Rusalka Explained

In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalki;, plural: русалки; Polish: rusałka, plural: rusałki) is a typically feminine entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water, with counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as the French Melusine and the Germanic Nixie. Folklorists have proposed a variety of origins for the entity, including that they may originally stem from Slavic paganism, where they may have been seen as benevolent spirits.[1] Rusalki appear in a variety of media in modern popular culture, particularly in Slavic language-speaking countries, where they frequently resemble the concept of the mermaid.

In northern Russia, the rusalka was also known by various names such as the vodyanitsa[2] (or vodyanikha/vodyantikha;[3] Russian: водяница, водяниха, водянтиха ; lit. "she from the water" or "the water maiden"), kupalka[2] (Russian: купалка; "bather"), shutovka[3] (Russian: шутовка; "joker", "jester" or "prankster") and loskotukha[2] (or shchekotukha,[3] shchekotunya; Russian: лоскотуха, щекотуха, щекотунья; "tickler" or "she who tickles"). In Ukraine, the rusalka was called a mavka. Those names were more common until the 20th century, and the word rusalka was perceived by many people as bookish, scholarly.[3]

Etymology

The term "rusalka" derives from "rusalija" (Church Slavic; Old Slavonic; Church Slavonic; Old Bulgarian; Old Church Slavonic: рѹсалиѩ, русалиꙗ, Bulgarian: русалия, русаље) which entered Slavic languages, via Byzantine Greek "rousália" (ῥουσάλια),[4] from the Latin "Rosālia" as a name for Pentecost and the days adjacent to it.[5] Long-standing, likely pre-Christian, annual traditions resulted in that time of year being associated with spirits (navki, mavki) which were subsequently named for the holiday.[6] [7] [8]

Origin and appearance

According to Vladimir Propp, the original "rusalka" was an appellation used by pagan Slavic peoples, who linked them with fertility and did not consider rusalki evil before the 19th century. They came out of the water in the spring to transfer life-giving moisture to the fields and thus helped nurture the crops.[9] [10]

In 19th-century versions, a rusalka is an unquiet, dangerous being who is no longer alive, associated with the unclean spirit. According to Dmitry Zelenin,[11] young women, who either committed suicide by drowning due to an unhappy marriage (they might have been jilted by their lovers or abused and harassed by their much older husbands) or who were violently drowned against their will (especially after becoming pregnant with unwanted children), must live out their designated time on Earth as rusalki. However, the initial Slavic lore suggests that not all rusalki occurrences were linked with death from water.

It is accounted by most stories that the soul of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake would come back to haunt that waterway. This undead rusalka is not invariably malevolent, and would be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged. Her main purpose is, however, to lure young men, seduced by either her looks or her voice, into the depths of said waterways where she would entangle their feet with her long hair and submerge them. Her body would instantly become very slippery and not allow the victim to cling on to her body in order to reach the surface. She would then wait until the victim had drowned, or, on some occasions, tickle them to death, as she laughed.[12] It is also believed, by a few accounts, that rusalki can change their appearance to match the tastes of men they are about to seduce, although a rusalka is generally considered to represent universal beauty, therefore is highly feared yet respected in Slavic culture.

In most beliefs rusalki always have loose hair, which can be linked to Slavic traditions of unwedded maidens having unbraided or loosely braided hair which, once married, is tightly braided and worn under a headdress.[13] [14] According to Dal's Explanatory Dictionary, the expression "Walks like a rusalka" (Russian: Ходит, как русалка) is applied to girls with unkempt hair. The hair of the rusalka can be fair, black, greenish or completely green.[15] An important attribute of the water maiden is the comb, usually made from fish bones.[16]

Variations

While lore often says that the rusalki could not completely stand out of water, some fiction works tell of rusalki that could climb trees and sing songs, sit on docks with only submerged feet and comb their hair, or even join other rusalki in circle dances in the field. A particular feature of such stories revolves around the fact that this behaviour would be limited to only certain periods of the year, usually the summer (see Rusalka Week section).

Region-specific

Specifics pertaining to rusalki differed among regions. In most tales they lived without men. In stories from Ukraine, they were often linked with water. In Belarus they were linked with the forest and field. They were usually pictured as beautiful naked maidens, but in some areas they were imagined as hideous and hairy.[17] They were said to tickle men to death.[18] According to some Russian beliefs, rusalki had the appearance of very pale little girls with green hair and long arms. In other beliefs, they were described as naked girls with light brown hair.

In Poland and Czech Republic, water rusalki/rusalky were younger and fair-haired, while the forest ones looked more mature and had black hair – but in both cases, if someone looked up close, their hair turned green, and the faces became distorted.[19] They killed their victims by tickling them to death or forcing them to participate in a frenzied dance.[20] In Polish folklore, the term rusalka could also stand for boginka, dziwożona and various other entities.[21]

Rusalka week

See main article: article and Green week.

See also: Pentecost. The rusalki were believed to be at their most dangerous during the 'Rusalka week' in early June. At this time, they were supposed to have left their watery depths in order to swing on branches of birch and willow trees by night. Swimming during this week was strictly forbidden, lest mermaids drag a swimmer down to the river bed. A common feature of the celebration of Rusalnaya was the ritual banishment or burial of the rusalki at the end of the week, which remained as entertainment in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine until the 1930s.[22]

Known rusalki

Modern depictions of rusalki

Regarding representations of the rusalka in modern popular culture, folklorist Natalie Kononenko says, "the currently dominant presents her as something like a mermaid, though she is pictured as having legs rather than a fish tail ... The current view of the rusalka as a seductive or seduced woman was probably influenced by written literature. In the past, her image was more complex and she more closely resembled a nature spirit, found not only near water but in fields, forests, and mountains, rather like the vila ...".[27]

List of notable works featuring rusalki

Sources

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. [Erna Pomérantseva|Pomerantseva, Erna V.]
  2. Web site: Русалки (купалки, водяницы, лоскотухи). Rusalki (kupalki, vodyanitsy, loskotukhi). Mythological encyclopedia. ru.
  3. Web site: Как в русском фольклоре появились русалки?. How did rusalki appear in Russian folklore. Culture.RF. ru.
  4. Web site: Enacademic.com – Greek Dictionary . ρουσάλια . rousalia . el .
  5. Hampson, R. T., Medii Aevi Kalendarium or, Dates, charters, and customs of the Middle Ages, p. 341.
  6. Web site: Rosalia. Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. University of Toronto Press. 2020-09-08.
  7. Web site: Rusalka. Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. University of Toronto Press. 2020-09-08.
  8. http://encyclopedia.kiev.ua/vydaniya/files/use/second_book/part2.pdf Мавський (нявський) великдень
  9. Book: Linda J. Ivanits. Russian Folk Belief. 12 July 2015. 15 February 1989. M.E. Sharpe. 978-0-7656-3088-9. 78–81.
  10. Book: Elizabeth Wayland Barber. Elizabeth Wayland Barber. The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance. 12 July 2015. 11 February 2013. W. W. Norton. 978-0-393-08921-9. 18.
  11. Zelenin, D.K, cited in Book: Russian Folk Belief . M.E. Sharpe . Ivanits, Linda J. . 1992 . 76 . 978-0765630889.
  12. Web site: Rusalka. Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. University of Toronto Press. 12 July 2015.
  13. Rappoport . Phillippa . If It Dries Out, It's No Good: Women, Hair and Rusalki Beliefs . SEEFA Journal . 1999 . IV . 59 .
  14. Dynda . Jiří . Jiří Dynda . Rusalki: Anthropology of time, death, and sexuality in Slavic folklore* . Studia Mythologica Slavic . 2017 . 20 . 83–109 . 10.3986/sms.v20i0.6662 . 7 January 2023. free .
  15. Book: Ivanits, Linda J.. Russian Folk Belief. 4 March 2015. Routledge. 9781317460398. en.
  16. Web site: Мифологический образ русалки в русских народных поверьях и суевериях. The mythological image of the mermaid in Russian folk beliefs and superstitions. Наша история. 26 August 2020. ru.
  17. Book: Joanna Hubbs. Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture. 12 July 2015. 22 September 1993. Indiana University Press. 978-0-253-11578-2. 29.
  18. Kolchin, A. (1899). Verovaniia krest'ian Tul'skoi gubernii [Beliefs of the peasants of the Tula province]. p. 35.
  19. Book: Gołębiowski, Łukasz. Gry i zabawy różnych stanów w kraju całym.... 1831. 279–280. Games and Plays of Various Estates....
  20. Book: Encyklopedja Powszechna. 1866. Warsaw. 531–532.
  21. Book: Łowmiański, Henryk. Religia Słowian i jej upadek, w.VI-XII. 1986. 227. The Religion of the Slavs and its Decline from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries.
  22. Ivanits, Linda, Russian Folk Belief, p. 80.
  23. Web site: Дана и Князь. Dana and the Knyaz. Encyclopedia of Russian Fairy Tale. ru.
  24. Web site: Водяница. Vodyanitsa. Теремок. 12 April 2019. ru.
  25. Book: Dmitriy Zelenin. Evil Dead and Pledged Dead . 2014. Aegitas. 9785000644188. ru.
  26. Book: Artiomov Vladislav Vladimirovich. Myths and Legends of the Slavs. 2012. OLMA Media Group. 9785373046572. ru. 210.
  27. Kononenko, Natalie. 2007. Slavic Folklore: A Handbook, p. 18-19. Greenwood Press.
  28. Somov, O 2016, The Witches of Kyiv and other Gothic Tales, Sova Books, Sydney
  29. Itzik Manger, Midresh Itzik, Hebrew University 1969.
  30. Web site: The Rusalka Cycle – Songs Between the Worlds.