Slavic mythology features a diverse catalog of beliefs, stories, and characters, which were once pivotal to people inhabiting the land that spanned from Central to Eastern Europe. Although it was never uniform throughout the territory, many legends and creatures had common roots and similar archetypal meanings. After the spread of Christianity, many of those creatures remained in folk culture, fairytales, and visual arts, sometimes gaining extra meanings and contexts. Read on to learn more about 5 creatures from Slavic Mythology depicted by modern and contemporary artists.
1. Mokosh, the Mother Goddess of Slavic Mythology
Mokosh (installation fragment) by Anna Samoylova, 2020. Source: Gathering Art Gallery
Mokosh was the Mother Goddess of the Slavic pantheon, the deity of fertility and femininity. She watched over all aspects of feminine existence, from childbirth to household errands. Mokosh represented both the entire nature and every woman as a part of it. The practices of sewing and weaving, crucial to pre-Christian communities, were also the domain of Mokosh. Not only did those hand-made objects serve practical functions, but they also served as protective amulets.
Anna Samoylova, a young artist born in Moscow, Russia, uses Slavic mythology as a core stylistic and symbolic inspiration in her works. Her 2020 exhibition Mokosh centered around the image of a long-forgotten goddess, reimagining her as a symbol of feminist resistance and contemporary femininity. Samoylova’s idea was to remind her audience how different the traditional treatment of women was from the contemporary one, with celebration and respect in place of shaming and pressure.
Samoylova used Mokosh as an opposing force fighting against domestic violence, institutional sexism, and gendered standards. Next to the portrait of the goddess, she placed trees covered with ribbons allowing the exhibition visitors to leave notes expressing their fears, wishes, and thoughts on femininity. Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfolded, Samoylova and her family left Russia. Currently, the artist is exploring the possibility of using folk art and centuries-old traditions as tools of protest and non-compliance.
2. Vasilisa The Beautiful
Vasilisa at the Hut of Baba Yaga by Ivan Bilibin, 1899. Source: Wikipedia
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Ivan Bilibin was a famed Art Nouveau illustrator and stage designer known for his illustrations of Slavic fairytales. Among the most famous ones was the image of Baba Yaga and Vasilisa, a teenage girl and popular protagonist of folktales centered around the initiation ritual. Vasilisa’s story shares many aspects of the Western Cinderella story. After losing her mother at a young age, she had to live with her evil stepmother and two stepsisters, who tormented and basically enslaved her. One winter night, the stepdaughters purposefully put out the only candle and demanded Vasilisa go deep into the forest and ask Baba Yaga for fire. After completing several tasks for Yaga, Vasilisa receives a human skull with glowing eyes, which burns down her stepmother’s house with her daughters inside. Although some folklorists believe the tale’s message to be questionable and overly violent, others interpret it as a story of coming of age and claiming responsibility for one’s own life instead of following orders.
According to folkloric research, before the Christianisation of Slav lands, Baba Yaga was the guardian of the border between the worlds of the dead and the living, neutral in her character. Her hut was the coffin she was buried in, and the protagonist had to come inside to enter the world of the dead. Moreover, in classic tradition, Baba Yaga was not human but a giant serpent with the head of an old woman.
Despite these macabre details, she was ready to help the fairytale protagonists if they treated her with respect. However, after the Christian faith had settled in, the old beliefs gradually gained unpleasant connotations. Helpful creatures and neutral forces often turned into demonic beings ready to harm god-fearing Christians and lure them to the path of serving the devil. Thus, Baba Yaga turned into a vicious cannibal hag who cooked children in her stone oven.
3. Leshy, the Guardian of the Forest
Pan by Mikhail Vrubel, 1899. Source: Arthive
Mikhail Vrubel was a Symbolist painter who worked with mythology, folklore, and literature of both Eastern and Western Europe. Known for his mosaic-like painting style, Vrubel created his dark and dreamy worlds attempting to escape his tormented mental state. In the late 1890s, Vrubel worked on his Fairytale Cycle, a series of paintings depicting characters from Slavic folklore and fairytales. Although the painting above was titled Pan (the Greek god of wilderness, woods, and shepherds) its iconography mostly resembles Leshy, the guardian of the Slavic forest.
Leshy, also known as Lesovik, Leshak, or Borovoy, has many different names throughout the Slavic countries, yet his characteristics remain the same. In most legends, Leshy presents himself as an old man dressed in rags, but he is also able to shapeshift and change his height from being as small as a mushroom to as tall as a pine tree.
Although many folk beliefs blame Leshy for luring hunters deep into forests to their deaths and stealing children (in the same fashion as Western European fairies), old folkloric sources actually indicate that Leshy would not attack a human without reason. Like with most folkloric creatures, respect was the key tactic to survive an encounter with the being. People who entered the forest that was occupied by Leshy had to follow a strict set of rules: avoid littering, breaking trees, and killing more animals than needed to sustain themselves, and leave an offering of eggs and bread. If satisfied with his guests’ behavior, Leshy would help them hunt or guard their cattle.
Sometimes Leshy could get bored and entertain himself by luring travelers to the forests and making them walk in circles, unable to find a way out. In that case, the easiest way to escape was to make Leshy laugh. That could usually be done by turning one’s clothes inside out and switching your shoes from right foot to left.
4. Mermaids
The Mermaids by Ivan Kramskoi, 1871. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Mermaids are popular folklore characters throughout the entire world, yet the Slavic version of these creatures has enough distinctive features. Known as rusalki or mavki, these beings live mostly in the water but have no fishtails. Instead, they walk on two legs like humans and often climb trees to hide in their branches.
The Mermaids by Ivan Kramskoi is an illustration of a short story by Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol, titled May Night, or The Drowned Maiden. According to Ukrainian folklore, mermaids were the undead young maidens who drowned themselves because of unrequited love. Unable to find peace, at night they climb to the banks of ponds and rivers and brush their long unkept hair with fish bones.
Just like sirens from Greek mythology, their beauty and singing attracts men passing by. If a man, tempted by the song of rusalki, approaches them, he would be tied up with their long hair and dragged underwater.
Women were not safe either: while the water beings are not interested in them as prey, in many stories they chase them away from villages to eliminate competition for male attention. However, another version of the story imagines Slavic mermaids as pale little girls or small ugly aggressive creatures. In this case, these were not the souls of undead women but children murdered by their mothers before baptism, unable to leave the world of the living, they were looking for revenge.
5. Sirin and Alkonost: The Prophetic Birds of Slavic Mythology
Sirin and Alkonost, Birds of Joy and Sorrow by Victor Vasnetsov, 1896. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Sirin and Alkonost were the mythical creatures that appeared in Slavic folk culture from the Middle Ages. The looks of these half-birds and half-women hint at their possible connection to the Ancient Greek legends about sirens. However, Sirin and Alkonost did not necessarily bring danger and demise to those who could hear them sing.
In most folkloric and artistic sources, both birds appear together and represent the dichotomy of human existence and the process of natural death and rebirth. Sirin, the dark-feathered and pale being, was the bird of sorrow that cries over everything lost and passed. Her counterpart, Alkonost, is a bright and joyful being with rosy cheeks who celebrates abundance and new beginnings.
According to legends, the two birds reveal themselves to humans on the Feast of Transfiguration in August, which in Eastern Europe is often called Apple Feast. Both creatures sit on apple trees, with Sirin mourning the end of summer and Alkonost laughing loudly, with her laughter blessing the apples and giving them healing powers.
According to written sources, the presence of Alkonost and Sirin was established in Slavic mythology after the spread of Christianity. Partially inspired by Greek and Byzantine sources, they were described as birds of Paradise, symbolizing divine providence. Although they never intended to harm humans, sometimes their singing could charm one’s soul out of their body and ascend it to heaven.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
