The Mythology of All Races/Volume 3/Slavic/Part 1/Chapter 3

by Jan Hanuš Máchal

CHAPTER III

THE HOUSEHOLD GODS

THE Slavic belief in household gods is confirmed by old reports. Helmold alludes^[1] to a wide-spread cult of penates among the Elbe Slavs; and Cosmas relates^[2] how Czech, one of the forefathers, brought the "penates" on his shoulders to the new country and, resting on the mountain of the Rzip, said to his companions: "Rise, good friends, and make an offering to your penates, for it is their help that has brought you to this new country destined for you by Fate ages ago."

Various names were given to the household gods by the Slavs, but the terms děd, dědek, děduška, i. e. an ancestor (literally "grandfather") raised to the rank of a family genius, clearly shows that the penates had their origin in ancestor-worship.^[3]

Děduška Domovoy ("Grandfather House-Lord") Is well known In Russia, and many vivid reports are circulated concerning him. He is commonly represented as an old man with a grizzled, bushy head of hair and with flashing eyes; his whole body is covered with a thick, soft coat of hair; and his garments consist of a long cloak girded about his waist with a light red belt, or sometimes only of a red shirt. He often appears in the shape of a well-known person belonging to the people in whose home he lives, most usually in that of the master of the house or that of an older member of the family, whether dead or alive. The belief that he resembles some one of the ancestors in the colour of his hair, his dress, his attitude, his voice, and even his manner shows that he is closely connected with the family, so that the same cow, for example, that was the favourite of this ancestor is the favourite of the Domovoy as well.

The household spirit has the further power of appearing in the shape of animals, such as cats, dogs, bears, etc., the colour of such an animal's coat being identical with that of the hair of the master of the house. While as a rule the Domovoy is invisible, there are many means of getting a glimpse of him; but there is a general reluctance to use such devices since he is very ready to punish inquisitive individuals who disturb him.

Normally the Domovoy lives in the room behind the oven, or under it, or near the threshold of the house, or in the closet, or in the courtyard, or in the stable, or in the bath-room, or elsewhere. When in the bath-room, he creeps under the benches, where he lies hissing, rumbling, and giggling; and if a bath is being prepared, a pail of water is made ready for him to wash in.

Every house has its own Domovoy, and only one, who is, as a rule, single, though sometimes he is believed to have a wife and children. These penates often fight with one another, each of them defending the welfare of its particular home; and the victors settle in the house of the vanquished, where they immediately begin to trouble the inmates, making all sorts of noises, injuring the cattle, turning the master out of his bed, choking people while asleep, etc. The people in the house thus invaded seek to expel the intruder, beating the hedges and the walls of the house with rods and crying, "Go home, we don't want other people's penates here!" In the evening, on the other hand, the members of the household don their finest array and walk out in the courtyard, seeking to lure the Domovoy to their home by saying, "Děduška Domovoy, come and live with us and tend our flocks."

The Domovoy not only cares for the herds, but also protects the whole home and its inmates against misfortune, and promotes their well-being; he sees that everything is in proper order; he supervises the servants and labourers, does all sorts of work for the master at night, and is especially fond of spinning. The householder who knows how to gratify him will meet with success in everything; he will buy cheap and sell dear, will have the best crops of all, and will never be visited by hail. In order to increase the property of such a master the Domovoy will not even shrink from robbing other people.

The household spirit shares in the joy and sorrow of his home. If an inmate dies, he will show his grief by howling at night, while bitter sobbing and wailing forebode the death of the master of the house, and sorrowful moanings are heard if plague, war, conflagration, or some other calamity is threatening. He is also able to foretell the future.

It is only rarely that the Domovoy shows the evil and demoniac side of his character; and then the fault usually lies with the people themselves, who fail to render him due honour, or who give offence by cursing or by bad language, whereupon the infuriated spirit takes vengeance on the cattle, or quits the house and leaves the family unprotected. After his departure the inmates fall ill and die, and even the cattle perish.

People court the favour and satisfaction of the Domovoy by putting aside for him what is left of their evening meal, and the White Russians have a peculiar way of rendering homage to him by placing white linen in the passage leading to the chamber which is his favourite haunt, this being meant as an invitation to join in the meals of the family.

There are different modes of reconciling an angry Domovoy. A cock, for example, will be killed at midnight, and all the nooks and corners of the common room or the courtyard will be washed with its blood. Sometimes a slice of bread strewn with salt will be wrapped in a piece of white cloth and put in the hall or in the courtyard, while the members of the household bow toward all four quarters, uttering certain aphoristic sentences and entreating the Domovoy to cease his anger and be reconciled.

No house can live without the help of its genius, and this accounts for various customs connected with the building of a new residence and with removing to another home, etc. There is a belief that happiness and well-being cannot establish themselves in a newly built home until after the death of the head of the family, who then becomes its guardian; and when a house has been erected, the master of it, and even those who first enter it, are threatened with premature death. Similar customs connected with the erection of new buildings are practised by all Slavs.

Rites of a peculiar character are observed in case of removal into a newly built house. Before entering, the members of the family throw a cat, a cock, a hen, etc., inside, or on the threshold of the new home they cut off the head of a hen and bury it below the first corner of the room; while the first slice of bread cut during the first dinner is buried in the right-hand corner of the loft with the words, "Our supporter, come into the new house to eat bread and to obey your new master."

If the family moves into a new home, they never forget to take their Domovoy with them, and for this purpose they proceed in the following way. An old woman heats a stove in the old house and scrapes the cinders out upon the fender, putting these at noon into a clean pan and covering it with a napkin. Opening the window and turning toward the corner of the room where the oven stands, she invites the Domovoy to come into the new house, after which she takes the pan with the coal into the new home where, at the open gate, he is awaited by the master and the mistress with bread and salt in their hands. Bowing low, they again invite him into the new dwelling, and the old woman, with the master of the house, first enters the room, carrying bread and salt in their hands. The old woman puts the pan by the fireside, and removing the cloth, shakes it toward all the corners to frighten away the Domovoy and then empties the coals into the oven, after which the pan is broken in pieces and buried below the front corner of the room.

The Little Russians call their family genius Didko (Did, Diduch) or Domovyk, their beliefs about him being similar to those which the Russians hold concerning the Domovoy.

The ancient Czechs termed their penates Dědeks, and in Silesia traditions are still current about the Djadeks, or guardian genii of the family. Small statues were made of clay or stone, and in earlier times were placed in niches near the doors, although later they were set on the mantelpieces above the oven. They generally represented an old man, bowed with age, whose attire distinctly showed the costume of a certain tribe of the respective people.

The old Bohemian word Šetek or Šotek may be compared, in point of meaning, with the Děd or Děduška. The Šetek is believed to resemble a small boy with claws, instead of nails, on his hands and feet, and he generally stays in the sheep-shed, though he also hides in the flour, or in the peas, or on a wild pear, while in winter he sits on the oven and warms himself. The Šetek protects the flocks from disease and brings good harvests and money; and he is also said to be able to go without eating and drinking for nine years, returning, after the lapse of this time, to the place of his birth, where he annoys the inmates. He may be bred out of an egg carried for nine days in the arm-pit.

In the belief of the Styrian Slovenians the Šetek of olden times was a good spirit, about the size of a thumb, who generally haunted places where salt was kept, or lived in stables near young cattle. Unless a portion of all that was boiled or roasted was put aside for him, he caused the fire in the oven to go out, or made the pans crack, or caused the cows to yield blood instead of milk, etc. Being of very small size, he could hide in any place and play tricks on those who teased him.

Another designation of the family genius was Skřítek ("Hob-goblin"), a term which was derived from the German Schrat

PLATE XXVIII

Djadek

Like the Russian Děduška Domovoy (pp. 240–43), the Czech Djadek is in reality an ancestral spirit raised to the dignity of guardian of the household. After clay statues found in Silesia.

2a	2b

PLATE XXIX

Šetek

While the Djadek (Plate XXVIII) is an ancestral spirit, the Šetek, like the Skřítek (pp. 244–45), though now degraded to the low estate of a hobgoblin, is in origin a divine being who was the special protector of the household.

or Schratt. This goblin, who appeared in the shape of a small boy, usually lived behind the oven or in the stable, favouring the household and sharing the joys and sorrows of the family; and he liked to do some work in the home, such as weaving on the loom, sweeping the floor, or tending the flocks.

In order to court his favour the household set aside a portion of their meals for his consumption, especially on Thursdays and at Christmas dinner, when three bits from every dish were assigned to him. If they failed to do this, he was angry and stormed about, worrying people, damaging the flocks, and doing all sorts of harm to the master of the house.

His memory still lives in popular tradition, and he was represented by a wooden statue, with arms crossed on its breast and wearing a crown upon its head. This Image stood, as a rule, on a chiffonier in a corner behind the table; and in any absence of the family the Skřítek was placed on a chiffonier or on a table to guard the house. The Slovaks call this spirit Škrata or Škriatek and conceive him as a drenched chicken; while in Poland he is known as Skrzatek, Skrzat, or Skrzot, and is represented as a bird (again most frequently a drenched chicken) dragging its wings and tail behind it. He often transforms himself into a small bird emitting sparks from its body, and he may be bred from an egg of a peculiar shape carried for a certain length of time beneath one's arm-pit. He haunts the corn-loft and steals corn; in bad weather he also visits human dwellings; and those who give him shelter under their roofs will profit by his presence, for he brings the house-holder grain and will make him rich.

The Slovenians in Styria likewise believe that the Škrat (Škratec) brings money and corn. He assumes different shapes, looking now like a young lad, and now like an old man or woman, or he can transform himself into a cat, dog, goose, etc.; but since he is covered with hair, he takes great pains to hide his body. He likes to dwell in mountains and dense forests, and does not allow people to shout there; by day he perches on a beech-tree or takes his rest in dark caves; at night he haunts villages and smithies, where he forges and hammers until the dawn.

This goblin may be hired for one's services or bred from an egg of a black hen; but to gain his assistance it is necessary to promise him one's own self, as well as one's wife and children, and such an agreement must be signed in one's own blood. In return for all this the Škrat will bring whatsoever a man may wish, placing these things on the window-sill, although when he carries money, he comes in the shape of a fiery broom, flying down the chimney. Since millet gruel is his favourite dish, it must be placed on the window-sill whenever he brings anything.

The Russians call the Domovoy Chozyain or Chozyainuško ("Master of the House"), the Bulgarian appellation Stopan and the Bohemian Hospodářiček having a similar meaning.

The Bulgarians believe that every house has its own Stopan, who is descended from an ancestor distinguished for valour and bravery. The Stopan guards his family, securing them health, long life, and numerous progeny; he makes the sheep multiply and yield abundance of wool and milk; he promotes rich harvests and causes the vineyards to produce heavy grapes and the orchards to bear plenty of fruit, the only reward which he asks being that the family hold him in high honour and give him sufficient food. If they shirk this duty, he will have his revenge: fields and vineyards may be damaged by hail; domestic animals and even persons may contract all sorts of disease; and whole families may go to ruin.

The Bohemian Hospodáříček is believed to bring food and money and to warn the householder of impending danger. His symbol is the snake, which is also often called Hospodář, Hospodáříček, or Domovníček. Such a snake lives behind the oven or below the threshold; whoever kills him destroys the happiness and well-being of the family; and if he dies, the life of the master of the house must also end. He is very much attached to the family, especially to children; and in time of harvest, when there is no one in the house, he keeps watch over the home and looks after the cattle. Frequently two snakes live in the house, a male and a female; and similar ideas concerning snakes called Zmek, Smok, or Ćmok are widely current among other Slavs as well.

The worship of family genii is often closely associated with myths about dwarfs, those about the Ludki ("Little People") being particularly common. In the belief of the Lusatian Serbs these Ludki were the first inhabitants of Lusatia (Lausitz), where they lived in ages long past and had their own king. They were pagans and could not endure the ringing of bells, but later they left the country, so that now they are rarely seen. They were small in stature, their heads were disproportionately large, and their eyes protruded; they dressed gaily and wore big hats or red caps upon their heads. They spoke their own language, which was a much altered form of Serbian, and had a peculiar mode of talking by following up any positive assertion by a negative expression of the same idea. They lived partly in human dwellings and partly in woods, on mountains, and also underground, their abodes resembling bakers' ovens and being furnished like an ordinary house. The Ludki grew corn, picking the kernels with an awl; and when the ears had been thrashed, the grain was ground between two stones. This coarse and sandy flour was made into bread by placing the dough between two smooth stones and keeping it underground till it became hard; but it was necessarily sandy, coarse, brown, and doughy. Moreover they consumed roots of plants and wild fruit; in case of need they borrowed bread from human beings ; and they often cut grain in time of harvest, stole pods and turnips, and carried away anything suitable for food. They were familiar with all sorts of handicraft, especially with the smith's trade; and it was they who taught mankind the art of building houses.

Fond of music and singing, the Ludki knew how to play upon an Instrument resembling a cymbal; and being endowed with the art of prophecy, they often foretold things that were to happen. They lived In families and had pompous feasts at their weddings and christenings; but the Ludki households were hostile to each other and waged violent Internecine wars. Toward human beings, on the other hand, they were well disposed, and they borrowed kneading-troughs, churns, and pots from men, doing their best to recompense those who willingly complied with their requests, but cruelly punishing those who offended them. Their friendly relations, however, were restricted to one special human household, which gave them food, mostly millet, and conversed with them.

When such a Ludek died, his relatives burned his body, put the ashes into vessels, and buried the latter in the earth. During the funeral ceremonies the friends and relatives of the dead wept copiously, collecting the tears In small jars which they held under their eyes and burled when filled, whence the urns, pots, and lachrymatories found In ancient graves still remind us of these Ludki. The Poles in Prussian Poland call similar beings KrasnoludI or Krasnoludkl; and among the Slovaks In Hungary the Lútky are small spirits who live on mountains and In mines.

1. i. 83.
2. i. 5.
3. Cf. Leger, Mythologie, pp. 158–62.