EntranceWho wrote the fairy tale? Character history
Slavic mythology is no less rich than the mythologies of other peoples. There are many different characters, both good and evil. Some of the latter are not just evil, but creepy. These include such an odious image as Viy. This is an entity from the other world with a look that can kill anyone.
The monster's eyes are closed with huge long eyelids that fall to the ground. Therefore, he himself cannot lift them. There are special assistants for this. By order of Viy, they lift his eyelids with iron pitchforks, and the eyes of the monster from the underworld begin to sow horror and death.
Viy - a negative character in Slavic mythology
It was from the gaze of the creepy monster that the belief about the evil eye or the evil eye originated. According to legend, the evil eye causes the death of people and animals, trees dry up from it, and green grass turns yellow. He can also send a streak of failure, poverty, illness and other misfortunes to a person. Women in labor and brides are especially sensitive to the evil eye. The wedding veil was invented to protect against the evil eye, and pregnant women tried not to be seen by strangers, especially strangers.
And all these customs began to stem from the inhabitant of the underworld with his terrible look. It is believed that he received his mystical component from Veles, the pagan god and main enemy of Perun, from whom he stole cattle. Veles was associated with devils and other evil spirits and gave birth to Viy, who became the most powerful and terrible fiend of the underworld.
But among the Slavs who lived in the Baltic states, this remarkable image was considered one of the sons of Chernobog. The latter symbolized absolute chaos, destruction and universal darkness. He controlled all the elements, and evil spirits from the underworld served him. That is, Chernobog was considered a negative divine entity, so it is not surprising that from him came a terrible monster with a look that kills everyone.
Chernobog personified evil in Slavic mythology
At the same time, Viy in mythology had a number of positive traits. He often tormented evil and spiritually damaged people. But he welcomed individuals who were strong-willed and strong-willed and did not harm them. He was an extremely contradictory creature, subject to sudden mood swings. But its main function, in any case, was evil. Only sometimes it manifested itself in full force, and sometimes it was barely noticeable.
This underworld evil spirit was described by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in his work of the same name. He described her as squat, club-footed, with sinewy arms and legs. His Viy is covered from head to toe with black earth. The monster’s fingers and face are iron, and its eyelids are long and touch the ground. He does not kill with his gaze, but only destroys the protective power of amulets against evil spirits. He is only a guiding force, not a killer. AND main character works of Gogol, Khoma dies not at all from the gaze of a monster, but from the horror that gripped his soul.
Stanislav Kuzmin
Viy - in Little Russian demonology, a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids reaching to the very ground; V. cannot see anything on his own, but if several strong men manage to raise his eyebrows and eyelids with iron pitchforks, then nothing can hide before his menacing gaze: with his gaze V. kills people, destroys and turns cities and villages to ashes
Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
There are two versions about the origin of this name. If you believe the first of them, then the Ukrainian word "vіi" can be translated as "eyelashes", which has a direct bearing on the hero’s eyes. Another option says that this name comes from the word “to curl” - Viy resembles a plant, is covered with dried earth, and its legs are like tree roots.
“Viy is a colossal creation of the common people’s imagination,” wrote Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in a note to his story of the same name. - This is the name given to the Little Russians for the chief of the gnomes, whose eyelids go all the way to the ground. This whole story is a folk legend. I didn’t want to change it in any way and I’m telling it in almost the same simplicity as I heard it.”
Indeed, tales with a similar plot are well known in mythology Slavic peoples. But none of them contains a character like Gogol’s Viy. Just as it is not found in any other folklore works.
Slavic mythology, as the most ancient, quite accurately describes Viy’s “device”:
Viy himself never came and will never come himself It’s generally dangerous to wake him up and disturb him, and even dark entities don’t bother him again, and it’s not just his strength, his appearance, even the devils, ghouls, ghouls, cause horror and tremble with fear of him….
Viy is a soulless, emotional being he has no feelings at all: anger, hatred, anger. Unlike Pannochka, when she, in her rage, anger and hatred of Khoma, shouted: “Call me, Viya!” All the entities she summoned were horrified at how one could awaken ancient god?! But the lady’s order was carried out - Viy came to remove the amulet, the protection where Khoma was hiding, to show the way.
Viy does not move on his own, cannot open his own eyelids, instead of arms and legs there are roots covered with earth. The ghouls dragged him and placed him near the circle and opened his “eyelids.” Viy's finger pointed at poor Khoma.
So where did such a strange image of Viy come from in Slavic mythology and folklore?
The main characteristics of our character help us find the answer: hairiness, possession of herds of bulls and involvement in the underworld. These signs make us recall one of the most ancient and, moreover, the main East Slavic gods of pagan times - Veles (Volos). Until the beginning of the 20th century, the custom persisted after the harvest of leaving a bunch of unharvested ears in the field - “For Veles on his beard.”
There is undoubtedly a kinship between the images of the Slavic Veles-Viy and the Baltic Veles, or Vielona, the God of the Other World and at the same time the Patron of Cattle (cf. the Slavic Veles - the Cattle God).
Vielona, Wels, Lithuanian Velnas - lit. vеlnias, velinas
According to a German author of the 17th century. Einhorn, the month of October was dedicated to Wels - Wälla-Mänes (cf. also Latvian. Velu Mate - “Mother of the Dead”).
The name for the “window” in the swamp is also known: lit. Velnio akis, Latvian. Velna acis - literally: "eye of Velnyas".
East Slavic Veles (Volos) is extremely close to the Baltic Vels (Velnyas). He was popular and was considered the god of “all Rus'” in contrast to Perun, the patron saint of the princely squad. In Kyiv, the idol of Perun stood on the mountain, and the idol of Veles on Podol, in the lower part of the city.
In Etruria, in the sacred city of Volsinia, a god was worshiped, whose name is conveyed differently: Velthuna, Vertumna? Velthina, Veltha - “the main deity of Etruria”
The religious symbol of God Viy is the All-Seeing Eye - meaning “nothing can hide from the judge’s gaze.” Presumably, his idol was also depicted with such a symbol.
Many researchers of Gogol's story have noted the similarity of this mystical character with a destructive gaze with numerous folk beliefs about Saint Kasyan. He is known as a talented spiritual writer and organizer of monasteries.
Kasyan
In Russian folk traditions, legends, beliefs, the image of “Saint Kasyan”, despite all the righteousness of life real person, is drawn as negative. In some villages he was not even recognized as a saint, and his very name was considered shameful.
According to some beliefs, Kasyan - fallen angel who betrayed God. But after repentance, he was chained and imprisoned for his apostasy.
The angel assigned to him beats the traitor on the forehead with a heavy hammer for three years in a row, and on the fourth he sets him free, and then everything he looks at perishes.
In other stories, Kasyan appears as a mysterious and destructive creature, his eyelashes are so long that they reach his knees, and because of them he does not see God’s light, and only on February 29 in the morning, once every 4 years, he lifts them and looks around the world - what if his gaze falls, he dies.
In the Poltava region, Kasyan is represented as a black creature covered with wool, with skin like oak bark. He lives in a cave, covered with earth. On February 29, his huge eyelids are raised by various evil spirits, Kasyan looks around the world, and then people and animals get sick, pestilence and crop failure occur.
Almost all legends about Kasyan emphasize his demonic essence and the extraordinary destructiveness of his gaze as a result of his connection with the devil, which makes Kasyan similar to Gogol’s Viy.
In East Slavic folklore there are also other characters, possessing characteristics similar to Viy.
So, for example, in A fairy tale about Ivan Bykovich, recorded by the famous collector and researcher of Slavic folklore Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasyev (1826 - 1871), it is said that after the hero defeated three multi-headed monsters (snakes) on the Smorodina River, their witch mother was able to deceive Ivan and
“dragged him into the dungeon, brought him to her husband - an old old man.
On you, he says, our destroyer.
The old man lies on an iron bed, sees nothing: long eyelashes and thick eyebrows completely cover his eyes. He then called twelve mighty heroes and began to order them:
- Take an iron pitchfork, raise my eyebrows and black eyelashes, I’ll see what kind of bird he is that killed my sons. The heroes raised his eyebrows and eyelashes with pitchforks: the old man looked..."
The motif of eyelids raised with a pitchfork (shovel, hooks) is widespread in East Slavic fairy tales. For example, in Volyn a sorcerer is often mentioned Mangy Bunyaka, or the Naughty Bonyak; his eyelids are so long that they can be lifted with a pitchfork.
Sometimes he appears in the form of “a terrible fighter, with his gaze killing people and turning entire cities into ashes, the only happiness is that this murderous gaze is covered by clinging eyelids and thick eyebrows.” In the beliefs of Podolia, he is known as Solodivius Bunio, who destroyed an entire city with a glance; his eyelids also lift like pitchforks.
But, probably, the most important prototype of Viy for Gogol was Judas Iscariot, whose appearance is guessed behind the figure of Gogol’s demon when referring to some apocryphal texts. In these non-canonical writings about the appearance of Judas, shortly before his death, it is reported that his eyelids became huge, grew to incredible sizes, not allowing him to see, and his body became monstrously swollen and heavy.
This apocryphal appearance of Judas (giant eyelids and a heavy, clumsy body) determined the main features of Viy. Gogol, forcing him to look at Viy Khoma Brutus, who is in spiritual laziness and does not trust in God, shows the careless student his evangelical double.
in East Slavic mythology, the spirit that brings death. Having huge eyes with heavy lids, Viy kills with his gaze.
Dictionary of mythology by M. Ladygin.
Viy- in Slavic mythology, a demonic creature that gives people nightmares; he is capable of killing a person and destroying an entire city with a glance, but his eyes are covered iron ages, which his evil servants must lift with an iron pitchfork.
Sources:
● M.B. Ladygin, O.M. Ladygina Brief mythological dictionary - M.: Publishing house NOU "Polar Star", 2003.
Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
In Little Russian demonology, a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids reaching to the very ground; V. cannot see anything on his own, but if several strong men manage to raise his eyebrows and eyelids with iron pitchforks, then nothing can hide before his menacing gaze: with his gaze V. kills people, destroys and turns cities and villages to ashes. Afanasyev sees in V. a reflection of the ancient and powerful deity of the Slavs, namely the thunder god. The processing of the legend about Vie by N.V. Gogol is known.
Dictionary of pagan concepts and gods
(Niya, Niam) - a mythical creature whose eyelids descend to the very ground, but if you lift them with a pitchfork, then nothing will be hidden from his gaze; word viii means eyelashes. Viy - with one glance he kills people and turns cities and villages to ashes; fortunately, his murderous gaze is hidden by thick eyebrows and eyelids close to his eyes, and only when it is necessary to destroy enemy armies or set fire to an enemy city, do they lift his eyelids with a pitchfork. Viy was considered one of the main servants of Chernobog. He was considered a judge over the dead. The Slavs could never come to terms with the fact that those who lived lawlessly, not according to their conscience, were not punished. The Slavs believed that the place of execution of lawless people was inside the earth. Viy is also associated with the seasonal death of nature during winter. He was revered as the sender of nightmares, visions and ghosts, especially for those who do not have a clear conscience. ...He saw that they were leading some squat, hefty, club-footed man. He was all covered in black earth. His legs and arms covered with earth stood out like stringy, strong roots. He walked heavily, constantly stumbling. Long eyelids were lowered to the ground. Khoma noticed with horror that his face was iron(N.V. Gogol. “Viy”). ... Today Viy is at rest,” the two-headed horse yawned with one head, and licked his lips with the other head, “Viy is resting: he destroyed a lot of people with his eye, and from the country-cities only ashes lie. Viy will accumulate strength and get down to business again(A.M. Remizov. “To the Sea-Ocean”).
E. DMITRIEVA, historian
N.V. Gogol dedicated only a dozen lines in his story to Viya. But anyone who has read them at least once in their life will never forget such a bright, unusual, impressive image. Perhaps one of the reasons here lies in the special mystery and incomprehensibility of Viy. How did this image arise, where did it come from? Who is Viy and what do we know about him?
The Slavs recognized this as an underground god, whose place was occupied by the ancients by Pluto, the king of hell.
M. D. Chulkov. "Abevega of Russian superstitions"
The inhabitants of the world of the dead, spirits hostile to all living things, the dead were called in Ancient Rus' naviam.
The so-called Zbruch idol. It reflects the structure of the Universe according to the ideas of the ancient Slavs.
Veles's image Dmitrovsky Cathedral XII century (column console) in Vladimir.
The round dance is not just a folk dance, but a pagan rite and spell. Folk festival. Lithograph from the workshop of Ivan Golyshev. Mstera. 1871
Saint Blaise with herds of cattle and Saint Spiridonius. Novgorod icon of the 16th century.
Traces of pagan beliefs, in particular the cult of Veles, could be traced in popular culture and folklore until the beginning of the 20th century. For example, grass, bushes, trees and other vegetation were popularly called “hairs of the earth.”
To begin with, let’s quote Gogol: “Bring Viy! Follow Viy!” came the words of the dead man.
And suddenly there was silence in the church; a wolf howl was heard in the distance, and soon heavy footsteps were heard echoing through the church; Looking sideways, he saw that they were leading some squat, hefty, club-footed man. He was all covered in black earth. His legs and arms covered with earth stood out like stringy, strong roots. He walked heavily, constantly stumbling, his long eyelids were lowered to the very ground. Khoma noticed with horror that his face was iron. They brought him by the arms and stood him directly in front of the place where Khoma stood.
Lift my eyelids: I can’t see! - Viy said in an underground voice, - and the whole host rushed to lift his eyelids.
"Don't look!" - some inner voice whispered to the philosopher. He couldn’t bear it and looked.
Here it is! - Viy shouted and pointed an iron finger at him. And everyone, no matter how many there were, rushed at the philosopher. Lifeless, he hit the ground, and the spirit immediately flew out of him out of fear.”
It is difficult to find a more impressive and mysterious character in the works of Russian classics than Gogol's Viy. Clearly belonging to the heroes of folklore and fairy tales, he stands out among them for his special effectiveness and inexplicable, hidden power. “Viy is a colossal creation of the common people’s imagination,” wrote Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in a note to his story. “That was the name given to the Little Russians for the chief of the gnomes, whose eyelids go right down to the ground. This whole story is a folk legend. I didn’t want to how to change it and tell it in almost the same simplicity as I heard.” Considering that in 1835, when the story was written, Slavic folklore as a science was still in its infancy and we knew no more about our own mythology than, for example, about Chinese, then it is not surprising that Gogol did not give a more meaningful explanation regarding "chief" of the Little Russian "gnomes".
Today we can look into Viy’s eyes without fear and tell about him everything that even his literary father did not know.
So, who is Viy? If, according to Gogol, he is a hero of folk legends, then his image should be found in works of folklore. However, there is no fairy-tale hero with that name. Where did the name itself come from - Viy? Let's turn to the dictionary. In the Ukrainian language, the name of the character of Little Russian legends Viy, apparently, comes from the words “viya”, “viyka” - eyelash (and “poviko” - eyelid). After all, the most memorable and characteristic feature Viya - huge eyelids, so it is quite natural that his name came from them.
And although there is no Viy as such in either Ukrainian, Belarusian, or Russian fairy tales, quite often there are images that almost completely coincide with Gogol’s description of Viy: squat, hefty, and therefore strong, covered with earth, as if the devils had taken him out of dungeons. The tale about Ivan Bykovich, recorded by the famous collector and researcher of Slavic folklore A. N. Afanasyev, tells that after Ivan first defeated three multi-headed monsters on the Smorodina River, and then destroyed their wives, a certain witch, having now lost her daughters and sons-in-law, dragged Ivan to the owner of the underground kingdom, her husband:
“On you,” he says, “our destroyer!” - And in the fairy tale the same Viy appears before us, but in the underground kingdom, at home:
“The old man lies on an iron bed, sees nothing: long eyelashes and thick eyebrows completely cover his eyes. He called twelve mighty heroes and began to order them:
Take an iron pitchfork, raise my eyebrows and black eyelashes, I’ll see what kind of bird he is that killed my sons.”
Both in Gogol and in the fairy tale recorded by Afanasyev, the presence of iron attributes is not surprising. Gogol's Viy has an iron face, an iron finger, the fairytale Viy has an iron bed, an iron pitchfork. Iron Ore after all, it is mined from the earth, which means that the ruler of the underground kingdom, Viy, was a kind of master and patron earth's bowels and their wealth. Apparently, this is why N.V. Gogol classifies him among the European gnomes, guardians of underground treasures. For ancient man at the time of the formation of Slavic mythology, iron, a durable metal, difficult to extract and difficult to process, irreplaceable in the economy, seemed to be of the greatest value.
The fairy-tale hero Afanasyev with his long eyebrows and eyelashes fully matches the appearance of Viy. However, in Slavic mythology, it was apparently not necessary for the owner of the underworld to have long eyebrows or eyelashes. His distinguishing feature- just long hair, and what it is, eyelashes, eyebrows or a beard, is not important. It can be assumed that exorbitant eyelids are a later distortion of folk tradition. The main thing is not the eyelids, but just long eyelashes and hair. One of the Belarusian fairy tales describes “Tsar Kokot, a beard as long as an elbow, a seventy arshin iron whip, a bag made of seventy ox hides” - an image similar to the owner of the underworld. Also known is the fairy-tale old man “As big as a fingernail, with a beard as long as an elbow,” the owner of exorbitant strength and a huge herd of bulls. He had a three-headed serpent in his service, and he himself was hiding from the heroes pursuing him underground. But among the Belarusian fairy tales there is also one where Koshchey, like Viya, the maid raised her eyelids, “five pounds each.” This Koschey “no matter how he looks at someone, he will not leave him, even if he lets him go, everyone will still come back to him.”
This means that you can’t look Viy in the eyes because he will take you and drag you into the dungeon, into the world of the dead, which, in fact, is what happened to poor Khoma in Gogol’s “Viy”. This is probably why in Christian apocryphal legends Saint Kasyan was identified with Viy, who was popularly considered the embodiment of leap year and the personification of all misfortunes. They thought that Kasyan, like the owner of the underground kingdom, lived deep underground, in a cave where daylight did not penetrate. Kasyan's gaze is destructive for all living things and entails troubles, illnesses, and even death. The apocryphal Judas Iscariot, who, as punishment for betraying Jesus Christ, allegedly lost his sight due to overgrown eyelids, was also endowed with some of Viy’s traits.
So where did such a strange image of Viy come from in Slavic mythology and folklore? The main characteristics of our character help us find the answer: hairiness, possession of herds of bulls and involvement in the underworld. These signs make us recall one of the most ancient and, moreover, the main East Slavic gods of pagan times - Veles (Volos). Before people learned to cultivate the land, he patronized hunters and helped hunt animals, which, according to many researchers, determined the name of the deity. It comes from the word "hair", that is, fur, the skin of hunting prey. Veles also personified the spirits of killed animals. Hence the idea that this deity is associated with death, the world of the dead. “Initially, in the distant hunting past, Veles could mean the spirit of a killed animal, the spirit of hunting prey, that is, the god of that only wealth of the primitive hunter, which was personified by the carcass of a defeated animal.” This is what Academician B. A. Rybakov wrote about Veles-Volos.
But time passed, and agriculture and cattle breeding became an integral part of the economy of ancient people. Hunting lost its former importance, and Veles became the patron saint of livestock. That’s why the old man “As big as a fingernail, with a beard as long as his elbows” has a herd of bulls, and anyone who encroaches on them risks experiencing the hefty strength of the owner of the herd. In ancient times, the number of livestock was the main indicator of a family’s wealth. Livestock provided people with almost everything they needed: draft power, fur, leather, wool for clothing and other household needs, milk, dairy products and meat for food. It is no coincidence that the custom of measuring wealth in the “heads” of cattle survived into the Middle Ages. The word “cattle” meant not only the livestock itself, but also all the property and wealth of the family. The word "bestiality" was used in the meaning of "greed", "greed". The post of the financial official, standing between the mayor and the headman, was called “cowman”, since “cowwoman” is the treasury (hence another meaning of Veles as a deity: in charge of income and wealth).
It is no coincidence that Veles was opposed to Perun - the god of heaven, thunderstorms and war. After all, wealth, prosperity and war, leading to ruin, are incompatible. The giver of thunderstorms, Perun, lived in the sky, in the transcendental kingdom of the gods. Veles connected with the underworld of the dead, “that light.” Until the beginning of the 20th century, the custom persisted after the harvest of leaving a bunch of unharvested ears in the field - “For Veles on his beard.” The peasants hoped to earn the favor of the ancestors buried in the earth, on whom the harvest depended next year. Trees, bushes, and grasses were popularly called “hairs of the earth.” Thus, it is not surprising that the owner of the underground kingdom Veles, whose name was forgotten centuries later, was depicted as a hairy old man and subsequently received the name Viy because of this. (However, the name Viy is similar in origin to the name Veles: both came from the words “hair”, “eyelashes”.)
With the advent of Christianity, the role of patron of cattle Veles passed to Saint Blaise (most likely due to the consonance of names), whose day fell on February 11 (24th in the new style). In many places in Russia, Vlasiev Day was celebrated as big holiday. For example, in the Vologda province, residents of neighboring volosts came to the festival, a solemn, crowded prayer service was served, during which loaves of bread were blessed. Housewives at home fed hunks of consecrated bread to their cattle, thereby hoping to protect them from disease for the whole year. From this day on, livestock trading began in the bazaars. They turned to Saint Blaise with a prayer for the safety and health of the livestock: “Saint Blaise, give happiness to the smooth heifers, to the fat bulls, so that they can walk and play from the yard, and walk and gallop from the field.” Icons of the saint were hung in cowsheds and stables to protect livestock from all kinds of misfortunes.
But the function of Veles, who dominates the underworld, apparently was taken over by the image of Viy - a purely negative character, an “evil spirit.” In other words, with the adoption of Christianity, the image of pagan Veles gradually divided into two hypostases: the positive - Saint Blaise, the patron of livestock, and the negative - Viy, an evil, formidable spirit ruling the underworld, the personification of death and grave darkness, the leader of evil spirits.
“A rooster crow was heard. This was already the second cry; the first was heard by the gnomes. The frightened spirits rushed randomly into the windows and doors in order to fly out as quickly as possible, but that was not the case: they remained there, stuck in the doors and windows The priest who entered stopped at the sight of such a disgrace of God's shrine and did not dare to serve the requiem in such a place. So the church remained forever with monsters stuck in the doors and windows, overgrown with forest, roots, weeds, wild thorns, and now no one will find the way to it; ". This is how Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol ends his story “Viy”.
The fair and incorruptible Judge Viy is looking forward to all of them.
In East Slavic mythology, Viy is the spirit who brings death. Having huge eyes with heavy lids, Viy kills with his gaze. In Ukrainian demonology - a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids reaching down to the ground.
Viy cannot see anything on his own, he also acts as a seer of evil spirits (which can be seen in the work of N.V. Gogol); but if several strong men manage to lift his eyebrows and eyelids with iron pitchforks, then nothing will be able to hide before his menacing gaze: with his gaze Viy kills people, sends pestilence to enemy troops, destroys and turns towns and villages to ashes. Viy was also considered the sender of nightmares, visions and ghosts.
In ethnography, the assumption is made that it is with the image of Viy that the belief about the evil eye and damage is associated - that everything perishes and deteriorates from a bad look. Viy is also associated with the seasonal death of nature during winter.
There are two assumptions about the origin of the name Viya: the first is the Ukrainian word “vii” (pronounced “viyi”), which is translated from modern Ukrainian language means "eyelids"; and the second - with the word “to curl”, since the image of Viy resembles some kind of plant: his legs are entwined with roots and he is all covered with dried pieces of earth.
According to the “Book of Kolyada”: “The commander in the army of Chernobog is Viy, the brother of the sky god Dyya. In peacetime, Viy is the jailer in Pekla. He holds in his hand a fiery scourge with which he treats sinners. He has heavy eyelids, they are held with pitchforks by Viy’s minions. If Viy opens his eyes and looks at a person, he dies. Viy cannot stand sunlight, so he always prefers to stay underground."
N.V. Gogol in his work “Viy” (in the place where the philosopher Khoma Brut stayed overnight in the church) describes this deity as follows:
“And suddenly there was silence in the church: a wolf howl was heard in the distance, and soon heavy footsteps were heard echoing through the church; looking sideways, he saw that they were leading some squat, hefty, club-footed man. He was all covered in black earth. Like sinewy strong roots protruded from him, covered with earth, he walked heavily, constantly stumbling, his long eyelids were lowered to the very ground. Khoma noticed with horror that his face was made of iron. Khoma stood.
Lift my eyelids: I can’t see! - Viy said in an underground voice. “And the whole host rushed to lift his eyelids.”
"Don't look!" - some inner voice whispered to the philosopher. He couldn’t bear it and looked.
Here it is! - Viy shouted and pointed an iron finger at him. And everything, no matter how much it was, rushed at the philosopher. He fell to the ground lifeless, and the spirit immediately flew out of him out of fear. That’s why you can’t look Viya in the eyes, because he’ll take you away and drag you into his dungeon, into the world of the dead.
Gogol also adds the following to his work: “Viy is a colossal creation of the common people’s imagination. This is the name given to the Little Russians for the chief of the gnomes, whose eyelids go down to the very ground. This whole story is a folk legend. I did not want to change it in any way and I tell it almost in the same simplicity as I heard.”
According to the research of D. Moldavsky1, the name Viya arose from Gogol as a result of a phonetic mixture of the name of the mythological ruler of the underworld Niya and Ukrainian words: “viya” - eyelash and “poviko” - eyelid.
Famous Russian folklorist A.N. Afanasyev sees in Viya a reflection of the ancient and powerful deity of the Slavs, namely the thunder god (Perun).
The religious symbol of God Viy is the All-Seeing Eye - meaning “nothing can hide from the judge’s gaze.” Presumably, his idol was also depicted with such a symbol.
Niy (West Slavic) or Viy (Eastern Slavic) - also correlates with Pluto2, according to Dlugosz3 ("History of Poland", 15th century), perhaps one of the incarnations of Veles:
"Book I ... Pluto was nicknamed Nya; he was considered a god underworld, the guardian and guardian of souls who left their bodies, and after death they asked him to lead him to the best places of the underworld, and they built him the main sanctuary in the city of Gniezno4, where they converged from all places.”
Maciej Stryjkowski5 in the “Chronicle of Polish, Lithuanian and All Rus'” in 1582 writes:
“They revered Pluto, the god of the sun, whose name was Nya, in the evening; after his death, they asked him for better pacification of bad weather.”
Religious symbol of God Viy
In Russian folk tales with similar plots (such as “The Battle on Kalinov Bridge”, “Ivan - peasant son and Miracle Yudo") and also recorded by A.N. Afanasyev, the hero and his named brothers fight with three monsters (Miracle Yudos) and defeat them, then reveal the machinations of the monsters' wives, but the Mother of Serpents was able to deceive Ivan Bykovich and "dragged him into dungeon, brought her to her husband - an old old man.
On you, he says, our destroyer.
The old man lies on an iron bed, sees nothing, his long eyelashes and thick eyebrows completely cover his eyes. He then called twelve mighty heroes and began to order them:
Take an iron pitchfork, raise my eyebrows and black eyelashes, I’ll see what kind of bird he is that killed my sons. The heroes raised his eyebrows and eyelashes with pitchforks: the old man looked..."
The old man arranges a test for Ivan Bykovich with the kidnapping of his bride. And then competes with him, balancing over a fiery pit, standing on a board. This old man loses the test and is cast into a fiery pit (the Christian “Fiery Hyena?”), i.e. to the very depths of the lower world (the Underworld). In this regard, it is not superfluous to mention that the southern Slavs held a New Year's holiday in winter, where the old, serpentine god Badnyak6 (correlated with the old year) was burned, and his place was taken by the young Bozhich.
In Ukraine, there is a character, Solodivy Bunio, or simply the Naughty Bonyak (Bodnyak), sometimes he appears in the form of “a terrible fighter, with a look that kills a person and turns entire cities into ashes, the only happiness is that this murderous look is covered by clinging eyelids and thick eyebrows.” . "Long eyebrows to the nose" in Serbia, Croatia and the Czech Republic, as well as in Poland, were a sign of Mora or Zmora. This creature was also considered the embodiment of a nightmare.
It is not without reason that the epic father of Svyatogor is identified by A. Asov7 with Viy. Having come to stay with the blind (dark) father of Svyatogor, Ilya Muromets, upon the offer to “shake hands,” gives the blind giant a piece of red-hot iron, for which he receives praise: “Your hand is strong, you are a good hero.”
Both in Gogol and in the fairy tale recorded by Afanasyev, the presence of iron attributes is not surprising. Gogol's Viy has an iron face, an iron finger, the fairytale Viy has an iron bed, an iron pitchfork. Iron ore is mined from the earth, which means that the Lord of the underground kingdom, Viy, was a kind of master and patron of the earth’s bowels and their riches. Apparently, that’s why N.V. Gogol classifies him among the gnomes, who, according to European tradition, were the guardians of underground treasures.
The Bulgarian Bogomil sect describes the Devil as turning to ashes all who dare to look him in the eye.
It is likely that in the future Viy merges with the image of Koshchei the Immortal - the king of the dead, the god of death. In one of the fairy tales there is a mention that Koschey lifts his eyelids with seven pitchforks, which indicates his similarity or relationship with Viy. Noteworthy is the relationship between the words: poker, koshevoy, Koschey, kosh-mar. "Kosh" means chance, lot (cf. "makosh"). It was assumed that Chernobog stirred up the coals in the Pekla with pokers, so that from this dead matter would be born new life. Christian saint Procopius of Ustyug, depicted with pokers in his hands, such as on the bas-relief of the Church of the Ascension on Bolshaya Nikitinskaya Street in Moscow in the 16th century. This saint, introduced in the 13th century, is responsible for the harvest, he has three pokers, if he carries them with their ends down, there is no harvest, upwards, there will be a harvest. In this way, the weather and crop yields could be predicted.
The fairy tale about Vasilisa the Beautiful, who lived in the service of Baba Yaga, says that she received a gift for her work - in some cases - a pot (stove-pot), in other cases - a skull (which most likely relates specifically to Koshchei, for the kingdom of Koshchei was strewn with human skulls and bones). When she returned home, the pot skull burned her stepmother and her stepmother's daughters to ashes with its magical gaze.
Koschey, in a later era, stood out as an independent cosmogonic character who makes living matter being deader is associated with chthonic8 characters such as the hare, duck and fish. Undoubtedly, he is associated with seasonal necrosis, he is the enemy of Baba Yaga, who guides the hero into his world - the Koshny Kingdom. The name of the heroine is also interesting (in one of the Russian folk tales), kidnapped by Koshchei - Marya Morevna (death to death).
In Orthodox Christianity, Viy is replaced by Saint Kasyan.
In Russian traditions, legends, and beliefs, the image of Saint Kasyan (who lived in the 10th century and became famous for preaching monastic life and founding monasteries in Galia), despite all the righteousness of his life, is depicted as negative. In some villages he was not even recognized as a saint, and his name itself was considered shameful. Usually the image of Kasyan was associated with hell and he was assigned demonic traits in appearance and behavior.
According to popular beliefs, Saint Kasyan is unkind, selfish, stingy, envious, vindictive and brings people nothing but misfortune. Kasyan’s appearance is unpleasant, especially striking are his slanting eyes with disproportionately large eyelids and a deathly gaze (the “saint” is good, isn’t it?). Russian people believed that “Kasyan looks at everything, he turns everything around,” “Kasyan cuts everything with a sideways eye,” “Kasyan hits the people—it’s hard for the people,” “Kasyan hits the grass—the grass dries, Kasyan hits the cattle—the cattle die.” In Siberia it was believed that Kasyan liked to “wrap” the heads of chickens, after which they died or became monsters. On his holiday - "Kasyan's Day" (Kasyan the Unmerciful, Kasyan the Envious, Crooked Kasyan), which is celebrated on February 29 in a leap year, Kasyan amuses himself by looking at the world around us: looks at people - there will be pestilence, at livestock - death, at fields - crop failure. The veneration of Kasyan also took place on January 14-15.
In addition, it was believed that all the winds were subordinate to Kasyan, which he kept behind all kinds of constipations; most likely, it was on this basis that the version of Viya-Kasyan’s similarity with the Hindu god Vayu, who is indeed similar in description to our Viy, emerged. Vayu is the god of wind and also the bestower of boons, he provides shelter and can disperse enemies. He is represented as having a thousand eyes, but at the same time his appearance is vague.
Our ancient Navier deity Viy also has an analogue among the ancient Irish, who call it Balor. In Irish mythology, this deity is the one-eyed god of death, leader of the ugly Fomorian demons. Balor struck enemies with the deadly gaze of his single eye. During the battle, the god's eyelid was raised by four servants.
List of used literature:
1) Holy Russian Vedas. Book of Kolyada., M.: "FAIR-Press", 2007.
2) N.V. Gogol. - Viy, from the Collected Works in nine volumes. Volume 2. M.: "Russian Book", 1994.
3) Gavrilov D.A., Nagovitsyn - Gods of the Slavs. Paganism. Tradition, M.: "Refl-book", 2002.
4) A.N. Afanasyev - Russian Folk Tales. Issue IV., K. Soldatenkova and N. Shchepkina, 1860.
5) M. Drahomanov - Little Russian folk legends and stories, Kyiv, 1876, p. 224, as well as I. Ichiro - Pan-Slavic folklore source of Gogol Viy, Izvestia of the USSR Academy of Sciences, ser. lit. and Russian language N5, 1989.
6) A.F. Hilferding - Onega epics, M., 1949.
7) Yordan Ivanov - Bogomil books and legends, Sofia, 1925.
8) P. Vinogradov - The Life of Saints... M., 1880, p. 29.
1 D. Moldavsky - Leningrad critic and folklorist.
2 Pluto - in ancient Greek mythology, the god of the underground kingdom of the dead and the name of the kingdom of the dead itself, the entrance to which, according to Homer (the ancient Greek poet-storyteller) and other sources, is located somewhere in the far west, beyond the Ocean River, which washes the earth."
3 Jan Dlugosz (1415-1480) - Polish historian and diplomat, major Catholic hierarch, author of the "History of Poland" in 12 volumes.
4 Gniezno is a city in Poland, part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, Gniezno County.
6 Badnyak is a log burned on the hearth on Christian Christmas Eve, and the main rite of the Christmas cycle of holidays among the southern Slavs.
7 Alexander Ivanovich Asov - writer, journalist, historian and philologist, one of the most famous modern researchers and experts on ancient Slavic culture and Slavic paganism.
8 Chthonic - belonging to the underworld.