Lakanica

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Lakanica is type of supernatural being from traditional Polish folklore who is a spirit of the fields or meadows. These are reputed to be shy and elusive creatures who can appear in human female form.

Similarity to the rusalki[edit]

Scholar Alanna Muniz notes the range of such creatures in stories from western Slavic cultures that share a common non-hierarchical religion. A Lakanica was similar to other types ovily/rusalki, spirits who “are believed to reside in or near lakes, springs, rivers, and marshes, although they are also connected to fields, trees, and woods in some locations.”[1][2]

Depiction in fiction[edit]

A Lakanica and other mythological characters play a role in the 21st century novel The Dollmaker of Kraków, set before and during World War II.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Alanna Muniz, The Survival of the Neolithic Goddess in Polish Folklore, Myth, and Tradition. Master of Arts in Women’s Spirituality, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Palo Alto, CA. 2010.
  2. ^ Barber, Elizabeth J. W. “On the Origins of the vily/rusalki.” Varia on the Indo-European Past: Papers in Memory of Marija Gimbutas (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Ser. 19). Ed. Miriam Robbins Dexter and Edgar C. Polomé. Washington D.C.: Study of Man, 1997.
  3. ^ R. M. Romero, The Dollmaker of Kraków. Delacorte Press. 2017.