Parikner
Beautiful, unaligned nymph-spirits of springs, meadows and reed-beds who dance in the shape of women or half-beasts.
The Dancing Ones of Spring and Reed
The parikner take their name from Iranian pairika — spirits of dangerous beauty, half-woman and half-animal in some tellings, who dance at springs and in reed-beds by night. They belong to no god's household and answer to nobody.
Country tradition holds that they are drawn to music and to solitary travellers, that they may bless or mislead depending on how they are met, and that dancing with them costs time you do not get back.
They are not demons and not servants: they are wild, exactly as a spring or a meadow is wild.
Sacred Associations
Associations
Կապեր- Wild water, reeds, meadows at night
- Music, dance and enchantment
- Beauty without obligation
- The unpredictable and the untamed
Realms
Տիրոյթներ- Springs and pools away from houses
- Reed-beds and marsh edges
- Moonlit meadows
- The hour after midnight
Sacred Offerings
Ընծաներ- Music played, not recorded
- Ribbons or thread tied to a branch at water
- Honey and fruit left uncounted
- A dance danced for no audience
Taboos
Արգելքներ- Do not try to bind, name or possess them.
- Do not follow music into water or into the dark.
- Do not bring them into your home; meet them where they live.
Sacred Colours
Գոյներ- Reed green
- Moon white
- Iridescent blue
Sacred Numbers
Թիւեր- Seven — the traditional company
- None counted — they dislike being numbered
Establishing a Relationship
- 1
Go outdoors at night, to water, and be pleasant company: play, sing, leave something, and go home when you said you would.
- 2
Expect nothing reliable. A relationship with the parikner is a friendship with weather.
- 3
Never make promises to them and never accept one.
The Offering at the Reeds
A moonlit night in spring or summer, outdoors, near water
- 1Go to a spring, stream or pond after dark, ideally alone but tell someone where you are.
- 2Leave honey and fruit on a flat stone at the water's edge without counting the pieces.
- 3Tie a ribbon or a length of thread to a branch or reed and say: 'Parikner, dancers of the water — I bring music, I take nothing.'
- 4Play, sing or hum for as long as feels right. Do not use a recording.
- 5Dance a little, badly, without watching yourself.
- 6Say thank you and leave immediately when you decide to leave. Do not linger, and do not go toward any sound that calls you further in.
- 7Do not return to the same spot for a month.