Visioner Trail of Representations on Flying Snakes

Abstract

There is a close relationship of the memorates about flying serpents with special psychological states and visions. In southern Slavs, they are caused by mental illness and states of religious trance. In the north of the Slavic area, where the action of flying serpents goes mainly to widows, some of these phenomena find parallels in modern urban culture and the symptoms of acute grief, in which a person who has lost a relative can observe hallucinations with the participation of the deceased. Despite the obvious similarities between the plots in which the flying serpent in a form of dead spouse or the dead person visit the widow, the situation in which the form of the deceased is not related to the deceased itself requires further explanation. Especially since the Udmurt mythology, which does not know the fiery serpent, demonstrates exactly the same situation. The mediation of spirits could be connected with the belief in the impenetrability of the border between the afterlife and the world of the living. But it is not clear how such psychological phenomena in the past were mythologized. The similar to the South Slavic ideas about the relationship of the serpent with the obsessed and “demonic games” is noticed to be rare, but still occur in East Slavic folklore. It can be assumed that initially the appearance of a flying serpent was associated with the erotic techniques of ecstasy, and then with its help began to comprehend mental illness and the manifestations of strong feelings from the loss of a close person.

Keywords:

acute grief, hallucinations, flying serpent, fire serpent, religious trance, undead