Nichnytsi — Night Demons of Slavic Mythology
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NichnytsiNichnytsi are night demons among the Slavs. They can take the form of birds, bats, worms, or long-haired women dressed in black. They creep into homes at night and keep children from sleeping — pinching, hitting, tugging at them, or standing over the cradle. They may also offer an infant their breast and poison it with their milk, or, conversely, suckle at the child's breast themselves and drain its strength. Nichnytsi are said to be the spirits of unborn children, or of those who caused their mother's death. According to another version, they are the souls of dead witches or promiscuous, childless women.
People guarded against their appearance in various ways. They would bathe children in herbs such as evening primrose or midnight herb, make dolls out of swaddling cloth and place them by the windows, or slip one into a passing traveler's cart. There were also a number of taboos: it was forbidden to leave a child's swaddling clothes outside after sunset, to leave the cradle open, to rock it while empty, or to bathe a child or wash their clothes in water that had stood outside overnight. Windows were not to be opened after sunset, and doors were not to be left ajar.
Nichnytsi creep into homesIf a nichnytsia had already taken hold, there were many ways to get rid of her. Again, one would bathe the child in herbs, recite ritual incantations over the threshold, window, or stove, stamp one's feet, and drive the nichnytsia out through an open chimney. During the ritual, notches were cut into the walls, or boiling water was poured over a comb, brush, or knife. The mother would also cut a lock of the infant's hair and ask, "What are you doing?" — to which another woman would reply, "I'm driving out the nichnytsia!" The mother would then finish: "Drive her out, so she never returns!" Alternatively, the child would be washed near the stove, or its little feet directed toward the stove, sending the nichnytsia away together with the illnesses she brought.
Incantation: "Nichnytsia, you mother, do not play over the child — play over yourself, over the steam, over the embers, and over the stone."
How to get rid of a nichnytsiaIt is believed that although the nichnytsia is malevolent, she can be controlled and responds to the incantations and magic words used to drive her out. She is a highly emotional creature, and does harm out of a vengeful nature born from her own unhappy fate.
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