Slavic lower mythology has always felt more exciting to me compared to the higher mythology. Unlike higher mythology, it doesn't feature high gods, cosmic creators, well-defined structures, or matured, elevated stories. Instead, it is messy, down-to-earth, and always in your immediate vicinity. The house spirit (domovoy) lives behind the stove in your log cabin, the water demon (vodyanoy) grabs your leg when you swim in the village lake, and you might catch a glimpse of the leshiy (forest spirit) when you are out collecting firewood.
Modern analyses often eliminate the mystery and charm. We now have explanations for most of the common motifs, which largely fall into two categories: prescriptive and explanatory functions. The prescriptive function warns us, "Don't go into the deep, dark woods—there are monsters there," while the explanatory function reasons, "He didn't just get drunk and drown in the lake; the lake spirit drowned him." Yet, even with all this knowledge, I wonder how long my modern, rational mind would hold up if I had to live out in the neck of the woods, alone in a simple hut, before finally giving in and letting magic and myth back into my mind.
Mythology inevitably factors in the environment where people live. These days we know that the Slavic people originated in the 4th to 5th centuries in the Pripyat River basin and Polesia—a land of lowlands, marshes, and forests. This was followed by an extraordinary expansion in the 6th and 7th centuries in all directions, reaching the subarctic forests in the north, the Upper Volga River and steppe margins in the east, the Balkans in the south, and the Elbe and Austrian Alps in the west. The Slavic expansion swept across waterlogged lowlands and marshes, fertile continental river valleys, dense primeval forests, subarctic taiga, alpine and highland mountain ranges, and the arid, rocky karst landscapes of the Mediterranean coast. Naturally, all these environments were factored into their folklore and localized mythology. We see traces of this in folklore: less sunny regions tend to have a grimmer touch, while sunnier, southern regions have a more uplifting tone. Cultural exchange with neighboring non-Slavic peoples contributed to local mythologies diverging as well.
Following the period of Slavic expansion came Christianization. While it displaced Slavic higher mythology, the Christian assimilation of lower mythology was far less successful. People still had to deal with day-to-day problems, and Slavic lower mythology still offered the right, time-tested toolkit to do just that.
Drawing characters from Slavic lower mythology presents a unique challenge—the sources are extremely sparse and heavily affected by Christian assimilation. The characters' appearances are either unremarkable (the leshiy might look just like an ordinary, middle-aged man, which is an unexciting description) or elusive and fleeting (the leshiy might reveal himself as a sudden gust of wind, or you might only catch a glimpse of a shadow between the trees). Nevertheless, I tried to stay true to our sparse sources and capture that elusive atmosphere. Only a couple of times did I digress from this path, following my artistic instinct instead.
Rusavka / Rusalka / Mermaid
"From the airy and pale face shine their gray, blue or black eyes, adorned with wide and thick eyebrows; red, black or green hair, freely flowing down the back, falls to their knees. A special power is hidden in the hair; while it is wet, Rusalka can flood an entire landscape with it, if she combs it with a herringbone comb. If it dries, Rusalka loses her strength and dies."― Hanus Machal, "Outline of Slavic Mythology", 1891Vedma / Witch
“A witch rides astride a feather,With gray whiskers and raven claws,In a short skirt, with a pipe in her teeth,And girded with a wet leech...”Vodyanik / Vodyanoy / Water Deamon
“russian vodyanoys “with a puffy belly and a swollen face,” living in deep ends, especially near water mills, famous drunkards, visiting taverns where they drink and play dice, stealing horses and cows and drowning people, are completely different from the epic sea king and the Finnish god Ahto, who treats people favorably, loves them and helps them in trouble.”― Miller V.F. “Essays on Russian folk literature.” 1897.Domovoy / Hospodaricek (Little Master) / Ded or Susedushko (Neighbor / Little Neighbor)
"an old man the size of a five-year-old boy, dressed in a red shirt and girded with a dark blue belt. His face is wrinkled, his chin is white, the hair on his head is yellow-gray, and his eyes are like fire."― Hanus Machal, "Outline of Slavic Mythology", 1891Volkolaka / Oboroten / Werewolf
“A person can also turn into a Werewolf if they drink water from a wolf's footprint. But Werewolves can transform not only into wolves, but also into cows, dogs, black cats, geese, chickens, etc. After the death of a Werewolf, wolves gather at his grave and celebrate the wolf's funeral.”― Hanus Machal, "Outline of Slavic Mythology", 1891Leshiy / Leshak / Forest Deamon
“There are also other indications of the sacrificial offerings with which the *leshy* was once honored: on one occasion, he helped a peasant—chopping firewood for him—and the man repaid him with a loaf of bread; he asks peasants working in the forest for pies, and when they give him some, he shouts: "I walked and walked—and found a treat!”― Alexander Afanasyev "The Poetic Outlook on Nature by the Slavs", 1865Poludinica / Noon Witch / Midday Spirit
"Anyone she caught in the fields had to — in order to save themself — speak about a single subject for a full hour. If they failed to do so, she would sever their head. If she did not kill him outright, she would at the very least leave them paralyzed. However, if hey succeeded in the task, she would lose all power over him. One woman resolved to remain in the fields until noon, deciding that if the Noon Witch should appear, she would spend the hour speaking about flax. And so she did. At eleven o'clock, while tending to her flax, she heard footsteps behind her; the Noon Witch had arrived, and the woman proceeded to speak at length — for a full hour — about flax: its utility and the best methods for its cultivation. The moment the clock struck twelve, the Noon Witch vanished; from that day forward, the woman was able to work in the fields even at high noon, for the Noon Witch never appeared to her again."― Hanus Machal, "Outline of Slavic Mythology", 1891