#navka

[vyvilha]

Can you tell me more about mavka and what her deal is? She reminds me of Scandinavian huldra from thr little I've heard and I'd love to learn more about her!:D

hello friend. a mavka, navka or nyavka is an undead forest spirit, one of type which ukrainians call the covered dead (заложні мерці) — spirits of people that died of unclean, improper death, and therefore couldn't finish the transition and weren't allowed to the orherworld. the name covered undead comes from the fact that in old times they weren't properly buried, and were left in forests covered by leaves and twigs.

generally mavky are envisioned as beautiful girls, although in some regions there are beliefs about male mavky (sometimes called didky). mavka looks perfectly human except for the fact that their backs lack skin and muscle, exposing their innards and spine. they aren't malicious, but are obliviously playful and can hurt people during their plays — tickle or dance you to death, drown, ward you off your tray. in some western regions it's also believed that time goes faster when encountering them — what is felt like several hours could actually be several hundred years.

navky live in forests and mountain caves, and they like to dance, weave, play and prank wanderers, especially young men. to ward off mavky valeriana, garlic and wormwood are used, as well as wearing your shirt inside out. like most undead spirits in ukrainian mythology, navky are most active during the green festival/rusalka week.

there is a ukrainian holiday called navsky velykden, or undead easter, celebrated at the first thursday after easter. in this day all mavky, rusalky, upyri and all the other unclean forces celebrate easter. at night during the holiday it was prohibited to visit churches, since celebrating undead could dismember you if spotted.

[dozydawn]

Tatiana Navka and Samvel Gezalian Free Dance, 1993.

Tanguera by Mariano Mores.

“Well, possibly the most difficult program so far technically, and skated with a good deal of aplomb.”

[desiderium-eden]

@on-dragons-wings

LET HER SWIM

Yes! The water! It calls to her!

"What if there are monsters in the water?!"

[saiwola]

[olivia2010kroth]

Сплетник: ледовое шоу "Вечера на хуторе" / Gossip: ice show “Evenings on the Farm”

Сплетник: ледовое шоу “Вечера на хуторе” / Gossip: ice show “Evenings on the Farm” Сплетник:Татьяна Навка представила в Москве своё новое мультимедийное ледовое шоу “Вечера на хуторе” по мотивам произведений Николая Гоголя. Премьера прошла во дворце спорта “Мегаспорт”. Шоу будет идти до 7 ян��аря (2024). Gossip:Tatyana Navka presented in Moscow her new multimedia ice show “Evenings on the Farm”,…

[shipshinaa]

Okay but

Black Pearl as mavka!

Mavkas are spirits in ukrainian folklore, yall can read some more about them under the cut

The spirits known by this term represented the souls of girls who had died unnatural, tragic or premature deaths, particularly unchristened babies. Mavkas often appear in the form of beautiful young girls who entice and lure young men into the woods, where they "tickle" them to death. Mavkas have no reflection in water, nor do they cast shadows. In some accounts, they were also said to help farmers by looking after cattle and driving out wild animals.

A subtype of the Mavkas are the Nyavkas, which behave the same except for having "no back", meaning that their spine and some other insides can be seen; the most defining feature between determining Mavkas and Nyavkas is whether or not the insides are visible from the back.

Mavkas and Nyavkas were believed to live in groups in forests, mountain caves, or sheds, which they decorated with rugs. They made thread of stolen flax and wove thin transparent cloth for making clothes for themselves. They loved flowers, which they wore in their hair. In the spring, they planted flowers in the mountains, to which they enticed young men, whom they tickled to death. On Pentecost (known as Navka's Easter, Ukrainian: На́вський Вели́кдень), they held games, dances, and orgies. A demon accompanied them on a flute or pipes.

[gposers]

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WEEKLY FEATURE WINNER!

Character Name: Navka Dustreaver Server: Lich Image Caption: Whiskey Blues

[fleurdeliet]

Slavic mythology AU

AU with Navka!Theon and Wurdulac!Ramsay

Short explanation:

Who is navka? It's a type of mermaid in Slavic mythology. Usually it's a young beautiful woman (but who cares, I want navka!Theon) who was drowned (often because of unrequited love) or it's a child who wasn't yet baptized and who was killed by their parent. They don't have a tail (as all Slavic mermaids); just a normal pair of legs but their backs are skinless - it's possible to see their spines and insides, including a non beating heart. They live in forest - in lakes and rivers. Sometimes they are depicted as having green hair with flowers in it. They lure men and drown them - as a revenge for their early death. Navkas can be saved 7 years after their death: with praying and baptism.

Who is wurdulac? It's something between a vampire and werewolf. They are dead. They can shape shift into a wolf or a fox. They drink blood and can eat dead bodies (can dig graves and consume rotten corpses). They live in cemeteries or in forests.

____________________________________

Theon was navka.

He lived in the woods near the big village, the place where he grew up with his family: his parents and his siblings. They weren't all happy and loving, but at least they were... Theon's life seemed easy then: fast and funny. However he hasn't enjoyed it enough before being killed by his own father. His father who noticed him kissing his friend goodbye. His male friend. In the lips - in a way men should not kiss each other. They had an argument, which ended with Theon being choked to death and buried outside of the village's cemetery. As Balon claimed that his son committed suicide.

Theon opened his eyes and was reborned as navka.

He quickly got used to enjoying his new life: smiling again, giggling... and not letting anyone touch his neck. He wasn't old Theon anymore: a young man with a whole life in front of him, a forever smile on his face and dressed nicely. But he found joy in taking revenge - flirting, luring men into his arms and drowning them to death. If he couldn't be saved and lost his life how could they live?

One day he met a man. Strange and cold. With eyes of a colour of snow. He was odd, smiling wrong, too bright for a traveler in a dark forest. But it's people who should be afraid, not Theon. Why not to get this scary man to his pond, kiss him in those thick lips before drowning him. The man agreed. Followed him easily. Still being calm and quietly smiling. Theon grabbed his hand, ensuring he wouldn't see his skinless back, and took a step...

Naive silly navka.

It wasn't human. It wasn't just a traveler who got lost alone in the woods. It was Ramsay. As Theon discovered later, Ramsay was a wurdulac, living with his father - the one who turned him into a monster. An old wurdulac who delved deeply into the darkest of magic. Ramsay knew that there were navkas in this forest and wanted to hunt, capture one of them: for the ingredients, as his father asked him. He needed a navka's luring powers. His tears, abilities, and his charming voice.

Ramsay kept Theon in cage. Making him feel pain - for his tears that his father needed for some potions. For his fingers - just a few of them as Roose needed navka's cold flesh. He made him lure other creatures to then see them suffer and die. A few times he started to pray. Theon wasn't sure if it would work - coming from such a dark, evil, soulless creature. But Ramsay never said the whole prayer, making Theon to understand: there's no way to escape and be rescued. "You shouldn't be sad that you'll be cursed," Ramsay said after killing one of the forest's innocent spirits. "You are already doomed – say thanks to your father".

Theon got used to his cage. Tiny. With a bucket full of still greenish water instead of a beautiful forest's pond. All he could do was just fade and wither. Ramsay saw it. Of course he saw it and suggested Theon to lurk several people – those who had amulets against wurdulacs. Theon did it and received a gift. He had to dig a big hole in the ground – a grave like. He thought it might be the end and wasn't sure if he's happy or not. But Ramsay made him cry – to feel it with his tears. Salty as a sea. A little pond just for his forest little creature.

Sometimes Ramsay brought women there. To Theon's pond. Drowning them, smiling and showing off. Turning them into navkas so his father could use their "spare" parts (something that would kill Theon instantly - like their cold hearts or spines). Theon never knew if he would be next. Falling in love, flirting and dying in his tears.

Once Ramsay took Theon to the village, made him to dress nicely, covering his back under the layers of woolen clothes and braiding his hair. He showed Theon his grave. Outside of the cemetery. A small hill with a simple sign that was put there by his sister: nothing personal. Just a name. Theon briefly remembered of his past self when he was alive, joyful and beautiful. Not a creature without a skin on his back and long greenish hair, tortured by his captor. Who was also the only one who gave him all his attention, talked to him and loved him in an odd weird way.

When they turned back they fucked for the first time. With Theon standing on his knees and his his head buried in long grass and fallen leaves. Ramsay touched his naked spine, put his fingers between ribs, squeezed his heart in his hand.

Theon knew that in that moment Ramsay loved him.

[sunskate]

2006 Olympic Compulsory Dance

this was fascinating - it was Ravensburger Waltz season from the last time the Winter Olympics were in Italy. they used to have TWELVE judges on championships panels. and the tech caller for this particular event was Andrzej Dostatni, who is now married to Elena Dostatni, the WASA coach of Neset/Markelov and formerly Flores/Desyatov

there were 24 teams at this event in Torino--the aesthetic was um different 😅

10 of 24 women wore tan/beige boots

Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio led after this segment:

lots of famous names, current coaches and officials. and a very involved crowd who booed some of the scores. 29 yo Romain Haguenauer in the k&c with Natalie Pechalat/Fabien Bourzat ⬇️

i always thought of the waltz patterns as graceful and floaty, but it's so technical and looks hard here lol the Ravensburger Waltz is 48 bars x 2 at 66 beats per minute - 66 bpm could be dreamy if you only do one step per bar. but in this pattern, a lot of times they have to do 2+1 or even harder, 1+1+1 steps per bar, so it ends up being nearly 200 bpm - all the teams were kicking up a lot of snow making such fast turns, and not all of them could get deep edges at this speed

i don't know if it's a quirk of old footage vs newer, but at this 2006 event the music is clocking at 66-68 bpm. but in 2016 Ravensburger SD season, the top teams were more like 64-66 bpm - there's a big difference in skating 192 bpm vs 204 for the individual beats

anyway, staying on the music, covering maximum ice while making big curves and skating close all look challenging at this speed- i'd love to learn more because some of these top scoring teams looked cleaner or had more beautiful presentation than others. like Barbara and Maurizio don't have the lines of Navka/Kostomarov, and Tanith and Ben had some moments of such total unison. the teams who don't appear to be actively pushing also look better - i like a lot about Delobel/Schoenfelder, but they slow down in the curves more than some of the teams above them here. Marie-France and Patrice have an airy light quality while still curving quite a bit, but he's powering them more than her. idk, just my half baked thoughts watching one compulsory event 😅

but the field as a whole had superior skating and partnering skills compared to now - even compared to 2016, 2006 looks stronger in these fundamental ways

[sansloii]

Though not quite as packed as it would be when the festivities officially begin, the streets of Alluka were still teeming with life and lights and noise. The citizens of the capital rushing about in a force of organized chaos. Last minute preparations to welcome visitors once more to the land of fairy tales. The people, seemingly running about recklessly (blindly even), manage to weave around the Exulan king. Quite used to navigating thick crowds of people. Some even manage to give Roderick a quick bow of the head in greeting before scurrying off with crates and boxes of who knew what. Some did bump into him though. A few kids. A couple drunk but harmless older men. And an unassuming woman. The hood of her cloak pulled up, not unlike some of the other passersby, as she muttered a rushed and quiet "Sorry" before getting lost among the people once more... And there it was. Light and floral, a scent of faint nostalgia. Of days long, long ago. Then there they were. A bit of pink peeking out between some stones off the main road. Flowers. To find any flowers at all in Navka was unheard of. But these ones were even stranger, if possible. The small stems growing in his direction as if reaching for him. Bluebells. Pink bluebells...

He fully expected Alluka to be brimming with activity in the hours leading up to the hunt, and he was not disappointed. People around him rushed about — putting up decorations and signage and hauling crates of supplies into storefronts — all hurrying to prepare themselves for imminent influx of travelers from all parts of the realm. Those that recognized him gave him a brief nod ( which he returned ), but most barely acknowledged him — which he didn't mind at all. A couple children brushed by, followed by some inebriated older men, but he regarded them with the same nonchalance that they offered him.

The very last passerby… is a little different, though.

The scent that hits his nose is very brief but — and maybe it's just a trick of the mind or something akin to that — it seems to last much longer than that. It's light, floral, and carries the memories of a moment that has long passed. He turns with the smell, saying almost nothing as he watches the hooded figure retreat quickly, and he's tempted to reach forward after her. Before the thought to do so becomes an action, she's gone and it's as though she was never there in the first place…

…and in her place are small, but quickly growing flowers that have pushed their way through the cobbled street. The stems and petals are unharmed, the little clusters of pink blooms opening up all at once.

Roderick has half a mind to rub at his eyes ( thinking he must be dreaming ), when the flowers seem to lean towards him. They straighten up when he closes the gap between he and the bluebells, but they resume their tipping and tilting the instant he bends down to pick one out of the stones. The rest gravitate towards his hand as he selects one from the middle, and he brings that bloom near to eye level. Carefully, as if he fears he may crush the stem, he turns the bloom in hand...focusing intently.

For a moment… just a moment… he pictures himself at home, in the open air. He has just the one flower — just the one bluebell — but that's all he needs.

The king extends an arm to offer it… and receives a touched smile in return.

Navkan Hunt | @desiderium-eden

[vyvilha]

what is a navje? I cant find it on Google

hello friend. navje (нави) or more common nav' (навь) in ukrainian folklore is a general word that describes undead spirits. it comes from the proto-slavic *navь meaning "dead". archaic ukrainian words for coffin (nava) and dead (navk), as well as the name of a very popular ukrainian mythological character navka are derived from it as well

[scourgefrontiers]

commission of a character named navka!!

commissions | ko-fi | shop | comics

[desiderium-eden]

It's her birth month!!

[saiwola]

Thinking about the Constantin family.

tw: child abuse (emotional, neglect and hints to physical), murder, violence

Alys' mother and father had a loveless, arranged marriage. Not an uncommon thing in Nefestrai. And the Groaja, as a culture, already weren't the most nurturing or sentimental people. Like most couples, after they had kids, the couple went about their own lives.

The father poured himself into his work, running one of the territories bordering Navka and dealing with the frequent conflicts there. Rarely interacting with his children, but the few times he did, he would continue the same strict perfectionist style as his own father. Focused on Cyprus, his eldest son. Praising him for how easily things like swordsmanship, magic, athletics, business and even piano came to him while also pressuring him to do more. Largely neglecting his daughters except to admonish them for being lacking (such as Alys' struggles with magic). Deep down, I wonder if he does care. That he's only so hard on them because he believed them to be capable. But ... I don't know.

Their mother ... well, she wasn't around much either. Often going out to spend her husband's money. Shopping, gambling, and her children suspected sleeping around as well. She believed that popping out kids was all she had to do. And she even made sure there were "back ups". Her job was done. So she "deserved" to spend the rest of her life in luxury. She often spent more time in Valliki than her home. When she thought of her daughters, it was as extensions of herself. She favored pretty, sociable Diantha. Claiming she was practically a clone of her mother. Loved to show her off. And often pushed her young pretty daughter to soften up various men (friends of hers or people she wanted things from).

Alys however did not look like her thin and slender mother. She did not charm a crowd like her. (Alys' awkwardness was even portrayed as her being "slow" by her mother.) So she was an embarrassment. Often kept hidden when possible. With her mother having the servants "make sure" Alys would not embarrass the family further. Things like being forced to practice the same piano piece over and over again, unable to leave until it was perfect. Strict diets and etiquette lessons. But Alys could never measure up and her mother made sure she knew it.

And while in many cases, the siblings were pitted against each other (by their parents, family friends and even the servants), it didn't work to separate them like it would've for most.

Because with their parents rarely around, Cyprus and Alys were forced to take on the roles of father and mother for all three of them. There were servants and nannies, yes, but the two elder siblings were the ones to provide the emotional support they were all lacking.

It was Cyprus who...

taught Alys and Diantha how to shoot (and was so proud when they both surpassed him)

handled the hiring and firing of tutors for the three of them

punished and made examples of servants who hurt or disrespected his sisters

scrutinized and threatened Diantha's suitors

took his sisters out on hunting trips as he warned them about men and taught them "how to deal with dogs"

bought his sisters presents in place of their parents

was the one to manage and distribute an allowance for him and his siblings

sent Bastien in after her when their father abandoned Alys to the Whispering Wood

hid Alys when she was fleeing Orkaiis' proposal

killed their mother when she allowed Orkaiis to take Alys back to Valliki

told Alys, on their wedding day, to kill her husband or anyone in the royal family and that he would take the blame

is willing to commit treason for his sisters

helped Chris and Charlie when Alys tried to smuggle them out of Nefestrai

It was Alys who...

stayed with and comforted her siblings when they had nightmares or were scared

would keep an eye on the state of her brother and sister's things and clothing, making sure they got repaired or replaced before it was a dire necessity

baked cakes for her siblings' birthdays

often used her own allowance to make sure her siblings, but Diantha, especially had the best things to wear

actually scared off Diantha's suitors

listened, calmed and reassured to Cyprus and Diantha when they were stressed

took care of Cyrus' wounds

took the hand of the man who touched Dia without her consent

convinced Orkaiis to kill his father, not because the man had humiliated and hurt her but because after he was done, he made a comment about how he thought her sister was pretty

decided to stay with the Lecardes, not wanting her siblings to get in trouble

And it was Diantha who....

used her social skills to collect information and stand up for her siblings in society

got revenge on any noblewoman who spoke bad about Alys

put herself in front when it came to social obligations so that Alys didn't have to

often acts as a mediator whenever her siblings get into fights with other people in public

was the loudest when it came to telling Alys she didn't need to go to Valliki when her magic was discovered

distracted the guards whenever Cyprus needed to speak to Alys without the Lecarde's knowledge

helped Chris and Charlie when Alys tried to smuggle them out of Nefestrai

I just love siblings who, when family or outside forces try to pit them against each other, decide to stick together even more.

[olivia2010kroth]

Сплетник: Байкал / Gossip: Baikal

Сплетник: Байкал / Gossip: Baikal Зачем знаменитости ездят на Байкал, что там делать зимой и летом Why celebrities go to Baikal, what to do there in winter and summer Байкал — одна из достопримечательностей России, ведь это самое глубокое пресноводное озеро в мире. Baikal is one of the sights of Russia, because it is the deepest freshwater lake in the world. Путешественники едут сюда — на…

[soraeia]

"Didn't we have Elliott sail to Navka once...?"

Sounding almost concerned. "Did...did Elliott never return?"

"Hey, don't worry now. I'm sure he'll---"

"He sailed to Navka. On my nicest ship!? The imbecile!"