Recently I told you the story of a people who have seen some shit go down in their time. They survived plagues, Mongols, ice and each other. They descend from the Slavic offspring of Vikings and have a tendency to think and act like Europe’s polar opposite as often as possible.

But why did I preface it in such a fashion? What was my goal when telling you that Russia was mirror universe Europe? Well the reason is pretty simple: it explains so fucking much of their culture.

You see, as we go on this world tour of mythologies, I’ve been striving to show you something other than the standard European folklore that has been feeding epic fantasy for as long as anyone can remember. But when coming to the Slavic states, I saw a trend that amused the hell out of me: they’re almost exactly like their European neighbors until once again they turned left instead of right. Because “fuck it” is the personality of the former USSR and always has been.

So let’s take a look at mirror universe Europe and talk about…