CHAMKAS — RELATIVES OF THE RUSALKI

👀🌿 Another mythological figure related to the seasonal female spirits known as rusalkas is the Chamka.

The Chamka resembles a rusalka, but apparently is not one… Memories of this being have survived in the villages of Timoshkino and Novosyolki, where people speak of the Chamka as a rusalka. In Borok, people no longer remember the Chamka, but the word itself remains, having turned into an insult.

Unfortunately, by the beginning of the twentieth century, much of the ritual tradition of Rusalkas’ Week had already been lost, and the celebration had shrunk to a single day—the eve of the Peter’s Fast. In some places, however, remnants of multi-day Rusalka festivities survived. In Yushta, for example, people dressed up and celebrated from Trinity Sunday until the eve of the fast: “They went around dancing… They dressed up as a horse: two men, with a rider on top. They’d go through the village, singing and dancing. Everyone was dressed up.”

In Beryozovo, people “went around with the rusalka” for two days, Saturday and Sunday. “They dressed in an old-fashioned panëva skirt, attached horns, went out into the fields and shouted, ‘Rusalka, rusalka—come out to me.’”

In Tyrnovo, the eve of the fast—the Rusalka, as the village called the holiday—was celebrated on Sunday. “One person dressed as the rusalka, while the rest did not dress up—they clapped their hands and banged on buckets and stove dampers. The girl portraying the rusalka was dressed in special clothes and straw was tied to her—‘they tied sheaves.’ They escorted the rusalka into the field, where people rolled in the grass or oats for a good harvest.”

In Sasykino, a rusalka was dressed up on every street. They dressed her as oddly as possible and, accompanied by a crowd—also in costume—escorted her noisily, with dancing, into the rye. There, people rolled in the rye and danced: “They’d trample all the rye down. Then they cooked ritual porridge.” In the village of Malye Peksely, people dressed all in white, with a white kerchief on their heads—this was called the “rusalka woman.”

In the old days in Shilovo, people went to the meadows by the Para River to escort the rusalka. She was portrayed by a girl in a wreath of rye, dressed in a white shirt. A karagod—a circle dance—accompanied her; among other things, they sang this song:

By the gate stood a green birch,

It stood green, waving its branches…

There, on that birch, a rusalka sat,

The rusalka sat and asked for a shirt:

“Young girls, give me a shirt,

Even a poor one—a little one,

But let it be white and clean…

The girls came up and brought a shirt,

Embroidered with silk, woven with red cotton.

“Rusalka, queen, fair maiden,

Do not destroy my soul—do not let me hang myself,

And we bow to you!”

On the bank of the Para, people played, danced in circles and sang, then escorted the rusalka “into the rye.”

In Narmushad, while escorting the rusalka, people wove wreaths. “They’d dress one girl up—she’d stand there all decked out, pretty (they dressed as the rusalka the girl who was born on Rusalka Day). A man in a woman’s shirt, on hooks [stilts], came out of the cemetery and frightened everyone. After the farewell, out in the rye, they picked mouse pea and brought it to the village in old bast shoes.”

In the village of Borok, people used to mold a little rusalka figure from clay. A crowd of women walked around the village singing, then went through the forest to the rye field. They left the rusalka there so that the rains would destroy it.

The young people of Krasny Kholm gave special attention to Friday during Rusalkas’ Week—the “Rusalka Friday.” As a joke, on Friday evening they rolled logs around and tangled up balls of yarn. On Sunday, the eve of the fast, they escorted the rusalka: “Someone would dress up as the rusalka (if it was a man, he’d put something under his shirt to make breasts…).” “We made beards, moustaches and hair out of tow [the short fibers combed from flax or hemp—A.G.], put a red cap on the head… A jacket or fur coat, inside out.” They made a rusalka effigy, set it by the road and frightened passers-by. When the celebration ended, they took the effigy apart. That same day, people ran into the forest and wove wreaths from grass and flowers: some for the head, others for the arm. In Krasny Kholm, they also baked special “rusalka” figures shaped like women for the eve of the fast. “They bake as many rusalkas as there are children [in the family—A.G.].” As E. A. Isaeva recounted, the figures were thrown into the river and into the rye when the rusalka was escorted away. During the day, the children of Krasny Kholm “played rusalka”—they splashed water on one another. People also splashed one another with water for the Rusalka in the village of Khoroshavka and in the village of Novaya Pustyn. The young people of Novaya Pustyn “dressed up as an effigy and walked around the village, splashing one another by the wells—that was the youngsters; the older ones went to escort [the rusalka] in costume. They’d go from yard to yard, some singing, some doing this or that…”

In Novosyolki (now part of the settlement of Shilovo), the rusalka, as in Timoshkino, was called the Chamka or Chama. “They dressed up as the Chamka-rusalka… with a headscarf on their heads and horns made of potatoes. They went in a karagod into the rye and splashed one another with water: they’d draw it from the well and splash it.” The Timoshkino celebration, “escorting the Chamka into the hemp,” retained many ancient features. From early morning, people made a doll—the Chamka. It was often made as an effigy, from scraps of cloth tied to a cross-shaped frame. They carried the doll at the head of the procession “into the rye” and burned it there. They scattered the remains in the rye so the harvest would be good. They also made the Chamka this way: they tied one of the girls’ hands together above her head and fixed the Chamka’s head to them—a little sack stuffed with rags. The girl herself was hidden under “shabols” [scraps of cloth], making a very tall figure. “They’d dress this Chamka up… You’d bend the arms with the doll down to kiss the boys, and they’d scatter… It was fun.”

After bringing the Chamka into the rye, they undressed her and hid the costume until the following year. During the procession, those escorting the Chamka, dressed in costume, banged on stove dampers, pots and the like. Incidentally, the people in costume were also called Chamkas, and they dressed as oddly as possible: special costumes made of multicolored scraps (a sarafan and a jacket) were used. Sometimes women changed into men’s clothes: “They put both legs into one trouser leg, and the other one dragged along.” (Recorded: “They turned the fur coat inside out, wore a skirt with beer caps, bright-colored kerchiefs, and grass on top.” “They tied the headscarf so that its tassels covered almost the whole face.”)

After escorting the Chamka, people returned home, then in the evening went to the riverbank, where they cooked millet porridge with milk together and ate it together.

At dusk, festivities were held on the shore of Lake Kimbir: “the young women would gather and begin singing…”

In Konstantinovo, a crowd of women in costume—some dressed as men, old women, or old men—walked through the village singing. Every household prepared refreshments for them, including drink. Most wore hats decorated with goose feathers, sometimes with whole wings.

In Terekhovo, the rusalka’s farewell began in the cemetery. Participants broke off linden branches and wove wreaths, then dressed as rusalki in old clothes, with wreaths on their heads. Singing, they walked through the village to the Oka River and threw both the wreaths and their clothes into the water.

In most villages of Shilovsky District, people dressed as human-like figures for Rusalia, though in some places they also dressed as a “horse.” At Muratovo and Yushta, two people formed the horse and a third played the rider. A related game was remembered in Borok: one player was chosen as the “horse,” stood inside a circle, and was addressed in song as a young mare with a golden mane. After the song, the “horse” rushed at the others, who scattered; her task was to tag one of them.

Several customs linked the festival with hopes for fertility. In Peksely, people tossed an egg into the air “so that the flax would grow tall.” In Akulovo they threw up an egg wrapped in a kerchief and tried to catch it. In Terekhovo, widows with their hair loose, dressed only in shifts, dragged a plough across crossroads in the shape of a cross.

The author interprets these rites as sending the rusalka into rye or hemp in order to secure the harvest. That interpretation belongs to the article; the descriptions above are the local records from Shilovsky District.