Shatans () are odd-looking creatures of Belarusian
folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
. Shatans are neutral characters and act as symbols of idleness and laziness.
Mode of life
Shatans lead a mindless way of life. All day long they wander about aimlessly without doing anything useful. Shatans are very annoying for other people and dispose them to the same way of useless wandering. Shatans cannot communicate with anyone in a normal way, even with each other, and in case of trouble they don't rescue and help one another.
[Boris Rybakov. Ancient Slavic Paganism. Moscow, 1981. Б. А. Рыбаков. Язычество древних славян. — М.: Наука, 1981. — .]
In Belarusian folklore it is said that angry folkloric creatures (for example, the
witch
Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...
) tease shatans. As shatans are also known as cowardly creatures which hide or run away from offenders. Sometimes, shatans have died from attacks of evil spirits and beings.
When shatans are tired of wandering around, they sometimes spin
bast shoe
Bast shoes are shoes made primarily from bast—fiber taken from the bark of trees, such as linden. They are a kind of basket, woven and fitted to the shape of a foot. Bast shoes are a traditional footwear of the forest areas of Northeaster ...
s. Bast shoes are quickly worn away because of the shatans' useless wandering.
See also
References
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Belarusian folklore
Slavic legendary creatures