Pagan traditions of pre-Christian Russia: description, rituals, rituals and interesting facts. Slavic Gods: who did the ancient Slavs turn to for help?
In the pre-Christian period, the Slavs did not have a single religion for all tribes. But at the same time, ideas about nature, the elements dominating the world, among different tribes were very close to each other. This makes it possible to assume that the ancient Slavs had their own faith, in other words, paganism. Paganism is a national religion that is turned inward to the society in which it originated. Unlike the world's great religions, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, which recognize neither national nor geographical boundaries. The pagan world of the Slavs is very poetic, magic flows from everywhere and it is permeated with the belief that all nature around is alive. Distant Slavic ancestors worshiped the elements and believed in the relationship of man and animals, they believed that the progenitor - the beast of their kind patronizes their descendants. The Slavs made numerous sacrifices to their deities, allocating for this part of the hunting, harvest or fish catch. Each Slavic tribe had its own especially revered deities, however, most often they differed only in the pronunciation of the name.
Not much information about the paganism of the ancient Slavs has survived to this day. Most of the information about the supreme Slavic gods has come down to us from early Christian teachings against them. Metropolitan Macarius wrote, speaking of the pagans: “Their filthy prayer places: forest and stones and rivers, and swamps, and springs, and mountains, and hills, the sun and the moon, and stars, and lakes. And to put it simply, everything that exists was worshiped as God, and honored, and sacrificed.” Deifying the world around them, the Slavs focus their beliefs on the three main phenomena of their lives: hunting, farming and housekeeping. Three pillars: field, forest and house, Slavic pagan mythology is based on them.
Slavic idols In primitive times, the forest was not only a means of obtaining food and a base of raw materials for building a dwelling, but also endowed people with an idea of their origin. The clans and tribes that lived at that time believed that their ancestors were wild animals with magical powers. Such animals were deified and worshiped by their sacred images "totems" that protected the family.
The bear was the head of the divine pantheon of the ancient Slavs. The powerful image of a bear was perceived as the image of the owner of the forest - the strongest beast. The true name of the bear is forever lost, it was not pronounced aloud, apparently it was known only to the priests. Oaths and contracts were sealed with this lost name. In everyday life, they called their God "honey badger", from which the name "bear" came from. There is an assumption that the dwelling of the bear "lair" comes from the Scandinavian word "ber", which means brown.
Among the northern Slavs, the cult of the wolf was widespread. During holidays and rituals, warriors dressed up in wolf skins. The wolf was perceived as a devourer of evil spirits by the priests, and the warriors of this cult were considered the best healers. The Slavs considered the name of their deity sacred and did not pronounce it out loud, replacing it with the epithet "fierce". Hence the name of one of the largest Slavic tribes "Lutichi" came from.
The female principle, in the forest era, among the Slavs was personified by a deer or an elk, but unlike real animals, the goddess had horns. The Slavs compared the horns with the sun's rays, so they were a talisman and hung at the entrance to the dwelling.
In addition to the great gods, the Bear and the Wolf, the forest was inhabited by elemental spirits. They did not have such power as the great gods, but they were able to help or destroy a person. So, for example, the owner of the forest was a goblin, shaggy, sometimes shaggy spirit, who lived in the most impenetrable thickets, mainly near swamps. It was believed that it was the goblin that makes a person stray through the forest and leads him into black spots, however, if he is coaxed with offerings, he can lead the lost in the forest.
Slavic idolsThe small number of surviving Slavic idols is explained not only by the persecution of paganism, but also by the fact that most of the idols are made of wood. The Slavs consciously preferred to carve idols from wood “living from living”. All known idols that have come down to us were found on the Black Sea coast and in Transnistria. The idols depict a bearded god with a horn in right hand, a sword at the belt and a hryvnia around the neck.
The most studied pagan rite of the Slavs is the funeral. This is due to archaeological excavations and detailed descriptions ancient historians. The most common form of burial of the Slavs was kurgan. When burying the dead, the Slavs laid with men horse harness, dead horses and dogs, and weapons. With women, sickles, slaughtered livestock and poultry, vessels with food and drink.
At the death of a noble person, one of the wives was buried with him - who voluntarily agreed to accompany her husband to the afterlife and several of his servants. The funeral ended with military competitions and a feast.
In modern historiography, the question of the origin of the ancient Slavs - our ancestors - is one of the most frequently discussed. This article does not claim to scientific research. But it contains 10 very interesting and many unknown facts about the ancient Slavs.
1. Slavs are practically the same age as the current era
The appearance of archaeological cultures, recognized by most archaeologists as Slavic, refers only to the 5th-6th centuries. However, recent archaeological data indicate, according to some researchers, the formation of a noticeable array of Slavs as part of a single ethnic group in the area of the Kyiv archaeological culture as early as the 2nd-4th centuries. The whole process of the formation of the ancient Slavic ethnos on the basis of the succession of successive archaeological cultures continued from the 1st millennium BC. e. until the VI century, when the ancient Slavs were recorded in epigraphic monuments as an already formed cultural and linguistic community.
2. The Slavs lived in prosperity and abundance
Here is what Bishop Otto of Bamber writes, who visited Russia twice in 1124-1127. “The abundance of fish in the sea, rivers, lakes and ponds is so great that it seems simply incredible. One denarius can buy a whole cart fresh herring, which are so good that if I began to tell everything I know about their smell and thickness, I would risk being accused of gluttony. Throughout the country there are many deer and fallow deer, wild horses, bears, pigs and wild boars and various other game. There is an abundance of cow's butter, sheep's milk, mutton and goat's fat, honey, wheat, hemp, poppies, all kinds of vegetables and fruit trees, and if there were vines, olive trees and fig trees, one could take this country for the promised , before that there are a lot of fruit trees in it ... "
3. The ancient Slavs were not pagans
More precisely, they were not pagans in the original sense of the word. In those days, "pagans" were called people who spoke a different language, carriers of a foreign culture, religion. The ancient Slavs were people of the Vedic culture, so it would be more correct to call the ancient Slavic religion not paganism, but Vedism. The word "veda" is consonant with the modern Russian "know", "know". This is a peaceful religion of a highly cultured agricultural people, related to other religions of the Vedic root - ancient india, Iran and Ancient Greece.
4. All Kievan Rus spoke the same language
All East Slavic tribes that inhabited Kievan Rus used only a single ancient Slavic language. If in that era a resident of Galicia came to Kyiv, Smolensk or Novgorod, then his language could differ only in dialect and accent. The Chronicles give many examples when the Kyiv ambassadors and princes spoke at the veche meetings of Novgorod, and the people of Kiev were addressed by the Novgorodians or the Rulers of Suzdal and Smolensk.
5. The ancient Slavs did not know the vegetables familiar to us
About cabbage, carrots and beets, not to mention tomatoes and cucumbers, it would seem, such primordially "Russian" vegetables and root crops, in Russia no one has heard of. Moreover, even onion our ancestors did not know. The main food of the ancient Slavs was porridge, as well as meat and bread. The porridges themselves were somewhat different, not the same as we are used to seeing. Rice was a great curiosity, it was also called "Sorochinsky millet", and it was fabulously expensive. Buckwheat (groats brought by Greek monks, hence the name "buckwheat") was eaten on great holidays, but in Russia there was always enough of their own millet in abundance. They ate mostly oats. But oatmeal prepared from whole refined grain, previously steaming it for a long time in the oven.
6. In Russia, they did not take captives into slavery
At the beginning of the 6th century, the Slavs began to attack Byzantium. Slavic tribes lived north of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantines considered them freedom-loving, courageous, hardy. were excellent warriors. They were noble, did not take captives into slavery, but offered to either become members of their tribe or return to their own. Relations of Byzantium with the Slavs, and then with Ancient Russia were important part foreign policy empire.
7. The Slavs could repulse any enemy that came to their land
And this applies not only to combatants, but to everyone in general: farmers, hunters, everyone who lived in Russia. Here is what the emperor of Byzantium, Mauritius the Strategist, writes about this in the 6th century. “They love to fight their enemies in places overgrown with dense forests, in gorges, on cliffs. They take advantage of ambushes, surprise attacks, tricks, day and night, inventing many ways. They are also experienced in crossing rivers, surpassing all people in this respect. They courageously endure being in the water, so that often some of those who remain at home, being caught by a sudden attack, plunge into the abyss of water. At the same time, they hold in their mouths specially made large reeds hollowed out inside, reaching the surface of the water, while they themselves, lying supine at the bottom, breathe with their help. This they can do for many hours, so that it is absolutely impossible to guess their presence. Each is armed with two small spears, some with shields, strong but difficult to carry. They also use wooden bows and small arrows soaked in a potent poison special for arrows. All this they are masters of doing in a variety of ways they invent, in order to lure the enemy.
8."Slavs" - not from "glory", but from "word"
Slovene - people speaking in "words", i.e. on the understandable language. In contrast, there are "dumb" - the Germans, those who are impossible to understand. Later, during the time of Peter I, foreigners who came to Russia were called Germans, and since most of the visitors were from Germany, our Russian, German, stuck to the Germans. A similar situation in Ancient Greece, where initially those who speak were called barbarians, is incomprehensible, as if they took porridge in their mouths and the Greeks heard only “bar-bar” instead of words.
9. All men in Russia were trained in military affairs
In Russia, all men were considered warriors, this tradition has been going on since the era of the so-called "military democracy". Of course, there were also specially trained knights who devoted their entire lives to the war, but all young men and adult men, whether they were townspeople, tillers or hunters, had to master military skills.
10. The Christianization of Russia was difficult and very cruel.
The baptism and subsequent Christianization of Russia was accompanied by the destruction of all the former, Slavic, "pagan". All the cultural centers of the pagan Slavs were destroyed - temples, sanctuaries, sacred groves, idols, idols. Temples and churches were erected on these places. In accordance with the decrees of the Nomocanon and its Russian version, laws were born that were against all magic, superstition, and even against doctors. The princes officially granted the church the right to judge certain types of crimes. People were now tried for divorce, for witchcraft, for greenery (herbal treatment), for heresy against Christianity, for foul language, for insulting the "purity and holiness" of the temple, for the veneration of pagan gods.
Pagan beliefs of the ancient Slavs
general review
AT Kievan Rus dominated by pagan beliefs. The pagans looked at human life from a purely material side. Religion Eastern Slavs strikingly close to the original religion of the Aryan tribes: it consisted in the worship of physical deities, natural phenomena, the souls of the dead, tribal household geniuses.
There were traces of fetishism. So, for example, the Eastern Slavs revered the stones of any unusual shape. Remained vestiges of totemism, belief in miraculous power animals from which certain generic groups allegedly originated. Such totems were a snake, a wolf, a bear, a cuckoo, a raven. Belief in werewolves and dressing up in the skins of animals is a relic of totemism.
The ruins of the temple on Antokol
vestiges persisted ancient magic. The Slav inhabited everything around him with spirits. These spirits could help or harm a person. They had to be appeased, sacrifices made, prayers made. Every natural phenomenon, plant, animal was spiritualized, humanized.
They prayed to swamps and wells, waters and groves, lakes and rivers, prayed to spirits (“demons”), ghouls and coastlines, prayed under a barn, in sacred groves, near waters, etc.
Among the gods or gods, the ancient Slavs honored not only forests, fields and fields, but also rivers, seas, lakes, springs. The Tsar-father river - among the Ukrainians, the Danube River or Danube Ivanovich - among the Russians, the Dniester River, as well as the Don, Dnieper, Volga, Sukhman River, Volkhov. Dnieper, Volga and Western Dvina were once people: the Dnieper is a brother, and the Volga and Dvina are sisters.
Rzhavinsky sanctuary of the 9th–11th centuries. (according to I. Rusanova and B. Timoshchuk). Plan, reconstruction of the functional parts of the "temple". General reconstruction of the sanctuary (section)
The Sea King or Miracle Yudo owns the sea, he loves music and singing; among the Slovaks, this is the Water King and his wife - the water queen; Ukrainians, in addition - sea people, or memosins (melusins), the same phalarons, i.e., the army of the pharaoh who died at sea during the persecution of the Jews; in the sea live syroids (Greek sirens) - “in the Turet region beyond the Danube”; among the Lusatian Serbs, these are the Sea Maidens.
Over time, the beliefs of the ancient Slavs changed. In the era of the tribal system, the cult of ancestors is born. It appears because a cult of the dead arises with the idea that life continues after physical death. Therefore, the dead can help the living (ancestors), and can harm them (ghouls and beregini). It was necessary to take care of the propitiation of evil spirits, the spirits of "foreign" dead.
With the intensification of childbirth, the cult of ancestors comes to the fore - Rod and Rozhanits, the cult of the "Navievs". As the tribal organization disintegrates, the monogamous family emerges and strengthens, the patrons of the clan (the Rod later had a different name - Chur or Shchur; from where “mind me”, that is, “mind me, intercede for me”), in general, fade into the background , they are forgotten, and the patrons of individual families, brownies, come to the fore.
Ancient Slavic coastlines transform into mermaids. Mermaids are the souls of dead people. Only for a certain time they live in water, in rivers and wells, until Trinity Day, and after Trinity they move to the ground and live in forests, on trees. Mermaids sometimes act under a different name - pitchforks.
The cult of "Naviy" ("Naviev") is associated with the bath. People come here to pray to their ancestors - “Naviam”, expecting that they will come to wash, pour ashes and find out from the ashes whether the “Naviy” have come or not. Wine, meat, eggs, butter, cheese are also brought here, they “cover the bread” and eat what was brought. The same prayers and feasts are arranged for the Family and Rozhanitsy. Such feasts in honor of the ancestors, treats and "navy" in the form of brothers for a long time still existed in Russia.
The gods of the elements, standing as if behind the phenomena of nature, testify to the deification by the ancient Russians of the forces of nature. According to the concepts of the ancient Slav, all natural phenomena are the action of the conscious will of living supernatural beings. According to these ideas, nature is not dead, but lives and thinks, as a person lives and thinks, but she stronger than a man and, interfering in his life and in his economy, subordinates a person to his power.
Various phenomena of nature, clouds, rain, storms, thunder and lightning, which had a direct and, moreover, often decisive influence on the life and economy of primitive man and struck his consciousness with their grandeur, were understood by him as the actions of some powerful supernatural forces or as these supernatural forces themselves. forces that manifest themselves in corresponding actions, hostile or benevolent to a person.
These supernatural forces were imagined by his consciousness either in the form of some giants (anthropomorphism), or in the form of huge animals and beasts (zoomorphism). So, for example, clouds were represented in the form of heavenly cows, wolves, sheep or lambs, among the Czechs - in the form of "women".
Sanctuary on the Annunciation Hill in Vshchizh
Prayer of a Russian merchant
According to other ideas, the clouds are huge sheets of giants, sewn together and filled with water; the giants pull the sheet on a rope wherever God wishes; sometimes they fail to hold the sheet in their hands, or the rope breaks, and then it starts torrential rain, etc. The storm cloud is the giant Baba Yaga, the bone leg, or Koschei.
The wind was presented to the Slav in the form of a white horse, which the whole world cannot keep in check. The image of a horse-wind or a horse-whirlwind, as a popular poetic image, is well known.
The sun was presented to the ancient Slav as a burning heavenly fire, as a circle, a wheel, as an eye of heaven. These ancient ideas Slavs about the sun, moon and stars were deposited in huge number beliefs in the later views of the Slavs, in Slavic folklore.
At the same time, the multi-tribal nature of the ancient Russian pagan religion should be emphasized. The presence of several names for the sun god suggests that each group of tribes called the sun god in its own way and, perhaps, worshiped him in its own way.
The sacred fire-svarozhich, to which the ancient Slavs prayed (“who prays under a barn or in rye”, “fire the fireman prays”, “who prays fire under the barn”, “the fires pray, calling him a welder”, “cows pray for a pitchfork, and fire under the barn"), is associated with the fire that dries the bread on the vine or in the barn. It is no coincidence that the svarozhich-fire is prayed "under the barn" or "in the rye." This is an agricultural cult that connects fire worship with the veneration of the sun, a cult based on the labor of a Slavic farmer, for heavenly fire - the sun and earthly fire equally serve for the benefit of man.
The cult of water, which vividly appears in prayers at rivers and springs, at lakes and wells, when the Slav “calls the goddess river”, water, which is sacrificed (chickens, people), who “we drown in the waters”, testifies to the personification of the life-giving power of water. Ancient Slav, propitiating the moisture of the earth, counted on the fact that the moisture of heaven would be shed on his fields. The veneration of water and springs was supposed to save him from drought, to bring rain on his fields.
From the book Pagan Symbolism of Slavic Archaic Rituals author Veletskaya Natalya NikolaevnaPAGAN CONCEPTS OF DEATH AND ETERNITY eternal peace ancestors, its relationship with the world of the living on earth, about the multilateral
From the book Myths of Slavic paganism author Shepping Dmitry OttovichChapter XII Holidays and time reckoning of the ancient Slavs The concept of time in general, as not being based on any reliable fact, probably did not exist among the Slavs, although some scientists take Zhitovrat or Krodo for our Saturn, and Damianovich translates the Greek
From the book History of Culture: Lecture Notes author Dorokhova M A1. The culture of the ancient Slavs The Slavs are part of the ancient Indo-European ethnic unity. They are part of the Indo-European family along with Europeans. Their history is presented in ancient books. For example, the Bible speaks of the three sons of Noah, and from one of them,
From the book History of Culture author Dorokhova M A41. Culture of the ancient Slavs The Slavs are part of the most ancient Indo-European ethnic unity. They are part of the Indo-European family along with Europeans. Their history is presented in ancient books. One of the most significant sources of information about the Slavic
From the book Secrets of Pagan Russia author Mizun Yuri Gavrilovich From the book Anglo-Saxons [Conquerors of Celtic Britain (litres)] author Wilson David M From the book Slavic mythology author Belyakova Galina Sergeevna From the book Encyclopedia Slavic culture, writing and mythology author Kononenko Alexey Anatolievich From the author's book From the author's bookAnthropological type of the ancient Slavs
From the author's bookThe life and customs of the ancient Slavs Interesting lines are devoted to the description of the life and customs of the Eastern Slavs by the author of The Tale of Bygone Years, who, however, does not hesitate to exaggerate when he talks about the non-Polyanian Slavs, apparently showing religious bias:
From the author's bookThe ideas of the ancient Slavs about death Many figurative definitions were invented about death in Russian funeral lamentations - “hungry”, “irrepressible”, “idle”, “death is a villain”, “a fierce snake.” She comes without asking, furtively, never knocks on gates, etc. Death with
Calling Russia pagan is wrong. Moreover, it is insulting. So the first Christians called other peoples (languages), all non-Christians.
Therefore, pagans are those who do not believe in God at all, and who profess any other religions. As for Russia, long before Christianity it had a slender, highly moral religion based on a correct worldview. It was monotheism. The existence of the One God was recognized. The Mother of God was also in this religion.
Where is this religion? - you ask. In Russia, for a thousand years, it has been trampled, denigrated, defiled, and then completely perverted. If you want to enslave the people, take the soul out of them. This is what our princes and kings tried to do, for whom the main thing was to keep the people in check. The princes called the Byzantine church fathers to Russia for this very purpose. And they weren't wrong. In them they found faithful helpers in the enslavement of his own people.
What was the religion of our ancestors? Everyone knows the Indian Vedas or at least heard about them. They are known all over the world.
Beautifully published books of Indian epics are sold or handed out at every crossroads in Moscow. But few people know that the Indian Vedas were preceded by the Russian Vedas. Much has been lost in the Indian epic. Many events in the Russian Vedas are described in detail, in detail, while in the Indian Vedas time has erased many of these details. We used to be one people who came from the North, and after long life on the Russian lowland went to India, Iran and beyond. Therefore, the "Avesta" contains the same Vedas, only they have significantly lost their specificity.
Who wants to study the Vedas, he should start studying with the Russian Vedas. There are many Indian Vedas, and even more Russian ones. Experts say that now, today it is possible to publish 1000 (thousand!) volumes of Russian Vedas. Why weren't they published?
Tried to publish, but almost to no avail. So, for example, in 1881 the Vedas of the Slavs were published in Bulgaria. But in Russia they were not noticed. The ball in Moscow was ruled by foreigners, mostly Germans. Our past has always been unacceptable to them, because they tried to present our people as a bunch of serfs.
Alexander Asov wrote several excellent books about the Vedic religion of our ancestors (“Slavic Gods and the Birth of Russia”, “Slavic Runes and the Boyanov Hymn”, etc.). He translated into modern Russian the invaluable Book of Veles, which outlines both the history and religion of our ancestors. We will not repeat what has already been done (and beautifully) by others. We refer the reader to these books.
Asov wrote: “It is necessary to distinguish Russian Vedism from other faiths of the Vedic root: all varieties of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and others, for Russian Vedism is the essence of the Russian national variety of the Vedic faith. Accordingly, Russian Vedic culture is a Russian national variety of Vedic culture. Russian Vedism is as international in content as the Vedic faith itself is international, and national in its image, language, and source.”
So, in the "Book of Veles" the god of our ancestors Svarog is called Tvastyr (Creator). In the Vedas of India there is a god Tvashtar. The image of Tvastyr Svarog in Indian mythology merged with the images of the Vedic Tvashtar, as well as Isvar (Lord Shiva), Indra (the owner of Svarga) and Brahma. The Shivants identified the creative power of Svarog with the Creative Shiva. So did the worshipers of Indra. Brahmanists identified the creative Word of Svarog with Brahma, consisting of the Vedas. This can be clearly seen in the Slavic iconography of Svarog.
It is very similar to the Hindu iconography of Brahma. Few people know that Russia was Orthodox for thousands of years before the baptism. The Russians even in those distant times called themselves Orthodox, for they glorified the Rule, followed the Paths of the Rule. Orthodoxy was still called the Righteous Faith at that time, since the Slavs knew the Truth, they knew the Laws - the Vedas, the ancient Vedas, sacred traditions about the origin of the Vedic faith. The Vedic faith was the first faith of almost all the peoples of the world. Nowadays, one tenth of humanity professes the Vedic religion. Only we bashfully talk about our ancestors as pagans, who supposedly believed primitively and prayed to idols. Not! Our ancestors were not pagans. They were monotheists, they believed in the One God, the Mother of God and the Son of God. Rule, where Orthodoxy comes from, this is the Heavenly Mother, who patronizes Russia. Her name was Makosh. She personifies the Heavenly Law. Our ancestors believed in the Trinity. The first face is God the Father, the second face is the Son of God, the third face is the Heavenly Mother. She is the Spirit of God who set the World in motion. All this has a very deep meaning. Mother gives life to the Son. This means that the World is changing: after the Father, the Son appears, then the Son becomes the Father and gives birth to the Son again.
Churchmen fought against this highly moral faith. But they couldn't fight her. They could only rename Orthodox holidays. So religious holiday The Annunciation is an ancient holiday of the Proclamation of Makosh (April 7). No need to believe in the polytheism of the Slavs. They revered all the goddesses only with the faces of the One Mother of the World Mokosh, the Mother of God.
Now judge for yourself whether our ancestors were pagans. Under paganism understand the belief in the existence of many gods and the denial of the existence of the One Supreme God. In fact, Russian Vedism (pravedism) is the oldest monotheistic faith, faith in the existence of the Almighty. Russian Vedism has come down to us in the form of oral traditions and in the form of sacred texts.
As for Russia, it did not begin at all from the moment of baptism. The Russian Vedas say that for twenty thousand years Russia was born, perished and revived again.
It also says that the ancestral home of the ancestors of the Slavs (the first Aryans) was in the North. From here, our ancestors, led by God, moved first to the Urals and the steppes of Semirechye, then to India and Iran. Here, the Slavs themselves stood out from the Indo-Aryan clans: those who praised the gods and ancestors. Thus, Russia was born thousands of years before the founding of Kyiv - on the Dnieper and the baptism of Russia. __ The Russian Vedas speak of the Covenant of our progenitor with God. This Testament is called “The Laws of Svarog” or “The Testament of Father Arius”. The progenitor of the Slavs was Dazhbog. According to this Testament, all the grandchildren of Dazhbog should run away from Krivda and follow the Truth, honor the Heavenly Family and their own family. Honor your friends and family. Wives have only one husband. Divorces and polygamy were allowed in case of emergency. It was possible to marry no more than three times (following the example of Dazhbog). It was supposed to celebrate great holidays and observe fasts. The covenant (Laws of Svarog) consecrated the power of the veche. The highest princely power was inherited. Veche could excommunicate the prince from power if the affairs of the prince were objectionable to people. In this last paragraph of the Law (Covenant) lies the reason why the princes needed the Baptism of Russia. In this way they hoped to obtain unlimited power, and with the help of the church they received it. And sympathy for "paganism" was followed by the death penalty.
They wanted to erase the past forever. And a lot has been achieved in this direction. Even today we have to prove the obvious, documented. To prove that our ancestors had a real religion, a highly moral civil code, a humane structure of society and family.
A lot of well-funded people try to nullify this evidence, pass it off as a misunderstanding. Many political science centers deliberately discredit our past, and not only foreign ones, but also those working in Moscow. So, in Moscow, a doctor of anthropology and ethnology is doing this Russian Academy Sciences V.A. Shnirelman, who is successfully working simultaneously in Jerusalem at the Hebrew University. He was already very interested in the “Book of Veles” and the myths of paganism. In his books, he paints our past with one black paint. “The Book of Veles”, of course, in his opinion, is a fake. He is echoed by W. Lakker, professor of strategic studies at Washington University. This thankless task is also occupied by our home-grown “marketers”, who believe that everything can be sold, even their ancestors.
In this situation, we must unite and convey to our friends and relatives their rich spiritual heritage, show them who our ancestors were, and therefore who we are.
Gods Slavic mythology
Belbog - the embodiment of light, the god of goodness, good luck, happiness, good, the personification of the daytime and spring sky. His sanctuary was on a hill open to the sun, and Belbog's numerous gold and silver ornaments reflected the play of rays and even at night illuminated the temple, where there was not a single shadow, not a single gloomy corner.
Veles is one of the greatest gods of the ancient world, son of Rod, brother of Svarog. His main act was that Veles set the world created by Rod and Svarog in motion. Veles - "cattle god" - the owner wildlife, master of Navi, a powerful wizard and werewolf, interpreter of laws, teacher of arts, patron of travelers and merchants, god of luck.
Dazhdbog - the god of the Sun, the giver of heat and light, the god of fertility and life-giving force. His name is heard in a short prayer that has survived to this day - “Give, God!”
Dogoda - the god of a quiet, pleasant wind and clear weather, complete opposite to his fierce brother, the patron of the winds Pozvizd.
Kolyada - ancient god fun feasts, it is believed that his name is derived from the word "kolo" (circle). Teacher of the Third Law of Life. He told people about the Great Kolo of Svarog, about the Day and Night of Svarog, and also established the first calendar
Roof - the son of the Almighty and the goddess Maya, was a brother to the very first creator of the world Rod, although he was much younger than him. He returned fire to people, fought on the shores of the Arctic Ocean with Chernobog and defeated him.
Lel - in the mythology of the ancient Slavs, a god love passion, the son of the goddess of beauty and love Lada. About Lele - this cheerful, frivolous god of passion - the word “cherish”, that is, undead, love, still reminds.
Ovsen is Kolyada's younger twin brother. He got the role of putting into practice the divine knowledge that Kolyada taught people.
Perun is the god of thunderclouds, thunder and lightning, the most famous of the Svarozhich brothers. Perun is the patron of warriors and the princely squad, the god-governor, the god punishing for non-compliance with laws, the protector of Yavi, the giver of male power.
Rod is the creator god of the visible world. All, born by Rod, still bears his name: nature, homeland, parents, relatives. Rod gave birth to Svarog - the great god who completed the creation of the world.
Svarog is the creator god of earth and heaven. Svarog is the source of fire and its master. He creates not with a word, not with magic, unlike Veles, but with his hands, he creates material world. He gave people the Sun-Ra and fire. Svarog threw a plow and a yoke from heaven to earth to cultivate the land; a battle ax to protect this land from enemies, and a bowl for preparing a sacred drink in it.
Svyatobor is the god of forests and forest lands. It predetermines the fate, life and fate of all the inhabitants of the forest, ensuring harmony and concord in nature.
Svyatovit is a deity identical to Svarog among the Western Slavs.
Semargl is the god of fire and the moon, fire sacrifices, home and hearth, the keeper of seeds and crops. Could turn into a sacred winged dog.
Stribog - in East Slavic mythology, the god of the wind. He can summon and tame a storm and can transform into his assistant, the mythical bird Stratim. In general, the wind was usually represented in the form of a gray-haired old man living at the end of the world, in a deep forest or on an island in the middle of the sea-ocean.
Triglav - in ancient Slavic mythology, this is the unity of the three main essences-hypostases of the gods: Svarog (creation), Perun (the law of Rule) and Svyatovit (light). Among the Aryans, the idea of a triune deity was embodied in Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva).
Khors - the ancient Slavic god of the Sun - the luminaries, the son of Rod, the brother of Veles.
Chernobog - the god of cold, destruction, death, evil; the god of madness and the embodiment of everything bad and black. Chernobog is the lord of Navi, Darkness and the Pekelny kingdom.
Yarilo - the god of spring, spring light and warmth; young, impetuous and uncontrollable force; deity of passion and fertility. Symbol of the holiday of the rebirth of life.
Great goddesses of the ancient Slavs
Bereginya is the great ancient Slavic goddess who gave birth to all things. She is accompanied everywhere by radiant riders, personifying the sun. She was especially often addressed during the ripening of bread - this indicates that the goddess belongs to the supreme patrons of the human race.
Devana - in Slavic mythology, the goddess of hunting, the wife of the god of the forests Svyatobor. The ancient Slavs represented Devana in the guise of a beauty dressed in a rich marten fur coat trimmed with a squirrel; with drawn bow and arrows.
Share and Nedolya - in Slavic mythology, the goddess of fate and good luck. In decorative ornaments, even on Orthodox churches depicted two women in labor - a happy Share and a dashing Nedol (Church of the Savior on Ilyin, Velikiy Novgorod and etc.)
Alive - in Slavic mythology, the personification of fruitful strength, youth, the beauty of nature and man. Presumably is the mother of Perun, Bodan and Peklenets (patron of the hellish flame).
Lada is the Slavic goddess of love and beauty. The ancient Slavs called the name Lada not only the original goddess of love, but the whole system of life - fret. Information has been preserved that in pre-Christian times in the lower part of Kyiv, on Podil, there was a majestic temple of Lada.
Lelya is the goddess of spring, the daughter of the goddess of beauty, love and fertility, Lada. According to myths, it was inextricably linked with the spring revival of nature, the beginning of field work. The goddess was imagined as a young, beautiful and slender girl.
Makosh - Great Mother, goddess of fate and fertility. The goddess of magic and sorcery, the wife of Veles, in this lower incarnation is the famous Yaga. Mistress of wildlife, protector and patroness of women.
Morana is a powerful and formidable deity, the goddess of winter and death, the wife of Koshchei and the daughter of Lada, the sister of Zhiva and Lely. Morana among the Slavs in ancient times was considered the embodiment of unclean forces. Her symbols are the black moon, piles of broken skulls, and a sickle.
Syra Zemlya has been an important deity in Slavic mythology since ancient times. The earth was presented to the imagination of the pagan Slavs, who deified nature, as a living divine and at the same time human-like being.
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