Anatol Donkan talks about the house’s guardian spirits (1)

“A Djuli figure is usually carved by the head of the household from a piece of wood chosen with special reverence. Such a Djuli figure is the lord or guardian of the house. Before building a house, they first made a grandmother figure. They would speak to a tree and say: ‘Come, let’s build a house together.’ And the tree would answer: ‘Yes, let’s do that.’ The man then explains which trees he wants to use and for what purpose. After he has announced this, the trees say: ‘Go ahead.’ Then he invites family members or others to help him. When felling the tree, he saws off the lower part and makes a figure from it.

And this figure is then called Djuli. It is like a grandmother for whom they are actually building the future house. When it is almost finished, they ask the figure: ‘Grandmother, can we live with you?’ And the grandmother answers: ‘Yes, of course you can.’ This is how such an agreement was made. Sometimes, when the young family has children, they ask the figure: ‘Maybe grandma wants a grandpa too?’ Then they make another figure. This is how a grandfather figure also comes into the house. Sometimes they also made small figures representing the children of the Djuli family.

These figures were regularly fed with fat. The fat was placed right here and smeared on the figure, which was then smoked with swamp rosemary (Ledum palustre) or tobacco. It always had to stand in a place where it could be stroked when passing by. It was always treated like a family member and considered the elder. Whenever they had questions or were afraid of something, they went to their grandmother, and she helped them. This way, they didn’t need to consult a shaman – everything was handled right at home.” (Video in progress)

Recorded by Erich Kasten. Viechtach, 2024.