thumb|Illustration of a kikimora (1934) by [[Ivan Bilibin (1876–1942). (Kikimora as house-spirit and guardian of chickens - hence her depiction in chicken-like form).]]
Kikimora is a legendary creature, a female house spirit in Slavic mythology. Her role in the house is usually juxtaposed with that of the domovoy. In more recent times, an image of kikimora as a female swamp spirit has developed.
Etymology
Most sources link the suffix -mora with the Proto-Slavic *morà ('nightly spirit, bad dream') and the Proto-Germanic *marōn (id.), as in the modern English nightmare or French cauchemar. Other Slavic languages with cognates that have the double meaning of moth are: Kashubian mòra, and Slovak mora.
In Slovene, Croatian and Serbian, mora refers to a "nightmare". Mora or Mara is one of the spirits from ancient Slav mythology. Mara was a dark spirit that takes the form of a beautiful woman and then visits men in their dreams, torturing them with desire, and dragging life out of them. In Serbia, a mare is called mora, or noćnik/noćnica ("night creature", masculine and feminine respectively).
History
The origin of the kikimora comes from the 8th to 13th century when Slavic paganism was slowly subsumed by Christianity. However, even after Christianity took hold in the Slavic regions, the belief of the kikimora was still strong. Belief in the entity still continues today where it is imbued with old Slavic folk religion and Christianity's concept of demonic forces.
It is a common belief that a mora enters the room through the keyhole, sits on the chest of the sleepers and tries to strangle them (hence moriti, "to torture", "to bother", "to strangle"). To repel moras, children are advised to look at the window or to turn the pillow and make a sign of cross on it (prekrstiti jastuk); in the early 19th century, Vuk Karadžić mentioned that people would repel moras by leaving a broom upside down behind the door, or putting their belt on top of their sheets, or saying an elaborate prayer poem before they went to sleep.
There are two different kinds of kikimoras. The one that comes from the forest is married to the domovoi. The other one comes from the swamp () and is married to leshy. It is said that she can be identified by her wet footprints. When home builders wanted to cause harm to someone buying a house, they would bring in kikimora. Once she is inside, it is difficult to get her to leave.
There is a Russian bylichka about one swamp kikimora, who loved to brew beer. Her name was Baba Bolotnitsa (). When she was brewing beer, fog rose over the river (or swamp).
When the house is in order, a kikimora looks after the chickens and housework. If not, she whistles, breaks dishes, and makes noises at night. She also comes out at night to spin thread.
The concept of the kikimora is thought to serve basic functions and duties of the household. A kikimora would haunt a household if a woman did not keep a clean house, if a husband was lazy or abusive, or if children were poorly disciplined. Reversing one's behaviour is believed to remove her presence from the house. Besides that, the kikimora entity is thought to console or explain tragic events like the death of a family member or the loss of household items.
Russian "New Age" writer Vladimir Megre mentions the kikimora in The Space of Love, Book 3 of his "Ringing Cedars" series. Megre likens a man who marries unwisely based on looks and fashion to one who marries a kikimora. A footnote in the English version describes the kikimora as a malevolent female ghost said to attach itself to a particular house and disturb the inhabitants, males in particular. By extension, the term may also suggest an ugly woman in shabby clothing, ill-tempered and grumbling, striving to make the life of her husband (and men in general) unbearable.
In 1988, Kirill Eskov discovered and described a new genus and species of sheetweaver spider, Kikimora palustris, named after this spirit.
The 2015 video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and 2019 television series The Witcher both include depictions of kikimory, which are spider-like monsters that have no relation to folkloric kikimoras.