Domovoy

The domovoy is the guardian spirit of the household, one to each home. He is described as a small old man covered in hair, often wearing the face of the master of the house; he lives behind the stove, under the threshold or in the attic, and at night he can be heard shuffling and sighing. In a peaceful house he watches the livestock and keeps guard, and he dotes on horses above all: a horse he favours has its mane plaited and its manger filled, while one whose colour displeases him is ridden and tormented all night until it stands sweating and trembling.

He detests quarrels, foul language and idleness, and when offended he makes himself felt: knocking in the walls, hiding things, pressing on a sleeper's chest — the nightmare was called "the domovoy's weight." The housewife left a saucer of porridge, bread and salt by the stove to appease him. A move to a new house required a formal invitation: carrying embers or ash from the old stove, or bread and salt, the family recited "Grandfather Domovoy, come with us," for otherwise he would stay weeping in the empty house and the new one would know no peace. His moaning at night foretold misfortune, and if his hand brushed a sleeper, a warm palm meant luck, a cold damp one meant grief.

The Orthodox Church counted him among the unclean spirits, yet his offerings never ceased. In 1819 Pushkin addressed a short poem "To the Domovoy," asking the unseen protector to watch over his country estate; in colloquial Russian, an unexplained creak in the house is still jokingly blamed on the domovoy.