VIY VIY

in East Slavic mythology, a character whose deadly gaze is hidden under huge eyelids or eyelashes, one of the East Slavic names of which is associated with the same root: cf. Ukrainian viya, viika, belarusian. veika - "eyelash". According to Russian and Belarusian fairy tales, V.'s assistants lifted V.'s eyelids, eyelashes or eyebrows with pitchforks, which caused the person who could not stand V.'s gaze to die. Preserved until the 19th century. The Ukrainian legend about V. is known from the novel by N. V. Gogol. Possible correspondences of the name V. and some of his attributes in the Ossetian ideas about giants-vayugs (see. Waig) make us recognize the ancient origins of the legend about V. This is also evidenced by the parallels to the image of V. in the Celtic epic, and the abundance of typological parallels in mythological functions eyes.
Lit.: Abaev V.I., The image of Viy in Gogol's story, in the book: Russian folklore, v. 3, M.-L., 1958; Ivanov V. V., On one parallel to Gogol's Wii, in the book: Works on sign systems, c. 5, Tartu, 1971; his own. The category of "visible" and "invisible" in the text. Once again about East Slavic folklore parallels to Gogol's Viy, in: Structure of texts and semiotics of culture, The Hague-P., 1973.
V.I., V.T.

(Source: "Myths of the peoples of the world".)

(Niy, Niam) - a mythical creature whose eyelids descend to the very ground, but if you lift them with a pitchfork, then nothing will be hidden from his eyes; the word "wee" means eyelashes. Viy - with one look kills people and turns cities and villages into ashes; fortunately, thick eyebrows and eyelids close to his eyes cover his murderous gaze, and only when it is necessary to destroy the enemy rati or set fire to the enemy city, they raise his eyelids with a pitchfork. Viy was considered one of the main servants of Chernobog. He was considered a judge over the dead. The Slavs could never come to terms with the fact that those who lived lawlessly, out of conscience, were not punished. The Slavs believed that the place of execution of the lawless was inside the earth. Viy is also associated with the seasonal death of nature during winter. He was revered as a sender of nightmares, visions and ghosts, especially for those with a guilty conscience. “... He saw that they were leading some squat, hefty, clubfoot man. He was all in the black earth. Like sinewy, strong roots, his legs and arms covered with earth stood out. He walked heavily, stumbling every minute. Long eyelids were lowered to the ground. Khoma noticed with horror that his face was iron ”(N.V. Gogol.“ Viy ”). “... Today Viy is at rest,” the two-headed horse yawned with one head, and licked his other head, “Viy is resting: he killed a lot of people with his eye, and only ashes lie from the countries-cities. Viy will accumulate strength, get down to business again ”(A.M. Remizov.“ To the Sea-Ocean ”).

(Source: "Slavic mythology. Dictionary-reference book.")

See what "VIY" is in other dictionaries:

I AM; m. In Slavic mythology: a supernatural being with a deadly look hidden under huge eyelids or eyelashes. ● According to popular notions, Viy is a formidable old man with eyebrows and centuries to the ground. By itself, he can not see ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

In East Slavic mythology, the spirit that brings death. Having huge eyes with heavy eyelids, Viy kills with his gaze ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

A person from Little Russian demonology; an old man with eyebrows and eyelids down to the ground; but if you lift his eyelids and eyebrows, then his gaze kills and destroys everything that he sees. This legend is processed by Gogol in Viy. Dictionary of foreign words included in ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Exist., number of synonyms: 4 fictional creature (334) hero (80) ny (2) ... Synonym dictionary

Viy- Viy, Viya, preposition. p. o Vie (mythol.) ... Russian spelling dictionary

Request "Vee" is redirected here; for the American golfer, see Vee, Michelle. This term has other meanings, see Viy (meanings). Viy is a character of Ukrainian demonology in the form of a formidable old man with eyebrows and centuries to the very ... ... Wikipedia

viy- I am; m. In Slavic mythology: a supernatural being with a deadly look hidden under huge eyelids or eyelashes. According to popular notions, Viy is a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids to the very ground. By itself, he can not see ... ... Dictionary of many expressions

VIY- (a character of the same name novel by N.V. Gogol; see also VIEV) Jealousy, / wives, / tears ... / well, them! - / eyelids swell / fit Viy. / I am not myself, / but I am / jealous / for Soviet Russia. M928 (355); The legacy of the terrible bourgeois, They are visited at night by the Non-existent, ... ...

-VIY- see KYIV VIY ... Proper name in Russian poetry of the XX century: a dictionary of personal names

In Little Russian demonology, a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids reaching to the ground; V. cannot see anything on his own, but if several strongmen succeed in raising his eyebrows and eyelids with iron pitchforks, then nothing can hide before his formidable ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

(or as it is also called - Niam) - this is the God of the Slavs, who is perceived as the Guardian of Souls who have gone to Nav. In a late representation, this divine Person appears as a kind of mythical creature with eyelids lowered to the ground. If he raises his eyelids with a pitchfork, then nothing will be hidden from the View Eye. By the name of the Slavic God Viy, in the ancient Slavic language, people's eyelashes are called vii. This sound is still preserved in the language of the Ukrainian people. In the legends Viy is ambiguous, with a contradictory character.

The Slavic God Viy is considered the oldest God, the son of Rod. He was born together with his twin brother, whose name the Progenitor gave - Dy. Despite the fact that the Slavic God Viy is a dark God, nevertheless, He often looks at the bright Rule, striving to live according to its laws.

Wise people, seeing in depth, calmly perceive Viy's sometimes strange behavior. They remember a certain secret meaning of the appearance of Viy for the Worlds, in that is the intention of the Family, which is only known to the end by Him.

legends and myths O Slavic God Vie

Many different legends affect Viy. Here are some examples of them.

About how the Slavic God God Viy taught the young God Veles:

The Dark God Viy accepted the child as his own son, erased part of his memory, and taught him black magic. So Veles became a scientist who knows about all the secrets of light and good, as well as dark and destructive magic.

About His important appointment in the universe:

Nav was chosen by Viy when Rod entrusted Him with an important task - to purify the souls who came to Nav, no matter what. The main task is to cleanse all the souls that come in hell, then let them go clean.

Souls are cleansed with flame in a special place - Peclet. All painful, unnecessary, painful memories, attachments, dependences on the burning fire leave the soul forever! Then the soul remains for some time in a purified state in Navi, but already in another place, where the afterlife Judge determines the duration of its stay and exit from Navi. And the soul was already leaving, completely cleansed of Falsehood and Lies, only in this way can it move further along the path to the Rule!

God Viy was created with a large admixture of magic from Other Worlds, therefore He is always interested in distant Worlds - what is happening in them, what is happening.

How Viy got excellent assistants-informers, how He was called the All-Seeing and All-Knowing:

No matter what happens, something does not appear that could harm us, ”Viy thought about the mysterious other Worlds. Therefore, they decided to create a gang of birds, rats and other nimble living creatures, which could find out all the news everywhere, and retell Viyu. Everywhere his scammers snooped around, they even visited Rod's room, collected news day and night, and then they reported everything to Viyu. The God of Sleep and his girlfriend Sandman also came to the dreams of the Gods, and then they retold them to Wii. So Viy knew about everything that was done in Yavi, Navi or Rule. So the glory of Viy appeared as God the All-Knowing and the All-Seeing.

amulet – symbolGod Viya

The sign or amulet of God Viy is called by the Slavs - "All-Seeing Eye". He immediately tells us that this is God, from whose eyes, hearing and memory nothing is hidden. The appearance of the sign is circles repeating each other, one inside the other. Small stripes-protrusions along the edges of the circles indicate immunity. This means the hidden and obvious strength of Viy, his imperiousness, as well as his regalia - to be the Shepherd of Souls, when no one will hide under the vigilant, watchful eye of God.

Amulet "All-Seeing Eye" will protect from:

• bad, impure thoughts;
• discouragement;
• depression;
• pessimism;
• the arbitrariness of dark navi and other forces;
• deceit or lawlessness in your direction.

Amulet "All-Seeing Eye" will draw to you:

• development of intuition;
• penetrating mind;
• ingenuity;
• supernatural instinct;
• restoration of lost connections;
• good relations with people, friends;
• family trust in you.

You can get a lot from the All-Seeing Eye of Viy - purposefulness, understanding of the true sense of justice, and even wit, an analytical mindset, its development.

See more about the All-Seeing Eye amulet.

Manifestation God Viya for Slavs

The ancient ancestors of the Slavs knew about the terrible power of Viy - with just a glance, he is able to destroy not only a person, but entire cities or villages. One thing pleases, this heavy look is carefully hidden by thick eyebrows and low lowered eyelids.

The ancient North still remembers the understanding that the Viy God of the Slavs does a useful thing in Hell - it helps souls to cleanse themselves there. After purification, the soul can continue on its journey. It is necessary for the soul to return to its Rod, from where it came. Therefore, the Slavs treated Viy with reverence, honored Him for helping souls in their rebirth.

Attributes God Viya

Animal- a shaggy black dog with hanging eyelids.

Heraldry, items- scourge

Treba (offering)- a fire and a bag of wool for burning.

God Viyv northern traditions divination and of magic

Cut number – 9

Divination. questioning God.

The appearance of the Reza of God Viy draws the attention of the Questioner to the fact that he is standing on the edge of a cliff, and communications with Prav have been lost. This is a warning that a person is doing something wrong, somewhere his path turned off the right path and rushed somewhere to Nav, but it was necessary - to Prav.

He gives advice: you should cleanse your soul. To find the right path, you will need to make a lot of effort, which should not be abandoned.

A sure sign of finding the right path is the sudden arrival of a streak of luck and good luck.

Magic. When invite Boga Viy.

In magical rites, they avoid specifically calling God Viy, turning rites to him. This God is harsh and does not like to be disturbed. He is the keeper of Magic, but does not give it away in vain. But behind the amulet of God Viy they know the power - to protect in Reveal from unrighteous deeds. Those in the know who walk between the Worlds certainly take the sign of God Viy with them as an assistant and protector. After all, Viy is the ancient God of magic, who taught Veles himself!

Nauzas were also woven, turning to Father Viy in those cases when it was very necessary to block the path of a bad intention, to stop attacks, other people's intentions. Therefore, they tied the knot, and they slandered the conspiracy against the person from whom they wanted to protect themselves. Nauz Viya " Dead Knot" is called - it serves as a powerful barrier from unkind people.

One of the strangest and mysteriously contradictory characters of the Slavic epic could have remained in the backyard of Russian folklore, if not for the attention of the great writer to him N.V. Gogol and his story "Viy", first published in the collection "Mirgorod" in 1835.

In his comments on the story, V.A. Voropaev and I.A. Vinogradov note: “According to the research of D. Moldavsky, the name of the underground spirit Viy arose from Gogol as a result of contamination of the name of the mythological ruler of the underworld “iron” Niy and Ukrainian words: “Virlooky, bug-eyed” (Gogol’s “Lexicon of Little Russia”), “viya” - an eyelash and “poviko” - eyelid (see: Moldavsky D. “Viy” and the mythology of the 18th century. / / Almanac of a bibliophile. Issue 27. M., 1990. P. 152-154).

Shot from the film "Viy"

Obviously, one more word of Gogol's Little Russian Lexicon is connected with the name of Viy: “Viko, the lid is on the disc or on the cover”. Let us recall the “dizhu” in “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” - a huge tub of dough walking “squatting” around the hut - and the “hiding” in “The Night Before Christmas” - a chest bound with iron and painted with bright colors, made by Vakula to order for the beautiful Oksana .. .

And in Gogol’s extract from his mother’s letter dated June 4, 1829 “On the weddings of Little Russians”, which refers to the preparation of a wedding loaf, it is said: oven, and vico is put on a dija.”

The architecture of the temple depicted here is also essential for understanding the story - a wooden one, "with three cone-shaped domes" - "baths". This is a traditional southern Russian type of a three-part ancient church, widespread in Ukraine and at one time being dominant for it. In the literature, however, there are references that the tripartite wooden churches in Ukraine were predominantly Uniate churches.

One observation, long ago made by researchers, directly echoes this - that the “Viya” gnomes stuck in the windows and doors of the church definitely correlate with the chimeras (see below) of Gothic temples, in particular, the gargoyles of Notre Dame Cathedral. By the way, the protagonist of the story, Khoma Brut, who bears a “Roman” name, is a graduate of the Fraternal Monastery, which at one time was a Uniate monastery.

Another “Catholic” sign in “Viy” appears in the contrast of the dilapidated iconostasis (with darkened, “gloomy” looking faces of the saints) to the “terrible, sparkling beauty” of the witch, whose coffin was placed “against the altar itself”.

It can be assumed that the very image of the dead beauty was inspired by Gogol by a "Catholic" source - namely, the painting by K. Bryullov "The Last Day of Pompeii" with a beautiful dead woman in the foreground, to whose image Gogol, who adores Italy, repeatedly returns in his dedicated painting Bryullov's article with the same name.

To understand Gogol’s intention, it should be noted that Gogol uses the word “dwarf” in the “Book of All sorts of things” in the meaning of “sign”: “The following dwarfs represent the weight of the pharmacist ...”

Remember how Gogol? “Suddenly ... in the midst of silence ... he again hears the disgusting scratching, whistling, noise and ringing in the windows. He closed his eyes timidly and stopped reading for a while. Without opening his eyes, he heard how a whole crowd suddenly burst on the floor, accompanied by various knocks, deaf, ringing, soft, shrill. He slightly raised his eye and hastily closed it again: horror!., these were all yesterday's gnomes; the difference is that he saw many new ones among them.

Almost opposite him stood a tall man whose black skeleton had moved to the surface and a yellow body flashed through its dark ribs. To one side stood thin and long, like a stick, consisting only of eyes with eyelashes. Further, a huge monster occupied almost the entire wall and stood in tangled hair, as if in a forest. Two terrible eyes peered through the net of these hairs.

He looked up with fear: above him something in the form of a huge bubble with a thousand pincers and scorpion stingers stretched out from the middle was held in the air. Black earth hung on them in tufts. In horror he lowered his eyes to the book. The dwarfs made a noise with the scales of their disgusting tails, their clawed feet and squealing wings, and he heard only how they were looking for him in all corners. This drove out the last remnant of the hop that still brewed in the head of the philosopher. He zealously began to recite his prayers.

He heard their fury at the impossibility of finding him. “What if,” he thought with a shudder, “this whole gang falls on me? .. ”

“For Viem! let's go after Viy!” many strange voices shouted, and it seemed to him as if some of the gnomes had left. However, he stood with closed eyes and did not dare to look at anything. “Wii! Viy!” - everyone made a noise; the wolf's howl was heard in the distance and barely, barely separated the barking of the dogs. The doors screeched open, and Khoma only heard how whole crowds poured in. And suddenly there was silence, as in a grave. He wanted to open his eyes; but some threatening secret voice told him: "Hey, don't look!" He showed an effort... Through an incomprehensible curiosity, perhaps stemming from fear itself, his eyes inadvertently opened.

Before him stood some kind of human gigantic growth. His eyelids were lowered to the ground. The philosopher noticed with horror that his face was iron, and turned his burning eyes back to the book.

“Lift up my eyelids!” Viy said in an underground voice, and the whole host rushed to raise his eyelids. “Don’t look!” some inner feeling whispered to the philosopher. He could not resist and looked: two black bullets were looking directly at him. Iron hand stood up and pointed her finger at him: “Here he is!” - Viy said - and everything that happened, all the disgusting monsters at once rushed at him ... lifeless, he crashed to the ground ... The rooster sang for the second time. The gnomes heard his first song. The whole crowd rose to fly away, but not here something happened: they all stopped and got stuck in the windows, in the doors, in the dome, in the corners and remained motionless ... "

So who is Viy? This is the god of the underworld. In Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian mythology, he was considered a creature whose one glance could bring death. His eyes were always hidden under the eyelids, eyebrows or eyelashes. He was the son of Chernobog and Marena, the goddess of death. He served as governor in the army of Chernobog, and in peacetime he was a jailer in the underworld. He always had a fiery scourge in his hands, with which he punished sinners.

In Ukrainian legends, it is mentioned that Viy lived in a cave where there was no light, he was often depicted as covered with wool (a clear hint of Bigfoot?). He looked like the Ukrainian Kasyan, the Byzantine Basilisk, the Volyn sorcerer "mangy Bunyaka", the Ossetian war giant and others.

Fame for this generally little-known creature, as we have already said, was brought by the story of N.V. Gogol. The fact is that in the epics of the Belarusian Polissya, death was presented in the form of a woman with large eyelids. In the chronicle legend of the 16th century, which described the last days of Judas, it was specified that the overgrown eyelids completely deprived him of vision.

Maciej Stryjkowski in the "Chronicle of Polish, Lithuanian and All Russia" in 1582 writes: "Pluto, the god of hell, whose name was Nyya, was revered in the evening, they asked him for the best pacification of bad weather after death."

In Ukraine, there is a character Solovyy Bunio, but simply Scaly Bonyak (Bodnyak), sometimes he appears in the form of "a terrible fighter, a look that kills a person and turns entire cities into ashes, the only happiness is that this deadly look is closed by clinging eyelids and thick eyebrows."

"Long eyebrows to the nose" in Serbia, Croatia and the Czech Republic and Poland was a sign of Mora or Zmora, a creature considered the embodiment of a nightmare.

Having come to visit the blind (dark) father Svyatogor, Ilya Muromets, on an offer to shake hands, gives the blind giant a piece of red-hot iron, for which he receives praise: “Your hand is strong, you are a good hero.”

The Bulgarian Bogomil sect describes the Devil as turning into ashes everyone who dares to look into his eyes.

In the tale of Vasilisa the Beautiful, who lived in the service of Baba Yaga, it is said that she received a pot (stove-pot) as a gift for her labors in some cases, and a skull in others. When she returned home, the skull-pot burned to ashes with her magical gaze her stepmother and her stepmother's daughters.

These are far from all references to the most ancient deity called "Viy".

Viy is the god of the underworld. In Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian mythology, it was considered a creature whose one glance could bring death. His eyes were always hidden under the eyelids, eyebrows or eyelashes. He was the son of Chernobog and Marena, the goddess of death. He served as governor in the army of Chernobog, and in peacetime he was a jailer in the underworld. He always had a fiery scourge in his hands, with which he punished sinners. His eyelids were lifted with a pitchfork by his assistants. Every person died at his sight. He could not stand the sunlight, because of this he lived in the dungeon. He helped Dyu, whom Veles threw into the dungeon, to return to earth. Then imprisoned Veles, but yielding to the requests of Azovushka, let him go. Viy gave a magic ring to Dazhdbog so that he would free Zlatogorka from the enchanted coffin. To continue the race, he gave birth to blind sons Gorynya, Kashchei, goat-legged Pan, who tried to kidnap Veles, and after all he kidnapped the daughters of the Heavenly Cow Zemun - Buryona and Dana. Viy put his daughters to sleep and called them his children. Later, Pan and Dana had children Vrita and Valu, who were killed by Indra, the son of Dyya. Some Ukrainian legends mention that Viy lived in a cave where there was no light, he was often depicted covered with wool. He looked like the Ukrainian Kasyan, the Byzantine Basilisk, the Volyn sorcerer "Mangy Bunyaka", the Ossetian war giant and others. Possible correspondences of the name Viy and some of its attributes in the Ossetian ideas about giants-vayugs force us to recognize the ancient origins of the legend about Viy. This is also evidenced by the parallels to the image of Viy in the Celtic epic, and the abundance of typological parallels in the mythological functions of the eye. In Belarusian legends, the motive with raising the eyelids is common, most likely this is due to the name of the eyelashes in Ukrainian “viya”. Niy (zap.-glory) in Orthodoxy - St. Kasyan is the god of the Navier underground world and a posthumous judge, according to Dlugosh ("History of Poland", XV century), perhaps one of the incarnations of Veles: "KH.I. ... Pluto was nicknamed Nya (Nya); he was considered the god of the underworld, the guardian and guardian of the souls that left the body, and after death they took him to the best places of the underworld, and they put him the main sanctuary in the city of Gniezno, where they converged from all places. Fame for this mythological creature was brought by the story of N.V. Gogol "Viy". In the epics of the Belarusian Polissya, death was presented in the form of a woman with large eyelids. In the chronicle legend of the 16th century, which described the last days of Judas, it was specified that the overgrown eyelids completely deprived him of his sight. Another Ukrainian legend about the origin of tea says that the devil, who seduced the hermit, cast a spell on his eyelids, so that he could not open his eyelids, then the hermit tore them off and buried them in the ground. They grew into tea. A similar legend goes in ancient China about the origin of tea from the age of Bodhidharma. Maciej Stryikovsky in the "Chronicle of Polish, Lithuanian and All Russia" in 1582 writes: "Pluto, the god of hell, whose name was Nyya, was revered in the evening, they asked him after death for the best pacification of bad weather." "And suddenly there was silence in the church: they heard in the distance the howling of a wolf, and soon heavy footsteps resounded throughout the church, glancing sideways, he saw that they were leading some squat, stout, club-footed man. feet. He walked heavily, stumbling every minute. Long eyelids were lowered to the very ground. Khoma noticed with horror that his face was made of iron. They led him under the arms and put him directly to the place where Khoma stood. "Raise my eyelids: do not I see!" Viy said in an underground voice. "And the whole host rushed to raise his eyelids." We know that in fairy tales like "The Battle on the Kalinov Bridge" the hero and his named brothers cope with three miracle-yuds, then reveal the intrigues of miracle-yud's wives, but the mother of snakes was able to deceive Ivan Bykovich and "dragged him into the dungeon, led to her husband - an old old man. - On you - he says - our destroyer. The old man lies on an iron bed, sees nothing: long eyelashes and thick eyebrows completely close his eyes. Then he called twelve mighty heroes and began to order them: - Take a pitchfork iron, raise my eyebrows and black eyelashes, I'll see what kind of bird he is, what killed my sons. Bogatyrs raised his eyebrows and eyelashes with pitchforks: the old man looked ... Isn't it, it looks like Gogol's Viy. The old old man arranges for Ivan Bykovich a test with the kidnapping of his bride for him. And then competes with him, balancing over the fiery pit, standing on the board. This old old man loses the test and falls into a fiery pit, i.e. into the very depths of his lower world. In this regard, it is not superfluous to mention that the southern Slavs held a New Year's holiday in winter, where the old, serpentine god Badnyak (correlated with the old year) was burned, and the young Bozhich took his place. In Ukraine, there is the character Solovyy Bunio, and simply Scaly Bonyak (Bodnyak), sometimes he appears in the form of "a terrible fighter, a look that kills a person and turns entire cities into ashes, the only happiness is that this deadly look is closed by clinging eyelids and thick eyebrows." "Long eyebrows to the nose" in Serbia, Croatia and the Czech Republic, as well as in Poland, was a sign of Mora or Zmora. this creature was considered the embodiment of a nightmare. Ilya Muromets, who came to visit the blind (dark) father of Svyatogor, offers the blind giant a piece of red-hot iron, for which he receives praise: "Your hand is strong, you are a good hero." In the tale of Vasilisa the Beautiful, who lived in the service of Baba Yaga, it is said that she received as a gift for her labors - in some cases - a pot (stove-pot), in other cases - a skull. When she returned home, the skull-pot burned to ashes with her magical gaze her stepmother and her stepmother's daughters. These are far from all sources about the ancient Navi deity Viy, who has analogues among the ancient Irish - Yssbaddaden and Balor. In the future, he probably merges with the image of Koshchei (the son of Mother Earth, originally an agricultural god, then the king of the dead, the god of death). Close in function and mythology to the Greek Triptolemus. The duck, as the keeper of the egg with the death of Koshchei, was revered as his bird. In Orthodoxy, it is replaced by the evil Saint Kasyan, whose day was celebrated on February 29. * Kasyan looks at everything - everything fades. Kasyan will look at the cattle, the cattle will fall; on a tree - the tree dries. * Kasyan on the people - it's hard for the people; Kasyan on the grass - the grass dries; Kasyan for cattle - the cattle dies. * Kasyan mows everything obliquely ... It is curious that Kasyan is subject to the winds that he keeps behind all kinds of constipation. Attention is drawn to the relationship of the words KOCherga, KOSHEVOY, KOSHCHEY and KOSH-MAR. Koshch - "chance, lot" (cf. Makosch). It was assumed that Chernobog stirred coals in hell with pokers so that new life would be born from this dead matter. There is the Orthodox saint Procopius of Ustyug, depicted with pokers in his hands, as, for example, on the bas-relief of the Church of the Ascension on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in Moscow of the 16th century. This Saint, introduced in the 13th century, is responsible for the harvest, he has three pokers, if he carries them with their ends down - no warning, up - there will be a harvest. Thus, it was possible to predict the weather and crop yields. Koschey in a later era stood out as an independent cosmogonic character who makes living matter be deader, associated with chthonic characters such as a hare, duck and fish. Undoubtedly, it is associated with seasonal necrosis, it is the enemy of Mokosh-Yaga, who leads the hero into his world - a kosny kingdom. The name of the heroine kidnapped by Koshchei is also interesting - Marya Morevna (mortal death), i.e. Koschey - even greater death - stagnation, death without rebirth. The veneration of the annual Viya-Kasyan fell on January 14-15, and also on February 29 - Kasyan Day.

E. DMITRIEVA, historian

Only one and a half dozen lines were dedicated by N.V. Gogol in his story to Viy. But whoever read them at least once in his life will never forget such a bright, unusual, impressive image. Perhaps one of the reasons here lies in the special mystery, incomprehensibility of Viy. How did this image come about, where did it come from? Who is Viy and what do we know about him?

This Slavs recognized as an underground god, whose place was occupied by the ancient Pluto, the king of hell.
M. D. Chulkov. "Abevega of Russian superstitions"

The inhabitants of the world of the dead, spirits hostile to all living things, the dead were called navia in Ancient Russia.

The so-called Zbruch idol. It reflects the structure of the universe according to the ideas of the ancient Slavs.

Image of Veles in the 12th century Dmitrovsky Cathedral (column console) in Vladimir.

The round dance is not just a folk dance, but a pagan rite-spell. Folk festivities. Lithograph by Ivan Golyshev's workshop. Mstera. 1871.

St. Blaise with herds of cattle and St. Spyridonius. Novgorod icon of the 16th century.

Traces of pagan beliefs, in particular the cult of Veles, were traced in folk culture and folklore until the beginning of the 20th century. So, for example, grass, bushes, trees and other vegetation were called by the people "the hair of the earth."

To begin with, let's quote Gogol: "- Bring Viy! Follow Viy!" - the words of the dead man were heard.

And suddenly there was silence in the church; a wolf's howl was heard in the distance, and soon heavy footsteps were heard, sounding through the church; glancing sideways, he saw that some squat, hefty, clubfoot man was being led. He was all in the black earth. Like sinewy, strong roots, his legs and arms covered with earth stood out. He walked heavily, stumbling every minute, his long eyelids were lowered to the very ground. Khoma noticed with horror that his face was iron. He was led under the arms and directly placed to the place where Khoma was standing.

Lift my eyelids: I can't see! - Viy said in an underground voice, - and the whole host rushed to raise his eyelids.

"Don't look!" whispered some inner voice to the philosopher. He could not bear it and looked.

Here it is! Viy shouted and pointed an iron finger at him. And everyone, no matter how much, rushed at the philosopher. Lifeless, he crashed on the ground, and immediately the spirit flew out of him from fear.

It is difficult to find in the works of Russian classics a character more impressive and mysterious than Gogol's Viy. Obviously referring to the heroes of folklore and fairy tales, he stands out among them with his special showiness and inexplicable, hidden power. "Viy is a colossal creation of the common people's imagination," wrote Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol in a note to his story. how to change it, and I tell it in almost the same simplicity as I heard it. Considering that in 1835, when the story was written, Slavic folklore as a science was still in its infancy and we knew no more about our own mythology than, for example, about Chinese, then there is nothing surprising that Gogol did not give a more meaningful explanation regarding "chief" of the Little Russian "gnomes".

Today, we can look into Viy's eyes without fear and tell everything about him that even his literary father did not know.

So, who is Viy? If, according to Gogol, he is a hero of folk legends, then his image should be found in the works of folklore. However, a fairy-tale hero with that name does not exist. But where did the name itself come from - Viy? Let's turn to the dictionary. In the Ukrainian language, the name of the character of the Little Russian legends Viy comes, apparently, from the words "viya", "viyka" - an eyelash (and "poviko" - an eyelid). After all, the most memorable and characteristic feature of Viy is his huge eyelids, so it is only natural that his name came from them.

And although there is no Viy as such in Ukrainian, Belarusian, or Russian fairy tales, quite often there are images that almost completely coincide with Gogol's description of Viy: squat, hefty, which means strong, covered with earth, as if the devils got him out of dungeons. The tale about Ivan Bykovich, recorded by the famous collector and researcher of Slavic folklore A.N. Afanasiev, tells that after Ivan first defeated three multi-headed monsters on the Smorodina River, and then destroyed their wives, a certain witch, now having lost her daughters and sons-in-law, dragged Ivan to the owner of the underworld, her husband:

"On you, he says, our destroyer!" - And in a fairy tale, the same Viy appears before us, but in the underworld, at home:

“The old man lies on an iron bed, sees nothing: long eyelashes and thick eyebrows completely cover his eyes. He called twelve mighty heroes and began to order them:

Take an iron pitchfork, raise my eyebrows and black eyelashes, I will see what kind of bird he is that killed my sons.

Both in Gogol and in the fairy tale recorded by Afanasiev, the presence of iron attributes is not surprising. Gogol's Viy has an iron face, an iron finger, while the fabulous Viy has an iron bed, an iron pitchfork. After all, iron ore is mined from the earth, which means that the lord of the underworld, Viy, was a kind of master and patron of the earth's bowels and their riches. Apparently, therefore, N.V. Gogol ranks him among the European gnomes, the keepers of underground treasures. For an ancient person at the time of the formation of Slavic mythology, iron, a durable metal, difficult to mine and difficult to process, indispensable in the economy, seemed to be of the greatest value.

The fairy-tale hero Afanasyev with his long eyebrows and eyelashes fully corresponds to the appearance of Viy. However, in Slavic mythology, for the owner of the underworld, the presence of precisely long eyebrows or eyelashes was apparently not necessary. His distinguishing feature is just long hair, and what it is, eyelashes, eyebrows or a beard, is not important. It can be assumed that exorbitant eyelids are a later distortion of folk tradition. The main thing is not the eyelids, but just long eyelashes, hair. One of the Belarusian fairy tales describes "Tsar Kokot, a beard the size of an elbow, seventy yards of an iron whip, a bag made of seventy oxhides" - an image similar to the owner of the underworld. Also known is the fabulous old man "Heself with a fingernail, a beard with an elbow", the owner of exorbitant strength and a huge herd of bulls. In his service was a three-headed serpent, and he himself was hiding from the heroes pursuing him underground. But among the Belarusian fairy tales there is one where Koshchei, like Viya, was raised by a maid, "five pounds each." This Koschey "as soon as he looks at someone, he won't leave him, even though he will let him go - anyway, everyone will come back to him."

So, that’s why you can’t look Viya in the eyes, what will take him away, drag him to his dungeon, to the world of the dead, which, in fact, happened to poor Homa in Gogol’s “Viya”. This is probably why, in Christian apocryphal legends, Saint Kasyan was identified with Viy, who was considered by the people to be the embodiment of a leap year and the personification of all kinds of misfortunes. They thought that Kasyan, like the owner of the underworld, lives deep underground, in a cave where daylight does not penetrate. Kasyan's gaze is destructive for all living things and entails troubles, illnesses, and even death. The apocryphal Judas Iscariot was also endowed with some features of Viy, who, as a punishment for the betrayal of Jesus Christ, allegedly lost his sight due to overgrown eyelids.

So where did such a strange image of Viy come from in Slavic mythology and folklore? The main features of our character help us find the answer: hairiness, possession of herds of bulls and involvement in the underworld. These signs make us recall one of the oldest and, moreover, the main East Slavic gods of pagan times - Veles (Volos). Before people learned to cultivate the land, he patronized hunters, helped to get the beast, which, according to many researchers, determined the name of the deity. It comes from the word "hair", that is, fur, the skin of hunting prey. Veles also personified the spirits of the killed animals. Hence the idea that this deity is associated with death, the world of the dead. "Initially, in the distant hunting past, Veles could mean the spirit of a killed beast, the spirit of hunting prey, that is, the god of that only wealth of a primitive hunter, which was personified by the carcass of a defeated beast." This is how academician B. A. Rybakov wrote about Veles-Volos.

But time passed, and agriculture and cattle breeding became an integral part of the economy of ancient people. Hunting lost its former importance, while Veles became the patron of livestock. That is why the old man "He is the size of a fingernail, a beard the size of an elbow" has bull herds, and anyone who encroaches on them runs the risk of experiencing the hefty strength of the owner of the herd. The number of livestock in ancient times is the main indicator of family wealth. Cattle gave a person almost everything they needed: this is draft power, this is fur, leather, wool for clothing and other household needs, milk, dairy products and meat for food. It is no coincidence that the custom of measuring wealth in the "heads" of cattle survived until the Middle Ages. The word "cattle" denoted not only the actual cattle, but also all the property, wealth of the family. The word "bestiality" was used in the meaning of "greed", "greed". The post of a financial official, standing between the posadnik and the headman, was called the "cattleman", since the "cattlewoman" is the treasury (hence another meaning of Veles as a deity: in charge of income and wealth).

It is no coincidence that Veles was opposed to Perun - the god of heaven, thunder and war. After all, wealth, prosperity and war, which entails ruin, are incompatible. The bearer of thunderstorms Perun lived in the sky, in the transcendental kingdom of the gods. Veles, on the other hand, was associated with the underworld of the dead, "the other world." Until the beginning of the 20th century, the custom was to leave a bunch of uncompressed ears in the field after the harvest - "Veles on the beard." The peasants hoped to earn by this the favor of their ancestors resting in the earth, on which the next year's harvest depended. Trees, bushes, grasses were popularly called "hair of the earth". Thus, it is not surprising that the owner of the underworld Veles, whose name was forgotten through the centuries, was depicted as a hairy old man and subsequently received the name Viy because of this. (However, the name Viy is similar in origin to the name Veles: both came from the words "hair", "eyelashes".)

With the onset of Christianity, the role of the patron saint of livestock Veles passed to St. Blaise (most likely due to the consonance of names), whose day fell on February 11 (24th according to the new style). In many places in Russia, Vlasyev Day was celebrated as a big holiday. For example, in the Vologda province, residents of neighboring volosts gathered for the celebration, a solemn crowded prayer service was served, during which loaves of bread were consecrated. Housewives fed slices of consecrated bread to cattle, hoping thereby to protect them from diseases for the whole year. From that day on, livestock sales began in the bazaars. They turned to St. Blaise with a prayer for the safety and health of livestock: "Saint Blaise, give happiness to smooth heifers, to fat bulls, so that they walk and play from the yard, and walk and jump from the field." Icons of the saint were hung in cowsheds and barns to protect livestock from all sorts of misfortunes.

But the function of Veles, who dominates the underworld, apparently, was taken over by the image of Viy - a purely negative character, "evil spirits." In other words, with the adoption of Christianity, the image of pagan Veles was gradually divided into two hypostases: positive - Saint Blaise, patron of cattle and negative - Viy, an evil formidable spirit that rules in the underworld, the personification of death and grave darkness, the leader of evil spirits.

"A cock's cry was heard. It was already the second cry; the first was heard by the gnomes. The frightened spirits rushed, at random, through the windows and doors in order to fly out as soon as possible, but it was not there: they remained there, stuck in the doors and windows "The priest who entered stopped at the sight of such a disgrace to God's shrine and did not dare to serve a memorial service in such a place. So the church remained forever with monsters stuck in the doors and windows, overgrown with forest, roots, weeds, wild thorns; and now no one will find the way to it ". So ends his story "Viy" Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol.