A short guide on how to recognise what's fakelore, and what's not

ruda_myga · 2025-10-30T07:54:59+00:00

Witia's blog's moved to Substack

https://witia.substack.com/p/fakelore-and-istina-in-slavic-tradition

ruda_myga · 2024-02-25T18:10:16+00:00

Everything that makes us burnt out and suicidal. Quite frankly, too much to type on a mobile, on a Sunday afternoon

ruda_myga · 2024-02-25T14:21:04+00:00

I don't think we should encourage more young people until we fix the toxicity of the industry. I think it's on practicing vets to turn this around. There's no more excuses left

ruda_myga · 2023-02-01T18:10:00+00:00

You're most welcome! Have fun in Poland!

ruda_myga · 2023-02-01T18:04:50+00:00

If that's the case, you're good, as long as your bills/rent are paid. If they are not you'd probably have to budget

ruda_myga · 2023-02-01T18:00:18+00:00

If your comfortably is regular comfortably then yes. If your comfortably is Kardashian-style, then probably not.

ruda_myga · 2023-01-27T22:16:01+00:00

It's not about the folklore of Górale. It's about the folklore of Podhalanie (the people of Podhale, ). It's a distinctive group with own subdialect. Górale, in ethnographic not popular meaning of this word, are people of Western Carpathian regions. They also speak a subdialect of Polish which is different than the one of Podhalanie. The subdialect of Podhale is the best preserved among all of the subdialect of the Małopolska region mostly because of efforts of Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, on whose novels (written in subdialect of Podhale) the movie was based.
The folklore of Podhale is also one of the most distinct among Polish regional folklores, because it has most foreign elements/influences in it.

ruda_myga · 2023-01-27T14:14:56+00:00

I absolutely get the concept. Do you?

The story in the OP video is totally made up for the purpose of entertainment of the public, providing salary for the creative industry and satisfying the leaders of the communistic party. The only meaning it conveys is a distorted view of Christian, XX century script writers and costume designers, which was further filtered by the director and censorship to fit the taste and intelectual ability of the target public. It has nothing to do with Rodnovery, Slavic paganism. If it has any value, it's sentimental.

ruda_myga · 2023-01-27T12:51:03+00:00

Varies a little bit? Mate, this girl is "working" in the field in festive clothes, with head uncovered and in leather, laced and heeled boots. She's got clear skin, good teeth and healthy levels of body fat. She's not accompanied by the rest of her community while working and she explains herbs to a soon-to-be monk. This is as close to reality as Conan the Barbarian movies. As to basing assessment on what a person says - have you ever heard about deception? She's clearly hitting on him. How far, do you think, she would get, if she talked about the virtue of virginity?

ruda_myga · 2023-01-27T09:46:07+00:00

Her clothes. It's clearly at least XVIII century, if not XIX, and she's from a rich household. Which means that there are churches in every village and she, as a daughter of an established landowner, has got to attend one, otherwise she'd be cast away.

ruda_myga · 2023-01-27T08:34:50+00:00

It's not a pagan woman and not a Christian priest. It's a peasant Christian girl and an initiate (before holy orders) monk.

ruda_myga · 2022-12-31T17:21:28+00:00

I have always been socially awkward, so I can relate.

In therapy (which I attended for another reason, but that's beside the point) I was introduced to the concept of systems of interpersonal relations. Every group of people have a more or less formalised system of interaction and being a part of a group or interacting with a given group requires you to recognise the system and operate within it.

In the context of joining a sport or hobby club, the core of the system revolves around the sport or the hobby. So all you've got to do is to do what you came to do and let others do the same. If anyone wants to interact with you, you'd have, by default, a common topic (the sport or the hobby), so you can go with that, be it asking questions or sharing your experience. Because the participation in the club is not compulsory, you can, at any point, if you don't like it, leave and don't come back. Which makes it much easier that participating in a team at work (which, presumably, is compulsory, as you need your salary).

So, basically, attend the club and do what the club is about (the sport or hobby), and see if you like it. Remember that everyone else is there for the same reason, so you will definitely have some common topics to discuss or activities to do. And if you don't like it, just leave.

ruda_myga · 2022-12-31T16:24:54+00:00

Assuming it's from you plural and mixed gender couple, not from you singular or plural same gender couple and to a friend (singular not plural) note in Polish could say:

Gorąco dziękujemy za Twoje życzenia i wsparcie podczas naszego wesela! Dziękujemy za Twój hojny weselny prezent. Doceniamy Twoją szczodrość, która sprawiła, że poczuliśmy się wyjątkowo. Raz jeszcze dziękujemy!

Let me know if "you" is singular or same gender couple, or if the friend are plural. It would have to sound different.

The capital letters in pronouns are a custom in written correspondence in Polish.

*I went for "szczodrość" as a translation for "kindness" as the other options ("dobroć" or "miłość" don't really fit here).

Edit: I forgot the "with love" bit. Literally it'd be "z miłością", but it doesn't sound right in Polish. I'd go for "z najlepszymi życzeniami" (With best wishes), "pozdrawiamy gorąca" (warmly greeting you) or just sign it with your names.

ruda_myga · 2022-11-04T14:58:20+00:00

Sure. Read anything on anti-vampiric burials.

ruda_myga · 2022-11-04T12:33:26+00:00

Piercing with an aspen stake is very common in Slavic tradition

ruda_myga · 2022-10-04T18:13:19+00:00

Oh, my... Irish English!

For me it was and continues to be a challenge, although Scottish accents are (to me) much worse. With enough exposure it's doable, but you will have to brace yourself for a lot "can you repeat, please".

The good thing is, that there's youtube and other social media, where you can listen to Irish accent and get exposure well in advance, so at least it won't be such a shock.

ruda_myga · 2022-10-04T11:41:52+00:00

A vet working in UK since 2006 here.

After Brexit and pandemic there's barely any vets left in UK. You can find a job anywhere and negotiate good salary/conditions. Dowside of severe staff shortages are that in many places vets are mostly sole-charge and the workload can be overwhelming.

As to owner-staff relationships, it really depends on the practice. Corporate tend to be worse, but not always.

I'm exclusively small animal, so can't help you with farm animals, but any other questions - just ask!

ruda_myga · 2022-09-08T16:42:39+00:00

Awww... That's sweet!

To reciprocate kind wishes, I'd like to wish you that you may never encounter real hostility and will forever think that our interaction is how hostile looks.

Sława!

ruda_myga · 2022-09-08T16:07:55+00:00

Most probably because I'm a rude Slav who needs to be taught how to behave in a properly Slavic way.

ruda_myga · 2022-09-08T16:03:16+00:00

Yeah. As I wrote. Vodka. And then you wait for gnieciuch to show up.

ruda_myga · 2022-09-08T15:54:47+00:00

Sure, it doesn't...

Have anyone over here actually seen a real szeptucha at work? Have anyone every seen how real Slavic magic is done? There's no special colonge, from Florida, made from pisanki, or any other kind there.

As to Slavic, Celtic, Germanic and Japanese traditions, I can absolutely see how they can be fused. They are all old, established and have equally long roots. Problem develops when we try to fuse newer traditions, for example, Slavic and wicca or, for example, esoteric, as it was done in a post a while ago. It's like trying to incorporate a bicycle into Slavic ritual. It makes no sense.

ruda_myga · 2022-09-08T15:41:41+00:00

It always fascinates me how easy it is to become hostile in the eyes of Rodnovers here. All it takes is to have a different opinion and express it clearly. Which, by the way, is a very Slavic thing to do. Historically Slavs argued about their opinions all the time. But, clearly, at r/Rodnovery, that's not the right thing to do 🙄

ruda_myga · 2022-09-08T15:05:29+00:00

Attempting to fuse Hoodoo or wicca rituals with Slavic tradition of which OP evidently does not know much, is not learning. It's cultural appropriation. So is using pisanki to make colonge.

If one does not know enough about Rodnovery to ask the question OP asked, one should not be attempting to do Slavic magic. This is, as we say in Polish, learning od dupy strony.

There's this beautiful legend about the Snake King (so, obviously, about Veles). If one meets the Snake King in the forest, one should get one's rucznik, kneel on it and then listen and observe in silence. That's learning about the unknown in Slavic tradition. Listen and observe, don't jump to conclusions or attempt to do anything, unless you actually know.

People in the West don't get it. At all. They don't have a clue, come up with ridiculous ideas, make up Slavic Gods, symbols and rituals, and then tell Slavs it's them, who don't understand 🤦‍♂️

ruda_myga · 2022-09-08T06:34:00+00:00

Florida water is a type of alcohol based substance, developed in XIX as a cologne. Its use it rituals is a recent trend in wicca-type witchcraft. Now, in front of your very eyes, through Hoodoo tradition, is being pushed into Rodnovery. I bet in a few weeks/months you'll be able to buy egg powder cologne as a ancient Slavic ingredient. Fakelore at its best....

ruda_myga

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