Domovoi
The domovoi is the household spirit of Slavic folk belief, 'the one of the house', who lives behind the stove or under the threshold and is counted as the founding ancestor of the kin; the folklorist Kagarov read him as a miniature Rod.
A household spirit (a being of one kin and one house), not a deity with a cult. Slavic religion has no native planetary, zodiac, tarot or sabbat system, so the Moon primary, the Cancer/Taurus/Virgo affinities, the tarot cards and Yule are modern Western and Neopagan overlays. The tradition's own account is primary - the ancestor of the household behind the stove, fed and consulted, moved house with the family - and the entire record is 19th-century ethnography, later than any medieval source.
Correspondences
Offerings
- Offerings
- PorridgeBreadMilkSaltA place at the table
Sacred timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- DomovoyDomowikDomovykDamavikGrandfather
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- The House LordGrandfatherKeeper of the Hearth
- Symbols
- HearthThresholdHag stoneBread and saltStove
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneFamiliar household addressAddressGrandfatherMaster of the HouseDomovoiRelationshipA kin member who happens to be a spiritWarningAn angry domovoi throttles you in your sleep and hides what you needResonanceHouseholders and those moving house
- Modern Practice
The practice is housekeeping as religion: porridge or bread left at the stove, the domovoi invited into the new house from the old hearth (or from the stove coals carried across), salt at the threshold, and no shouting or cursing in the house. He is asked for the house's luck and told when the family moves.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- HouseholdHearthAncestorsProtectionProsperityDomestic orderThreshold
- Mythology Summary
The domovoi is the household spirit of Slavic folk belief, 'the one of the house', who lives behind the stove or under the threshold and is counted as the founding ancestor of the kin; the folklorist Kagarov read him as a miniature Rod. He is known from 19th-century ethnographic collection (Dal, Afanasyev) rather than from any medieval text, and he has a female counterpart, the domania, with cousins in the dvorovoi (yard), bannik (bathhouse) and kikimora. He is a spirit of one household, not a god of a pantheon: no temple, no priesthood, and no proper name of his own.
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsBrownRedGoldWhiteScentsBaking breadCedarPine resinMetalsIronCopperAnimalsCatRoosterSnake
One of 3,120 entries in the Grimoire — the whole library, every cross-reference, is free to take. Take the whole thing Is it wrong somewhere?
Referenced by 0
Nothing in the library points at this entry yet.
More in Deities
The entries either side of this one in the same catalogue.
All of Deities →New entries, when they land
Occasional notes when a section of the grimoire is added or revised. No account, no tracking across sites, and one line to leave.