Bies (Polish), bes ( , Slovene, Montenegrin) or bijes (Bosnian, Croatian) is an evil spirit or

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

Slavic mythology Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, or Slavic religion refer to the Religion, religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation of the Slavs, Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and ...

. Under the influence of Christianity the word often became synonymous with chort. After the acceptance of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

the ''bies'' (same as chort or czort) became identified with the

devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

, corresponding to the being referred to in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

, as either ''daimon'' (δαίμων), '' daimónion'' or ''pneuma'' (πνεῦμα). For example, ''biesy'' (Russian plural of ''bies'') is used in the standard Russian translation of Mark 5:12, where we have ''the devils'' entering the swine in

KJV The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

. Compare to Ukrainian ''bisy'' or ''bisytysia'' and Polish ''zbiesić się'' (to go mad). In Slovenian (bes), Croatian (bijes) and Serbian (bes) the word means "rage", "fury". It comes from the proto-Slavic .

Equivalents in non-Slavic traditions

In the mythology of Jah Hut people, one of the Orang Asli tribes living in Malaysia, there are beings called bès. This word generally refers to dangerous spirits living in the jungle and often attacking people, causing illnesses by

spirit possession Spirit Possession is an altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors which are purportedly caused by the control of a human body and its functions by Supernatural#Spirit, spirits, ghosts, demons, angels, or Deity, gods. The concept ...

etc. It is possible to tame them by carving "sepili" - small wooden sculptures depicting the bès one has troubles with. If the bès likes its look, they may move into the sculpture in which moment they can be trapped inside by a special ritual. After it is done, people must make sure to get the sepili as far away from their village as possible to avoid bès' anger once they break free. Traditionally, they bury the sepili deep in the jungle. Nowadays, many native artists also sell their sepili as souvenirs to tourists.

Examples in culture

*In

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

's '' The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda'', there is a scene in which Balda has to force the "devils" (черти, Chorti) of the sea to pay an ancient rent, and interacts with an "Old Bies" who is their leader and his grandson. It is also the title of his poem "Demons"
Бесы
). *The original Russian title of

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...

's novel known in its English translation as '' The Possessed'' is ''Besy'' (Бесы) (Russian plural of ''bes''), i.e., more literally, ''The Evil Spirits''. *

Fyodor Sologub Fyodor Sologub (, born Fyodor Kuzmich Teternikov, , also known as Theodor Sologub; – 5 December 1927) was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, translator, playwright and essayist. He was the first writer to introduce the morbid, pessimistic e ...

’s most famous novel was Мелкий бес (''The Petty Demon'', 1907) *The Black Tapes *In the 2015 videogame '' The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'', fiends (called ''bies'' in the original version) are massive horned predators who possess hypnotic and self-healing powers. *In

Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (; 18 April 1874 – 21 September 1938), also spelled Ivana Berlic-Mazuranic in English, was a Croatian literature, Croatian writer. She has been praised as the best Croatian writer for children. Early life She was born ...

's '' Croatian Tales of Long Ago'' "bjesovi" appear. *They also appear in a game known as roams.io where they can spin into a tornado.

References

{{Slavic mythology Slavic demons