Also called Bolotnyi, Bolotnitsa (female form).
Their story
In Russian folk belief the bolotnik, a cousin of the vodyanoy and leshy, lived in swamps and bogs. He could lure travellers off safe ground with lights and voices and drag them down into the mire. His female counterpart, the bolotnitsa, might sit on the water's edge weeping to draw people close.
Best times to give to them
- spring and autumn, when marshes are wettest
What they like being given
- bread left at the edge of a marsh
- care and good sense when walking wetlands
How to honour them
- Stick to marked paths in wetlands and respect them as fragile places.
- Support wetland conservation as a modern offering.
How they can help you
- safety outdoors
- respect for wetlands
- finding your way
Symbols
- marsh lights
- moss and reeds
- a hidden hand beneath the water
Less widely recorded than the vodyanoy and leshy.
Sources
- S. V. Maksimov, Nechistaia, nevedomaia i krestnaia sila (1903)
- Linda J. Ivanits, Russian Folk Belief
More Slavic beings
- Div The crying omen in the tree-top
- Vodyanoy The old man of the millpond
- Polevik The spirit of the fields
- Poludnitsa Lady Midday of the harvest fields
- Mavka Hollow-backed maiden of the Ukrainian woods
- Mora The night-mare who sits on the chest
- Zmey Gorynych Many-headed dragon of the byliny
- Firebird The glowing bird of the golden apples