#domovyk

[the-lokean-fox]

My daily offerings to my homes Domovyk and my matron, Baba Yaga

[crafthexerachel]

A domovoi, which can be spelled domovoj or domovoy, is a house spirit in pre-Christian Slavic mythology, a being who lives in the hearth or behind the stove of a Slavic home and protects the inhabitants from harm. Attested from the sixth century CE, the domovoi sometimes appears as an old man or woman, and sometimes as a pig, bird, calf, or cat.

In Slavic mythology, all peasant houses have a domovoi, who is the soul of one (or all) of the deceased members of the family, making the domovoi part of ancestor worship traditions. The domovoi lives in the hearth or behind the stove and householders took care to not disturb the smoldering remains of a fire to keep their ancestors from falling through the grate.

My personal practice includes working with my hearth spirit as I tend to dabble in Kitchen Witchery. I keep a small gnome figurine on my stove as a representation of my apartments Domovoi. I keep it secured with a bit of museum wax which is necessary for all over my apartment because my black cat, Vlad likes to knock things over.

Slavic Chronicles writes that "the domovoi tries to take good care of pets – if a cat gets too noisy during the night, that means it is playing with the home domovoy". I have two cats, Greta and Vlad and Greta's favorite spot is by the stove so I like to think she is keeping our Domovoy company or vice versa. I try to keep my apartment up to our Domovoy's standards but as someone who struggles with depression that leads to some executive dysfunction, chores often are the first thing to be ignored when I'm "down bad". So when my depression finally lessens, I do cleanings and cleansings along with giving my Domovoy an offering as an apology. I work with other ancestral energies, so I like to think that my spirits are understanding that keeping my home in this state isn't a sign of disrespect so they don't act out, which I am grateful for.

Britanica and Madame Pamita gave me the idea of when I moved into my new apartment to make sure I did something to invite my ancestral Domovoy from my previous apartment to my new one. So after getting my new keys and checking out the apartment, I did a smoke cleanse of mugwart and rosemary, said a small 'prayer' in my previous apartment inviting my Domovoy to my new apartment and when in my new apartment I cleaned my stove and brought my gnome figurine and put it on my stove and welcomed the spirit to it's new home.

[sheepcandraw]

Welp. There they all are. The adventuring party from my Sunday d&d game, chibified to make you forget it's grimdark, and with bonus DM's OC, Red, as the spooky DM figure. Had to redo a couple of these because markers behaved stupidly and so did my hands, and also there was confusion over Aités' coloration, but now they all exist.

[sheepcandraw]

There we go. All six of my DND party in portrait sketchies.

[sheepcandraw]

doin chibis of my fellow players from my sunday dnd group, but they all have weird colors and my markers have very wide variety but Not Quite Enough and I had to blend and the paper did weird things around caoimhe's cheekies and i'm crying

chibis are fun tho

[haides-devotee]

“Do you think the Domovyk move with the family or stay in one location?” from the ask game!!!!

Hey there 🤗

I’ve always thought the Domovyk move with the family wherever they go especially if the family does offerings and give other things to them. I’ve always thought they were tied to the family so I always thought they would travel with you no matter where they go.

[mifchuk]

Top 5 Slavic Mythological Beings

Delve into the mystique of Slavic spirits: the household guardian Domovyk, forest protector Leshy, water nymph Rusalka, field specter Poludnitsa, and the nightmare-inducing Mara.

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[ruthenian-knyaz]

The Slavic Spirit of the Home

Artwork by me

The domovyk (ukr: домовик) or domovoi (russ: домовой), is a god or spirit of the home, hearth, and oven (ukr: піч). It is said that there is a domovyk in every home. The domovyk has a wife called domanya, domasya, domakha, or domtsya (in Russian traditions, the kikimora takes this role). He is often described to be a littlish man covered in hair, but may appear as a small boy, an old man or devil smoking a pipe, a cat, a dog, a ram, etc. The domovyk loves domestic animals, especially those that match his pelt’s color.

Often called the grandfather or master, the domovyk demands order and respect to him and to the home. The families that treat their domovyk and domanya well are rewarded with help around the kitchen, with laundry, washing dishes, cutting wood, and singing lullabies to the children. Families that treat them well are also given warnings if something bad is about to happen, for example, if a husband was about to beat his wife, the domovyk would tug the wife’s hair. The house spirit also causes harmless mischief, like opening windows and doors, waking up sleeping people, making noise in the attic, tickling children, etc. The domovyk will only do harm when he or the home is disrespected. This can be in the form of spilling milk, frightening the children, tying knots in someone’s hair, and other childish mischief. When there is unrest, fighting, or the oven is empty of wood; the domovyk might break plates in protest. In extreme cases, he might leave the home and take all good fortune with him. 

His favorite place to live in the home is in, under, or behind the oven. There it is warm, and there is his altar. At the oven, one may leave offerings like bread, but never anything salty. Although a minor deity, the domovyk plays a huge role in the peace and stability of one’s home. Leaving him offerings or cleaning your house shows that you regard him and all the good he does. Treat your domovyky well!

 Offerings and worship: If (like most people) you don’t have a traditional oven or fireplace in your home, constructing an altar to show your admiration and to present offerings is good idea. In Ukraine, it was said the domovyky loved when the masters of the home would decorate their oven with petrykivka paintings (Петриківський розпис), so a decorated altar would further show your esteem. Common offerings to domovyky include fire (in any form), milk, sweets, pottery, bread, and most other foods that are NOT salty. They hate salty food. So to recap, respect, order, and hospitality will give you a happy domovyk.