Also called Navka, Niavka, Mavky.
Their story
In Ukrainian folklore mavky are the spirits of girls who died young or children who died unbaptised. They look like beautiful maidens from the front, but have no back, so that their inner organs can be seen. They dance in the forest in spring and can tickle young men to death. Lesya Ukrainka's play "The Forest Song" (1911) turned the mavka into a gentle forest spirit who falls in love with a human.
Best times to give to them
- Rusalka week and Semik
- Kupala Night
- the Thursday of Mavka's Easter (Navskyi Velykden)
What they like being given
- embroidered cloth or thread hung in a tree
- bread
- eggshells or Easter egg pieces set on water
How to honour them
- Remember children who died young at the spring festivals of the dead.
- Walk the woods respectfully and do not stay alone there after dark in early summer.
How they can help you
- grief for lost children
- respect for the wild
- spring celebration
Symbols
- long loose hair
- a hollow back (showing no organs)
- wreaths
- forest flowers
Sources
- Volodymyr Hnatiuk, Znadoby do ukrainskoi demonolohii (1912)
- Lesya Ukrainka, Lisova pisnia (The Forest Song, 1911)
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
- 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
- Alkonost The bird of joy