“May your cat lay an egg!” – Old Ukrainian Curses

Hello friends!

Hope all is well! The electricity situation has been stabilized after the recent missile attack and we are getting back to “normal”. Such situations make me think of swear words. Thus, I would like to share some curses used by our ancestors with you. 

What do you think about the following expressions (translated from Ukrainian literally):

• May you be afraid of your shirt!
• May your cat lay an egg!
• May the duck kick you! (that’s the one my grandmother used often)
• May the dogs kiss you, not women!
• May feathers grow in your throat!
• May you not know what the day is today!
• May the chickens “rake” you!
• May you see a wild goat in your dream!

It is interesting to learn that dirty foul language was not common at all. The expression “to cover someone with moskals (russians)” which means to abuse, to swear in dirty is still used in the north of Chernihiv province. 

The expressions above were typical at times of small conflicts. The following ones – in more serious cases: 

• May the black and sorrow fall on you!
• May your cow die!
• May you burn without fire!
• May the bad time not pass by you!
• May your road be overgrown with blackthorn!

It was believed that the place where these words were said affected their strength a lot. There were some very dangerous places: a cemetery, an intersection, the threshold of a house, or a gate. They were perceived as transitional spaces between the world our ancestors lived in and the world of the afterlife. Even humorous and careless curses said there could have fatal consequences.

Curses that had to do with thunder, lightning, nature, and illnesses were among the worst: 

• May Perun (the pagan god of thunder) kill you from the clear sky!
• May the thunder kill you and the lightning burn you
• May the shiny stars never see you
• May the sun burn you!
• May the cholera beat you!”.

However, the heaviest ones had to do with earth which always played a huge role in the lives of farmers – the so-called “raw soil” (“syra zemlia”):

• May the raw soil never accept you!
• May you eat raw soil!
• May the raw soil throw out your bones!

Parental and maternal curses were believed to come true: the cursed son would never find his place in the world, the daughter-in-law would always get sick and die, and their property would always be destroyed.

The Church considered cursing to be a grave sin. Those who cursed would suffer in the river of fire and lick the frying pans in hell.

Nevertheless, I still feel well to say: May the duck kick you, russians!!! And a few worse things too.