#siberian folklore

[alexidoesart]

[beastsoflegend]

What Really Lives in The Coldest Place on Earth?

[cedarlili]

Folklore, Fantasy, and Fairy Tales

Folklore, Fantasy, and Fairy Tales

  I have a guest post over at Jimbo’s Awesome SFF Book Reviews. I delve into the research behind The East Witch, and indeed, all of my fantasy. You should go check it out!  With all of my fiction, though, whichever world, I start out by reading fairy tales and folklore and mythology, to use as jumping-off points. Since I prefer to use the older versions, and avoid the modern wussified stories,…

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[sammelsurium-monstroes]

Month of Spooks #8 - Hay Animal

The hay animal is a worm which causes skin diseases, according to the Ostyak (Khanti and Ket) people of Siberia. A whole range of different animals, including the wolf and magpie, are believed to cause all manners of diseases, but worms are specifically associated with skin diseases and boils. These animals are in fact just the assistants of lower spirits who are in turn servants to the actual major disease spirits (luŋk) who send them out to cause distress in their stead. The worm, thin as a hair, was said to enter the body through little cuts obtained during hay cutting. There it would cause scabies. The belief most likely stems from observation of the burrowing trail of scabies mites.

sources: -Jääsalmi-Krüger, P.; (1990) Ostjakische Krankheitsnamen und deren Benennungsmotivation; Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz -Karjalainen, K.F.; (1921) Die Religion der Jugra-Völker I; Folklore Fellows’ Communications vol. 41, Helsinki p.75

[sammelsurium-monstroes]

Month of Spooks #4 - Mammoth

Th bones and frozen cadavres of wooly mammoths have been regularly found in Siberia for centuries, especially often after they were laid bare by rivers. As a result it was believed by the indigenous people of Siberia that the mammoth was a subterranean or aquatic creature, which would die as soon as it got into contact with the surface air. When the ice cracks and bursts during winter it was said that the mammoth swims underneath and splits it with it's big 'horns'. Black coal, washed ashore, was believed to be the petrified liver of the mammoth. The Khanty call the mammoth 'jəŋk-ves' (water-ves) or 'ma:-χa:r' (earth reindeer bull) a meaning shared with Yurak-Samojed 'jeggora', while the Mansi call it vitkəś (water lord/demon). The mammoth was not thought to be one single being but it's origin was actually seen in a whole range of different animals, mostly oxen, reindeer bulls, stags, pikes and even beetles. Any sufficiently old animal could turn into a mammoth if it laid down to die at a river bank. The Khanty said that a stag of 25 years would have horns grow out of his nostrils and walk into the river to live there. Where a mammoth lived one could not fish as it would capsize any boat and cause the river bank to collapse. One could even fall ill just by finding the carcass of a mammoth On the other hand sacrifices to the mammoth would bring plenty of fish for the catch. One could even take a vow by the mammoth, but such an oath did not mean much as the mammoth would forget about it after seven years. Through the ivory trade these stories would find their way to China where the mammoth turned into a giant subterranean creature called an 'ice-rat' or 'mountain-stream rat'.

sources: -Finsch, F.H.O., (1879) Reise nach West-Sibirien im Jahre 1876; Berlin, Wallroth p.599 -Karjalainen, K.F., (1927) Die Religion der Jugra-Völker III; Folklore Fellows' Communications vol. 63, Helsinki pp.29-32 -Pfizenmayer, E.W., (1926) Mammutleichen und Urwaldmenschen in Nordost-Sibirien; Leipzig, F.A.Brockhaus (translated in: (1939) Siberian Man and Mammoth; Glasgow, Blackie) -Räsänen, M., (1952) Das Wort Mammut; Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie vol. 21:2, Heidelberg pp.293-295