After last weekend’s return to animals with the fox, this Slavic Saturday we’re getting spooky with today being Halloween. The Slavs didn’t celebrate Halloween historically, but they have their own version, called Dziady (pronounced: ‘JAH-dyh’ according to culture.pl), which is the celebration of the dead.
(June 2021 Updated) Note: If you enjoy Slavic mythology, check out A Dagger in the Winds, the first book in my Slavic fantasy series called The Frostmarked Chronicles. You can also join my monthly newsletter for updates and free novellas (such as the prequel, The Rider in the Night) set in the world of the series.
Sometimes translated as Forefathers’ Eve, Dziady was celebrated twice per year – once in spring and fall. It’s translated name gives some semblance of what the festival was meant to be. The reverence of ancestors was often considered an important element of Slavic mythology, as demons like the domovoy/domowik imply, and Dziady follows in this tradition as well.
Early Slavs believed souls returned from the underworld of Nawia (or Nav), during certain times of the year, and the end of October was one of those times. This celebration with the spirits of the afterlife took place in graveyards, where great fires were built to provide light for the deceased and for them to warm themselves. According to culture.pl‘s great article on the subject as well, historian Karol Szajnocha describes the festival in Jadwiga and Jagiełło:
Each settlement went to its cemetery, each family to its grave. There they poured sacrificial blood into a cold fire, they put bowls with food on bark-woven seats, and on branches near the graves, new clothes for the dead were hung…
People would feast and eat plentifully, but would drop food on the graves. The giving of sacrificial blood as well as clothes and food such as kasha (a type of porridge), eggs, honey, and even vodka was meant to offer ease to the souls as they make the difficult travel to Nawia. While Nawia was considered a positive afterlife, the journey to it is difficult (which I talked about more here).
Another crucial part of the festival was showing the way of the souls back to Nawia through dances around the fires. The Slavs didn’t have pumpkin carving, but they did carve Karaboshka masks. People would wear these masks, made of wood or clay, come night to imitate the dead. Then, with torches in hand, they would lead the dead to the underworld. On their way back home, people would leave out offerings for the wandering spirits who had no family to give them gifts or show them home.
These rituals are considered very important, and Dziady was not the joking holiday Halloween is. The return of spirits is a somber time for those that lost loved one, and that’s before we discuss the demons.
When the souls of Nawia returned, they were the people who died natural deaths and lived typically natural lives. But murderers and those who died unnaturally lingered on Jawia (earth) as demons. These could strike many nights, but the danger was only stronger on a night like Dziady. To prevent these attacks, people dropped green branches on the graves of these that they passed. Then, fires were set on those graves and at crossroads (considered powerful in Slavic myths) to keep away the demons.
Some people have theorized that Dziady’s lights showing souls the way led to the stories of jack o’ lanterns, but it is difficult to know if there is much legitimacy to this. Regardless, it is an interesting connection between Halloween and Dziady that are celebrated around the same time.
In my own books, Dziady’s role for the return of souls will appear, but I cannot reveal too much about how. Just know that A Dagger in the Winds and the entire series has plenty of demons and wandering souls to watch for – both friendly and not.
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.