There’s always a multitude of demons to talk about in Slavic mythology and on this Slavic Saturday, we’re looking at one that inhabits the dampest, wettest places of the woods: Dziwożona (also known as the boginka in lowland regions).
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To the early Slavs, the forests and the swamps within them were everywhere. Around farms and villages as well as upon mountains, the woods were inescapable. And in the shadows of those trees, spirits lurked.
Most spirits in Slavic mythology aren’t the friendliest creatures. Tales of demons in the night’s shadows spread all across the Slavic tribes and nations, and one of the most frightening tales told was that of Dziwożona.
Often thought to be connected to the infamous rusałka, Dziwożonami were thought to be the spirits of a girl who died in childhood or women who killed their child (oddly connected), but they could also be women who died during pregnancy or women who had a child out of wedlock. Basically, the demon was often meant to represent things that were considered bad for women and represented an unnatural life or death. Depictions vary, but the most common description is that she’s an old hag with breasts so large she washes her clothes with them.
Dziwożona was thought to appear during foul weather among the trees and swamps. Unlike many demons who would attack directly (though depictions of the boginka did include attacks), Dziwożona waited and observed mothers with their children. During this time she could make the children ill and would often come up with elaborate schemes to draw the mother away. She would then strike when the mother was gone, replacing the child with a changeling – the hag’s own child.
Changelings were creatures that appear throughout Slavic myth. Demons would use them to replace the children they stole, but the changelings did not grow like normal humans. They had massive abdomens and small, disfigured heads. They rarely slept, screaming into the night, and sometimes they even grew claws and jagged teeth. Almost all changelings died in childhood, but if they survived, they were little more than spiteful, mumbling loners.
It’s likely that changelings and the connection with Dziwożona were simply the early Slavs’ ways of understanding disabilities among children. Beyond it being a warning for mothers not to abandon their children, it was easier to explain away that a demon stole the child than to accept disabilities are a part of human life. It’s brutal but unfortunately was common among early cultures.
There were ways to protect your child against the Dziwożona, though. Parents would tie a red ribbon around the baby’s hand (a tradition still continued today in some Slavic countries) and also give the child a red cap to wear, protecting their face from the moon.
Lastly, I find the name Dziwożona very similar to that of Dziewanna, goddess of the wilds and hunt. Dziwożona in certain languages, particularly Slovak, means “wild woman,” and Dziewanna as a goddess is thought to be a free spirit as well. The two contrast as the goddess tended to be a feminist icon and thought of positively while the demon was a warning to women not to go against societal norms. This nuance is fascinating and yet again shows how often things within Slavic mythology are rarely black and white.
That’s all for this week’s Slavic Saturday. Be sure to keep a lookout for more posts next week, and if you haven’t seen the full series of posts, be sure to check them out.
*As always just a quick disclaimer. Slavic mythology is broad and not written in many if any primary sources, so there’s a variety of interpretations. The interpretations I’m using here are from the sources I’ve found to be reliable and as well as some creative freedom for my book series.