SOME RUSSIAN SUPERSTITIONS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIII, Issue IX, 1 September 1894, Page 208

SOME RUSSIAN SUPERSTITIONS.

The peasants believe in a water sprite called Vodyany, and address him as ‘Grandfather.’ Every mill has a Vodyany attached to it, or two, if the mill has a couple of wheels. To please the sprite, the miller encloses a swarm of bees in a bag—l cannot tel) you how he gets them there—ties a stone to it, and throws it into the river. All the winter the Vodyany sleeps, but with the first token of spring he wakes up, and demands a sacrifice. This is what the villagers think, at any rate ; so they dress up a horse with ribbons and lead him in procession down to the river. There they make a hole in the ice and push the horse into it. The Russian peasants also believe in a sprite they call the Rusalka. She is a water maiden, with long green hair, and if her flowing locks get dry she dies. Therefore she always takes care to keep them wet ; and she can produce floods whenever she likes by merely combing them. A bouse goblin is thought to reside in every cottage, and its inmates are very careful to treat him with proper respect. When a family is moving into a fresh house, after everything has been removed out of the old one, the grandmother lights a fire. She sits and watches it ; and when mid-day comes, she rakes the wood together, puts the embers into a jar, and coversit with a napkin. Then she opens the house door, and says to the sprite that is supposed to live behind the stove : ‘ Welcome, grandfather to our new home 1’ The old woman then carries the jar to the court-yard of the new house, where the master and mistress are waiting with an offering of bread and salt for the * Domovoy.’ She strikes the doorposts, asking, ■ Are the visitors welcome ?’ The others make a low bow, and reply, ‘ Welcome, grandfather, to the new spot ?’ The old woman then enters the cottage, empties the emlrers into the stove, and breaks the jar, the pieces of which are buried under the threshold.