IN THE LORE and legends of Russia, the Ukraine, the Baltic regions, and parts of Eastern Europe one of the most prevalent water spirits is the rusalka (plural rusalky or rusalki). Usually, the rusalka appears as a dangerous or demonic creature—even as a succubus. Unlike mermaids in other parts of the world, the rusalka boasts a unique characteristic: She loves to dance.
The Russian Rusalky
Russian rusalky are always female—males of the species don’t seem to exist. Accounts of what a rusalka looks like, however, vary from region to region. It depends on whom you ask and where the storyteller lives. Some tales describe rusalky as fish-woman hybrids, akin to the mermaids who populate folklore in other parts of the world. But in Siberia, rusalky reportedly look more like yetis than lovely mermaids. Parallels also exist between these Russian spirits and the German nixes—both river creatures are malevolent tricksters who come on land and nab unwitting humans. A Russian proverb warns, “Not everything is a mermaid that dives into the water.”
Typically freshwater beings, they usually live at the bottoms of rivers. At night they leave their watery abodes and shapeshift into two-legged humanoids who make their way along the riverbanks and fields. There they sing and dance enticingly in order to enchant men whom they find attractive—then they lure their captives back to the river and drown them.
Like other mermaids, rusalky can be spotted sitting near the lakes or rivers where they live, combing their long hair. At night they sometimes shed their fishtails and climb trees or swing from the branches, singing more sweetly than songbirds.
The great Czech composer Antonin Dvorak wrote an opera titled Rusalka, which premiered in Prague in 1901 and has endured as his most successful opera. With lyrics by poet and librettist Jaroslav Kvapil, Rusalka tells a Slavic version of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué’s Undine and Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.”
MODERN MERMAIDS
Two Russian “mermaids,” Semenova Veronika and Stikhilyas Valeriya, perform graceful, underwater acrobatics for audiences around the world. These young women are synchronized swimmers who trained for five years to learn their craft, which requires them to hold their breath for up to several minutes at a time. If you can’t see the real thing, you can watch their aquatic skills on www.mid-day.com as they cavort in the aquarium at Mumbai’s Ocean restaurant.
Restless Ghosts
Other legends describe the rusalky as female ghosts who haunt lakes and waterways. These legends explain that the rusalky represent the souls of young women who died in or near bodies of water. In many cases, the women died violently, as murder victims or suicides. Because they died prematurely and unnaturally, they continue to be bound to Earth as spirits for the length of what would have been their normal lives. Only if a murdered ghost’s death is avenged can her spirit finally rest.
Still other tales say rusalky are the souls of unbaptized babies. Some of these disembodied spirits were babies born out of wedlock and drowned by their mothers. Folklore says they roam the land, searching for someone to baptize them so they can finally find peace. According to some accounts, ghostly rusalky can be violent, though others insist they’re not usually malicious if you leave them alone.
A ten-minute-long Russian movie titled Rusalka received an Oscar nomination for Best Short Animated Film. Directed by Aleksandr Petrov in 1996, it used a special paint-on-glass technique. In the story, a young monk discovers a beautiful naked woman in a river and falls in love with her. The woman turns out to be a rusalka, the spirit of a girl the young monk’s master rejected many years ago. As is typical in much Russian folklore, the rusalka seeks vengeance on the man who treated her badly.
A RUSALKA VAMPIRE?
The first book in C. J. Cherryh’s fantasy trilogy, The Russian Stories, features a rusalka named Eveshka. Published in 1989, Rusalka takes place in pre-Christian Russia and tells the story of a wizard’s murdered daughter who becomes a ghost. The rusalka exists by sucking the vitality out of other living things.
Ukrainian Rusalky
According to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Ukranian rusalky are water nymphs who resemble pretty, naked young females with long green or blonde hair upon which they wear wreaths woven from marsh plants. Some accounts say their “eyes blaze like green fire” and their white skin seems almost translucent. However, these shapeshifters possess the ability to transform themselves into animals or anthropomorphic creatures when it pleases them.
These souls of drowned girls and unbaptized children live in underwater crystal cities most of the year, but emerge in the spring on Rusalka Easter (about seven to eight weeks after Christian Easter) when they dance and play on land. During Rusalka Week or Green Week, which usually occurs in early June, the rusalky reportedly reach their most dangerous peak. Superstitious people avoid swimming at this time for fear of being pulled underwater by the treacherous water nymphs.
While on land the rusalky appear as lighthearted young girls, but despite their winsomeness they can be dangerous to humans. Folktales say they attract bachelors by singing, and then either drown or tickle their victims to death. Sometimes a rusalka’s laugh is enough to kill a man. To protect themselves against the wicked wiles of the rusalky, Ukrainian men wear wormwood or lovage as amulets, or carry pieces of lucky cloth.
RUSALKA DANCING: A FERTILITY RITE
The rusalka’s dancing supposedly aids the growth of grain—giving her a link with the fertility deities of other cultures.
Siren Sightings
On June 15, 1608, English seafarer and explorer Henry Hudson was searching the Arctic Circle near Russia for a new route to the East Indies when a crewman spotted a mermaid. Hudson recorded in his log that at 75° 7’ N “one of our companie looking overboard saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the companie to see her, one more came up, and by that time she was close to the ship’s side, looking earnestly upon the men: a little after, a Sea came and overturned her: From the Navill upward, her backe and breasts were like a woman’s . . . her body as big as one of us; her skin very white; and long haire hanging down behinde, of colour blacke; in her going down they saw her tayle, which was like the tayle of a Porposse, and speckled like a Macrell. Their names that saw her were Thomas Hilles and Robert Rayner.”
THEY WALK AMONG US
How can you spot a rusalka? First, her eyes have no pupils, giving her a rather demented look. Second, her hair is always wet, and if it dries she’ll die. Consequently, she can’t survive long on land. Her comb, however, serves as a talisman, for with it she can magically make water appear if she gets stranded.
Slavic Water Spirits
Although the rusalky dominate Russian and Slavic merfolk myths, a few old legends speak about other types of water spirits. These beings bear similarities to those found in the folklore of other cultures, including the Greek water nymphs and the Indian snake deities.
Some Slavic legends mention mermen who marry rusalky. Like the females, they may be the ghosts of people who died unnatural deaths. These male water spirits, called wodjanoj or vodianoi, are said to be shapeshifters and can transform themselves into fish. These couples, folklore says, live in underwater castles built from parts of sunken ships. Unlike their beautiful mates, the ugly males sport long green beards and have bodies covered with scales and slime. The mermen can be vindictive—they may drown humans who offend them or capture people and keep them in the aquatic realm as slaves.
Slavic lore also includes stories of human-snake hybrids with magical powers. In one folktale a water snake comes ashore and tricks a girl into marrying him. The couple lives in his home at the bottom of a pond, where the snake transforms into a human-looking being, and they have two children together.
After three years, the wife decides to visit her mother on land. She tells her mother about her shapeshifting husband and her underwater life. But the mother, not wanting to lose her daughter, tricks the snake-man and chops off his head. The brokenhearted wife then changes herself and her children into birds.
Siren Sightings
In February 2007, a strange aquatic creature was supposedly captured in the Sea of Azov by villagers from Russia’s Rostov region. The fishermen, initially believing they’d caught an alien or a mermaid, took pictures of it with a cell phone. The strange whitish creature resembled a shark and weighed about 220 pounds. Andrei Gorodovoi, chairman of the Anomalous Phenomena Service, called it “an anomalous being” and specialists said they’d never seen anything like it. Unfortunately, scientists can’t study the rare creature, because after filming it the fishermen ate it and pronounced it delicious.
The Iele
Romanian mythology speaks of the Iele, female spirits similar to the rusalky who make their homes in ponds, marshes, and springs. These magical beings can be seen dancing on land at night with their long hair flowing, holding candles and wearing nothing but bells around their ankles. Often they seem as translucent as ghosts, but they sometimes inhabit the shapely bodies of beautiful young women. Their mesmerizing dancing and enchanting singing captivate humans.
The Iele can be temperamental and may cause people who displease them to fall asleep for long periods of time—or to disappear altogether. Other stories say a human who hears them singing instantly turns mute. The ground on which they dance looks scorched afterward and nothing but mushrooms will grow there from then on.
Some Romanians call the Iele “the devil’s daughters.” Woe be to someone who angers the Iele, for these malicious spirits take revenge by possessing the person. In this demonic state, known as Luat din Calus, the deranged individual may suffer all sorts of horrible consequences including loss of sight and/or hearing. Some injure themselves or others—they may even commit murder. The only people who supposedly can remove the Iele’s curse are the Calusari, a group of healers with magical powers who perform a ritual dance to cure victims.
Not all Iele fall into the category of water spirits, however. Legends depict them as nature fairies of various kinds, some of whom live in caves, forests, and mountains, or fly about in the sky.