Eyelids viya. Slavic mythology. Viy. God Viy in the northern tradition of fortune telling and magic

Who is Viy?

In traditional mythology Eastern Slavs Viy is a creature from the underworld that kills with a look. Viy's eyelids and eyelashes are so heavy that he cannot lift them without outside help (which, apparently, should indicate the character's age). The etymology of the word itself supposedly comes from “viya”, “veika” - in East Slavic languages ​​it means “eyelash”.

Folk image

So who is Viy, what is his origin as a character in folklore? According to some scientists, some features of another were transferred to the image of Viy pagan god Veles, his darker sides. Veles was perceived by the Eastern Slavs as a contrast to Perun (the pagan deity of thunder, heaven, war). Perun lived in heaven. Veles connected with the underworld and deceased ancestors (it was not for nothing that after the harvest people left a bunch of ears of corn “for Veles’s beard” in order to appease and gain the favor of their ancestors).

But Veles is also wealth in the house, the well-being of the family, he is the patron saint of livestock. Viy is the embodiment of only negative qualities. By the way, the names both “Viy” and “Veles” have the same root and come from the words “hair”, “eyelashes”. And plants in ancient times were popularly called “hair of the Earth.” These are the analogies.

In fairy tales

In Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian folk legends, Viy was depicted as a hairy, wiry old man (some mentioned not hair, but branches), whose eyelids (eyebrows or eyelashes) usually had to be lifted with outside help. The fairy tale “Ivan Bykovich,” for example, mentions a witch’s husband who lives underground and whose heroic assistants lift his eyelashes with iron pitchforks. The images of an iron fork, an iron finger, an iron face obviously go back to more ancient times, when this metal was difficult to obtain and highly valued.

If the monster managed to lift his eyelids and look at a person, he would immediately die. Scientists in this regard assume a relationship between Viy and folk beliefs about the evil eye or the evil eye (a bad look causes everything to deteriorate and begin to die). It is also possible that there is some correspondence between the creature’s features and another character in fairy tales—Koshchei the Immortal.

Gogolevsky Viy

In his story of the same name, Gogol reveals this image, as the writer says, “a creation of the common people’s imagination.” In the work the creature is squat, clubfooted. His arms and legs are like intertwined roots. Viy has an iron face and an iron finger, centuries to the ground. Rather, he does not kill with a glance, but removes all effects of amulets against evil spirits. In this regard, we can talk about the literary continuity of this folk image.

Who is Viy???... July 25th, 2013

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 Ukrainian word“Вії” can be translated as “eyelashes,” which is directly related to 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 look 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 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 oldest, quite accurately describes Viy’s “device”:
Viy himself has never come and will never come himself, it is dangerous to wake him up and disturb him, and even dark entities do not bother him once again, and it is not only his strength, his appearance, even among the devils, ghouls, ghouls, it causes horror and trembles with fear in front of him...

Viy is a soulless, emotional creature; 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, how can you awaken an 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 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 of grain in the field - “For Veles on his beard.”

There is undoubtedly a kinship between the images of the Slavic Veles-Viy and the Baltic Vels, 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 Velnyas - Lithuanians. 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”
Religious symbol of God Viy - All-seeing eye- meaning “nothing can be hidden 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 popular beliefs about St. Kasyan. He is known to be 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 raises 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 other characters who have characteristics similar to Viy.
So, for example, in the Tale of Ivan Bykovich, recorded famous collector and the 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 They close their eyes completely. Then 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.” 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. So, for example, in Volyn the sorcerer Mangy Bunyaka, or Scandinous Bonyak, is often mentioned; 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 with his gaze the whole city; 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.liveinternet.ru/users/bo4kameda/p ost187282834/

In 2017, Yegor Baranov addressed the heroes of Gogol’s works. In 2018, the director will present to the public a film called “Gogol. Viy." The role of the writer will be played in the film.

Quotes

Phrases from Gogol’s “Viy” became aphorisms.

“Lift my eyelids: I can’t see!”

This famous remark of Viy is often used in jokes and sarcastic statements. It is curious that Khoma Brut is presented by the author as a philosopher, and therefore as a person for whom religion does not occupy a primary place. At the same time, Brutus knows the prayers and is invited to send the deceased to last way. The philosopher’s worldview combines skepticism and fear of God:

“A person cannot come here, but I have prayers from the dead and people from the other world that, as soon as I read them, they won’t lay a finger on me. Nothing!".

The guy is seriously afraid of what is happening, realizing that he is left alone with a terrible force that he cannot resist. Khoma’s friends are sure that it is not evil spirits that are to blame for the death of their comrade, but his own fear:

“And I know why he disappeared: because he was afraid. And if he were not afraid, then the witch could not do anything with him. You just need to cross yourself and spit on her very tail, then nothing will happen.”

Viy is a mythological character who is known to literally everyone. Viy became one of the most famous characters mythology, in particular, Ukrainian mythology, after Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809-1852) wrote his immortal work"Viy." This creature is presented exactly as Gogol showed him, but is this what Viy really looks like and isn’t he a product of the great writer’s imagination?

Researchers of the pagan culture of the Slavs do not find any mention of the name “Viy” in ancient sources. However, a god is mentioned that is similar in sound and essence. It's about God underworld, whose name is Niy (correspondence). Niy, most likely, is related to the ancient Slavic words “” (world of the dead) and “navi” (dead people). Researcher D. Moldavsky puts forward the version that Gogol in his work used later ideas about Niya in folklore. The change in the name Niy to Viy most likely came from a feature of the underground god, namely his long eyelids or eyelashes, which cover his deadly gaze. Here is Ukrainian. viya - eyelash and povika - eyelid over time in the dialect of the inhabitants of Ukraine they replaced Niya with Viya.

As for this character, we should be grateful to Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol for the fact that he left extremely valuable information for us, which, if not for his work, would quite possibly have been erased from the memory of peoples. The most interesting thing about this character, who, as we have already found out, is a fairy-tale prototype of the god of the underworld - Niya-Koshchei, is his deadly eyes and long eyelids, which have to be revealed to the creatures or heroes around him. Although in Gogol’s book Viy’s gaze did not kill at all, but rather removed the effect of the amulets, apparently, in ancient times this gaze was attributed with destructive abilities.

In Russians and Belarusian fairy tales descriptions of some characters associated with evil spirits who kill with their gaze, but their eyelids are so huge and so heavy that you have to lift them with a pitchfork. We can observe such a character in the fairy tale “Ivan Bykovich,” where the eyebrows and eyelashes are raised with a pitchfork to the witch’s husband. In the fairy tale "Fight on Kalinov Bridge“The mother of the snakes dragged the main character into the dungeon, where her husband, an old man with long eyelashes and thick eyebrows that cover his eyes, lies on an iron bed. The old man calls twelve mighty heroes and orders: “Take an iron pitchfork, raise my eyebrows and black eyelashes, I’ll see what kind of bird he is that killed my sons.” This tale most likely tells about the pagan goddess and her husband Koshchei. Thus, it can be assumed that the ability to kill with a glance was inherent in both Niy and our Koshchei. There is an assumption that it is from this ancient concept, a superstition has appeared, which is known as the “evil eye” - from a black, slanted or ugly eye, an evil look, a sideways glance, and so on, everything perishes and deteriorates.

The era of dual faith proves that Viy (Nii) and Chernobog Koschey are the same god, as well as the fact that both had a deadly look and long eyelids (eyebrows, eyelashes). After baptism, both on the territory of Russia and on the territory of Ukraine, the image of these gods was transferred to one Christian saint - St. Kasyan. It is believed that Kasyan is evil, unkind, stingy, vindictive, unpleasant and dangerous. St. Kasyan's Day is celebrated on February 29 in leap year. Despite the fact that in the Christian tradition Kasyan (John Cassian the Roman) is considered a righteous man, in the Slavic tradition he was credited with the role that Chernobog played in pagan times. In all likelihood, this came from the name of a Christian saint, since Kasyan in Russian and Ukrainian is heard as “oblique”, “ukr: kosiy”. A sidelong glance meant a bad look, which could bring misfortune. Russian sayings about Saint Kasyan: “Kasyan looks at everything, everything withers”, “Kasyan mows down everything with a sideways view”, “Kasyan looks at the people - it’s hard for the people”, “Kasyan looks at the grass - the grass withers, at cattle - the cattle dies, at a tree - the tree is drying up" and "The offspring are bad in the year of Kasyanov." There are also beliefs that Kasyan has disproportionately large eyelids that cover his eyes, and if these eyelids are opened, then everything that this saint looks at, whose prototype is the god of the underworld of the dead, immediately dies.

“Lift my eyelids!” excerpt from the 1967 film “Viy”:

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Viy is a character in Ukrainian demonology - a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids reaching down to the ground. Having huge eyes with heavy lids, Viy kills with his gaze.

Viy 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 Viy kills people, destroys and turns cities and villages to ashes.

Ethnography suggests that it is precisely with the image of Viy that the belief about the evil eye is connected - that everything perishes or gets spoiled from a bad look.

In one of the fairy tales there is a mention that Koshchei the Immortal raises his eyelids with seven pitchforks.

The ancient Slavs called Viem the sender of nightmares, visions and ghosts. They appeared to those who had an unclean conscience. In this he is related to Niyan, the king of hell.
Viy also served Chernobog in his kingdom and judged the dead for their misdeeds.
Our fairy tales know a mighty old man with huge eyebrows and unusually long eyelashes: his eyebrows and eyelashes were so thick that they completely obscured his vision; for him to look at the world, he needs several strong men who could lift his eyebrows and eyelashes with iron pitchforks.

Then nothing will be hidden from his gaze (the word “vii” means eyelashes).
The folk legend about Viya is familiar to anyone who has only read Gogol; however, some curious features were not included in his poetic story.
In Podolia, for example, Viy is represented as a terrible fighter who kills people with his gaze and turns cities and villages to ashes; fortunately, his murderous gaze is hidden by thick eyebrows and eyelids close to his eyes, and only in those cases when it is necessary to destroy enemy armies or set fire to an enemy city, they lift his eyelids with a pitchfork.
In such a grandiose image, folk fantasy depicted the thunder god (grandfather Perun): from under cloudy eyebrows and eyelashes he casts lightning glances and sends death and fires...
In the legends of the Czechs and Slovaks there is a giant named Quick-Sighted. With his sharp, all-seeing glances, he sets everything on fire, and even rocks crack and crumble into sand.
What’s interesting is that the word “Viy” is undoubtedly consonant with the name ancient god Hindu Vayu.
He was the god of storms and hurricanes, killing all living things. He was usually called ruthless: “You can follow the path that runs fast river, but you cannot go the way of the ruthless Vayu..."
He ruled over the underworld. Isn’t this our Viy, who in ancient times was also mentioned as the patron of all-destroying hurricanes and even participated in sending the Great Flood to the lands?

N. GOGOL. VIY

The ill-fated seminarian Khoma Brut comes to church to read funeral prayers over the coffin of the lady witch he killed:

“He stopped for a minute. In the middle, the coffin of the terrible witch still stood motionless... having drawn a circle around him, he began to recall all his spells. The silence was terrible; the candles fluttered and bathed the entire church in light...
Suddenly... in the midst of silence... the coffin lid burst with a crash and a dead man stood up. He was even scarier than the first time. His teeth clashed terribly, row on row, his lips twitched in convulsions, and spells flew, squealing wildly.
A whirlwind rose through the church, icons fell to the ground and flew from top to bottom. broken glass window. The doors broke off their hinges, and an untold force of monsters flew into God's church. A terrible noise from wings and scratching claws filled the entire church. Everything flew and rushed around, looking everywhere for the philosopher.

Khoma lost the last remnant of hops in his head. He just crossed himself and read random prayers. And at the same time he heard how evil spirits rushed around him, almost catching him with the ends of their wings and disgusting tails. Everyone looked at him, searched for him and could not see him, surrounded by a mysterious circle.

Bring Viy! Follow Viy! - the words of the dead man were heard.

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 arms and legs covered with earth stood out like stringy, strong roots.
He walked heavily, stopping every minute. Long eyelids were lowered to the 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 he is! - Viy shouted and pointed an iron finger at him. And everything, no matter how much it was, rushed at the philosopher. Lifeless, he fell to the ground, and immediately the spirit flew out of him out of fear.”

S. GORODETSKY. VIY

Because of distant distant centuries,
Because of the darkness, because of the impenetrable darkness,
From under a pile of gray boulders
It comes out like a snag that’s not right.
The skin is wrinkled, hanging like a rag,
Teeth are covered with white dust.
Apparently the stake was driven past him:
I couldn’t find peace underground!
And what kind of beds are under the ground?
The darkness and the heat are annoying.
And up, angry and angry,
Viy struggles through and gets out.
He wanted to look
To live and be young.
Got out. He sees a noose and a bag.
“What is this,” he thinks, “what is it?”
“Lift my eyelids! - shouts.
- I see neither happiness nor will.
The groan is nailed to the sad earth,
I thought: people won’t moan anymore!”
Oh, my old, my stupid Viy!
Let me close my eyelids tighter!
Our life has been deprived of all lives!
You shouldn't have come out of the womb!

As if we are boiling in resin, but we live,
We even sing songs and laugh.
Tears will fall - we don’t tear up the songs.
Laugh, we’ll wipe ourselves off with our sleeves.
Heavy! You can not understand,
What a life, what an earthly matter.
Goodbye, turn back
We are again for ours, for the intoxicated.
Just say to the globe,
To become more overgrown with grain
Yes, behind the sun in an unknown darkness
More fun, more fun flying.

Slavic mythology