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Slavic mythology

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Myths

   Slavic mythology and Slavic religion evolved over more than 3,000
   years. It is conjectured that some parts of it are from neolithic or
   possibly even mesolithic times. The religion possesses numerous common
   traits with other religions descended from the Proto-Indo-European
   religion.
   Many generations of Slavic artists were inspired by their national
   folklore. Illustrated above is Ilya Repin's Sadko in the Underwater
   Kingdom (1876).
   Enlarge
   Many generations of Slavic artists were inspired by their national
   folklore. Illustrated above is Ilya Repin's Sadko in the Underwater
   Kingdom (1876).

Calendar and festivals

   Slavic myths were cyclical, repeating every year over a series of
   festivites that followed changes of nature and seasons. Thus, to
   understand their mythology, it is important to understand their concept
   of calendar. On the basis of archeological and folklore remains, it is
   possible to reconstruct some elements of pre-Christian calendar,
   particularly major feastivals.
     * The year was apparently lunar, and began on the first day of March,
       similar to other Indo-European cultures whose old calendar systems
       are better known to us. The names for the last night of old year
       and the first day of new year are reconstructed as Velja Noc/Velik
       Dan (Great Night/Great Day). After Christianization, these names
       were probably passed onto Easter. In Slavic countries belonging to
       Orthodox Churches, Easter is known as Velik Dan/Great Day, whilst
       amongst Catholic Slavs, it is known as Velika Noc/Great Night. The
       names blend nicely with the translation of the Greek Megale Hemera,
       Great Week, the Christian term for the week in which Easter falls.
       In pagan times, however, this was a holiday probably quite like
       Halloween. Certain people (shamans) donned grotesque masks and
       coats of sheep wool, roaming around the villages, as during the
       Great Night, it was believed, spirits of dead ancestors travelled
       across the land, entering villages and houses to celebrate the new
       year with their living relatives. Consequently, the deity of the
       last day of the year was probably Veles, god of Underworld.

   The spring fertility festival of Maslenitsa, rooted in pagan times and
   involving the burning of a straw effigy is still celebrated by Slavs
   all over the world, as seen here in Melbourne, Australia.
   Enlarge
   The spring fertility festival of Maslenitsa, rooted in pagan times and
   involving the burning of a straw effigy is still celebrated by Slavs
   all over the world, as seen here in Melbourne, Australia.
     * There was a large spring festival dedicated to Jarilo, god of
       vegetation and fertility. Processions of young men or girls used to
       go round villages on this day, carrying green branches or flowers
       as symbols of new life. They would travel from home to home,
       reciting certain songs and bless each household with traditional
       fertility rites. The leader of procession, usually riding on horse,
       would be identified with Jarilo. The custom of creation of pisanki
       or decorated eggs, also symbols of new life, was another tradition
       associated with this feast, which was later passed on Christian
       Easter.

     * The summer solstice festival is known today variously as Ivanje,
       Kupala or Kries. It was celebrated pretty much as a huge wedding,
       and, according to some indications from historical sources, in
       pagan times likely followed by a general orgy. There was a lot of
       eating and drinking on the night before, large bonfires (in Slavic
       - Kres) were lit, and youngsters were coupling and dancing in
       circles, or jumped across fires. Young girls made wreaths from
       flowers and fern (which apparently was a sacred plant for this
       celebration), tossed them into rivers, and on the basis of how and
       where they floated, foretold each other how they would get married.
       Ritual bathing on this night was also very important; hence the
       name of Kupala (from kupati = to bathe), which probably fit nicely
       with folk translation of the future patron saint the Church
       installed for this festival, John the Baptist. Overall, the whole
       festivity probably celebrated a divine wedding of fertility god,
       associated with growth of plants for harvest.

     * In the middle of summer, there was a festival associated with
       thunder-god Perun, in post-Christian times transformed into a very
       important festival of Saint Elijah. It was considered the holiest
       time of the year, and there are some indications from historic
       sources that it involved human sacrifices. The harvest probably
       began afterwards.

     * It is unclear when exactly the end of harvest was celebrated, but
       historic records mention interesting tradition associated with it
       that was celebrated at Svantevit temple on the island of Ruyana
       (present-day Rugen), a survived through later folklore. People
       would gather in front of the temple, where priests would place a
       huge wheat cake, almost the size of a man. The high priest would
       stand behind the cake and ask the masses if they saw him. Whatever
       their answer was, the priest would then plead that the next year,
       people could not see him behind the ritual cake; i.e., he alluded
       that the next year's harvest would be even more bountiful.

     * There probably also was an important festival around winter
       solstice, which later became associated with Christmas.
       Consequently, in many Slavic countries, Christmas is called
       Bozhich, which simply means little god. While this name fits very
       nicely with the Christian idea of Christmas, the name is likely of
       pagan origin; it indicated the birth of a young and new god of Sun
       to the old and weakened solar deity during the longest night of the
       year. The old Sun god was identified as Svarog, and his son, the
       young and new Sun, as Dazhbog. An alternative (or perhaps the
       original) name for this festival was Korochun.

Cosmology

   A fairly typical cosmological concept among speakers of Indo-European
   languages, that of the World Tree, is also present in Slavic mythology.
   It is either an oak tree, or some sort of pine tree. The mythological
   symbol of the World Tree was a very strong one, and survived throughout
   the Slavic folklore for many centuries after Christianisaton. Three
   levels of the universe were located on the tree. Its crown represented
   the sky, the realm of heavenly deites and celestial bodies, whilst the
   trunk was the realm of mortals. They were sometimes combined together
   in opposition to the roots of the tree, which represented the
   underworld, the realm of the dead. Contrary to the popular ideas, it
   seems the world of dead in Slavic mythology was actually quite a lovely
   place, a green and wet world of grassy plains and eternal spring. In
   folklore, this land is sometimes referred to as Virey or Iriy.

   The pattern of three realms situated vertically on the axis mundi of
   the World Tree parallels the horizontal, geographical organisation of
   the world. The world of gods and mortals was situated in the centre of
   the earth (considered to be flat, of course), encircled by a sea,
   across which lay the land of dead, where birds would fly to every
   winter and return from in spring. In many folklore accounts, the
   concepts of going across the sea versus coming from across the sea are
   equated with dying versus returning to life. This echoes an ancient
   mythological concept that the afterlife is reached by crossing over a
   body of water. Additionally, on the horizontal axis, the world was also
   split; in this case by four cardinal points, representing the four wind
   directions (north, east, south, west). These two divisions of the
   world, into three realms on the vertical axis and into four points on
   the horizontal, were quite important in mythology; they can be
   interpreted in statues of Slavic gods, particularly those of the
   three-headed Triglav and the four-headed Svantevit.

   The Sun was considered to be a female deity, and the Moon to be male
   one. This is contrary to the usual concept in Indo-European
   mythologies, in which the Sun is usually associated with male deities
   and Moon with female ones, but identical to the picture in Baltic
   mythology, which is most closely related to Slavic.

Pantheon

   As noted in the description of historical sources, a very wide range of
   deities was worshipped by Slavs, on a huge geographical area from the
   shores of the Baltic to the shores of the Black Sea, in a time span of
   over 600 years. Historic sources also show that each Slavic tribe
   worshipped its own gods, and thus probably had its own pantheon.
   Overall, ancient Slavic religion seems to be fairly local and cultic in
   nature, with gods and beliefs varying from tribe to tribe. However,
   just as in the case of the various Slavic languages - it can be shown
   that they originate from a single, Proto-Slavic language - it is also
   possible to establish some sort of Proto-Slavic Olympus, and through
   careful study of folklore, reconstruct some elements of this original
   pantheon, from which the various gods of the various Slavic tribes
   originated.

Supreme god

   There are various modern theories about a supreme Slavic god being Rod
   or Svarog, and historic sources show that gods such as Svarogich,
   Svantevit or Triglav were worshipped as supreme by certain tribes. But
   overall by far the best candidate for the position of supreme god is
   Perun. His name is the most common in all historic records of Slavic
   paganism; in fact, he is the first Slavic god mentioned in written
   history (Procopius in his short note mentions that the god of thunder
   and lightning is the only god of Slavs, lord of all). The Primary
   Chronicle identifies him as chief god of Kievan Rus prior to
   Christianisation. A short note in Helmold's Chronica Slavorum states
   that West Slavs believe in a single god in heaven who rules over all
   the other gods on earth; the name of this god is not mentioned, but
   nevertheless it seems quite possible this was a reference to Perun. And
   even though we do not find the name of Perun in any of the extensive
   records of West Slavic paganism, he was known by all branches of Slavs,
   as shown by a vast number of toponyms that still bear his name in all
   Slavic countries today. Finally, by analysing the folklore texts, one
   will notice that Perun is the only Slavic deity who had the honour of
   being equated with Christian God. These are very strong indications
   that Perun was indeed the supreme god of the original Proto-Slavic
   pantheon.

   Perun, however, had a match. As Roman Jakobson pointed out, whenever
   Perun is mentioned in historic texts, he is always "accompanied" by
   another god, Veles. This relationship can be observed in toponyms as
   well. Wherever we find a hill or a mountain peak whose name can be
   associated with Perun, below it, in the lowlands, usually near a river,
   there will be a place with a name reminiscent of Veles. Consequently,
   as Perun was sometimes identified with God in folklore accounts, Veles
   was identified with the Devil.

Gods

Perun and Veles

   Gromoviti znaci or thunder marks such as these were often engraved upon
   roof beams of houses to protect them from lightning bolts. Identical
   symbols were discovered on Proto-Slavic pottery of 4th century
   Chernyakhov culture. They are thought to be symbols of the supreme
   Slavic god of thunder, Perun.
   Enlarge
   Gromoviti znaci or thunder marks such as these were often engraved upon
   roof beams of houses to protect them from lightning bolts. Identical
   symbols were discovered on Proto-Slavic pottery of 4th century
   Chernyakhov culture. They are thought to be symbols of the supreme
   Slavic god of thunder, Perun.

   Ivanov and Toporov reconstructed the ancient myth involving the two
   major gods of the Proto-Slavic pantheon, Perun and Veles. The two of
   them stand in opposition in almost every way. Perun is a heavenly god
   of thunder and lightning, fiery and dry, who rules the living world
   from his citadel high above, located on the top of the highest branch
   of the World Tree. Veles is a cthonic god associated with waters,
   earthly and wet, lord of underworld, who rules the realm of dead from
   down in the roots of the World Tree. Perun is a giver of rain for
   farmers, god of war and weapons, invoked by fighters. Veles is a god of
   cattle, protector of shepherds, associated with magic and commerce.
   Perun brings forth order, Veles causes chaos.

   A cosmic battle fought between two of them echoes the ancient
   Indo-European myth of a fight between a storm god and a dragon.
   Attacking with his lightning bolts from sky, Perun pursues his
   serpentine enemy Veles who slithers down over earth. Veles taunts Perun
   and flees, transforming himself into various animals, hiding behind
   trees, houses, or people. In the end, he is killed by Perun, or he
   flees into the water, into the underworld. This is basically the same
   thing; by killing Veles, Perun does not actually destroy him, but
   simply returns him to his place in the world of the dead. Thus the
   order of the world, disrupted by Veles's mischief, is established once
   again by Perun. The idea that storms and thunder are actually a divine
   battle between the supreme god and his arch-enemy was extremely
   important to Slavs, and continued to thrive long after Perun and Veles
   were replaced by God and Devil. A lightning bolt striking down a tree
   or burning down a peasant's house was always explained through the
   belief of a raging heavenly deity bashing down on his earthly,
   underworldly, enemy.

   The enmity of the two gods was explained by Veles theft of Perun's
   cattle, or by Perun's theft of Veles's cattle (since Veles was god of
   cattle, the matter of ownership here is not clear). The motif of
   stealing divine cattle is also a common one in Indo-European mythology;
   the cattle in fact may be understood simply as a metaphor for heavenly
   water or rain. Thus, Veles steals rain water from Perun, or Perun
   steals water for rain from Veles (again, since Veles is associated with
   waters, and Perun with sky and clouds, it is unclear to whom rain
   should belong). An additional reason for this enmity may be wife-theft.
   From folklore accounts it seems clear that the Sun was considered to be
   Perun's wife. However, since the Sun, in the mythic view of the world,
   dies every evening, as it descends beyond horizon and into the
   underworld where it spends the night, this was understood by Slavs as
   Veles's theft of Perun's wife (but again, the rebirth of the Sun in the
   morning could also be understood as Perun's theft of Veles's wife).

Jarilo and Morana

   Katicic and Belaj continued down the path laid by Ivanov and Toporov
   and reconstructed the myth revolving around the fertility and
   vegetation god, Jarilo, and his sister and wife, Morana, feminine
   goddess of nature and death. Jarilo is associated with Moon and Morana
   is considered a daughter of Sun. Both of them are children of Perun,
   born on the night of new year (Great Night). However, on the same
   night, Jarilo is snatched from the cradle and taken to the underworld,
   where Veles raises him as his own. At the spring festival of
   Jare/Jurjevo, Jarilo returns from the world of the dead (from across
   the sea), bringing spring from the ever-green underworld into the realm
   of the living. He meets his sister Morana and courts her. At the
   beginning of summer, the festival later known as Ivanje/Ivan, Kupala
   celebrated their divine wedding. The sacred union between brother and
   sister, children of the supreme god, brings fertility and abundance to
   earth, ensuring a bountiful harvest. Also, since Jarilo is a (step)son
   of Veles, and his wife daughter of Perun, their marriage brings peace
   between two great gods; in other words, it ensures there will be no
   storms which could damage the harvest.

   After the harvest, however, Jarilo is unfaitfhul to his wife, and she
   vengfully slays him (returns him into the underworld), renewing the
   enmity between Perun and Veles. Without her husband, god of fertility
   and vegetation, Morana - and all of nature with her - withers and
   freezes in the upcoming winter; she turns into a terrible, old, and
   dangerous goddess of darkness and frost, and eventually dies by the end
   of year. The whole myth would repeat itself anew each following year,
   and retelling of its key parts was accompanied by major yearly
   festivals of the Slavic calendar. The story also shows numerous
   parallels to similar myths of Baltic and Hittite mythology.

Svarog, Svarogich, Dazhbog

   Nicholas Roerich. Slavic Idols (1901).
   Enlarge
   Nicholas Roerich. Slavic Idols (1901).

   The name of Svarog is found only in East Slavic manuscripts, where it
   is usually equated with the Greek smith god Hephaestus. However, the
   name is very ancient, indicating that Svarog was a deity of
   Proto-Slavic pantheon. The root svar means bright, clear, and the
   suffix -og denotes a place. Comparison with Vedic Svarga indicates that
   Svarog simply meant (daylight) sky. It is possible he was the original
   sky god of the pantheon, perhaps a Slavic version of
   Proto-Indo-European * Dyēus Ph[2]ter. Svarog can be also understood as
   meaning a shining, fiery place; a forge. This, and indentification with
   Hephaestus from historic sources, indicates he was also a god of fire
   and blacksmithing. According to the interpretation by Ivanov and
   Toporov, Svarog had two sons: Svarogich, who represented fire on earth,
   and Dazhbog, who represented fire in the sky and was associated with
   Sun. Svarog was believed to have forged the Sun and have given it to
   his son Dazhbog to carry it across the sky.

   In Russian manuscripts he is equated with Sun, and folklore remembers
   him as a benevolent deity of light and sky. Serbian folklore, however,
   presents a far darker picture of him; he is remembered as Dabog, a
   frightful and lame deity guarding the doors of the underworld,
   associated with mining and precious metals. Veselin Čajkanović pointed
   out that these two aspects fit quite nicely into a symbolism of Slavic
   solar deity; a benevolent side represents the Dazhbog during day, when
   he carries the Sun accros the sky. The malevolent and ugly Dabog
   carries the Sun through the underworld at night. This pattern can also
   be applied to Sun's yearly cycle; a benevolent aspect is associated
   with young, summer Sun, and a malevolent one with old, winter Sun.

   Svarogic was worshipped as a fire spirit by Russian peasants well after
   Christianisation. He was also known amongst Western Slavs, but there he
   was worshipped as a supreme deity in the holy city of Radegast.
   Svarogich is a simply deminutive of Svarog's name, and thus it may
   simply be another aspect (a surname, so to speak) of Dazhbog. There is
   also a point of view that Svarog was the ancestor of all other Slavic
   gods, and thus Svarogich could simply be an epithet of any other deity,
   so that Dazhbog, Perun, Veles, and so on, were possibly all Svarogichs.

Svantevit and Triglav

   It is somewhat ironic that for now we cannot clearly determine the
   position of these two gods in Proto-Slavic pantheon, yet we have the
   most extensive historic accounts written about them. That they were
   important to all pagan Slavs is indicated by a significant number of
   toponyms whose names can be associated with them and by discoveries of
   multi-headed statues in various Slavic lands. Both of these gods were
   considered supreme in various locations; they were associated with
   divination and symbolised by the horse. A possibly significant
   difference is that Svantevit had a white horse whilst Triglav a black
   one, and Svantevit was represented with four heads whilst Triglav
   (whose name simply means Three-headed) with three. Svantevit was also
   associated with victory in war, harvest, and commerce.

   Various hypotheses about them were proposed: that they are in fact one
   and the same deity, being somewhat similar; that they are not gods at
   all but compounds of three or four gods, a kind of mini-pantheons.
   Slavic neopagans tend to think of Triglav in particular as a concept of
   Trinity. Svantevit has also been proclaimed as a late West Slavic
   alternation of Perun or Jarilo, or compared with Svarogich and deemed a
   solar deity. None of these hypotheses is quite satisfactory, and mostly
   they are just wild speculation, another attempt to reconstruct Slavic
   mythology as it should be, rather than discovering what it was really
   like. Further research is necessary before more can be said of these
   deities.

Zorya and Danica

   These names mean simply Dawn and Daystar, but in folklore accounts of
   all Slavic nations, they are often described as persons, or associated
   with persons, in pretty much the same way as Sun and Moon. Danica is
   often called Sun's younger sister or daughter, and was probably
   associated with Morana. Consequently, Zorya was either Sun's mother or
   older sister. It is quite possible this was a Slavic relic of the
   Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess Hausos, but further research into the
   matter will be necessary before more can be said of these deities.

   Gods other than these cannot, at the moment, be established as
   Proto-Slavic deities. It should be noted, however, that it is very
   likely many of these gods were known by different names even in the
   same language. Religious taboos of using true names of deities
   certainly existed amongst Slavs, and thus gods were often called by
   additional names or adjectives, describing their qualities. Over time,
   these adjectives took on lives of their own.

Further developments

   Ivanov and Toporov also schematically periodised various stages of
   development of Slavic mythology, attempting to show how it evolved from
   the original pantheon:
     * The first subsequent development occurring after the Proto-Slavs
       had split into East, West, and South Slavs. Each branch of the
       Slavic family devised disparate deities associated with crafts,
       agriculture, and fertility, such as Rod and Chur, and various
       feminine deities of household such as Mokosh. Deities such as Hors
       and Simargl are sometimes interpreted as the East Slavic borrowings
       from their Iranian neighbours.

   Baba Yaga, by Ivan Bilibin.
   Enlarge
   Baba Yaga, by Ivan Bilibin.
     * At the level of abstract personification of divine functions, we
       have such concepts as Pravda/Krivda (Right/Wrong), Dobra Kob/Zla
       Kob (Good Fortune/Evil Fortune). These concepts, found in many
       Slavic fairy tales, are presumed to have originated at a time when
       old myths were already being downgraded to the level of legends and
       stories. Loius Leger pointed out that various Slavic words
       describing success, destiny, or fortune are all connected with the
       ancient Slavic word for God - "bog". Although used to denote the
       God of Christianity, the word is of pagan origin and quite ancient.
       It originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhag (meaning
       fortune), being cognate to Avestic baga and Sanskrit bhagah
       (epithets of deities).

     * The next level of development is a mythologisation of historical
       traditions. Beginning in pagan times, it continued well after the
       advent of Christianity. It is characterised by tales and songs of
       legendary heroes, ranging from purely legendary founders of certain
       tribes, such as the stories about Lech, Czech, and Rus, to quite
       historical persons such as the 15th century Croatian-Hungarian king
       Matthias Corvinus or the Serbian Prince Marko, who were both
       immortalised in folk legend or poetry. Russian bylinas about
       bogatyrs, Polish legends of Krak the Dragonslayer, Czech legends
       about Libuše, and the foundation of Prague all fall into this
       category. Various elements of these tales will still reveal
       elements of old myths (such as a hero slaying a dragon, a faint
       echo of an ancient concept of a cosmic battle between Perun the
       Thunderer and the serpentine Veles).

     * On an even lower level, certain mythical archetypes evolved into
       fairy-tale characters. These include Baba Yaga, Koschei the
       Immortal, Nightingale the Robber, Vodyanoy, Zmey Gorynych, and so
       on. At this point of development, one can hardly speak of mythology
       anymore. Rather, these are legends and stories which contain some
       fragments of old myths, but their structure and meaning are not so
       clear.

     * The lowest level of development of Slavic mythology includes
       various groups of home or nature spirits and magical creatures,
       which vary greatly amongst different Slavic nations. Mythic
       structure on this level is practically incomprehensible, but some
       of the beliefs nevertheless have a great antiquity. As early as the
       5th century, Procopius mentioned that Slavs worshipped river and
       nature spirits, and traces of such beliefs can still be recognised
       in the tales about vilas, vampires, witches, and werewolves.

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