#strzygoń

[trupowieszcz-moved]

fun facts about (polish) vampire folklore because i'm too autism

(disclaimer: my source for all of this is the book "Upiór. Historia naturalna" by Łukasz Kozak i'm not pulling this out of my ass)

The word "vampire" came from a mistranscribed Serbian word, written down by Austrian officials informing about a panic among the locals, who claimed that during a plague their dead were rising and biting them and spreading the plague further

In Poland, the words used to describe what later transformed into a "vampire" in literature were: upiór (and variations thereof - the word came from Ukrainian, and the Ukrainians got it from Turkish "ubyr"), strzyga (f)/strzygoń (m) and wieszczy (m)/wieszczyca (f). "Upiór" was used in the southeast, "strzyga" around the central regions, "strzygoń" (as well as strzyga) specifically in Lesser Poland (Małopolska) and "wieszczy" in Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) and in Kashubia. "Wąpierz" was not a word until some writer in the 19th century made it up!

The upiór actually very rarely drank blood. It happened, sure, but a much more bloodthirsty creature was zmora/mara. However, upiory often drank milk, stealing it from cows and horses. Both are life-giving bodily fluids, after all.

The above might make you think about witches, who were often blamed with stealing or spoiling milk, and you wouldn't be far off. You see, you had to be born as an upiór (these ones weren't contagiously biting!), and while you were alive, it would give you various magical powers, like clairvoyance and detecting the dead upiory, and so the upiór was practically a synonym of a sorcerer or witch. Of course, the sources vary, but depending on who you asked, they could control weather bringing heavy rains or droughts, see the future, know literally everything and so on. Those so-called "living vampires" knew who they were since birth and were often helpful, until they died.

After an upiór died, that's when the bad things happened. They disappeared from their graves, destroyed churches, broke candles, brought plague upon the people, scared their neighbors, and if one puffed in your face, you would soon die. They were said to be able to walk around with their decapitated head, so anti-vampiric burials often had to be very thorough and decapitation wasn't enough.

The signs that were supposedly telling of a living vampire were, among others: being born with teeth, being born in a caul, not having armpit or pubic hair BUT having a hairy chest, not having undergone confirmation (i'll come back to that in a moment), having a very red face and easily and often blushing (not being pale!), or being born with a deformed foot.

Not having participated in the confirmation sacrament was especially damning, because it was believed that upiory had two souls (and two hearts). When they were baptized, only one soul was being saved, and the confirmation sacrament was supposed to protect the second soul. This, of course, was extremely against the catechism, so the first "official", church-related sources recording those beliefs had to invent another "backstory" for upiory, and they claim that an upiór is a dead person specifically, who was given to the devil at birth, the baptism saving their soul, but their body still belonging to the dark forces, which was why they rose from their graves - the devil basically hijacked their corpses.

I won't make this post much longer but I will GLADLY answer any questions because this is my special interest and I just came back from an exhibition where the author of the aforementioned book talked about all of that so. me right now ⬇️ (readmore so you dont get continuously blased with the gif under it)

[1-marigold-1]

Grian but make him a bloodsucking creechur from slavic folklore i dunno

"Strzygoń, is a male demon [female is called Strzyga] that according to Slavic mythology, every Strzygoń was initially a human being. Strzygoń is an eerie creature, often with bird and owl-like features. It has big claws and is merciless in nature, Strzygoń in order for his demonic body to survive, needs to hunt humans and drink their blood constantly. Barns, woods, and crossroads are his favorite places to be during the night. The word had it that people who were born with two sets of teeth, with no hair in their armpits, and with a unibrow or some kind of a birthmark on their back were the ones to turn into Strzyga/Strzygoń after they die. Allegedly, these people were also born with two hearts and two souls. The word goes, once a person dies (usually at a young age), one of their two hearts stops beating. The other one lives on and gives life to their second, demonic nature. Strzygoń remembers his human life. Therefore, he will start hunting those who mocked him or somehow hurt him before he died. "

So yep it's Grian, because 1) Bird like features 2) all the watcher stuff gives me the "transformation into a monster" vibe, which is kinda related to Strzyga/Strzygoń stuff 3) he has the vibes he's a menace

Also Mumbo is a Vampire or Upiór can't decide which yet even though they are very similiar [Vampire fits better but,,,, slavic blood-sucking buddies,,,???]

Yeah here I am drawing mcyt as some mythology/folklore creechurs and monsters

anyways Doc as a chimera sounds like something good to draw probably going to do something with that

[sioster]

Wondering about what kind of thing Wil is

So far I think he can be either an upiór or a strzygoń (strzyga)

[trans-p03g]

👉👈 would you mind sharing some Folklore AU lore? It looks really cool and interesting :D

I'm real tired so I'm gonna just copy-paste my discord messages, I've been meaning to post this for a while so might as well fkfnfnf

It's gonna be LONG because I've got to explain the species before I even get to the story

Also thank you!

TW for mentions of death and cannibalism

The story takes place in Leshy's forest, which is based off of Notecka Forest. A mostly dry forest placed on big dunes, made up mostly of pines and some birches, with the rivers Noteć and Warta running through it and some ribbon lakes here and there.

Leshy

He's a leszy (leshy) (also known as borowy, boruta, borowiec, gajowy, leśnik, leśny dziad, dziad borowy and wilczy pasterz (shepherd of wolves) (these are all mostly combinations of words for forest, forest rangers and old men), obviously. The rulers and protector of their forests, they're a neutral spirits that generally don't care much for humans unless provoked. Leshys take forms of huge men whose size depends on how tall and helthy the trees in their forests are. They are shapeshifters, notably taking forms of brown bears, eagle owls and wolves. They could mimick the sounds of animals and wind. As mentioned they were the protectors of the forest and if they didn't like you, they could make you get lost in the forest and lead you towards predators. Similarly, they could be appeased with a gift, usually of some produce like wheat. People would traditionally leave them gifts to assure a safe travel through their forests. Hunters and lumberjacks also gave them gifts to, you know, not be killed for tampering with the leszy's forest.

In modern times they're also depicted as forst rangers with a riffle or a bat strapped to their backs.

In this AU specifically (aka stuff I made up); Leshy's species don't have names, which is why he's just referred to as Leshy. His apperence depends on the seasons. He also blooms when he's happy/in love, the flowers that sprout on him are corn poppies which are the national flower of Poland.

Leshy is a pretty lenient dude, letting many different spirits live in his forest even when they cause trouble or don't respect him much (cough cough P03 cough cough). Even if he's not as respected as he should be, he's pretty much THE guy people come to with problems and who has the final say in decision coz. you know. his forest.

P03

They're a strzyg, also known as strzyga or strzygoń (depending on the gender) (striga in english). They're evil spirits commonly refered to as polish vampires, though the only thing they share is their blood sucking ways (and I mean, we already have a proper vampire).

Strigas are born as normal human - well, almost. They're children born with two hearts, two rows of fully developed teeth and two souls. Other traits they had was hairless pits and unibrows (kinda a weird detail but okay).

They're pretty much normal humans during their first life but after they die, one soul passes on while the other stays in the body and reanimates it. At first they're just humans with more pale blue-ish skin, but with time they become more monstrous and owl-like.

They can shapeshift into owl, which is how they find their victims. They feed on humans, first drinking all of their blood then devouring their insides.

They very often targeted the people that have wronged them in their first life. Which makes the fact that strigas were often ostracised, drove away from villages or even killed seem like a very dumb idea. Even if none of these things happened, strigas would often die very young and rarely lived past their 20s. Just a fate thing, I think?

There are many ways to kill a striga, either doing these when they first died or finding their body during the day and burying it in one of the following ways: burying it face down in the ground, cutting its head off and placing it between their legs and facing down, burying them with lots of small things like rice, grain or pennies as for whatever reason strigas have a compulsory need to count them (which is also a good way to get away from them, just spill some rice and run for it, they'll have to stop and count it), burying them with stakes put through their mouth and each limb, putting a flint in their mouth, burning, slapping them with your left hand, burying them under a big rock, putting a card in their mouth with 'jesus' written on it, and finally, ringing the church bell which made them turn to wheat. (Not all of these methods are canon to the AU and are just hearsay)

Things I added to this: P03 is constantly hungry and cold, but can eat animals to deal with his hunger between his usual meals. They need to be buried in a very specific way to die, just dealing normal damage won't work, which is why they were able to survive beheading and losing 3 limbs.

P03 was a medieval serf peasant, meaning he was bound to the land he worked on, lived on it, didn't get paid and could only be married off to another peasant with the land owner's permission. Just very close to being a slave but not completely as they couldn't be traded or sold.

One autumn, they were hit with early frost which killed most of their wheat. P03 knew he was probably not going to survive the winter anyway, plus being fed up with this life, he grabbed some wheat and headed to the nearest forest, asking the resident leshy to help him...disappear. But was continuously turned down.

It was basically just "Do you need safe passage through my forest?" "Nah but you could make me get lost and let the wolves eat me" "What the fuck, no?????"

Anyway so P03 was right, he died just a few weeks later. Or, well, got horribly sick and was buried alive as people often were back then. They dug themselves out and wandered for a while, eventually ending up in Leshy's forest where he collapsed from exhaustion and eventually froze to death during the night.

Leshy found them the next day and brought them to Grimora. He reluctantly let them stay and the two ended up working out a system; if anybody caused trouble Leshy would lead them to P03 and they'd take it from there.

Also the two have a cute romance that ends in marriage and then divorce because the two of them being canonly divorced in Polish Folklore AU is somehow SO funny to me

Nowadays they have a very bad relationship. Also instead of dressing up like a normal fucking person P03 just threw some modern clothes over their medieval ones.

Grimora

She's a baba jaga (baba yaga). They're mostly seen as evil, but can be neutral or even helpful spirits. Old ladies that lived deep in the woods in their huts with chicken feet and flew on mortars. They're usually blind or have very bad eyesight due to their age, with one skeleton foot. They age a year for each question they're asked, which is why they're not usually helpful. They can deage themselves through different means, in some stories by consuming blue roses and in some by consuming little kids (fun diet).

They can help people too, sometimes playing maternal role or a teacher to young women. Often assiociated with animals like owls, black cats or ravens.

(As a funfact; some experts believe baba yaga was once a goddess of death or a similar being in slavic mythology, warped over time by christian influence into an evil baby eating grandma)

So obviously, Grimora is the kind sort of baba jaga. She has a good relationship with Leshy and often invites him over for some tea. She also wanted to straight up kill P03 when they first showed up in the forest because she was worried a striga would cause problems, fun!

She's actually pretty young for a baba jaga, only older than P03 by like 100-300 years.

Magnificus

He's boruta/błotnik (devil boruta/mud). There are a lot of water spirits that often get confused with one another and this one is no different, błotnik shares a lot of similarities with other water spirits like wodnik. Technically boruta and błotnik are different things but błotnik has so little info on them that I am combining the fuckers.

Błotniki are male swamp dwelling spirits, described as having long green beards and hair, their bodies covered in algae, dirt and fish scales. They're rarely found in folklore and are often seen as a swamp dwelling wodnik/vodyanoy, leshy or chort. They had hobbies similar to any other polish water spirit, aka sit at the bottom of a body of water and drown any poor fucker that came a bit too close.

Boruta, specifically tlking about Boruta błotnik, was a rich man turned demon that dwelled in the basements of castles, pushing people to do evil deeds. Baruta błotnik took a form of a giant bird often seen in swamps and similar habitats.

In this AU, Magnificus was once a noble man, though nobody knows how he turned into what he is today and he refuses to tell. He's pretty territorial and grumpy, only really tolerates Pike, Goobert and Lonely Wizard on his turf. Has an alright relationship with Leshy and Grimora, there's mutual respect there even if he's a bit of a dick. He often shittalks Leshy with P03 though, that is if he's not trying to drown the striga for fun or turning them into a target practice for any of his 3 pupils.

okay, I don't have all the species picked out for the other characters but here's the idea, with some notable exceptions like Lonely Wizard and Angler:

grimora's ghouls - household spirits

p03's workers - air spirits

leshy's subordinates - forest spirits

mags' pupils - water spirits

okay, rapid round for the things i do managed to figure out the species for:

Pike - rusalka, a female water spirit who hates mankind and loves to fuck with them (and drown them)

Goobert - either topielec or poronnik, the first one is a male water spirit who likes to drown people and the second one is a spirit of a drowned infant or aborted fetus that loves to, you guessed it, drown people

Lonely Wizard - bobo/bobok/babok/bebok, a tiny fucking...freak with long limbs that chased and scared children, could be appeaced with food

Prospector's hound - bies, a beast symbolising chaos and nature

angler - wodnik/vodyanoy, naked old men resembling frogs that loved to drown people

Okay so for the story

Kaycee was Luke's friend, she loved to travel and research folklore creatures and she'd often ramble about it to Luke. She kept a notebook of her research and doodles.

Though one time the curiosity finally got her killed, as she found herself locked in a small, old and ruined basement with a basilisk. She knew better than to look into its eyes, but that's not much help when the beast also has sharp talons and a beak. At the end as she was cornered she willingly looked into its eyes, figuring being turned into stone was a better fate than being mauled and ripped to pieces by an overgrown rabid chicken.

Luke didn't take the news well. He got her notebook from Kaycee's mum. He was considering continuing her life's work to honour her.

As first steps forward it and to maybe consider where to go from there and clear his head, he decided to take a few weeks long camping trip to a forest. Preferably as far away from home as possible, he just needed to get out of there.

He eventually ended up choosing one national park and, knowing a bit from Kaycee, decided to humour her beliefs and leave a gift for a leshy living there. He chose a small, pretty rock that he placed on a stone at the edge of the forest and briefly addressed the leshy.

Leshy, being kind of sad that the tradition of leaving him gifts died down over time, was ecstatic over the rock and decided it was his job to protect that human now.

Cue Luke having a life crisis in the woods while Leshy is curbstomping P03 and Magnificus in the background to keep them from killing him.

some small funfacts:

-p03 fucking hates nobility so he and mags don't get along

-leshy was the one who taught p03 how to fly

-leshy also used to take care of him, like bring him snacks or making sure he was warm and comfortable in winter

-though they no longer get along, leshy got p03 prosthetic legs made of wood he himself grew so they could move more easily as a human

-grimora and leshy carry around small bags of rice just in case p03 decides to be annoying

-p03 likes to piss grimora off by asking very stupid or unecessary questions, but he usually gets cut off in the middle by grim just holding up the rice sack as a threat

-kayce was in this forest before and made friends with leshy, he later on makes friends with luke and recognises the notebook he has and the handwriting in it

-luke is stupidly lucky and keeps getting away with shit he shouldn't. like avoiding being eaten by p03 by shooting a random question out of nowhere, which just happened to be divorce/love life related, and he just got so stupidly lucky about the fact that p03 and leshy were divorced

-aside from leshy, p03 was the one who mostly prevented mags and other characters from killing luke, just so he could be the one to kill and eat him

unfortunately for p03, his own form is a perfect grabbing size for leshy and very, very throwable

fill in the blanks

more funfacts

-leshy is protective of every inhabitant of his forest, even p03 and magnificus. he and p03 might have a long and complicated history but if somebody wants to hurt p03 they have to go through leshy first

-magnificus is the embodiment of "GET OFF MY FUCKING LAWN" but in evil water spirit that drowns people way

-mags has a one-sided rivalry with angler, he's angry at the guy for being in his river/lakes, meantime angler just couldn't care less

[the-brave-and-the-dumb]

I wanted to start a thread: places, pieces of culture, literature, festivals, events in history, people from Eastern-European and Balkan countries (any ethnicity). I'll put a lot of countries in tags which I hope is okay.

Since for so long we were focused on western countries, we grew blind to the gems our countries are. We are tired of our politics and politicians but our countries are so much more than that.

Disclaimer: no nationalism here. You can love your country/culture without being a nationalist. LGBT friendly. No sexism. No racism. No xenophobia.

I'll start: although vampires are associated with Romania, their origins are Jewish and introduced to Polish and Ukrainian culture by rabbis living there.

The name vampire don't have origins in Polish or Ukrainian, tho. It comes from Serbian, because this belief traveled down to Serbia, Romania, Hungary, etc. In Polish it was upiór (closest translation to English would be ghoul), wieszczy (used mostly in Ukraine) or strzygoń. In polish words are flexible and differs when changing from singular to plural so I'll stick to English way. Also, since I am Polish, I'll probably stick to Polish versions of names which I am sorry for but sometimes it's difficult to google and translate such obscure subject.

These entities are related to cholera epidemic, so very places of origin of upiórs may be pointed as Tuchla (Тухля) and Sławsko (Славське).

As Łukasz Kozak from University of Poznań states, upiór could be of any gender (I will bring it up later) and at first it wasn't them drinking blood. People who killed someone believing it was an upiór, were drinking upiór's blood to be immunized to becoming one and to sicknesses in general. A lot of people killed "for being an upiór" were Catholic priests – one of the oldest reports of such event was judgment of priest Michał of Grabownica and it's dated on 16th century. Which leads us to another important note: upiórs were not in the legends only. There are court reports stating people were sentenced to death for not being human.

While upiór and wieszczy and strzygoń are the same name for one entity, it is believed first ones often were mischievous whole strzygoń often came "back" to the family they had when alive and acted very normal, farmed and could even conceive a child.

The last king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski lived in Grodno (Гродна) after his abdication and his letters are full of reports of villagers killing each others for being upiórs. It was in 18th century, mind you.

Given the fact one of the most important polish author, Władysław Reymont, wrote a novel called "Vampire" (his stories were only about everyday life of villagers, since he was one himself, educated on his own, so it's a fantasy horror novel but taking a lot from his native folklore), published in 1911, it seems the belief in upiórs was strong in former Kingdom of Poland (Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, but I'm not sure about these beliefs being strong in Lithuania) in 19th and 20th century.

What could be very interesting, upiórs had two souls, which made it possible to them to change their gender. Was that weird in Slavic folklore? Not at all. Huculszczyzna (ukr. Гуцу́льщина) folklore mention that boy can turn into a girl or girl turn into a boy if they stand on a place where the rainbow touch the ground:

"веселка (rainbow; here written in polish as wesełycia) drinks water and if at that exact place it touch the ground a boy stands, he will turn into a girl and if a girls stand there, she will be turned into boy (Rożeń Mały/Малий Рожин – place of origin of this legend).

[blackwaxidol]

Valin of Sao deserves everything... gift him your Ghost 💙

[ayamari-no-goshi]

I was going to make a post about Revenants, but, you know what, this is just going to be a post about the number of BS ways one can become a Revenant and/or vampire (as the folklore isn’t always clear) in Slavic and Balkan folklore. I’ve only included ones where I’m aware of how they’re created. There are a lot of revenant/vampiric creatures in this part of the world than are listed here.

Please note, in some areas of a country, the various terms are interchangeable, but are very different entities in other areas of the same country. You will also see a lot of similar words - this is due to language similarities. Also, the idea of 2 souls appears a lot - folk who have this are also said to have 2 hearts

Also, Hungary is not considered a Slavic country and will not be included.

Long post, so line break:

Albania: Note: while not excusable, this was an area where a lot of damage was done during the Ottoman conquests and was part of the Ottoman empire until 1912. Please keep that in mind

Liogat/Liougat/Ljugat : created upon the death of all Albanians of Turkish descent. Does not matter how they lived their lives

Sampiro: created upon the death of all Albanians of Turkish descent. Can also be created by Albanians who committed an “unnatural act” in life. Examples are, bestiality, homosexuality, prostitution, transvestism, heterosexuality with a Turkish person, consuming meat handled by a Turk, being a habitual liar, or being a professional thief

Shtriga: a vampiric witch and not actually dead. Created from a woman who has become evil through envy or never marrying.

Vryolakas: created when an animal like a cat or dog jumps over the body before burial, person dies by murder or suicide, a person eats meat from an animal killed by a werewolf, or was an evil magic user

Belarus:

Mjertovjec: created when a witch or werewolf died. Uniquely similar to the Filipino Manananggal

Bosnia:

Blut Aussauger (originally from Bosnia, but brought into German lore.. and the German term is what’s used): created from either tricking/force feeding people to eat its burial dirt, eating meat from an animal a wolf killed, committing suicide, dies unbaptized, dies a witch, leads an immoral life, or if a nun walks over the grave (wtf?)

Bulgaria: Note: It’s very common for these creatures to take 40 days to form after death in Bulgarian lore.

Krvoijac -  created from a person who drinks wine or smokes during Lent.

Obour/Obur: traditions varied. Sometimes this ran in families. Sometimes it was created from someone who died suddenly, specifically of murder. Depending on region, this term can refer to 8 distinctly different creatures.

Opyrb/Opirb: created from folk who had improper burial rites, had a cat or dog jump over the dead body, a shadow fell on it before burial (I have no idea how this is prevented), a violent death, or sometimes evil people.

Ustrel/Istral: created from a child born on Saturday but died before being baptized.

Croatia:

Kosci: created from the death of a drowning victim, adulterer, or murderer

Kozlak: created from a child who was weaned before its time and died

Pijavica: created from a man who committed incest with his mother, or a particularly evil person

Vrukolak: (from Dalmatian region) - created when the victim of a Vrukolak dies, by being murdered without anyone witnessing the crime, or when a cat or dog jumps over an unburied corpse

Former Yugoslavia (Czech Republic and Slovakia)

Muroi - created from an evil person. Also similar to a Banshee - rings bells and calls the names of folk, who end up dying.

Nelapsi - specific to the Zemplin district. Created from someone with 2 souls

Upir - created from someone with 2 souls. Some areas state they were a witch in life.

Greece - included simply due to how old the legend is. Reported in ancient Greece.

Vrykolakas: traditionally revenants. Created by improper burial rites, something was left unfulfilled, they were cursed, or were seeking revenge against things something done to them or their families.

Macedonia:

Note: while not excusable, this was an area where a lot of damage was done during the Ottoman conquests and was part of the Ottoman empire until 1912. Please keep that in mind.

Ariogourouno: created from wicked Turkish people who never ate pork

Vryolakas: created when an animal like a cat or dog jumps over a corpse before burial, when a person dies by murder or suicide, if a person eats meat that came from an animal that was killed by a werewolf, or when an evil person who used magic dies

Poland: As a note: areas Poland have a history of looking for signs upon birth to mark folk as something similar to a wise man or shaman. Over years, these signs influenced some of these legends.

Mwere: specifically of Kashubian lore of north central Poland – created from the death of an unbaptized children. Girls are more likely to become one

Ohyn: made from children born with a caul and teeth and died shortly after birth

Strzyga/Striga/Strzygoń - person born with 2 lines of teeth and/or 2 souls becomes one upon death

Upiór - a person born with 2 lines of teeth and/or 2 souls or someone who had a defining feature marking them as ‘off’ becomes one upon death. Or, folk cursed before death, dying suddenly, dying in childbirth, or having a grave desecrated could also create one. Also, in some areas, it’s specifically stated they’re made when a male child who was born with teeth dies. Examples of what was ‘off”: being born with a caul, being a red head, being left handed, having a strange mark on the body, etc.

Vjesci: created from a person born with a caul or teeth renounces God on his or her last breath.

Wieszczy – made when a child born with a cleft palate and either a caul or teeth dies. As a side note: this creature is similar to a Banshee

Wili – created when a bride dies on her wedding day

Romania: Note: there are a lot of regional variations of the word Strigoi. Also, the term Moroi sometimes appears, but the descriptions of it are so varied its hard to place exactly what this term references.

Moloi - created when an illegitimate child is killed by one of its parents

Muroni - created when a person dies a violent death, was a magic user in life, was a child born out of wedlock to parents born out of wedlock in life, or died from a Muroni attack

Pricolic: can be created from a child dies before being baptized, or person burns a porridge spoon, or sweeps dust from the home out of a doorway and into the setting sun (that is insanely specific). BTW, this is the undead variety. The wolf variety… is born of an incestuous relationship and has a tail

Strigoi - there are both living and dead variations of this entity. Living Strigoi are sometimes considered witches or sorcerers, but the 2 soul tradition also comes up. If there is a 2nd soul, it slips out at night and causes havoc. Dead Strigoi (strigoi mort) bring misfortune, illness, and death to their families. Examples of how one can be created: suicide, cursed by a witch, born with extra nipple or tail, have a life full of sin, never married, be born as the seventh son of the seventh son or seventh daughter of the seventh daughter ((this can also make werewolves)), child born out of marriage, born too early, died before baptized, having red hair and blue eyes, being born with a caul...

Strigol: created when a magic user dies

Strigoiul Muronul: created when child born out of wedlock to parents born out of wedlock dies. Always a redheaded boy

Varacolaci: can run in families. Can also be created from an unbaptized child who dies, or a person who commits suicide.

Russia:

Eretik: created from the death of a human sorcerer

Inovercy: created upon the death of a person not practicing Russian Orthodox

Kudlac/Kudlak: created upon the death of person born with a red or dark colored caul.

Upierci: created from someone who committed suicide, died violently, or practiced witchcraft

Upierczi: created when a witch or heretic dies

Upyr: created upon the death of a heretic, sorcerer, witch, or a child born of the union of a werewolf and a witch

Viesczy: created when a person born with a caul or teeth or is the child of a witch and werewolf dies

Serbia:

Jedogonja: created from a person killed by a Jedogonja or the disease it can spread

Mullo/Muli: (Specifically from Roma who live in Serbia): created when a person dies suddenly of an unnatural cause or did not have proper funeral rites.

Nekrstenici : created from the death of an unbaptized child

Vlkodlak: created by when a man under 20 who was a murder, perjurer, or had improper relations with his mother dies, or if he was killed by a werewolf, or if he ate meat from an animal slain by a werewolf before death

Vukodlak : created when a heretic, magic user, or werewolf dies. Can also be created from someone who commits suicide or was murdered.

Slovenia - did not find any distinctly unique to Slovenia that are stated to be created from people

Ukraine - did not find any distinctly unique to the Ukraine that are stated to be created from people

Creatures found in lore of multiple countries:

Lampir/Lampiger/Lampijer/Lepir (Bosnia/Montenegro/Serbia): created from the first person who dies from an epidemic or plague

Navi (Bulgaria/Poland/Russia/Slovenia): created from the death of an unbaptized child or a drowning victim

Veshtitza (Montenegro/Serbia): created from a woman who practiced magic in life

Vompir/Vompiras (Macedonia/Bulgaria): created when a person is improperly mourned or buried, dies in disgrace, or passes on in ‘an unnatural way’ such as childbirth or suicide.

Vudkolak (southern Slavic countries): created when a werewolf dies, or if a bird flies over an unburied corpse

Creature of unclear Slavic lore

Kruvnik: created when a person was not properly mourned or does not have proper burial rites, committed suicide or was evil. Sometimes this is a person with 2 souls. Very neat side note with this one. They sometimes return to their wives. If the wife accepts him for 3 years, he will become human again.

Sources:

The Vampire Book: the encyclopedia of the Undead (3rd edition): by J. Gordon Melton

Night Creatures. The Enchanted World. Time-Life Books

Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology by Theresa Bane (the full book can be found for free online)

[captain-moonlady]

Striga and bird armor

I finished watching the last season of Castlevania about a week ago. And I was completely in love with Striga’s day armour. It was beautiful, powerful and really birdy.

And I headcanon that her face mask is made of amber, because it was used as talisman of (among many other things) protection against external factors, negative energy and to shield its wearer from any danger.

It was also supposed to help you find a lover, so, you know ( ��° ͜ʖ ͡°)

But, I’m not writing this post to talk about amber. I’m writing it to talk about birds.

You see, when I saw the shape of Striga’s helmet, patterns and additions to her armor shaped like bird skulls and feathers, claws-like gauntlets, etc. It didn’t hit me as anything spectacular.

Like, well, her name is Striga, it’s obvious she’ll be bird-themed.

And today, while watching random videos on YouTube, I realized, that this obvious reference is not so obvious for other people, because popculture (and from it, the most of the world) knows strigas as those bad girls:

And don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the Witcher, games, TV shows, doesn’t matter, I’ve read the whole saga when I was in grade school (I was like 12-13 at the time, borrowed it from my older cousin, reading all the sexy times was fun and cringey at the same time).

But the first Witcher story wasn’t the first place, where I met strzyga.

You see, when I was a kid, I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s. I mean, I almost lived there. And, my grandma, like other grandmas from tiny Polish villages, liked to gossip with her friends. And one of them loved to tell us all the types of ghost stories. About the phantom, upiór, haunting acementary nearby, about a strange fog appearing on the photos taken in places where smugglers were executed during illegal border crossing, etc.

She told us folk tales, about płanetniks dragging clouds through the sky and that the bells in our church were always ringing during thunderstorms to scare them off. That, if we leave food outside for too long, krasnoludki - dwarfs - will take it.

And sometimes she mentioned a bird-like monster, kidnapping sheep and drinking blood of children. To scare us, of course. Female monsters were called strzyga, and male monsters strzyg or strzygoń. They were similar to vampires, but more animalistic, with bird claws and owl-like face.

So, when I read the first Witcher story, many years later, I imagined striga more like this:

Credit: https://www.deviantart.com/gwallchmai/art/Strix-Strzyga-60856403

The word “strzyga” or “striga” is said to come from Latin “strix” which means bird-like demon or witch (and it’s also a genus of owls in Strigidae family).

There are many versions of strzygas, some are more bird-shaped, ape-shaped, some look like an angry vampire. They are vampiric demons, which are sometimes mistaken with zmora nocna (night mare), the type of demon who invades your sleep and causes sleep paralysis. They mostly seek revenge because they were mistreated during their life and didn’t get a proper burial.

How to become strzyga? You had to be born with two sould. Or, more precisely, twosouls, two hearts and two row of teeth. You could also:

be born with teeth

have monobrow

have no armpit hair in adulthood

have en caul birth

have a birthmark on your back

sleepwalk

talk to yourself

So, to sum up - many things. Such people, if they died, had their second soul awoken and became strzygas. They had to be buried with their face down to the earth (so if strzyga wakes up and starts to dig, it will dig itself deeper, not crawl back to the surface). To prevent a child from turning into strzyga, you could also baptize them with two names, one for each soul (fun fact, I was baptized with names, I wonder what will happen afrer I die :D).

Credit: https://www.deviantart.com/martaemilia/gallery

You can defeat strzyga, but it’s unnaturally strong and fast. You can outsmart it, slap with left hand, catch it on your waistband (my favourite!). You can also prevent it from leaving its coffin if you leave there many very small objects, like coins, grains of sand, seed - so after awakening, strzyga will start to cound them and it will take the whole night.

You can also kill it like an usual vampire - with a stick. Or, like you could see in the Witcher, spend a night in its coffin.

So, after reading all this, I hope you’ll understand why I wasn’t suprised at all seing our dear and mighty Striga in her day armor. I hopeit was purposeful and a nice funfact for people knowing a bit about Slavic mythology or - like it was in my case - growing up with it.

[clanny-the-monster-fanatic]

Any headcanons on Strzyga or Strzygoń?

I’ve never read about them till now, so I’ll do my best with these headcanons!

-Strzyga usually like to stay in their owl forms once their other soul awakens them from death.

-Those who are disguised as owls usually have either milky, black, or red eyes. And their fur is matted and their beak is caked in blood from the feasts they might’ve had that night.

-They also have an avian form they’ll usually take on, with wings and sharp talons. Many like to take on such a form so their victims see them at their most terrifying before they die.

-In their undead form they’re usually hairless and pale, with long pointy ears. They often steal ragged blankets, towels, or cloaks to hide themselves as much as they can.

-Unlike vampires, stabbing a strzyga’s chest with a wooden steak won’t kill them. You’ll have to stab them in both of their hearts.

-Sometimes a tiny piece of the soul that’s supposed to move onto the afterlife stays behind and is absorbed by the other soul, allowing a strzyga to retain a lot of their humanity.

-These “more humane” creatures often learn to live deep in the forests so they don’t kill any humans.

-On rare occasions one may hear them cry for the life they never got to fully experience; years of persecution and isolation really takes a toll on them.

-They hate being compared to vampires, especially in the modern times where they’re considered “popular”. Mistaking a stryzga for one could be your last mistake.

[Romance]

-Stryzga usually show their affections through physical contact.

-They may take little nips of your skin, if you allow them of course, but eventually they learn their limits and will force themselves to drink animals blood.

-If their urges become too great, they’ll fly into the forest for a while to quench their bloodlust. It’s for your own safety, so it’s best not to follow them.

-During the day they take a lot of naps, so expect lots of cuddles on lazy days.

-In owl form they’ll let you brush and wash their feathers, cooing and hooting softly at how gentle your hands are.

-If you wear ear piercings, expect them to try the same, just because they wanna be more like you. 

-They get flustered when you tell them it’s adorable.

[blogpaganworld-blog1]

Demon Przynoszący złe wieści

Zombi, demony i diabły. Dziś boimy się ich inaczej. Nie wzbudzają przerażenia na samą myśl. Dziś chcemy się bać i media masowe dają nam strach jako produkt. Ile kto potrzebuje, może sobie zażyczyć i korzystać do woli. Internet jeszcze bardziej zwiększył podaż. Jest samoobsługa. Nie ma potrzeby wertowania programów telewizyjnych w poszukiwaniu pożądanych pozycji. Wyszukiwarki wykonają żmudna część pracy. Nam pozostanie tylko wybrać z tego, co kto lubi.

Inaczej bywało przed wiekami. W czasach gdy prawie całe życie zorganizowane było przy pomocy mitologii. Wierzenia tłumaczyły wszystkie zjawiska kosmiczne i przyrodnicze dotyczące życia na ziemi. Na koniec każdy zgodnie z rytuałem został wyprawiony do krainy umarłych. Zwykle rzeczy i zjawiska niezrozumiałe lub niepoznane wzbudzają lęk. I do tego potrzebna była mitologia. Czego nie dało się wyjaśnić racjonalnie, można było ubrać w fantastyczną opowieść i przyjąć na wiarę.

Zdecydowanie największą grupę demonów w mitologii słowiańskiej stanowiły stwory nocne. Strzyga była demonem uprzykrzającym godziny odpoczynku. W wersji męskiej nazywany Strzygoniem. Jak w wersji żeńskiej Strzygoń żywił się krwią. Była to zemsta nieświadomie zaprogramowana w bestii, która cierpiąc, znajdowała ukojenie w czynieniu zła. Prawie wszystkie demony są bezwolnym przyznaniem się do winy. Rodzaj ludzki wciąż ma wyrzuty sumienia, chyba słusznie, wobec całego świata. Strzyga nie mogła żyć inaczej, bo ciążyły nad nią dawne zdarzenia, a ludzie dawali jej do tego prawo poprzez poczucie winy. Strzygi grasowały nocą, żywiąc się ludzką krwią.

Nazwa demona ma źródło w wierzeniach rzymskich. Pochodzi od łacińskiego słowa, którego znaczenie jest jednoznaczne i ma wąski zakres. Dotyczy nocnego ptaka, który w wielu mitologiach na całym świecie naznaczony był przez śmierć. Puszczyk był synonimem braku szczęścia i zniszczenia. Uważano go za zwiastuna hiobowych wieści i posłańca śmierci. W ptaku zaklęte były dusze zmarłych, którzy nie zostali pomszczeni. Cierpieli z tego powodu i oczekiwali od bliskich załatwienia sprawy.

Stąd właśnie brała się popularność włoskiej vendetty. Puszczyk po łacinie wymawia się jak strix. Strzyga miała też żal za krzywdę wyrządzoną na koniec życia i brak godnego pochówku.

Strzygi i Strzygonie były istotami dwoistymi. Z zewnętrznych oznak dwoistości można było zauważyć podwójne rzędy zębów. Drugi był schowany za pierwszym i mniej widoczny z powodu swoich rozmiarów. Dzieci, które rodziły się jako Strzygi, miały dwa serca. Ich jaźń też była rozdwojona. To samo działo się z duszą. Strzygą na pewno było dziecko rodzące się z zębami. Ciężki los czekał maleństwo, na którym spoczęło odium tłumu. Zwykle winę zrzucano na wrogie działanie innych lub sił nieczystych. Ktoś z pewnością musiał rzucić urok lub inny demon maczał w tym swoje brudne łapy.

Wierzono też, że Strzyga może być zwiastunem śmierci. Przynosiła wiadomość o zgonie kogoś bliskiego. Poza tym nie było w jej postępowaniu nic, co wskazywałoby na działania przeciw ludziom. Ot, po prostu posłaniec przynoszący złe wieści.

[fufunha]

Inktober day 23 Strzyga (rarely also in masculine form as strzyg or strzygoń), Stryha (Belarusian: Стрыга) is a demon from Slavic mythology. According to Aleksander Brückner, the word is derived from Strix, Latin for owl and probably the origin of the term Strigoi, a troubled soul of the dead rising from the grave in Romanian mythology. It is unclear how the word strzyga was adapted by the Polish people. .... Strzyga (raramente na forma masculina como strzyg ou strzygoń), Stryha (bielorrusso: Стрыга) é um demônio da mitologia eslava. De acordo com Aleksander Brückner, a palavra é derivada de Strix, latim para coruja e provavelmente a origem do termo Strigoi, uma alma perturbada dos mortos que ressurgem do túmulo na mitologia romena. Não está claro como a palavra strzyga foi adaptada pelo povo polonês. #inktober #inktober2018 #ink #mytology #stryga #Slavic #Slavicmythology #Romanian #romania #romanianmyths #polish #owl #barnowl #mythologicalcreature https://www.instagram.com/p/BpSQwWLgxtg/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=4uq8jr79vfdp

[sublimegiverpanda]

Strzygoń i jak sobie z nim radzić : https://youtu.be/PjbVrBCUybg

😱😹😹

[pufal]

Pionek Małgorzata Kuźmińska

Pionek Małgorzata Kuźmińska

W gliwickim parku zostaje brutalnie zamordowana młoda dziewczyna. Przypomina to lokalnej społeczności o seryjnym mordercy, który zabijał kobiety w Bytomiu, Gliwicach i Zabrzu. Skazany za te zbrodnie Wampir z Szombierek niedługo wyjdzie na wolność. Niezależny dziennikarz Sebastian Strzygoń wraca do sprawy sprzed lat. Pomaga mu antropolożka Anna Serafin. To ona podejmuje…

[themonsterblogofmonsters]

Strzyga

A unique wixen phenomenon, it is rare, though not wholly unheard of, for non-identical twins to merge in the womb into one chimaeric being. While it is most usual for both twins to be magical, and thus no real harm come from this, it has happened before that one of the twins is a squib, and thus without magic. While it is more usual for the magical twin to be the concious one, it has happened before that it is instead the squib who manages the body, but regardless of if the squib child is the one who survives, or one of two magical ones, this is when you get Strzyga. 

The first known recorded example of Strzyga was found in Poland, although others have been found throughout the world. The child, being apparently non-magical, was treated as a squib, raised to be expected to live in the muggle world, however there were occasional inexplicable happenings. For a child with no magic magic happened a lot around the child, and it was suggested by a healer that a magical twin might have merged with the non magical in the womb (in later years this was used as a basis for the arguments that muggleborns ‘stole’ magic).

It was eventually proven, several decades later, on the Strzyga’s death, that they had indeed been a twin, the soul of their magical twin remaining behind as a ghost.

Strzygas are rare, and while female examples are more common, male examples are known to exist, and are called instead strzyg or strzygoń. Appearing from birth to be largely squib-like in magic levels - able to perceive some magical things but not others - they can also, when in heightened emotional states, accidentally activate the magic of their twins body, where they share it, and thus cause, often powerful, accidental magic. There have been many attempts to help Strzyga’s control their magic - meditation, dark potions designed to weaken magical strength, and even wands designed for such a physical and sometimes mental split, however none works entirely, or on everyone.

Even in the modern age Strzyga’s are feared by muggles and magicals alike.

Portrait Of Doom by NataliaDrepina

(Read more about the much more terrifying folkloric Strzyga Here. I hate that I have to include this but PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THE CAPTION OR THE SOURCE.)

[slavicafire]

What's the difference between a stryga and a vampire? I've heard competing sources that relate the two

ah, a wonderful question and so fitting given my current obsession, which colours my days dark and my dreams scarlet red.

let's abandon all and any popular and modern ideas of vampires, even if they might be dramatic enough to tempt us.

there are three beings that ought to be mentioned: strzyga (or strzygoń, strzyż in the masculine form - but while strzyga's name comes from Latin and Greek, the male form is purely Slavic, both linguistically and culturally) then upiór/upyr, and then wąpierz/wampir.

depending on the region, as it sweetly is with Slavic lore and myths, you'd either hear they're the same thing - the names upyr and wampyr seem to really dictate it might be just a slight difference in naming the same creature - and in other places you'd hear that no, good gods, these are three different creatures, all with their own characteristics, preffered ways of tormenting mortals, and ways of killing them (again. at last. finally.)

in some places they know only one, or two.

the differences are sometimes that a strzyga you can be while you're still alive, while a vampire you become after you die, and upiory are less physical and more like spirits... but very often these differences don't exist. depends. oh woe.

another crucial thing is remembering that we Slavs all have the same roots and the same fears, but they manifest differently, and there will always be differences between how we see some demons and creatures here in Silesia or Czechia, or Ukraine, or somewhere near the Baltic sea, or far down south where Balkans spread and rule. for me here upiór might be one thing, and strzyga another, and then someone in Russia or Slovakia might hear the same thing and correct me, outraged.

and we'd both be right, such is the glory of Slavic beliefs and folklore.

so, instead of differences - you have to forgive me - I'd rather focus on similarities, as again, they might be all the same or separate things altogether. who knows...

for me, personally, the border between strzygi, upiory and wampiry is thin, wonderfully thin.

the first thing would be signs of being one of those while you're still alive - this is especially prevalent in strzyga lore, given the belief that you can be a strzyga while still alive and only after death the "evil" part of your soul (or the evil second soul...) reigns and wreaks havoc among the living. however, many of these signs would mean you can be a vampire. again, same thing for some, separate for others.

children born with teeth or who grow two rows of teeth; strange marks or scars on body; too much hair, being born with full hair or growing it later, bushy eyebrows, hairy hands; strange eyes; big head (yes); malformed body parts or being physically disabled (hunch back, malformed fingers, one leg shorter etc etc) or being born with your heart in the right side of your body (accompanying the belief that strzygi have two hearts/two souls)

your chances of being - or becoming - a strzyga/wąpierz/upyr were greater if you were a witch or practiced magic (so this also means shepherds, as they would always dabble in folk medicine and charms), if you died tragically or suddenly (terrible illness, suicide, childbirth), if you died without being baptised (thanks Christians for adding to the criteria), if you were murdered, if you went mad, etc etc... but people who died peacefully, of old age, in their beds, surrounded by loving family, also could become those terrifying things, so don't worry, there's hope for everyone.

now, signs after death: pink skin, red lips (as from drinking blood), open eyes, different position than how the body was laid to rest initially, somehow escaping the seemingly inescapable wonders of rot and putrefaction, scratched/broken/split coffin, as well as finding pieces of strange things in the deceased mouth (so hungry they devour whatever! usually what is meant by that are pieces of fabric that the body was covered with that somehow found their way into the oral cavity)

and then, of course, what they surely have in common is being malicious and tormenting the mortals, being violent and having a strong affinity for blood (although, surprisingly, that is not always the case, nor was it always the most defining and characteristic thing) and the ability to shapeshift - usually into moths/bats/crows, but also dogs, cats, owls... and cows, apparently. cute.

and a stake through the heart to kill them! oak, aspen, hawthorn - or something made from iron, even.

although, as folklore sweetly reminds, the stake, most popular and reliable method that we all know of... rarely works, really. some strzygi and wampiry are simply too spooky and too strong to be discouraged by a stick.

so burn the body, preferably.

if anyone has their own things to add, please do - and again, we're all right in those beliefs, no matter how different or even contradictory they are.

ah, Slavs and their sweet undead.