Evil spirits under the ceiling: What beliefs did the Komi-Permyaks inherit from their ancestors

The reason for the linguistic competition is worthy – in 2025, the Western Urals will celebrate the centenary of the creation of the Komi-Permyak Okrug. In honor of the anniversary date, many events will be held in Perm Krai throughout the year.

The Komi-Permyaks (until the 1920s, Permians or Permyans) are one of the oldest peoples of Russia, close relatives of the Udmurts, Mari, Estonians, Hungarians and Mordvins. It is not for nothing that their languages are part of one large Finno-Ugric group.

– We call ourselves Komi, – says the director of the Institute of Language, History and Traditional Culture of the Komi-Permyak People Alevtina Lobanova. – The word "Perm" is Karelian, it means "back land" or "far land", and our people have long been called Permyaks. This is how two ethnonyms came together. In Komi-Permyak, Perm sounds like Berm.

It is interesting that it is the Komi-Permyaks who owe their name to pelmeni. Pelmeni is translated as "bread ear": pel – ear, nyan – bread. Over time, the designation of the dish has slightly changed. In the northern regions of Prikamye, they still say "ushki". True, there was another version – "permyani", since the Russians who came to the Urals from the west considered them a Perm dish.

The Komi-Permyaks are reputed to be good sorcerers. The Finns hold the lead in magical rituals, and the Komi are their closest relatives. A pensioner lives in the area. She once graduated from the philological faculty of Perm University, was the director of a rural school for 25 years, and now helps find lost cattle in the forest. To do this, the former teacher, who possesses ancient knowledge, uses a kabala – a special letter addressed to the owner of the forest. His name is not supposed to be said out loud at night. The kabala is written on birch bark and placed on a special stump in the forest along with a treat for the wood goblin. According to local residents, this method of finding livestock is very successful. And about the hiccup, the famous damage that sorcerers of the Kama region are capable of inducing, they even made a TV series called "Territory". Viewers loved it, and a sequel was released.

The Komi sincerely believe in the existence of otherworldly forces, because strange things still happen in their homes. For example, one village family had dinner, cleared the dishes from the table and went to bed. And at midnight, everyone suddenly heard gurgling. They looked – and it was the brownie washing the cups and mugs: he did not like how the owners cleaned up.

– This is living mythology – something that people still consider quite probable, – notes the scientific director of the laboratory of theoretical and applied folklore studies at Perm University, candidate of philological sciences Svetlana Koroleva. – Even those who have already distanced themselves from such ideas talk about mysterious phenomena as if they actually happened.

There was such a case: the owner was building a house in the village and, in order to protect himself from possible damage, invited two sorcerers at once to cast a protection. But one of them was offended: of course, they called someone else, he cut his finger, put blood on a rag and stuck it under the beam – the beam supporting the ceiling. And the end of the world began in the house – nails jumped out of the boards, someone made noise, thundered, they had to call a priest, ask him to deal with the evil spirits.

Many people know Stefan Velikopermsky, and his staff is even kept in the regional gallery. Stefan is revered as the baptizer of the local residents, but, as historians have found out, he never visited the Kama region, but baptized the Komi-Zyryans living further north.

Currently, the indigenous population in the Komi-Permyak Okrug is approximately 80 thousand people. They have not forgotten their native language, and congresses of Finno-Ugric peoples are regularly held in Kudymkar.