Who is the water. What does a merman look like Other common features

Water is essential for human life. Slavic tribes leading a sedentary lifestyle settled near water bodies. However, this dangerous element can deprive the crop, housing and even life. Primitive man was defenseless before natural phenomena. In conditions of ignorance of the laws of nature, a belief in supernatural forces arose.

Who is Water?

Mysterious and powerful spirits in the ideas of primitive people were the masters of the territories subject to them and possessed human qualities. Depending on the degree of danger, a person endowed them with malice or good nature. One of the representatives of supernatural forces was the spirit of water, named Vodyany in honor of the element he controlled.

Water in Slavic mythology

According to the ancient Slavs, the Vodyanoy was the culprit of all the troubles associated with water. Mythology presents him as an evil, but humanized character:

1. The spirit of water does not live as a hermit. He is surrounded by many wives, whom he chooses from young drowned women who have turned into mermaids. And at night, turning into a man, he visits the widows. You can recognize the Waterman by the water dripping from his clothes. Vodyanoy takes the children born from him into his reservoir. His children, born there, also grow up.
2. The owner of the water is friendly with the owner of the forest. Often two quarrelsome spirits quarrel, and then the noise and crackling all over the area terrifies the superstitious peasants.
3. The waterman knows the miller. It is difficult to call it friendship, rather business cooperation. The miller endows Vodyanoy with grain, flour and beer, from time to time he makes sacrifices, for which a black rooster or a cat is always found at the mill. But Vodyanoy does not break the mill wheel and protects the dam.

What does the Waterman look like?

In mythology, shtetl deities and spirits are described as deep old men and old women, leading the usual economic activities for a person. Vodyanoy was no exception, the myths about which describe underwater pastures where his herds graze, tell about the drowned people who become his workers, as well as the unsightly appearance of the owner of the water. The description of the Vodyanoy varies in detail depending on its habitat, but there are common features:

• flabby, bloated body, entangled in mud and algae;
• long green hair and the same beard;
• webbing between the fingers;
• legs resembling crow's feet, or the lower part of the body in the form of a mermaid tail.

Where does the Waterman live?

Any body of water becomes the habitat of the Vodyany, whether it be a lake, a river, a swamp or an artificial pond. His dwelling is a hole dug in the ground. In rivers and lakes, it is decorated with smooth stones and shells, and in dams and swamps - with duckweed and algae. The entrance to the dwelling is in the pool - the deepest part of the reservoir. In winter, when underwater life freezes under a thick layer of ice, the spirit falls asleep in its halls.

In the spring, the owner of the water gets out of his lair hungry and angry. It breaks ice with a crash, scares fish and other aquatic life. So that Vodyanoy does not cause trouble during the flood, and in the summer he does not deprive the fishermen of their catch, the peasants appease him with treats. Food supplies (bread, flour) and drink (beer and mead) are used. When the threat of flooding is too great, more drastic measures are needed - sacrificial offerings. Black animals (roosters and cats) or a horse's skull are thrown into the water.

Similar rituals can be repeated in the summer if there are too many accidents on the water. The people believed that the spirit was angry, as evidenced by the large number of drowned people. There are legends that these traditions are an echo of more ancient and cruel rites, when a live horse or a beautiful girl was sent to the bottom of the reservoir as a sacrifice. During the summer, Vodyanoy is usually quiet and calm. At night, he goes ashore and combs his beard with a comb.

How to call the Waterman?

Our ancestors knew how to summon a water spirit:

1. The fishermen released the first catch back into the water with a request to catch up with more big fish.
2. If you bring home a comb found on the shore, then you don’t need to call anyone. The merman himself will come for his comb.

The water snake, or as it was called by the people - the “chess viper” is often found in the neighborhood with an ordinary snake and lives near both flowing and non-flowing reservoirs. His appearance on the beach quite often raises a real panic among vacationers. People immediately crawl out onto land, and the fate of a troublemaker, alas, is sometimes unenviable. I suggest you learn some interesting facts about this snake.

Are you taking a picture of a viper, - I heard a voice behind me, - See that you don’t bite.

No, not a viper, but a snake, - I answered, not looking up from the camera viewfinder and shooting another close-up.

Yes, vipers are now interbreeding with snakes: they turn out black, and gray, and in a box, and all are terribly poisonous!

Something like this happens every time someone sees me catching or photographing water snakes.

The notoriety of these snakes is just the fruit of the fear of people who are not familiar with reptiles. Water snakes lack the characteristic sign of a non-venomous snake, familiar to everyone - yellow-orange spots at the back of the head, which the common snake (Natrix natrix) has. For this reason, unknowing people classify all snakes without such spots as vipers and consider them poisonous and dangerous. Many people divide all legless reptiles into snakes and just "snakes", referring to vipers. So they say: “Is it really or a snake?”.

As soon as they don’t call water snakes: “a hybrid of a viper and snake”, “chess viper”, “chess”. When shouting “chess snake” on the beach, swimmers jump out of the water and wait for the snake to swim away, or until a “dared man” is found and kills the snake with a stick. One often hears the stories of anglers about "meter-long vipers" swimming across rivers or climbing into cages with fish.

All these stories are not really related to vipers, they are about water snakes. The specific name of the snake N. tessellata is indeed translated from Latin as chess, but the water viper has nothing to do with vipers. It belongs to the genus (Natrix sp.) like the common snake.

For a man, the water one is harmless. This snake's defenses are loud hissing and foul-smelling excrement emitted when threatened. Unlike the common snake, the water snake almost never pretends to be dead.

The main food of water snakes is fish, which they catch among aquatic plants, snags or lying in wait at the bottom. The snake cannot swallow the caught prey under water, therefore it rushes to the shore, where it swallows the fish, having previously turned its head towards itself.

If the prey is too large, the meal can drag on for an hour or even longer. Some snakes die, not calculating their strength and choosing too large a fish.

“The water one is already quite widespread: from southwestern France, the valley of the river. The Rhine is in the west, the southern border of the range runs along the eastern part of northern Africa (to the Persian Gulf, Pakistan), in the east it occurs to the north-west of China, and the northern limits of the occupied territory pass through the Volga-Kama Territory, ”says candidate of biological sciences, employee Volgograd State University, herpetologist Dmitry Gordeev.

“This species belongs to the class of reptiles (Reptilia), the order of snakes (Serpentes), the family of snakes (Colubridae), the genus of real snakes (Natrix) and the species of water snake (Natrix tessellata). The water snake is a relatively large non-venomous snake, like all representatives of this family. Moreover, females, as a rule, are longer than males and can grow up to 1.1 m. Despite its impressive size, it is somewhat smaller than the familiar and easily recognizable common grass snake, which can reach up to 1.14 m.

The muzzle of the water snake, compared to the common one, is more pointed, and there are no yellow-orange spots on the sides of the head. Because of the latter circumstance, it is often confused with such venomous snakes as the common viper and the steppe viper. "Oil on the fire" adds a pattern on the back of a water snake, which vaguely resembles a zigzag stripe of vipers. I repeatedly came across dead snakes, which, apparently, the local population took for poisonous and mercilessly exterminated. On one of the expeditions, I came across a place of "mass execution", where I counted 25 "chess vipers" killed.

However, the water snake has a number of external signs by which it can be easily distinguished from poisonous vipers. The head is most recognizable - in vipers it is triangular in shape and most of the scutes (scales) on it are small, while in the water snake it is oval, and all the scutes are large. If you muster up the courage and look into the eyes of a snake, you can see that vipers, like real predators, have a vertical pupil (like a cat), and a snake has a round one. In addition, vipers are much smaller than snakes: the largest common viper reaches a length of up to 0.73 m.

Vodyanoy already settles near water: along the banks of rivers and irrigation canals, in flood meadows, where he finds his livelihood. Despite the peaceful nature, he is an active predator. Prefers fish of different species - perch, roach, loach, can even hunt pike. Therefore, scientists call it an ichthyophage. The snake pulls the caught prey ashore, where it eats. Much less frequently, the diet includes frogs and their tadpoles.

In the literature there is information about the discovery in the stomach of even a baby of an ordinary viper! The size of the prey can exceed the size of the snake's head, and the movable connection of the lower jaws and some bones associated with them helps to swallow it. Swallowing occurs by alternating movement of the left, then the right half of the lower jaw. This gives the impression that the snake "crawls" on its prey.

The active season lasts almost 9 months, they emerge from winter shelters in April. Soon after this, mating begins, then snakes are found in large numbers. One female can lay from 4 to 20 eggs, of which in July, under favorable circumstances, young growth will appear. Reed beds, tree roots, crevices in the substrate, rodent burrows, stumps and snags serve as a refuge for them. They leave for wintering at the end of October in large groups, sometimes together with an ordinary grass snake. Hedgehogs, desman, muskrat, fox, some birds hunt for snakes: osprey, gray heron, kites, serpent eagle, crow, rook and some others.

Every time I hear mention of a "terribly poisonous checkerboard", I talk about water snakes, their way of life, I try to convince them that these snakes are absolutely not dangerous. But every time I encounter misunderstanding, it’s easier for people to be afraid of the “chess viper” than to admit their belief in rumors and stop killing all snakes that lack the “identification marks” of an ordinary snake.

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Tricks of Life

According to popular beliefs, water spirits are the spirits of the water element and appeared simultaneously with it. According to another version, their origin is connected with the rebellion of angels against God: the Creator in anger threw the recalcitrant to the ground, where they were determined in accordance with the place of impact. Those that fell into the forests became goblin, those that fell into human dwellings became brownies, and those that fell into the water became water goblins. There is also such a version - the failed children of Adam and Eve, whom they hid from God, turned into mermen. Finally, the darkest legend tells that the mermen are cursed people, mortgaged drowned or dead, thrown into the water as a sacrifice to the harsh gods.

In different areas there were different ideas about the appearance of the merman. But all descriptions are similar in one thing: this is an old man, entangled in mud, who has a fish tail, a long green beard. In general, he looks like a goblin, only he is not overgrown with hair and does not bother people so much. For the winter, the merman falls into hibernation and wakes up with the melting of ice on the rivers. Wakes up hungry and very angry. In early spring, it is better not to disturb him and not fall under a hot hand - he will lure him into a pool and drown him. But closer to the birthday of the water spirit (which, according to some sources, falls on April 16), you can bring refreshments and make requests.

Without water, all life on earth perishes, the ancient Slavs knew this. That is why water is given the most important importance in traditions, customs, rituals. Our ancestors were sure that many spheres of human life depend on the water one: from the luck of the fishermen to the fate of those who live near the water or are simply near the reservoir. The owner of the waters jealously watches over his possessions and requires certain laws and rules to be observed when fishing, rafting, swimming, and moving on boats. He does not tolerate noisy people and talkers, he cannot stand it when a goblin, a bear, a hare, a priest and God are commemorated near the water. He can break or tangle fishing nets if they are knitted on holidays or poorly mended. Being not in the mood, he can disperse the fish, break the fishing rods, steal the oars. Fishermen, knowing this, from time immemorial coax the waterman - they splash wine into the water, throw bread crumbs and tobacco, saying:

“You have tobacco and bread sprinkles on you, and give us more fish.”

It is customary to return the first fish caught to the waterman (by throwing it into the water) or to give part of the catch. The owner of the waters was traditionally treated not only by fishermen, but also by peasants who lived near lakes and rivers. Traditionally, in the spring, when the merman woke up from his sleep, he was thrown into the water with cattle (sometimes fallen, and sometimes alive), black roosters, sheep's heads, goose meat, which he loves very much, bread and butter. At the same time they said:

“With the advent of spring-red and with new water you, mistress-water! You have a housewarming hotel, love and favor us, help and help. And we will give back more than once.”

divination

The water man, as a being associated with the all-encompassing water element, is endowed with the ability to know and predict the future. It is worth remembering the wreaths of birch branches or beautiful flowers that the girls threw into the river or lake, and by the way the wreath behaved in the water, they learned details about the future marriage. And here is a very popular method of fortune-telling, which has not lost its relevance today: whisper a wish on a chip or piece of tree bark and lower it into the river. If the river quickly picks up the object and carries it smoothly with the flow, the wish will come true; if the water throws a chip back and forth, nails it to the shore, it means that the water one gives a sign: there is no hope that the wish will come true.

Rituals for getting rid of diseases

Rituals for getting rid of diseases are of great importance. So, in case of a serious illness, take your night clothes, in which you slept for at least 9 days, put it at night in front of the image of the water spirit and say:

“Father-water, take my illness with you, drown it in the mud-swamp, let it lag behind my flesh, let it not torment my soul and do not want my death. Amen".

At dawn, take your clothes to the river and drown them in water (preferably away from the shore, for example, from a boat or from a bridge) with the words:

“Go away, the disease, as it was not. Forever!"

You can wrap a stone in your clothes to make sure you drown. If there is no reservoir nearby, hold the clothes under running water, then, without wringing, wrap it in a bag and throw it in the trash with the same words.

The water one can not be called either evil or good - it is a masterful spirit guarding its reservoir, which, however, does not mind playing a trick on those who came there. The merman looks like an old man with a large beard and a fish tail instead of legs, the old man's hair has a green tint, and his eyes look like a fish. During the day, the merman prefers to stay at the bottom of the reservoir, and with the rising of the moon rises to the surface. The spirit prefers to move around the reservoir on horseback, mainly swimming on a catfish.

The spirit lives in large freshwater reservoirs: rivers, lakes, swamps. However, sometimes he goes to land and appears in the nearest villages. On reservoirs for dwelling, the merman prefers to choose the deepest places or places with a strong circular current (whirlpools, places near water mills).

The water man jealously guards his reservoir and does not forgive those who treat him disrespectfully: a guilty spirit can drown or severely cripple. However, the merman can also reward people: it is believed that the merman can bestow a good catch, but he can also leave the fisherman without a single fish at all. He loves the spirit and play pranks: he scares people at night with strange cries, he can pretend to be a drowned man or a baby, and when he is pulled into a boat or pulled ashore, he will open his eyes, laugh and flop back into the water.

Mermen live in families, usually the merman has many wives - mermaids. People dragged to the bottom by the spirit remain at the service of the water man, entertaining the owner of the reservoir in every possible way and performing various tasks, however, you can pay him off, but the price will be commensurate - you will have to give your firstborn.

Capabilities

Water - the owner of the reservoir in which he lives, he has full power over him. So the spirit is able to control water: raise waves, bring the reservoir out of the banks and create a strong current, and all the inhabitants of the reservoir obey the water: fish, drowned women, etc.

The merman is able to change its appearance, turn into fish, animals and even trees. Although it is possible that the appearance changes only in the mind of the observer, since the water ones skillfully influence the human psyche, forcing them to believe anything.

Enemies

In the native element, the water has no enemies, but when the spirit goes to land and, especially, when it penetrates into the villages of people, then here it is opposed by and. On land, the merman has practically no chance of winning, but, nevertheless, often enters into fights, the outcome of which is known in advance: the spirit runs away into his pond.

How to fight?

It is almost impossible to fight the merman in his native element, but he can be scared away from himself with iron or copper, which in the end will only anger him more. Therefore, in ancient times they preferred not to anger the water one, and if he was already angry, then they tried to appease the spirit by throwing bread into the water, or sacrificing a black animal (chicken, cat). On land, the strength of the waterman is significantly reduced and he tries not to engage in an open battle with anyone, but by cunning he lures the victim into the water, and the main thing here is to resist the spell, not to enter the reservoir. To wake up from the sorcery of the water, you can prick yourself with an iron needle, then for a moment you will see his true appearance and be able to break out of the spell of the spirit.

In the article I will make a description of the water rat. It is often called the water vole. I'll tell you where this animal lives, what it looks like and where it came from. I will describe the lifestyle of the water rodent and the conditions of reproduction. I will note what harm it brings to a person and whether it is necessary to fight it.

Description

The water rat is a rodent from the hamster family. This animal is the largest of the voles: weight 130-350 g, size 120-250 mm. The tail is long, round in section and is half the length of the body or even 2/3 of its length.

Outwardly, this rodent looks like a gray rat. The muzzle is shortened, the ears are small, the incisors are reddish brown. The eyes are smaller than those of a rat. The coat is thick with abundant undercoat; dark brown color. The tail is covered with short hair, which gathers into a small tassel at the tip.

Habitat

• Asia Minor and Western Asia;
• Northwestern regions of China;
• Northern Eurasia (from the Atlantic coast to Yakutia);
• Northern coast of the Mediterranean;
• Territory of the Russian Federation (except for chernozem);
• Belarus;
• Western Ukraine;

Life expectancy is 2-3 years.

Origin

The water vole has existed in vast areas for hundreds of years and spreads by migration and transport (with cargo).

Lifestyle

This species prefers to settle along the shores of lakes, on river floodplains, near irrigation canals, and in wetlands. The aquatic individual also inhabits meadows, swampy low forests, is found in fields, vegetable gardens, bushes, sometimes in buildings.

In winter, the animal migrates from reservoirs to meadows and bushes. The water vole lives in nests that it builds on or above the ground. Moves into a burrow for the winter. In autumn and winter, she is met under haystacks, in barns and gardens. Sometimes rats settle in colonies.

Water rats are good swimmers. Therefore, they like to settle near water bodies.

The rodent swims well. It is most active at dusk and at night, but it can also be found during the day (in the warm season).

One animal is able to make a hole with a length of 100 m.

Nutrition

The diet consists of plant foods and animal protein:

• Surface and underwater parts of plants (during the warm season);
• Underground parts of plants, bark, shoots (in winter);
• Insect larvae, mollusks, crayfish, small fish;
• Vegetables and root crops;

Animals living in the north and east make abundant stocks, the weight of which can be up to 30 kg.

reproduction

The breeding cycle begins in late February (if the winter is warm enough) or at warmer temperatures. The female is ready for reproduction already with a body weight of 60 grams. Pregnancy lasts about 20 days.

The degree of fertility of the water rat is high - in 7 months the female brings up to 6 litters. The total number of offspring from one pair of animals is up to 70 cubs.

In one brood there are from 6 to 15 babies. The cub opens its eyes and starts feeding after 10 days. The independent life of the animal begins at 1 month, when it leaves the hole.

The water vole becomes the prey of most land and feathered predators (including snakes).

Harm and benefit to humans

• This species of voles damages the bark and root system of trees and shrubs. In areas close to water bodies, animals damage cultivated plant species. The rat severely damages plant seedlings, threatening the well-being of gardens and nurseries.
• Significant damage is done to cereal plants, especially during their preparation for winter.
• The process of building burrows by rats destroys the slopes of dams and canals, irrigation ditches.
• Damages stocks of vegetables and grains;
• The species is a carrier of diseases:
• Tularemia;
• Plague;
• Leptospirosis;
• Tick-borne encephalitis;
• Other zoonoses

The benefit to humans is the use of water rat skins for the manufacture of fur products.

Fighting a water rat in the area

The animal has many food sources in the garden and vegetable garden and many shelters. In this case, reproduction occurs intensively. To get rid of the settling of rats in the area, try various methods, humane or not.

You can not delay the beginning of the struggle, otherwise the animals will breed and the amount of work will double.

Repeller

A device that creates vibrations or ultrasonic waves that rodents cannot tolerate and try to leave the area of ​​discomfort. Hardware stores offer such devices in a wide range.

Ultrasound is the most acceptable option against these rodents

I

For baiting, drugs based on zinc phosphide or arsenic are chosen. In this case, you need to carefully study the instructions and all possible risks.

They work with poisons in protective devices and warn loved ones in advance.

The poison is placed inside the vegetable, after cutting the tuber in half and taking out the middle. The halves are folded back and the vegetable is placed in the hole.

Another way is to soak pieces of the underwater part of the sedge in a solution of poison (5 g of poison per 100 g of sedge).

folk method

As a repeller, a metal rod is used, which is installed in the ground, leaving a part above the ground. A tin can is hung on the pin, which will create vibrations.

Another common way is to purchase rat-catchers. You need to take a kitten from rat-catcher parents and in every possible way encourage the manifestation of the hunting instinct.

The water rat, like other rodents, has been living next to humans for hundreds of years. Its benefits are small, but the damage is significant. However, like other animals, it has the right to exist. On the part of man, the damage to nature is also significant, but this is treated with loyalty and justified in various ways.