Gagana is a miraculous bird with an iron beak and copper claws featured in

Russian folklore The Russian folklore, i.e., the folklore of Russian people, takes its roots in the pagan beliefs of ancient Slavs and now is represented in the Russian fairy tales. Epic Russian bylinas are also an important part of Slavic paganism. The oldest ...

. She is said to live on the Buyan Island. The bird is often mentioned in

incantation An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial ri ...

s. It is also said this bird guards the Alatyr, alongside Garafena the snake. Gagana knows how to conjure and work miracles and, if she is asked correctly, can help a person. This bird is also the only one capable of giving the milk of the birds.

Background

The bird Gagana is possibly attested in a tale compiled by author A. A. Erlenwein, and translated by Angelo de Gubernatis in his ''Florilegio'' with the name ''Vaniúsha'', where the hero's sisters marry a bear, an iron-nosed bird ("uccello dal naso di ferro") and a pike ("luccio").Gubernatis, Angelo de. ''Florilegio delle novelline popolari''. Milano U. Hoepli. 1883. pp. 212-214. The "bird with iron beak" appears to be a creature that inhabits several Slavic folktales. William Ralston Shedden-Ralston, citing

Alexander Afanasyev Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (; – ) was a Russian Slavist and ethnographer best known for publishing nearly 600 East Slavic and Russian fairy and folk tales, one of the largest collections of folklore in the world. This collection was ...

's notes on

Slavic folklore Slavic folklore encompasses the folklore of the Slavic peoples The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inh ...

, writes that on the mythical island of Buyan there lives "The Tempest Bird", "the oldest and largest of all the birds", said to possess "an iron beak" and "copper claws".Ralston, William Ralston Shedden. ''The songs of the Russian people, as illustrative of Slavonic mythology and Russian social life''. London: Ellis & Green. 1872. p. 375.

References

Sources

* Russian folklore Legendary birds Slavic legendary creatures {{legendary-creature-stub