In the Russian arts and crafts (books, paintings of cathedrals, etc.) there is sometimes a strange but attractive image of a bird with a face and hands of a virgin - a symbol of light sadness. The character also appears in legends and bears the name Alkonost. Few people know what the authors have invested in this image and where this image came from.
Who is an alkonist?
Alkonost is a fabulous paradise bird, the first description of which appeared in Russia in the book miniature of the 12th century - the Yuryev Gospel. The image came from ancient mythology: the legend of the beautiful Alcyone, turned by the gods into a sea kingbird's kingfisher. In translation from the ancient Greek kingfisher sounds like "alkion", but the book-writers distorted the name unusual for the ear. As a result of incorrect interpretations, the sea bird has become a household name. Many old tales tell about her, and more often legends are intertwined with another mythical bird - Sirin.
What is the difference between Sirin and Alkonost?
Alkonost and Sirin are the keepers of the tree of life, the heroine of folk tales. According to the legend, sweet-maided virgins arrive in the apple orchard in the morning for the harvest festival Apple saved. The first appears Sirin, she is sad and crying. The second female bird laughs, looks like a dew from the wings of the dew and gives the fruit healing power. Sirin and Alkonost are birds of joy and sorrow, this is the main difference between them, but there are others:
- In some legends, Sirin acquires a negative meaning and is the messenger of the dark world. A follower of Alkion is a resident of the Slavic paradise of Iria.
- The virgin of joy does not bring evil to people, only lures, whereas her friend was sometimes equated with sea Sirens, intoxicating and killing travelers.
Bird Alkonost in Slavic Mythology
Slavic legends about a bird with a human face, whose voice is sweet as love, is a kind of interpretation of the tales of the Greek Alcyone. The image that came from the West fell in love with the Russian people, because they considered themselves inseparable from the animal world. The miraculous winged maiden Alkonost in Slavic mythology is endowed with interesting features:
- its plumage is light, it casts with the blue color of the sky or the rainbow;
- around the head - a halo or crown;
- she controls the weather;
- hearing the singing of a virgin, you can forget everything in the world, but it comforts;
- in the description of Alkonost, the Efrat river is sometimes mentioned, as its habitat, and in some tales - the island of Buyan.
Alkonost is a legend
Long years of the legend about the feathered goddess changed and acquired new details. In the ancient encyclopedia "Shestodnev" of the Exarch of Bulgaria, it was simply mentioned that she nested on the seashore and hatches the nestlings in the midst of winter. Later the legend was supplemented with the following facts:
- Bird Alkonost bears golden eggs - first immerses to the bottom of the sea, and then sits not ashore for a week.
- While the masonry is in the water, the sea is full of calm. The weather is calm, although the cold season.
- Mother does not look away from her eggs until the chicks hatch.
- If the embryo is not present in the egg, it emerges from the bottom of the sea to the surface, but does not deteriorate. He is hung in the church under a chandelier.
How to call a bird Alkonost?
According to legend, the goddess Alkonost singing heals and brings happiness to the dwelling, so people have repeatedly tried to entice her and force her to use the benefits she provides. But she does not go to hand, so the hunters went to the trick: they abducted a carefully guarded egg from the fair maiden, expecting that she would go in search of him and fall into a trap. There were beliefs that meeting a legendary virgin does not pass for a person without a trace - he finds calm and bliss, but always returns to the place where the meeting happened.
Female bird Alkonost - the image is amazing and multifaceted. It appears in many legends, like the guardian of paradise, sitting on the gates, or the incarnation of the sun god Horus. On ancient pre-Christian drawings, popular prints, the virgin meets often. From the Middle Ages the character came in our time: an amazing feathered creation is mentioned in the poems of Blok and Vysotsky, and the most vivid image of both virgins - light and dark (Sirin) belongs to Viktor Vasnetsov. The painting "Songs of Joy and Sorrow" is a living embodiment of the image that came from Greece.