If there was a hut, there would be cockroaches (cockroach as a character of Russian folklore)

Abstract

Cockroaches have accompanied people for a significant part of their history. On the one hand, it’s a pest that should be eliminated by all means, and magical methods peacefully coexisted with rational ones. On the other hand, according to the peasants with their mythological thinking, there was also a benefit from cockroaches. Remarkably that black cockroaches were considered more useful, they were perceived as a symbol of prosperity and patrons of livestock. Red or German cockroaches were perceived as more harmful and methods of getting rid of pests were applied to them in the first place. All this proves the binary perception of cockroaches which were close to the mythological world and its inhabitants and, accordingly, acted as bearers of both harm and good.