{{Short description|Slavic fairies/demons of wilderness}} [[File:Malczewski Jacek Rusalki.jpg|thumb|''Boginka in Mullein'' by Jacek Malczewski (1888) ]] In Polish pagan mythology, '''boginki''' (singular: '''boginka'''){{efn|also bogunka, bogienka, bogina<ref>Jan Karłowicz, ''Słownik języka polskiego'', vol. 1, 1900, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zrIYAAAAIAAJ&dq=boginki&pg=PA183 p. 183]</ref>}} are female spirits or demons of wild nature: forest, field, mountains, or water (both of land and sea) and is often a personification of the forces of nature. The word literally means "minor goddess" in Polish and may be translated as "fairy" or "nymph". They were usually imagined as either ugly old hags or pretty young girls, usually naked. They are usually evil.<ref name=kamo>Kazimierz Moszyński, Kultura duchowa Słowian, 1929–1939.</ref>
Some ''boginki'' are rusałka, vila, dziwożona, łaskotałka, {{ill|mamuna (demon)|lt=mamuna|pl|Mamuna}}, or nawka. The term "boginka" started to be applied to any of them.
''Boginki'' (''mamuny'') can steal a human child and substitute them. Such substituted child is called ''boginiak'', ''płonek '', ''podrzutek'', or ''odmieniak'' ("changeling"). <ref>[http://www.muzeumkolbuszowa.pl/etnonotatnik/905-boginka-albo-mamuna http://www.muzeumkolbuszowa.pl/etnonotatnik/905-boginka-albo-mamuna]</ref> Often children with mental disabilities were thought to be such.<ref>Kamil Gołdowski, [https://www.slawoslaw.pl/mamuna-dziwozona/ Mamuna i jej odmieniec]</ref><!-- freaking google gave me an ethnological article on the subject, bit when I flipped search pages forward and backward int was gone-->
There are various folk means to fend off ''boginki''.<ref>Zbiór wiadomości do antropologii krajowéj, Volume 6, 1882[https://books.google.com/books?id=JR0xqo9zER4C&dq=boginki&pg=RA2-PA264 pp. 264, 265]</ref>
<gallery widths=250px> File:Jacek Malczewski - Topielec w uściskach dziwożony.jpg|"A drowned man in the arms of a ''dziwożona''", Jacek Malczewski File:Яцек Мальчевський. Одержимий.jpg|''Opętany'', Jacek Malczewski (a man bewitched by a boginka) File:Boginka_tatrza%C5%84ska.png|''Boginka tatrzańska'', Walery Eljasz Radzikowski (1905): a highlander meets boginka of Tatry </gallery>
==In modern culture== *Richard Wagner's opera ''Die Feen'' ("The Fairies") is translated as ''Boginki'' in Polish * {{ill|Czesław Białczyński|pl}} wrote a parody mythology book ''Stworze i Zdusze czyli Starosłowiańskie boginki i demony''<ref>[https://przekroj.org/swiat-ludzie/stworze-i-zdusze-czyli-staroslowianskie-boginki-i-demony/ Stworze i Zdusze, czyli starosłowiańskie boginki i demony to książka o mitologii starosłowiańskiej. Jest to rodzaj encyklopedii wierzeń, stanowiący wstęp do Wielkiej Mitologii Starosłowian. Proponujemy lekturę paru fragmentów prosto z naszego archiwum.], ''Przekroj'', 11 July, 2019</ref> ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Slavic demons Category:Female legendary creatures