This article originally appeared in Rusyn.

I was born in Bereznykŷ, a village in the upper part of the historical Maramoroš County. It was once part of its Dolha district, together with other culturally similar villages in the Upper Boržava Valley. From early childhood, I heard numerous stories about the “evil spirits”, mostly the bosorkaňi (beings akin to witches in English-speaking cultures). Usually the stories would be told when all the family would be out working, and I would be left with my great-grandmother. In cold winters, my great-grandma would be visited by all her friends. Together, they would reminisce about working in farms and fields, and very often tell stories about supernatural evil creatures. As others in the village, they had formed their beliefs about these mystical beings.

Such beliefs had existed in the distant past and remained perfectly preserved up to this day. It is noteworthy, that although many practices and customs in rural Carpathian Rus had changed, the beliefs about the supernatural remained surprisingly intact. How exactly that happened, I would not know. In the human past, unexplained phenomena were rationalized as the work of dark mystical powers. Today, when many such events can be scientifically explained, we might expect these beliefs to be weakened. But that is not the case for people in Bereznykŷ.

As an example, the elderberry was called “the devil’s tree”. One should not lay down beneath it so as not to lay beside the devil. This saying originates in the toxic properties of elderberry flowers, which may cause allergies or headaches. Since people could not explain these effects, they concluded supernatural evil had to be involved. Until now, they instinctively avoid elderberry trees, not planting them near their homes and never stopping by to rest.

As any village, Bereznykŷ has “evil spaces” that people try to avoid – especially at night. According to folk belief, evil spirits tend to gather at crossroads, staying there from midnight until dawn, announced by the third time roosters crow at night. It is believed that evil witches come to crossroads after sundown to attract people and curse them with illness.

Boundaries also contain mystical powers. Even during the day, one should not sit down at road limits, field and yard boundaries – they belong to forces that are not human. Hence people avoid putting up fences or buildings directly on boundary lines.

Bridges are similarly attractive for evil spirits. It is believed that evil naturally lives under bridges, and could stop and torture a crossing person. The small bridge by the mill in Bereznykŷ is particularly surrounded by mysticism. They say a young girl had drowned there and can often be seen wandering nearby.

Evil spirits are also seen around mills. It used to be that a miller had to sacrifice a black rooster so that the spirits do not interfere with them running the mill. Obviously, graveyards belong on this list as well. One should never enter a graveyard after sundown.

Bodies of water, such as streams, ravines, rivers and wells, are also worth mentioning. When finding a water source on one’s way to the forest, one should not drink water from it before blessing it with the cross sign three times. After sundown, one should not drink water from there at all, no matter how thirsty.

There are also beliefs related to places of death. Protection rituals would be performed when entering places in the forests where a hanged person was found, or a body whose cause of death was uncertain. One has to throw a few branches on the ground to “pay” the spirit owners of the place. Murder scenes are also considered dangerous. The victim’s soul is believed to stay in place until the time they were meant to die “their own death” (i.e. from natural causes).

Now that we have discussed their most prominent locations, we can move on to the evil spirits themselves.

First of all, people treat dvodušnykŷ and bosorkaňi separately from the other evil spirits, as they are in fact people that joined the dark forces. True evil spirits include the voďanyk, vovkun, fras, blud, and povitruľa.

Dvodušnyk (lit. having two souls) is one who spends their day working like anyone else, but is taken over by their “evil side” at night. Their dark side makes them wake up and wander until “the third roosters” (i.e. dawn). They only die with one of their sides and one of their two hearts – the other half with the second heart remains alive. And so, after death the dvodušnyk wanders at night, waiting for a victim to torture. To prevent this, people believed to be dvodušnykŷ are buried with their legs tied with thorns, and their bodies covered with shattered glass and poppy seeds. This is intended to make them gather the glass and seeds instead of wandering at night – simply put, to keep the evil spirit busy.

Bosorkaňa is usually translated as “witch”. The beliefs about bosorkaňi are generally the same in Bereznykŷ as anywhere else in the local area or elsewhere in Subcarpathia. Bosorkaňi come in two types: innate and learned. A born bosorkaňa is more dangerous and more powerful. A learned bosorkaňa is a woman who joined the dark side through a special ritual. Bosorkaňi assemble weekly or monthly in forests or border areas between villages. They dance, engage in orgies with frasŷ, collect herbs while nude, or ride stags sitting on their antlers. They often take milk from cows, turning into a cat or a frog to enter barns. They also engage in magic and harm people in other ways. They look like regular women but may have certain features such as an evil glance, crossed eyes, warts on the face, unhealthy skin tone, and so on. Their children are usually born sickly, with yellow skin.

Voďanyk (from voda – water) is a water creature living by water mills, under bridges, or in rivers. As with other dark spirits, they are asleep during the day and wake up at night, roaming around bridges and streams. They often wait for their victims by mills, and are able to turn into dogs. Old Rusyns in Bereznykŷ said all Jews were voďanykŷ, because they were not baptized. Folk belief tied unbaptized people with the dark spirits. One should consider that Jews owned the best land and the stores in Bereznykŷ, and earned money by trade, while Rusyns lived in poverty. And so, the spiritual beliefs about Jews likely originate in folk Antisemitism. Although Jews no longer live in the village, its inhabitants still retain the belief in voďanykŷ.

Here is a story about a voďanyk told by my great-grandmother:

One man spent his whole day logging in the forest. That night he came home, had a good meal, rested a bit, and decided to go to the Jewish tavern (korčma) in the village center. When he came there, the Jewish owner poured him a few shots, and started chatting. The man enjoyed his time there and went back home.

That night he could not fall asleep. He thought he would instead go to the stables by the local school to give the horses some water to drink. However, he left in “the dark hours” (after midnight). There were two horses in the stables. The man took a bucket and descended to the river. But as soon as he started to fill the bucket, something grabbed his leg and started dragging him into the water. The man was fighting off with full force: kicking the evil spirit, hitting it with the bucket or with his knife, he even grabbed an axe to help himself. Finally, he barely managed to set himself free. The creature escaped into the water. The man rushed back home, forgetting about the horses.

The next morning he went to the tavern, but the owner was missing. He found his wife at the bar instead. “Where’s your husband?” – asked the man, but the woman did not answer. When she went to the back for alcohol, the man heard the owner speaking in another room in a weak voice. The man could not resist his curiosity and entered the room. He found the Jewish owner in his bed, beaten, barely alive. Right away, the man understood what was trying to drown him the night before. The owner saw the man and whispered: “You were lucky you had the horses nearby, so I was not strong enough, else you’d have seen it coming!”

Vovkun (a werewolf-type being) is a man who unwillingly turns into a wolf during night-time. As a wolf, he would enter the village and vandalize people’s yards. Vovkun is the strongest during a full moon. Unlike the other dark creatures, he is more harmful for farm animals than humans. His characteristics are uniform in the entire region.

Fras or čort (translated as “devil”) is believed to wander around from midnight until dawn (“the third roosters”). It is usually found around boundaries and pastures and can turn into a horse. It is described the same way throughout the region, with goat-like horns, hooves, and sometimes a tail. The folk custom says to avoid mentioning its name after sundown when cursing, to avoid summoning the fras.

Blud and povitruľa are the only dark spirits that have powers during the day. Blud (compare to bludyty “get lost”) usually finds a person or two in the field or the forest and leads them off the path, dragging them around for a few hours. Blud can confuse a person and lead them very far away. To free oneself from its control, one has to take off one’s clothes, wear them inside out, and pray Otče naš.

Povitruľa (lit. “whirlwind”) often appears at the crossroads, even when it is not windy. It is often seen near graveyards during common visiting times (second Sunday after Easter or in the fall). Once encountered, one should also pray Otče naš for protection.

There are specific times when evil spirits are most active. Usually this is the time from midnight until dawn (“the third roosters”). They are most powerful from midnight until 1 AM – people try to avoid going out at this time, waiting at home for “the dark hours” to end. Some spirits wake up right after sunset.

Evil spirits are the strongest on St. George’s Day (April 23), when bosorkaňi practice their magic the most. On Rusaľa Friday (Friday after Pentecost) evil spirits come out of the waters, particularly the drowned and unbaptized babies. In Bereznykŷ, these do not feature prominently, but Rusaľa Friday is believed to be important for bosorkaňi, who gather herbs and harm people. On Johnmas (July 7 in the Julian calendar), bosorkaňi gather more herbs to use for their harmful magic.

In the summer, the evil spirits get married in the forests. This refers to bosorkaňi partying with frasŷ and other spirits. You can tell it by their fast and loud motion and noisy percussion.

Finally, it is worth noting that other villages in the former Dolha district do not believe in voďanykŷ, but instead feature beliefs about bosorkunŷ and čornoknyžnykŷ (types of sorcerers).

In my next article, I will tell how Rusyns in Bereznykŷ protect themselves against the evil spirits.

(Translated by Myhaľ Lŷžyčko and Tomaš Kalynyč)