In the Slavic Pantheon, Perun is the highest god. He is the lord of heaven, thunder, and lightning. The name Perun roughly means “to strike” and it survived in the Polish language as piorun - thunder. 1).
Slavic rituals were mainly based on agricultural celebrations and the lunar cycles. There was, for example, Velja Noc which fell around the same time as Easter nowadays, or Kupala during the summer solstice. 2)
Ancient Slavic civilization was one of the most conservative civilizations known on earth. Slavs believed that the world had been created once and for all, and nothing should try to change the way of life as passed on by their ancestors. 3)
There are computer games based on gods and creatures from Slavic mythology. These include Thea: The Awakening and Thea 2: The Shattering, which are turn-based strategy survival games with unique ideas. 4)
The creatures from Slavic mythology can also be met in the series of books about the Witcher Geralt. Following the books, there are also games and a Netflix show. 5)
Leshy is the tutelary deity of forests. He may manifest in the form of animals, such as bears, wolves, and hares. 6)
The Wawel Dragon, claimed to have terrorized the residents of Kraków long ago, is perhaps Poland's most famous fabled beast. Legend dates back to the 12th century, and the extraordinary being is said to have lived in a cave beneath Wawel Castle, according to the most popular stories. The townsfolk sacrificed animals to the dragon to appease its wrath, but the sacrifices weren't always enough. 7)
In the city of Lublin, there’s a legend about a mythical creature that would protect the town’s inhabitants from dragons. The being’s Polish name is Żmij, which translates as ‘Serpent’ or ‘Slavic Dragon’. 8)
Polewnik was portrayed as a short man with a grainy complexion and grainy ears instead of facial hair. He was said to wander the fields at different times of the day, sometimes at midday and sometimes at sunset, and play at the expense of individuals he came across, enticing them off into the field (in other words: the wrong way). He enjoyed strangling or trampling people who dozed off. He enjoyed toying with drunks, and he utilized sophisticated violence on them. 9)
Baba Yaga's name, derived from the Proto-Slavic word for “hag,” was supposed to connote horror, torture, threat, and, of course, the colloquial term “hag,” which refers to obnoxious old women. Baba Yaga can be found in the center of the woodland, where her legendary chicken-leg mansion was meant to be. Although other traditions suggest a bird, a serpent, or an owl, she was escorted by a black cat. 10)
On the banks of lakes and rivers, a Rusalka, or water demon, resided. The majority of these ladies had drowned before being married. They had the appearance of lovely, naked or half-naked ladies, dressed in light shirts or silver robes, with fair complexion and long green hair, and wreaths of riverside flowers and herbs on their heads. These Polish demons' charmed power was apparently discovered in them. Men were enticed and drowned in a neighboring lake as a result of their actions. They would occasionally engage in a wild dance with the unhappy person until he passed out from weariness. 11)
When you see fireflies at night, do you ever admire them? Another form of Polish folklore creature is these little lights floating above the ground! They were thought to be the souls of evil persons, mainly land surveyors or landowners who were unjust. They reveled in driving others astray. So, if you ever get the urge to chase a firefly, be cautious! You'll inevitably end up in the marsh… So unobtrusive, yet so lethal! 12)
What did Bebok appear to be like? Everyone agrees that he looks like a night Bogeyman with the height of a child, a massive and exceedingly hideous aged face, and is completely hairy. Yuck! The ideal monster to frighten your kids with - Bebok was designed to frighten bad toddlers who refused to sleep. He was, however, far too foolish to act on his own, so he carried out witches' directions. As a result, the mythology evolved that Beboks are the souls of children who died young and refused to heed their parents. As a result, they enjoyed causing trouble and ruining numerous items in other people's homes. They then took additional unruly children with them after they had their pleasure. 13)
The Polish vampiric monster population is extremely diversified. The Witcher has undoubtedly made Strigs the most popular of the untameable Polish monsters. They usually took the form of a horrible woman or a blackbird. When it was discovered that there were too many evil women in this repertory, a stray was created. 14)
It is thought that fiends played a role in the formation of mountains (due to a big conflict with the so-called chads, i.e. devils from abroad). It was then, according to our chort, that he suffered a huge kick, which rendered him disabled. The limp, however, was associated with falling from the sky due to Christian influence. 15)