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Rusalka: The Mythical Slavic Mermaid

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In Slavic mythology, a rusalka (plural: rusalki) is something akin to the Celtic mermaids or the Greek sirens. In short, rusalki are beautiful young women who dwell in bodies of water and enjoy enticing men. The concept of rusalki originated from a Slavic pagan tradition where the young women were symbols of fertility. These nymphs did not interfere too much with human life and mainly served to provide life-giving moisture to the fields and forests every spring when they came ashore to dance in the spring moonlight. The water spirits were believed to help crops grow plentifully and so were generally treated with respect. In the modern era, a large mythos mostly unrelated to fertility has sprung up around the beguiling young women of the water. By the 19th century, the main objective of a rusalka had transformed into harassing the human population.

Origins of Rusalki

While the pagan water nymph occurred naturally, the mermaid rusalka has quite varied origin stories. Typically, they involved young women dying violent deaths. Sometimes it is murder, sometimes it is a suicide, but usually it is a death by drowning. Stories of rusalka often revolve around women betrayed by a husband or lover. Some rusalki are young women who jumped into a lake or river because she was pregnant out of wedlock. Other origin stories say a rusalka is any young woman who dies a virgin, regardless of whether the death was violent or natural. Still other myths say that babies who die before being baptized are reborn as water sprites. This version ties in with the idea that babies born out of wedlock were supposedly drowned. Finally, some myths claim that a rusalka is any unclean soul, in other words, anyone who killed himself or herself by jumping into the lake or river.

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www.Ancient-Origins.net – Reconstructing the story of humanity’s past


Source: http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/rusalka-mythical-slavic-mermaid-006738



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