Rusalka

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For other uses of the word, see Rusalka (disambiguation)

Rusalka (1968), a painting by Konstantin Vasiliev.

In Slavic mythology, a rusalka (plural:rusalki) was a female ghost, water nymph, succubus or mermaid-like demon that dwelled in a waterway.

According to most traditions, the rusalki were fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers. In the middle of the night, they would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows. If they saw handsome men, they would fascinate them with songs and dancing, mesmerise them, then lead the person away to the river floor, to live with them. The stories about rusalki have parallels with the Germanic Nix and the Irish banshee. See Slavic fairies for similar creatures.

1 Origin
2 Description
3 Rusalka Week
4 Music and literature
- 4.1 Music
- 4.2 Literature
5 Games
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Origin

In most versions, the rusalka is an unquiet dead being, associated with the "unclean force." According to Zelenin, people who die violently and before their time, such as young women who commit suicide because they have been jilted by their lovers, or unmarried women who are pregnant out of wedlock, must live out their designated time on earth as a spirit.

The ghostly version is the soul of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake and came to haunt that waterway. This undead rusalka is not invariably malevolent, and will be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged.

Rusalki can also come from unbaptized children, often those who were born out of wedlock and drowned by their mothers for that reason. Baby rusalki supposedly wander the forest begging to be baptized so that they can have peace. They are not necessarily innocent, however, and can attack a human foolish enough to approach them.

[edit] Description

While her primary dwelling place was the body of water in which she died, the rusalka could come out of the water at night, climb a tree, and sit there singing songs, sit on a dock and comb her hair, or join other rusalki in circle dances (Russian: хороводы, Polish: korowody) in the field.

Though in some versions of the myth, the eyes shine like green fire, others describe them as extremely pale, with no visible pupils, such as in the famous Ivan Bilibin drawing. Her hair is sometimes depicted as green, and often perpetually wet. According to some legends, should the rusalka's hair dry out, she will die.

Rusalki like to seduce men. They can do so by enticing men with their singing and then drowning them. Men seduced by the rusalka could die in her arms, and in some versions hearing her laugh could also cause death.

[edit] Rusalka Week

Main article: Semik

The rusalki were believed to be at their most dangerous during the Rusalka Week 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 nights. Swimming during this week was strictly forbidden, lest mermaids would drag a swimmer down to the river floor.

Max Vasmer notes that the very word rusalka originally referred to the dances of girls at Whitsuntide. The word is derived through Greek ῥουσάλια from "rosalia", the Latin term for Whitsuntide week (originally it meant "the festival of roses").

[edit] Music and literature

[edit] Music

These two works inspired Dargomyzhsky's opera Rusalka and Rimsky-Korsakov's opera May Night, respectively.
The rusalka is also the main character in Antonín Dvořák's eponymous opera.

[edit] Literature

Folk tales about rusalki gave rise to Pushkin's unfinished dramatic poem, praised by Nabokov as one of his most ingenious works, and Gogol's short story May Night or the Drowned Maiden.
Also a name of a fantasy novel by C. J. Cherryh.
A rusalka is also used as a plot device in Tigana, a novel by Guy Gavriel Kay.

[edit] Games

There are five Rusalka (a "cycle") present in the Magic: the Gathering card game set Guildpact.
The Rusalka (spelled "Rusulka" in this particular instance) is a character in the epic adventure game series Quest for Glory. She appears in the fourth installment, Shadows of Darkness, and the Paladin character may avenge her death and set her spirit free as part of a quest.