Vodyanoi: Evil Water Spirit In Ancient Beliefs Of The Slavs

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - In ancient beliefs, mysterious and powerful spirits controlled territories and possessed human qualities. Depending on the degree of danger, a person endowed them with evil or good nature.

An illustration - Vodyanoy, the Water Sprite Ivan Bilibin, 1934 - Public Domain

One of the representatives of supernatural forces was the spirit of water.

In ancient Slavic beliefs, this male water spirit is a demon who jealously guards its water reservoir and does not forgive those who disrespect it. The guilty ones can be drowned or severely mutilated. He also likes to make fun of those who approach his domain.

He is the guardian of his watery domain and watches over the souls of the drowned people and animals.

He is known under several different names depending on the area. In Russia, he is "Vodyanoi" ("Water-Grandfather"), his Polish equivalent is Wodnik (Vodnik), and similar in other regions inhabited by the Slavs. However, his behavior, appearance, and origin are strongly differentiated.

Vodyanoi Can Change Appearance But Is Never Cute Or Beautiful

Master shape-shifter, the Vodyanoi is rarely portrayed as beautiful or even cute. He sometimes appears as an old, naked man with a long greenish or white beard (often wet, tangled beard), a frog-like face, and long hair. In other disguises, he can be an animal, a child, or a dwarf.

More Myths And Legends

The Vodyanoi has a body covered in algae and muck, or he looks like a moss-covered fish or even a flying tree trunk. As a child, he has a head disproportionately large to the body. Sometimes he is a creature with huge toes, claws, horns, a fishtail, and burning eyes on a human face.

An underwater kingdom is his headquarters. He dwells in rivers, lakes, ponds, wells, puddles, and in the vicinity of mills, but is not associated with seawater, because it is supposed to be dangerous, even deadly, for him.

Evil Nature Of Vodyanoi

Not all water deities were benevolent; many of them used their powers to cause harm. The Vodyanoi, one of the many Slavic water spirits, was known to be highly malicious, but it happened he was also benevolent. He guaranteed sailors safe travel and provided them with a good catch. However, if provoked, he dragged them under the waters. When angry, he could break dams and destroy water mills. Old fishers believed he made his victims in his crystal abode under waves.

He could lie for hours in wait for human and animal victims to drag them under the water to their death.

According to one belief, he even drowns those who bathe at midnight or midday. Marks on the bodies of drowning victims were believed to be bruises from their struggle with the evil spirit.

Retrieving a drowned body is thought to anger the spirit because he wants to keep his spoils. He also does not like daylight, but in some beliefs, he can appear among the villagers and pretend to be one of them, though his true nature is easily recognized by the water seeping out from the left side of his coat.

Otherwise, the Vodyanoi - the master of the waters - can lurk all-day-long emerging only during nighttime. He possesses unbelievable strength but only in the water, while he is weak on dry land.

Ancient people believed that the Vodyanoi's will did all that happened in the water.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on July 19, 2022

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