10-13-2020, 10:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-14-2020, 01:28 AM by neon_jellyfish.
Edit Reason: Usual grammar drama, words MIA, and typo bonanza
)
Thank you everyone!
Day 287
ADAW #40, that is, the one I wanted to post last week.
I wanted (and still intend to) to do Halloween-themed posters in October, but instead of the classic Halloween crew, I want to show you some of my local monsters and spookums.
The problem with all these is, as I whined about many times already, that there are no records left by the culture they originated from, and first records of the folk tales and legends featuring these creatures were written cca 400 years after a christianization, and medieval religion wasn't exactly open-minded, so all the old deities and supernaturals got turned into demons.
Hejkal
The first one I have for you is hejkal. It's a guardian forest spirit. Tales about hejkal are common, but also differ quite a lot from place to place. Some legends say hejkals are small, only a little above 1m tall (1m = cca 3.2ft), some say they're well over 2m (2m =cca 6.5 ft), and some that they can change their height and transform into stuff as they please.
The name hejkal is derived from hýkat = to bray. Hejkals bray and scream and screech unlike anything else. For no apparent reason, really, but I imagine it might be to chase unwelcome guests out of the forest. If you're stupid or drunk or both, and try to mimick hejkal's cries, he will jump on your neck and tear you limb from limb. When you hear their screams, just walk away. If you leave and don't make noise, they won't kill you.
If you find hejkal in trouble, and you're good to him, and share your food with him or free him from poachers' traps, he will give you something valuable in return, most often a magic item, or he'll teach you some magic. Generally, there's one hejkal per forest, but even that differs from tale to tale.
There isn't really a consensus as to what hejkals look like, but it mostly ranges from really hairy men, either donning ragged clothes or running around naked, covered with their long messy fur, to a humanoid bear-like-something-or-another. Sometimes, they wear clothes made of various forest plants, or crowns made of fern.
Female counterparts do exist, but the tales almost exclusively mention the male ones. There is, however, one castle that's supposedly named after these ladies.
As the time went on, hejkals became less sentient and magical, and more savage and beastly. Partly because of the Church, partly probably because it's easier to make up stories about escaping bloodthirsty monster rather than befriending them and learning magic from them. Someone might ask about the magic, and that could be a problem.
This is just my personal theory, but from what I've read, Slavic supernaturals were never pure good or pure evil. They were like nature, which can be both cruel and life-giving. And they treated you like you treated them, they responded to kindness with kindness and to malice with retribution.
Hejkals are often compared to Pan, Satyr, Dusios, Leshy and other European creatures associated with forests, though as far as I'm aware, none of the others do the screaming thing (Banshee screaming is also different, it has a clear purpose). If someone saw one today, they would surely call him bigfoot. Sigh.
You can allegedly protect yourself by changing your shoes before you step into the forest (I think that must be a more recent one, people back then probably didn't own that many pairs), turning your pockets inside out or having a piece of bread on you.
We also have Hejmon, but that one is a local deity of Novohradské mountains, not supernatural species, and he's traditionally portrayed as very benevolent and kind to good people and unmerciful towards bad people. I guess the similarity between the names allowed him to slip under the radar and be spared total demonization.
![[Image: a6f299b45cbede1cd3ed096e2154c4c6.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a6/f2/99/a6f299b45cbede1cd3ed096e2154c4c6.jpg)
I used Isi, because I didn't really have anyone appropriate.
![[Image: 376d2d0efe2b7fe40accb445ba9673d3.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/37/6d/2d/376d2d0efe2b7fe40accb445ba9673d3.jpg)
I went with the hairy guy visage. This one is a bit emo, with his bangs covering one eye.
Day 287
ADAW #40, that is, the one I wanted to post last week.
I wanted (and still intend to) to do Halloween-themed posters in October, but instead of the classic Halloween crew, I want to show you some of my local monsters and spookums.
The problem with all these is, as I whined about many times already, that there are no records left by the culture they originated from, and first records of the folk tales and legends featuring these creatures were written cca 400 years after a christianization, and medieval religion wasn't exactly open-minded, so all the old deities and supernaturals got turned into demons.
Hejkal
The first one I have for you is hejkal. It's a guardian forest spirit. Tales about hejkal are common, but also differ quite a lot from place to place. Some legends say hejkals are small, only a little above 1m tall (1m = cca 3.2ft), some say they're well over 2m (2m =cca 6.5 ft), and some that they can change their height and transform into stuff as they please.
The name hejkal is derived from hýkat = to bray. Hejkals bray and scream and screech unlike anything else. For no apparent reason, really, but I imagine it might be to chase unwelcome guests out of the forest. If you're stupid or drunk or both, and try to mimick hejkal's cries, he will jump on your neck and tear you limb from limb. When you hear their screams, just walk away. If you leave and don't make noise, they won't kill you.
If you find hejkal in trouble, and you're good to him, and share your food with him or free him from poachers' traps, he will give you something valuable in return, most often a magic item, or he'll teach you some magic. Generally, there's one hejkal per forest, but even that differs from tale to tale.
There isn't really a consensus as to what hejkals look like, but it mostly ranges from really hairy men, either donning ragged clothes or running around naked, covered with their long messy fur, to a humanoid bear-like-something-or-another. Sometimes, they wear clothes made of various forest plants, or crowns made of fern.
Female counterparts do exist, but the tales almost exclusively mention the male ones. There is, however, one castle that's supposedly named after these ladies.
As the time went on, hejkals became less sentient and magical, and more savage and beastly. Partly because of the Church, partly probably because it's easier to make up stories about escaping bloodthirsty monster rather than befriending them and learning magic from them. Someone might ask about the magic, and that could be a problem.
This is just my personal theory, but from what I've read, Slavic supernaturals were never pure good or pure evil. They were like nature, which can be both cruel and life-giving. And they treated you like you treated them, they responded to kindness with kindness and to malice with retribution.
Hejkals are often compared to Pan, Satyr, Dusios, Leshy and other European creatures associated with forests, though as far as I'm aware, none of the others do the screaming thing (Banshee screaming is also different, it has a clear purpose). If someone saw one today, they would surely call him bigfoot. Sigh.
You can allegedly protect yourself by changing your shoes before you step into the forest (I think that must be a more recent one, people back then probably didn't own that many pairs), turning your pockets inside out or having a piece of bread on you.
We also have Hejmon, but that one is a local deity of Novohradské mountains, not supernatural species, and he's traditionally portrayed as very benevolent and kind to good people and unmerciful towards bad people. I guess the similarity between the names allowed him to slip under the radar and be spared total demonization.
I used Isi, because I didn't really have anyone appropriate.
I went with the hairy guy visage. This one is a bit emo, with his bangs covering one eye.