The Alkonost is a

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

ary woman-headed bird in

Slavic folklore Slavic folklore encompasses the folklore of the Slavic peoples from their earliest records until today. Folklorists have published a variety of works focused specifically on the topic over the years.See, for example, Kononenko 2007. See also * ...

. Alkonost is more likely an individual character, as was noted in some legends about this bird.

Folklore

The name of the Alkonost came from a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

demigoddess whose name was Alcyone. In Greek mythology, Alcyone was transformed by the gods into a

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

. Alkonost makes amazingly beautiful sounds, and those who hear these sounds forget everything they know and want nothing more ever again. She lives in the underworld with her counterpart, the

Sirin Sirin is a mythological creature of Russian legends, with the head of a beautiful woman and the body of a bird (usually an owl), borrowed from the siren of the Greek mythology. According to myth, the Sirin lived in Iriy or around the Euphrates R ...

. The Alkonost lays her eggs on a beach and then rolls them into the sea. When the Alkonost's eggs hatch, a

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

sets in and the sea becomes so rough that it becomes impossible to traverse. She is also the sister of other birds from Slavic mythology, such as Rarog and Stratim. According to folk tales, at the morning of the

Apple Feast of the Saviour The Apple Feast of the Saviour or Apple Spas (sometimes the Feast of the Saviour on the Hill) is an East Slavs, Eastern Slavic folk name for the Feast of the Transfiguration, which is observed on August. It is the second of the three Feasts of th ...

day, Sirin flies into the apple

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

and cries sadly. In the afternoon, the Alkonost flies to this place, beginning to rejoice and laugh. Alkonost brushes dew from her wings, granting healing powers to all fruits on the tree she is sitting on.

Gallery

In popular culture

* Alkonost is featured in the digital card game ''Mythgard'' (2019) as a rare minion in the Dreni faction. * The RO-86 Alkonost, a heavy bomber resembling the

Tu-160 The Tupolev Tu-160 (russian: Туполев Ту-160 Белый лебедь, translit=Belyj Lebeď, translation=White Swan; NATO reporting name: Blackjack) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing heavy strategic bomber designed by the Tupolev Desi ...

, is added as part of a downloadable content for the online mode of ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

.'' * The Alkonost is the name of the starship in The Boys from The Baltic Stars TTRPG game of Orbital Blues. * Croatian singer

Nina Kraljić Nina Kraljić (; born 4 April 1992) is a Croatian singer-songwriter and voice actress. She is known for winning The Voice of Croatia (season 1), season one of ''The Voice – Najljepši glas Hrvatske'' and for being a finalist in the Eurovision S ...

that performed at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting ...

sings under the name of Alkonost of Balkan. *

Alkonost The Alkonost is a legendary woman-headed bird in Slavic folklore. Alkonost is more likely an individual character, as was noted in some legends about this bird. Folklore The name of the Alkonost came from a Greek demigoddess whose name wa ...

is a Russian epic folk metal band formed in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russia in 1995.

References

External links

* Russian folklore Avian humanoids Human-headed mythical creatures Female legendary creatures Slavic legendary creatures {{legendary-creature-stub