Forests tend to be naturally spooky places.
They are dense with trees letting in little light, and offering plenty of spots for predatory
animals to hide while stalking their prey---prey that sometimes include humans.
But life also thrives there.
For the Slavic people, there’s one spirit that rules it all, a lord of the woods—the
Leshy.
The leshy.
The leshy is a shape-shifting creature that may appear human but also takes on the form
of the animals and plants he protects.
He was once believed to lead travelers to their deaths but could also insure a successful
hunt.
He kidnapped young women but kept cattle from getting lost in the woods.
He was feared, but also revered.
The leshy isn’t just some high level boss in a video game but an important, mischievous,
powerful spirit that can trace its history back to ancient religious and cultural beliefs.
[Monstrum intro.]
If you’ve ever been in the woods, you know how scary they can be and how easy it can
be to get lost.
In one 19thcentury text the leshy is directly connected to the dangers of the forest.
It reads, “In olden days, when forests were larger and denser than they are now, the Leshy
used to be constantly deluding travelers, and making them lose their way.”
And no forest was safe.
While Slavic folklore claimed each forest had its own leshy, there could be more than
one.
Territorial disputes between leshy were said to be the cause of harsh storms, boulders
falling, or crashing trees—supernatural explanations for real events.
Most often a leshy appears in its imposingly tall human guise with long claws and shaggy
hair, sometimes with horns and cloven feet.
He can grow higher than the tree-tops or small enough to hide behind a blade of grass.
The leshy’s appearance is often inspired by the vegetation of the forest, with bark-like
skin and a green beard or hair.
Which makes sense given that his name comes from the Russian word meaning forest.
Leshy translates to “wood spirit” or “wood demon.”
I had the opportunity to talk to one of my favorite authors, Katherine Arden, whose done
a ton of research about Slavic folklore for her Winternight trilogy.
He most often appears as a Russian peasant, but with some slight slight oddities.
He doesn't wear a belt.
The left in Russian is associated with the demonic so he crosses his caftan left over
right.
He also inverts his shoes so he wears his shoes in the wrong feet.
He doesn't cast a shadow and he carries a cudgel or an ax like a weapon that sort of
symbolizes his authority over the forest.
A Leshy may take on a human from, and even disguise itself as someone its victim knows.
But it can inadvertently reveal its true nature through small mistakes in their transformation
And since he can take the shape of anything in his domain, a leshy may appear as anything
from bears and wolves to domestic cattle, birds, a tree, even a whirlwind of leaves.
A leshy can also alter its voice.
He might call out to his victims in a voice they recognize, or whistle like the wind blowing
through the trees.
Animal sounds, the rustle of leaves, and laughter are also part of his verbal repertoire, which
he would then use to confuse and tempt victims.
He was feared because he possessed the ability to lead people and animals astray, forcing
them to die from exhaustion trying to find their way home or misleading them to fall
into a ravine or swamp.
Leshii were said to be great gamblers, playing cards against one another and other spirit
demons frequently, betting the resources of their particular woods.
When huge populations of squirrels suddenly migrated across the Ural Mountains in the
19th century, some people attributed it to a Siberian leshy driving its losses to their
“European kin.”
The leshy received sacrifices and offerings from the people in order to secure his favor
and aid in their survival.
As the master and guardian of the forest, a huntsman’s success or a woodcutter’s
bounty was believed to be dependent on the will of the leshy.
Even herdsmen relied on this creature.
Because of this relationship the herdsmen were seen as intermediaries between the human
world and the world of the leshy—the spirit world.
You could avoid offending the leshy by respecting the forest, not only in terms of taking resources,
but in general modes of deference like not whistling or swearing, and not intentionally
harming plants.
Hunting on certain festival days was also forbidden to avoid the leshy’s wrath.
Laying out the traditional meal for greeting important guests, bread with salt, on a tree
stump might keep you safe from the leshy.
This seems pretty minor but it was, and in some Slavic countries still is, a very important
gesture.
Bread was synonymous with food.
If a household didn’t have it, they didn’t have the resources to eat.
And salt was a rare commodity so sharing it expressed hospitality.
Other protections against leshy included making the sign of the cross, saying a prayer or
spell, wearing clothes backwards or inside out, retracing your steps out of the forest,
or making the leshy laugh,
So although Slavic folklore describes them as antagonistic towards humans by nature,
you can win one over with a little respect.
They can actually seem pretty reasonable in a lot of ways.
Unfortunately, we can’t know the exact origins of the legend since there is no record of
any Slavic mythology, which was honestly a shock to me.
Many scholars agree that nothing about the original Slavic gods, creation myths, or stories
of their afterlife has survived history.
The earliest records of the Slavs dates back to only the 6th century.
Around that time, the Slavs migrated into other territories and developed into different
cultures.
But one of the things they kept in common is their folklore - including stories of the
leshy.
It’s likely oral tradition played a huge role in this story’s early creation.
In fact, “Slavs” comes from the proto-Slavic slovo [слово; English:“word”], meaning
that the people called themselves “those who speak with words.”
However, it’s speculated that the Leshy was later heavily influenced by Christianity.
As Christianity spread it sort of mingled with paganism and local folklore.
And there’s also sort of a Christian explanation which says that the Leshy and other forest
household spirits were angels, that were thrown from heaven after the war between angels.
They fell to earth and became forest spirits.
Or the other one is that spirits like the Leshy are the children of Adam and Eve, born
after the fall of man but they went away - because they were ashamed and were shamed, and they
became spirits of the forest.
What was once simply a guardian of the forest became a more devilish figure.
This explains some leshy traits like the cloven hooves, which are often associated with evil
deities in Christian stories.
And even in some variations of the monster, a leshy is created from the marriage of the
Devil and a witch or they can be descendants of Satan’s army.
A hunter or herdsmen could secure safety and success by creating a pact with the creature,
an act that required renouncing Christianity.
In some stories, leshiis were said to appear in military uniform, which may have been inspired
by real fugitive soldiers hiding in the woods.
In other cases the leshy is said to approach humans around a campfire, asking for food.
The forest did historically serve as a place of shelter for outliers of society.
Perhaps the leshy asking for food is an exaggeration of such individuals looking for assistance.
Most of what we can study about Slavic spirits now comes from materials recorded in the nineteenth
century when urbanization and advances in science and education made belief in the supernatural
tenuous.
Nevertheless, an 1850’s Russian study found that “many” peasants claimed to have encountered
a leshy personally.
The power of Slavic folklore lasted a long time, and it can tell us a lot about how the
Slavs saw the world around them.
The leshy has become less popular over time, perhaps because the lessons he teaches are
no longer as relevant, as the forests have been cleared and rural Slavic life became
less common.
While the rituals associated with this guardian and demon of the forest dwindle, the idea
of him does appear in popular culture now and again
Despite what they may tell you, the leshy is both a guardian and an avenger.
Since I know you've spent some time over in Russia and you've done a lot of work with some of these native language texts
Do you still think, or have you encountered people who still believe in the leshy?
We’ve definitely had a resurgence within the last 20 or 30 years, which is a way of
people I think to get in touch with their own country, their own history, their own
landscape.
Definitely there’s tons of superstition in Russia.
It’s probably the country that loves superstition the most of any place I’ve travelled.
That can mean unmarried women can’t sit at the corner of the table, walking under
ladders, cats, giving bread to your household guardians.
As far as someone who believes specifically in a Leshy, I haven’t met somebody like
that.
But I think, I think more people are willing to believe in the power of nature.
So I think believing that the forest has a presence and a life and a divinity, I think
is certainly real and alive in present Russia.
Neither good nor evil, this forest-dwelling shapeshifter was scary because it could be
lurking around every corner.
The leshy represents a deep respect for the forest and acknowledges the danger humans
encountered there, especially when it was largely untamed.
It was something that could only be avoided with caution, awareness, and a sincere appreciation
of your surroundings.
The moral of the story?
Be nice to nature.
You never know when a giant forest spirit will come for you.