Also called Vulkodlak, Volkodlak, Wilkołak, Vlkodlak, Kudlak.
The tale
The name means "wolf-haired". Among the South Slavs the vukodlak was both a werewolf and a revenant: a dead person who rose from the grave, sometimes in wolf form, to attack the living. Vuk Karadžić described the belief in his dictionary of 1818 and noted that in some places the word meant the same as vampire. In some Serbian and Bulgarian lore vukodlaks also ate the moon or sun during eclipses. In Polish the related wilkołak is a person turned into a wolf.
When they are met
- Dziady
- winter nights
Staying on their good side
- none; folk practice was protective, not devotional
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Read the tales as expressions of fear of wolves, disease and death in hard times.
- Honour the wolf itself as an animal that deserves protection today.
What their tales teach
- understanding shape-shifter lore
- the wild in human nature
- the history of fear
Symbols
- a wolf
- wolf pelt
- the full moon
- hawthorn
Sources
- Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, Srpski rječnik (1818)
- Š. Kulišić, P. Ž. Petrović and N. Pantelić, Srpski mitološki rečnik (1970)
More Slavic folklore
- Baba Yaga The witch in the hut on hen's legs
- Domovoi The grandfather who lives behind the stove
- Leshy The master of the forest
- Rusalka The maiden of river and birch
- Kikimora The spinner in the dark corner
- Koschei the Deathless The sorcerer whose death is hidden
- Kostroma The straw maiden of spring and summer
- Dodola The rain-bringing girl of summer