How to avoid angering Russian evil spirits

1. Don’t wander in a field at noon!

This is a critical time of day – the hour of the ‘Poludnitsa’ (Midday Lady). She appears to people as either a beautiful young woman in a snow-white dress or as a terrifying old woman in rags. Armed with a scythe, this malevolent spirit loathes anyone being – or, worse, working – in the fields at noon and she will surely slay them. However, there is a chance to escape: the ‘Poludnitsa’ may start asking riddles. Answer correctly and she will vanish.

2. Keep your home clean & your family life peaceful!

Otherwise, the ‘Domovoy’ (‘house spirit’) will turn against you. This guardian spirit of the hearth can become a loyal helper to a tidy, generous homeowner, but a fierce enemy to a slob or someone who thrives on family squabbles. Strange noises at night, missing items, broken dishes – these are all his doing. The ‘Domovoy’ is capable of far worse revenge, too – even beating or strangling a sleeping person nearly to death!

3. Don’t make noise or litter in the forest! Don’t harm the trees!

The forest is the domain of the mighty ‘Leshy’ (forest spirit). He doesn’t mind if a person gathers a bit of firewood, but he won’t tolerate the wanton mutilation of trees. Loud singing, boisterous merrymaking and whistling irritate him. He will scare an offender half to death or cause them to lose their way, leaving them to wander the forest until they die.

4. Don’t swim in the river at night!

At night, evil spirits reign supreme, chief among them the ‘Vodyanoy’ (water spirit). A bug-eyed, long-legged old man, entangled in pondweed, with fish-like features and a horn on his head, will drag you to the bottom or assign the task to his female helpers: the ‘rusalkas’ and ‘vodyanitsas’.

5. Don’t use the ‘banya’ after midnight!

At this time,  the ‘bannik’ (bathhouse spirit) and his “unclean” friends are taking their steam baths. If you violate this rule, the enraged spirit might scald you with boiling water or stoke the heat to such unbearable levels that you faint. Though small and scrawny, the old man possesses immense strength; he can easily knock down a strapping man and drag him across the floor.