Мифологический персонаж (з)мора / мара в традиции Южного Подлясья в польской и общеславянской перспективе

Abstract

The author analyzes the field materials collected during her expedition to the Southern Podlasie (Łuków-Siedlce-Garwolin region in Poland) in 2017 and sheds light on the local version of the supernatural being under the name “zmora”. In this territory zmora is endowed with a function (not typical in other Polish local traditions) to tangle and braid the horses’ manes. Meanwhile the informants put aside zmora’s traditional function (that is to suffocate a sleeping person) or do not mention it at all. Zmora from Southern Podlasie is regarded in a wider Polish and all-Slavic perspective. Such parameters as the supernatural being’s name, its origin, appearance, behavior, time of the activity, its functions as well as the amulets and preventive measures used against this evil spirit are examined. The author concludes that in the studied Slavic archaic area zmora has partially taken over the functions of the house spirits, that is reflected in the entire fragment of the mythological characters’ system associated linked to the domestic and economic (cattle-breeding) sphere.