian not so good....

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  5. Reminded of the Burers from Stalker, being a russian game, they are most probably based on Domovye
    http://stalker.wikia.com/wiki/Burer

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  6. my Lithuanian great grandmother had a domovoi, she said she brought him from the old country and he lived in her basement. she taught us how to make offerings to him and claimed he helped with things about the old farm... My parents said she was just h zzz Bing fun, but couldn't ever explain the little treasures he would leave for her... anyway I love seeing different takes on such a fun spirit from my childhood

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  7. Superb work! I think this is a pissed-off version of domovoi, because in russian pagan mythology domovoi is mostly denoted as a positive character. Untill it (or he) actually gets pissed-off. Also, domovoi has nothing to do with demonic beings neither with proto-christian mythology in general. And the most interesting detail is the aging. Domovoi is always supposed to be very old, cause he's believed to be born as an old man (or creature) already. The older he gets - the younger he becomes. It's always interesting to study such things, that have passed through the centuries and are still alive in collective consciousness and, moreover, have such subtle details.

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