Also called domovoy, dedushka (grandfather), khozyain (master of the house), domovik
The domovoi is the guardian spirit of the Slavic household, usually pictured as a small, hairy old man who lives behind the stove. Kept happy with bread, salt and leftovers, he protects the family and livestock, and when the family moves house he must be invited to come along.
TraditionEast Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian) folk belief
RegionRussia, Ukraine, Belarus and wider Slavic lands
EraRecorded 18th to 20th century, older roots
Moon◐ Any moon
DayAny
ElementFire
Difficulty●○○ Simple
Time15 minutes on moving day
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
The working
On the last day in your old home, set a slice of bread sprinkled with salt near the stove or the heart of the kitchen.
Take an old slipper or a small broom in your hand and, starting from the front door, walk through the house, inviting the domovoi in your own words to come with the family to the new place.
Wrap the bread in the cloth and carry it, with the slipper or broom, to the new home. Some families also say the old phrase welcoming grandfather to the new house.
At the new home, set the bread and salt near the new stove or kitchen, and leave the slipper or broom in a quiet corner for the first night.
Over the following weeks, leave a little of the evening meal or a spoon of kasha by the stove now and then, and keep the kitchen clean and peaceful.
Avoid shouting, swearing or quarrelling near the hearth, which the lore says offends the domovoi.
Take care: Do not carry live coals between houses; use a candle in a jar instead and never leave it burning unattended. Clear away food offerings within a day so they do not attract pests.
Versions across time and place
i
Carrying embers from the old stove
Russian peasant moving custom · 19th century accounts
In some accounts the eldest woman lit the old stove one last time, scooped live coals into a pot, and invited the domovoi to ride the fire to the new house, where the coals were tipped into the new stove and the family greeted him with bread and salt. A safe modern equivalent is a candle lit at the old home and relit at the new one.
Uses: embers in a pot, bread and salt
Recorded in: Russian ethnographic accounts, summarized in popular folklore sources
ii
Bast shoe invitation
Russian village custom · 19th to 20th century
A family member holds an old bast shoe (lapot) and walks around the house counterclockwise from the front door, asking the domovoi to climb in and travel with them. The shoe is then carried to the new home.
Uses: bast shoe
Recorded in: Russian folk custom described in popular folklore sources
iii
First bread of the new house
Slavic house-warming offering · Recorded 19th century
Older accounts describe burying the first slice of bread cut at the first dinner in the new house, with a spoken invitation for the domovoi to come in and eat. Some records add a hen, which this entry leaves out; bread alone carries the meaning.
Uses: first slice of bread
Recorded in: Linda J. Ivanits, Russian Folk Belief (1989); Wikipedia, Domovoy
History
Belief in the domovoi was recorded across Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian villages by nineteenth- and twentieth-century folklorists. He was usually unseen but could be heard at night, and was said to live behind or under the stove, in the attic or under the threshold. People avoided naming him directly, calling him grandfather or master. A happy domovoi groomed the horses and warned of danger, while an offended one tangled manes, broke pots and pressed on sleepers' chests.
Scholars such as Linda Ivanits, in Russian Folk Belief (1989), trace the domovoi to ancestor veneration, the idea that the founder of a household stayed on to watch over it. The Soviet era pushed such beliefs underground but did not erase them, and the domovoi survives in jokes, children's books and a lively market for small domovoi dolls hung in kitchens.
