Table of contents:
- Who is the bullshit, what does she look like and what she does
- Bannik participating in Christmas divination and how he could be pissed off
- Where did the stories about the owners of the bath come from?
- How to protect yourself from bathing evil, so as not to evaporate to death
Video: What happened in the Russian bath: What did the bannik do with snag, how they protected themselves from evil spirits, and other little-known facts
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In Russia, the bath has always been taken seriously. It was used not only to wash and take a steam bath, but also as a kind of polyclinic - healers were engaged in healing there, cured colds, bruises and dislocations, and other diseases, and peasant women gave birth to children in the bathhouse. Having heated the bathhouse, the women gathered in it in order to do spinning. But this place has always been considered unclean, according to the people, unclean spirits were hiding in it. Therefore, the bathhouse was often used for playing cards, fortune telling, and summoning spirits. Read who scared the peasants when they were going to wash, what the rip-off looked like, and who the bannik is.
Who is the bullshit, what does she look like and what she does
According to folk legends, evil spirits could be found in the forest, in the river, in the mountains. She was also in the bath. For example, obderikha, also called bynikha, appeared in the form of a woman of any age. Usually it was a naked woman with huge ugly teeth in her mouth, and her hair was long and matted. The obderikha lived under the shelf of the bathhouse, behind the stove, or under the bench. She could pretend to be a black cat or even a birch bark pipe that was used as a washcloth. It was a terrible spirit, capable of treating a person very cruelly, for example, ripping off his skin. To protect yourself, you had to follow the bath rules.
It was not recommended to wash at night, otherwise the biniha could scald a person with boiling water, scratch him with her long claws, or even strangle him. They said that in order to protect oneself from an evil spirit, one had to bathe in so-called queues. The first three lines could wash without problems, but the fourth could easily fall into the clutches of the obderikha. To prevent this from happening, it was recommended to pray before the bath procedures.
Bannik participating in Christmas divination and how he could be pissed off
There was another bath spirit called the bathhouse. According to popular legends, he could look like a huge black man, with evil fiery eyes, barefoot, he had iron hands and long hair. In some regions, on the contrary, they said that this was a small, bearded old man. And some legends claim that he took the form of a cat or dog, a white hare, a frog and even a horse's head. Like the rip-off, the bannik was angry. He hated those who did not follow the bath rules. As a punishment, he was able to strangle a person, remove his skin, steam him to death, drag him under a red-hot stove, stuff him into a barrel, or simply prevent the washable from leaving the bath. Curious girls were afraid of the bannik, but at Christmas time they still went to the bathhouse to tell fortunes about the groom. A fortune-telling peasant woman lifted her skirt, opened the door and pushed the back of her body inside.
Then it was necessary to wait, whether the bannik touched the girl or not. If a potential bride felt the touch of claws, then wait for her a hard life in marriage and an evil mother-in-law. If the paw was shaggy and soft, then, most likely, one can hope that the marriage will be good, and the husband rich and loving.
Where did the stories about the owners of the bath come from?
How did the stories about the bathhouse scum come about? You can consider this by the example of a bummer. If you read the study of ethnographers, you will notice that it is classified as a brownie. And why exactly a rip-off? Most likely, the name comes from the verb "to strip", because burns often happened in a hot-heated bath, and after them, as you know, the skin peels off. According to scientists, the bath spirit personified the bath stove and was a kind of cult of fire.
In Russian villages, there were certain rules for the adoption of bath procedures. Men were forbidden to spy on women who were washing, even if it was their close relative. But it was not always possible to avoid this, the hot young men looked anyway. Therefore, perhaps, a legend arose about obderich, which was supposed to prevent unnecessary connections and incest. The people argued that she could pretend to be a relative or acquaintance, call a man to the bathhouse, they say, take a steam bath with me. And if he goes on about, then he will simply be steamy to death. Bainiha, thus, followed morality.
How to protect yourself from bathing evil, so as not to evaporate to death
So, the people believed in the bathhouse evil, and it was necessary to defend against it. There were certain ways for this. To appease the bathhouse, you had to first ask permission to wash, it was also recommended not to pour out all the hot and cold water during washing, leave it for the spirit, as well as a piece of soap so that the bathhouse was washed to its fullest. The last visitor was not supposed to sign himself with the sign of the cross, but, on the contrary, to say to the spirit: "Wash your health, master." Then, approaching the bathhouse at night, the peasants heard that the bathhouse was steaming with might and main, banging with a broom, knocking with bands, splashing water. You could also give the spirit a piece of bread so that it would eat and become kind.
When building a new bath, a black chicken was strangled and buried under the threshold, after which it was necessary to move away from the bath, moreover, backwards, bowing at the same time. Some peasants even managed to become sorcerers, that is, to receive the strength of this spirit. To do this, it was necessary to steal from him an invisible hat, which he put on the stove to dry. On Easter, one should go to the bathhouse, rip off the hat from the head of the evil spirits and quickly run to the nearest church. If the evil spirits did not catch up and the hat remained with the brave man, he received witchcraft power. The obderichi also had to ask permission to wash. And leaving the room, it was necessary to thank her for the good washing. They said that if you politely communicate with the owners of the bath, ask to wash, please them with various gifts, then they will not be able to harm, even if the person behaved incorrectly.
As you know today, regular baths can improve health and well-being. Together with the bath in Russia this is how the greensmen treated, why the disease was considered a sin and other little-known facts about the medicine at that time.
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