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WILA In Polish Mythology , the Wila (Wiła) are reputed in Poland and Lithuania to be the shape-shifting souls of the dead that were believed to visit the homes of their families. Peasants would lay flowers in the entrances to caves where they believed the Wila resided. Offerings for the Wila consist of ribbons, round cakes, vegetables, fresh fruit or other flowers left at sacred trees, fairy caves and wells. They are the female spirits that lived in the mountains, woods, and clouds that could shape-shift into horses, falcons, or swans also. VILA The Vila, or '''Willi''' or '''Veela''', are the Slavic versions of Nymph s, who have power over storms, which they delight in sending down on lonely travelers. They are known to live in meadows, ponds, oceans, trees, and clouds (cf. Leimakids , Limnades , Oceanid s, Dryad s, Nephele ). They can appear as swans, horses, wolves, or, of course, beautiful women. The Vilia is the Celtic version of this woodland spirit. She enjoys captivating passing men with her beauty, but then abandoning them. In a love song titled ''Vilia'', from "The Merry Widow" by Lehar and Ross, a hunter pines for Vilia, "the witch of the wood". The Vila may have inspired the Veela, magically captivating women who put men into a trance when singing or dancing and turn into hideous bird-like creatures capable of throwing balls of fire when angered, in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire . WILI Among the Slavic Creatures Of Folklore , for the English-speaking world the wilis are indelibly connected with the Romantic Ballet '' Giselle '', first danced in Paris in 1840, with its spectral wilis, young girls who have died on their wedding days, who almost snatch away the hero's life-breath, but must disappear at the break of dawn. These wilis have been adapted from a poem of Heinrich Heine , who claimed to be using a Slavic legend. Meyer's ''Konverationslexikon'' defines ''Wiles'' or ''Wilis'' as female vampires, the spirits of betrothed girls who die before their wedding night. According to Heine, wilis are unable to rest in their graves because they could not satisfy their passion for dancing when they were alive. They therefore gather on the highway at midnight to lure young men and dance them to their death. In Serbia they were maidens cursed by God; in Bulgaria they were known as ''samovily'', girls who died before they were baptized; and in Poland they are beautiful young girls floating in the air atoning for frivolous past lives. The first opera completed by Giacomo Puccini , ''Le Villi'', makes free use of the same thematic material. It had its debut in May 1884 at the Teatro dal Verme, Milan, and was revised for a more successful reception at the Royal Theater, Turin, that December. POłUDNICA Południca ( Polish ; ''Přezpołdnica'' in Lower Sorbian , ''Připołdnica'' in Upper Sorbian , ''Polednice'' in Czech , ''Polednica'' in Slovak , Полудница (''Poludnitsa'') in Bulgarian ) was a Slavic Noon Demon . She was usually pictured as a young woman dressed in white that roamed field bounds. She assailed folk working at noon causing Heatstroke s and aches in the neck, sometimes Madness and sometimes Death . ''Południca'' in Polish Mythology is the whirlwind named "Lady Midday," who makes herself more evident in the middle of hot summer days. She takes the form of whirling dust clouds and carries a scythe. She will stop people in the field to ask them difficult questions or engage them in conversation. If anyone fails to answer a question or tries to change the subject, she will cut off their head or strike them with illness. She may appear as an old hag or beautiful woman, or a 12 year old girl; and she was useful in scaring children away from valuable crops. She is only seen on the hottest part of the day and is a personification of a sun-stroke. The Sorbian ''Přezpołdnica'' or ''Připołdnica'' is known as ''Mittagsfrau'' (“lady midday”) among German speakers of Eastern Germany ’s Lusatia ( Sorbian ''Łužica'', German ''Lausitz'') and in the now only German-speaking parts of what used to be the larger region of Old Lusatia , whose capital used to be Zhorjelc ( German '' Görlitz '', Polish '' Zgorzelec ''). Farther north and west in formerly predominantly Slavic -speaking areas of Germany, especially in the state of Brandenburg ( Low Saxon / Low German ''Branneborg'', Sorbian ''Braniborska''), a related mythological spirit appears to be the ''Roggenmuhme'' (“lady of the rye”) that makes children disappear when they search for flowers in among the tall grain plants on hot summer days. In the Altmark , it is the ''Regenmöhme'' “with her heat” that will abduct ill-behaved children, and in the formerly Polabian -speaking heath region around Lunenburg (German Lüneburg ) in Lower Saxony ), the Low Saxon (“ Low German ”) name of this bugbear is ''Kornwief'' (formerly spelled ''Kornwyf'', meaning “lady of the corn” or “lady of the grain plants”). RUSALKA .]] In Slavic Mythology , a rusalka was a female Ghost , water Nymph or Succubus or Mermaid -like Demon that dwelled in a lake. Her eyes shone like green fire. Men who were seduced by her died in her arms, and in some versions her laugh could also cause death (compare with the Irish Banshee ). She corresponds to the Scandinavia n and German Nix . The ghostly version of the succubus is the Soul of a young woman who had died in or near a lake (many of these ''rusalki'' had been murdered by lovers) and came to haunt that lake; this Undead rusalka is not particularly malevolent, and will be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged. The rusalka was the main character in Antonín Dvořák 's Eponymous Opera . In Polish Mythology , rusalki are spirits that dwell in the waters from fall to spring; in some traditions, they reside in the waters from summer to fall. In other tales, they become Sky Women when they return from the waters. They are called Queen of Fairies, and it is said that only witches dare to swim with ''rusalki''. A belief has it that the thunder and lightning of springtime are brought on by Sky Women mating with the thunder gods; hence spring festivals included celebration of the return of the ''rusalki'' from the waters with the placing of wreaths on the waters, and with circle dances and fire festivals. ''Rusalki'' brought moisture to field and forest. RUSALKI IN POPULAR CULTURE The computer game '' Quest For Glory IV '' includes a Rusalka as a secondary character, representing the spirit of a drowned maiden who attempts to drown men in revenge. In '' Betrayal At Krondor '', avenging a Rusalki is necessary to to obtain a powerful artifact. Rusalki is also featured in the card game ''', another from being hanged, another from Starvation , another from Fire and the last one from Disease . SKY WOMEN In Polish Mythology , sky women were the warm-weather incarnations of the ''rusalki''. Slavic women would go out in the first snowfall and build snow women to honor them, as snow is believed to be brought by the sky women. SEE ALSO |
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