unquiet female forest spirit
Mavka
'Mavka is the spirit of the forest. Not a
particularly friendly spirit, because my main goal is
to lure men into the woods and tickle them to death.
But it's also believed that I protect cattle by
scaring off wild animals, so I'm quite a weird
character – really polarising!'
Bogdana Storozuk, playing a mavka forest spirit at
Kupala in Brighton (click photo for
video).
Mavkas haunt the forests; in the rivers
dwell the rusalkas.