Midday ( Midday ) is a Russian and West Slavic female mythological character, a personified expression of midday as a borderline time of day that is dangerous for a person.
| Midday | |
|---|---|
 Noon and Lusatian woman | |
| Hot Afternoon Spirit | |
| Mythology | Slavic |
| Floor | |
| Attributes | sickle |
Midday combines the features of a solar spirit associated with summer sunshine and heat; a seasonal demon that manifests itself during the flowering and ripening of breads and affects the vegetation of plants. It can mix with other seasonal and atmospheric characters - mermaids (Russian, Polish-Ukrainian borderland), a whirlwind (Czech), or go into the category of intimidating characters that scare children [1] .
Noon overtakes those who work in the field at noon (according to popular custom, one should rest at noon) [2] and can even cut off the head of the violator of traditions [3] . Negatively refers to pregnant women and infants: a child left in the field unattended is abducted or can be replaced by his own [2] . If you meet noon at noon, then it can begin to make riddles, if you do not solve it, it can tickle half to death.
Title
Most of the character’s names indicate the time of his appearance: noon (archangel., Vologda., Siberian.), Noon (archangel., Yaroslav.), Distorted woman-bearer (archangel.), Komi poloznicha , Komi-Perm. half-day lunsharka , K. -yazev. defense industry ; polish przypołudnica, południca, przełudnica, południowka ; Czech polednice, polodnice, poludnice ; Slovak poiudnica ; V.-puddles. pripoldnica , n. psespoinica ; in a number of cases, the Midday is called by the place of its appearance: rye (archangel.), rye ( yaroslav .) or according to the attribute attributed to the character: pan (archangel.), V.-puddle. serpownica, serpjelbaba, serpašyja, serp [1] .
Regions
The notions of Midday are known in all West Slavic traditions, especially in Puddle and Polish (with the exception of Kashubian and Masurian territories). Among the Eastern Slavs, the area of beliefs about Midday is limited to the northwestern regions of Russia and some Siberian regions. The Southern Slavs have an unknown character [1] .
Appearance
Midday women presented themselves in the form of girls (sometimes even boys) in a white transparent dress or a shaggy old woman. It was believed that they most often appear on rye fields during harvest, hence the second name - “rye-rye”, “rye-rye” [4] .
They can entice the traveler, starve him with a sound sleep, after which he may not wake up, becoming himself noon.
According to legends, midday love to dance, and no one can dance them: they can dance tirelessly until the evening dawn. If there is a girl who knows how to “dance”, then according to legend, a noon will give her an unprecedentedly rich dowry.
Sometimes in North Russian beliefs are considered one of the types of mermaids [5] , so sometimes they are called "field mermaids."
Reflection in Culture
The image of the Midday is presented by a 19th-century Czech poet Karel Jaromir Erben in the collection Bouquet [6] and its 2000 film adaptation of the same name [7] .
In 2016, the Czech film “Midday” was released [8] [9] .
See also
- Mavka
- Field
- Night
- Avet
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Levkievskaya, 2009 , p. 154.
- ↑ 1 2 Levkievskaya, 2009 , p. 155.
- ↑ Usacheva, 2009 , p. 630.
- ↑ Platonov, 2007 , p. 597.
- ↑ Ivanov, Toporov, 1990 , p. 438.
- ↑ Karel Jaromir Erben. Ballads, poems, fairy tales / M. Zenkevich and M. Hungry. - Reprint of the 1948 edition. - Kharkov: The Samizdat Project, 2013. - S. 50-52. - 304 p.
- ↑ Wild Flowers . imdb.com (December 7, 2000). Date of treatment May 17, 2018.
- ↑ Na Berounsku vznikaly další scény filmového hororu Polednice , Blesk.cz . Date of treatment May 17, 2018.
- ↑ Polednice (2016) | Videa (Czech) . Date of treatment May 17, 2018.
Literature
- Midday / Ivanov V.V. , Toporov V.N. // Mythological Dictionary / Ch. ed. E. M. Meletinsky . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - S. 438. - ISBN 5-85270-032-0 .
- Nooness / E. E. Levkievskaya // Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary: in 5 volumes / under the general. ed. N. I. Tolstoy ; Institute of Slavic Studies RAS . - M .: Int. Relations , 2009. - T. 4: P (Crossing the water) - C (Sieve). - S. 154-156. - ISBN 5-7133-0703-4 , 978-5-7133-1312-8.
- Platonov O. A. Midday // Russian lifestyle . - M .: Institute of Russian Civilization, 2007. - P. 597 . - ISBN 978-5-902725-05-3 . Archived March 4, 2016.
- Pomerantseva E.V. Interethnic community of beliefs and legends about midday // Slavic and Balkan folklore: Genesis. Archaic. Traditions / Resp. ed. I.M. Sheptunov. - M .: Nauka , 1978. - S. 143-158 .
- Noon / Usacheva V.V. // Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary: in 5 volumes / under the general. ed. N. I. Tolstoy ; Institute of Slavic Studies RAS . - M .: Int. Relations , 2009. - T. 4: P (Crossing the water) - C (Sieve). - S. 628-630. - ISBN 5-7133-0703-4 , 978-5-7133-1312-8.
Links
- Midday. Monograph (equaelita.com)
- Midday (sueverija.narod.ru)
- Południca - kobiecy demon (Polish)