Top 10 Russian legends (with explanation and meaning)

A compilation of Russian legends, stories that tell us about the folklore of the largest country.

To talk about Russia is to talk about the country with the largest geographical extension in the world, which has been the scene of many important events throughout time.

It is a country with a long history, which has its own myths, legends and customs. That is why throughout this article we are going to talk about a small selection of myths, legends and customs. a small selection of the best-known Russian myths, tales and legends..

10 interesting Russian legends

Below we show you a series of ten legends, myths and tales from Russia, some of which are also shared by other Slavic peoples.

1. The legend of the Matrioshka

Legend has it that once upon a time a humble carpenter named Serguei who needed wood to work with.. One day when he was having difficulties to find a valid wood, he found a perfect log which he took home.

Serguei did not know what to do with it, until one day the idea of making a doll came to his mind. He made it with so much love and so beautiful that after finishing it he did not want to sell it, and gave it the name of Matrioshka. The young man greeted his creation every day, but one day, surprisingly, it greeted him back.

Little by little they established a good relationship and communication, but one day the doll told him how sad she was because all the creatures had children, except her. The carpenter told her that if she wanted her, she should take the wood out of her, which she accepted.

Serguei made a smaller copy, which he called Trioska. But Eventually Trioska also wanted to have children, so with part of her wood she made another, smaller version: Oska. The situation was repeated with her, so Serguei would make one more doll, this time with a moustache and with a masculine aspect so that she would not have a maternal instinct. He would name the latter Ka. Then, he put each one of the dolls inside its mother. Days later, however, and to Serguei's despair, Matrioshka and all her offspring left and disappeared without further ado.

2. Baba Yaga

One of the best-known creatures of Russian and Slavic legends is the witch Baba Yaga, an old woman (although other versions consider her a goddess) who inhabits the forests. Legend has it that this being, who is said to feed on children, has iron teeth with which she can easily tear flesh and blood..

However, some of its representations are not always negative. It is said to guard the waters of life and death, and dwells in a house which moves with huge duck legs and whose palisade can be seen numerous human skulls. She also rejuvenates every time she drinks tea made with blue roses, rewarding those who bring them to her. She is considered the representative of the boundary between life and death..

3. The ghost of Zhuzha

A relatively recent Russian legend, centered in Moscow, tells of love and death.

The legend tells of Zhuzha, a woman who for years had been in love with a millionaire.. One day, while walking along Kuznetski Most, she heard a boy delivering newspapers shouting that her beloved had taken his life. Just as she got out of her carriage and went to look for more information, she was run over and died.

However, days passed and the boy who sold the newspapers turned up dead and strangled with a woman's stocking, the one Zhuzha was wearing on the day of his death. Soon after, those who had published the supposed death of the millionaire also died. Since then there have been several accounts of a ghost haunting Kuznetski Most in Moscow. It is said about those who see it that they may possibly have the loss of a close male person.

4. The legend of the Snow Lady

Like many other peoples who face freezing temperatures, the Russians also have a legend that refers to the cold. In their case it also refers to infidelity and betrayal. It is the legend of Sgroya.

This apparently young and attractive woman is an angry spirit who hates the male gender due to the deceit she suffered from her partner, although in other versions she is a deity who punishes acts of infidelity.

Sgroya appears on the roads offering her attentions to the men who cross her path, seducing them. If they accept her invitations and kiss her, she will turn into an ice floe and drive her victim to death by freezing, or else she will drive him mad.

5. The legend of the city of Kitezh

Some Russian legends tell us about the invasion suffered in ancient times by the Mongols. One of them refers to the disappearance of the city of Kitezh.

According to the legend, Prince Vladimir founded two cities, one called Maly Kitezh and the other Bolshoi Kitezh.. However, the Mongols invaded the first of them, making prisoners during the process who ended up confessing how to get to the second.

Once they arrived to its vicinity they contemplated that this city did not have any wall or defensive structure, so they attacked immediately. The desperate citizens prayed for their salvation. However, before the assailants reached the city, it was engulfed by the waters, plunging into Lake Svetloyar and saving it from the attack, as well as making it invisible. Since then it is said that only the purest can find this city.

6. Prince Ivan and Koschei the Immortal

Legend has it that Prince Ivan Tsarevitch promised his parents, before dying, that he would look for a husband for his three sisters. They are sought after by the Eagle, the Hawk and the Raven, with whom they end up marrying and going to live.

As time goes by, the prince, alone, decides to set out on a journey to visit his sisters and brothers-in-law. On his way, he encounters the remains of an annihilated army, which had fallen to the power of the which had fallen before the power of the warrior Marya Morevna. The prince met the woman, fell in love and eventually married her and went to live in her home.

However, in time a war broke out in which Marya Morevna decided to participate, leaving the prince in her house with the warning not to open her closet as there is a secret in it that must remain there. However, the prince, curious, decided to open the cabinet. In it he found a man in chains named Koschei, who asked him for water. After giving it to him, he suddenly He suddenly broke his chains and magically vanished, after which he kidnapped the prince's wife..

The prince decides to go in search of her, passing on his way through the houses of his sisters and brothers-in-law and leaving behind various objects. He found Koschei's castle and took his beloved with him, but was caught by the sorcerer and his swift horse. The sorcerer returns to take Marya Morevna, forgiving the prince since he had quenched his thirst when he was in chains. The prince repeated the rescue twice more, always being caught by the sorcerer, and on the next occasion the sorcerer ended up dismembering him and throwing him into the sea.

However, Ivan's brothers-in-law noticed that the silver objects he left them were darkened, to which they went and subsequently managed to bring him back to life thanks to the waters of life and death. The prince then went to Baba Yaga to ask her to grant him a horse faster than Koschei's, to which the witch decided that if he managed to watch over his mares for three days she would give it to him, but otherwise she would kill him. Koschei succeeded, with the help of several animals (which had promised to help him if he did not eat them), in spite of the fact that the witch had tricked him. However, she wanted to kill him anyway, which caused Ivan to steal the horse and flee.

Obtained the steed, Ivan rescues his wife and during the escape he kills Koschei with a blow from his horse. After that he dismembers the body and sets fire to the pieces. Once free, the couple was able to return home and live happily.

7. The seven giants of the Urals

One of the natural wonders of Russia is Man-Pupu-Nyor, which also has its own legend.

Legend has it that the Mansi people used to live in these mountains.. The leader of the village had two children, one of whom was a girl who fell in love with one of the giants of the area, named Torev. He asked her father for her hand, but the father refused.

Furious, the giant called five brothers and together with them tried to kidnap the girl and began to attack the village. The inhabitants fled, asking the spirits for help. The next day the other of the leader's sons commanded a group of warriors to confront them, the young man carrying a magical sword bestowed by the spirits and a shield.

The young man raised the sword, and from it came a light that turned the six giants to stone, but by contrast its use implied that its bearer would also do so. This explains why there are seven observable mounds in the Urals..

8. The legend of the ghost bride

It is likely that many of the readers of this article have seen the movie "The Corpse Bride" by Tim Burton. What many will probably not know is that its story is largely based on a Russian legend or fairy tale. And this in turn is based on the murders of Jewish women on their way to their wedding. already dressed in bridal attire, as well as the fact that there was a tradition of burying the dead in the clothes in which they had died (whereby these murdered women were buried in their wedding dresses).

Legend has it that one day a young man who was about to get married traveled with a friend to the village where his future wife was, and came across a branch that resembled a finger. The young man and his friend playfully placed the engagement ring on the branch and subsequently made the vows and rehearsed the wedding dances. Suddenly, the earth moved revealing that the branch at the bottom was a finger, which was part of a corpse dressed as a bride.

This corpse looked at them expectantly and, observing that they had celebrated the wedding, said that he wanted to claim his rights as a bride, said that she wanted to claim her rights as a wife. Both fled to the village of the bride-to-be, going to the rabbis to ask them if the marriage was valid. While the rabbis were debating, the dead woman came to them and returned to claim her husband.

At this the man's living bride also arrived, who then learned of the situation and wept at the possible loss of her partner and children. Shortly thereafter the rabbis came out, determining that the wedding was valid, but also that the dead could not claim the living. It was now the corpse bride who wept and sobbed over her inability to start a family.

But the living bride, taking pity, approached and embraced her, promising her that she would live her dream and have many children who would be theirs as well as her husband's. This reassured the spirit, who was reassured by the spirit that the dead bride was not able to claim the living, but that the dead could not claim the living. This reassured the spirit, which ended up resting peacefully and happily with the couple. and happy at the same time that the couple was able to remarry and eventually have offspring, to whom they would tell the story of the spirit.

9. Buyan Island

The idea of an earthly paradise is not exclusive to one or two religions but is shared by a large number of them, including Russians and other Slavs.

In this regard, one of the best known legends is that of Buyan Island. This island serves as a shelter for the sun and the winds, as well as for travelers.. In addition we can also find on this island the healing waters generated thanks to the Alaturi stone and the maiden Zarya, which sews the wounds.

Koschei the Immortal, who separated his soul from his soul, also keeps his soul on the island.who separated his soul from his body and placed it in a needle inside an egg which is inside a plate that is inside a rabbit, which in turn is in a trunk that is buried in a tree trunk. If someone gets hold of this egg or needle, he has almost absolute power over the sorcerer, since if he were to be harmed Koschei would die.

10. The legend of Sadko

One of the Russian legends that refer to a historical period even before the creation of Kiev is the Sadko bylina, an ancient Russian epic and usually transmitted in verse.

The story tells how a young guslar (musician who plays the gusli, an ancient traditional Russian instrument) from Novgorod made his living playing, which he did with great skill. However, there came a time when other musicians arrived in the area and little by little Sadko began to lose clients, to the point of no longer being hired. One day, saddened by his poverty and the fact that no one was hiring him, he began to play on the shores of Lake Ilmen..

After going several times to play on the Ilmen, one day the god of the waters of the lake appeared to him. He told him that he had heard him play and wanted to help him in his difficult situation. He suggested that the next time he went to the city and he would be called to work, he had to make sure that there were fish with gold fins in the lakeand bet with the merchants that they did exist. The young man did so, and to everyone's surprise, when the young man and those who had bet against him set sail in a boat to fish, they found that, indeed, when they retrieved the nets, they managed to catch a great quantity of gold fish.

With the fish and the winnings from the bet, the young man soon became a merchant of great wealth. However, one night when he was returning by boat, the young man played his music again. The waters churned, raging and about to sink the ship. Sadko thought that the god of the waters wanted him to share his earnings (thanks to him earned), so he threw in several barrels of wealth to no effect. The sailors said that perhaps the god wanted a human sacrifice.and after drawing lots several times it was always Sadko's turn.

The young man jumped into the water and met the god, who wanted him to play for him in his palace. There, Sadko's music made the giant dance with great frenzy. But one day an old man came to the palace while the young man was playing, and pointed out to him that the power of the god's dance was provoking him to dance. the power of the god's dancing was causing great tidal waves.. Sadko decided to stop playing to avoid it, breaking the strings as a way of justifying himself.

He then asked the god to return to his land, to which the god eventually gave in. In some versions the god of the lake tries to offer him a wife to stay, to which, as the old man warned him, he can get away by choosing the last and youngest of his daughters, with whom he did not consummate and after which the deity released him from his service.