Boginka

In Polish pagan mythology, boginki (singular: boginka) 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.Kazimierz Moszyński, Kultura duchowa Słowian, 1929–1939.

Some boginki are rusałka, vila, dziwożona, łaskotałka, , 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"). http://www.muzeumkolbuszowa.pl/etnonotatnik/905-boginka-albo-mamuna Often children with mental disabilities were thought to be such.Kamil Gołdowski, Mamuna i jej odmieniec

There are various folk means to fend off boginki.Zbiór wiadomości do antropologii krajowéj, Volume 6, 1882pp. 264, 265

In modern culture Richard Wagner's opera Die Feen ("The Fairies") is translated as Boginki in Polish wrote a parody mythology book Stworze i Zdusze czyli Starosłowiańskie boginki i demonyStworze 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 Notes

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