Lakanica

Lakanica is type of supernatural being from traditional Polish folklore who is a spirit of the fields or meadows. These are reputed to be shy and elusive creatures who can appear in human female form.

Similarity to the rusalki

Scholar Alanna Muniz notes the range of such creatures in stories from western Slavic cultures that share a common non-hierarchical religion. A Lakanica was similar to other types ovily/rusalki, spirits who “are believed to reside in or near lakes, springs, rivers, and marshes, although they are also connected to fields, trees, and woods in some locations.”^[1]^[2]

Depiction in fiction

A Lakanica and other mythological characters play a role in the 21st century novel The Dollmaker of Kraków, set before and during World War II.^[3]

References

^ Alanna Muniz, The Survival of the Neolithic Goddess in Polish Folklore, Myth, and Tradition. Master of Arts in Women’s Spirituality, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Palo Alto, CA. 2010.
^ Barber, Elizabeth J. W. “On the Origins of the vily/rusalki.” Varia on the Indo-European Past: Papers in Memory of Marija Gimbutas (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Ser. 19). Ed. Miriam Robbins Dexter and Edgar C. Polomé. Washington D.C.: Study of Man, 1997.
^ R. M. Romero, The Dollmaker of Kraków. Delacorte Press. 2017.

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[1] Alanna Muniz, The Survival of the Neolithic Goddess in Polish Folklore, Myth, and Tradition. Master of Arts in Women’s Spirituality, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Palo Alto, CA. 2010.

[2] Barber, Elizabeth J. W. “On the Origins of the vily/rusalki.” Varia on the Indo-European Past: Papers in Memory of Marija Gimbutas (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Ser. 19). Ed. Miriam Robbins Dexter and Edgar C. Polomé. Washington D.C.: Study of Man, 1997.

[3] R. M. Romero, The Dollmaker of Kraków. Delacorte Press. 2017.

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