Wikipedysta:Monika Ign/brudnopis
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Mamuna, mamona (also: dziwożona, boginka) – a female demon which has its origins in the Slavic mythology.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Dziwozona_-_Jan_Styfi_%281864%29.jpg/640px-Dziwozona_-_Jan_Styfi_%281864%29.jpg)
Etymology and regionalisms
Name "mamuna" comes from the Polish word "mamić, omamiać"[1] (Eng. deceive, delude). There are many names which were noted by the ethnographers and linguists. For instance, in małopolska (area in the south of Poland) people used names such as: mamuny, mamony, mamóny, mamonie, manie[1] whereas in Podkarpacie and Silesia the name mamuny[2][3] was used.
The word mamuna was often used interchangeably with words dziwożonaand boginka which are attributable with the belief in rusałka, depending on the region and sources[4].
The creature was introduced in various stories under the names such as: boginka, czarcicha, dekla, dziwożona, lanucha, oćwiara, odmienica, osinauczycha, paluba, paniuncia, placzka, siubiela, zamianica[5].
Appearance and way of acting
It was believed that mamuna was a spirit of a woman who had died being pregnant or in childbirth[6]. There was not only one, general description of their appearance. They were depicted as:
- Old women having hair all over the body[7]
- Half woman, half-animal, wild women/wives (used in Slovakia and Czech Republic); it may be associated with dziwożona,
- Beautiful , naked or dressed women,
- Kind of a witch (in the area of Pieniny)[8]
- Forest demons (Silesia)[3]
Demons used to appear near the rivers doing the laundry, noisily pounding with the washing bats[2], whereas in other places she lived in caverns.
Mamuna used to bother pregnant women and those in labor, she could kidnap or replace a newborn child. She could also replace the child in the mother's womb with her own child. Replacing the child by mamuna was probably used to explain the defectiveness of the child[9][6].
Slovak mamuna used to steal the food from the woodsmen[7] and those living in the Pieniny mountains she used to steal the green peas[8]. There was a belief in the Łódź area that mamuna would kidnap children from the fields at noon[10]. People who lived in Pieniny mountains used to believe that mamuna appears only during the winter and on a new moon. They would then catch someone who had sinned that day and they used to drag him through cemeteries until he is dead[8].
Protection methods
Artifacts:
- a red ribbon tied on the newborn child's hand[11]
- red hat on the child's head which protected it from the moonlight[12].
Protection plants:
- Chicory - having the house and household members fumigated with this plant had a protective power[2].
- Hypericum perforatum - appears in the beliefs where mamuna was associated with dziwożona or boginka; captured and kept in house flower of the plant also had a protective power[13][7].
Other:
- in the case of the child replacement, it was necessary to beat the child with f.e. 3 twigs which grew the same year and wait for mamuna's return with a human child[14]
See also
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[[wikt:Szablon:Mamuna|Zobacz hasło Szablon:Mamuna w Wikisłowniku]] |
- Z tym tematem związane są kategorie: Folklore, Slavic demons.