Editing Strzyga (section)

==Beliefs==
[[File:Page 028 - Scrambles amongst the Alps - Whymper.jpg|thumb|''Scrambles amongst the Alps,'' an illustration by [[Edward Whymper]] of the [[Notre-Dame de Paris|Notre Dame Cathedral]] [[gargoyle]] called La Stryge.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DigitalGeorgetown |date=1981 |title=Notre Dame Cathedral Grotesque Le Stryge |url=https://repository.digital.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/554232 |access-date=2020-01-22 |website=DigitalGeorgetown |language=en}}</ref>]]
A {{lang|pl|strzyga}} is a usually female demon similar to vampire in [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] (and especially [[Poland|Polish]]) folklore. People who were born with two hearts and two souls, and two sets of teeth (the second one barely visible) were believed to be strzygi.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> [[Sleepwalking|Somnambulics]] or people without armpit hair could also be seen as ones.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Grochowski|first=Piotr|title=Od strzygoni do wampirów energetycznych. Folklor jako system praktyk interpretacyjnych|url=https://www.academia.edu/37558735|journal=Przegląd Kulturoznawczy|date=2017 |volume=32 |issue=2 |language=en}}</ref> Furthermore, a newborn child with already developed teeth was also believed to be one.<ref name=":1" /> When a person was identified as a {{lang|pl|strzyga}}, they were chased away from human dwelling places. During epidemics, people were getting [[Premature burial|buried alive]], and those who managed to get out of their graves, often weak, ill and with mutilated hands, were said to be strzygi by others.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Skarbnik, zmory, utopce i upiory : opowiadania ludowe z ziemi rybnickiej i wodzisławskiej|author=Buczyński, Jerzy|date=2005|publisher=Wydawn. i Agencja Informacyjna "WAW" Grzegorz Wawoczny|isbn=8389802066|location=Racibórz|oclc=153770629}}</ref> It is said that strzygi usually died at a young age, but, according to belief, only one of their two souls would pass to the afterlife; the other soul was believed to cause the deceased {{lang|pl|strzyga}} to come back to life and prey upon other living beings.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Strzygi i topieluchy: opowiadania sieradzkie|last=Dekowski|first=Jan Piotr|year=1987}}</ref> These undead creatures were believed to fly at night in a form of an owl and attack night-time travelers and people who had wandered off into the woods at night, sucking out their blood and eating their insides.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Demonologia ludowa. Relikty wierzeń w strzygonie i zmory|last=J. Bohdanowicz|date=1994|work=Literatura ludowa}}</ref> {{lang|pl|Strzyga}} were also believed to be satisfied with animal blood, for a short period of time.<ref name=":0" /> According to the other sources, strzygi were believed not to harm people but to herald someone's imminent death.<ref name=":3" /> In this, they resemble [[Banshees]].

=== Methods of protection ===
When a person believed to be a {{lang|pl|strzyga}} died, [[Decapitation|decapitating]] the corpse and burying the head separate from the rest of the body was believed to prevent the {{lang|pl|strzyga}} from rising from the dead;<ref>{{Cite book|title=The People. Their Customs, Way of Life, Language...|last=Kolberg|first=Oskar|year=1874|volume=7|publication-date=1962}}</ref> burying the body face down with a [[sickle]] around its head was believed to work as well.<ref name=":2" /> Other methods of protection from the {{lang|pl|strzyga}} (some similar to those from vampires) included:

* Burning the body
* Hammering nails, stakes etc. into various parts of the {{lang|pl|strzyga}}'s body
* Putting a [[flint]] into its mouth after exhumation<ref name=":2" />
* Pealing the church bells (the {{lang|pl|strzyga}} then turns into tar)<ref name=":0" />
* Slapping it across the face with one's left hand<ref name=":0" />
* Burying it again, outside of the village, and pinning it down with a big rock<ref name=":3" />
*Scattering poppy seeds in the shape of the cross in every corner of the house<ref name=":0" />
*Exhumation in the presence of a priest and burying the body again, after additional rituals (such as putting a piece of paper with the word "[[Jesus]]" written on it under the {{lang|pl|strzyga}}'s tongue)<ref>{{Cite news|title=Wśród ludu krakowskiego|last=Ulanowska|first=Stefania|date=1887|work=Wisła: miesięcznik geograficzno-etnograficzny}}</ref>
*Putting small objects in the {{lang|pl|strzyga}}'s grave to make it count them.<ref name=":4" />