How to appease mischievous household spirits across the world!

If you are lucky enough, you can live in a home where a hairy little creature will help keep your kitchen clean, or maybe will grant you everlasting good fortune.
At least, so long as you keep them happy.
From Hestia, ancient Greece’s goddess of the hearth, to Spain, Northern Europe or Japan, household spirits have been around for centuries and double as gods of fire and agents of chaos, so failing to take care of them or their needs can lead to missing items, broken dishes, and every kind of bad fortune.

One of the most popular example is originating in Slavic mythology, in the form of a hairy little imp known as domovoi, and probably it is one of the world’s creepier household gods.
According to the legend, each house has a personal domovoi, which usually resides somewhere beneath the threshold, under the stove, or in the oven, and they are sometimes thought to be the spirit of the original head of the household.
Traditionally the creatures take the form of a tiny old man, about the size of a small child, not by chance with a long gray beard, and sometimes they mirror aspects of a family ancestor, or even the current head of the household. They can also take on animal form, appearing as a cat, a dog or a snake.
To keep the domovoi calm, surely you must keep a tidy household, with dishes cleaned and put away, food not left out, unless it’s a small table offering to the creature.
If the domovoi are happy, they might come out at night and perform small chores around the house and yard but, if they becomes upset with the condition of the house or their treatment, they turn into pests, stealing small items, breaking things around the house, and disturbing people’s sleep, among other nuisances.

Another is the trasgu.
Originating in the regions of northern Spain, it is another mischievious imp with a strange love of domestic chores with more of an impish reputation than some of the more divine or ancestral spirits that can inhabit your home.
They appear as small, spindly elves that wear red cloaks and caps, and other notable features include a limp, and a hole in their left hand.
Sometimes they are described as having horns.
The creature should be provided with small amounts of food and access to a warm place to sleep, such as near a chimney.
If they are happy, they will perform small household chores such as washing up, but if they are neglected, they will move and hide items around the house, break dishes, and make every sort of a mess.
As story goes, to get rid of a trasgu, you have to assign them an impossible task, like picking up grains, which will fall through the hole in their hand.
As a result, eventually they will get discouraged and leave the house forever.

Moving to Finland, we have the kotihaltia.
In Finnish mythology, there is a type of spirit known as a “haltija,” which acts as a protector of someone or something and, among them, the kotihaltia looks after the home.
Similar to other European household imps, it is a little elf character that can act as either a helper or a trickster depending on its temperament.
They are said to live in the attic or even the barn, looking out for and protecting the family that lives there, and they are closely related to other haltija who hold domain over other parts of an estate, including the saunatonttu, who specifically protect the sauna.

However, from folklore of northern England, the hob is maybe one of the most well-known types of household spirits, also having inspired the Harry Potter character, Dobby.
According to popular folklore, hobs are a more variable type of household spirit which can also inhabit shops and farms, helping with the work there, less closely associated with a specific house or family.
Not unlike in the Harry Potter saga, hobs traditionally look like stunted elves that mainly come out at night to help with the chores, preferring not to be seen in their work.
They are often a positive presence, but one thing they really hate is to be rewarded for their work, and any praise could be seen as an affront, and cause them to disappear.
Just leave hobs to their work, and everything should be fine. Maybe.

In Scotland we have brownies, also known as a brùnaidh or gruagach in Scottish Gaelic).
They are said to come out at night while the owners of the house are asleep and perform various chores and farming tasks. The human owners of the house must leave a bowl of milk or cream or some other offering for the brownie, usually by the hearth. Brownies are described as easily offended and will leave their homes forever if they feel they have been insulted or in any way taken advantage of.
Brownies are characteristically mischievous and are often said to punish or pull pranks on lazy servants.
Descriptions of brownies vary regionally, but they are usually described as ugly, brown-skinned, and covered in hair.
They are often capable of turning invisible, and they sometimes appear in the shapes of animals, but they are always either naked or dressed in rags.
If a person attempts to present a brownie with clothing or baptize it, it will leave forever.

In Lithuanian folklore, we have the figure of Gabija, one of the more potentially destructive household gods.
As goddess of the hearth, it is more similar to the living embodiment of fire than some of the more benevolent counterparts.
Gabija appears in human form as a woman clad in a red dress, although she can also take the form of a cat or a rooster.
Paying respect to the goddes is as simple as observing proper care of your household flame and, If the fire needs to be extinguished completely, it is wise to only do so using pure water, as any other liquid might anger the goddess.
If she becomes displeased, fire would spread through your house.
In short, keeping her calm could mean keeping your house from burning down.

In Swiss folklore, Jack o’ the bowl is another helpful house spirit.
Otherwise known as Jean de la Boliéta in French, or Napf-Hans in German, in return for a bowl of sweet cream left out for him each night, he would lead the cows to graze in places considered dangerous to humans, but none of the cows ever suffered injury. The path used by him was always clear of stones no matter how rocky the mountainside!

To conclude, we move to Japan where we find zashiki-warashi.
While some household spirits must be driven out in order to stop any calamity they might be inflicting on the family, in the case of zashiki-warashi, it isn’t until it leaves that you have to really worried!
Traditionally the they remain invisible or appear as a plump little kid, but only to children.
They usually only show up to the adults or owners of a house if they are preparing to leave and, should the ghost vacate the house, it is a sure sign of impending doom and ruin.
Zashiki-warashi tend to inhabit nicer, older houses, and they are fond of playing pranks like making noise in empty rooms, and unmaking the bedcovers.
Despite this mischief, they are not seen as evil spirits, and if they take up residence in the home, it is usually a sign of good fortune!

Moving to Europe again, more precisely in Germany, Heinzelmännchen are a mythical creatures, appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne similar to gnomes or elves.
The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during the night, so that the locals could be very lazy during the day.
According to the legend, this went on until a tailor’s wife got so curious to see the gnomes that she scattered peas onto the floor of the workshop to make the gnomes slip and fall.
The creatures, being infuriated, disappeared and never returned. From that time on, the citizens of Cologne had to do all their work by themselves.