(, plural: strzygi, masculine: strzygoń), sometimes translated as striga, (which is also the

latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

term for it) is usually a female demon in

Slavic mythology Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, or Slavic religion refer to the Religion, religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation of the Slavs, Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and ...

, which stems from the mythological Strix of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

and

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

. The demon is similar to a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

, and is predominantly found in Polish and

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

n folklore.

Etymology and origin

According to

Aleksander Brückner Aleksander Brückner (; 29 January 1856 – 24 May 1939) was a Polish scholar of Slavic languages and literature (Slavistics), philologist, lexicographer, and historian of literature. He is among the most notable Slavicists of the late 19th ...

, the word is derived from Strix, Latin for owl and a bird-like creature which fed on human flesh and blood in Roman and Greek mythology. Hungarian ''sztriga'', the Albanian '' shtriga'' and are also

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

and related. It is unclear how the word was adapted by the Polish people, though it might have been through the

Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

peoples. The term could also sometimes mean a

or ''upiór''. After the 18th century, there was a distinction between and upiór; the first one was more connected to witchcraft, while the latter was more of a flying, vampiric creature. The remained a popular element in the folklore of rural Poland well into the late 19th and early 20th century, as shown by

Władysław Reymont Władysław Stanisław Reymont (; born Rejment; 7 May 1867 – 5 December 1925) was a Polish novelist and the laureate of the 1924 Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known work is the award-winning four-volume novel '' Chłopi'' (''The Peasant ...

in his Nobel Prize-winning novel ''Chłopi'' (The Peasants). Its story takes place during the 1880s in

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

and follows the everyday life of the peasantry in a typical Polish village. In the tenth chapter of book two, some of the characters gather together to exchange stories and legends, in one of which the striga is described as having a bat's wings (''strzygi z nietoperzowymi skrzydłami przelatują'').

Beliefs

Page 028 - Scrambles amongst the Alps - Whymper

A is a usually female demon similar to vampire in Slavic (and especially Polish) folklore. People who were born with two hearts and two souls, and two sets of teeth (the second one barely visible) were believed to be strzygi. Somnambulics or people without armpit hair could also be seen as ones. Furthermore, a newborn child with already developed teeth was also believed to be one. When a person was identified as a , they were chased away from human dwelling places. During epidemics, people were getting

buried alive Premature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive. Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally on the mistaken assumption that they are dead, or intentionally as a form of ...

, and those who managed to get out of their graves, often weak, ill and with mutilated hands, were said to be strzygi by others. It is said that strzygi usually died at a young age, but, according to belief, only one of their two souls would pass to the afterlife; the other soul was believed to cause the deceased to come back to life and prey upon other living beings. These undead creatures were believed to fly at night in a form of an owl and attack night-time travelers and people who had wandered off into the woods at night, sucking out their blood and eating their insides. were also believed to be satisfied with animal blood, for a short period of time. According to the other sources, strzygi were believed not to harm people but to herald someone's imminent death. In this, they resemble

Banshees A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is connected to t ...

Methods of protection

When a person believed to be a died, decapitating the corpse and burying the head separate from the rest of the body was believed to prevent the from rising from the dead; burying the body face down with a

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting or reaping grain crops, or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feedi ...

around its head was believed to work as well. Other methods of protection from the (some similar to those from vampires) included: * Burning the body * Hammering nails, stakes etc. into various parts of the 's body * Putting a

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

into its mouth after exhumation * Pealing the church bells (the then turns into tar) * Slapping it across the face with one's left hand * Burying it again, outside of the village, and pinning it down with a big rock *Scattering poppy seeds in the shape of the cross in every corner of the house *Exhumation in the presence of a priest and burying the body again, after additional rituals (such as putting a piece of paper with the word "

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

" written on it under the 's tongue) *Putting small objects in the 's grave to make it count them.

References

{{Slavic mythology Slavic legendary creatures Mythological hematophages Vampires Female legendary creatures Banshees

Etymology and origin

Beliefs

Methods of protection

See also

References