this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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Folklore and paganism

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Mythology of All the Races was a large series that described folklore, mythology and customs among large parts of the world.

Volume 3, Chapter 3: The household Gods describe beliefs among the Slavic peoples of household gods or spirits. Read it yourself here: https://archive.org/details/mythologyofall03gray/page/240/mode/1up

Some general notes:

  • the earliest description of what might be the veneration of household spirits, referred to with the latin term penates, come from historians in the early middle ages
  • the Slavic household god was often referred to as "grandfather"
  • it would help around the house and give prosperity to its household
  • commonly it would receive food offerings
  • a ritual for bringing their household spirit with them when a family moved house, was to put the embers from the oven in a pan and bring it to the new house
  • it was often described as hairy and looking like a deceased relative but could take the shape of an animal
  • the various characteristics of the household deity like name, associated rituals and responsibilities varied from place to place
  • it would live in a specific place in the house, often near the oven
  • Domovoy is Russian and means houselord
  • Ukrainians (referred to here as "Little Russians", and there are other similar ethnic designations like these that falls flat on you if you don't know about about ethnic minorities in Eastern Europe) call it Didko or Domovyk
  • Czechs, Dedeks
  • Silesia, Djadeks and could make little clay figures of the spirit (see image at bottom)
  • Slovenians, Setek or Skritek, and he could be represented by a wooden figure
  • Slovaks call it Skrata or Skriatek
  • Poland, Skrzatek, Skrzat or Skrzot
  • Bulgarians, Stopan

The wikipedia page on the subject seems to rely heavily on this chapter and might point you to sources for some of the claims.

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[–] stenAanden@feddit.dk 0 points 1 week ago

A link to the book on archive is now included. It was eaten after I included the Djadek picture.