Domovoi

A 19th-century folk figure, not a pagan-era god

The domovoi ("house one") is documented in East Slavic peasant belief recorded by 19th-century ethnographers, including Afanasyev, as the guardian spirit of a specific household, tied to the family that lives there rather than to the building itself. No pagan-era chronicle mentions him; he belongs to the folklore of household spirits alongside the leshy of the forest and the vodyanoy of the water.

Character

Usually imagined as a small, hairy, old-man-like figure who lives behind the stove, under the threshold, or in the cellar, the domovoi was believed to look after the house and its livestock, sometimes braiding a favored horse's mane, and to warn the family of coming misfortune through strange noises or by appearing briefly before a death. He was treated with small, regular courtesies — a bit of bread and salt left out, greetings when moving to a new house (inviting him along by leaving the old stove's embers for him to "ride") — and thought to turn mischievous, hiding objects or making noise at night, if neglected or insulted.