This Shapeshifter Stalks the Slavic Forests | The Leshy
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2024
- Something supernatural is said to haunt the dark, cold forests of the Slavic lands: the Leshy. Born of a prehistoric religion, the Leshy is known as a lord of the forest, a protector of the wilds, and a mischievous spirit. Welcome back to The Lore Lodge...
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"Limbo" written and performed by @Kalen Kennedy
0:00 - Intro
1:05 - Religion in the Ancient World
3:53 - Slavic Religion
4:47 - The Leshy in a Religious Context
5:36 - Procopius Tangent
5:59 - Who Are the Slavs?
7:55 - Describing the Leshy
10:02 - Role of the Leshy
12:36 - Conclusion - Розваги
With all due respect, many of the scientific positions you provided about the Slavs are no longer held by most of the respected scholars. Among others, the origin of the word "Slav" most likely comes from the slavic word for, well, "word", as in early medieval ages Slavs referred to themselves as such, contrasted by calling non-Slavs some variant of "people that can't talk" (in Polish "Niemcy" for example, which also means "Germans"). The correlation with the germanic words for "slave" could very likely be a random thing. Albanians are also absolutely not Slavs, they're a totally unrelated people, although they for sure intermingled with the Balkan Slavs through the ages. The supposed Scandinavian origin of the Slavs is also not really a position that I've found in any literature I've read on the topic, no idea what could be the source of such a theory. Still, nice to see some Slavic folklore on your channel, your representation of the Leshy checks out. Keep the good work up, best wishes from Poland!
I work with some of the few historians in America that study this so I can give some insight. There are very few historians in America that study Eastern European history, even fewer who study anything before communist era. For the few that do study pre communist history nearly none of that information is translated into English. Even for Russian history (which you would assume would have the most attention) very little is translated. Most people don't even know what the step is, or the cultures of the step that the slavs came from. It's pretty unfortunate.
Yeah I had a very hard time finding English language resources on this subject, or Slavic history in general. Everything in English that I have access to (no journals because $$$) confirms what I was saying but it absolutely could be out of date.
@@TheLoreLodge there is a journal called the Slavic Review. That's where you'll find most up to date things.
@@Pengola thank you! Is it in English?
@@TheLoreLodge yes it's the main academic journal for Eastern Slavic studies.
As a Lithuanian, I regularly think of what wanders in the Baltic forests
On the ONE LESHIE vs MULTIPLE LESHIES thing:
-It often happens with slavic language, especially with older text sources, that they refer to a CATEGORY of thing(person, phenomena, obejct, entity) through a strange semantic structure which is ambiguous between plural or singular.
The definite article THE is used, but it could still mean a group of said thing.
-I's a little head scratching, but it works.
Texts which say THE LESHIE could equally refer to "the leshies", "the leshi(of this region)", "your local leshies", "leshihood", "leshies". In modern times, the default interpretation of definite article + singular form is, as with most languages, "the one and only".
With older writings however, we go by context, and with mythology, there isn't a lot of that. People didn't write down what was common sense to them assuming it woouldn't change over generations, because back then, it really didn't.
TL;DR -We really don't have a way of ever knowing wether it's one leshie or multiple, unless we somehow discover the origin of all leshie myths.
is it like how people say 'in the ukraine' ?
So it's like the deer, or the fish
In russian we don't have articles like "the" or "a/an". And it was quite a struggle for me to learn them in english. Instead we modify the ending of the word to make it singular or plural. In case of leshy its' singular form is "леший" (pronounced as "leshiy") and plural is "лешие" (pronounced as "leshiyie"). So for us it really isn't hard to understand if it is in singular or plural.
Russian and most slavic languages do not have definite articles like "The". No Russian text says "The leshy" it just says "Leshy." The word is in an adjective form so it basically means "Foresty, forest-ish, forest-like, of the forest" from the word for forest, les. I would translate it non directly as "The forest ones" or something like that. The Russian language is always vague like that and you just tell by context. You don't say, "The rabbit ran across the field", you just say, "Rabbit ran across field." You don't say "I saw a leshy" you just say "I saw leshy"
me, watching your videos about american forests, feeling safe because i’m in europe:😄
also me, being slavic, seeing you posted this:😦
Hehehe none of you are safe
@@TheLoreLodge according to folk lore...european forests are scary AF!
@@paavobergmann4920 usually when you don't disturb nature, you'll be a-okay. Just don't go near any stagnant bodies of water. Or rivers for that matter. Or moors. And don't stay late unless you know how to avoid things without using any sources of light. Actually you'll be better off not going to the woods.
@@matearosie haha, pretty much, yes. "There shouldn´t be anything, but maybe better...just...don´t..."
In real life, i walked home through a small patch of forest at night once, and suddenly, the ditch right next to me started grunting....yes, I had actually startled a freaking wild boar! I couldn´t see anything, but I could hear it trapping around nervously, unsure what to make of me, what sounded like maybe 5m away. (it sounded like a lot more than 4 hooves, so it was probably like 2-4 hogs. *gulp*), so I quickly crossed the road and walked on the other side, and I could hear them follow me all the way to the next crossing, maybe 300m, they kept an eye on me. So yes, getting out of the forest into open fields was a HUGE relief.
@@paavobergmann4920 me and my friends (as kids) used to go to the woods all the time. We were also huge horror fans but to say we were brave would be a huuuge overstatement. One evening at dusk we decided to call it a day and return home. There's an old gravel road that connects our hometown to the nearest village we used to take as it was the fastest route. We stopped in out tracks when we noticed an outline of a person shambling and twitching like possessed (yup kids, don't do drugs). In an instant we decided we see a zombie, so we panicked and ran into the forest. I've got a lot of cuts and bruises from branches and berry bushes but after a while we were sure we're safe. We ended up near a huge pit and sun already set so everything was dark grey. We tried to catch our breaths but then we've heard a snarl and that's something you really don't want to hear in the middle of a forest. Sadly none of us wore brown pants that day. After another snarl and some bushes rattling we ran again. This time adrenaline kept us all the way home. Later that week my dad told me that there was a feral dog found by our game warden, which makes sense because where I'm from there are no wolves.
As an archaeology student from Poland, the most popular and current theory is that Slavic cultures originated in Ukrainie rather than the North due to the striking differences of the material culture (simplifying things a lot).
A few things, coming from a former Rodnover (Slavic Neopagan) and a fellow history interested person:
The word Slav comes from Slaveni or Sloveni, meaning Glorious people and people who speak the same language. It was later adapted to greek during the Christianization to Sklavenoi, who were used as slaves in Byzantium. The German word Sklaven (slaves) comes therefore from Sklavenoi, which inspired slave in English and Slav in Scandinavian languages.
As for the more distinct dualism in Slavic paganism, it is partially true. However there wasn’t really a moralist character of good and evil, but a unity of opposites that makes the world work. (Life - Death, Light - Dark) all necessary to define each other.
There are two gods sometimes included in the pantheon calles Byelobog (White God) and Chernobog (Black God) however many Slavic historians believe that these came about later as an attempt to Christianize the slavs by introducing cosmic moralism (as opposed to morals in society which did exist, cosmic moralism being a primordial struggle between good and evil).
The Leshussy….. at long last
Degen
@Tom H "translate to English" option on your comment makes it "the dough"
@@elijahshrader2116 ayo what lmao
@@tomh4658 gave me a good chuckle because I was down here to discuss the leshussy
Finally, a fruit more forbidden than wendussy. A weapon to surpass metal gear, some might say.
Gosh am I happy to see a video about the lore from the culture I was raised in. If there's ever a need for translation from Russian I would absolutely help cuz it's no biggie for me and there's so much to learn anyway.
There are definetally multiple Leshies, a Leshy is basically just the spirit of a certain forest or area. I believe there can be more than one Leshy in one forest, but it had to be a big territory. Correct me if I'm wrong but that's Just what my Mom told me when I was little
From what ive been told a Leshy is A forest guardian.
I.e
There are different Leshy for different forests
Might look different based on surrounding fauna and biome
It is worth mentioning the Slavs never created a coherent religious system in a - let's say - Greeko-Roman meaning of this term. Safe assumption is that Slav religious practices were animistic and totemic, focused on appeasing hostile spirits that roamed the forests of the great European plains rather than venerating "gods" in a Hellenic, Roman or Middle Eastern meaning of the term.
I'm pretty sure that the Wendigo from legends doesn't have antlers, and that's just the way it gets depicted in modern media, but I don't know that for 100% certain
Wendigos in the actual myths are just emaciated supernaturally dangerous human cannibals. The animalistic appearance thing is new.
yeah thats morgoth
*shows radagon* like dude that guy has a son called morgott
Yeah there wasn’t much in the way of free to use art of the two, I hoped nobody would fact check me 😅
As a Croatian Slavic the best way to put it is
We are the middle of the Asia and the Middle East to Europe
We are Asian, European, Middle eastern and more
We are the Reminence of the Hun, we start from the edge of the alps to the deserts of Kazakhstan
Cossacks of the east, North is Polish horseman, south Grenzers of Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia, and the west is the Hungarians
Hungarians aren't slavs
Hvala
what happens when the leshi gets you is it tickles you to death, the only way to escape is to wear your shoes inside out and walk backward out of the forest
Want to try understand what these creatures did in our mythology? Try reading Forest of Stribor(Šuma Striborova). Stribor being variation of the name Stribog, god of forests
Ancient leshen in monster hunter world was one of the best experience ever
I love how you nerded out and threw in a reference to “The Silmarillion”.
One of my college majors was European History. You provided information I wasn’t familiar with (granted, “European History” is incredibly vague for the many histories of many countries that spans several millennia).
As a baltic resident i can confirm we have to chase away those daily with torches
Bro... The Lorax looking different-
Thanks Aiden, much appreciated.
I totally sit around on a Sunday afternoon wondering what lurks in the Baltic Forest. Or any forest, for that matter. Love the topics!
I lurk around in the forest and wonder what's out there on a Sunday afternoon, and why I frighten the villagers so.
It’s me. I’m lurking in the forest
Sheesh at this point im fully equipped with the know how to become a witcher
Always interesting to learn other culture's folklore! Would you guys ever consider discussing the various versions of Mermaids that exist in folklore across the world? Also would they count as flesh pedestrians? Different topic but have you guys ever covered the Missing 411 case of DeOrr Kunz Jr & if not is there a chance of getting your takes on it?
Hey there, I'm a slav and wanted to propose another alternatives to the origin of the world slav (of course I consider the origin being slave valid since a lot of Slavic nations were u der control of a lot of other nations and states and all that jazz)
Slav may also originate from "Slovo" which means "word", many texts describe the early Slavs as "Slovens" or "The people of the word"
Or "Slavi" which means "glorious folk" since "Sláva" means "glory" or "fame",thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Very interesting Sir.
The tangents, I found them very interesting. I sort of think of those tangents as, "Collateral Knowledge"!
I like that, thank you. 🇨🇦
Collateral knowledge, I’m gonna use that
As a fellow historian, I'm happy I found your channel because we both meet in that intriguing crossroads of "Historians who are more open about paranormal and supernatural potentiality" where we recognize that historical sources have previously talked about these things and that maybe we should consider the possibility of their (at one time) existence. I love the history section, even if this video isn't the best example.
You two are great, your channel is a hidden gem. I feel scammed that UA-cam didn’t recommend you guys to me sooner 😢
Love u guys and your content,can't get enough, you're outlook on thing,and your theories are so much like my own regarding Missing 411 cases and certain other subjects.Keep up the great work
It's fun to see some of the slavic folklore covered on your channel. Our prechristian mythology was extremely rich and interesting and for me as a Pole it is such a shame we don't even get to study that in school, even though the traces of that culture have transpired into the one we have today. Unfortunately it's very difficult to find any sources from actual slavs, mostly because when Poland (and I assume also some other slavic countries) became christian a lot of those traditions and beliefs were forbidden, like the dark ages when you pretty much could get killed for writing about something that wasn't describing how great currently ruling king was or prayers or other forms of religious affirmation. It's a shame that in school w learn about greek and roman mythology but we literally never get to study our own, which is (at least in my opinion) much cooler and more climactic.
As a polish/Ukrainian woman. I was brought up to always think of what lurks in the Boltic forest.
this is my first video i saw from you and its amazing, you just earned a sub
Thank you!
I really enjoy these videos. I love hearing the backstories!
Paris Hilton played a leshii on Supernatural
God I forgot about that
Yeah, it was so left field but very entertaining!
Slavic pre-Christian religion is certainly not dualistic, that's an old assumption which is more and more disputed in the academia. Some scholars try to see the connection with Indo-Iranic tribes and early appearance of dualism in proto-Zoroastrian sources, trying to suggest some Scythian and Sarmatian tribes brought their dualism to Slavs, which they neighbored and influenced at some time during Roman era of first few centuries AD. Even if we assume that the main god of Slavs - Perun, the righteous one, sky father, the thunderer is worshipped the most and is usually portrayed to kill water serpents or even to fight with Veles, the chthonic god of underworlds, forests, unknown, magic and riches (a sort of similar to Pan, Cernunos figure and Hades) - still, even with Chaoskampf theory in mind, Veles and Perun were equally important to Slavs - Perun is related to social cohesion, morality, rights, protection and fertility, Veles is related to oaths, arts, music, cattle - the treasure of our ancestors. Both had their place and didn't much invade each others territory/domain, even if fierce battle was fought between them. That being said, in most recent times, this theory that Toporov suggested - Perun vs Veles myth is brought under scrutiny - some think that serpent/dragon which Perun fights is not equivalent to Veles - something of this can be traced from Russian folk Christianity - the worship of saint Nicholas and saint Michael. Saint Nicholas has all the traits earlier connected to Veles and saint Michael or Iliah the Thunderer has all the traits connected to Perun, yet they are not portrayed as enemies even in post-conversion time, both have their place in folk memory and domestic cult. Also, latter post-Christian conversion folk religion of Slavs definitively demonized forest and water spirits as almost exclusively bad and dangerous.. while it's most certainly wasn't the case in pagan times. That's Christianity imposing dualism on immanent, non-transcendent religion of Slavs. Also, Chernobog ("black god"), was originally most certainly just an attribute or incarnation of Veles, and in no way denotes anything evil but till 12th century it probably accumulated different interpretation. The attribute "black" wasn't about moral judgement but the color black was associated with swamps, a large darker bodies of water, the underworld riches etc.. It's easier to assume different because of the centuries of Christian bias and re-interpretation of these deities, but if we want to stay skeptical and scientific, we can't defend the thesis of Slavic pre-Christian religion being dualistic any more than those supposed elements of dualism are part of other people's religion.
Ooh it's the first time I hear someone mention St Iliah, it used to be a more prominent folk figure related to storms especially in the summer in Romania too. I suppose its origin is from all the slavic influence, but we lost a lot of the context through Christianisation over here.
This was very interesting, more of this stuff please
It's a great shame that historians globally still rely on "other cultures' descriptions" of the pre-christian slavic cultures because they still very much exist in villages they were born in.
Hey the Tolkien stuff, when you used the images of a red haired individual with golden light coming from him. That's radagon from elden ring. I may overstepping here but I don't think they're connected. Sorry if I'm wrong just throwing it out there!
Made this video before that came out haha
😂😂😂 I died when you said Sunday afternoon cuz this is my Sunday rn haha
That tidbit about sacrificing was so absurd it made me laugh out loud, what a great way to put it 🤣🤣🤣
As a Ukrainian it’s one of my favorite dieties, same as we have house creatures called babayki, they are protectors, they love kids and animals, they play tricks and unless you are evil at heart or harm nature they will make you die, or get hurt, otherwise they are known to be kind to good and respectful people, you can leave them treats like milk or food and it’s going to be appreciated, the forest spirit/creature can shapeshift into any animal or bird and either sing you songs, protect you by making the trees bow during bad storms and feed you/lead you to food. They are neutral just like you said in the video, and they are a common character in children books, that presents as an old man who might ask you for some milk/bread/water, that has a flute and can talk to animals, and if you are nice to him or guess his riddle he will help you in your journey, if not, he can turn you to an animal if you before an evil hunter so that you experience what your prey would, or make you get lost/ loose your mind. Also we have forest mermaids but that’s a different story and leshy and mermaids are usually friends. Also it is said that every forest has a leshy and each forest that once stood had one too but nobody knows what happens to homeless leshies
Getting flashbacks to monster hunter world and the grinding for the Witcher skin and outfit sets. So many flash bugs
Imma be honest i love you pun intros please dont stop
Me... I stay up thinking about what could be living in Baltic forests because my partner of near 14 years is both my DM and is an amateur cryptozoologist and there's a high probability that it will show up at some point in a campaign.
My turkey whistled at me right when he was talking about the whistling 😭
hey I know this is an old video, but im russian and a friend of mine actually encountered a leshy while in a forest, they werent under any substance mind you, he described it as it suddenly being very silent, and the forest becoming pitch black as if its a single shadowy entity, he said he and his friends just said something along the lines of we are not here to hurt your forest, packed up and moved to a different spot
Haven't heard the Scandinavian Slav origin theory. Last I read, Slavs were descended from the R1a northern Yamnaya who went on to become apparently somewhat cannibalistic (possible connection here and between Ulfsark rituals and Skin walker rituals? Might want to look into) Boudini and Neuri before calling themselves Slavs (therefore making the "slave" word origin rather dubious).
Sounds like the Puckwegies that we have here in West Virginia,all along the Ohio River..😬
Awesome thanks
Lol the picture of Radagon for Morgoth gave me a good chuckle.
Me, searching, hoping I wasn't the only one to notice 😂 great video, and if anything that caught my attention even more lol
Please stick to this pre recorded style I really prefer this over the live style videos you’re voice is so much clearer and easily to listen to thanks for the content
I like both these and the podcasts.
“Who else sits around thinking about what’s in Baltic forests on a Sunday afternoon”
Well it’s noon on a Sunday and I’m watching so me too I guess
i believi leshi is sort of a forest spirit because if you cinsider that les means forest in some slavic laguages and duch(spirit) lesa (of the forest ) sounds quite similair to leshi and also that the way you describe it sounds a lot like it
The word "Slav" is derived from the word "slava", which means "glory" in pretty much all slavic languages. Even though some slavic people were captured and traded as slaves by the Vikings, so were Celts, Finns, and other European ethnic groups, the word "Slav" is likely confused with similar sounding Greek word meaning "spoils"
0:58 Maybe the Teutonic Knights and Livonian Sword Brothers do
4:20 Iluvatar of the Golden Order lol
Well now we know where Leshy from inscryption got his name
I'm familiar with the Leshy from Quest for Glory 4, and now you all know that I am old.
"I am the Leshie! I speak for the trees!" 😊
I love the puns from your intros
You should look into the Floridian Shark-squach, quite a tale
this explains so much about inscryption
Usually the funny comparison is what's like on the mythology vs what's like on the anime.
In this case is what's like on the mythology vs what's like on pf2e
leshy = intimidating lorax
Remember: Eru created Morgoth
Could someone explain why there's a picture of Radagon @4:20? I'm a Fromsoft lore fiend specializing in Elden Ring and was wondering what the connection is here to him and why he's being featured here but never mentioned.
Yo hardbass Totoro seems pretty chill
the games represent it in the best way
Your intro music with the logo sounds and looks awesome…is it a wendigo?
If there were only two... Would they be dolce du leshy?
Nie budź licha kędy śpi, as they say.
Gonna go plant some seeds in the forest, meet a leshy, and plant some more seeds 😉
The Stallion of Sami folklore would make an interesting video.
As someone that was born in Serbia and came to the US 21 years ago at the age of 9. I’m genuinely surprised that you mentioned Serbians in the same sentence as Russian and Poles. We are usually less known(well in any positive ways at least) Slavs. You would not believe how many times I had to explain to people where or what Serbia was lmao.
1:09 I am watching this on a Sunday afternoon
I am the Leshie, I speak for the trees. And if you destroy my forest, I shall rip out your spleen
Would you think Krakonos/Rübezahl is a Leshy? And would you think there is a connection to the original Norse idea of trolls? If the Slavs originally came from scandinavia, maybe they brought some ideas about forest dwellers with them?
Love the channel an enjoyed this video. However, just fyi, Balts are distinct from Slavs.
I mean hey, if I'm in a Slavic area and I hear whistling and I'm doing nothing I will follow it to find the leshy.
I said this right before you said that they lead you to your death by leading you off path. Yeah maybe don't do that. For the serial killer reason too
As a mixed bag american with MAINLY Slavic origins, I frequently wonder about the forests of my ancestors XD though
I just assume they’re as wack as the ones here in Appalachia
I think about shit like that myself. Lol. Im an occult studies research/folklorist. Look into the new orleans vampire legends and missing persons reports.
Huh, the only Leshy I've ever know is the one from Inscryption. Fun game.
well it makes sense considering he puts on masks and becomes other bosses in the game. as well as having a very treelike look to him.
Wonder how much of the Slavs was mixed up with what the Balts worshiped
Tom bombadil but really tall.
SLAVIC LORAX
cool
Epic brö
I'm new from wendigoon. What's some of the need to see vids on this channel?
Wendidad's episodes, Tom Messic (I think I spelled that right), the flesh pedestrian ones (how the channel got started), really the podcasts are the bread and butter. There are history based ones and story ones. There's several avenues to travel on this channel that may be your preferred cup of joe.
7:25 wait moravians? Those are (if slavs) western
I misspoke and didn’t catch it till upload. I meant the Moldovans.
@@TheLoreLodge ahhhh ok understandable my bad I could've figured that on my own. Anyways thanks for your answer ☺️
@@TheLoreLodge ok, but just so you know, Moldovans are a Romanian-speaking ethnic group. Even less Eastern Slavic than Moravians 😉
leshy = lorax
4:30 is that radagon💀
My theory is that the leshy is some sort of nephilim
Where is the weird bible podcast?!?!?!? 😭😭😭
I've never been this early 🥳 I mean. An hour late. But still.
Would you say that the Slavs were a more a Druidic people, Siri are to the Celtic people? 🇨🇦
No way man used Radagon to talk about Morgoth
Oh damn, I'm early
Slavic people clearly came from corded ware culture and we have plenty of dna studies on this, “population formation of south and Central Asia” 2019 Harvard, shows that Slavic and indo Iranian both came from corded ware culture
at 4:19 why is radagon there, am i just dumb?
albanians are not southslavic brah. they are there own culture with an own languagegroup, who is distinct from any other indo-european language. much love!
The Lorax 10:30-11:14
Now I'm late