Meteor Beliefs Project: East European meteor folk-beliefs
Meteor Beliefs Project: East European meteor folk-beliefs
Some folk-beliefs about meteors and meteorites from various East European countries are discussed, illustrating the range of such matters, further to what has been presented in the Meteor Beliefs Project earlier.
WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization, vol. 35, no. 5, p. 113-116 2007
1 Introduction
Additional comparative material to the Belarussian meteor and meteorite folklore presented earlier (Avilin, 2006) from various East European countries is given here, to illustrate the similarities and differences among places which seem to share a common ancestry for such beliefs. Additional relevant information can be found in (Bojurova & McBeath, 2003; McBeath, 2003; Slavkovi´c & McBeath, 2003; and Warner, 2003). The fresh items in this article are not intended to be an exhaustive survey for the places involved, merely to illustrate some of what is available. Where possible, the information has been presented in alphabetical order by region or country. To avoid needless repetition, it should be understood that the creatures called zmey, zmok, or something similar, are fiery, often serpentine, draconic creatures in folk-belief, which are frequently associated with meteors. Usually, the creature itself is said to be the meteor, and typically a bright, fireball-class meteor at that.
2 Balkan states
In Serbian, Bulgarian and Macedonian folk beliefs the zmey is often called hala or ala (= ‘snake’ in Turkish). The hala may come to the ground as a thick gloom or fog that prevents the corn from ripening. It possesses great power, is insatiable, and is the leader of black clouds and hail, bringing storms, strong winds, and even hurricanes. In some local beliefs they are thought to defend their land from other halas, just as zmeys are said to do elsewhere. They inhabit lonely caves and gorges
and avoid bodies of water. Their dwellings are said to be bright with gold, silver and precious stones. When they grow old, some of them become so enormously huge and powerful that even the Earth cannot hold them. Such halas leave the Earth for the heavens and fly between the stars as falling stars or comets.
There may be a link here with the ancient Slavic belief that grass snakes were considered to be streams of rain that poured from the sky to the ground, but then stayed there rather than running away (Nenadavets et al., 2003, p. 240). The ‘fiery vuzh’ (vuzh = ‘grass snake’), or zmey, from the Belarussian beliefs discussed earlier could thus have become an indicator of impending rain.
A falling star was said to denote the escape of a man from prison or other captivity. In Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia one should not be surprised by it, but should keep silent or say: “Behind the thorns, behind a bush hide!”, so the ‘owner’ of the falling star would not be caught (Plotnikova, 2006).
The Southern Slavs, like the Eastern ones, believed that a falling star showed the death of its earthly double. A star was said to fall on the grave of a deceased man in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria. On seeing a falling star in Serbian Kosovo, it was said that, “a candle goes to somebody’s grave”. The Bulgarians tell of star torrents which fell to the ground before theBulgarian-Serbian war of 1885 (ibid.)1.
3 Czech Republic
In Czech mythology, the fiery meteoric zmok or zmek is a devil willing to serve people. If he flies high, it is said to augur well, but if low, then badly, and his appearance is especially thought to portend danger connected with fire.
4 Estonia
A falling star was thought to relate to a man’s death: “An infant is born and a new star appears in the sky. If somebody dies, his star becomes dim and falls down”. Estonians, as others, used the formula “the star falls - make your wish”. However, one should not point at a falling star, as the finger will begin to decay (Pruller,1966, p. 155).
Meteors and meteorites were also believed to be bad omens. In the Hallist region it was said that stars fell when an old demon threw hot stones in the sky. A fallen meteorite was called a stone arrow. In the Saarema and Muhu islands it was believed that meteorites were either evil or good spirits, including the Kratt (a property- guarding spirit), the Vedaya (a property-bringing spirit), and the Pisuhand (a house-spirit) (ibid.).
5 Lithuania
Among the Lithuanians, (as with the Belarussians, and also the Ukrainians and Russians), here is a widespread belief of probably Christian origin, that the stars are candles set up by the Lord, one per man. When that man dies, the angels extinguish his candle-star, and it falls from the sky. When a sinner dies, his candle-star immediately falls to the ground (i.e. straight down in the sky); a righteous man’s candle-star falls sideways or upwards (Anonymous, 2004, p. 195).
As the Lithuanians might say, “If a star falls, then a man has left this world: if rich - with a tail, if poor - a simple star ” (Vaiˇsk˝unas, 1993, pp. 335-336); or, “If a big star falls down, then a grown-up has died, if a small star, then a child” (ibid.). Sometimes it is said that the star does not fall to the ground, but goes from one place to another, and that it flies in the direction where the man died (Vaiˇsk˝unas, 2002, p. 384).
In Lithuania too, “if you see a falling star, your wish will be fulfilled” (ibid.).
In Lithuanian mythology, the aitvaras has similar features and functions to the Belarussian khut, as a kind of meteor-dragon which brings wealth and good fortune to its chosen household. In both cases, these creatures appear to have combined the elements of belief from one of a number of kinds of house-spirit with the fiery zmej. The famous researcher of Lithuanian mythology Julius Greimas, suggested that such originally distinct and different creatures had their various aspects mixed with one another over time. Christianity too influenced how they were perceived, and so the aitvaras gained some features of the Christian Devil (Greimas, 2003,p. 66).
The aitvaras that brings money is allocated a separate type, the ‘money aitvaras’, or in some regions, the pukys. Such can be easily recognized in flight by their shape, which is like either a scorching poker or a falling star. When a star falls from the sky, one can say, “Here is the aitvaras flying with money” (op. cit., p. 70). The aitvaras may appear in two other alternative forms: a bird, such as a black cock, crow or heron, or as an air vuzh. In the second case it is described as a worm that looks like a grass-snake in the shape of a poker, or a rouble, and richly coloured. It sprawls over the sky in an autumn evening, or in summer before the Sun has set, at tree-top height. Its front part, corresponding to its head, is often said to be flame-coloured and thicker than the back, and it moves without bending, but somewhat upwards from the ground (op. cit., p. 73).
Among meteorite beliefs, the concept of ‘thunder-stones’ particularly linked to fossils such as belemnites, is a recurrent theme. The Lithuanian name for such fossils is Laumes papas (literally the nipples of the goddess Lauma; Karski, 2001, p. 153). Their origin is explained by a myth according to which the goddess Lauma strayed with a mortalman, and the angry thunder-god Perun punished her for it by cutting off her nipples,chopping them up into small pieces, and scattering them over the Earth (Kirkor, 1882/1994, p. 36).
6 Russia
Russian belemnite-meteorites are called ‘thunder arrows’ or ‘Devil’s fingers’. The peasants even distinguish two kinds of arrows: fiery ones, from which unexpected fires happen, and stone (or cast-iron) ones that kill people and split trees (Maksimov, 1903/2002, p. 295). The second kind has much in common with lightning strikes, and also to severe, genuine small meteorite strikes. It must be noted though that the actual object identified as the ‘thunder arrow’ may be just a prehistoric stone weapon. In respect of the lightning aspect, the fused soil lightning strikes can create, in the form of dendritic, knotty, ‘icicles’ of earth called fulgurites, are also named ‘thunder arrows’ by the peasants. These arrows (of whatever type) might be thrown into water, which water was then used to treat people ill with colic (Dal’, 1880/2002, p. 97). They might be kept in lofts as well, to protect against thunder and lightning (Maksimov, 1903/2002, p. 294).
Similar to the concept of a meteor as a wandering soul after death found in Belarussian belief previously, a meteor in some Russian provinces might be called man’yak (literally ‘maniac’, a mad or cursed person, though it has been suggested its derivation is really from ‘manit’, to beckon). The peasants considered that such cursed people roamed abroad in this way, waiting for forgiveness. There are beliefs too that the man’yak always fell from the sky to a farmstead when a woman lost her virginity; or that evil spirits flew to visit lonely women thus in the form of meteors, when their husbands went in search of a job to far-off lands. Thus women said at the sight of a man’yak-meteor: “Amen! Fall to pieces!” (Sakharov, 1849/1990, p. 115).
According to other Russian ideas, the meteor-zmey flies to women who pine for their absent or dead husbands too heavily or for too long a time. The zmey takes on the form of the husband, and may even have sex with the woman, but no one else can see him. His voice may be heard in the house talking, or he may even answer questions, and his mistress will grow rich. Such a zmey is usually described as having a head in the form of a ball, a back like a washtub, and an extremely long tail, up to 5 sazhens (a sazhen is an old Russian unit of length, roughly 7 feet or 2.15m, so 5 sazhens is about 10.7m). When he comes to his chosen place, he explodes into small sparks, and when he flies, he can do so low to the ground, maybe no higher than a sazhen above it (Maksimov, 1903/2002, pp. 304-305).
The Russians believe that sorcerers and witches can fly, taking the appearance of a fiery zmej or a meteoric fireball to do so. For example, from Chmelinki village, Tula district, comes the tale of a sorcerer who was the lover of a married woman. The woman became pregnant, and as her husband was abroad, she hung herself in shame and fear. The sorcerer flew up to her body in the form of a fiery zmej every night, and every time he came he broke himself up into sparkling fragments, so that the sheep thrashed about in the yard, and the cows lowed. He wailed for a while, then flew away (Kolchin, 1899/2002, pp. 436-437). In the village of Verkhnie Koki (formerly called Sosnovka village), in the Ul’yanovsk region of Russia, when something fiery flew through the sky, people said that was Baba Khryst’ya flying over, a witch who lived in this village (information from a female resident of Slonim district, Belarus, but who had moved there from Russia. ‘Baba’ is a term
for an old woman, commonly used also to mean ‘witch’ in Slavonic folktales).
Russians from Tula province also consider that a falling star is an omen of a man’s death or birth. When a baby boy is born, it is said that this ‘new man’s’ star moves to another place very quickly, so fast it cannot be seen, thus those viewing it think that the star falls. The belief is that very many stars fall in July and August because many people die and many children are born in these two months. Some peasants instead consider that stars fall from the sky because of hot air accumulating,
or severe frost. One legend about the origin of the Milky Way is also concerned with a star’s fall. A peasant saw a falling star and made a wish for the Devil to appear. Then the peasant asked the Devil to build a crystal bridge (Milky Way) to Chervonoe Kingdom (Kolchin, 1899, pp. 9).
7 Ukraine
The Ukrainians of Litinsky district believe that the falling star is the sinful soul of the deceased. It is thought that it asks whoever has seen it to pray for the remission of its sins, and by crossing oneself on seeing a falling star, it is cleansed of its sins (Chubinskij, 1872, p. 17). In Charkov district, falling stars are thought to be dying people. Witches steal them for their witchcraft: death comes to a homestead where a star fell, and a child dies (ibid.).
In Lutsk district, there is a belief that the meteor - star of a dying man flies towards his outgoing soul to take it. An observer watching the falling star should cross himself, and thrice say ‘amen’. Alternatively, falling stars are seen as angels who dispel evil spirits from the sky (Lutsk district), or that they are devils who want to become kindly angels (Podolsk district). Another belief holds that devils turn into stars and climb up the sky, then the angels make a common effort to throw them down again. They fall to the ground where they land as puddles of resin. If a man treads in such a puddle, he will fall ill with tuberculosis, without hope for recovery. To turn away this evil, the one who sees the falling star should say the word ‘amen’ twelve times, or go on saying it until the star goes out. As many times as ‘amen’ is said is how many sazhens deep the devil will go into the ground, and the place where he fell will be completely harmless. Sometimes though the place of such a devil’s fall is said to be a bad site for building a house, because the devil is living there already (op. cit., pp. 16-17).
In the Ukrainian Kholmskaja Rus a falling star is considered to be a firebrand, which was stolen from the sky by the Devil. The Devil uses these firebrands to reinforce the suffering of people in Hell, or otherwise in his power (op. cit., p. 16). Elsewhere, a falling star is perceived as the Devil’s candle, which the Lord or an angel has thrown down. Sometimes the Devil secretly sets his candle on behalf of his lesser devils or his followers, but the Lord or an angel watching the candles recognizes this, and knocks it off with a stick. While looking at the falling star, one should say ‘amen’ three times, so when it lands on the ground it will turn into a melted tarry resin, gradually solidifying to become rosin (clearly a popular tradition in Ukraine). Without saying the ‘amens’, it will instead transform into a devil, and cause plenty of harm to people living nearby (op. cit., pp. 16-17).
People in Usha district believe not only that small stones may fall from the sky, but even large rocks and boulders, which are said to be nothing less than actual stars which have fallen to the Earth. These seem to be mythological explanations for the unusual appearance of some rocks or mountain outcrops (op. cit., p. 17).
8 Conclusion
While not encompassing all the meteor beliefs from the places discussed here, the breadth of the similar beliefs across such a large area perhaps says as much for the origins of the peoples and their fascination for continuing such tales, as about what might really be thought ‘true’ of meteors and meteorites. One last note for now. There is a prohibition to count, or to point to the stars, common to the Slavonic peoples generally, that relates to the belief that in so counting, a man may point to his own star, at which the star will fall and the man will die (Plotnikova, 2006).
Project organisers’ endnote
When his first Meteor Beliefs Project article was published on Belarussian meteor folklore in August 2006, a follow-up piece on other East European meteor beliefs was already planned by guest author Tsima Avilin, and it is with great pleasure we present his second contribution later in this issue.
As ever, the Meteor Beliefs Project’s coordinators welcome input from anyone with fresh information to share. You can find out the kind of material we are interested in, and what to send us, by re-reading the initial article in WGN 31:2 for April 2003, or visiting the webpage at www.imo.net/projects/beliefs. We look forward to hearing from you!
Author Tsimafei Avilin