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 ...

, notsnitsa (, , , , , , , ), often referred in plural, is a nightmare 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 ...

that torments people and especially children at night. Other names for notsnitsa in

East Slavic languages The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of the Slavic languages, distinct from the West Slavic languages, West and South Slavic languages. East Slavic languages are currently spoken natively throughout Eastern Europe, ...

include kriksy, plaksy, plachky, plaksivicy, kriksy-varaksy, kriksy-plaksy, night hag, night maiden.

Folklore

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and Slovak folklore, notsnitsa are known to torment children at night, and a stone with a hole in the center is said to be a protection from nocnitsa. Mothers in some regions will place a knife in their children's cradles or draw a circle around the cradles with a knife for protection. This is possibly based on the belief that supernatural beings cannot touch iron. Nocnitsa is known to sit on one's chest, drawing "life energy". Because of this, many refer to nocnitsa as a type of vampire. Nocnitsa will often continue visiting. According to some folklore, night hags visit when one sleeps on one's back, with the hands on the chest (a position allegedly called "sleeping with the dead"). According to some folklore, night hags are made of shadow. She might also have a horrible screeching voice. She might allegedly also smell of the moss and dirt from her forest of origin. Nocnitsa is linked to the common apparition seen during the hypnagogic state of

sleep Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain Sensory nervous system, sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with th ...

In popular culture

* A creature, considered by the characters to be a nocnitsa, is depicted in a 2017 horror movie '' Slumber''. * There is a nocnitsa in the supernatural novel ''Night Terror'' by John Passarella. * In the book ''

Coraline ''Coraline'' () is a 2002 British dark fantasy horror children's novella by author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman started writing ''Coraline'' in 1990, and it was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for ...

'', by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

, a Nocnitsa poses as Coraline's alternate dimension mother. Coraline, however, has a stone with a hole in it which protects her. * It is often believed throughout the Middle East that this mythological creature came into people's homes at night, and would watch their children sleep if they did not behave. * In the Iron Druid Chronicles book ''Staked Protagonist'', Granuaile MacTiernan alongside Slavic Thunder God Perun and the Orisha Shango are attacked by a group of Nocnitsa.

References

Slavic legendary creatures Female legendary creatures Sleep in mythology and folklore {{Europe-myth-stub

Folklore

In popular culture

See also

References