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Avila, orvíla[ˈviːla] (plural:vile, orvíly[ˈviːli];Bulgarian:vila, diva, juda, samovila,samodiva, samojuda;Czech:víla, samodiva, divoženka;Old East Slavic:vila;Polish:wiła;Serbo-Croatian:vila;Slovak:víla;Slovene:vila)[1] is a Slavicfairy similar to anymph.
The vila is mostly known amongSouth Slavs; however, some variants are present in the mythology ofWest Slavs as well. Among Czechs,víla denotes a woodland spirit (15th century), and ancient place names such asVilice nearTábor, Vilov nearDomažlice, and Vilín nearSedlčany seem to indicate that she was known there as well.[2] In theChronicle of Dalimil (3, 53)vila is "fool" (as inOld Polish). In Russia, vile are mentioned in the 11th century, but there is doubt that they were truly a part of Russian folklore, and not just a literary tradition. There are common traits between the vile and therusalki, andSchneeweis holds that they are identical.
The etymology is unclear. Possible explanations are from the verbviti "to wind" andChurch Slavonic:vichъrь "whirlwind"; or fromSanskrit:vāyú- "air", ultimately fromProto-Indo-Europeanu̯ēi̯o- "wind".[3]
According toNatalie Kononenko, thevilas are female spirits of nature, of an ambivalent relationship with humans. In fairy tales, they may act with malice towards them (killing people, destroying crops), but may alsohelp the hero by giving him magical objects and mounts.[4] They may also show warrior-like qualities.[5]
There are three kinds, those living on land and in forests (Serbo-Croatian:zagorkinje, pozemne vile), water nymphs (Serbo-Croatian:brodarice, povodne vile), and cloud or air nymphs (Serbo-Croatian:vile oblakinje, zračne vile). They appear as swans, falcons, horses, or wolves; cloud nymphs appear as a whirlwind.[6] At night, they roam the clouds emitting a terrible noise of pipes and drums. Anyone who calls them becomes stiff and moves only with difficulty. He is stricken by disease and dies within a year or two.
Vile like to ride horses or stags, they go hunting, dance in a circle dance (Serbo-Croatian:vilino kolo,Bulgarian:samodivski igriška) and seek the love of handsome strong men, assisting them against their enemies. Their fondness for fighting is reminiscent of the teutonicValkyrie and is unique in Slavic mythology. They possess supernatural powers and are able in the art of healing. They build splendid castles at the edges of clouds. They confuse men's spirits with their arrows. They steal children and substitute them withchangelings. In Slovakia, vile are the restless souls of deceased girls who lure young men into a deadly circle dance.
In Croatian andSerbian epic poetry, many heroes have a vila as an elective orblood sister (Serbo-Croatian:posestrima). The best known isSerbo-Croatian:Ravijojla, a name probably derived fromRaphael. Girls can also have vile as blood sisters, and may ask them to improve one's beauty or to protect a distant lover.
Vilas are also prominent inBosniak epic poetry, it is not rare for a vila to guide warriors on their path. Or nourish and help them when they are injured. Folk tales of a vila raising theHrnjica brothers are well known, where one brother gains his strength from the vila, and the other brother his beauty. Other folk tales mention vilas helping in the defense of towns.[7]
Vile are usually friendly to people, but they can take horrible revenge on those who insult them, disregard their orders, or approach their circle dances uninvited. Their general amiability distinguishes them from therusalki. The folk venerated them by placing flowers, food and drink before caves where they were believed to have lived.
Within the Czech tradition, víly are almost always malicious, unless respected and avoided. They are portrayed as beautiful women with long flowing hair, who primarily live in the woods, marches, or in forest clearings. They are said to try to entrance men, who wander into their land, by their looks and beautiful voices. Víly are also said to live in groups, and are keen to dancing in circles, which was also another way of trapping people, as it was believed that if you were to start dancing with them, then you would never return home.
According to F. S. Copeland, inSlovene folklore, thevile (which she translated as 'White Ladies') are wise and benevolent beings from forests, water bodies and mountains who help women in childbirth and heroes in epic stories.[8] In another article, according to Copeland, the word was known near the Croatian border (e.g., in Bela Krajna), but also "familiar" among the Slovenes of Styria and Beyond-the-Mura.[9]
According to ethnologistÉva Pócs, the wordvila also appears in theSerbian andCroatian wordsvilovnjak,vilenjak,vilenica,vilaš - all referring to a type of "fairy magician", people who, as per historical and folkloric records, were given powers by the vilas ("fairies").[10]
Meyer'sKonversationslexikon definesWiles orWilis as female vampires, the spirits of betrothed girls who die before their wedding night. According to Heine, wilis are unable to rest in their graves because they could not satisfy their passion for dancing naked, especially in town squares. They also gather on the highway at midnight to lure young men and dance them to their death. In Serbia, they were maidens cursed by God; in Bulgaria, they were known assamodiva, girls who died before they were baptized; and in Poland, they are beautiful young girls floating in the air atoning for frivolous past lives. In some tales, the reason for abandoning their loves is tragic; the Vila are cursed never to find their true love, and if they do, that love will die a terrible death.
This legend inspiredVictor Hugo to include "les wilis" in his poem "Fantômes" inLes Orientales (1828).
Heinrich Heine in his 1835De l'Allemagne vividly describes "die Wilis" as a Slavic legend.
InJ.K. Rowling'sHarry Potter series, veela are magical beings who resemble stunningly beautiful women. They can put men into trance with their singing and dancing, and when angered, they transform into horrific, bird-like creatures and can launch fireballs from their hands.[11] Veela appear in the fourth book of the series,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where they serve as mascots to the BulgarianQuidditch team during theQuidditch World Cup. The characterFleur Delacour is also a quarter-veela.[12]
In Heather Walter's Malice duology, the vila serve as a darker counterpart to other fae, based more closely on the Irish interpretations.
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Thewilis appear inAdolphe Adam'sRomanticballetGiselle, first danced in Paris in 1841, as the ghosts of young girls who were betrayed by their lovers and who died before their wedding days. They dance in the forests on moonlit nights, punishing young men by dancing them to death, but must disappear at the break of dawn. These Wilis snatch away the villainous Hilarion's life-breath, and almost do the same for the hero, Albrecht, but he is saved by the love of the ghostly Giselle.
The first opera completed byGiacomo Puccini,Le Villi, makes free use of the same thematic material. It had its debut in May 1884 at theTeatro Dal Verme,Milan, and was revised for a more successful reception at theRoyal Theater,Turin, that December.
In "The Vilia Song" (German:Das Vilja-Lied), from the 1905operettaThe Merry Widow (German:Die lustige Witwe) byFranz Lehár,Viktor Léon andLeo Stein (and translated byAdrian Ross), a hunter pines for Vilia, "the witch of the wood", a fairy being who causes him to fall in love with her and then vanishes.
