The image of Viy, first and last time brought into the world by Gogol's pen, is so bright that it continues to haunt entire generations in nightmares - to this day. Surely many people asked questions: how did it appear? Where? Who is Viy? What he really is?
The author's preface says that Viy is the king of the gnomes, and, accordingly, the king of the entire dungeon. However, according to the plot of the story, we see that all evil spirits fear and respect him. This means that Viy is not only the ruler of the gnomes, but is also directly connected with Hell and its creatures. It is not for nothing that East Slavic mythology calls him the spirit-harbinger of death. Of course, it is unlikely that he rules the legions (otherwise an ordinary witch would not have ordered him to be brought in so easily), but the following is obvious: there is at least mutual assistance between the kingdom of Viy.
Due to his heaviness, clumsiness and helplessness (after all, he cannot even lift his eyelids on his own), he does not look like a spirit. As well as the thin, bony Koshchei, with whom he is compared, according to one of the fairy tales, where the latter’s eyelids are also raised with a pitchfork. Rather, Viy resembles an ancient, half-forgotten evil deity. Perhaps this is Veles of a later era, who lost original meaning as a "cattle god". The enemy of Perun and all that is good and bright - the earthly world and its inhabitants, including. The Serpent-Veles brings with it cold, darkness and hatred. All this is typical for Viy, in whose image, in addition, one can feel fatigue and despair.
His name comes from the Ukrainian word for “eyelashes.” Here a hint of his vision is easily discerned - there is nothing in the world that Viy would not be able to see. Moreover, with the power of his gaze, he, if desired, can destroy all living things (however, this is unlikely, since evil spirits would undoubtedly have taken advantage of such a thing long ago) powerful weapon). It is likely that Viy’s appearance intersects with the well-known image of Likha the One-Eyed in our folklore, whose appearance also brings sheer troubles, i.e. threatens with a black evil eye.
However, for a person there is a loophole here: for Viy to see you, you need to look at him yourself. Consequently, God, although he granted Viy enormous power over the world of night and death, still limited this creature to specific limits.
According to another version, its name is related to the word “curl”, since from below it is completely entwined with roots. And this, in turn, confirms not only Viy’s dwelling underground, but also his divine origin.
We believe that all of the above versions are correct, with the exception of Koshchei the Immortal - the intricacies of myths and legends in folklore are interconnected. And Viy, whoever he is, is definitely an important part of it.
Slavic mythology is no less rich than the mythologies of other peoples. There are many different types of good and bad in it. evil characters. Some of the latter are not just evil, but creepy. These include such an odious image as Viy. This is an entity from the other world with a look that can kill anyone.
The monster's eyes are closed with huge long eyelids that fall to the ground. Therefore, he himself cannot lift them. There are special assistants for this. By order of Viy, they lift his eyelids with iron pitchforks, and the eyes of the monster from the underworld begin to sow horror and death.
Viy - negative character V Slavic mythology
It was from the gaze of the creepy monster that the belief about the evil eye or the evil eye originated. According to legend, the evil eye causes the death of people and animals, it causes trees to dry out and turn yellow. green grass. He can also send a streak of failure, poverty, illness and other misfortunes to a person. Women in labor and brides are especially sensitive to the evil eye. To protect against evil eye and the wedding veil was invented, and pregnant women tried not to be seen by strangers, especially strangers.
And all these customs began to stem from the inhabitant of the underworld with his terrible look. It is believed that he received his mystical component from Veles - pagan god and the main enemy of Perun, from whom he stole cattle. Veles was associated with devils and other evil spirits and gave birth to Viy, who became the most powerful and terrible fiend of the underworld.
But among the Slavs who lived in the Baltic states, this remarkable image was considered one of the sons of Chernobog. The latter symbolized absolute chaos, destruction and universal darkness. He controlled all the elements, and evil spirits from the underworld served him. That is, Chernobog was considered a negative divine essence, so it is not surprising that creepy monster with a look that kills everyone.
Chernobog personified evil in Slavic mythology
At the same time, Viy in mythology had a number of positive traits. He often tormented evil and spiritually damaged people. But he welcomed individuals who were strong-willed and strong-willed and did not harm them. He was an extremely contradictory creature, subject to sudden mood swings. But its main function, in any case, was evil. Only sometimes it manifested itself in full force, and sometimes it was barely noticeable.
He described this underworld evil in his work of the same name Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. He described her as squat, club-footed, with sinewy arms and legs. His Viy is covered from head to toe with black earth. The monster's fingers and face are iron, and its eyelids are long and touch the ground. He does not kill with his gaze, but only destroys the protective power of amulets against evil spirits. He is only a guiding force, not a killer. AND main character works of Gogol, Khoma dies not at all from the gaze of a monster, but from the horror that gripped his soul.
Stanislav Kuzmin
VIY VIY
in East Slavic mythology, a character whose deadly gaze is hidden under huge eyelids or eyelashes, one of the East Slavic names of which is associated with the same root: cf. Ukrainian Viya, Viyka, Belarusian. weika - “eyelash”. According to Russian and Belarusian fairy tales, V.’s eyelids, eyelashes or eyebrows were raised with pitchforks by his assistants, why does a person, who could not withstand V.’s gaze, was dying. Preserved until the 19th century. The Ukrainian legend about V. is known from the story by N.V. Gogol. Possible correspondences of the name V. and some of its attributes in Ossetian ideas about the Vayug giants (see. Waig) force us to recognize the ancient origins of the legend about V. This is also evidenced by parallels to the image of V. in the Celtic epic, and the abundance of typological parallels in mythological functions eyes.
Lit.: Abaev V.I., The image of Viy in Gogol’s story, in the book: Russian folklore, v. 3, M.-L., 1958; Ivanov V.V., About one parallel to Gogol’s Viyu, in the book: Works on sign systems, v. 5, Tartu, 1971; him. The category of “visible” and “invisible” in the text. Once again about East Slavic folklore parallels to Gogol’s Viy, in the collection: Structure of texts and semiotics of culture, The Hague-P., 1973.
V.I., V.T.
(Source: “Myths of the Peoples of the World.”)
VIY(Niya, Niam) - mythical creature whose eyelids descend to the very ground, but if you lift them with a pitchfork, then nothing will be hidden from his gaze; the word "wii" means eyelashes. Viy - with one glance he kills people and turns cities and villages to ashes; fortunately, his murderous gaze is hidden by thick eyebrows and eyelids close to his eyes, and only when it is necessary to destroy enemy armies or set fire to an enemy city, do they lift his eyelids with a pitchfork. Viy was considered one of the main servants of Chernobog. He was considered a judge over the dead. The Slavs could never come to terms with the fact that those who lived lawlessly, not according to their conscience, were not punished. The Slavs believed that the place of execution of lawless people was inside the earth. Viy is also associated with the seasonal death of nature during winter. He was revered as the sender of nightmares, visions and ghosts, especially for those who do not have a clear conscience. “...He saw that they were leading some squat, hefty, club-footed man. He was all covered in black earth. His legs and arms covered with earth stood out like stringy, strong roots. He walked heavily, constantly stumbling. Long eyelids were lowered to the ground. Khoma noticed with horror that his face was iron” (N.V. Gogol. “Viy”). “... Today Viy is at rest,” the two-headed horse yawned with one head, and licked his lips with the other head, “Viy is resting: he destroyed a lot of people with his eye, and from the country-cities only ashes lie. Viy will accumulate strength and get down to business again” (A.M. Remizov. “To the Sea-Ocean”).
(Source: “Slavic mythology. Dictionary-reference book.”)
Synonyms:
See what "VIY" is in other dictionaries:
I; m. In Slavic mythology: supernatural creature, having a deadly look hidden under huge eyelids or eyelashes. ● According to popular beliefs, Viy is a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids reaching to the very ground. By itself, he cannot be seen... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
In East Slavic mythology, the spirit deathly. Having huge eyes with heavy lids, Viy kills with his gaze... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
A person from Little Russian demonology; an old man with eyebrows and eyelids reaching to the ground; but if you raise his eyelids and eyebrows, his gaze kills and destroys everything he sees. This legend was processed by Gogol in “Viye”. Dictionary foreign words, included in... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Noun, number of synonyms: 4 fictional creature (334) hero (80) niya (2) ... Synonym dictionary
Viy- Viy, Viya, sentence. p. about Vie (myth.) ... Russian spelling dictionary
"V" request is redirected here; for the American golfer, see Vee, Michelle. This term has other meanings, see Viy (meanings). Viy is a character of Ukrainian demonology in the form of a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids right up to... ... Wikipedia
Viy- I; m. In Slavic mythology: a supernatural creature with a deadly gaze hidden under huge eyelids or eyelashes. According to popular beliefs, Viy is a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids reaching to the very ground. By itself, he cannot be seen... ... Dictionary of many expressions
VIY- (character of the story of the same name by N.V. Gogol; see also VIEV) Jealousy, / wives, / tears... / well, them! – / the eyelids will swell / just right for Viy. / I am not myself, / but I am / jealous / for Soviet Russia. M928 (355); The terrible legacy of the philistines, They are visited at night by the Non-Existent... ...
-VIY- see Kyiv VIY... Given name in Russian poetry of the 20th century: a dictionary of personal names
In Little Russian demonology, a formidable old man with eyebrows and eyelids reaching to the very ground; V. cannot see anything on his own, but if several strong men manage to lift his eyebrows and eyelids with iron pitchforks, then nothing can hide before his formidable... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
In a note to his story “Viy,” Gogol wrote that he was only retelling the folk legend with virtually no changes—“almost in the same simplicity as he heard.” Indeed, tales with a similar plot are well known in mythology Slavic peoples. But none of them contains a character like Gogol’s Viy. Just as it is not found in any other folklore works.
As if out of nowhere, this terrible character appears in the story only for a moment and immediately disappears again into oblivion. This mysterious demon of death, to whom the author devoted almost a dozen lines of the story, is written in such bright, expressive colors that it invariably attracts the attention of researchers of Gogol’s work.
Most of them believe that the story is undoubtedly based on folk tale, which was rethought and processed by the author. Probably, Gogol changed the ending of the legend, revealing to readers the mysterious image of Viy - the product of his own imagination. And yet, Viy did not appear out of nowhere - he has “folklore prototypes”, some of the characteristic features of which, apparently, were used by Gogol.
Thus, many researchers of Gogol’s story noted the similarity of this mystical character, with a destructive gaze, with numerous folk beliefs about Saint Kasyan. Christian church celebrates remembrance day St. John Cassian the Roman (5th century) February 28 according to the old style, and in leap years - February 29. He is known as a talented spiritual writer and organizer of monasteries.
IN popular consciousness there was another image of Kasyan that had nothing in common with the canonical one. He suddenly turned from real person into some almost demonic creature, which is endowed with epithets - merciless, formidable, vindictive. According to some beliefs, Kasyan is a fallen angel who betrayed God. But after repentance, he was chained and imprisoned for his apostasy.
The angel assigned to him beats the traitor on the forehead with a heavy hammer for three years in a row, and on the fourth he sets him free, and then everything he looks at perishes. In other stories, Kasyan appears as a mysterious and destructive creature, his eyelashes are so long that they reach his knees, and because of them he does not see God’s light, and only on February 29 in the morning, once every 4 years, he lifts them and looks around the world - what if his gaze falls, he dies.
In the Poltava region, Kasyan is represented as a black creature covered with wool, with skin like oak bark. He lives in a cave, covered with earth. On February 29, his huge eyelids are raised by various evil spirits, Kasyan looks around the world, and then people and animals get sick, pestilence and crop failure occur.
Almost all legends about Kasyan emphasize his demonic essence and the extraordinary destructiveness of his gaze as a result of his connection with the devil, which makes Kasyan similar to Gogol’s Viy. Certain similarities are also revealed when comparing Viy with the pagan Beles - the ancient patron of hunters, who also personified the spirits of killed animals and was associated with the world of the dead.
But, probably, the most important prototype of Viy for Gogol was Judas Iscariot, whose appearance is guessed behind the figure of Gogol’s demon when referring to some apocryphal texts. In these non-canonical writings about the appearance of Judas, shortly before his death, it is reported that his eyelids became huge, grew to incredible sizes, preventing him from seeing, and his body became monstrously swollen and heavy. This apocryphal appearance of Judas (giant eyelids and a heavy, clumsy body) also determined the main features of Viy. Gogol, forcing him to look at Viy Khoma Brutus, who is in spiritual laziness and does not trust in God, shows the careless student his evangelical double.
E. DMITRIEVA, historian
N.V. Gogol dedicated only a dozen lines in his story to Viya. But anyone who has read them at least once in their life will never forget such a bright, unusual, impressive image. Perhaps one of the reasons here lies in the special mystery and incomprehensibility of Viy. How did this image arise, where did it come from? Who is Viy and what do we know about him?
The Slavs recognized this underground god, whose place was occupied by the ancients by Pluto, the king of hell.
M. D. Chulkov. "Abevega of Russian superstitions"
The inhabitants of the world of the dead, spirits hostile to all living things, the dead were called in Ancient Rus' naviam.
The so-called Zbruch idol. It reflects the structure of the Universe according to the ideas of the ancient Slavs.
Image of Veles in the 12th century Dmitrov Cathedral (column console) in Vladimir.
Round dance is not just folk dance, and a pagan rite is a spell. Folk festival. Lithograph from the workshop of Ivan Golyshev. Mstera. 1871
Saint Blaise with herds of cattle and Saint Spiridonius. Novgorod icon of the 16th century.
Footprints pagan beliefs, in particular the cult of Veles, could be traced in folk culture and folklore until the beginning of the 20th century. For example, grass, bushes, trees and other vegetation were popularly called “hairs of the earth.”
To begin with, let’s quote Gogol: “Bring Viy! Follow Viy!” came the words of the dead man.
And suddenly there was silence in the church; a wolf howl was heard in the distance, and soon heavy footsteps were heard echoing through the church; Looking sideways, he saw that they were leading some squat, hefty, club-footed man. He was all covered in black earth. His legs and arms covered with earth stood out like stringy, strong roots. He walked heavily, constantly stumbling, his long eyelids were lowered to the very ground. Khoma noticed with horror that his face was iron. They brought him by the arms and stood him directly in front of the place where Khoma stood.
Lift my eyelids: I can’t see! - Viy said in an underground voice, - and the whole host rushed to lift his eyelids.
"Don't look!" - some inner voice whispered to the philosopher. He couldn’t bear it and looked.
Here he is! - Viy shouted and pointed an iron finger at him. And everyone, no matter how many there were, rushed at the philosopher. Lifeless, he hit the ground, and the spirit immediately flew out of him out of fear.”
It is difficult to find a more impressive and mysterious character in the works of Russian classics than Gogol's Viy. Clearly belonging to the heroes of folklore and fairy tales, he stands out among them for his special effectiveness and inexplicable, hidden power. “Viy is a colossal creation of the common people’s imagination,” wrote Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in a note to his story. “That was the name given to the Little Russians for the chief of the gnomes, whose eyelids go down to the very ground. This whole story is a folk legend. I didn’t want to how to change it and tell it in almost the same simplicity as I heard.” Considering that in 1835, when the story was written, Slavic folkloristics as a science was still in its infancy and we knew no more about our own mythology than, for example, Chinese, then it is not surprising that Gogol did not give a more meaningful explanation regarding "chief" of the Little Russian "gnomes".
Today we can look into Viy’s eyes without fear and tell about him everything that even his literary father did not know.
So, who is Viy? If, according to Gogol, he is a hero of folk legends, then his image should be found in works of folklore. However fairy tale hero does not exist with that name. Where did the name itself come from - Viy? Let's turn to the dictionary. In the Ukrainian language, the name of the character of Little Russian legends Viy, apparently, comes from the words “viya”, “viyka” - eyelash (and “poviko” - eyelid). After all, the most memorable and characteristic Viya - huge eyelids, so it is quite natural that his name came from them.
And although there is no Viy as such in either Ukrainian, Belarusian, or Russian fairy tales, quite often there are images that almost completely coincide with Gogol’s description of Viy: squat, hefty, and therefore strong, covered with earth, as if the devils had taken him out of dungeons. In the fairy tale about Ivan Bykovich, recorded famous collector and researcher Slavic folklore A. N. Afanasyev, it is said that after Ivan first defeated three multi-headed monsters on the Smorodina River, and then destroyed their wives, a certain witch, having now lost her daughters and sons-in-law, dragged Ivan to the owner underground kingdom, to my husband:
“On you,” he says, “our destroyer!” - And in the fairy tale the same Viy appears before us, but in the underground kingdom, at home:
“The old man lies on an iron bed, sees nothing: long eyelashes and thick eyebrows completely cover his eyes. He called twelve mighty heroes and began to order them:
Take an iron pitchfork, raise my eyebrows and black eyelashes, I’ll see what kind of bird he is that killed my sons.”
Both in Gogol and in the fairy tale recorded by Afanasyev, the presence of iron attributes is not surprising. In Gogol's Viy - iron face, an iron finger, the fairytale has an iron bed, an iron pitchfork. Iron ore is mined from the earth, which means that the ruler of the underground kingdom, Viy, was a kind of master and patron of the earth’s bowels and their riches. Apparently, this is why N.V. Gogol classifies him among the European gnomes, guardians of underground treasures. For ancient man at the time of the formation of Slavic mythology, iron, a durable metal, difficult to extract and difficult to process, irreplaceable in the economy, seemed to be of the greatest value.
The fairy-tale hero Afanasyev with his long eyebrows and eyelashes fully matches the appearance of Viy. However, in Slavic mythology, it was apparently not necessary for the owner of the underground kingdom to have long eyebrows or eyelashes. His distinguishing feature- Just long hair, but what it is, eyelashes, eyebrows or a beard, is not important. It can be assumed that exorbitant eyelids are a later distortion folk legend. The main thing is not the eyelids, but just long eyelashes and hair. In one of Belarusian fairy tales it describes “Tsar Kokot, a beard as long as an elbow, a seventy arshin iron whip, a bag made of seventy ox skins” - an image similar to the owner of the underworld. Also known is the fairy-tale old man “As big as a fingernail, with a beard as big as an elbow,” the owner of exorbitant strength and a huge herd of bulls. He had a three-headed serpent in his service, and he himself was hiding from the heroes pursuing him underground. But among the Belarusian fairy tales there is also one where Koshchey, like Viya, the maid raised her eyelids, “five pounds each.” This Koschey “no matter how he looks at someone, he will not leave him, even if he lets him go, everyone will still come back to him.”
This means that you can’t look Viy in the eyes because he will take you and drag you into the dungeon, into the world of the dead, which, in fact, is what happened to poor Khoma in Gogol’s “Viy”. This is probably why in Christian apocryphal legends Saint Kasyan was identified with Viy, who was popularly considered the incarnation leap year and the personification of all misfortunes. They thought that Kasyan, like the owner of the underground kingdom, lived deep underground, in a cave where daylight did not penetrate. Kasyan's gaze is destructive for all living things and entails troubles, illnesses, and even death. The apocryphal Judas Iscariot, who, as punishment for betraying Jesus Christ, allegedly lost his sight due to overgrown eyelids, was also endowed with some of Viy’s traits.
So where did such a strange image of Viy appear in Slavic mythology and folklore? The main characteristics of our character help us find the answer: hairiness, possession of herds of bulls and involvement in the underworld. These signs make us recall one of the most ancient and, moreover, the main East Slavic gods of pagan times - Veles (Volos). Before people learned to cultivate the land, he patronized hunters and helped hunt animals, which, according to many researchers, determined the name of the deity. It comes from the word "hair", that is, fur, the skin of hunting prey. Veles also personified the spirits of killed animals. Hence the idea that this deity is associated with death, the world of the dead. “Initially, in the distant hunting past, Veles could mean the spirit of a killed animal, the spirit of hunting prey, that is, the god of that unique wealth of the primitive hunter, which was personified by the carcass of a defeated animal.” This is what Academician B. A. Rybakov wrote about Veles-Volos.
But time passed, and agriculture and cattle breeding became an integral part of the economy of ancient people. Hunting lost its former importance, and Veles became the patron saint of livestock. That’s why the old man “He’s as tall as a fingernail, with a beard as long as his elbows” has a herd of bulls, and anyone who encroaches on them runs the risk of experiencing the hefty strength of the owner of the herd. In ancient times, the number of livestock was the main indicator of a family’s wealth. Livestock provided people with almost everything they needed: draft power, fur, leather, wool for clothing and other household needs, milk, dairy products and meat for food. It is no coincidence that the custom of measuring wealth in the “heads” of cattle survived into the Middle Ages. The word “cattle” meant not only the livestock itself, but also all the property and wealth of the family. The word "bestiality" was used in the meaning of "greed", "greed". The post of the financial official, standing between the mayor and the headman, was called “cowman”, since “cowwoman” is the treasury (hence another meaning of Veles as a deity: in charge of income and wealth).
It is no coincidence that Veles was opposed to Perun - the god of heaven, thunderstorms and war. After all, wealth, prosperity and war, leading to ruin, are incompatible. The giver of thunderstorms, Perun, lived in the sky, in the transcendental kingdom of the gods. Veles connected with the underworld of the dead, “that light.” Until the beginning of the 20th century, the custom persisted after the harvest of leaving a bunch of unharvested ears in the field - “For Veles on his beard.” The peasants hoped to earn the favor of the ancestors buried in the earth, on whom the harvest depended next year. Trees, bushes, and grasses were popularly called “hairs of the earth.” Thus, it is not surprising that the owner of the underground kingdom Veles, whose name was forgotten centuries later, was depicted as a hairy old man and subsequently received the name Viy because of this. (However, the name Viy is similar in origin to the name Veles: both came from the words “hair”, “eyelashes”.)
With the advent of Christianity, the role of the patron of cattle Veles passed to Saint Blaise (most likely due to the consonance of names), whose day fell on February 11 (24th in the new style). In many places in Russia, Vlasiev Day was celebrated as a big holiday. For example, in the Vologda province, residents of neighboring volosts came to the festival, a solemn, crowded prayer service was held, during which loaves of bread were blessed. Housewives at home fed hunks of consecrated bread to their cattle, thereby hoping to protect them from disease for the whole year. From this day on, livestock trading began in the bazaars. They turned to Saint Blaise with a prayer for the safety and health of the livestock: “Saint Blaise, give happiness to the smooth heifers, to the fat bulls, so that they can walk and play from the yard, and walk and gallop from the field.” Icons of the saint were hung in cowsheds and stables to protect livestock from all kinds of misfortunes.
But the function of Veles, who dominates the underworld, apparently was taken over by the image of Viy - a purely negative character, an “evil spirit.” In other words, with the adoption of Christianity, the image of pagan Veles gradually divided into two hypostases: the positive - Saint Blaise, the patron of livestock, and the negative - Viy, an evil, formidable spirit ruling the underworld, the personification of death and grave darkness, the leader of evil spirits.
“A rooster crow was heard. This was already the second cry; the first was heard by the gnomes. The frightened spirits rushed randomly into the windows and doors in order to fly out as quickly as possible, but that was not the case: they remained there, stuck in the doors and windows The priest who entered stopped at the sight of such a disgrace of God's shrine and did not dare to serve the requiem in such a place. So the church remained forever with monsters stuck in the doors and windows, overgrown with forest, roots, weeds, wild thorns, and now no one will find the way to it; ". This is how Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol ends his story “Viy”.
