Transcript
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In early summer many Slavic people hold a week-long festival, a celebration for the dead and a fertility rite.
This festival is called Green Week or Rusalka Week and has been kept alive since ancient times.
A group of women would leave their settlement, and in a forest clearing would hold a ceremony. A young girl would be chosen as the Rusalka, the female water spirit of countless Slavic tales and legends.
Her dress would be adorned by branches of birch, and flowers would be woven into her hair.
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As with the girl before, one of the birch trees would be chosen as the Rusalka. Birch trees were seen as a symbol of the deceased soul.
The women would bring offerings of fried egg and beer to the chosen tree. They would dance, speak charms, and weave garlands around it.
The birch tree was then chopped down and “drowned”. With this the women secured the goodwill of the Rusalky, sacrificing to them in order to protect their community.
During Green Week people avoided swimming in rivers or lakes so as not to offend the Rusalky, as it was said that they were more active during this time of year, and if provoked might retaliate by sending floods or cattle plagues.
They are commonly seen as the unquiet souls of women who drowned (or were drowned), haunting the body of water where they died. They are known for luring men into the body of water they haunted, in order to drown them, sometimes by tickling them to death.
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They appeared as pale women, with green or brown hair and long arms, either naked or dressed in light robes of mist.
In some stories the Rusalky transformed into swans, geese and ducks, or were mermaid-like, and in others they were huntresses or Amazon-like warrior women. Depending on how they were treated, they would either help or hinder the hero.
History has not been kind to the Rusalky. Once worshipped, they later became malevolent creatures, tricksters, seducers and killers that were feared, disdained, and shunned to the edges of society. This change reflected the changing attitudes towards women in society.
But as we can see from the Green Week festival, their reputation has not been entirely tarnished.
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On the eve of the final day of Green Week, the Rusalky were thought to rise out of their watery homes, and sit on the birch trees, and sometimes even come into the fields. This would infuse the land with the life-giving moisture.
Owing to their important role in the life of the Slavic peoples, ancient and present, the Rusalky have remained as one of the most iconic beings of their folklore.
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