Inktober 2020 Day 4: Candle

Inktober 2020 Day 3: Skeleton

2020 Inktober - Halloween prompt Day 2: Grave

Let’s start inktober2019! This year my drawings will be inspired by foxes. Day 1: Ring ... or more fox hole :-)

The white stag through European and Asian culture was always something to be desired yet always out of reach. A mystical beast who leads the hunt onwards, ever onwards, to a destiny ordained by the gods. 

Slavic beliefs, 26 Nocna Mara (The Night Mare) 

nktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 25/31 Strzyga - a female demon somewhat similar to a vampire in Slavic folklore. People who were born with two souls were believed to be strigas. Strigas usually died at a young age, but according to belief, only one of their two souls would pass to the afterlife; the other soul was believed to cause the deceased striga to come back to life and prey upon other living beings. These undead strigas were believed to fly at night in a form of an owl or a black bird and attack night-time travellers and people who had wandered off into the woods at night, sucking out their blood and eating their insides.

nktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 24/31 Baba Jaga - a supernatural being who appears as a ferocious-looking woman. Baba Yaga flies around in a mortar, wields a pestle, and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs. Baba Yaga may help or hinder those that encounter or seek her out and may play a maternal role and has associations with forest wildlife.

nktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 23/31 Leszy - was the most powerful ruler of the forest and wildlife. All forest plants, fruits and animals belonged to him. Each forest was believed to have its own guard. He was depicted in human form or dressed in animal skins and his symbolic animal was represented by a deer and a wolf.

Inktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 22/31 Bies -  are a personification of all the undefined evil forces in nature. Once they were placed amongst the most dangerous and the oldest demons in the central and eastern Europe. Biesy can penetrate the souls of individuals and control their physical actions, what eventually leads their victims into insanity.  They live in primaeval forests, swamps and deep waters, usually far from human settlements. They are also believed to be guarding treasures hidden in the ground.

Inktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 21/31 (I’m so behind!!) Rusałka - In Slavic folklore, a female entity, often malicious toward humankind. Rusałka was born when a young girl committed suicide by drowning because of unhappy love or died just before or after her wedding. Their charm, beautiful voice and gaze seduced young men. Often then Rusałki asked puzzles or danced with them without resting until the poor men died of exhaustion.

Inktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 20/31 Utopiec, Topielec (eng. Drowner) - is a name applied to Slavic spirits of water. Utopce are spirits of human souls that died drowning, residing in the element of their own demise. They are responsible for sucking people into swamps and lakes as well as killing the animals standing near the still waters.

Inktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 19/31 Latawiec - was identified with the forces of air. They could, for example, draw a man into the air vortex. Sometimes, if Latawiec was bribed by the gifts, it could among other things, propel the windmill for the miller. Because of their secretive lifestyle, they were hidden in the shadow most of the time. Thanks to the illusion, they were able to seduce people with their mesmerizing eyes, and their touch ignited the fire in the loins and aroused the desire for rapprochement in man.

#inktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 18/31 Perun - in Slavic mythology he is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning just like Germanic Thor or Greek Zeus. His main attribute was an axe, oak tree and war.

#inktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 17/31 Żmij

#inktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 15/31 Raróg - a fire demon in Slavic mythology, often depicted as a fiery falcon.

#inktober2018 Slavic beliefs, 16/31 Chmurnik (Płanetnik) - often called the ‘shepherds of the clouds‘.  They are believed to be spirits with a great power over various atmospheric phenomena, able to control the clouds by moving them around on long ropes. That way they can bring for example nourishing rain or damaging ice storms to the crop fields, or maintain a good weather for villages.