The Slavic people are considered relatively young in history. They were first mentioned under their own name in written sources only from the 6th century. For the first time the name of the Slavs in the form oxhabnvos we meet at Pseudo-Caesarius around 525. At present, the region extending to the north of the Carpathians is recognized as the birthplace of the Slavs. But at the closest determination of its boundaries, scientists very significantly differ among themselves.
The problems of the origin and settlement of the Slavs are still controversial, but numerous studies by historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnographers and linguists make it possible to draw up a general picture of the early history of the Eastern Slavic peoples.
In the middle of the 1st millennium A.D. on the common territory of Eastern Europe, from Lake Ilmen to the Black Sea steppes and from the Eastern Carpathians to the Volga, the East Slavic tribes were formed. Historians count about 15 such tribes. Each tribe was a collection of clans and then occupied a relatively small isolated area.
According to the "Tale of Bygone Years", the map of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the 8-9 centuries. looked like this: Slovenes (Ilyinsky Slavs) lived on the shores of Lake Ilmen and Volkhva; Krivichi with Polotsk people - in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, Volga and Dnieper; Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Berezina; vyatichi - on the Oka and the Moscow River; radimichi - on the Sozh and Desna; northerners - on the Desna, Seim, Sula and Northern Donets; Drevlyans - in Pripyat and in the Middle Dnieper region; glade - along the middle course of the Dnieper; Buzhanians, Volynians, Duleby - in Volyn, along the Bug; tivertsi, streets - in the very south, near the Black Sea and the Danube. The group of Eastern Slavs includes: Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
The Slavs bred cattle and pigs, as well as horses, were engaged in hunting and fishing. In everyday life, the Slavs widely used the so-called ritual calendar associated with agrarian magic. It marked the days of the spring-summer agricultural season from seed germination to harvest and highlighted the days of pagan prayers for rain at four different times. These four periods of rains were considered optimal for the Kiev region and in the agronomic manuals of the late 19th century, which indicated that the Slavs had a 4th century. reliable agrotechnical observations.
The pagans looked at human life from a purely material point of view: with the dominance of physical strength, the weak person was the most unhappy being, and again the life of such a person was considered a feat of compassion. The religion of the Eastern Slavs is strikingly similar to the original religion of the Aryan tribes: it consisted in the worship of physical deities, natural phenomena and the souls of the dead, family geniuses. But we do not notice traces of the heroic element that develops anthropomorphism so strongly among the Slavs, and this may mean that between them no conquest squads were formed under the command of the leaders - heroes, and that their resettlement took place in a tribal, and not in a squad form.
East Slavic paganism on the eve of the creation of Kievan Rus and in its further coexistence with Christianity is reflected in a large number of materials that are sources for its study. These are, first of all, genuine and accurately dated archaeological materials that reveal the very essence of the pagan cult: idols of gods, sanctuaries, cemeteries without external ground signs (“burial fields”, “fields of burial urns”), as well as with preserved mounds of ancient burial mounds. In addition, it is - found in burial mounds, in hoards and simply in the cultural layers of cities, diverse products of applied art, saturated with archival pagan symbolism. Of these, the most valuable are women's jewelry, which are often wedding sets in burial complexes and, therefore, are especially saturated with magical incantatory plots and amulets - amulets.
A peculiar, but very poorly studied remnant of the pagan side is the numerous names of the tracts: "Holy Mountain", "Bald Mountain" (the place of the witches), "Holy Lake", "Holy Grove", "Peryn", "Volosovo", etc.
Bald Mountain:
A very important source is the testimony of contemporaries recorded in the annals, or in specially recorded teachings against paganism.
For about a century and a half, Kievan Rus was a state with a pagan system, often opposing the penetration of Christianity. In Kievan Rus IX - X centuries. formed an influential class of priests ("Magi"), who led the rituals, preserving the ancient mythology and developing a well-thought-out agrarian-spellbound symbolism.
In the era of Svyatoslav, in connection with the warriors with Byzantium, Christianity became a persecuted religion, and paganism was reformed and opposed to the penetration of Christianity into Russia: the so-called "Pantheon of Vladimir" was, on the one hand, a response to Christianity, and on the other, an affirmation of princely power and domination of the class of warriors - feudal lords.
Performing common tribal ritual actions (“cathedrals”, “events”), organizing ritual actions, sanctuaries and grandiose princely burial mounds, observing the calendar dates of the annual ritual cycle, storing, performing and creatively replenishing the fund of mythological and ethical legends required a special priestly class (“magi” , "Sorcerer", "cloud slayers", "wizards", "connivances", etc.).
A century after the baptism of Rus, the Magi could, in some cases, win over an entire city to their side to oppose the prince or bishop (Novgorod). Greek Christianity found in the 980s in Russia not a simple village quackery, but a significantly developed pagan culture with its own mythology, a pantheon of main deities, priests, in all likelihood, with its own pagan chronicle of 912 - 980.
The strength of pagan ideas in the Russian feudal cities of the Middle Ages is evident, firstly, from the numerous church teachings. Directed against pagan beliefs and pagan rituals and festivals held in cities, and secondly, from the pagan symbolism of applied art, which generally desired not only ordinary people of the urban settlement, but also the highest, princely circles (treasures of the 1230s). In the second half of the 12th century, the pagan element was still fully expressed.
In Slavic religious beliefs, there was a hierarchy characteristic of many peoples who worshiped several gods. The ancient Slavs also had a peculiar pantheon of gods.
Pantheon of Slavic gods:
The most ancient supreme male deity among the Slavs was Rod.
Already in Christian teachings against paganism of the XII-XIII centuries. Rod is written about as a god worshiped by all nations. Rod was the god of the sky, thunderstorms, fertility. They said about him that he rides on a cloud, throws rain on the earth, and from this children are born. He was the ruler of the earth and all living things, he was a pagan creator god. In Slavic languages, the root "genus" means kinship, birth, water (spring), profit (harvest), such concepts as people and homeland, in addition, it means red and lightning, especially ball, called "rhodium". This variety of cognate words undoubtedly proves the greatness of the pagan god.
All Slavic gods who were part of the ancient pagan pantheon were divided into solar gods and functional gods.
There were four solar gods: Hors, Yarilo, Dazhdbog and Svarog.
Svarog
Dazhdbog
Functional gods: Perun - patron saint of lightning and warriors; Semargl - the god of death, the image of the sacred heavenly fire; Veles - black god, lord of the dead, wisdom and magic; Stribog is the god of the wind.
Perun
Since ancient times, the Slavs have celebrated the change of seasons and the change of the phases of the sun. Therefore, for each season (spring, summer, autumn and winter), his own god (Khors, Yarilo, Dazhdbog and Svarog) was responsible, especially revered throughout the season.
God Hors was worshiped between the winter and spring solstices (from December 22 to March 21); Yarile - between the spring and summer solstices (from March 21 to June 22); Dazhdbogu - between the summer and autumn solstices (from June 22 to September 23); God Svarog - between the autumn and winter solstices (from September 23 to December 22).
The Slavs used the word "god" common to all Slavs to denote a share, luck, happiness. Take, for example, “rich” (having a god, a share) and “poor” (the opposite meaning). The word "God" was included in the names of various deities - Dazhdbog, Chernobog, etc. Slavic examples and evidence of other most ancient Indo-European mythologies allow us to see in these names a reflection of the ancient layer of mythological ideas of the Proto-Slavs.
All mythological creatures responsible for a particular spectrum of human life can be divided into three main levels: higher, middle and lower.
So, at the highest level are the gods, whose "functions" are most important for the Slavs and who participated in the most common legends and myths. These include such deities as Svarog (Stribog, Sky), Earth, Svarozhichi (children of Svarog and Earth - Perun, Dazhdbog and Fire).
At the middle level, there were deities associated with economic cycles and seasonal rituals, as well as gods who embodied the integrity of closed small groups, such as Chur among the Eastern Slavs. Most of the female deities, somewhat less human-like than the gods of the highest level, probably belonged to this level.
At the lower level, there were creatures that were less like humans than the gods of the higher and middle levels. These included brownies, gobies, mermaids, ghouls, banniks (baenniks), etc.
Kikimora
Gamayun
Baennik
When worshiping, the Slavs tried to observe certain rituals, which, as they thought, made it possible not only to receive what they asked for, but also not to offend the spirits to whom they turned, and even to protect themselves from them, if necessary.
One of the first to whom the Slavs initially began to make sacrifices were ghouls and bereginas. A little later they "began to set the meal" to Rod and Women in labor - Lada and Lele. Subsequently, the Slavs prayed mainly to Perun, however, maintaining faith in other gods.
The Cult of Family and Women in Childbirth
Lada 
Lelya, daughter of Lada 
Beliefs themselves had a system determined by the living conditions in which this or that Slavic tribe found itself.
The ancestors of the Slavs until the end of the 10th century were pagans: they did not know the Christian faith and worshiped the deified forces of nature and the souls of the departed.
The temple is a place of worship for the gods of the ancient Slavs. A temple is an ancient Slavic word that denotes the space of a pagan temple, located behind the altar, and intended for the installation of caps (statues depicting gods) or other sacred objects.
Ghouls are vampires, fantastic creatures, werewolves who personified evil. Take care, however, associated with the word protect, protect, are kind, helping a person spirits. Spiritualization of all nature, dividing it into good and evil principles are very ancient ideas that have arisen among the hunters of the Stone Age. Various conspiracies were used against the ghouls, amulets were worn - amulets in folk art preserved many ancient symbols of good and fertility, depicting which on clothes, dishes, dwellings the ancient man seemed to drive away the spirits of evil. These symbols include images of the sun, fire, water, plants, flowers.
The cult of the Rod and Rozhanits, the deities of fertility, is associated with agriculture and reflects a later stage in the development of the Slavic tribes. In addition, these deities were associated with the concepts of marriage, love and procreation. The genus was considered one of the most important deities who took part in the creation of the Universe: after all, according to the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, it was he who sent souls to children born from heaven to Earth.
There were two women in labor: Mother and Daughter. The mother was associated by the Slavs with periods of summer fertility, when the harvest ripens and grows heavier. Her name was Lada. A lot of words and concepts are associated with him in the Russian language, and they all have to do with the establishment of order: get along, adjust, get along, okay; okay, fret - an affectionate appeal to a spouse. Previously, the wedding conspiracy was called "Ladins". Lada was also considered the mother of twelve months, which is divided into a year.
Lelya is the daughter of Lada, the youngest in childbirth. Lelya is the goddess of quivering spring sprouts, first flowers, young femininity, tenderness. Hence, respect for someone is conveyed by the word "cherish". The Slavs believed that it was Lelia who took care of the spring seedlings - the future harvest.
Later, after the baptism of Rus, Rozhanits was equated with the Christian Mother of God.
The cult of Perun, the god of thunder, war and weapons arose relatively late in connection with the development of the squad, military element of society. Perun, or as he was also called Perun-Svarozhich, seemed to the Slavs as an armed warrior, racing in a golden chariot drawn by winged stallions, white and black. The ax - the weapon of Perun - has been attributed to a miraculous power since ancient times. Thus, an ax with a symbolic image of the Sun and Thunder, planted in the doorframe, was an insurmountable obstacle for evil spirits seeking to penetrate human dwellings. Another symbol of Perun is the "thunder sign", which looks like a six-spoke wheel. His image was often reproduced on the shields of Slavic warriors. An animal was dedicated to Perun - a wild tur, a huge forest bull.
After baptism, the Slavs “transferred” many of Perun's properties to Elijah the Prophet, one of the most revered Christian saints.
Dazhdbog was among the pagan Slavs the god of the Sun. His name is not from the word "rain", as they sometimes mistakenly think, it means - "the giver of God", "the giver of all blessings." The Slavs believed that Dazhdbog rides across the sky in a wonderful chariot drawn by four white fire-maned horses with golden wings. And the sunlight comes from the fiery shield that Dazhdbog carries with him. Twice a day - in the morning and in the evening - he crosses the Ocean-Sea on a boat pulled by geese, ducks and swans. Therefore, the Slavs attributed special power to talisman amulets in the form of a duck with a horse's head.
Morning and Evening Dawns were considered sister and brother, and Morning Dawn was the Sun's wife. Every year, during the great holiday of the summer solstice of Ivan Kupala (Orthodox Midsummer Day), their marriage was solemnly celebrated.
The Slavs considered the sun to be an all-seeing eye, which strictly looks after the morality of people, for the observance of laws. And the sacred sign of the Sun from time immemorial was ... the cross! Squint at the sun and you will see it. That is why the Christian cross, so similar to the most ancient pagan symbol, took root so quickly in Russia.
Svarog was among the Slavs the god of Heaven, the father of all that exists. Legend says that Svarog gave people the very first plow and blacksmith's tongs, taught them how to smelt copper and iron. In addition, Svarog established the very first laws for the human community.
Makosh - Earth - personifies the feminine principle of nature and is the wife of Svarog. The expression Mother Earth, the modern version of the name of the ancient Slavic goddess, is still pronounced with respect and love by a Russian person.
Fire - Svarozhich, was the son of Svarog and Mokosh. In ancient times, fire was truly the center of the world in which all human life took place. The unclean force did not dare to approach the Fire, but the Fire was able to cleanse anything defiled.
The fire witnessed vows, and this is where the Russian custom of jumping in pairs over the fire came from: it was believed that if a guy and a girl could fly over the flame without unhooking their hands, then their love was destined for a long life. By the way. the true name of the Fire God was so sacred that it was not uttered aloud, replacing it with allegories. Apparently, this is why it never came down to us, in any case, scientists do not have a consensus on this matter.
The name was forgotten, but the omens associated with Fire were not forgotten. The Russian matchmaker, who came to woo the bride, at any time of the year stretched out her hands to the stove: thereby calling Fire into allies. The newlywed young husband solemnly circled around the hearth three times, asking God-Fire for a happy life and many healthy children.
Yarila was among the ancient Slavs the god of fertility, reproduction and physical love. It was this side of love, which the poets call "seething passion," and was in the "jurisdiction" of the Slavic god Yarila. He was imagined as a young, handsome man, an ardent loving groom.
The serpent - Volos (Veles) in Slavic pagan mythology is the divine enemy of Perun. It embodied the forces of primitive Chaos, a violent, disordered, uninhabited nature, often hostile to ancient man, but essentially not evil at all. And with them the animal instincts of man himself, that part of our personality that does not know the word "must", only "I want". But there is nothing wrong with that, you just need to keep your passions in subjection.
According to legend, the Serpent God combines furry and scales in his appearance, flies with the help of webbed wings, knows how to breathe out fire, although he is very afraid of fire itself (especially lightning). Snake - Veles is a big lover of milk, hence his middle name - Tsmog (Smog), which means Sosun in Old Slavonic.
The pagan Slavs worshiped both divine opponents - and Perun and the Serpent. Only the sanctuaries of Perun were in high places, and the sanctuaries of Veles were in the lowlands. Some legends suggest that the tamed Serpent-Volos, driven into the dungeon, became responsible for earthly fertility and wealth.
“Secondary” deities were those who lived side by side with a person, helped him, and sometimes hindered him, in various economic affairs and everyday concerns. Unlike the main deities, which no one has ever seen, these are often shown to a person by the eye. About these cases, the Slavs have a huge number of legends, legends, fairy tales and even eyewitness accounts, from ancient times to our times.
Here are some of these deities: Brownie, Ovinnik, Bannik, Yard, Polevik and Poluditsa, Water, Leshy.
Brownie- this is the soul of the house, the patron saint of the building and the people living in it. The construction of a house for the ancient Slavs was full of the deepest meaning, because at the same time man was likened to the Gods who created the Universe. Great importance was attached to the choice of the start time of work, the choice of location and building materials. Here's how, for example, the trees were selected. The creaky ones were not suitable, because the soul of a tortured person cries in them, the dried-up ones were not suitable - they have no vitality, which means that people in the house will start to get sick.
Cutting down trees, the pagan Slav blamed before the tree souls, expelled from the trunks, and he himself fasted for a long time and performed cleansing rituals. But the ancient Slav was still not completely sure that the felled trees would not begin to take revenge on him, and in order to protect himself he made the so-called “construction sacrifices”. The skull of a horse or bull was buried under the red (eastern) corner of the house, in which were placed carved statues of the gods, and later - icons. And from the soul of the slain animal, the Brownie actually arose.
The brownie settled down to live underground, under the stove. He introduced himself as a little old man with a face like the head of a family. To his liking, he is an eternal bustle, grumpy, but caring and kind. People tried to maintain good relations with the Brownie, take care of him as an honored guest, and then he helped to keep the house in order and warned of impending misfortune. Moving from house to house, Domovoi was always invited to move with his family with the help of a conspiracy.
The Brownie living next to a man is the kindest of the "small" deities. And already immediately beyond the threshold of the hut, "their" world becomes more and more alien and hostile.
Brownie
Yard- the owner of the yard - was already considered a little less friendly than the Brownie. Ovinnik - the owner of the barn - is even less, and Bannik, the spirit of the bathhouse, standing completely on the outskirts, on the edge of the yard, or even outside it, is simply dangerous. For this reason, believers consider the bathhouse - a symbol of seemingly purity - "unclean." In ancient times, the word "unclean" did not mean at all something sinful, evil, but simply less sacred, more accessible to the action of evil forces.
About Bannik and today many terrible stories are told. He appears as a tiny but very strong old man, naked, with a long, mildewed beard. His ill will is attributed to fainting and accidents, sometimes occurring in the bath. Bannik's favorite pastime is to boil the washable people with boiling water, to split stones in the stove and to “shoot” them at people. Maybe he will drag him into a hot stove and rip off a piece of skin from a living one. However, you can get along with him. Knowledgeable people always leave Bannik with good steam, fresh broom and a bowl of clean water. And they never rush each other - Bannik can't stand it, get angry. And if you come under the arm of Bannik, you have to run out of the bathhouse and call Ovinnik or Brownie for help: "Father, help me out! .."
When they began to clear forests and plow land for fields and pastures, the new lands, of course, immediately acquired their own "minor" deities - Poleviks... In general, many beliefs and beliefs are associated with the field of grain. So, until the last century, the division of agricultural crops into "male" and "female" survived. For example, only men sowed bread-rye, almost naked and carrying the seed grain in special sacks cut from old trousers. Thus, they, as it were, entered into a "sacred marriage" with a plowed field, and not a single woman dared to be present. But the turnip was considered a "female" culture. And women sowed it, too, almost naked, trying to transfer part of their fertile power to the Earth.
Sometimes people met an old man in the field, nondescript in appearance and utterly snotty. The old man asked a passerby to wipe his nose. And if a person did not disdain, he suddenly had a purse of silver in his hand, and the old Polevik disappeared. Thus, our ancestors expressed the simple idea that the Earth generously endows only those who are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
The working day in the villages began early, but it was better to wait out the midday heat. The ancient Slavs had a special mythical creature who strictly looked after that no one would work at noon. it Poluditsa... She was imagined as a girl in a long white shirt, or vice versa - as a shaggy, terrible old woman. The half-women were afraid: she could punish for non-observance of custom, and cruelly - now we call it sunstroke.
A forest began behind the fence of the ancient Slav's dwelling. This forest determined the whole way of life. In pagan times, literally everything was made of wood in a Slavic house, from the dwelling itself to spoons and buttons. And besides, the forest gave a huge variety of game, berries and mushrooms. But besides the benefits bestowed on man, the wild forest has always concealed many mysteries and deadly dangers. Going into the forest, every time you had to be ready to meet its owner - Leshim. "" In Old Church Slavonic means "forest spirit".
Leshy's appearance is changeable. He can appear as a giant, taller than the tallest trees, or he can hide behind a small bush. Goblin looks like a person, only his clothes are wrapped on the contrary, on the right side. Leshy's hair is long gray-green, there are no eyelashes or eyebrows on his face, and his eyes, like two emeralds, burn with green fire.
Goblin can go around an unwary person, and he will rush around inside a magic circle for a long time, unable to cross the closed line. But Leshy, like all living things, nature knows how to reward good for good. And he only needs one thing: that a person, entering the forest, respects the forest laws, does not harm the forest. And Leshy will be very happy if you leave him somewhere on a hemp with delicacies that do not grow in the forest, a pie, a gingerbread, and say aloud thanks for the mushrooms and berries.
There is such an expression in Russian "to get married near a bush bush." It means civil, i.e. not officially formalized marriage between a man and a woman. So the Russian language has preserved the memory of the most ancient pagan marriages, concluded by the water, near the sacred trees - rakit. Water, as one of the Sacred Elements, was considered a witness to an unbreakable oath.
He was a water deity - a mythical inhabitant of rivers, lakes and streams. The aquatic was presented in the form of a naked, flabby old man, goggle-eyed, with a fish tail. The spring Waters were endowed with special power, because the springs, according to legend, arose from the lightning strike of Perun - the most powerful deity. Such keys were called "rattling" and this is preserved in the names of many sources.
So, water - like other natural essences - was a primordially good, friendly element for the Slavic pagans. But, like all the elements, she demanded that she be treated as "you." She could have drowned or ruined for nothing. She could demand sacrifices. Could wash away the village, delivered "without asking" from Vodyanoy - we would say now, without knowledge of local hydrology. That is why the Merman often appears in legends as a creature hostile to man. Apparently the Slavs, as experienced inhabitants of the forest, were still less afraid of getting lost than drowning, and therefore Vodyanoy in legends looks more dangerous than Leshy.
And the ancient Slavs sincerely believed in all this.
Sacred trees
A kind of cult places were sacred trees and sacred groves, "trees" and "groves" in the terminology of medieval scribes, which are not sufficiently mentioned in historical sources.
One of the revered trees was birch, with which a number of spring rituals and round dance songs are associated. It is not excluded that the birch was dedicated to the shores, the spirits of goodness and fertility. Ethnographers have collected a lot of information about the "curling" of young birch trees, about spring ritual processions under the tied branches of birches. A felled birch tree at seven (ancient date - June 4) served as the personification of some female deity and was the center of all the Semites rituals. The trees involved in the pagan ritual were lavishly decorated with ribbons and embroidered towels.
The embroidery on the trims contained the image of those goddesses who during these periods performed prayers and made sacrifices: the figures of Makosha and two women in labor (mother and daughter) Lada and Lelia, prayers in the "groves", in the "trees" can be functionally likened to the later church deity, where the temple corresponded to a grove or a clearing in the forest, fresco images of deities - separate readable trees (or trees-idols), and icons - images of Makosha and Lada on ubrus.
Trees located near springs, springs, krinitsa enjoyed special reverence, since here it was simultaneously possible to appeal to both the vegetative power of "grove" and to the living water of a spring gushing from the ground.
The cult of oak differs significantly from the cult of birch and trees growing among students. Oak - the tree of Zeus and Perun, the strongest and most durable tree - firmly entered the system of Slavic pagan rituals. The Slavic ancestral home was in the zone of oak growth, and the beliefs associated with it must go back to ancient times.
Until the 17th - 19th centuries. oak and oak groves retained the leading place in rituals.
Animal deities
In a distant era, when the main occupation of the Slavs was hunting, not farming, they believed that wild animals were their progenitors. The Slavs considered them to be powerful deities who should be worshiped. Each tribe had its own totem, i.e. a sacred animal that the tribe worshiped. Several tribes considered the Wolf to be their ancestor and worshiped him as a deity. The name of this beast was sacred, it was forbidden to pronounce it aloud, therefore instead of "wolf" they spoke fierce, and called themselves "lyutichi".
During the winter solstice, the men of these tribes wore wolf skins, which symbolized the transformation into wolves. So they communicated with animal ancestors, from whom they asked for strength and wisdom. The wolf was considered a powerful protector of the tribe, a devourer of evil spirits. The pagan priest who performed protective rituals also dressed in animal skins. With the adoption of Christianity, the attitude towards the pagan priests changed, and therefore the word "wolf lak" (that is, clothed in a dlaka - a wolf's skin) began to be called an evil werewolf, later "wolf lak" turned into a "ghoul".
The owner of the pagan forest was a bear - the most powerful beast. He was considered the protector from all evil and the patron saint of fertility - it was with the spring awakening of the bear that the ancient Slavs associated the onset of spring. Until the twentieth century. many peasants kept a bear's paw in their houses as a talisman-talisman, which should protect its owner from diseases, witchcraft and all kinds of misfortunes. The Slavs believed that the bear was endowed with great wisdom, almost omniscience: they swore by the name of the beast, and the hunter who broke the oath was doomed to die in the forest.
The myth of the Bear - the owner of the forest and a powerful deity - has been preserved in fairy tales. The true name of this beast-deity was so sacred that it was not uttered out loud and therefore did not reach us. The bear is the nickname of the beast, meaning "undernourished", in the word "den" the more ancient root - "er" is also preserved. "Brown" (the den is the ber's lair). For a long time the bear was revered as a sacred animal, and even much later, hunters still hesitated to pronounce the word "bear".
Of the herbivores in the hunting era, the Deer (Elk) was the most revered - the oldest Slavic goddess of fertility, sky and sunlight. In contrast to real deer, the goddess was thought to be horned, her horns were a symbol of the sun's rays. Therefore, deer antlers were considered a powerful talisman against any night evil and were attached either above the entrance to the hut, or inside the dwelling. By the name of the antlers - "plow" - deer and elk were often called elk. An echo of the myths about the celestial Elk are the popular names of the constellations - Ursa Major and Ursa Minor - Elk and Elk.
The heavenly goddesses - the Deer - sent newborn deer to the earth, falling like rain from the clouds.
Among domestic animals, the Slavs revered the horse most of all, because once the ancestors of most of the peoples of Eurasia led a nomadic lifestyle, and in the guise of a golden horse running across the sky, they imagined the sun. Later, the myth arose about the sun god riding a chariot across the sky. The image of the Sun-horse has been preserved in the decoration of the hut, crowned with a ridge, the image of one or two horse heads. An amulet with the image of a horse's head or just a horseshoe, like other solar symbols, was considered a powerful amulet.
Humanoid deities
With the passage of time, man more and more freed himself from fear of the animal world, and animal features in the images of deities gradually began to give way to human ones. The owner of the forest from a bear turned into a shaggy goblin with horns and paws, but still resembling a man. Leshy, the patron saint of hunting, left the first game on the stump. It was believed that he could lead a lost traveler out of the forest, but if he was angry, he could, on the contrary, lead a person into the thicket and destroy him.
With the adoption of Christianity, the devil, like other spirits of nature, began to be perceived as hostile.
The deities of moisture and fertility among the Slavs were mermaids and pitchforks, pouring dew from magic horns onto the fields. They talked about them, now, as about girls, swans flying from heaven, now, as the mistress of wells and streams, now, as about drowned mavkas, now as midday running through the grain fields at noon and giving strength to the ear.
According to popular beliefs, on short summer nights, mermaids come out of their underwater shelters, swing on the branches, and if they meet a man, they can tickle to death or carry them along to the bottom of the lake.
Deities are monsters
The most formidable was considered the lord of the underground and underwater world - the Serpent. The serpent, a powerful and hostile monster, is found in the mythology of almost any nation. The ancient ideas of the Slavs about the Snake were preserved in fairy tales.
The Northern Slavs worshiped the Serpent - the lord of underground waters - and called him Lizard. The sanctuary of the Lizard was located on the swamps, the shores of lakes and rivers. The coastal sanctuaries of the Lizard were ideally round in shape - as a symbol of perfection, order was opposed to the destructive power of this god. As victims, the Lizard was thrown into the swamp of black chickens, as well as young girls, which was reflected in many beliefs.
All Slavic tribes who worshiped the Lizard, considered him to be a sun absorber, every day the evening star descends beyond the bounds of the world and floats to the east by an underground river. This river flows inside the two-headed Lizard, swallowing the sun with its western mouth and belching out from the eastern one. The fact that the Lizard is not hostile to the sun says about the antiquity of the myth: he returns the star voluntarily.
The custom of sacrificing a person to the underwater god existed for a very long time in the north in a transformed form: for example, in Onega at the beginning of the twentieth century. the old men made a stuffed animal and in a leaky boat sent it to the lake, where it sank. Another sacrifice made to the Lizard was a horse, which was first fed by the whole village, and then drowned.
With the transition to agriculture, many myths and religious ideas of the hunting era were modified or forgotten, the harshness of ancient rituals softened: the sacrifice of a person was replaced by the sacrifice of a horse, and later a stuffed animal. The Slavic gods of the agricultural era are brighter and more kind to man.
Calendar holidays and ceremonies
Calendar holidays and ceremonies of the Slavs were closely related to the economic (and therefore vital) interests of the peasant, therefore, their dates are largely due to the agricultural seasons. In addition, the annual holiday cycle could not but be determined by the most important astronomical dates, usually associated with the movement of the sun.
A significant part of the common Slavic holidays was associated with the cult of ancestors. From ancient times to the present day (in particular, among the East Slavic peoples), the custom has been preserved to visit the cemeteries and graves of parents in Radonitsa, Semik (before Trinity) and Dmitrievskaya parental Saturday. The customs of eating at the grave, commemorating with alcohol and leaving food for the deceased on the grave are just as ancient. Until recently, remnants of pagan memorial customs were preserved on other Christian holidays, for example, Christmastide, Maslenitsa and Great Thursday. On Christmastide, in connection with winter time, the cemetery was not visited, but the ancestors were commemorated at home. On Maundy Thursday, baths were heated for the ancestors (so that they were washed) and bonfires were burned at the gates (so that they would warm up). As a rule, memorial holidays were timed to coincide with the boundary periods of the year - the solstices and equinoxes. Apparently, at this borderline time, the gates were opened between the world of the living and the world of the dead, through which the souls of the dead entered the world. They visited their descendants, and they had to meet them properly - to warm, wash, drink and feed. The souls of the ancestors could bless, or they could send misfortunes - everything depended on how they would be met, therefore it was so important to honor the ancestors.
The deceased ancestors, like those resting in the earth, in the afterlife, connected in the mind of a person with the earth, therefore, the future harvest largely depended on the blessing of the ancestors. For example, Maslenitsa is associated with the idea of fertility and the cult of ancestors - it was to them that competitions were dedicated (running, fist fights, the capture of a snow town) and the main meal at Maslenitsa, with pancakes being the funeral one. The fertility of the land and the fertility of livestock, as the main economic interests of the peasant, were given special attention in his holidays and ceremonies. On Vasilyev's evening (New Year's Eve), ritual food was prepared - a pig or sheep's legs, biscuits in the form of cattle ("roe") were baked - the purpose of all this was to attract fertility and welfare for livestock. The same purpose, as well as ensuring the safety of the cattle, was served by the numerous rituals of St. George's spring day, when the first pasture of cattle was performed.
Scarecrow of Maslenitsa
The fertility of the earth was facilitated by numerous rituals with stuffed animals depicting various ritual characters - Shrovetide, Yarila, Kostroma, Kostrubonko. The ritual included, as a rule, honoring and venerating the scarecrow, walking with it through the streets, accompanied by fun, and then seeing it off - funeral, burning or tearing to pieces. Apparently, the scarecrow was the focus of fertility and fertility, and the rituals of his seeing-off were supposed to convey this fertility to the earth - especially since such rituals were carried out almost always in spring or early summer.
In Semik and Trinity week, the role of a scarecrow was played by the Trinity (Semitskaya) birch, with which they performed practically the same rituals - they decorated it, worshiped and honored it, ate ritual food under the birch, sang songs and danced in circles, twisted branches to it, performed the ceremony of "boom" , carried around the village and, finally, broke and scattered branches across the field - the purpose of all these rituals was to attract fertility and a good harvest, as well as fertility and successful motherhood, as in the case of boom. Only girls and women took part in all the Semites rituals performed with a birch tree.
In addition, the rituals of inducing rain (in case of drought; in the case of prolonged rains, the ritual was aimed at achieving good weather) should have contributed to the provision of fertility and harvest. The ritual involved a girl, usually an orphan, who was called Dodola or Peperuda. According to scientists, her name and the image itself are apparently associated with the Thunder God-Perun (perhaps Dodola represented the Thunder-God's wife). She was taken through the village, decorated with flowers and watered with water, while songs were sung with requests for rain.
Henryk Semiradsky. Night on Ivan Kupala
One of the most important Slavic holidays was the night of Ivan Kupala. On this night, public festivities were organized - songs and dances. Of the Kupala rituals, it should be noted kindling and jumping over fires, bathing and riding from the slopes of burning wheels. Often the holiday took on a riotous character. In addition, medicinal and magical plants were collected that night.
According to reconstructions, the Slavs had holidays dedicated to the deities as such. In particular, there could have been a Perunov day and a day dedicated to Veles, which were subsequently replaced, respectively, by Elijah's Day and St. Vlasiy Sevastiyskiy or Nicholas Day. However, we do not have direct data on these holidays, so their dates and contents remain only reconstructions.
Wedding customs and ceremonies
Wedding customs varied among different tribes depending on the type of marriage. Slavic pagan marriage was polygamous: in some cases, a man could have several wives and concubines, in other cases, the marriage partners of women could change. The Tale of Bygone Years identifies two types of marriage and wedding ceremonies among the Slavic tribes, which can be conditionally called patriarchal and matriarchal.
Patriarchal marriage:
Glades have the custom of their fathers meek and quiet, shy in front of their daughter-in-law and sisters, mothers and parents; they have great modesty before mother-in-law and in-law; they also have a marriage custom: the son-in-law does not go after the bride, but brings her the day before, and the next day they bring her for her - what they give. Similar customs are described back in the 6th century by the Byzantine author Mauritius:
The modesty of their women exceeds any human nature, so that most of them consider the death of their husband to be their death and voluntarily strangle themselves, not counting being a widow for life.
Patriarchal marriage and polygamy were characteristic of the ancient Slavs. For example, the payment for the bride was called "veno" in Ancient Russia, and the wedding ceremony was called "blowing up" the groom. The ancient “blowing off” is recorded by the late rituals of removing shoes from the groom and the saying “Wash your feet and drink water”. In the cases mentioned in the annals, the bride was always "brought".
Matriarchal marriage:
... And they never had any marriages, but the girls snatched away by the water ... And they used to shame in the presence of their fathers and daughters-in-law, and they did not have marriages, but games were arranged between the villages, and they converged on these games, on dances and all kinds of demonic songs, and here they snatched their wives by conspiracy with them: they had two and three wives each.
Some information about pre-Christian wedding rites and customs can be gleaned from church teachings against paganism:
And this is what the pagans do: they lead the bride to the water when they are married off, drink a cup in honor of demons, throw rings and belts into the water.
The tradition of marriage by the water (lake, well) is confirmed by later ethnographic data - folk signs and a similar rite, which was revived among some Old Believers after Nikon's reforms. On the other hand, one of the final wedding rites can be reflected here - the test of the bride, walking with her on the water to a river or lake. And when someone has a wedding, they celebrate it with tambourines, pipes and other demonic miracles.
And it happens even worse: they make a male member, put it in buckets and bowls and drink from them, and take it out, lick and kiss it.
There is no doubt that a certain phallic wedding ritual also existed in Ancient Russia. Obviously, the phallus was used as a magical symbol: it was supposed to give the newlyweds fertility, and fertility to the earth. The data of this teaching is also confirmed by archeology - there are repeated finds of phalluses carved from wood, found in ancient Russian settlements.
Funeral rites and ancestor worship
The cult of deceased ancestors was extremely widespread among the Slavs from ancient times to recent times. In this regard, the Slavic funeral rite is of interest. The Tale of Bygone Years describes this rite among the Vyatichi as follows:
And if anyone dies, they perform a feast on him. After it, they make a big fire, put a dead man on it and burn it. After that, after collecting the bones, they are put into a small vessel and placed on a post by the road. This is what the Vyatichi do today. The same custom is followed by the Krivichi and other pagans.
By funeral here, apparently, we mean competitions in memory of the deceased and, in general, memorial events. The custom to leave the vessel with the bones of the deceased on the pillars by the roads is clarified by later ethnographic records: pillars in cemeteries were considered a kind of border between the living and the dead. Utensils used at funerals were thrown at these posts. The pillars themselves were often made with a kind of roof and recesses - for the convenience of the souls of the dead who lived near them. Later, the cemetery columns were replaced by Orthodox crosses.
Data on the funeral rite can also be gleaned from the chronicle story of how Olga buried her husband, Prince Igor, who was killed by the Drevlyans:
Olga sent to tell the Drevlyans: “Here, I am already coming to you. Brew a lot of honey near the city where you killed my husband, so that I could weep over his grave and perform a feast for my husband. " Having heard this, they brought a lot of honey and boiled it. Olga, with a small retinue and light, came to Igor's grave and cried for her husband. Then she ordered the people to fill up a large mound, and when they filled it up, she ordered them to perform a funeral feast. Then the Drevlyans sat down to drink, and Olga ordered her youths to serve them.
It follows from this passage that the funeral feast included drinking honey, that mounds were built over the graves (apparently, their size depended on the status of the deceased) and that there was a custom to cry over the grave of the deceased. All this information is confirmed by ethnographic records and (about the kurgans) by archaeological data. In addition to these customs, the Prologue mentions such an element of funeral ritual as "bdyn", that is, vigil, vigilance next to the deceased during the night, which, apparently, was performed by a significant number of people with lamentations, songs and games.
Interesting information about the funeral rite is given by the chronicle story about the death of Vladimir Svyatoslavich:
At night, they dismantled the platform between the two cages, wrapped him (Vladimir) in a carpet and lowered him with ropes to the ground; then, placing him on a sleigh, they took him and put him in the church of the Holy Mother of God, which he himself had once built. Upon learning of this, people without number came together and cried over him ...
In this case, you can observe the most ancient rite - in order to take out the deceased, they dismantle the wall. This is done so that the deceased, carried out in an unusual way, would not be able to return and would not disturb the living. Another ancient rite described in this passage is the use of a sleigh to transport the deceased, even in spite of the summer time. Sleighs were used in funerals as the most honorable, calm and respectable form of transport.
There is also a common for all Eastern Slavs ceremonial food at the commemoration - these are kutia, pancakes and jelly. Almost all East Slavic holidays are associated with the cult of deceased ancestors, who were remembered at the turning points of the year - on Christmastide, on Maundy Thursday and Radonitsa, on Semik and before Dmitriev's Day. On the days of commemoration of the dead, a bathhouse was heated for them, bonfires were burned (so that they would warm up), food was left for them on the festive table. Yule mummers represented ancestors who came from the other world and collected gifts. The purpose of all these actions was to appease the deceased ancestors, who could bless the family, or could do evil - frighten, appear in a dream, torture and even kill those who did not satisfy their needs.
Belief in the so-called "mortgaged dead" was very widespread among the Slavs. It was believed that people who died not by their own death do not calm down after death and are capable of harming the living, therefore they were superstitiously feared and revered during a general commemoration.
Slavic calendar
The graphical diagram presented here clearly shows how the pantheon of Slavic gods listed in the "Veles Book" easily fits into the seasonal calendar reflecting the main activities of the ancestors of the Slavs: agriculture, hunting, fishing, beekeeping, as well as the main festivals that began and ended each cycle.
In ancient times, the year among the Slavs was divided into three main seasons: the period of agricultural work (spring), the time of ripening and harvesting (covering summer and autumn) and winter. These three seasons are shown on the diagram in green, yellow and blue, which allows you to immediately determine which gods patronized a particular season and when their days were celebrated. The presence of such an archaic three-season cycle in the "Veles Book" testifies to its authenticity. Although, as we will see later, there are already tendencies towards a fourfold division (four months in each season and four weeks in each month).
The indicated three-part nature of the calendar testifies to its deepest roots, going back to the times of the Indo-Aryan community of cultures. The three-season nature of the year was then determined by the idea of the ancient Indo-Aryans about the trinity of the world (Svarog-Perun-Sventovid and Yav-Prav-Nav among the Slavic-Aryans and Vishnu, who created the Universe through THREE STEPS, among the Indians).
As scientists - astroarchaeologists testify, by 2300 BC. the lunar landmarks of the ancient sanctuaries-observatories were replaced by solar ones, and the calendar-astral tandem of Svarog and Dazhdbog (a solar sign with Taurus at the head) arose. Taurus is the embodiment of Dazhdbog. Since Taurus headed the Solar Zodiac between 4400-1700. BC, then 2300-1700. BC. - this is the time when the Slavs began to honor the interconnected Svarog-Dazhdbog. At the same time, probably, the Slavic-Aryan three-part calendar began to take shape.
The fact that this calendar was known until the 9th century. AD (the time when the "Veles Book" was written), indicates both its versatility, it can be used even now, and the deepest traditions of the continuity of the Slavic priests of the Sun, who in turn relied on the system of sanctuaries-observatories of Ancient Aratta in the Danube-Dnieper region V - IV millennium BC, Trans-Ural Arkaim III millennium BC and maidans (Old Indian "aidan").
Such observatory sanctuaries, which stretched along the northern border of the then agriculture, constituted the backbone of Indo-European culture, from which mounds and ancient sanctuaries diverged to the north and south. Their priests-servants for thousands of years maintained contacts with each other, even in late antique times, surprising the enlightened Greeks and Romans with legends about the distant travels of the Hyperboreans led by Apollo. This tradition was finally interrupted with the establishment of Christianity and the destruction of temples, the calendar-observatory functions of which were partially transferred to the church.
So, let's turn to the diagram.
This calendar includes seventy-seven gods located in seven circles-kola (seven is a sacred number for the Slavs)
In the center is the Great Triglav (Svarog-Perun-Sventovid).
Svarog (from Skt. Svga- "sky") - the Supreme God, the Ruler of the Universe, the Creator of the World. He is the beginning and essence of the entire zodiac. He created Reality from Navi according to the law of Rule, and that's all. that ends in Yavi, again goes to Nav. Nav is blue, the color of the sky. Therefore, Svarog in the sign of Triglav shown in the diagram is focused on the blue segment. And although this is a symbol of Navi, a symbol of Winter, it is during this period that the winter solstice (Kolyada) occurs, when “the sun turns to summer”, and Life (Reality) arises in the depths of Darkness (Navi).
Perun is a sign of Fire, his element is Summer, he is focused on the yellow segment.
Sventovid - Lord of Spring - indicates the green segment. The original ancient Slavic sign of the Great Triglav, placed in the center of the diagram, which was deciphered and executed in color, fully reflects the close relationship of the substances Navi-Pravi-Yavi, Svarog-Perun-Svenovid, Spring-Winter-Summer, Air-Fire-Earth and other "triunities" that made up the multidimensional philosophy of our ancestors.
Since "three", as already indicated, is a sacred number in Slavic Vedism, all the deities listed below are subdivided into Trinity - Great and Small Triglavs.
Only the first colo is represented by two gods - Belobog and Chernobog, the gods of Light and Darkness, Reveal and Navi. At the same time, the world axis separating them is Svarga, on both sides of which they fight and thereby balance the world.
The second colo - Khors, Veles, Stribog - the gods of Summer. Winters, Springs. Veles also acts as the god of the Underworld, the god of the Navi kingdom, where the souls of the dead go after death.
The third colo is corresponding to the previous one, here each segment is divided into two sub-cycles: Stribog includes Roof and Vyshen. Another version of the Roof - Kryzhen. It's time to Kryzhnya - it's the time of ice drift, the time of snow melting, when drops begin to ring from the icicles hanging from the ROOF. The roof is the very beginning of spring, while Vyshen (another version of OYSTER) is already completely spring, OURSTER time. These two pores include the lord of spring, Stribog, in the same way as Hora is subdivided into Lel (early summer) and Letic (zenith of summer), and Veles is subdivided into Radogosch (early winter) and Kolendo.
In the fourth colo, other hypostases of the gods of the three main seasons are presented, where Yar marks Spring, Yes, God is Summer, and Gray is Winter.
Fifth Kolo - each season is subdivided into four months, where Beloyar is March, the beginning of spring and the Slavic agricultural calendar. Further, clockwise - Lado (April). Kupalo (May, - ancient calendars confirm that Kupalo was celebrated in May), Senich (June), Zhitnich (July), Venich (August), Zernich (September), Ovsenich (October), Prosich (November), Studic (December) , Ledich (January), Lyutich (February).
In the sixth and seventh stakes, apparently, the names of four weeks in each month are presented, again according to signs of nature and the main types of agricultural activities.
So, in Beloyar comes the beautiful (Krasich) Spring-Alive (Zhivich), everything awakens, the first grass appears (Travich). Preparation for agricultural work begins. Sorcerers open the Vedas (Vedic) to people - will the spring be auspicious when sowing yarovitsa and so on. The vernal equinox comes, and the holiday of Great Yar comes, or, in other words, Bogoyar's Day (Great Day).
In the month of Lado, the stems turn green (Steblich), flowers (Tsvetich) and leaves (Listvich) bloom, birds begin to chirp (Ptichich). On these joyful days of spring awakening, the Red Mountain holiday is celebrated - a memory of the rich and peaceful life of the ancestors in the Karpensky mountains. All deceased relatives are remembered (corresponds to the current Parent's Day).
On Kupalo, the animals (Zverich) begin their spring games. The sky is clearing, people admire the stars (Zvezdich). Water (Vodic) warms up in rivers and lakes, the swimming season begins. Celebrated Kupalo - the god of Slavic Purity and Health.
There are thunderous (Gromich) rains (Dozhdich) on Senich, fruits (Plodich) and seeds (Semich) ripen, haymaking is in full swing. The day of the summer solstice is coming - the holiday of the Great Triglav (now Trinity).
Zhitnich is rich in linden (Lipich) honey, bees (Pchelich) swarm, in the rivers there is an abundance of fish (Rybich), in the forests - berries (Yagodnich). This month, Perun's Day is celebrated, which, performing the functions of the God of Battles and Struggle, is also the patron saint of the harvest. It is thanks to Perun, who appears in the guise of Vergunets-Perunets, pouring a blessed rain on the ground, that forests and meadows grow magnificently, and cereals are poured on the Ognishan fields, promising a generous harvest.
On Venich, birch (Berezich), maple (Klenich) and Reed (Trostich) are harvested. The second mowing of green (Zelenich) grasses. The harvesting of grain begins, - they reap wheat, rye, tie it into sheaves ("veno venyat" - hence the VENICH). The First Sheaf or Dazhd God's Day is celebrated.
Zernich - the strada (Stradich) is over. On the currents, the grain is threshed and put into the bins. Lakes (Ozernich) freeze immovably, mountains (Gorich) are covered with haze, autumn winds begin to blow (Vetrich). The day of the autumnal equinox is coming, the Great Fats are celebrated.
Ovsenich - even the straw is removed (Solomich), it's time for leaf fall (Listopadich) and mushroom picking (Gribich). People rejoice that with rich reserves they will be saved (Spasich) in the cold winter. Small Ovseni are celebrated.
Prosich is the first powder. It's time for hunting, as well as autumn trading. Merchants-guests (Gostich) come from all sides, conversations are conducted (Besedich), hospitable and hospitable Slavs celebrate Radogosch.
Studich - snow falls (Snezhich), frost binds the ground. It's time to start military (Ratich) training. You can also go on a journey (Wanderer), visit distant countries (Pages). The month ends with the celebration of Kolyada - the day of the winter solstice and Christmastide dedicated to the completion of the annual colo and the birth of a new young Sun (Christmas).
Ledich is a celebration of Veless, the ruler of Svarog Navi, who from now on begins to add light (Svendich) by a hair's breadth every day. Shchura and Ancestors (Shchurich) who are in the kingdom of Beles are honored. This month, meetings of the Clans, Councils of Elders (Radic) are held, princes and elders-relatives (Rodich) are elected and other "social events" are carried out.
Lutch - although the frosts are still fierce, the sun of the "underworld" is gaining strength and adds light (Svetik). This month Rod-Rozhanich-Svarog (Kindred), the First Ancestor-Progenitor, is honored. Blood relatives (Kravich) get together, discuss all sorts of things, eat pancakes with butter (Maslenich). Maslenitsa and Rooftop are celebrated - people see off the winter.
This is how Svaroge Kolo rotates invariably and eternally, measuring the Great and Small numbers of Reveal, which Chislobog keeps track of.
It should be noted that this calendar does not include gods that are not associated with seasonal cycles and are, so to speak, "universal" - these are Chislobog, Mother-Swa-Glory, Makosh, Semargl-Ognebog and some others, whose functions were associated with other sides of Being.
You can talk about the Slavs for a very long time, but this will already be the history of the Slavs. Finally, we will touch upon the topic of the origin of the Slavs, and also say a few words about the modern Slavs.
The Slavs (in ancient times, Slovenia) are the largest group of language-related ethnic groups in eastern and southwestern Europe, united by a common origin. Depending on the linguistic and cultural affinity, the Slavs are divided into three large groups: eastern, western and southern.
The total number of Slavic peoples according to 2002 data is over 300 million people, of which: Russians - 145.2 million, Ukrainians - about 50 million, Belarusians - up to 10 million; Poles - about 45 million, Czechs - about 10 million, Slovaks - 5.5 million, Lusatians - 0.1 million; Bulgarians - 9-10 million, Serbs - up to 10 million, Croats - 5.5 million, Slovenes - up to 2.5 million, Montenegrins - 0.6 million, Macedonians - 2 million, Muslims (self-name - boshkatsi (boshnyaki), other names - Bosnians, Bosans, Muslims) - about 2 million
In addition to these ethnic groups, there is an ethnic group that is still emerging. These are the so-called Rusyns. By origin, these are Slovaks who moved to the territory of Yugoslavia (since February 2003 - Serbia and Montenegro). This micro-ethnic group is very small in number - about 20 thousand people. Now the process of formation of the literary language Rusyn is underway.
The Slavs occupy a vast territory of Eastern Europe, as well as northern and central parts of Asia. It is immediately striking that the Slavic states are not gathered in one handful, but scattered, scattered. In the second half of the XIX century. independent Slavic states did not exist. Slavic peoples were part of three empires: Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman. The only exceptions were Montenegrins, who lived in a small independent state of Montenegro, and Lusatians, who were located in Germany. By the end of the XX century. all the Slavic peoples, except for the Russians and the Lusatians, already had state independence.
Now the largest Slavic state in terms of area is Russia (Moscow). Russia is located in the north-east of Europe, and also occupies the northern and central parts of Asia. In the west, Russia is bordered by the East Slavic states - Ukraine and Belarus. Further in the north of Eastern Europe are Poland and the Czech Republic. These West Slavic states in the west border on Germany, on a part of the territory of which (between Berlin and Dresden, along the banks of the Elbe and Spree rivers) Lusatian Serbs live (Cottbus, Bautzen). Another West Slavic state - Slovakia - is located between Ukraine, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic and Poland. The South Slavs partially occupy the Balkan Peninsula and the adjacent territories. They do not border on either the Eastern or Western Slavs. Southern Slavs live in Bulgaria, as well as in Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro.
Slavs, Wends - the earliest news about the Slavs under the name Wends, or Venets, belongs to the Roman and Greek writers - Pliny the Elder, Publius Cornelius Tacitus and Ptolemy Claudius. According to these authors, the Wends lived along the Baltic coast between the Stetin Bay, where the Odra flows, and the Danzing Bay, where the Vistula flows; along the Vistula from its headwaters in the Carpathian Mountains and to the coast of the Baltic Sea. The Veneda name comes from the Celtic vindos, which means "white." By the middle of the 6th century. Wends were divided into two main groups: sklavins (sklavas) and antes. As for the later self-designation "Slavs", its exact meaning is not known. There are suggestions that the term "Slavs" contains an opposition to another ethnic term - the Germans, derived from the word "dumb", that is, speaking in an incomprehensible language. The Slavs were divided into three groups.
The eastern Slavs included glades, Drevlyans, northerners, Dregovichi, Radimichi, Krivichi, Polochans, Vyatichi, Slovenia, Buzhany, Volynians, Duleby, Uchiha, Tivertsy, Croats.
Western Slavs are Pomorians, encouragement, Vagry, Polabs, Smolinsky, Clay, Lyutichi, Velet, Ratari, Drevane, Ruyane, Luzhichans, Czechs, Slovaks, Koshubs, Slovins, Moravans, Poles.
The South Slavs included Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Zahlumlans, Bulgarians.
The Slavs are the largest group of peoples in Europe, united by the similarity of languages and common origin. The oldest historical information about the Slavs, known under the name of the Wends, dates back to the 1st - 3rd centuries. AD From ser. VI century the name "sklavena" is repeatedly found in the texts of Procopius, Jordan and others. To the 2nd half. VII century the first mentions belong. about the Slavs from Arab authors. These linguistics connect the ancient Slavs with the region of Central and Eastern Europe - on the territory from the Elbe and Oder in the west, in the Vistula basin, in the Upper Dniester and up to the Middle Dnieper in the east. The northern neighbors of the Slavs were the Germans and Balts, who, together with the Slavs, constituted the northern group of Indo-European tribes. The eastern neighbors of the Slavs were the Western Iranian tribes (Scythians, Sarmatians), the southern Thracians and Illyrians, and the western Celts. The question of the ancestral home of the Slavs remains controversial, but most researchers believe that it is located east of the Vistula.
Vyatichi
VENDS, Wends, Veneti, the collective name of a group of Western Slavic tribes, once (at least from 631-632) occupied a vast part of the territory of the present. Germany between the Elbe and the Oder. In the 7th century. The Wends invaded Thuringia and Bavaria, where they defeated the Franks under the command of Dagobert I. The raids on Germany continued until the beginning of the 10th century, when Emperor Henry I launched an offensive against the Wends, setting their adoption of Christianity as one of the conditions for concluding peace. The conquered Vendians often rebelled, but each time they were defeated, after which an increasing part of their lands passed to the victors. In 1147 the church sanctioned a crusade against the Wends, which was also approved by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The campaign was accompanied by the mass destruction of the Slavic population, and henceforth the Vendians did not show any stubborn resistance to the German conquerors. German settlers came to the once Slavic lands, and the founded new cities began to play an important role in the economic development of northern Germany. From about 1500, the area of distribution of the Slavic language was reduced almost exclusively to the Luzhitsk margraves - Upper and Lower, which later entered Saxony and Prussia, respectively, and adjacent territories. Here, in the area of the cities of Cottbus and Bautzen, the modern descendants of the Wends live, of which approx. 60,000 (mostly Catholic). In Russian literature, they are usually called the Lusatians (the name of one of the tribes that were part of the Wendian group) or Lusatian Serbs, although they themselves call themselves Serbja or serbski Lud, and their modern German name is Sorben (formerly also Wenden). Since 1991, the issues of preserving the language and culture of this people in Germany are in charge of the Foundation for the Affairs of the Citizens.
The Slavs, according to many researchers, just like the Germans and the Balts, were descendants of the cattle-breeding and agricultural tribes of the Corded Ware culture, who settled at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. NS. from the Northern Black Sea region and the Carpathian region in Central, Northern and Eastern Europe. The Slavs are represented by archaeological cultures, among which were of particular importance: Trzynetskaya, widespread in the third quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. NS. between the Vistula and the middle Dnieper; Lusatian (XIII - IV centuries BC) and Pomor (VI - II centuries BC) on the territory of modern Poland; in the Dnieper region - the Chornolis culture (VIII - early VI centuries BC) of Neuros or even Scythian plowmen - according to Herodotus. Presumably, the Podgortsy and Milograd cultures are associated with the Slavs (VII century BC - 1st century AD). Existing from the end of the 1st millennium BC. NS. on Pripyat and in the Middle Dnieper region, the Zarubinets culture is associated with the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs. This was the culture of the developed Iron Age, its carriers were farmers, cattle breeders and artisans.
In the II-IV centuries. n. e, as a result of the movement to the south of the Germanic tribes (Goths, Gepids), the integrity of the territory of the Slavs was violated, after which the Slavs, apparently, were divided into western and eastern. The bulk of the bearers of the Zarubintsy culture moved in the first centuries AD. NS. to the north and northeast along the Dnieper and Desna. In the III-IV centuries. in the Middle Dnieper region inhabited the tribes that left the Chernyakhov antiquity. Some archaeologists consider them Slavs, while the majority are a multi-ethnic group that included Slavic elements. At the end of the 5th century, after the fall of the power of the Huns, the Slavs began to advance to the south (to the Danube, in the North-Western Black Sea region) and their invasion of the Balkan provinces of Byzantium. The Slavic tribes were then divided into two groups: the Antes (who invaded the Balkan Peninsula through the lower Danube) and the Sklavins (who attacked the Byzantine provinces from the north and northwest). The colonization of the Balkan Peninsula was not the result of resettlement, but of the settlement of the Slavs, who retained all their old lands in Central and Eastern Europe. In the second half of the first millennium, the Slavs occupied the Upper Dnieper region and its northern periphery, which previously belonged to the eastern Balts and Finno-Ugric tribes. Both the Antes and the Sklavins split into separate tribal groups already in the 7th century. In addition to the well-known Dulebs, there probably already existed other tribal associations of the Slavs listed in the "Tale of Bygone Years": glade, Drevlyans, northerners, Krivichi, Ulici, Tivertsy, Croats, etc.
Glade
If we move along the East European Plain from north to south, then 15 East Slavic tribes will appear in front of us in succession:
1. Ilmen Slovenes, the center of which was Novgorod the Great, which stood on the banks of the Volkhov River flowing from Lake Ilmen and on whose lands there were many other cities, which is why the neighboring Scandinavians called the Slovenian possessions "gardarika", that is, "the land of cities."
These were: Ladoga and Beloozero, Staraya Russa and Pskov. The Ilmen Slovenes got their name from the name of Lake Ilmen, located in their possession and also called the Slovenian Sea. For the inhabitants, far from the real seas, the lake, 45 versts long and about 35 versts wide, seemed huge, therefore it bore its second name - the sea.
2. Krivichi, who lived in the interfluve of the Dnieper, Volga and Western Dvina, around Smolensk and Izborsk, Yaroslavl and Rostov the Great, Suzdal and Murom.
Their name came from the name of the founder of the tribe, Prince Kriv, who apparently received the nickname Krivoy, from a natural disadvantage. Subsequently, the people called Krivich a person who was insincere, deceitful, capable of deceiving, from whom you will not get the truth, but you will face falsehood. (Moscow subsequently arose on the lands of the Krivichi, but you will read about this further.)
3. Polochans settled on the Polotian River, at its confluence with the Western Dvina. At the confluence of these two rivers, the main city of the tribe stood - Polotsk, or Polotsk, the name of which is also derived from the hydronym: "river on the border with Latvian tribes" - armor, summer.
Dregovichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi and northerners lived to the south and southeast of the Polotsk people.
4. The Dregovichi lived on the banks of the Pryyat river, having got their name from the words “dregva” and “dryagovina”, meaning “swamp”. The cities of Turov and Pinsk were located here.
5. The Radimichi, who lived in the interfluve of the Dnieper and the Sozh, were named after their first prince Radim, or Radimir.
6. The Vyatichi were the most eastern ancient Russian tribe, having received their name, like the Radimichs, on behalf of their progenitor, Prince Vyatko, which was the abbreviated name Vyacheslav. Old Ryazan was located in the land of the Vyatichi.
7. The northerners occupied the river Desna, the Seim and the Suda, and in ancient times were the most northern East Slavic tribe. When the Slavs settled down to Novgorod the Great and Beloozero, they retained their former name, although its original meaning was lost. In their lands there were cities: Novgorod Seversky, Listven and Chernigov.
8. The glades that inhabited the land around Kiev, Vyshgorod, Rodny, Pereyaslavl, were called so from the word "field". The cultivation of fields became their main occupation, which led to the development of agriculture, cattle breeding and animal husbandry. Glades went down in history as a tribe, to a greater extent than others, which contributed to the development of ancient Russian statehood.
The neighbors of the glades in the south were Rus, Tivertsy and Uchiha, in the north - the Drevlyans and in the west - Croats, Volynians and Buzhanians.
9. Russia is the name of one, far from the largest East Slavic tribe, which because of its name has become the most famous both in the history of mankind and in historical science, because in the disputes around its origin, scientists and publicists broke many copies and shed rivers of ink ... Many outstanding scientists - lexicographers, etymologists and historians - derive this name from the name of the Normans, which was almost universally accepted in the 9th-10th centuries. The Normans, known to the Eastern Slavs as the Varangians, conquered Kiev and the surrounding lands around 882. During their conquests, which took place for 300 years - from the 8th to the 11th century - and swept all of Europe - from England to Sicily and from Lisbon to Kiev - they sometimes left their name behind the conquered lands. For example, the territory conquered by the Normans in the north of the Frankish kingdom was called Normandy.
Opponents of this point of view believe that the name of the tribe came from the hydronym - the Ros river, from where later the whole country began to be called Russia. And in the XI-XII centuries, Russia began to be called the lands of Russia, glades, northerners and Radimichi, some territories inhabited by streets and Vyatichi. Supporters of this point of view see Russia no longer as a tribal or ethnic union, but as a political state formation.
10. The Tivertsy occupied spaces along the banks of the Dniester, from its middle reaches to the mouth of the Danube and the shores of the Black Sea. The most likely origin seems to be, their names are from the Tivre River, as the ancient Greeks called the Dniester. Their center was the city of Cherven on the western bank of the Dniester. The Tivertsy bordered on the nomadic tribes of the Pechenegs and Polovtsians and, under their blows, retreated to the north, mixing with the Croats and Volynians.
11. The streets were the southern neighbors of the Tivertsy, occupy lands in the Lower Dnieper, on the shores of the Bug and the Black Sea coast. Their main city was Peresechen. Together with the Tivertsy, they retreated to the north, where they mixed with the Croats and Volhynians.
12. The Drevlyans lived along the course of the Teterev, Uzh, Ubot and Sviga rivers, in Polesie and on the right bank of the Dnieper. Their main city was Iskorosten on the Uzh River, and in addition, there were other cities - Ovruch, Gorodsk, several others, whose names we do not know, but their traces remained in the form of fortifications. The Drevlyans were the most hostile East Slavic tribe in relation to the glades and their allies, who formed the ancient Russian state with the center in Kiev. They were decisive enemies of the first Kiev princes, even killed one of them - Igor Svyatoslavovich, for which the Drevlyan prince Mal, in turn, was killed by Igor's widow, Princess Olga.
The Drevlyans lived in dense forests, getting their name from the word "tree" - a tree.
13. Croats who lived around the city of Przemysl on the river. San, called themselves White Croats, in contrast to the tribe of the same name who lived in the Balkans. The name of the tribe is derived from the ancient Iranian word "shepherd, guardian of cattle", which may indicate its main occupation - cattle breeding.
14. The Volynians were a tribal union formed on the territory where the Duleb tribe had previously lived. Volynians settled on both banks of the Western Bug and in the upper reaches of the Pripyat. Their main city was Cherven, and after Volhynia was conquered by the Kiev princes, a new city was erected on the Luga River in 988 - Volodymyr-Volynsky, which gave the name to the Vladimir-Volyn principality that formed around it.
15. The tribal association, which arose in the habitat of the Dulebs, included, in addition to the Volynians and Buzhanians, who were located on the banks of the Southern Bug. There is an opinion that the Volhynians and Buzhanians were one tribe, and their independent names originated only as a result of different habitats. According to written foreign sources, the Buzhans occupied 230 "cities" - most likely, these were fortified settlements, and the Volynians - 70. Anyway, these figures indicate that Volyn and Pobuzhie were populated quite densely.
As for the lands and peoples bordering on the eastern Slavs, this picture looked like this: in the north lived the Finno-Ugric tribes: Cheremis, Chud Zavolochskaya, all, Korela, Chud; in the northwest lived the Balto-Slavic tribes: Kors, Zemigola, Zhmud, Yatvyags and Prussians; in the west - Poles and Hungarians; in the southwest - the Volokhs (the ancestors of the Romanians and Moldovans); in the east - Burtases, related to them Mordovians and Volga-Kama Bulgarians. Outside these lands lay "terra incognita" - an unknown land, which the Eastern Slavs learned about only after their knowledge of the world was greatly expanded with the appearance in Russia of a new religion - Christianity, and at the same time writing, which was the third sign of civilization ...
These are multifaceted and unusual beliefs that have their roots in the depths of centuries. There is no exact information about the birthplace of the first pagan cult, because almost all archaeological evidence has been erased by inexorable time. Everything that scientists know has been obtained from the few chronicles and stories that have been able to reach us.
But even this is enough to understand what the culture and religion of the Eastern Slavs was before the arrival of Christianity. To understand what motivated people in that historical period, and how it was reflected in the modern world.
The basic concept of paganism
The religion of the Eastern Slavs was based on belief in many gods - polytheism. All phenomena in nature were omens of God and testified that people were surrounded by otherworldly beings.
The Slavs feared and revered the gods, made sacrifices to them and prayed for their help. Many customs were associated with the worship of deities and were carried out according to established rules. The Slavs believed that there is the will of the gods for everything, and without their participation nothing was done.
The Slavic pantheon had its own hierarchy, according to which the gods were divided into major and minor. Also in paganism there were guardian spirits who protected the house, helped with crops and cured diseases.
world creation
The religion of the Eastern Slavs briefly describes the creation of the world. It is only known that at first a golden egg appeared, in which there was the god Rod - the father of all living and nonliving.
He created the sky, the earth, the trees, and all the gods went from him. From the name of this deity, the word "nature" was formed, which meant - everything is with Rod.
God's spirit became one of the first creations of the Family, and they depicted him in the form of a huge owl. Over time, she was given the name Mother Swa. From the spirit of God, Svarog appeared - the god of heaven, as well as the king of everything on earth.
Then Svarog had children: the sun god Dazhbog and the wind god Stribog. And then some gods created others, they, in turn, gave rise to other mystical creatures, until a whole divine kingdom with its own laws and rules was formed. Over the years, the names of the gods were replaced by others, but their essence remained the same. This is how the pagan culture with its divine hierarchy was gradually born.
The main gods
The pagan religion of the Eastern Slavs has changed a lot over the centuries. At the same time, new customs and beliefs did not replace old ones, but became their continuation, partially changing their essence. Therefore, the popularity of the outdated gods often declined, as did their position in the divine hierarchy.
Originally, Rod was the main and most respected god. After all, he is the creator of everything on Earth, as well as the patron saint of earth and fertility. Sacrifices were made to him and songs of praise were sung in the hope that he would look after the harvest and prevent diseases from infecting the fields.
In the future, his place was taken by Svarog - a divine being responsible for order and peace in the lands of the Slavs. Over time, Svarog took over most of the merits of the Rod, becoming the creator of the sky and what is under it.
Veles, who was in charge of livestock, was no less revered god. This attitude was caused by the fact that the Slavs, like many other peoples of that time, were engaged in cattle breeding. If cows and other animals began to die, people thought that Veles was angry and demands a sacrifice. Another task of this harsh god was to look after the souls of the dead, so often prayers were offered to him that he would take care of the dead relatives.
Perunovo time
It should be noted that initially Perun was not the main god, but was only depicted as one of the sons of Svarog and Mother Sva. He was a thunderer and ruler of the rains. When times of peace gave way to frequent military campaigns, his role changed dramatically - Perun became the god of war and one of the most revered deities in the Slavic pantheon.
The reason for this is that lightning has always been considered invincible and deadly, bringing punishment to everyone who dared to stand in the way of Perun. Therefore, the governors believed that if the army enlisted the support of this god, it would be able to win unhindered in any battle.
In order to attract the attention of Perun, the princes often made large offerings, built altars and watched for signs from heaven. This led to the massive spread of the cult of Perun, and the religion of the Eastern Slavs again changed the divine leader.
Variety of gods in Slavic culture
But not only the great gods were worshiped by the Slavs. The heavenly abode numbered dozens of less significant deities, and all of them were responsible for a certain part of the life of people and natural phenomena, at least as they are presented by the religion of the Eastern Slavs. Briefly about the minor gods of the pagans.
- Dazhbog - the sun god, symbolizes dawn and prosperity.
- Stribog is the god of the wind, capable of sending storms and bad weather. He also oversees the passage of time and the changing seasons.
- Lada is the goddess of order and the first of the women in labor. It was she who, according to legends, gave birth to twelve months.
- Lelya is the mother of Perun. This goddess watched over the crops, therefore she was held in special esteem by the Slavs.
- Yarilo is the god of light and spring, over time they began to personify him with the solar circle.
- Makosh is the goddess of fate and the eternal spinner. They say that she weaved all human destinies on her spindle, and Dolya and Nedol helped her in this.
In addition, there were evil deities who tried to destroy people, constantly sending diseases and misfortunes to them.
Magi - the connecting link between people and gods
The priest was present in every culture, so the religion of the Eastern Slavs could not do without him. In ancient times, people who can read the prompts of the gods were called sorcerers or sorcerers. They often came to them for help, since they, according to legend, knew how to heal diseases, remove the evil eye and bless in future endeavors.
What is true, unlike other religions of that time, pagan priests did not build temples and did not require increased attention to themselves. In most cases, they lived away from the settlements in order to protect themselves from the annoying crowd.
Rituals in ancient Russia
Religion and life of the Eastern Slavs are closely related. There are many beliefs and signs that people always pay attention to. So, the crops were always accompanied by prayers to the goddess Lele, so that she would then look after the harvest.
They attached particular importance to the funeral, because the observance of the rite depended on how the deceased would be met in the afterlife. The body of the deceased was placed in a small boat, then set on fire and allowed to flow. Thus, the soul of the deceased was sent along the river to the afterlife, after which the ashes were buried in a mound. Armor, weapons and the corpse of a horse were placed in the graves of noble people and warriors, so that a person would not need anything in the other world.
Just as reverently, the religion of the Eastern Slavs protected the ceremonies associated with the birth of a child, matchmaking and wedding.
Great celebrations and festivities
All holidays in the calendar of the Slavs were associated with natural phenomena and transitions from one season to the second. Many of them played such an important role in society that they remained even after the arrival of Christianity, although they changed their original purpose.
So, the first of the year was a celebration in honor of Kolyada, the god who brought knowledge to people. It was celebrated on the first of January, which later coincided with Christmas. That is why now there is a tradition to walk around the courtyards and ask for sweets in exchange for a verse of praise.
Another pagan holiday that still exists today is Ivana Kupala. It is celebrated on June 24 (according to the old calendar) in honor of the summer solstice. According to legend, on this day, water has healing power, so people arrange this festivities near the reservoir. This day was originally intended to sing the sun god. It is in his honor that fiery circles or wheels are launched into the water, thereby demonstrating the movement of the sun across the sky.
The coming of Christianity
And although the religion of the Eastern Slavs reigned for a long time throughout the territory of Russia, the arrival of Christianity nevertheless ousted it. The reason for this was the patronage of Prince Vladimir, which left no choice for the common people.
For several more centuries the Magi tried to return the old traditions, but their business ended in failure. And only small temples and wooden idols still remind that in ancient times there were gods who were able to control the weather, heavenly bodies and the fate of man.
What religion was preached in those ancient times, when Christianity was not even heard of? The religion of the ancient Slavs, which is commonly called paganism, included a huge number of cults, beliefs and views. Both archaic primitive elements and more developed ideas about the existence of gods and the human soul coexisted in it.
The religion of the Slavs originated more than 2-3 thousand years ago. The most ancient religious view of the Slavic peoples is animism. According to this belief, any person has an incorporeal double, a shadow, a spirit. This is where the concept of the soul was born. According to the ancient progenitors, not only people, but also animals, as well as all natural phenomena, have a soul.
The Slavic religion is also rich in totemic beliefs. Totems of animals - elk, wild boar, bear, as sacred animals, were the subject of worship. Subsequently, each became a symbol of some Slavic god. For example, a wild boar is a sacred animal and a bear is Veles. There were also plant totems: birches, oaks, willows. Many religious rituals were performed around freestanding sacred trees.
Gods in the Slavic religion.
The Slavs did not have a single god for everyone. Each tribe worshiped a different one. The religion of the ancient Slavs includes such characters as Perun, Veles, Lada, Svarog and Makosh as common gods.
- Perun - a thunderer, patronized princes and soldiers. Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich of Kiev revered this god as supreme.
- Veles - the god of wealth, "cattle" god, patronized the merchants. Less commonly considered the god of the dead.
- Svarog - the god of fire and sky, is considered the father of other divine creatures, the supreme deity of the early Slavs.
- Makosh is the goddess of fate, water and fertility, the patroness of future mothers. It was considered the personification of the feminine principle.
- Lada is the goddess of love and beauty. She was considered the goddess of the "woman in labor", patronizing the summer harvest.
Idols of the ancient Slavs.
The religion of the ancient Slavs had not only their own gods, but also their idols - statues that convey the image of one or another deity, which was revered more than others in the tribe. These were wooden or stone statues that were worshiped during religious rites. Most often, idols were installed on the banks of rivers, in groves, on hills. They were very often dressed, holding a cup or horns in their hands, and rich weapons could be seen next to them. There were also smaller household idols that were hidden in dwellings. The ancient Slavs identified idols with the deity himself, so it was a great sin to damage the statue of the idol.
Ancient "temples" and magicians in the Slavic religion.
Those who lived on the territory of modern Russia never erected temples: they performed all ritual actions and prayers in the open air. Instead of a temple, they equipped the so-called "temple" - a place where idols were located, an altar was located and sacrifices were carried out. Moreover, the religion of the ancient Slavs allowed any of the believers to approach the idols, worship them and make any kind of offering. As a rule, various animals were used as sacrifices; the ancient Slavs did not practice human sacrifices.
The ancient Slavs had wise men as keepers of knowledge, seers and healers. They kept and passed on from generation to generation ancient myths, made calendars, predicted the weather, performed the functions of sorcerers and magicians. The Magi had a great influence on the Kiev princes, who consulted with them on all important state issues.
Thus, we can say with confidence that the religious ideas of the ancient Slavs are a well-developed system that includes a huge number of different pagan beliefs practiced by the Slavs before the adoption of the Christian religion. She played a huge role in shaping the worldview, worldview and culture of the Slavic peoples. Its echoes are still present in our lives.
Paganism is a religion based on belief in several gods at the same time, and not in one God-creator, as, for example, in Christianity.
Paganism concept
The term "paganism" itself is not entirely accurate, as it includes several concepts. Today paganism is understood not so much as a religion, but as a set of religious and cultural beliefs, and belief in several gods is referred to as "totemism", "polytheism" or "ethnic religion".
The paganism of the ancient Slavs is a term that is used to refer to a complex of religious and cultural views on the life of the ancient Slavic tribes before they adopted Christianity and converted to a new faith. There is an opinion that the term itself in relation to the ancient religious and ritual culture of the Slavs did not come from the concept of polytheism (many deities), but from the fact that the ancient tribes, although they lived separately, were based on one language. So, Nestor the chronicler in his notes speaks of these tribes as pagans, that is, having one language, common roots. Later, this term gradually began to be attributed to Slavic religious beliefs and used to refer to religion.
The emergence and development of paganism in Russia
Slavic paganism began to form around the 2nd - 1st millennium BC. under the influence of Indo-European culture, when the Slavs began to stand out from it into independent tribes. Moving and occupying new territories, the Slavs got acquainted with the culture of their neighbors and adopted certain features from them. So, it was the Indo-European culture that brought the images of the storm god, the cattle god and the image of mother earth to the Slavic mythology. The Celts also had a significant influence on the Slavic tribes, who also enriched the Slavic pantheon and, in addition, brought the very concept of "god" to the Slavs, which had not previously been used. Slavic paganism has a lot in common with the German-Scandinavian culture, from there the Slavs took the image of the world tree, dragons and many other deities, which later transformed depending on the living conditions and characteristics of the Slavic culture.
After the Slavic tribes formed and began to actively populate new territories, move away from each other and disunite, paganism also transformed, each tribe had its own special rituals, its own names for the gods and the deities themselves. So, by the 6-7th centuries. the religion of the Eastern Slavs was quite noticeably different from the religion of the Western Slavs.
It should be noted that often the beliefs of the upper classes of society were very different from the beliefs of the lower strata, and what they believed in large cities and towns did not always coincide with the beliefs of small villages.
From the moment the Slavic tribes began to unite, began to form, the external relations of the Slavs with Byzantium began to develop, gradually paganism began to be persecuted, they began to doubt the old beliefs, even teachings against paganism appeared. As a result, after the Baptism of Rus in 988, when Christianity became the official religion, the Slavs began to gradually move away from the old traditions, although the relationship between paganism and Christianity was not easy. According to some reports, in many territories paganism is still preserved, and in Russia it existed for quite a long time, up to the 12th century.
The essence of Slavic paganism
Although there are a sufficient number of sources by which one can judge the beliefs of the Slavs, it is difficult to form a single picture of the world of the East Slavic pagans. It is generally accepted that the essence of Slavic paganism was the belief in the forces of nature, which determined human life, ruled it and decided fate. From here flow the gods - the masters of the elements and natural phenomena, mother earth. In addition to the highest pantheon of gods, the Slavs also had smaller deities - brownies, mermaids, etc. Small deities and demons did not have a serious impact on human life, but actively participated in it. The Slavs believed in the existence of a soul in man, in the heavenly and underground kingdom, in life after death.
Slavic paganism has many rituals that are associated with the interaction of gods and people. The gods were worshiped, they were asked for protection, patronage, sacrifices were made to them - most often it was cattle. There is no exact information about the presence of human sacrifices among the pagan Slavs.
List of Slavic gods
Common Slavic gods:
- Mother - Cheese Earth - the main female image, the goddess of fertility, she was worshiped and asked for a good harvest, a good offspring;
- Perun is a thunderer god, the main god of the pantheon.
Other gods of the Eastern Slavs (also called the pantheon of Vladimir):
- Veles is the patron saint of storytellers and poetry;
- Volos is the patron saint of livestock;
- Dazhdbog is a solar deity, considered the ancestor of all Russian people;
- Mokosh is the patroness of spinning and weaving;
- Genus and women in labor are deities who personify fate;
- Svarog is a blacksmith god;
- Svarozhich is the personification of fire;
- Simargl is a messenger between heaven and earth;
- Stribog is a deity associated with the winds;
- Horse is the personification of the sun.
The Slavic pagans also had various images that personified certain natural phenomena, but were not deities. These include Maslenitsa, Kolyada, Kupala and others. The stuffed animals of these images were burned during holidays and rituals.
Persecution of the Gentiles and the End of Paganism
The more Russia united, the more it increased its political power and expanded contacts with other, more developed states, the more the pagans were persecuted by the adherents of Christianity. After the Baptism of Rus took place, Christianity became not just a new religion, but a new way of thinking, and began to play a huge political and social role. The pagans, who did not want to accept the new religion (and there were a lot of them), entered into open confrontation with the Christians, but the latter did everything to reason with the “barbarians”. Paganism persisted until the 12th century, but then it gradually began to fade away.