#domovoy

[dvoeverie-stitches]

Inviting Děduška Along For the Ride

“Skřítku hospodáříčku, pojď s námi do nového domu a opatruj nás jako dosud.”

(“Little householder spirit, come with us to the new house and care for us as before.”)

The skřítek or hospodáříček (house guardian) is not attached to the physical home, but to the family—in much of the ethnographic record he is seen as the original ancestor of the family line. However, when you move he must be invited.

I carried him in a tiny, old pottery pitcher (stamped made in Czechoslovakia on the bottom) to represent the traditional clay pot with the remains of my Ash Wednesday ashes to represent the embers of our hearth (he usually sits on my kitchen altar by the stove, a traditional habitat of the house guardian in various cultures). I had consecrated the pot in the creek the day before on my land blessing and leave-taking of the land I have worked with for over a decade.

As we left we tapped the threshold three times to make sure he was awake and invited him to come with us:

“Skřítku hospodáříčku, pojď s námi do nového domu a opatruj nás jako dosud.”

(“Little householder spirit, come with us to the new house and care for us as before.”)

When leaving the old home it is traditional in parts of Moravia to sweep the good luck out the door to bring with you. I reversed this and swept inward to leave the recent toxicity behind us. However, it was also meant to sweep the house guardian along with you, so I made sure to invite and set him outside before I swept inward.

It was lucky for the first thing to enter the new home to be a cat or a rooster (beings whose shape the house guardian sometimes took on). I carried a porcelain rooster ahead of us as I didn’t think the motel would look kindly on a live one 😉.

Upon arrival Děduška was offered the bread and salt typical of Czech and overall Slavic hospitality. He was also given bits of the first meal, and then put to bed in the temporary mini-altar until he has a new hearth.

In parts of Moravia the broom was also one of the first things to be brought into the new home. I tucked ours behind the door as additional protection.

Probably overkill for a stay in a motel, but we don’t want to lose Grandpa as we bop around on our journey to a new home. 😉

@chailatkes I know household guardians are of interest to you so obligatory tag.

[tekoi-khajay]

In Slavic folklore, there's a friendly house spirit called a domovoy who protects the home. It can harm you if it doesn't like you, but more often, it's your bro who keeps the spooky shit away.

When your sense of taste is distorted, delicious food becomes as mythical as the domovoy.

Everyone, absolutely everyone, has a story about encountering a domovoy. Some have seen a shaggy creature wandering around the house at night. Some have been strangled in their sleep. Others have been loomed over by the domovoy, breathing heat, predicting a good event, or cold, warning of trouble. You try to explain to people that it's sleep paralysis and not the domovoy, but who listens to you?

Everyone, 100% of the people you know, has a story about a domovoy. Except you.

Your bro tells you that someone is rummaging around the house every night and drinks the milk left for him. You're going to spend the night at your buddy's, but of course, on this particular night, everything is quiet and the milk is still there. Your buddy's like: "I swear on mother's life, it's the first quiet night; the rest of the time, It's been a wild show every night!" You nod politely, not specifying whose mother your bro swears by.

You live with the feeling that a domovoy is a commonplace phenomenon, familiar to everyone. Everyone has a domovoy, at the very least, as a good neighbor, and at the most, they play video games with them.

And only you are shunned by domovoys with disdain. You're like a pariah from "Warhammer" or a Dementor, sucking the wonder out of the world. When you say you've never met a domovoy and don't believe in them at all, they look at you like you're a leper. How can you not meet a domovoy?! You literally live in the same house! But what can you do? You didn't choose to be born a pariah.

The funniest thing is that I believe in domovoys. The evil spirits haven't gObBlEd me up yet, have they? They didn't. That's true. And what about tasty food? No way, kid, that's pure fantasy.

[cesup]

Hooty is a Domovoy

Okay, so I know this fandom is as good as almost dead but I just realized something while rewatching The Owl House. Even in cannon characters can't name what Hooty is, this shows especially in the scene where Raine is trying to write down how to get past the "owl", " tube" and eventually just "him".

I remember when I was reading about slavic demonology and the resemblance clicked. In slavic demonology demons aren't evil or some ancient gods but just another species, similar to how demons are in the boiling isles.

Dana also seems to be familiar with slavic folklore given that she named one of the characters after an already existing slavic demon kikimora.

Domovoy are said to be house demons who protect the house, make sure you have food at home and can cause trouble if you disrespect the house. They're usually depicted as gnome like short men with long beards but can also take forms of smaller animals. Cat, chicken, dog and so on, in Hooty's case it's an owl.

They're also tricksters that can mess with people by making them lose their things that still are in the house, similar to how Hooty eats things in the owl house or around it while *still* being the owl house. If you got to the episode where Hooty "swallows" King whole you'd know that Hooty's stomach is also a part of the house. If you anger a domovoy they will try to cause mischiev and destroy the house, which brings me to another episode where he tried to help everyone in the owl house but only caused more trouble, eventually getting upset at the result and getting a whole mental breakdown where you could see that the house was *almost* destroyed until Eda told Luz that she needs to act like he helped or he wouldn't calm down otherwise.

That was shorter than I thought, but yeah. If anyone is still wondering what Hooty is, he is a Domovoy.

[youngbutnotsobrightthing]

Who stole your sock?

You lost a sock, heard an unexplained sound at night, felt someone was sitting on your chest while you were sleeping - all of that might be the work of Domovoy, the Slavic domestic spirit (East Slavic in particular; West and South Slavic people also have domestic spirits, but I don't know much about them, unfortunately).

Keep in mind that the traditions can be slightly different depending on the region/village/individual family or time period.

The name comes from ‘dom’ = house, so Domovoy is basically The One Who Lives in the House. This is the most generic name, in different regions or individual households there might be some other names. For example, Hozyaeen (master/owner) or Dedooshka (Grandpa). The last one has to do with the belief that this spirit associates with souls of dead ancestors (it´s not some particular relative's soul but rather a generalized idea of an ancestor).

Unlike Scandinavian Tomten/Nisse Domovoy primarily lives in the house or apartment; yards, barns and bath houses have their own spirits - Ovinnik and Bannik. Domovoy can live in any more or less private place in the house: behind the fireplace (the traditional Russian fireplace - pech - is quite complex so there are some places to hide behind or under it), in the attic, etc, though sometimes it is believed he (and it is almost always he) lives in a broom aka venik.

The way he looks varies but generally he is more or less small, has disheveled hair and is dressed in average peasant clothes. 

Domovoy functions as a typical domestic spirit - he takes care of the house and brings prosperity to the family in exchange for some small sacrifices (usually milk and some food - and some elderly people, mostly in the countryside, still leave such gifts for their Domovoy every night, though it is becoming increasingly rare).

Usually Domovoy is a bachelor, but in some places he may be believed to have a family, though female Domovoy as a separate being is extremely rare.

He is typically seen as helpful though he might play tricks on the family. But there is an interesting tendency: in the North he is usually strict but just and dedicated to the household, and in the South he is more capricious and demanding and is more likely to prank you than help you (this is also true for some other folklore spirits, for example, Lesheej, the forest spirit).

The next time you can´t find something try saying ‘Domovoy, Domovoy, poeegrai da otdai’ = ‘Domovoy, Domovoy, play and give it back’.

[foandgeld]

Domovoy 1 | The Coven with their cunts childs

[kristinasphotodump]

I kinda messed up the first pic I was doing bc I couldn’t get the lips right 🫥 but I like how this one is coming along :)

❤️❤️❤️❤️🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🪆🪆🪆

[dwollsadventures]

House Spirit (Early Modern)

House spirits are a group of beings united by behavior rather than genealogy. While there are some supernatural creatures which will perform domestic duties for an incentive, house spirits are intrinsically tied to the property they live on or in. One could say that they are symbiotic with humans, but the truth is not so simple. House spirits are anything but servile. In their minds, the house they live in is theirs. The humans inhabiting it are merely tenants which they have to pick up after. Violations of the spirit's rules lead to an eviction, so to speak, where the spirit tries to force them out. Unlike mundane landlords, a house spirit is important to a home's health. They keep the house from aging, holding it together in a very real sense. Many inhabit farmsteads where the prosperity of the crops and animals is in no small part due to the house spirit's presence. As the farmers toil during the day, the spirit will do their own labor, vastly improving the health and conditions of the animals and plants. There are many varieties of house spirits. Specifics, like forms of appeasement, behavior, appearance, etc., depend on the species. Regardless of what breed you encounter, remember to show respect. 

-Habitat: Coterminous with human settlements, especially farmsteads. 

-Slayer Tips: Spread a fine material capable of catching invisible footprints, like flour or sugar. Just make sure not to leave it out for too long, or else the spirit will clean it all up. 

--

The first urban creatures of the bestiary! The brownie and nisse are based on less conventional descriptions; the brownie has no nose and a brown mantle (where the name "brownie" comes from), and the nisse has a single eye. The domovoy is based on a famous painting by Ivan Bilibin. The kobold is based on their supposed origin as the ghost of a child and their infrequent appearance as a pillar of flame. Finally, the portune and lubber fiend are here to demonstrate the size variation. Respectively they're the smallest and largest of the house spirits.

[jezzzebel]

I was gonna ask if you worked with spirits too but then I saw your Leshy post XD (Also, yes I'm aware that some people see him as a God, sorry if I got that wrong here)

ANYWAY! What's your relationship to your domovoy/kikimora if you're cool with me asking?

Hiiii! Sorry for getting to this late!! ✨✨🧡🧡

Thanks for the question!

I remember at the start of my practice being very into maintaining a relationship with my domovoy by giving them offerings, making a small altar space in a shoe box, because i was in a "broom closet" (Slavic pagan edition LOL).

But now, years later, i prefer to "indirectly" honor my domovoy, by... Honoring my dom, you know?

I clean the home, cleanse it, and try to maintain the land around it , including but not limited to my garden flowers and backyard.

My family has been living in this area since the Ottoman slavery. So it would only be minimal respect to maintain what my white eagle and white bee built*

(white eagle and white bee are likeeee.. the serbian terms for your great ×10 grandparents LOL)

I strive to build a good relationship with my home, and my domovoy. Sure, it might be hard from time to time. My family has it's ups and downs.

But home is home. And home knows me.