Talk:Supernatural beings in Slavic religion/Archive 1

From Talk:Rusalje
Copied with specific permission from. silsor 04:25, Jan 4, 2004 (UTC)

From Talk:Wila
Copied with specific permission from. silsor 04:29, Jan 4, 2004 (UTC)

From Talk:Sky Women
Copied with specific permission from. silsor 04:26, Jan 4, 2004 (UTC)

From Talk:Vila
I almost hate to bring it up, but the Harry Potter books have creatures called Veela, which seem clearly based on vila. --Suitov

Merge
I've joined the four small pages into this big one because they all seem to be about the same thing just with different names. Three of them were already marked as merge candidates.

I'm not sure if "fairies" is the best term, suggestions welcome. --Shallot 10:53, 5 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Spirits? Ghosts? Nymphs, undines, succubi also comes to mind but that sounds a bit too specific. --Shallot 11:04, 5 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Revert
I see that this article is in very dire state and getting progressively worse. Apparently a lot of people cannot understand that this is not a catch-all article but talks about specific type of creature that goes under many names. Things like vodianoy have no place here!!! I suggest a revert to earlier version.

We're urged in this entry to "see Leimoniads, Limnades, Oceanids, Dryads and Nephelads." Someone knowing that there were water nymphs named Naiads, and knowing that the study of freshwater systems is called Limnology has invented Limnades. I guess in a similar irresponsible vein you could say that Paludiades were mud-nymphs who live in swamps. Catch unwary male travellers for a midnight mud-wrestle I imagine. They make this stuff up faster than we can explain why its nonsense. Would someone else look into theswe specialized nymphs? Wetman 07:28, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

"Vile" and Slovak mythology - source doubtful
I removed the following sentence "Slovak myth tells us that they are the souls of deceased girls who were not baptized during Vladimir's baptism, and, in fact, the Slovak word for soul is vile." from the part about "Vila".

I did this, because the word vile is NOT a Slovak word. Actually, up to my knowledge it has NO meaning (apart from being a dativ form of víla - "to whom? - víle."), therefore the whole sentence is at least doubtful. The source of this sentence is also somewhat unknown, since there's no reference to the source and the same sentence is repeated all over the internet, so there's most probably only one flawed source of this.

Well, and at the end, Slovak word for soul is "duša".

Being a Slovak, I can only say, that in popular mythology and Slovak folk tales "víla" is a mythological creature living in meadows or woods. Many times they seem to be exchanged with what is also called "rusalka". Finally, "víly" are mostly positively perceived creatures. In folk tales they usually help (sometimes also confuse) lonely travellers.

MongoloidMancuso 09:16, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

"Vile" and Slovak mythology - possible mistaken identity
I don't know about Slovak, but I know that in some Slavic, more specifically Croatian, vile literally means fairies. They are mentioned in the old stories as heroic faeries that serve the dead croatian heroes in the hall of heroes arount Svitogora, the home of the good gods. Moreover, the word elf is translated into Croatian as vilenjak.

Nephelads
I removed Nephelads from the list of links as requiring confirmation. I couldn't find them on web. (On a positice side, though, I've found a topic, also missing in wikipedia Nepheloid). mikka (t) 23:00, 11 October 2005 (UTC)
 * OK. It was Nephele. mikka (t) 23:32, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Veela
Why the revert on the Harry Potter ref? It's clear from the text that their beauty doesn't entirely explain their effect on men. 65.122.15.98 17:17, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

Rusalka
What the f is the article talking about. Rusalka in russian mythology is not a "demon". We need to change this!--67.49.215.31 03:35, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Because there's no rusalkas in Russian mythology at all. In Slavic mythology they are demons. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.242.102.250 (talk) 21:30, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Baba Yaga
Should the Baba Yaga be mentioned in this article? I'm not that familiar with Russian folklore, but I've heard of Baba Yaga more often than these other characters.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back 02:58, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Well baba yaga IS NOT A RUSALKA (mermaid in the freshwater)! Probably thats whay she is not mentionated here! Rusalka is some kind of demon - she is not human, sometimes, but not offten she is described as ghost, but much more offten she is evil spirit. She have similarities with succubus, so it might place her in the category of demon in slavic mitology concept.


 * True, but this article is not just about Rusalka. It's about all major Slavic fairies and fairy-like creatures.  Doesn't Baba Yaga qualify?--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back 15:17, 23 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I'd vote for at least a refrence to Baba Yaga, though I'm pretty loose with my definition of "fairie". mordicai. 20:53, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Fairy?
I kind of feel that the term 'fairy' is somewhat incorrect; fairy is almost exclusively European in its use and meaning and should probably not be used in this context. I would suggest the term 'nature spirits', as most Slavic belief systems were based in animism. --Arch3typ3 10:36, September 1 2006 (UTC)


 * No, than we need defination abput what is fairy and what is wich. In slavic traditions there is difernce between rusalka, weela and baba yaga, if you ask my opinion, than baba yaga is next to kascheij bessmertnij (i have no idea how it is spell wright in english) and other ugly and evil creatures. -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.70.160.11 (talk) 15:06, 25 September 2006

Male Veelas in Harry Potter?
The article had said, in the discussion of fairies in Harry Potter,


 * ...Considering that the Delacour women are referred to as "part-veela" rather than "veela," there are presumably male veela as well (otherwise there would be no distinction between "part-" and "full-veelas"), though no examples are ever seen.

However, I don't think this follows. I could see a number of other explanations. For example, it might be that a Veela's female children are Veelas but her male children are not, and that Mme. Delacour is descended from a Veela's male child; it could be that a Veela has to mate with some other kind of fairy to have Veela children (e.g. maybe she could have Veela children by mating with a satyr), and her children by a mortal are only "part Veela"; it could be that Veela are immortal, and do not reproduce themselves (or do so only in some strange, magical way), and that any children they have with a mortal are just "part Veela"; etc.

Given that Veelas are always considered female in mythology, I don't think this argument is enough to support the idea that there are male Veelas in Potter. So I'm removing this. -- Narsil 00:25, 24 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Addendum: Okay, I'd forgotten that Fleur's grandmother is specifically stated as being a Veela (and Fleur uses one of her hairs in the wand). That rules out guess #1, since Mme. Delacour is clearly the daughter of a Veela. Still, I think the other guesses still apply, so I don't think we need to make the drastic hypothesis of a male Veela.


 * Sorry for the Potteritude... -- Narsil 06:24, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

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Rusalii and Rusallias
I found a couple of other 'beings' that might be interesting to look at. Romanian Rusalii and eastern Serbian Rusallias. Rusalii are evil and can cause thunderstorms. They dance at crossroads and can cause illnesses when watched. These can be cured by de Calusarii, a group of sacred dancers. Up untill now villagepeople will hang herbs on their doors and windows for protection and there are many many more customs. In Serbia it is the women who dance in trance. Rusalii is an official holliday in Romania, celebrated at Pentecost, lasting up to a week. The name can be traced to the Roman Rosalia. Also Bulgarian: Roussalska/Roussali. Rusalka's from coast to coast, it seems. Litsza 23:24, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Why does Polevoi redirect here?
The article doesn't actualy talk about them at all(a single mention isn't talking abouat them). Was it editted out or something? IF so, it seems rather pointless now. If no one remembers I'll just remove the [now] pointless redirect. Kairos (talk) 11:04, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

I'm going to delete the veela section
It seems like vandalism, as it doesn't really have anything to do with Slavic folklore. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.147.232.105 (talk) 16:28, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Wait, nevermind. I'm dumb. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.147.232.105 (talk) 16:32, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Vila/Vilen in Slavic fairy tales
Vila / Vilen are mentioned in many places in "Sagen und Märchen der Südslaven" by F. S. Krauss. It might be helpful to go back to this source to keep closer to the actual folkloric usage. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Royfreeman (talk • contribs) 17:33, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Croatian Renaissance and Baroque
In Croatian Renaissance and Baroque literature vila was used as equivalent to nymph. Example: Italian ninfe e satiri (Eng. nymphs and satyrs) would be translated vile i satiri in Croatian. This tradition continued to modern day Croatian. 89.201.155.57 (talk) 02:37, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Vila in a Valkyrie like role...
Is there authentic Slavic lore that depicts the Vila as serving a Valkyrie like function to one of the Slavic gods (maybe Perun?) or is this some form of later syncretism? 62.196.17.197 (talk) 12:14, 14 July 2015 (UTC)