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Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Russian Werewolves

The wawkalak is a part of the Russian folklore.  This type of werewolf is punished by the evil to transform into a werewolf and sent him back to his relatives.  The relatives who found him will then feed him and care for him.  The wawkalak is an affectionate type of werewolf.  But the wawkalak cannot stay in one house for a long period of time.  They have to change their residential place from time to time in order to evade the evil spirit.

Another type of werewolf from the Russian tales is the vlkodlak.  It was transformed into a beast due to a certain curse.  This type of creature is not too sociable and will quickly flee away from the presence of a human being.  In Slovakian Region, vlkodlak is a term use for a drunken man because he often makes a fool out of himself.

There is a type of incantation believed to turn someone to werewolf.  They said that this is an invocation to the spirit of the moon.  The bodark, which is another type of Russian werewolf was said to utter this phrase, since he was too eager to become a wolf.  One has to go into the deep forest, thrust a copper knife into a tree, then while holding the knife on the tree, one has to repeatedly utter this incantation.
 
“On the sea, on the ocean, on the island, on Bujan, on the empty pasture gleams the moon, on an ashstock lying in a green wood, in a gloomy vale. Toward the stock wandereth a shaggy wolf, horned cattle seeking for his sharp white fangs; but the wolf enters not the forest, but the wolf dives not into the shadowy vale. Moon, moon, gold-horned moon, check the flights of bullets, blunt the hunters' knifes, break the shepherds' cudgels, cast wild fear upon all cattle, on men, on all creeping things, that they may not catch the gray wolf, that they may not rend his warm skin! My word is binding, more binding than sleep, more binding than the promise of a hero."


The person would immediately turn into a bodark and will run out of the forest.

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