Bannik: Cruel bath spirit (4 photos). Bannik in Rus' was considered dangerous Bannik Slavic mythology

As you know, the pantheon of gods of a particular nation is a reflection of its religious views, tribal and communal relations, between the surrounding world and any individual person.

The ancient Slavs considered themselves descendants of their gods and sought to follow their laws throughout their lives. The Slavic god was not just a punishing hand or a Creator. This was an ally who could help, show the right path, and also forgive.

Next to the person

All Slavic gods- Svarog, Perun, Yarila - belonged to the same “clan”, and each of them had their own sphere, for which one or another god was responsible. But in addition to the gods themselves, the highest beings, in the Old Slavic picture of the world there were also other characters who were mythical creatures, but were not included in the pantheon.

They were not higher power, and their “competence” did not include such large-scale issues as, for example, nature or a rich harvest. These creatures lived next to man and influenced him. daily life, both positive and, of course, negative. Fairy tales are still told about them - they are the brownie, the goblin, the merman, the kikimora and other recognizable characters.

Among these creatures, such a character deserves special attention as banner. The character is not as famous as, say, a merman, but also very interesting.

As you might guess, this spirit lived in the bathhouse. Our ancestors imagined him in the form of a small, half-naked old man, covered with leaves from a bath broom, with long hair and a beard.

According to Slavic beliefs, the bannik usually lived behind the stove and was mainly engaged in frightening the bathhouse visitors and burning them with boiling water. It was also believed to be capable of steaming a person to death, skinning them, or strangling them.

Bath rituals

Bannik never enjoyed much favor among our ancestors. Since ancient times, despite its healing properties, the bathhouse was considered an ominous place. No one dared to enter the bathhouse after dark, and even after the Baptism of Rus', superstitious people never took off their pectoral crosses in it. When building a bathhouse, they were also often guided by superstitious considerations - they preferred to build it as far as possible from the hut.

There were also certain rules for going to the bathhouse. For example, according to the rules, men steamed first, then women. And pregnant women were under no circumstances allowed to go to the bathhouse without the supervision of their husbands.

It was strictly forbidden to steam in someone else's steam - everyone had to light the stove for themselves. And, of course, in order not to anger the bannik, at the end of all water procedures it was necessary to leave a gift for him (like a saucer of milk for a brownie) - a small birch broom and a bowl of warm water or a piece of rye bread with salt.

A place for fortune telling

It is curious that the main enemy of the bannik is the brownie. It is believed that if a bathhouse owner attacks you, then you should call him for help - run out of the bathhouse backwards and shout: “Father, help me out!” At the same time, the bannik willingly makes friends with other spirits hostile to humans and often invites them to take a steam bath and swim.

However, it is possible that the image of the banner has simply changed over time in a negative direction. After the adoption of Christianity in Rus', the perception of pagan deities almost completely changed. Characters such as the brownie or the bannik became the personification of demonic and hostile forces.

Due to the fact that the bathhouse was considered a mysterious place where spirits live, it was often used for fortune telling and divination. One of the oldest “bathhouse” fortune telling was that a girl should stand in the doorway of the bathhouse and lift her skirt.

Then you need to call your betrothed and ask him to touch himself. If a girl feels the touch of a furry paw, then it is believed that she future husband will be rich, if bare hand - then poor, if wet - then the husband will be a drunkard, and if rough - then this means that her husband will have a harsh character.

Don't go shower after midnight

Of course, there are a huge number of legends and scary stories, associated with the bannik, or rather, with its rules, which other unfortunate people happened to break.

One of these stories tells of five girls who, breaking the ban, went to the bathhouse after midnight. One of the girls took her little sister with her. After bathing, the girls sat down at the table to have dinner, when suddenly someone knocked on the door.

Five handsome young people stood on the threshold, saying that they had come a long way and, seeing the light in the window, decided to come in and ask for some food. The girls invited the travelers to the table to share dinner with them, and at that time a little girl, the sister of one of the girls, dropped a spoon on the floor. The girl followed her under the table and saw that their guests had cow hooves instead of legs.

The fact that the girl was able to recognize evil spirits in strangers is explained by the fact that a child under seven years old is sinless and is able to see what a sinner, an adult, cannot see. The girl persuaded her older sister to leave the bathhouse and leave the strangers... In the morning it became clear that the night guests really turned out to be devils - the bathhouse went underground, dragging four girls with it.

And despite the fact that in this story the devils play the role of evil spirits, their appearance is determined precisely by the violation of the bannik ban - not to go steaming after dark.

Another story is related to the violation of the same prohibition.

Once upon a time there lived two sisters with their old aunt. One of the sisters was expecting a child, and eventually gave birth to a boy, but she herself died during childbirth. The younger sister and aunt took the child under their wing. And then one day these women with a baby decided to go to the bathhouse, but they stayed up late and went only after midnight.

The sister, feeling strangely uneasy at the same time, decided to lock the door to the bathhouse. As soon as the women undressed and began to wash, there was a knock on the window. They saw a large black cat in the window, which, however, soon disappeared from sight.

Then there was the sound of claws scraping on the door, on the walls, and there was a stomping sound on the roof. Someone was furiously knocking on the walls and windows, breaking in. These sounds were heard until the morning, but immediately stopped after the first roosters.

After waiting for some time, the women ran home with the child in their arms. Everything in their hut was turned upside down. . . After some time, the women returned to the bathhouse, and what they saw amazed them: its walls were scratched, there were traces of giant claws everywhere, blood and hoof marks were visible on the ground...

And on the roof sat the same black cat that was looking into their window. This cat turned out to be a bannik who was expecting guests that night - it was believed that he was able to take the form of a cat, dog or hare. But, one way or another, he did not give those women offense and actually saved them from the devils who had already sensed their prey.

Healing power

Therefore, this little spirit is not so bad and is not always aggressive towards humans. Bannik is also considered an excellent healer, able to “cure almost any disease with the help of steam.” In addition, the bathhouse was traditionally heated before various significant events, in honor of all holidays, before weddings and childbirth.

And of course, in our age, superstitions cannot be an obstacle to such a pleasant pastime as going to the bathhouse, which has become synonymous for us with relaxation and relaxation. Have a good mood. The Russian bathhouse has always been a healing place, its healing power is stored in its heat and cold water, and the bannik spiritualizes it and, as the owner, sets its own rules in it.

Valeria Rogova

Bannik is a spirit that lives in a bathhouse. The bannik looks like a small, skinny old man with a long beard. He has no clothes on, but his whole body is covered with broom leaves. Despite its size, the old spirit is very strong; it can easily knock down a person and drag him around the bathhouse. Bannik is a rather cruel spirit: he loves to scare those who come to the bathhouse with terrible screams, and can also throw hot stones from the stove or scald with boiling water. If the bannik is angered, the spirit is even capable of killing a person by strangling his enemy in the bathhouse or flaying him alive. An angry bannik can also kidnap or replace a child.

Bannik is a very “social” spirit: he often invites other evil spirits to visit him to “take a steam bath”; he arranges such meetings at night after 3-6 shifts of bathers; it is dangerous to enter the bathhouse on such days. Bannik generally doesn’t like it when people disturb him at night.

Most of all, the spirit loves to scare women, which is why they should not go to the bathhouse alone. But what angers the bannik the most is when a pregnant woman enters the bathhouse; under no circumstances should such expectant mothers be left in the bathhouse unattended by men.

Capabilities

Bannik is able to become invisible and instantly move in space within his bathhouse. Women Banniki - Obderikhi are able to change their appearance, turning into a cat or even a person.

In addition, the bannik is capable of revealing to people their future.

How to fight?

If you follow the basic rules, the bannik will never attack a person. But if the bannik is angry, then you can appease him: leaving the spirit a piece of rye bread generously sprinkled with coarse salt, in some cases it is necessary to sacrifice a black chicken, burying it under the threshold of the bathhouse. If, nevertheless, the bathhouse attacked you, then you need to run out of the bathhouse with your back forward and call for help: “Father, help me out!..”. This spirit is also afraid of iron, so if the bannik does not allow you to leave the bathhouse, you should hit him with an iron rod and immediately run away.

2012-06-19 00:00:00

Bannik- the spirit of the bathhouse, its owner. Nobody really knows where it comes from. But as soon as a new bathhouse was erected, the “owner” immediately appeared in it. Like the brownie, he is tied to a specific bathhouse and to a specific family. It loves warmth, so it often hides near the stove.

In the old days they believed that after building a bathhouse, you should present a gift to the bathhouse owner. This gift was a black chicken. Only they didn’t cut her, but strangled her and buried her in front of the entrance to the room. Also, in order to appease the spirit, they left him rye bread with a pinch of salt.

People rarely see Bannik because he is very secretive. Although they say that he can turn into a toad, a white cat or a bath broom. He could also appear in the guise of a familiar person. No one can really say what the bannik actually is. Some say that they saw a little old man with a gray beard and leaves. To others he seemed big. Some even saw a dirty grandfather.

They say that of the spirits surrounding people, the bannik is one of the most evil. But I don’t really believe in it. Most likely, he only does dirty tricks on bad people or those who treat him with disrespect.

The bath spirit's favorite pranks are scaring people; he can pour boiling water on them or throw hot stones.

It should be remembered that the bannik does not like drunkards. He also does not like loud laughter and swearing. The bathhouse spirit especially does not like swearing. He also does not welcome haste in the bathing business and can punish those who rush others. The bannik does not like it when they drink water intended for a bath, even if it is clean. He also did not tolerate people with a cross on their neck, which is why they left the pectoral cross in the dressing room or even at home.

There are not so many means of protection against bannik. Firstly, there is simply no need to make him angry. Various Christian amulets and prayers do not have much effect on the “owner” of the bathhouse, he is, after all, a pagan creature. If you have already fallen out of favor with the bathhouse, then you only need to exit the bathhouse backwards, and on the street ask the brownie for protection: “Father, help!” Also, in order to appease the bannik, you don’t need to wash on the third and seventh steam, that is, on the third or seventh firebox. They believed that at this time the bathhouse itself was being washed, and that it could also invite other evil spirits. Our ancestors tried to leave the bathhouse at this time, leaving a tub with clean water and a new broom.

But the bannik could also act as a guardian spirit. Our people have a popular story about how the “owner” of the bathhouse protected them from evil spirits. One evening a traveler was attacked by an evil spirit. And he didn’t know where to hide, how to escape. Suddenly the traveler saw a bathhouse. He ran up there and asked: “Let me spend the night, father.” Banny and let him into his monastery. And then the unclean ones appeared and said: “Give us the man.” “I won’t give it back,” said the bannik, “he asked to come to me.” So, under the protection of the bath spirit, the traveler spent the night peacefully. And in the morning, having thanked the defender, he set off on his further journey.

The bannik protected women in labor. Since ancient times in Rus', women gave birth in a bathhouse. A few days before giving birth, the woman moved to the bathhouse, and after giving birth, she stayed there for several more days. Of the “domestic” evil spirits, the bannik was the most fierce, and therefore both the mother and the baby, who at first was on the verge of two worlds, trusted him. True, the woman was never left alone; you never know what the bannik could think of.

Bannik was also considered a very good healer. It’s not for nothing that our ancestors went to the bathhouse with almost all their ailments. They believed that not only the healing steam helped them, but also the healing abilities of the “owner” of the bathhouse. And the evil character of the bannik was explained by the fact that everything unclean, washed away from a person, remained in the bathhouse and was absorbed by the bathhouse spirit.

Nowadays, people have almost forgotten about the existence of the bannik. After all, it’s hard to imagine such a thing in a tiled city bathhouse. mysterious creature. Although it is possible that he lives there too.

Bannik and Obderiha

The bathhouse has always occupied a very important place in the life of peasants. They not only washed and steamed in it, healers treated people there for colds, sprains and various other diseases, children were born there. They spun in a heated bathhouse on winter evenings. With all this, the bathhouse, in contrast to the house, was perceived as an “unclean”, unconsecrated building - “a dirty house”, “without a cross”, and therefore an ideal refuge for evil spirits. It was in the bathhouse that various rituals and actions not approved by Orthodoxy were performed - there they told fortunes, cast spells, played cards, summoned evil spirits. In the bathhouse in some areas people were initiated into sorcerers. There, people said, cursed people gather for gatherings and while away the time by weaving bast shoes.

Some beliefs call the owner of the bathhouse banner(or baennik), among Belarusians - laznik(from Belarusian lazna“bathhouse”), others, mainly in the Russian North, - obderikha, bannitsa, babushka.

Bannik was either presented as a black, huge man, always barefoot, with iron hands, long hair and fiery eyes, or as a little old man with a long beard. He lives in the bathhouse behind the stove or under the shelf. However, some beliefs depict the bannik in the form of a dog, cat, white bunny and even a horse's head.

Bannik is an evil spirit, he is very dangerous, especially for those who violate the rules of behavior in the bathhouse. It costs him nothing to steam a person to death, rip the skin off a living person, crush him, strangle him, drag him under a hot stove, push him into a water barrel, and prevent him from leaving the bathhouse. There are some pretty scary stories about this.

So the old people told us: “Guys, if you wash in the bathhouse, don’t rush one another, otherwise the bathhouse will crush you.” This was the case. One man was washing himself, and another said to him:

- Well, what are you doing there, soon or not? - I asked three times.

- No, I’m still just ripping him off!

Well, he was immediately afraid, and then he opened the door, and the guy who was washing himself had only his legs sticking out! He dragged his banner into this gap. It's so crowded that my head is flattened. Well, they pulled him out, but didn’t have time to rip off his banner.

It happened in one village. The woman went to the bathhouse alone. Well, then from there - once - and she runs out naked. She runs out covered in blood. She ran home and her father said to her: what happened? She can't say a word. While they were sealing her off with water... my father ran into the bathhouse. Well, they wait an hour, two, three - no. They run into the bathhouse - there his skin is stretched on the heater, but he himself is not there. This is a banner! My father ran with a gun and managed to shoot twice. Well, apparently, he made the bannik very angry... And the skin, they say, is so stretched on the heater.

Bannik scares those washing by knocking on the wall, laughing, calling people by name, throwing garbage and stones at them. He likes to make fun of women washing themselves, snoring and howling behind the heater. If the bathhouse owner doesn’t want to let people into the bathhouse, he can pour out all the water from the barrels.

But in the bathhouse there is already one of his own, not a brownie, but a bannik, he is the owner of the bathhouse, he lives there, he is also a disgrace, they say. I heard that they flooded the bathhouse, they started carrying water, no matter how much they carried it, they would bring it, they would pour it - it seemed like a lot. They will go again, but again there is no water, as if someone was pouring it out. And so they wore it five times until they realized: the owner of the bathhouse apparently didn’t want them to wash today. There was some kind of holiday that day, so you can’t wash on a holiday. Well, what to do, they left, but they heated the bathhouse in vain. But one of them also told me. Her husband was washing himself in the bathhouse, and she followed him, undressed, and went to take a steam bath. He got dressed, left, and she comes out, lo and behold, her clothes are gone. Well, he thinks: my man must have been joking, he’ll bring it now. Waiting, nothing. The husband comes in, and she tells him: “What, you old devil, are you thinking of mocking me!” Where did my clothes go? He went home and brought her other clothes. In the morning she went to the bathhouse, and there her clothes were lying on the bench. This is how the bannik jokes on people.

Bannik usually begins to harm in response to a person’s violation of prohibitions. For example, you cannot heat a bathhouse and go to it on holidays, Christmastide, at night, especially at midnight, because at that time the devils or the bathhouse itself are washing there.

Well, you’ll go to the bathhouse, but don’t go there at twelve o’clock at night. I remember well, we had a bathhouse, and the neighbor said: “I went to the bathhouse at night - I needed to hang up my jackets, you know, the guys came from the lake.” So she opened the door - and there she was washing herself on the shelf. “I,” he says, “closed it, God take it away!” Bannik is like a person.

For the same reason, you cannot go to the bathhouse “in the third steam” (i.e., on the third shift), wash without prayer, and after washing sleep in the bathhouse. You can’t go to the bathhouse alone on the last couple of days.

But that was the case with my friend. The old people told her that she couldn’t clean the bathhouse alone (to clean the bathhouse - go to the last steam. - Auto.). But she either forgot or laughed. I went to the bathhouse alone to wash myself last. I came in, soaped my hair, bent down to get some water, and there was a little old man sitting under the bench! Big head, green beard! And he looks at her. She screamed and jumped out. Her brothers found her in the snow and barely pumped her out.

And it was amazing in the baths too. So, everyone has changed their minds. And finally, mother and child went together. She poured water, they say, and begins to wash it. And the shelves rise up and someone says: “Well, wait, I’ll wash you now...” And the woman got ready, the child in her bosom - and naked from the bathhouse.

Before entering the bathhouse, you need to “ask” the bath attendant, and before leaving the bathhouse, leave him hot and cold water and a piece of soap so that he can also wash himself. The one who washes last should not baptize anything, and all vessels with water should be left wide open and say: “Wash yourself, master!” It was believed that if you approached the bathhouse at night or after people had washed, you could hear the bathhouse steaming there - you could hear the flapping of a broom, the splashing of water and the clatter of gangs. To appease the bannik, they brought him a piece of rye bread sprinkled with salt or a black chicken as a gift. And if they were building a new bathhouse, it was necessary to make a sacrifice: strangle (not slaughter) a black chicken and, without plucking, bury it under the bathhouse threshold. Having buried the chicken, they backed away from the bathhouse, bowing to the bathhouse. Bannik also does not like it when the bathhouse is used to dry flax and hemp.

According to legend, the bannik has an invisible cap, and once a year he puts it on the heater to dry. If you watch carefully, then you can steal it. There is another way to take possession of the invisibility cap. On Easter, during Matins, you must go to the bathhouse; Bannik is always asleep at this time. Having pulled the hat off his head, he must run to the church as quickly as possible. If you manage to run before he wakes up, then the invisibility hat will remain with you; if not, the bannik will catch up and kill you. The daredevil who managed to steal this hat from the bannik becomes a sorcerer.

The bannik also has one more magical thing - the “non-transferable ruble,” an irredeemable ruble that returns to its owner every time. To get such a ruble, you need to throw a swaddled black cat inside the bathhouse at midnight and say: “You have a child on you, give me an untranslatable ruble.”

On Christmastide, girls went to the bathhouse to tell fortunes about their suitors. This was done in the following way: the one who was telling fortunes lifted her skirt and stuck the back of her body through the slightly open door. It was believed that the bannik should touch it with his paw. If the paw was bare and clawed, it meant that her married life would be poor and her mother-in-law would be fierce. If the bannik stroked the girl with his furry paw, she believed that the marriage would be happy and the husband rich.

The female spirit of the bathhouse is no less hostile to man - bannitsa, or obderiha. This is not the bannik’s wife, she is the sovereign mistress herself. She is a woman with wide-set eyes, long flowing hair and large teeth, but she can also take on the appearance of a cat or monkey. Obderiha lives in a bathhouse under a bench or under a shelf. Her very name suggests that she is very dangerous for a person: she can tear off his skin. In the Russian North they talk about obderich like this:

They used to scare me: I'll get sick in the bathhouse. Lives under the shelf, shows itself in different ways. Our mother was still a girl, she went to the bathhouse, and there a girl in a bandage was lying under the front bench. If you didn’t go to the bathhouse after midnight, you’d get sore. Some friends came to visit us and asked to go to the bathhouse. And there is a lot of time - it’s almost twelve. They were warned: if the cat meows, leave the bathhouse. The cat meowed once, meowed twice. They didn’t wait a third time - they jumped out. And the woman in labor and the child were not left alone in the bathhouse until six weeks after birth, and the child was not left - obderiha would replace it.

You also need to ask permission from the bathhouse owner: “Baenna hostess, let us wash, warm up, fry, steam.” When leaving the bathhouse, you must not forget to thank her: “Sauna hostess, thank you for the baina. Good for you on the construction site, good for our health.” If you “ask” the bathhouse owner, she will not be able to harm a person, even if he has violated the rules of behavior in the bathhouse.

The man said that he came to the village, but there was nowhere to sleep, no one let him in. He went to the bathhouse, the bathhouse was warm. And first he asked the bathhouse to let him spend the night. At night he hears: obderikhas have flown to the wedding and are calling his bathhouse mistress:

- Masha-Matryoshka, fly with us!

And she answers:

- I can’t, I have a guest.

They say:

- So fuck it!

And she:

- No, I can’t, he asked me!

In the old days, women most often gave birth in a bathhouse - it was the warmest and most convenient place for this purpose. Bath perfumes therefore posed a great danger to women in labor and newborn babies. Bannik or obderiha could kidnap a child and replace him with their own. They tried not to leave a woman in labor with her child in the bathhouse unattended.

Obderikha appears like a cat in a bathhouse. You can't go to the bathhouse alone. When a woman gives birth, she and the child go to the bathhouse to wash, so she puts a pebble and an icon, otherwise the obderiha will exchange it and take it away, and the child will not be found. And instead of a child there will be a golik (a worn-out broom). And it happens that there will be a child, but he is not like the real ones - he lives up to fifteen years, and then disappears somewhere.

A woman in labor, remaining alone in the bathhouse, must be very careful so that the bathhouse owner does not harm her.

Here in our village, when a woman in labor gives birth to a baby, she is taken to the bathhouse. They will heat the bathhouse, and the woman in labor and her baby will go into the bathhouse. She lives there for a week, everyone goes to see her and brings her food. But they say that a woman in labor cannot be alone in the bathhouse. There was this one time. A neighbor comes to visit the woman in labor. And this one who came said: “I’m going to get some water for the child.” And he says to this woman in labor: “Put your legs crosswise.” Cross your legs so that there is a cross. So she left. The woman in labor says: “I open my eyes, a woman stands in front of me, there is one eye in her forehead, a huge eye, and she says: “Woman, throw off your leg, throw off your leg!” This is so that there is no cross. She would have approached her, maybe done something, but since the cross has been laid, she is not allowed to. “I immediately felt bad,” he says. It knocked me out of my memory." So then this woman, who had gone to fetch water, immediately came. There was an unclean spirit here. This is a baennitsa, a baennitsa: one eye in the forehead.

It was also not recommended to go to the bathhouse with a child who had not yet been baptized. If such a need arose, the woman had to ask permission from the bathhouse owner or hostess.

People often believe that obderia appears after childbirth from birth blood and uncleanliness. And, therefore, if they have never given birth in a bathhouse, then there is no obedience in it. Sometimes they say that there is as much skin in a bathhouse as there are newborn babies washed in it, sometimes they say that skinny appears in a bathhouse only after a fortieth baby has been washed in it.

In the Northern Russian regions, they thought that the bathhouse grandmother lived in the bathhouse - a decrepit, kind old woman who healed all diseases. They turned to her with a spell when the newborn child was washed in the bathhouse for the first time.

As you know, the pantheon of gods of a particular nation is a reflection of its religious views, tribal and communal relations, between the surrounding world and any individual person.

The ancient Slavs considered themselves descendants of their gods and sought to follow their laws throughout their lives. The Slavic god and bannik was not just a punishing hand or a Creator. This was an ally who could help, show the right path, and also forgive.

All Slavic gods - Svarog, Perun, Yarila - belonged to the same “clan”, and each of them had their own sphere, for which one or another god was responsible. But in addition to the gods themselves, the highest beings, in the Old Slavic picture of the world there were also other characters who were mythical creatures, but were not included in the pantheon.

They did not represent a higher power, and their “competence” did not include such large-scale issues as, for example, nature or a rich harvest. These creatures lived next to man and influenced his daily life, both positive and, of course, negative. Fairy tales are still told about them - they are the brownie, the goblin, the merman, the kikimora and other recognizable characters.

Among these creatures, such a character deserves special attention as banner. The character is not as famous as, say, a merman, but also very interesting.

As you might guess, the bannik lived in the bathhouse. Our ancestors imagined him as a small, half-naked old man, covered in leaves from a bath broom, with long hair and a beard.

According to Slavic beliefs, the bannik usually lived behind the stove and was mainly engaged in frightening the bathhouse visitors and burning them with boiling water. It was believed that the bannik was also capable of steaming a person to death, skinning him or strangling him.

Bath rituals

It was strictly forbidden to steam in someone else's steam - everyone had to light the stove for themselves. And, of course, in order not to anger the bannik, at the end of all water procedures it was necessary to leave a gift for the bannik (like a saucer of milk for a brownie) - a small birch broom and a bowl of warm water or a piece of rye bread with salt.

A place for fortune telling

Due to the fact that the bathhouse was considered a mysterious place where spirits and bathhouses lived, it was often used for fortune telling and divination. One of the oldest “bathhouse” fortune telling was that a girl should stand in the doorway of the bathhouse and lift her skirt.

Then you need to call your betrothed and ask him to touch himself. If a girl feels the touch of a furry paw, then it is believed that her future husband will be rich, if with a bare hand, then he will be poor, if with a wet hand, then the husband will be a drunkard, and if it is rough, then this means that her husband will have a harsh character.

Don't go shower after midnight

Of course, there are a huge number of legends and scary stories associated with the bannik, or rather, with its rules, which other unfortunate people happened to break.

The fact that the girl was able to recognize evil spirits in strangers is explained by the fact that a child under seven years of age is sinless and is able to see what a sinner, an adult, cannot see. The girl persuaded her older sister to leave the bathhouse and leave the strangers... In the morning it became clear that the night guests really turned out to be devils - the bathhouse went underground, dragging four girls with it.

And despite the fact that in this story the devils play the role of evil spirits, their appearance is determined precisely by the violation of the bannik ban - not to go steaming after dark.

Another story is related to the violation of the same prohibition.

And on the roof sat that same black cat and next to him was a bannerman who was looking into their window. This cat turned out to be a bannik who was expecting guests that night - it was believed that he was able to take the form of a cat, dog or hare. But, one way or another, he did not give those women offense and actually saved them from the devils who had already sensed their prey.

Healing power

Therefore, this little bannik spirit is not so bad and is not always aggressive towards humans. Bannik is also considered an excellent healer, able to ‘cure almost any disease with the help of steam. In addition, the bathhouse was traditionally heated before various significant events, in honor of all holidays, before weddings and childbirth.

And of course, in our age, superstitions cannot be an obstacle to such a pleasant pastime as going to the bathhouse, which has become synonymous for us with relaxation and good mood. The Russian bathhouse has always been a healing place, its healing power is stored in its heat and cold water, and the bannik spiritualizes it and, as the owner, sets its own rules in it.