The Ruins of the Agua Church Amid January Mists
In the breath of the mountains. A touch of the northern south—or the southern north.
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Inversion in Russian Folk Magic: Turning the Sacred Into the Profane
The Latin term inversion (from inversio, “turning upside down; reversal”) aptly conveys the concept—negation or turning meaning on its head, a symbolic “black magic” technique aimed at causing harm or casting curses. T...
How to Create a Demon Helper—or a Russian Peasant Homunculus
It is said that when the wind blows, and a hen’s tail fans upward, something strange may occur. In old folk belief, the devil—who often rides the whirlwind—might descend upon the hen and impregnate her. From this act, ...
Forest Sacrifice: Traces of a Wild Hunt in the Karelian Woods
A small forest drama: this is where a young moose was devoured by hungry wolves. We found the remains here, in this quiet Karelian bog, not far from our home.
A Visitor from Beyond: Ghost Stories from Russian Folklore
"My husband wanted to go to the mill on Easter, and I told him: ‘Wait, don’t go on a holy day.’ At first he listened, but then he changed his mind. Came back and said, ‘I must be the only man left who obeys his wife,’ ...
Danilovsky Prison Castle – Journey into Russia’s Forgotten Past
There will be no pretentious philosophizing or pseudo-scientific posturing in this post—only photographs of the abandoned Danilovsky Prison Castle. Built in the mid-19th century and used as a prison until the 1980s, it...
From Vepsian Folklore: How to See the Dead
On the 40th day after death, when the traditional remembrance feast—sorochiny—is held, a separate place is set at the table for the departed: a chair, food, and a spoon.
The Pskov Collective Farm Woman — Late Soviet Macabre and the Mother Russia Icon
While roaming the boundless northern expanses, we recently stumbled upon a true masterpiece of Soviet macabre — a towering sculpture of a collective farm woman, forgotten in the snow-covered fields of the Pskov region....
Columbarium
Unusual NecroRussia: a grim and abandoned columbarium—a repository of cremation urns—hidden within one of St. Petersburg’s cemeteries.
Temple of Love
In one of the northern settlements, we discovered what must be the harshest Temple of Love in the world.