The 10 Best Russian Legends (with Explanation And Meaning)
To talk about Russia is to talk about the country with the largest geographic area in the world, which has been the scene of a large number of important events throughout time.
It is therefore a country with a long history, which has its own myths, legends and customs. That is why throughout this article we are going to talk about a small selection of the best-known Russian myths, stories and legends
Below we show you a series of ten legends, myths and stories from Russia, some of which are also shared by other Slavic peoples.
1. The legend of the Matrioshka
Legend says that once upon a time a humble carpenter named Serguei who needed wood to work One day when he was having difficulty finding suitable wood, he found a perfect log which he took home.
Sergei didn’t know what to do with it, until one day the idea of making a doll came to mind. He made it with so much love and so beauty that after finishing it he did not want to sell it, and he gave it the name Matrioshka. The young man greeted her creation every day, but one day and surprisingly she returned his greeting.
Little by little they established communication and a good relationship, but one day the doll expressed her sadness because all the creatures had children, except her. The carpenter told her that if he wanted her he should take the wood from inside her, something she accepted.
Sergei made a smaller copy, which he called Trioska. But Over time Trioska also wanted to have children, so with part of his wood he made another smaller version: Oska The situation was repeated with her, so Sergei would make one more doll, this time with a mustache and with a masculine appearance so that she would not have a maternal instinct. She would name the latter Ka. Then, he put each of the dolls inside his mother. Days later, however, and to Sergei’s despair, Matrioshka and all of her offspring left and simply disappeared.
2. Baba Yaga
One of the best-known creatures in Russian and Slavic legends is the witch Baba Yaga, an old woman (although other versions consider her a goddess) who inhabits the forests. Legend says that this being, which is said to feed on children, It has iron teeth with which it can easily tear meat
However, some of their representations are not always negative. It is said that he guards the waters of life and death, and lives in a house which moves with enormous duck legs and on whose palisade you can see numerous human skulls. Also that he rejuvenates every time he drinks tea made with blue roses, rewarding whoever brings them to him. She is considered the representative of the limit between life and death
3. The ghost of Zhuzha
A relatively recent Russian legend, centered in Moscow, tells us about love and death.
The legend tells us about Zhuzha, a woman who for years had been in love with a millionaire One day, when she was walking through Kuznetski Most, she heard a boy delivering newspapers shout that her lover had taken his life. Just as she got out of her carriage and went to get more information, she was run over and killed.
However, days passed and the boy who sold the newspapers appeared dead and strangled with a woman’s stocking, the one Zhuzha was wearing on the day of her death. Soon those who had published the supposed death of the millionaire also died. Since then there have been several testimonies of the ghost that haunts Kuznetski Most in Moscow. It is said about whoever sees her that she will possibly have the loss of a close male person.
Like many other peoples who face freezing temperatures, the Russians also have a legend that refers to the cold. In his case it also refers to infidelity and betrayal. This is the legend of Sgroya.
This apparently young and attractive woman is a furious spirit who hates the male gender due to the deception she suffered from her partner, although in other versions she is a deity who punishes acts of infidelity.
Sgroya appears on the roads offering her attention to the men who come across her, seducing them. If you accept her invitations and kiss her, she will turn into an iceberg and lead her victim to death by freezing, or make her go crazy.
5. The legend of the city of Kitezh
Some Russian legends tell us about the invasion they suffered in ancient times by the Mongols. Specifically, one of them refers to the disappearance of the city of Kitezh.
According to legend, Prince Vladimir founded two cities, one called Maly Kitezh and another that would be named Bolshoi Kitezh However, the Mongols invaded the first of them, taking prisoners during the process who ended up confessing how to get to the second.
Once they reached its vicinity, they saw that this city had no wall or defensive structure, so they immediately attacked. Desperate citizens prayed for their salvation. However, before the raiders arrived at the city, it was swallowed by the waters, submerging it in Lake Svetloyar and saving it from attack, in addition to making it invisible. Since then it is said that only the purest can find this city.
6. Prince Ivan and Koschei the Immortal
Legend has it that Prince Ivan Tsarevitch promised his parents, before he died, that he would find a husband for his three sisters. These are sought after by the Eagle, the Falcon and the Raven, with whom they end up marrying and going to live.
As time goes by, the prince, alone, decides to embark on a trip to visit his sisters and brothers-in-law. On his way he encounters the remains of an annihilated army, which had fallen before the power of the warrior Marya Morevna The prince met said woman, fell in love with her and eventually married her and went to live in her home.
However, over time a war broke out in which Marya Morevna decides to participate, leaving the prince at home with the warning not to open his closet as there is a secret in it that must remain there. However, the prince, curious, decided to open said closet. There he found a chained man named Koschei, who asked him for water. After giving it to him, suddenly broke his chains and magically vanished, after which he kidnapped the prince’s wife
The prince decides to go in search of her, passing through the houses of his sisters and brothers-in-law on his way and leaving behind various objects. He found Koschei’s castle and took his beloved away, but was caught by the sorcerer and his swift horse. He takes Marya Morevna away again, forgiving the prince since he had quenched her thirst when he was chained. The prince repeated the rescue two more times, always being caught by the witcher, and on the occasion he ended up dismembering him and throwing him into the sea.
However, Iván’s brothers-in-law observed that the silver objects he left them darkened, to which they responded and later managed to bring him back to life thanks to the waters of life and death. The prince then went to Baba Yaga to give him a horse faster than Koschei’s, to which the witch decided that if she managed to watch her mares for three days she would give it to him, although otherwise she would kill him. He managed, with the help of several animals (which had promised to help him if he didn’t eat them), his mission despite the fact that the witch had tricked him. However, she wanted to kill him anyway, something that made Iván steal the horse and flee.
Having obtained the steed, Ivan rescues his wife and during the escape kills Koschei with a kick from his horse. After that he dismembers the body and sets the pieces on fire. Now free, the couple was able to return home and live happily.
7. The seven giants of the Urals
One of those considered natural wonders of Russia is Man-Pupu-Nyor, which also has its own legend.
Legend has it that the Mansi people lived in those mountains The leader of the town had two children, one of whom was a girl with whom one of the giants of the area, named Torev, fell in love. He asked her father for her hand, but her father refused.
Furious, the giant called five brothers and together with them tried to kidnap the young woman and began to attack the town. The inhabitants fled, asking the spirits for help. The next day the other of the leader’s sons commanded a group of warriors to confront them, the young man carrying a magical sword given by the spirits and a shield.
The young man raised the sword, and a light emerged from it that turned the six giants into stone, but its use implied that its bearer would also do so. This explains why there are seven mounds observable in the Urals
8. The legend of the ghost bride
Many of the readers of this article have probably seen the movie “Corpse Bride” by Tim Burton. What many surely do not know is that its story is largely based on a Russian legend or tale. And this in turn It is based on the murders of Jewish women on their way to their wedding already dressed in the wedding dress, as well as the fact that there was a tradition of burying the dead in the clothes in which they had died (so these murdered women were buried in their wedding dresses).
Legend has it that one day a young man who was going to get married was traveling with a friend to the town where his future wife was, finding a branch that resembles a finger. The young man and his friend, playing, placed the engagement ring on the branch and later made the vows and rehearsed the wedding dances. Suddenly, the earth moved revealing that the branch at the bottom was a finger, which was part of a corpse dressed as a bride.
This corpse looked at them expectantly and, observing that they had celebrated the wedding, He said he wanted to claim his rights as a wife They both fled to the future wife’s town, going to the rabbis to ask if the marriage was valid. While the rabbis were debating, the dead woman came to them and again claimed her husband.
During this, the man’s live girlfriend also arrived, who then found out about the situation and cried at the possible loss of her partner and children. Shortly afterward the rabbis came out, determining that the wedding was valid, but also that the dead could not claim the living. It was now her corpse bride who cried and sobbed over her impossibility of starting a family.
But the living bride, feeling sorry for her, approached and hugged her, promising that she would live her dream and have many children who would be hers as well as her husband. This calmed the spirit, which ended up resting in peace and happy at the same time that the couple was able to remarry and eventually have offspring, to whom they would tell the story of the spirit.
The idea of an earthly paradise is not exclusive to one or two religions but is shared by a large number of them, including Russians and other Slavs.
In this sense, one of the best-known legends is that of Buyan Island. This island It serves as a refuge from the Sun and the winds, as well as travelers Furthermore, we can also find on this island the healing waters generated thanks to the Alaturi stone and the maiden Zarya, who sews wounds.
Koschei the Immortal also keeps his soul on the island, who separated his soul from his body and placed it on a needle inside an egg which is inside a plate that is inside a rabbit, which in turn is in a trunk that is buried in the roots of a tree. If someone gets hold of said egg or needle, he has almost absolute power over the sorcerer, since if he were damaged Koschei would die.
10. The legend of Sadko
One of the Russian legends that refer to a historical period even before the creation of kyiv is the bylina of Sadko, an ancient Russian epic and generally transmitted in verse.
The story tells us how a young guslar (musician who plays the gusli, an ancient Russian traditional instrument) from Novgorod made a living playing, something he did with great skill. However, there came a time when other musicians arrived in the area and little by little Sadko began to lose clientele, to the point of no longer being hired. One day, Saddened by his poverty and the fact that no one would hire him, he began to play on the shores of Lake Ilmen
After going several times to touch the Ilmen, one day the god of the lake waters appeared to him. He told him that he had heard him play and wanted to help him in his difficult situation. He proposed to her that the next time he went to the city and they would call him to work, had to ensure that there were fish with golden fins in the lake, and bet with the merchants that these existed. The young man did so, and to everyone’s surprise, when the young man and those who had bet against him set sail in a boat to fish, they found that, indeed, by gathering the nets they managed to catch a large quantity of gold fish.
With the fish and the profits obtained from the bet, the young man soon became a merchant of great wealth. However, one night when he was returning by boat, the young man played his music again. The waters churned, furious and about to sink the ship. Sadko thought that the god of waters wanted him to share his profits (earned thanks to him), so he threw various barrels of wealth without having any effect. The sailors replied that perhaps the god wanted a human sacrifice and after avoiding it on several occasions it was always Sadko’s turn.
The young man threw himself into the water and met the god, who wanted him to play for him in his palace. There, Sadko’s music made the giant dance with great frenzy. But one day an old man came to the palace while the young man was playing, and told him that The power of the god’s dance was causing great tides Sadko decided to stop playing to avoid it, breaking the strings as a way of justifying himself.
After that he asked the god to return to his land, to which the god ended up giving in. In some versions the god of the lake tries to offer him a wife to stay, to which, just as the old man warned him, he can escape by choosing the last and youngest of his daughters, with whom he did not consummate and after which the deity released him from his service.
