Witches in Russian Tradition


The idea of witches and witchcraft is common to all European cultures. However, most familiar is the version from the western fringes, personified in popular imagination by three crones around a cauldron in Shakespeare's quasi-historical piece, 'Macbeth'. What of the Slavic witch?

In Russian as in English, there is more than one name for a woman who practices magic. Witch translates as ведьма (ved’ma), while колдунья (koldun’ya) is usually translated as sorceress. чародейка (charodeika) comes from the verb ‘to charm’ and thus means enchantress, sorceress, or female magician, similarly to волшебница (volshebnitsa). All of these words have their male equivalent. Perhaps even more interesting in determining the position of magic in the culture is another term for the practitioner of practical magic and lore, человек который знает, person who knows. For me this phrase implies an accepted place and function for such people in a community.

A key technique in Russian folk magic is to use magically potent words to exert power over people, objects and events, as documented by anthropologist Margaret Paxson in ‘Solovyovo’. This ‘whispering on’ is analogous to Western European spell-casting. Objects thus spoken on can ‘store’ the power of the words, and, as we see in the 2004 film Ночной Дозор (Nightwatch), words can be used to affect people and events even from far away. When considering the world view of eras pre-monotheism, there can be seen a tendency to assume a life force in all things, even those now thought of as inanimate. This itself can evolve into a notion of spirits inhabiting or owning certain elements, places and objects. This is one explanation for the presence in Russian culture of leshii, domovoi, etc. – magical beings who inhabit homes, forests, etc. Related back to witchcraft, it seems that in a world filled with mysterious intelligence, words would naturally have influence quite apart from through simple communication with other people.

Witches have their place in both folklore and literature, as seen by the fairytales surrounding ‘Baba Yaga’, and also in the transformation of the female character in Bulgakov’s classic ‘Master and Margarita’. It would be a mistake, however, to consign witches to history and fantasy. Witches are very much alive in Russian popular perception today, and as well as huge media coverage of all things psychic and magical, many people, when prompted, have a personal experience to relate, albeit often second or third hand. The question is, does this indicate popular interest, or evidence of modern-day witchcraft?