Moryana (, ) is a female sea spirit in

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 ...

, possibly a

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

. Moryana was a sea vodyanitsa and daughter of the

Sea Tsar The Sea Tsar (, sometimes inverted for emphasis: ) is a character in East Slavic folktales and ''bylinas'', the tsar of the sea realms. The best known examples are ''bylinas'' about Sadko and fairy tales about Vasilisa the Wise, such as ''The S ...

, and also, according to some beliefs, she ruled the winds. Sometimes the ''moryany/moryanki'' (plural; ; Polish: moriany) were said to be numerous spirits of the sea and a marine kind of

rusalki In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalki; , plural: русалки; , plural: ''rusałki'') is a female entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water. It has counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as th ...

, which posed a great threat to ships, but usually Moryana was represented as a single entity. Due to the consonance of her name with the name of the goddess

Morana Morana may refer to: * Moraña, a municipality in Galicia, Spain * Morana Dam, an earthfill dam on Morana river near Patan, Satara district in the state of Maharashtra in India * Marzanna, Slavic goddess of death * ''Morana'' (film), a 1994 Slove ...

, Moryana was sometimes identified with her and was called the goddess of death.

Etymology

Moryana's name is derived from ''море'' meaning "sea", and with the feminine ending ''яна'' it is roughly translated as "she of the sea". Moryana's name is used in some regions of Russia to describe the cold and harsh winds she personifies; these winds blow from the sea to the land and are also called ''морянка'', ''морянник'' and ''моряной''.

In folklore

It was believed that Moryana often swam deep in the sea, taking the form of a big fish and playing with dolphins. She came ashore only on quiet evenings. At this time of day she swayed on the waves, splashed in the water and fingered sea pebbles. When a storm was rising due to the Morskoy Tsar becoming angry, Moryana calmed him down, and the storm also subsided. She also rode the sea in a golden canoe. Her beauty was so dazzling that it was impossible to look at her at once. According to Vasily Prokhorov, a Russian archaeologist and ethnographer, Moryana, in the minds of the pagans, was a goddess and beloved of the Sun (possibly

Dazhbog Dazhbog (), alternatively Daždźboh (), Dazhboh (), Dažbog, Dazhdbog, Dajbog, Daybog, Dabog, Dazibogu, or Dadźbóg, was one of the major gods of Slavic mythology, most likely a solar deity and possibly a cultural hero. He is one of several a ...

), and in one old tale she appears under the name of Tsarevna Anastasia. In this tale,

Ivan Tsarevich Ivan Tsarevich ( or Иван-царевич) is one of the main heroes of Russian folklore, usually a protagonist, often engaged in a struggle with Koschei. Along with Ivan the Fool, Ivan Tsarevich is a placeholder name, meaning "Prince Iva ...

overhears the conversation of the Sun with his mother, in which the Sun confesses that when Anastasia splashes water on him, she makes him blush with bashfulness. In the beautiful image of Moryana, fairy tales combine the ideas of the goddess

Zorya Zorya (Literal translation, lit. "Dawn"; also many variants: Zarya, Zaria, Zorza, Zirnytsia, Zaranitsa, Zoryushka, etc.) is a figure in Slavic folklore, a feminine personification of dawn, possibly goddess. Depending on tradition, she may appear ...

and the goddess of thunder. In another belief, Moryana was described as a stern, very tall woman with uncombed hair and wearing white clothes. She controlled the southeast winds at the mouth of the

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

, which posed a huge threat to sailors and fishermen on the northwest coast of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

. Slowly walking across the water, she brought disasters and devastation. Moryana's main enemy was Ded Shapka Dranaya ( ), the ruler of the northwest wind, but he almost always lost to the giantess. When they were colliding in battle, the waves of the sea were swirling and rising like a pillar to the sky before sinking the ships. It was also believed that Moryana and her sisters were waiting for the ships at the coastal cliffs, and, rising from the waves, rocked them so that they were wrecked. Sometimes they attacked people, and the only way to avoid the attack of the sea vodyanitsy was to pull out as much of their sea foam-like hair as possible.

References

{{Slavic mythology Female legendary creatures Russian folklore characters Slavic mythology Slavic folklore characters Slavic legendary creatures Sea and river goddesses Wind goddesses Water spirits Rusalki

Etymology

In folklore

See also

References