Here Be Giants: Mythical Beings from the Bieszczady Mountains
According to legend, the beautiful Bieszczady Mountians in south-east Poland used to be inhabited by all sorts of fanastic beasts – the range’s name is even said to echo their presence. Let’s take a look at some of these supernatural beings, including the devils known as biesy, the invisible but dangerous propnastyk, and the female apparition White Ksenia.
The sightly Bieszczady Mountains lie in the very south-eastern corner of Poland, near the town of Sanok. Known for its remote wooded areas, the range’s highest Polish peak is Mount Tarnica which reaches up to 1,346 metres above sea level. The Bieszczady Mountains also extend into Ukraine where they reach a somewhat higher altitude.
The Polish writer and journalist Andrzej Potocki has been researching Bieszczady folklore for many years. In 1990, he published his fascinating book Księga Legend i Opowieści Bieszczadzkich (The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales), which has since been reissued a number of times and its content expanded. The initial version contained 48 stories, whereas the 2018 issue included over 180 tales and legends! Here’s what Potocki says about these folk stories in the foreword to the latter edition of his book:
Text
This is the effect of a dozen or so years of work – collecting scraps of what survived in human memory and in scarce publications. […] I may have saved many of these legends from oblivion since the people from whose memory I extracted them, were almost centenarians, and they told these legends for the first time in decades only to me, because nobody was interested in them earlier.
Thanks to Potocki, readers can enjoy a broad selection of fascinating Bieszczady folk tales. Many of them revolve around mythical beings which, according to legend, used to inhabit the mountain range. Below you can find descriptions of a number of these fantastic entities, including ones which are credited with giving the Bieszczady Mountains their name…
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
An illustration of a bies, photo: Wikimedia.org
We start off with two kinds of devils known as biesy and czady. Potocki writes that these beings were created in the depths of hell and later introduced to the range, roaming the area before the first men even arrived there. Initially both biesy and czady were malevolent, but at some point they decided that one group should become good-natured so that there would be balance in their land. They played heads or tails and the flip resulted in the czady abandoning their evil ways. Thanks to the presence of this new friendly force, the Bieszczady Mountains started to attract settlers and soon plenty of people came to live here. In honour of the devils inhabiting it, the range was given the name Bieszczady, an amalgamation of the words ‘biesy’ and ‘czady.’
Here’s how a bies is described in The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales:
Text
Sort of similar to a human, but covered with animal hair.
A bies also had a hairy tail and sharp claws. It’d often bring trouble on humans, for instance, by offering hellish pacts, the signing of which resulted in the exchange of one’s soul for earthly pleasures or profits. Even though the signer enjoyed certain benefits during their life, after death their soul went straight to hell. A bies could also cause a catastrophe such as a landslide.
Czady were also anthropomorphic. These lively and cheerful beings had the form of small and clumsy humans. Here’s how Potocki describes the relationship between czady and mankind:
Text
They took care of children and amused them with their pranks, they protected houses from strangers and fire breakouts, they helped those lost in the woods find their way, they made even the most worried laugh and they chopped wood for fire. Humans would give them a bowl of milk and a kind word in return.
Author
From ‘The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales’, trans. MK
Next up we have another devilish Bieszczady being, the błądzoń. Potocki describes it as a ‘mischievous little devil.’ The błądzoń was the bane of those travelling through the Bieszczady Mountains, especially if by night. It would cause people to lose their way in the range’s wilderness. Due to the błądzoń’s evil powers, they would get stranded in the Bieszczady woods with no hope of getting out alive. They’d either die of hunger or be eaten by wolves.
It’s worth adding that the Polish word błądzić means ‘to stray’ or ‘to get lost’. Without a doubt, the name of this beast is derived from this word.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
‘Rusałki’ by Konstantin Yegorovich, Allegory and Literature, 1879, photo: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg / Forum
In Slavic mythology, a rusałka is a female daemon, typically imagined as a beautiful, scantily clad young woman who lures young men to their doom. Rusałki (the plural form) would usually be encountered near fresh water bodies or in the woods. But in The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales, Potocki writes about mountain rusałki which inhabited the Bieszczady Mountains.
Like the błądzoń, the mountain rusałki would also cause people to get lost in the range’s wilderness. Those that fell for the charm of these beautiful girls with wreaths of bluets on their heads would be lured into the woods where they’d inevitably lose their way. If the fair appearance of a mountain rusałka prompted you to make advances toward her, you were in for a nasty surprise – anyone seeking to seduce these daemons died from a lightning strike!
The rusłaki inhabited the Bieszczady Mountains only temporarily. They’d come to the range from the south in the week preceding the Christian holy day of Pentecost (also known as Whitsun), which falls on the 50th day after Easter Sunday. Interestingly, the aforementioned czady, happy about the rusałki’s arrival, would prepare a special treat for them. This would lead to a mythical beings’ party:
Text
To greet the rusałki, czady made a nalewka [an alcoholic beverage – ed.] from dried forest bilberries and wild bee honey, in a huge barrel that even four men couldn’t embrace. The rusałki enjoyed this sort of welcome and were eager to have fun. And as everybody knows, after a good nalewka, there’s always dancing and frolicking.
Author
From ‘The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales’, trans. MK
Another female mythical being from the Bieszczady Mountains was the apparition known as White Ksenia. Clad in a white dress resembling a wedding gown, she showed herself at night on Mount Bukowe Berdo and walked through Mount Krzemień to Mount Halicz in the moonlight.
Text
This apparition weighs nothing at all, so when she walks she doesn’t even touch the ground, instead she gently hovers above it like a small cloud of mist. Her face is somehow indistinct, as if hidden behind a veil, so it’s hard to recognise her, and she keeps herself far away from any encountered humans.
Author
From ‘The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales’, trans. MK
Eventually, however, this fantastic entity was recognised by a former soldier called Michałko. One night, after he had returned to the Bieszczady Mountains from years of duty, Michałko watched her walk across the mountains and discovered that she was the apparition of his true love Ksenia.
Before Michałko was drafted, he and Ksenia had been planning to get married. But when he went away to serve as a military man, Ksenia’s father forced her to wed a miller. On her wedding day, the desperate Ksenia committed suicide not wanting to be in a marriage with anyone but Michałko. She took her life wearing a white undergown, just before she was to put her wedding dress on. After her tragic death, her ghost was stuck in limbo and roamed the moonlit mountains…
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Mist in the Bieszczady Mountains, photo: Waldemar Sosnowski / AG
Whereas White Ksenia appeared at night, the litmirze were typically spotted in the morning. These mysterious, ambiguously shaped entities showed themselves in the mists floating over remote bogs and marshes. They’d take on the form of a blurred human or animal and suddenly come in view of those travelling over out-of-the-way routes. The unexpected appearance of the litmirze caused great fear, so much so, that some people actually lost their consciousness upon seeing them.
Potocki writes that the frightening litmirze were the offspring of a bies by the name of Chryszczaty and a sianka, an anthropomorphic female water daemon from the Bieszczady Mountains that could shapeshift into a cloud. This couple didn’t stop there, as they parented other fantastic Bieszczady beings such as the kiczerki, which had a curious appearance:
Text
They resembled gossamer yarn formed into a sliver.
Author
From ‘The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales’, trans. MK
Kiczerki were known to live in ravines located near villages. When a storm came, they’d fly across the villages drawing lightning toward buildings. Fortunately, you could scare them off – and thus get rid of the lightning – by sounding church bells.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
A hail cloud over the Bieszczady Mountains, photo: Jerzy Undro / PAP
The propnastyk was also linked to bad weather. Although this invisible ghost had no shape or form, it could be found in the various elements of Bieszczady nature. For example, it could enter a storm cloud and cause hail to fall. A propnastyk was also capable of existing within a gale where it wreaked havoc by tearing roofs off houses and pulling trees out of the ground. This malevolent ghost could also be present in water springs. Those unlucky to enough to drink water from a spring inhabited by a propnastyk suffered from terrible aches.
Potocki writes that you could dispel the evil influences of a propnastyk by uttering the following enchantment:
Text
Die unholy ghost, die unholy ghost, die…
Author
From ‘The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales’, trans. MK
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
A view of Mount Chryszczata, photo: Henryk Bielamowicz / wikimedia.org
While it was possible to counter the power of a propnastyk with an enchantment, you couldn’t do the same in the case of the Bieszczady giants. These huge beings that once lived on the top of Mount Chryszczata were immune to all enchantments. According to Potocki, the Bieszczady giants had the form of enormous men and were incredibly strong:
Text
They say that every one of them could easily crack a bear’s skull with his fist or catch a European bison by its horns and force it to the ground.
Author
From ‘The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales’, trans. MK
The Bieszczady giants posed a serious threat to the humans inhabiting the range. They attacked their settlements, looting properties, damaging buildings and even causing death and injury. At a certain point, the Bieszczady folk became so scared of the giants that they asked the czady for help. The benevolent devils decided to aid the humans and came up with a cunning solution. One night, while the giants were asleep on Mount Chryszczata, the czady glued the enormous beings’ eyes shut with bee glue. After the blinded giants woke up, the czady lured them to a steep precipice and pushed them off it! All the giants died then, except for three that had spent the aforementioned night away from Mount Chryszczata. But eventually this trio was neutralised too – using a secret trick, the czady turned them into rocks.
The story of the giants bring us to the end of our list. There are more beasts to be found in the Bieszczady though – The Book of Bieszczady Legends & Tales also talks about the likes of the scarecrow-like berdniki and the stone knight. Hopefully one day this wonderful book will be translated into English so that English readers can familiarise themselves with all of them.
Written by Marek Kępa, Aug 21
[{"nid":"5688","uuid":"6aa9e079-0240-4dcb-9929-0d1cf55e03a5","type":"article","langcode":"en","field_event_date":"","title":"Challenges for Polish Prose in the Nineties","field_introduction":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary\r\n","field_summary":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary","topics_data":"a:2:{i:0;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259609\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:26:\u0022#language \u0026amp; literature\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:27:\u0022\/topics\/language-literature\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}i:1;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259644\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:8:\u0022#culture\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:14:\u0022\/topic\/culture\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}}","field_cover_display":"default","image_title":"","image_alt":"","image_360_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/360_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ZsoNNVXJ","image_260_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/260_auto_cover\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=pLlgriOu","image_560_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/560_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=0n3ZgoL3","image_860_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/860_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ELffe8-z","image_1160_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1160_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=XazO3DM5","field_video_media":"","field_media_video_file":"","field_media_video_embed":"","field_gallery_pictures":"","field_duration":"","cover_height":"991","cover_width":"1000","cover_ratio_percent":"99.1","path":"en\/node\/5688","path_node":"\/en\/node\/5688"}]