Lady Midday – ‘Poludnica’- An Evil, Elusive Female Field-Spirit In Slavic Beliefs That Comes To Kill At Noon

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - In Slavic mythology, Lady Midday is known as "Midday Spirit" or "Poludnica." She is a female noon devil, an evil creature that carries a lethal danger to those who, on hot days, dared to work in the field.

We must be aware of her presence on a hot summer day and not challenge her by engaging in extreme exhausting activities that could put our lives at serious risk.

Appearance Of Evil Midday Spirit

In ancient Slavic beliefs, she usually takes many different forms. She can appear as a strong air vortex during hot summer days and whirling dust clouds. In Moravia, one of the historical Czech lands, the Lady Midday is imagined as an older woman clad in a white dress with an ugly face, slanting eyes, and ruffled hair.

In Polish and other Slavs' ancient beliefs, she manifests as a tall woman dressed in a white robe who reaches her feet. She is carrying a sharp sickle that instantly kills and a large sack on her back to hide children left unattended in the fields at harvest time.

At other times, she appears as a white-dressed, pale-skinned woman with loose, long hair. Although she may not seem very scary at first glance, her beautiful appearance is always deceptive because, in reality, she is an ugly, old creature who deliberately wants to hurt.

During the summer, she lurks in the fields or the woods, observing people working hard in the sun's heat. It happens she also appears in cottages during a storm.

Lady Midday Is Never Reluctant To Kill

Natural phenomena such as strikingly vivid mirages known as fata morgana are also ascribed to this field spirit by farmers and laborers.

Traditionally, Poludnica operates only at noon during scorching summer days. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-intensive activity of the growing season. This evil creature is aware of it and patiently waits until a farmer feels dizziness and weakness in his body, and then she attacks.

Poludnica - evil Slavic spirit. Image credit: Nadezhda Antipova - H. Grushko, Y. Medvedev (A Dictionary of Slavic mythology — Nizhny Novgorod: 'Russian merchant' and 'Brothers Slavs', 1996 via Wikipedia

This demon is never reluctant to kill, and if she encounters a resting or sleeping man in the sun, not covered by any shadow, she suffocates them or scalds painfully.

How Can We Protect Ourselves From Lady Midday?

In ancient times, people believed they could protect themselves from the dangerous Lady Midday. A very efficient way was to avoid hard work during the hottest part of the day, try to stay in a shadow as long as possible, or return home.

Lady Midday – Personification Of Natural Phenomenon

Ancient people did not fully understand natural phenomena and blamed Lady Midday for the harm caused by the sun's extreme heat.

More Myths And Legends

Probably she was identified with summer whirls frequently occurring on hot days before the approaching storm. Today we understand that this sudden weather change arises and then disappears as quickly as it appeared.

It is also possible that heat illness due to an exposure to heat that is widely known in modern science as 'sunstroke' was by ancient people explained as the evil attack by Poludnica – the Lady Midday.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on March 31, 2024

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