Víly
Víla, Czech Mosaics, University of Chemical Technology in Prague and University of Pardubice
Slavic víly are associated primarily with the water element and appear most often in South Slavic folklore. Among the Eastern Slavs, their place is taken by the rusalka, and in Czech folklore types of víly include water maidens (vodních pannách), forest maidens (lesních žínkách) and wild women (divoženkách).
These are beautiful girls with a translucent body, in a white dress, with long golden or red hair, in which their life force is located. They sing and dance beautifully in places that can be recognized by a magic circle made of mushrooms, strawberries or grass. They can turn into animals, especially swans, horses, falcons or wolves, and they also ride animals, most often horses or deer. They are skilled in divination and healing and usually have a benevolent relationship with people, but they can also take revenge and cause madness. Some evil fairies drown people, like the vódnik, and seduce pilgrims from their path, like the bludička.
Studenský Jiří: Vodní víly (water víly)
The oldest evidence of víly is probably the work The Gothic War by the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea from the mid-6th century, which states that the Slavs and Ants "(...) Worship rivers, water nymphs (nymfai) and various other deities (daimonia), sacrifice to all of them and derive oracles from these sacrifices."
Other sources are even Old Russian sermons, such as the Sermon of a Certain Lover of Christ Zealous for the True Faith , which probably dates from the 12th or 13th century, and others. In them, víly appear alongside Mokosh, who is usually interpreted as a mother goddess or goddess of the earth, offerings are made to them, altars are built for them, and ceremonial bread korovay is consecrated to them. They also state that there are three times nine sisters, in other cases, thirty. According to the Slavist Jiří Dynda, they appeared in sermons most likely as a result of processing Bulgarian and Serbian material, in the East Slavic environment, rusalkas and perhaps also beregyně (the berehinia) instead of víly. The first written mentions of South Slavic víly come from the 14th century.
Slovak víly are beautiful young girls inhabiting waters and forests, dressed in transparent white dresses and with golden or red hair. They appear mainly on moonlit nights, on St. George's Day or at noon and can dance young men to death. It was believed that mint or wormwood would provide protection against their powers . In eastern Slovakia, instead of víly, they are referred to as rusalkas. In Spiš and Orava, ugly evil víly were also known, who were referred to as bohynky or wild women.
Check out this tale: Vodní panna (water maiden) from South Bohemia
