page_title: Slavic water spirits
section_title: Vila
hierarchical_section_title: Slavic water spirits / Types of water goddesses / Vila
context_page_description: In Slavic paganism there are a variety of female tutelary spirits associated with water. They have been compared to the Greek Nymphs, and they may be either white or black. They may be called Boginka literally "little goddess", Navia, Rusalka, and Vila.
  The Proto-Slavic root *navь-, which forms one of the names for these beings, means "dead", as these minor goddesses are conceived as the spirits of dead children or young women. They are represented as half-naked beautiful girls with long hair, but in the South Slavic tradition also as birds who soar in the depths of the skies. They live in waters, woods and steppes, and they giggle, sing, play music and clap their hands. They are so beautiful that they bewitch young men and might bring them to death by drawing them into deep water.
context_section_description: Vila (pl. Vily) are another type of minor goddesses, already identified as Nymphs by the Greek historian Procopius; their name comes from the same root as the name of Veles. They are described as beautiful, eternally young, dressed in white, with eyes flashing like thunders, and provided with wings. They live in the clouds, in mountain woods or in the waters. They are well-disposed towards men, and they are able to turn themselves into horses, wolves, snakes, falcons and swans. The cult of the Vilas was still practised among South Slavs in the early twentieth century, with offerings of fruits and flowers in caves, cakes near wells, and ribbons hanged to the branches of trees.
caption: Vilas (Le Villi, 1906) as represented by Bartolomeo Giuliano.
exif: {}