The wind boys in Czechia, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Russia and the witch wars

July 26, 2025

The wind boys in Czechia, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Russia and the witch wars

In some countries, the witches were blamed as they could start the wind, change the weather, or stop the wind.

But how in old times in the folkrol people think about the wind? Who was the wind?

In the book Nákres slovanského bájesloví by Jan Hanuš Máchal, we can read about the folk history in the 19th century in Czechia or Bohemia. The wind boys live in the wind. They can raise storms, they can do good and evil.

The Polish folklore speaks about the wind as a strong man with a bloodied face.

The Russians believed the wind had twelve sons.

The Slovenian folklore talks about the wind as they were relatives, but not brothers, like in the Russian stories.

In the Czech stories, the sun, the moon, and the wind are called brothers.

The Slovenians believed that the wind lives at the edge of the world in a green mountain in a castle.

Source: page 71. Nákres slovanského bájesloví by Jan Hanuš Máchal

This expression is also known in the Hungarian folk language, as Szél Úrfi, szélsógor, szélkirály, Szélanya fiai, which means Wind Boy, Wind Brother-In-Law, Wind King, Wind Mother's kids

"Szél úrfi, szélsógor, szélkirály, népmeséinkben a Szélanya fiai, többnyire óriásoknak képzelt, rendesen emberevő szörnyalakok, akik azonban olykor anyjuk vagy hugaik közbenjárására jóindulatra is hangolhatók a mesehős iránt és őt esetleg segítik is nehéz feladatai teljesítésében. A magyar népköltés ez alakjait v. ö. Ipolyi, Magyar myth., 213. s köv. old., ahol egybevetések is vannak, valamint mitologiai fejtegetések is, amelyek azonban nála kellőnél messzebb menő következtetésekre vezetnek. A magyar népmesék ezen alakjaiból ugyanis, amelyek vonásról vonásra egyeznek a legkülönbözőbb népmesék hasonló szereplőivel, ősi magyar mitologiai emléket kihámozni nem igen lehet. S ha lehetne is, alig maradna egyéb az emlékek megfogható alakjaképen annál az egy adatnál, amely már Theophylaktos feljegyzésében megvan s amely szerint a turkok, akiket elég okunk van a magyarokkal legalább is közel rokonoknak tartani, a többi elemek sorában a levegőeget is tisztelték."

Source: https://www.arcanum.com/hu/online-kiadvanyok/Lexikonok-a-pallas-nagy-lexikona-2/sz-183B4/szel-urfi-188E0/

In the Hungarian lexicon, the wind was described in the folk fairy tales as they can eat humans; they are giants.

In these cases, why were witches killed or blamed to stop the wind?

In different parts of the Earth, the benefits and the disadvantages of the wind are different.

If witches can fly on different objects, then the wind is a factor they deal with.

What if they wanted to fly somewhere, so they needed a period when the wind was not so strong, but it was the time for the windmills as well.

The picture was taken by me in 2025 in Aarhus

In the back, there is a black gammel mølle.

Probably you know the expression of the Gammel mølle, you can find a lot of old mills in Denmark, like in Aarhus, Ganløse, Holbæk, the Frilandsmuseum, and a lot more in Sjælland.

So what happened when the witches were flying and the gammel mølle could not work, as there was not enough wind?

What happened when the witches were at war with other lands' witches and they wanted to stop them from coming over. So they started huge winds so the foreign witches would fall down...

The very strong wind could cause a lot of damage nowadays as well, but we do not look for witchcraft.

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