A few days ago I asked Victor if he had anything for Halloween. Of course, he did, and he sent me two drawings. I guess, I expected some traditional pointed-hat-black-cloak-flying-on-a-broom witches. When I received one of them, I was surprised first. After the second, I realized that our perception of witches is quite different!
"Witch"
"Ведьма"
"Witch's Blinding"
"Ведьмино Ослепление"
Of course, Halloween is not a traditional holiday in Ukraine or Russia, even if it is gaining its popularity lately. But Halloween or not, all these creepy creatures, and especially witches, have their own rich history in pre-Russian orthodox folklore. For Americans, witches and other Halloween characters are so commercialized and stereotyped, that most of us would have the same image as I did. On the other side, witches that we “grew up with,” are more like spirits of nature. Also, they can be understood as a person’s inner self. The Russian word for "witch" is "ved'ma" that came from "vedat'" that means "to know."
Actually, I believe, if we could escape the influence of the commerce that is trying to sell the traditional Halloween costumes and toys, we could relate to this other perceptions of the “witchism” as well.
Among old Victor's drawings I also found this non-typical image of Devil that also doesn't really fit our Halloween "standards." But this is why it's worth looking at!
"Pact"
"Договор"
No comments:
Post a Comment