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Slavic Mythology

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Another holiday similar like Helloween certain people {shamans} placed masks in ... devised disparate deities associated with crafts, agriculture, and fertility. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Slavic Mythology


1
Slavic Mythology
The Raróg 'raruk in Slavic mythology is a hawk,
falcon.
  • Presented by
  • Katerina Dimitrova

2
Early history
  • What is myth? Myth is derived from the Greek word
    µ???? mythos, which simply means 'story'. A story
    that holds religious or spiritual significance
    for people in a particular community. It
    contributes to express systems of thoughts and
    values for people by implying neither the truth
    nor the fairness of the narrative.
  • It is believed that the slavic mythology was
    created due to their polythiestic religion
    practice prior to Christianisation. Despite some
    controversial theories, it cannot be proven that
    the Slavs had any sort of writing system prior to
    Christianisation therefore, all their original
    religious beliefs and traditions were likely
    passed down orally over generations, and
    potentially forgotten over the centuries
    following the arrival of Christianity.
  • For this reason, sparse records of Slavic
    religion where mainly written by non-slavic
    Christian missionaries who where not very
    objective in their descriptions of pagan beliefs.

3
Early history
  • During the 6th century was written the first
    definitive reference to the Slavs and their
    mythology by the Byzantine historian Procopius.
    He described the beliefs of a certain Slavic
    tribe who crossed the Danube river by worshiping
    a single God who crafted lightning and thunder.
    Although the historian does not mention the name
    of deity explicitly, it can be derived this is a
    reference to a God called Perun in later historic
    sources, since in many Slavic languages today
    Perun simply means "thunder" or "lightning bolt".

4
Folklore connection
  • Between the 7th and 12th century various Slavic
    populations where Christianised. In that period
    the Christianity was introduced as a religion of
    the elite, flourishing mostly in cities and
    nobility. Amongst the rural majority of the
    Slavic population the old myths remained strong.
  • From the perspectives of the Slavic peasant
    Christianity was not seen as the replacemen of
    the Slavic mythology, but rather addition to it
    because Christianity have offered a hope of
    salvation, the old religious system with its
    fertility rites, its protective deities, and its
    household spirits was taken to be necessary.
  • Folk songs, stories and festivals long ago lost
    their original sacred, mythical character, as
    well as their original meaning, and were
    downgraded to a level of mere superstition or a
    meaningless tradition that was continually
    repeated and passed down over generations who,
    for the most part, did not know what they were
    doing. People entertained a general vague idea
    that some festivals must be celebrated in a
    certain way, some stories must be told or some
    songs must be sung, because that was the way it
    has always been done.

5
Folklore connection
  • Fairy tales where created about various
    fantastical characters and creatures such as,
    Baba Yaga,, Firebird, Svarog- the God of Heavens,
    Dazhbog - God of the sun, Yaro/Yarilo - God of
    Spring/fertility, Stribog - God of winds, Seryï
    Volk (Grey Wolf) - a shape-shifter.Also
    superstitions about various demons and spirits
    such as, vilas, vampires, rusalkas etc. Many of
    these tales and beliefs may be quite ancient, and
    probably contain at least some elements of old
    mythical structure. They lack a deeper, sacral
    meaning and religious significance, and
    furthermore they tend to vary greatly among
    various Slavic populations.

6
Pictures of Gods
Perun - God of lightning, warriors, and storms -
became identified with St. Elias.It is
represented as the Supreme God of Slavs
Svarog - Chief god of the heavens.
7
Pictures of Gods
Lada - Mother of the gods.
Stribog - God of winds
8
Calendar and Festivals
The Slavic myths were, repeated every year over a
series of festivities 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 names for the last night of old year and the
    first day of new year are reconstructed as Velja
    Noc(Velja Notj)/Velik Dan(Veliku dini) (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, while in
    Catholic Slavs, it is known as Velika Noc/Great
    Night. The names blend nicely with the
    translation of the Great Week, the Christian term
    for the week in which Easter falls.
  • Another holiday similar like Helloween certain
    people shamans placed masks in their faces and
    created coats of sheep wool, roaming around the
    villages during the Great Night because it was
    believed that the spirits of the dead 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.
  • A large spring festival dedicated to Jarilo which
    is the God of vegetation and fertility was
    introduced. 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.
  • Another custom was the creation of Pisanki or
    decorated eggs just like the one we decorate for
    Easter. It was a symbol of new life and later was
    passed on Christian Easter.

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.
9
Further Developments
After the Proto-Slavs the first subsequent
developmnet occurred. That development split the
Slavs into East, West, and South Slavs. Each
branch of the Slavic family devised disparate
deities associated with crafts, agriculture, and
fertility.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • On an even lower level, certain mythical
    archetypes evolved into fairy-tale characters.
    These include Baba Yaga,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, the 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.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,
    and witches.

10
Slavic Paganism today
  • For the last few decades, Slavic paganism has
    gained limited popularity among the Russian
    public, with many web sites and organizations
    dedicated to the study of Slavic mythology and
    some who openly call for "returning to the
    roots."
  • Most of those activities take place in Russia and
    Belarus, but they also take place in other Slavic
    countries like Bulgaria, Poland, Croatia,
    Macedonia and Ukraine.

11
Thank you for your attention!
Veles, Volos, Weles, or Voloh is a major Slavic
god of agriculture, animal husbandry and the
dead.
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