Byvalschina

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Byvalschina (in Russian: Бывальщина) is a short oral story in Russian folklore about a supernatural incident: a case that took place in reality, without focusing on the personal testimony of the narrator (in contrast to the bailichka, where the story is conducted on behalf of the "eyewitness"). It echoes the term urban legend.

Byvalschina (in comparison with bailichka) is already closer to legends and fairy tales ("people say that...").^[1]

The terms bailichka and byvalschina became known among the people no later than the 19th century. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Dmitry Sadovnikov, Pyotr Efimenko, Nikolai Onchukov, Dmitry Zelenin, Boris and Yuri Sokolov, and Irina Karnaukhova collected byvalshchines and bailichki.

A more complete study of the bailichki took place in the second half of the 20th century. Erna Pomérantseva proposed a clear distinction between the terms bailichka and byvalschina: "the term bylichka corresponds to the concept of superstitious memorat... From the byvalschina, tradition, that is, the plot... the bailichka is distinguished by ... formlessness, singularity, lack of community."^[2]

• Bailichka