Lady midday
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pscipolnitsa or Południca (Polish) or Psezpolnica (Serbian) was a Slavic noon demon. She was usually pictured as a young woman dressed in white that roamed field bounds. She assailed folk working at noon causing heatstrokes and aches in the neck. Sometimes she even caused madness.
Pscipolnitsa in Wendish mythology is the whirlwind named "Lady Midday," who makes herself more evident in the middle of hot summer days. She takes the form of whirling dust clouds and carries a scythe or shears. She will stop people in the field to ask them difficult questions or engage them in conversation. If anyone fails to answer a question or tries to change the subject, she will cut off their head or strike them with illness. She may appear as an old hag or beautiful woman, or a 12-year-old girl; and she was useful in scaring children away from valuable crops. She is only seen on the hottest part of the day and is a personification of a sun-stroke.
Południca (Polish; Přezpołdnica in Lower Sorbian, Připołdnica in Upper Sorbian, Polednice in Czech, Polednica in Slovak, Полудница (Poludnitsa) in Bulgarian) was a Slavic noon demon. She was usually pictured as a young woman dressed in white that roamed field bounds. She assailed folk working at noon causing heatstrokes and aches in the neck, sometimes madness and sometimes death. Południca in Polish mythology is the whirlwind named "Lady Midday," who makes herself more evident in the middle of hot summer days. She takes the form of whirling dust clouds and carries a scythe. She will stop people in the field to ask them difficult questions or engage them in conversation. If anyone fails to answer a question or tries to change the subject, she will cut off their head or strike them with illness. She may appear as an old hag or beautiful woman, or a 12 year old girl; and she was useful in scaring children away from valuable crops. She is only seen on the hottest part of the day and is a personification of a sun-stroke.
The Sorbian Přezpołdnica or Připołdnica is known as Mittagsfrau (“lady midday”) among German speakers of Eastern Germany’s Lusatia (Sorbian Łužica, German Lausitz) and in the now only German-speaking parts of what used to be the larger region of Old Lusatia, whose capital used to be Zhorjelc (German Görlitz, Polish Zgorzelec). Farther north and west in formerly predominantly Slavic-speaking areas of Germany, especially in the state of Brandenburg (Low Saxon Branneborg, Sorbian Braniborska), a related mythological spirit appears to be the Roggenmuhme (“lady of the rye”) that makes children disappear when they search for flowers in among the tall grain plants on hot summer days. In the Altmark, it is the Regenmöhme “with her heat” that will abduct ill-behaved children, and in the formerly Polabian-speaking heath region around Lunenburg (German Lüneburg) in Lower Saxony), the Low Saxon (“Low German”) name of this bugbear is Kornwief (formerly spelled Kornwyf, meaning “woman of the corn” or “lady of the grain plants”).
| Major Gods Dazbog • Jarilo • Morana • Perun • Siwa • Svantevit • Svarog/Svarogich • Triglav • Veles • Zaria • The Zorya Other Gods Belobog • Berstuk • Chernobog • Dziewona • Hors • Flins • Karewit • Lado • Mat Zemlya • Mokosh • Oźwiena • Perperuna • Porenut • Porewit • Porvata • Radigost • Rod • Rugiewit • Stribog • Zirnitra • Zlota Baba Legendary heroes Alyosha Popovich • Bash Chelik • Burislav • Dobrynya Nikitich • Ilya Muromets • Ivan Tsarevich • Lech, Czech and Rus • Libuše • Marko Kraljevic • Sadko • Solovey-Razboynik Magical creatures and plants Alkonost • Cikavac • Firebird • Gamayun • Raskovnik • Simargl • Sirin • Zmey Spirits and demons Baba Yaga • Bagiennik • Bannik • Bies • Boginki • Bukavac • Domovoi • Drekavac • Karzełek • Kikimora • Koschei • Lady midday • Leshiy • Likho • Polevik • Rusalka • Skrzak • Stuhać • Sudice • Vila • Topielec • Vampir • Vodyanoy |
