Khmarnik

In Slavic mythology, a spirit protecting his village from bad weather, rain and hail. A person can also receive this gift by signing a contract with a warlock who promised his soul in return after death, or by taking possession of a wonderful staff or candle.

At the approach of a storm, khmarnik rang the bells, ran around the village, waved his arms as if in a fight, baptized the clouds with three straws and pronounced a spell. The leader of the storm, who took the form of a white or black man on a black horse, could twice refuse the right to pour hail on the village. Only for the third time he allowed hail to pour out somewhere far away from homes, gardens and crops - on the road, into the river, into a ravine or gorge.

In the Hutsul bylichki, two khmarniks fought among themselves, determining on whose village a cloud with hail should fall. The loser in this battle was dying.