Superstition in Russia

Many of these traditions are staples of everyday life, and some are even considered common social etiquette despite being rooted in superstition.

The goals of summoning devils include attaining wealth, fame, approval of superiors, sex, or harming another person.

For men the usual aim was sex, but for women it could have been to get married, exact revenge, or regain a husband's affection.

In a Dual-Faith (dvoeverie) setting (in which Orthodoxy and folk tradition are combined) this ritual prepares the deceased for their meeting with God.

In folk tradition, belts mark out an individual's private space and prove that they are a member of society, as well as protecting the wearer from dark forces.

[16] The coffin, sometimes referred to as the “new living room,” is very comfortable, made like a bed with a pillow stuffed with birch bark or wood shavings.

Mourners place objects in the coffin that the body might need after death such as money, food, favorite belongings, and reflections of status or occupation.

[15] At the funeral, a priest performs the “seeing off” ceremony, praying over the body and allowing mourners to throw dirt on the grave, symbolically incorporating the corpse into the earth.

After forty days the deceased's family sets a place for their loved one at dinner, inviting them to join them for their own commemoration.

[15] The phrase Unclean force (Нечистая сила) refers to both the Devil[17] and all demons and potentially harmful things[17][18] in the Russian pantheon.

Although the beings of the unclean force resided primarily in the spirit realm (тот свет), they were able to manifest themselves in this world in many forms, the most well known included the domovoi, leshy, kikimora, vodianoi, and rusalka.

The spoiled person would be inflicted with such maladies and misfortunes as sickness, mental illness, deformity, loss of livelihood, and death.

It caused the bewitched person to shriek, curse, and fall to the floor when in the presence of religious objects or displays.