InSlavic folklore, therusalka (plural:rusalki;Cyrillic:русалка,pronounced[rʊˈsaɫkə]ⓘ, plural: русалки;Polish:rusałka, plural:rusałki) is a female entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water. It has counterparts in other parts ofEurope, such as the FrenchMelusine and the GermanicNixie. Folklorists have proposed a variety of origins for the entity, including that they may originally stem fromSlavic paganism, where they may have been seen as benevolent spirits.[1] Rusalki appear in a variety of media in modern popular culture, particularly in Slavic language-speaking countries, where they frequently resemble the concept of themermaid.
In northern Russia, the rusalka was also known by various names such as thevodyanitsa[2] (orvodyanikha/vodyantikha;[3]Russian:водяница, водяниха, водянтиха;lit. "she from the water" or "the water maiden"),kupalka[2] (Russian:купалка; "bather"),shutovka[3] (Russian:шутовка; "joker", "jester" or "prankster") andloskotukha[2] (orshchekotukha,[3]shchekotunya;Russian:лоскотуха, щекотуха, щекотунья; "tickler" or "she who tickles"). In Ukraine, the rusalka was called amavka. Those names were more common until the 20th century, and the wordrusalka was perceived by many people as bookish, scholarly.[3]
According toVladimir Propp, the original "rusalka" was an appellation used bypagan Slavic peoples, who linked them with fertility and did not consider rusalki evil before the 19th century.[citation needed] They came out of the water in the spring to transfer life-giving moisture to the fields and thus helped nurture the crops.[12][13]
In 19th-century versions, a rusalka is an unquiet, dangerous being who is no longer alive, associated with theunclean spirit. According toDmitry Zelenin,[14] young women, who either committed suicide by drowning due to an unhappy marriage (they might have been jilted by their lovers or abused and harassed by their much older husbands) or who were violently drowned against their will (especially after becoming pregnant with unwanted children), must live out their designated time on Earth as rusalki. However, the initial Slavic lore suggests that not all rusalki occurrences were linked with death from water.[13]
It is accounted by most stories that thesoul of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake would come back to haunt that waterway. Thisundead rusalka is not invariably malevolent, and would be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged. Her main purpose is, however, to lure young men, seduced by either her looks or her voice, into the depths of said waterways where she would entangle their feet with her long hair and submerge them. Her body would instantly become very slippery and not allow the victim to cling on to her body in order to reach the surface.[citation needed] She would then wait until the victim had drowned, or, on some occasions, tickle them to death, as she laughed.[15] It is also believed, by a few accounts, that rusalki can change their appearance to match the tastes of men they are about to seduce,[citation needed] although a rusalka is generally considered to represent universal beauty, therefore is highly feared yet respected in Slavic culture.
In most beliefs rusalki always have loose hair, which can be linked to Slavic traditions of unwedded maidens having unbraided or loosely braided hair which, once married, is tightly braided and worn under a headdress.[16][17] According toDal's Explanatory Dictionary, the expression "Walks like a rusalka" (Russian:Ходит, как русалка) is applied to girls with unkempt hair. The hair of the rusalka can be fair, black, greenish or completely green.[18]
While lore often said that the rusalki could not stand completely out of water, some works of fiction told of rusalki that could climb trees and sing songs, sit on docks with only their feet submerged, comb their hair, or even join other rusalki incircle dances in fields. A particular feature of such stories revolves around the fact that this behaviour was limited to only certain periods of the year, usually thesummer (see Rusalka Week section).
Specifics pertaining to rusalki differed among regions. In most tales they lived without men. In stories fromUkraine, they were often linked with water. InBelarus they were linked with the forest and field. They were usually pictured as beautiful naked maidens, but in some areas they were imagined as hideous and hairy.[19] They were said to tickle men to death.[20] According to some Russian beliefs, rusalki had the appearance of very pale little girls with green hair and long arms. In other beliefs, they were described as naked girls with light brown hair.[citation needed]
InPoland andCzech Republic, water rusalki/rusalky were younger and fair-haired, while the forest ones looked more mature and had black hair – but in both cases, if someone looked up close, their hair turned green, and the faces became distorted.[21] They killed their victims by tickling them to death or forcing them to participate in a frenzied dance.[22] In Polish folklore, the term rusalka could also stand forboginka,dziwożona and various other entities.[23]
Therusalki were believed to be at their most dangerous during the 'Rusalka week' (Cyrillic:Русальная неделя,romanized:Rusalnaya nedelya) in early June. At this time, they were supposed to have left their watery depths in order to swing on branches of birch and willow trees by night. Swimming during this week was strictly forbidden, lest mermaids drag a swimmer down to the river bed. A common feature of the celebration of Rusalnaya was the ritual banishment or burial of the rusalki at the end of the week, which remained as entertainment in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine until the 1930s.[24]
Dana. A vodyanitsa mentioned in Russian folktale. Her wicked stepmother envied her beauty. Once they went to swim near the water mill, and the stepmother drowned Dana. Dana had a groom, a youngknyaz. He longed for his late bride, and often came to the place of her death. One day he stayed late into the night, and saw how beautiful maidens began to jump on the mill wheels, laughing and combing their long green hair with white combs. Seeing Dana among them, the knyaz rushed to her, but the rusalka had already jumped into the water. The knyaz dived after her, but got entangled in her hair, falling into the underwater palace. Dana told him to get out as soon as possible if he wanted to return, otherwise it would be too late and he would die. The groom replied that he could not live without her and would not go anywhere. Dana kissed him, after which he became the water king of that river.[25][26]
Kostroma. A spring-summer ritual character, as well as a fertility goddess associated with rusalkas and mavkas. According to myth, she drowned herself in a lake when she discovered that her newlywed husband, Kupalo, was her brother. She lured every man who met her into the watery abyss. Later, the gods took pity on the rusalka, and turned her and Kupalo into a single flower.
Marina. A young widow from the old Simbirsk legend who drowned herself in the riverVolga out of love for Ivan Curchaviy and became a rusalka. It was said that she was able to take the form of a swan when she swam. She was also spotted flipping boats along with a vodyanoy named Volnok. Marina often sat on the shore, sadly looking at the house of her lover, who had married another girl. As a result, she managed to charm Ivan and take him under the water, where they began to live happily.[27][28]
Moryana. The sea vodyanitsa and the daughter of theMorskoy Tsar. She was usually described as an incredibly beautiful, often very tall maiden with disheveled hair that looked like sea foam. Most of the time she swam deep in the waters, taking the form of a fish, and came ashore only at the evenings. She was also believed to be the ruler of the sea winds. She could be either good or bad, eliminating storms in the first case and causing them in the second. Sometimes the marine species of vodyanitsy in general were named after her.
Regarding representations of the rusalka in modern popular culture, folklorist Natalie Kononenko says, "the currently dominant presents her as something like a mermaid, though she is pictured as having legs rather than a fish tail ... The current view of therusalka as a seductive or seduced woman was probably influenced by written literature. In the past, her image was more complex and she more closely resembled a nature spirit, found not only near water but in fields, forests, and mountains, rather like thevila ...".[29]
1902 – TheRussalka Memorial, a monument inTallinn erected to mark the anniversary of the sinking of the Russian warshipRusalka in 1893. The bronze sculpture depicts an angel pointing her orthodox cross towards the shipwreck site.
1908 –Su Anasy (tat.Су анасы; literaryWater Mother, in Russian translationVodyanaya), a poem byTatar poetĞabdulla Tuqay.
1930s – In his poemRus ken nisht ontshlofn vern, Yiddish poetItzik Manger re-imagines the biblicalRuth in early 20th-century Russia. The night beforeNaomi's departure, Ruth decides that if her mother-in-law does not take her with, she will throw herself in the river and become a rusalka.[31]
1990 –Tigana byGuy Gavriel Kay, in which riselka, the supernatural creature, which occurrence suggests the future, is inspired by rusalka.
1991 –The Boat House byStephen Gallagher, a novel in which a rusalka flees her homeland and attempts to settle in the English Lakes.
1993 –The Last Wish byAndrzej Sapkowski, a Polish novel fromThe Witcher series, in which Geralt briefly believes he has encountered a rusalka that has fallen in love with a cursed man; however, the rusalka turns out to be a bruxa, instead.
1993 –Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness, which draws upon Slavic mythology, features a rusalka;Paladin characters have the option to avenge her murder and let her move on to the afterlife.
1996 – "To This Water (Johnstown, Pennsylvania 1889)", a short story byCaitlín R. Kiernan.
1996 – "Firebird" (novel)" byMercedes Lackey mentions Rusalkas as a threat to the main character, Ilya.
1999–2015 – In some Slavic localizations of the American computer game seriesHeroes of Might and Magic, various entities are named after rusalka. In the Polish localizations of thethird,fifth, andseventh games in the series, as well asMight and Magic VII, "sprites" are renamed to "rusałka", whereas in the Russian localizations of thethird,fourth,sixth, andseventh games, as well asMight and Magic X, "mermaids" are renamed to "русалка".
2004 – "Omut", a concept ethno-ambient-dub album by Ethnica Music Project, based on Russian folk songs about rusalki.
2005 –The Rusalka Cycle: Songs Between the Worlds is a performance piece and CD by the California-based women's vocal groupKitka.[32]
2013 – InChristopher Buehlman'sThe Necromancer's House, the protagonist has a longstanding relationship with a powerful rusalka who starts and assists with a war against Russian sorcerers.
2015 – Rusalka is the name of a number of beings in the video gameAxiom Verge. In in-game dialogue, one rusalka translates this designation as a "water machine".
2016 –The Book of Speculation: A Novel, Erika Swyler's debut, features rusalka characters in traveling circuses.
2017 – Rusalka Pictures, a British independent feature film production company.
2017 – In Katherine Arden's debut novelThe Bear and the Nightingale the protagonist, Vasya, befriends a rusalka living in a lake.
2018 – Don Nigro's play "Rusalka" is about the interrogation of a girl named Lydia regarding the disappearance of her friend who was a Rusalka.
2018 –The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead, a horror film about a rusalka who falls in love with a man and places a curse on him.
2018 – Rusalki feature inThe Surface Breaks, a YA novel by Louise O'Neill and a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's 1857 story "The Little Mermaid".
2018 – In the first half of the song "Rusalka, Rusalka / Wild Rushes" onThe Decemberists' albumI'll Be Your Girl, the lyrics describe being lured into the water by a rusalka. Additionally, the album box set contains a Rusalka luminary card for the band's gameIllimat.
2019 - Kate Quinn’s novel The Huntress uses rusalki in various ways throughout the plot.
2021 – RUZALKA, a choreographic piece by Copenhagen-based choreographer Thjerza Balaj.
2023 – The song "Rusalochki" by Ukrainian electro-folk bandGo_A is inspired by a ritual of accompanying rusalki back to their forest.
2023 – In the Chinese video gameReverse: 1999 one of the playable characters in the game is a rusalka named Vila (character released 2024 internationally).
2024 –Antonín Dvořák's operaRusalka is playing on the starship in the filmSpaceman, starringAdam Sandler. His character (Jakub Procházka) later imagines his wife as a rusalka.
2024 – Rusalkas are referenced in a short story set in Ukraine in WW2 called "The Lake That Never Freezes" by Peter Wise. It appears inDisturbing the Water, his collection of original ghost stories themed around fish, fishing and fishy places.[33]
2025 – In Netflix's show 'The Witcher', 'S04 E07 · What I Love I Do Not Carry' features an encounter with a Rusalka for Geralt and his team.
^Łowmiański, Henryk (1986).Religia Słowian i jej upadek, w.VI-XII [The Religion of the Slavs and its Decline from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries]. p. 227.
Chernykh, P. Ya. (1999).Русалка [Mermaid].Historical and etymological dictionary of the modern Russian language. Moscow: Русский язык.ISBN5-200-02686-5.
Fasmer, M. (1987).Русалка [Mermaid].Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. Vol. III : Муза — Сят (2nd ed.). Moscow: Progress.
Levkievskaya, E. E. (2000).Мифы русского народа [Myths of the Russian People]. Moscow: Astrel.ISBN5-271-00676-X.
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