Belief in "evil spirits" - brownies, water spirits, goblin, etc. - arose among the people in distant pagan times. After the adoption of Christianity, all kinds of "evil spirits" were much more fortunate than the pagan gods. After all, the gods were forgotten for several centuries, and the images of representatives of "evil spirits" were preserved in folk tales and superstitions.
Instructions
Step 1
The people used to call the owners of any reservoirs aquatic. They could live in rivers, ponds, lakes, pools or swamps. True, the water person living in the pool was called "the pool", and the dweller of the swamp was called the "swamp". Of all the Slavic spirits, the water one was considered the richest. In the thickets of reeds or sedges stood his rich chambers, built of shells and multi-colored gemstones. The aquatic also had their own herds of horses, cows, sheep and pigs, which they drove out of the water at night and grazed in the nearby meadows. Mermaids or beautiful drowned women became aquatic wives.
Step 2
In the flood, when the spring melting snow or multi-day torrential rains overflowed the banks and broke bridges, mills and dams on its way, the peasants thought that it was a water man celebrating a wedding. When the time came for the wife of the merman to give birth, he took the form of an ordinary person and went to the city or the village to invite a midwife to his underwater mansions. If the birth went well, he generously rewarded her with silver and gold for her labor. However, if the waterman went to people, assuming a human form, it was not difficult to recognize him. The fact is that water was constantly dripping from the left side of his caftan, wherever he sat - there was a wet place, and when he started combing his hair - water flowed from his hair.
Step 3
They say that once a baby was caught in fishing nets. He played and frolicked while he was in the water, but as soon as he was brought to the hut, the child began to cry and yearn. As it turned out, it was the brainchild of a water one. The fishermen returned it to their father on the condition that their nets would always be full of fish. In the future, this condition was strictly observed.
Step 4
Our ancestors believed that being in their possessions, the merman usually rides around on a catfish. Therefore, in some areas, catfish are called "devil's horse" and do not dare to eat it. It is better to let the catfish caught in the net immediately back into the river so that the water one does not try to avenge it. The merman, most often, was represented as a man with horns, a fish tail and crow's feet instead of hands. They also described him as an ugly old man, covered from head to toe with mud, with a huge stomach swollen from the water and a swollen face. His beard is long, gray or green, like algae.
Step 5
In the summer the water was awake, and in the winter, when the water was covered with ice, fell into hibernation. In April, an angry and hungry waterman would wake up and break the ice with annoyance, raise waves and scatter the fish. To appease the angry owner of the river, peasants poured oil on the water and threw a fried goose into it - a favorite dish of water.
