Also called Stoicheio (singular), Spirits of place.
The tale
Every house, spring, river, tree, mountain and bridge was thought to have its stoicheio, a guardian spirit that could appear as a snake, a black dog, a cat, a bird or a person. The house snake was a lucky guardian not to be harmed. In the famous ballad of the Bridge of Arta, the bridge kept falling until the master builder's wife was built into its foundations and became its stoicheio.
When they are met
- When moving into a new house
- When building
- At springs, rivers and old trees
Staying on their good side
- Honey or sweets left at the threshold
- Bread
- Leaving the house snake undisturbed
- Fresh water
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- When you move house, greet the spirit of the place and ask to live there in peace.
- Leave harmless house snakes alone, as villagers did.
- Treat old trees and springs with respect.
What their tales teach
- Settling into a new home
- Respect for places
- Understanding Greek folk belief
Symbols
- snake
- black cat
- bridge
- old tree
The word comes from stoicheion, an element; the belief was widely recorded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Sources
- J. C. Lawson, Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion (1910)
- Charles Stewart, Demons and the Devil (1991)
More Greek folklore
- The Nymphs The spirits of spring, tree and mountain
- Medusa The Gorgon whose gaze turns flesh to stone
- Circe The enchantress of the island of Aeaea
- The Sirens The singers of the deadly shore
- Satyrs The wild revellers of Dionysus
- Kallikantzaroi The goblins of the Twelve Days
- The Neraides Fairy women of springs and hills
- Vrykolakas The restless dead of Greek villages