The Rusalka: No Mere Mermaid

Paranormal Pajama Party

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29.1.24
Paranormal Pajama Party
The Rusalka | 2
Get ready for a spooky episode as Steph delves into the Slavic legend of the rusalka. Although often associated with water, these spirits are far from the mermaids we might imagine. Instead, they're more like zombies... permanently trapped in puberty. It doesn't sound fun.
At tonight's pajama party, we'll explore the origins of the rusalki and their connection to both fertility and death. We'll also discuss the in-between state these spirits inhabit, caught between girlhood and womanhood, river and field, and life and death. There will be dancing, tree-climbing, hair-styling, and a deadly amount of tickling.

Key moments:

• 1:09 Ivan and the rusalka
• 6:29 Meet the rusalki
• 9:25 The unclean dead
• 12:48 Green Week
• 14:49 Rusalki puberty

Sources from today's episode:

• Rusalka (Wikipedia)
• Slavic folklore (Wikipedia)
• Slavs (Wikipedia)
• Supernatural beings in Slavic religions (Wikipedia)
• Ivanits, L. J. (1989). Russian Folk Belief.
• Dynda, J. “View of Rusalki: Anthropology of time, death, and sexuality in Slavic folklore”
• Macaulay, A. “What Do Aquawomen Want?”
• Green Week (Wikipedia)

A transcript of today's episode is available here.

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View all my sources for each episode and read the episode transcipt here.
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Chapters

1. Content warning (00:00:00)

2. Ivan and the rusalka (00:01:09)

3. Welcome to the party! (00:05:43)

4. Meet the rusalki (00:06:29)

5. The unclean dead (00:09:25)

6. Green Week (00:12:48)

7. Rusalki puberty (00:14:49)

8. Conclusion (00:22:05)

9. Outro (00:23:02)