Kikimora

For this week's episode, we're going over to Eastern Europe to look at another household spirit - the Kikimora from Slavic mythology! How does this one relate to the Leshy and the Domovoy from the same mythology? Why is the Witcher version inaccurate? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

Gosh, March has marched in quickly and thank goodness spring is on its way because it is so cold here at the moment. I’m very excited to start getting some warmer weather to swoop through the UK. It’s also getting close to my birthday which is always nice as well as the third year anniversary of the podcast!

DESCRIPTION:

So we’re heading back to Europe, towards home to Eastern Europe this week to look at a monster that is represented within different countries but technically the same mythology. It’s the 

Kikimora from Slavic mythology!

The Kikimora is a household spirit, however, there are two different versions of her - so it’s best to start with that first. The usual household one is described as a dog, goat or chicken-headed woman, but can use animal parts for any part of herself. She is also able to appear as a beautiful woman to some, as well as young girls and ugly dwarves with pointy heads. These monsters are the wife of the Slavic monster, Domovoy, which were the male equivalent of the Kikimora and are household spirits. This version is sometimes known as the forest version of the Kikimora, but she can appear in towns and in graveyards where she can also imitate dead family members for the people whose house she inhabits.

The other version of this monster is the swamp Kikimora, which is usually depicted as a hunchback, thin old woman who wears moss and grass for clothes. She is said to be a lot more ruthless than her forest namesake, happy to kidnap and murder passersby and drown them in the bog she lives in. If she makes her way into your home, you’d be able to tell with the wet footprints or wet furniture that she leaves in her wake. During this, she can kidnap your child and leave a log in its place which is pretty rough. This Kikimora is married to the forest King, Leshy - another monster who we’ve covered in another episode if you’re interested in learning more about him. 

Both versions of the Kikimora are the same in regards to their powers though, where they both have the power of invisibility, shapeshifting and dreamwalking. The latter is probably the coolest and what they’re most well-known for - but they all kind of fit in together in regards to what she would be doing. A Kikimora would get into your house, be invited or not, and if the house was left untidy, the children neglected or the husband abusive, it would come and give you nightmares. It would sneak in through the keyhole of your doors and sit on your chest, strapping your arms down so you cannot struggle and strangle you. 

Slavic mothers tell their children to hide their heads in their pillows or look away from the Kikimora if they sense this coming into their room, as a glance into her eyes is a definitive and quick death. To stop this, they would stuff keyholes with cotton or paper to restrict her movement around the house and seeing that she cannot get access in the first place.

They could also enter the dreams of the house's inhabitants - giving them a sleep paralysis or nightmare effect. In men’s dreams, she would tempt them as a beautiful woman - only to reveal herself once they had gotten too close. In women’s dreams, she would taunt them with the images of other women, making them jealous and suspicious of her husband.

The Kikimora could be there when you move in due to a curse from the house builder, or if a child had died at the property previously due to murder, miscarriage or stillbirth. She lives mostly within the hearth, cellar or pantry of the house in the nooks and crannies - waiting for the night to start her stalking. You could get rid of a resident Kikimora by putting a broom upside down on the back of any doors, saying an elaborate prayer before bed, making a sign of the cross on your pillow or strapping a belt to their bedsheets.

That being said though, they could also be a helpful spirit to have around if you’re doing all the things right. If everything is looked after around the home, the Kikimora will look after any chickens, livestock and will help around the house with any housework. But the first signs of her defecting are whistling, breaking dishes and making other noises in the dead of night - if she’s content, she will sit and spin thread, as her favourite hobby is spinning and making clothes.

She is also considered a death omen within this culture, if you are to see her during her weaving - you are destined for a hard time. If you catch her spinning thread, you will definitely die soon and if you catch her knocking at your door then you are in for some pretty bad luck. 

Kikimora are always female and they are formed from the spirits of unbaptised babies, children cursed by their own parents and ones that are linked to evil spirits. Because they are spirits, there is no killing them - it’s just removing them from your property, which does seem to be pretty difficult once they’re in there.

ORIGIN:

For etymology, it’s actually pretty interesting because there are a load of Slavic languages which have a few different roots and translations for the Kikimora. Throughout all of them, it may link to the sound of her spinning wheel, but in Polish and Croatian, mora means nightmare. There is also mara which implies the attractive version of the Kikimora within these same languages.

But before we get into the full history, let’s go over what Slavic means in a mythology context for those outside of those regions who don’t know. The Slavic mythos regions were some of the countries within Eastern Europe who speak Slavic based languages, which are Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Ukraine, Serbia, Belarus, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia. 

This was all based on Slavic paganism, which was around in the 6th-7th centuries before the arrival of Christianity, and of course - a lot of these countries that we know now were merged or didn’t exist at all within Europe until much later on either, but they all spoke the same dialect if not the same language which was Cyrillic or Glagolitic, which is what modern Slavic languages are now derived from. So yes, whilst Slavic monsters are considered European, they are also independently Slavic in their own right and are attached to a different European culture. Not that each country in Europe isn’t unique with culture, but the language linked ones are usually quite similar e.g. Germanic and Romantic language countries are usually all influenced by each other mythologically due to the invasion of land and influence through territorial changes and migration of people throughout the continent. 

This monster doesn’t have a definitive beginning to its history, but we do know that it came from those Slavic pagan times, which ended in the 13th century when Christianity came in. However, belief in the Kikimora did not dissipate when the mainline religions came into Europe and they are still widely believed in due to their link to the demonic, which is only supported by the Christian church. But there is still a heavy folklore presence within the Slavic countries, which is still present to this day - and the Kikimora represents taking care of your home and family, and the consequences of not doing so. 

They were also known to show up at big events to foretell bad things happening, and so people would use the Kikimora as an explanation, but also a comfort if a family member or friend died, rather than thinking of them as the reason they passed.

I have two stories about the Kikimora, one of which comes from a tone poem, which is an orchestral piece by Ana toly Lyadov which talks about a Kikimora growing up with a magician in the mountains, rocking in a cradle made of crystal. After seven years, she reaches maturity and crawls out, tiny and whittled down by the rock - being no larger than a thimble. She spins flax all day with evil intentions for the world.

The other is of a swamp Kikimora who loved to brew beer. Her name was Baba Bolotnitsa and when she brewed, a thick fog would rise over the swamp that she lived in, making it impossible for humans to pass and tempting them with the smell of the beer. 

Now for a mythical comparison, of course we have her male counterparts, the Leshy and the Domovoy. The Leshy is a wandering forest god and a shapeshifter who rules over the entire forest - they are known to kidnap children and drive people into the unknown path into danger. I’ve covered Leshy before if you want to hear more about him. The Domovoy is on my to-do list, which is much more relevant to the Kikimora - as they are male household spirits that appear as old men with flashing eyes. They are more protective spirits of the family in the home, and will look after the children - however, they get very upset when the family uses bad language or bad behaviour. Technically, the Domovoy is a god - and once he leaves in disgust, it leaves the family open to disease and death. We’ll cover them another time though.

We can also talk about the Banshee and the Bean Nighe in this case too though, because of her household chore death omen vibes. The others both represent these omens, with the Banshee and her call and the Bean Nighe with the washing of blood off the intended clothes. But with the nightmare aspect, we also can link her to Night Hags, the embodiment of nightmares and sleep paralysis throughout most cultures in the world. They would sit on your chest whilst you slept and try to kill you, as well as spooking you out by sitting all dark and silent in the corner whilst you fell asleep. I covered these in my third ever episode if you want to know more about them!

Before we move onto modern media, we have to talk about where you might know this from. Yes, they are the title card on Netflix for The Witcher series - which is pretty cool and it is the swamp Kikimora. However, this doesn’t look anything like the monster we know from folklore, it’s a big spider like monster in this first clip we see Geralt in, but in reality, they were pretty sleepy household spirits who sometimes gave you nightmares.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we don’t have many for Kikimora specifically other than the Witcher and The Owl House in TV and games, but I’ll cover you with some more household spirit and spooky night terror bits.

For art, have a look at Illustration of a Kikimora from 1934 by Ivan Bilibin, Swamp kikimora by Vasiliy Ivanovich Denisov from the early 1900’s and Child frightened by shy Kikimora by Tatiana Nikolayevna Hippius for some classic art - but otherwise, the independent stuff is very good for this monster too.

In movies, we have; Faeries & The Elfkins, Maleficent, Dead Awake, Marianne 2011, The Nightmare, The Night Walker, Mara & The Haunting of Mia Moss.

For TV, we have; The Witcher, The Owl House, Hilda, Let’s Go Luna, Queen’s Blade, Merlin, Barbie Presents Thumbelina, Disenchantment, The Dragon Prince, Trolls, Gargoyles, Steven Universe, Mr Bogus, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rings of Power, Black Clover, Kulipari: An Army of Frogs, Adventures of the Gummi Bears & Avatar: The Last Airbender.

In video games, we have ones such as; The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, The Legend of Zelda, World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, Touhou Project, Skies of Arcadia, World of Mana, WildStar, Suikoden, Runescape, Tales of Symphonia, Shining Force 2, One Way Heroics, Loom, Wild ARMs, The Elder Scrolls, The Legend of Dragoon, Knight Bewitched, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Bravely Default 2, Kingdom of Loathing & Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

My book recommendation this week is A Study of Household Spirits of Eastern Europe by Ronesa Aveela or The Tradition of Household Spirits: Ancestral Lore and Practices by Claude Lecouteux for some great tips and stories on household spirits.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

You know this one is a bit believable for me, but mostly because I like the idea of the nightmare aspect and the whole sleep paralysis demon actually being a mythological monster. What I don’t like is the actual idea of it - the concept of a chicken faced lady coming to watch over me and then potentially, if I catch a glimpse of it, I’ll die - really freaks me out. 

BUT I will say that I enjoy that she will do my cleaning up for me if I treat her right, I respect it and appreciate the sentiment. As well as generally being a pretty good spirit if you don’t annoy her or look her in the eye - I sleep with all my doors open because of my cats and she would just be able to walk in and stare at me in my house. 

Although what I do have to take into account is that this is a spirit, and they’re generally pretty hard to prove because they are not tangibly here to point at - so I think I’ll leave this one on a maybe - just so I sleep soundly for a little while.

But what do you think? Did the Kikimora slip into the keyholes of Slavic Europe? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

I think the Kikimora is creeping up my list of favourite monsters you know, this one is so cool and I really enjoyed covering it. I hope all my Witcher fans are also satiated with this one, unlike the change of Geralt’s actor on Netflix. Bring back Henry Cavill is all I have to say.

Next week, we’re having a little special for the third year anniversary and looking at a monster that I love but are represented throughout different mythologies across the world. Let’s take a look at your destiny for the Fates next Thursday for our birthday special.

Also another quick reminder that I’m having my annual two week break after next week’s episode to recuperate. But I do have a great reveal during the next episode too, which I hope you’re excited to hear about as much as I’m excited to reveal it.

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube, Threads and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.