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.

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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.
7
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.

8
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.

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