#Svarožic

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

So interesting how as a croatian I grew up hearing about Svarožić due to a childrens books author, then grew up believing he was an actual slavic deity that everyone knew about. Only now to see that there's only one actual source about him :/

Oh well, in my heart he is as big as Perun

Actually Svarožic is an exceptionally well attested Slavic god! There is only one mention of Svarog.

And Svarožic was very big! His cult center in Radogošč (Redigast) was very famous and very well respected among the Polabians. It was the political and religious center for the Lutician federation! Slavs from other tribes would go on pilgrimages to Radogošč temple to consult the oracle and leave offerings. According to Adam of Bremen because of how ancient the town was and how famous the temple was the Redarii began to view themselves as particularly important among Slavic peoples and wanted to rule supreme among them.

Adam of Bremen, Helmold and Thietmar mention Svarožic being „most important among the gods in the temple” and Thietmar calls him „especially worshipped by all pagans”. And clearly he was also well known among the Eastern Slavs because we have a bunch of different sermons in East Old Church Slavonic raging against people that make sacrifices to him!

[ratoch]

Old slavic myth says: First people were giants, they were looking at the world like wild animals until god Svarožic came and breathe a piece of eternity in their forehead. - První lidé byli hlinění obři, pozorovali svět tupýma očima, až přišel bůh Svarožic a vdechnul jim do čela duši (kousek věčnosti). Čelo-věk : člověk. Báje a mýty starých Slovanů. - #myth #clay #giant #first #people #wild #soul #man #human #vector #lineart

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

Would you consider Svarog to be a phantom deity ? I think there is only one source that mentions him ( correct me if I’m wrong) and I’ve heard people say that he was created as a Slavic version of the Greek god Hephaestus. I don’t have any source for this but it is something I’ve heard some people say.

Hello!

That’s right, there’s only one source that mentions Svarog. However he wasn’t necessarily created as a Slavic version of Hephaestus, the story is a little more complicated than that.

In the entry for year 1114 of the Tale of Bygone Years the author includes a translated fragment of a Byzantine chronicle with a glossa that equates Hephaestus to Svarog and Helios to Daždbog. The Byzantine chronicle in question was originally writen in Greek by John Malalas, who was in turn drawing heavily from 3rd century BC „Egyptian History” by Manetho. In Malalas’ text names of Egyptian deities were replaced by the Greek gods viewed as their counterparts, so Ptah became Hephaestus and Ra became Helios. It’s believed that the glossa adjusted the names one more time, in the same fashion, so that they resonate with local readers. And thus we came to view Svarog as the god of fire and smithing similar to Hephaestus and Daždbog as the god of the sun akin to Helios.

We don’t actually know if the glossa was contributed by the translator of the Byzantine text into Slavonic (who was most likely Bulgarian according to Gieysztor) or by the author of the Tale of Bygone Years. So we don’t know in what year or in which region it was created either and we can’t say much about how familiar the writer was with pagan customs of Rus. It’s very likely that the author was a Christian monk.

Dažbog appears in the Tale of Bygone Years a few more times, most notably in an earlier entry for year 980 where he is mentioned as part of kniaz’ Volodymyr’s state pantheon of pagan gods.

„And Vladimir began to reign alone in Kiev. And he placed idols on the hill outside the palace: a Perun in wood with a silver head and a gold moustache, and Khors and Daždbog and Stribog and Simargl and Mokoš. And they offered sacrifices and called them gods, and they took their sons and daughters to them and sacrificed them to the devils. And they profaned the earth with their sacrifices, and Rus’ and that hill were profaned by blood. But God the merciful, who does not wish the death of sinners, on that hill stands today the church of Saint Vasilij, as we will relate later.”

„Then, during the reign of Oleg, son of the Unfortunate, the seed of discord was sown and flourished, the life of the son of Dažbog was extinguished, amid the internal struggles of the princes, curtailing their future generations.”

„The troops of the son of Dažbog were overcome with sorrow, humiliation entered the lands of Trojan”

- Tale of Bygone Years via Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion, red. J. A. Álaverez-Pedrosa

He is also mentioned in passing in „Sermon by the Holy Father Saint John Chrysostom”.

*The varied spelling of his name as either „Daždbog” or „Dažbog” I lifted directly from the „Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion” that I’m relying on for both the original text of the sources and their English translations.

Svarog does not appear again in any of the writings we know of — but Svarožic does. Svarožic is one of the best attested Slavic deities and the only one found in primary sources from more than one group of Slavs — we found mentions of him in both the primary sources about Polabian Slavs and in the homiletic works of Kyivan Rus.

To the best of my knowledge he is mentioned in:

Letter to Emperor Henry II from Bruno of Querfurt,

The Chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg,

„Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church” by Adam of Bremen (where he appears as Redigast, though the description of him and the town where he is worshipped matches the one by Thietmar, leading some slavists to view the name as an error and others as an epithet derived from the main place of worship),

„Sermon by Saint Gregory, Found in the Comments, on How the Ancient Nations, When Pagan, Worshipped Idols and Offered Sacrifices to Them, and Continue to Do So Now”,

„Sermon by the Holy Father Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on How the First Pagans Believed in Idols”,

„Sermon by One Who Loves Christ and Is a Jealous Defender of the Righteous Faith”.

The name Svarožic is usually interpreted in one of two ways:

- as a patronymic meaning „the son of Svarog”, - as a diminutive meaning „Little Svarog”.

Feel free to come to your own conclusions.

Now as to what I personally think about Svarog (please keep in mind that I have no formal education in slavic studies, and that my opinions may change in the future as a result of my personal research), well in my own practice I currently view him and Svarožic as the same deity, to which I refer as Svarožic. I decided to do so because this form is much better attested. Additionally I subscribe to the theory that the name Svarožic may have been used as a diminutive to avoid a taboo on pronouncing the true name of the deity. Although in my best hypocritical fashion I do not refer in diminutives to Perun about whom similar theories were put forward. In general the name taboos in Slavic culture are a very broad and fascinating subject that I couldn’t possibly summarize in here. To finish off I will note that there are many slavists who believe Svarožic to be the son of Svarog and also many who believe them to be one — so we are given a chance to make up our own minds and follow whatever the hell feels right to us personally.

Sources: Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion, red. J. A. Álaverez-Pedrosa, Mitologia Słowian by Aleksander Gieysztor, Dawni Słowianie - wiara i kult by Stanisław Urbańczyk, Slavic Gods and Heroes by Kalik and Uchitel.

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

I found out that my ancestors originated in what is now the Czech Republic. Is the pagan mythology in that part of Europe any different from the Slavic mythology in Eastern Europe? Thank you.

I’d say that yes, it is different, while at the same time remaining fairly familiar. Allow me to elaborate.

Slavs were never a unified civilization — and similarly Slavic paganism was never unified on a larger scale, with no single unviersal pantheon, no central authority, no universally applicable religious rules and, most likely, no universal moral code.

Every tribe had their own pantheon of gods, spirits and ancestors worshipped, as well as their own religious ceremonies and laws. At the same time though, you can find a lot of similar motifs, practices and mythological narratives across different regions. Obviously the further away two tribes lived the greater were the differences in their traditions and beliefs — just look at the differences between the known Rani pantheon from Rugen Island and Kyivan pantheon of knyaz Volodymyr. On the other hand both Polabians and Kyivans seem to have worshipped fire under roughly the same name, Svarožic!

If a religious center of one of the tribes rose in prominence it was likely to be regarded with respect and receive offerings from neighboring tribes, and sometimes even non-Slavic peoples living in the vicinity (examples could be the temple of Svarožic in Riedegost or temple of Sventovit in Jaromarsburg).

Tldr: It’s best to try researching mythology and pre-Christian traditions of your specific region first, rather than just assume that they’re going to be identical everywhere. Still, there are certainly many similarities, and they come in very useful when modern pagans attempt to reconstruct some kind of consistant religious practice from the scarce and fragmentary information available to us.

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

Hello, I was wondering what deities and traditions would be considered Eastern Slavic ? All the info I’ve found thus far have sort of grouped everything together and I’m having a hard time differentiating. Any sources you could point me towards ? Many thanks !

To put things very simply Eastern Slavic deities and traditions would be those hailing from the territories of present-day Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (unless they originate from non-Slavic inhabitants of those places). The traditions, as you may expect, are far too many and too varied to list here. There are also quite many different deities and spirits to look into, and listing them in a an exhaustive way that avoids misinformation is not an easy task. There are endless disclaimers to be made about academic theories and disagreements, speculated universality of some entities, differences between a personificantion of a concept and a deity etc. Overall I would suggest starting by looking into the deities from the pantheon of Prince Vladimir (the Kyivan Pantheon) + Veles, + Rod and Rozhanice, + Svarožic, + perhaps Yarilo.

I will link some of my earlier posts in which I describe things to keep in mind when diving in and cite more sources.

An ask about worshipping Slavic gods from different regions and starting advice

An ask about spring deities and Russian deities

An ask about the supreme deity of the pantheon

An ask about Kupalo & Kostroma and Yarilo & Morana 

Some sources:

The gods of Ancient Slavs by Myroslava Znayenko, very helpful, very free, grouped by region, get your basics right,

Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion by Juan Antonio Àlvarez-Pedrosa: this brilliant (and quite recent) creation compiles all known medieval sources on pre-christian slavic religion, segregated by language — a deeper dive,

The mythology of all races volume III - celtic, slavic by Jan Máchal — get some more basics, 

Russian folk belief by Linda Ivanits — a look into Eastern traditions, get an idea about the way Eastern Slavic folklore developped alongside Orthodox Christianity and the way deities and Saints got syncretized,

Journal Studia Mythologica Slavica — start going more in-depth, welcome to the world of academic theories.

You can find more things to read on this list or on researchgate, academia.edu, Jstor and in archives of academic journals published online.

I wish you best of luck!

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

About Mokosh

Today I present you my amateur translation of fragments of „Mitologia Słowian” by Aleksander Gieysztor and „Religia Słowian” by Andrzej Szyjewski. My own comments will be indicated by a „trans. note” disclaimer. I accept constructive suggestions for improving the translation.

Intro:

“And Vladimir began to reign alone in Kiev. And he placed idols on the hill outside the palace: a Perun in wood with a silver head and a gold moustache, and Khors and Daždbog and Stribog and Simargl and Mokoš. And they offered sacrifices and called them gods, and they took their sons and daughters to them and sacrificed them to the devils. And they profaned the earth with their sacrifices, and Rus’ and that hill were profaned by blood.”

- Tale of Bygone Years

“Men who have forgotten the fear of God from neglect by renouncing baptism, approach idols and start to make sacrifices to the thunder and lightning, the sun and moon, and others, to Perun, Khors, the Vily and Mokoš, to vampires and the Beregyni, whom they call three times nine sisters. And others believe in Svarožic and Artemid, to whom ignorant men pray. They sacrifice cockerels to them.”

- Sermon by the Holy Father Saint John Chrysostom

Mitologia Słowian by Aleksander Gieysztor Chapter 9, subchapter „Mokosz”

Some seek to explain the name „Mokosh” through association with an Ugro-Finnic tribe, and an Ugro-Finnic demon, both called Moksha, though I tend to believe they may have picked her name up from the Slavs.

Two other possible etymologies originate from ancient Indian language and beliefs: „makha” meaning ”rich””noble””august” and „meksha” although that one is masculine, signifying „darkness”, „death”, „release” (and oddly also plant sap).

And then of course very appealing is the strictly Slavic etymology of „mok-“, polish „moczyć”, „mokry” - to wet, to be wet - with a bit of a sexual undertone as well (to which conclusion I am led also by other evidence). There is quite a lot of toponomastic evidence for the importance of Mokosh among the Eastern Slavs: the settlement Mokoš near Pskov (as early as 1585), Mokszany, Moksza, Moksze, Mokszy Błoto, Mokuszów. This evidence is much meagerer among Western Slavs: Mokošin in Czech Republic.

In northern russian folklore Mokosha-Mokusha is a female figure with giant head and long hands, shearer of sheep, weaver of flax. „In time of lent she walks from house to house, disturbing the weaving women. She also guards the sheep, which she shears herself, and for her they put away strands of wool, leaving them at night next to the shearing scissors”. Sources from Rus’ other from Tale of Bygone Years list her among demons and vilas. One mention implies some connection to sexual transgressions, to onanism. A weak trace of her can pehaps be found in Czech Republic, in a persona appearing on 13th December, St. Lucy’s Day. She is accordingly nicknamed Luca or Lucke, dressed in white, carrying a distaff and scissors; she scares children, visits spinning women and either praises them or beats them with a huge wooden ladle.

Most scholars assumes great proximity between Mokosh and the earth, called in Old East Slavic „mat’ syraya zemlya”, a figure very deeply rooted in russian folklore. Untill very recently some people would still confess their sins to the earth rather than to a preacher, a tradition which the Church strongly fought.

For this understanding of Mokosh we find a beautiful Iranian analogy. She would be Aredwi Sura Anahita „Moist Bright Untouchable”, female divinity of the waters flowing through the earth, protectress of children, fertility and sheep breeding. The vision of earth as a Mother is one of her oldest religious depictions, but it doesn’t hold the same degree of importance among all indo-europeans peoples. Other cults may outshine her, push her to the edges of religious consciousness, as it happened with Greek Gaia. Paired with the skies, earth is depicted as passive, even in cosmogonic myths that present it participating in creation or birthing of the world. Etnographers and specialists in the field of religious studies identified three very distinct and long lasting rituals stemming from those ancient beliefs:

Laying a newborn child on the bare ground for a while,

Laying the sick and the dying on bare ground,

Burying the body a deceased rather than burning it.

Those are also well known to Slavic folklore. However they didn’t seem to stimulate mythological imagination. More inspiring was the personalization of fertile earth as a fertile woman, encountered in agricultural societies. Plowing of the fields was seen as a symbolic sexual act performed with the earth.

According to Kazimierz Moszyński the most beautiful manifestation of this belief can be found in a Polish myth from Polesie, where it was believed that „the Earth is pregnant in the spring and so it’s a grave sin to strike her. She gives birth and the grain sprouts, flowers boom, grass starts growing”. From there stem numerous folkloric prohibitions: until 25th of march or 7th of april (day of Annunciation) one cannot plow, drive demarkation poles into the ground or put up fences. Children are warned against hitting the earth with sticks, pulling out grass or any similar actions. Tripping and falling to the ground results in a respectful plea for forgivness, same goes for spitting on the earth. We can see the reverence shown to what is perceived as greater powers.

If calling the Earth „mother” has been best preserved in Russia, calling her a „Saint” is universal for all Slavs. Oftentimes she was also called „rich”. Her religious significance shows in the act of swearing „on the earth” and cursing „on the earth” (or while holding a nugget of dirt in your hands), in ritual kissing of the plowed ground. Traces of sacrifices for the earth can be found: burying of breads, eggs, hens, leftovers of foods that have been blessed in church. Other folkloric practices meant to provide the fertility of earth include having intercourse on bare ground or rolling an egg on it. Chthonic aspects of the earth were also known. One of the folk tales written down by Oskar Kolberg in Lesser Poland speaks of God’s injunction for the earth: „You will birth people and you will devour them; whatever you will birth you will also consume, for it belongs to you”. Once we pass away we are all returned to the earth.

Andrzej Szyjewski Chapter 5: The lost gods Subchapter: In search for the divine feminine

In search for a central, feminine divinty we turn to the Eastern Slavic pantheon, to Mokosh. We know from North-Russian folklore that she rules over the feminine sphere of life: shearing of sheep, spinning of flax, sexual activity. Her name could originate from a stem „mok-” signifying moisture, wetness, athough among the scholars there are strong tendedncies for associate her with a finnish tribe called Moksha or Moksh.

It seems that, just like iranian Anahita, Mokosh is associated with the idea of fertile wetness, she is likely an ancient female deity, a hypostasis of Mother Wet Earth ( Mat’ Syra Zemlya), the spouse of supreme heavenly god. There may also be a connection to sanscrit „makha” means rich or august - and that same root was used to create the word „magic”: Iranian „maghti” and later Greek „mageia”, all the way to Slavic „magia” and „moc” (moc=might).

Russian scholars Ivanov and Toporov would see in Mokosh the punished wife of supreme thunder god, penalized for her infidelity by being expelled from heaven and sent to earth. In moscovian slang „mokosia” means „a woman of easy virtue”.

Uspienski claims that over time the images of St. Paraskeva and St. Anastasia have been layered over the ancient image of this goddess. As a chthonic deity Mokosh-Paraskeva is an adversary of the Thunderer. Friday, the day sacred to Paraskeva (Paraskeva means Friday) finds other Indo-European counterparts, it is for example the sacred day of Freya. There are many folkloric prohibitions conected with that day: you are not allowed to plow and spin yarn on Fridays lest you throw soil into the eyes of mother Piątnica (trans. note: „She-Friday”) or stab her with a spindle (obvious sexual conntations). Those who do not follow the prohibtions are punished with blindness sent by the goddess. There is a recorded tradition from Bryansk Oblast that on a „chosen holy day” a women without a headdress, addressed as „Piątnica” is being marched around the church in a procession. People give her praise and offer gifts to her „hoping to benefit from it later”.

Almost untill the end of XX century Mokosh features in Russian stories as a woman with long free-flowing hair (trans. note: wearing a headdress was the norm at the time), with giant head and long hands, walking into the houses at night to spin yarn on abandoned distaff.

I would say its more risky to associate Mokosh with fate - other Indo-European deities with that function seem to appear in triple form which corresponds more with Slavic Rozanitse.

Art 1: Mokosh by Vladislav Dzalb

Art 2: Spinning Mary by Piotr Stachiewicz

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

Rod and Rozhanitsy

I figured since I already spent 40 minutes gathering quotes for an ask related to Rod I might as well post them too!

The order is basically as they appear in “Sources of Pre-Christian Slavic Religion” by J.A. Álvarez-Pedrosa because I was too tired to do anything about it. If I missed one forgive me as well. Or better yet DM me about it so that I can update the post! Please do enjoy:

"If anyone offers the second table to Rod and the Roženicy with the troper of the Holy Mother of God, and he eats and drinks, let him be accursed."

- Commandments of the Holy Fathers to the Sons and Daughters Who Confess

"From Cyricus 33. If they offer bread, and cheese and honey to Rod and to Roždenica? It is strictly forbidden, he said, to pray anywhere. Unfortunate are they who drink for the Roždenicy!"

- Questions of Cyricus, Sava and Ilya to Bishop Niphont of Novgorod

"To those gods the Slavic people makes offerings too, and to Vily, and Mokoš, Div, Perun, Khors, Rod and Rožanicy, to the vampires and to the Bere- gyni, and to Pereplut, for whom they drink in horns while pouring around. And they pray to the fire Svarožic. And they prepare a bath for the souls of the dead. And with bread dough they make bridges and wells, and many other things of the like kind.”

”The Chaldeans learned from them and started to make great offerings to Rod and the Roženicy. During the birth of the accursed god Osiris, Saracen books tell that, this same Osiris, practiced indecent and shameful conduct. It is because of this that the Saracens wash their anuses, also the Bulgarians and Turkmen people of the hills. From this, the Greeks learnt to take offerings to Artemid and Artemis, whom the Egyptians called Rod and Roženica. Thus it also came to the Slavic peoples. These Slavs started making offerings to Rod and the Rožanicy before Perun, their god, and before then to the vampires and Beregyni. Following holy baptism, they rejected Perun, but even after accepting Christ, in the border areas they still pray to the accursed Perun, and to Khors, and Mokoš and Vil. And they do it secretly, unable to give up the accursed consecration of the second table dedicated to Rod and the Rožanicy, (to) greatly deceive faithful Christians, to blaspheme holy baptism and to the wrath of God.”

- Sermon by Saint Gregory, Found in the Comments, on How the Ancient Nations, When Pagan, Worshipped Idols and Offered Sacrifices to Them, and Continue to Do So Now

"Therefore, Christians must not hold demonic festivities, meaning dancing, music and profane songs, and offerings to the idols, who with fire under the fields of sheaves pray to the Vily, to Mokoš, and Sim and Rgl, to Perun, Rod, the Rožanicy and all the like."

"And not only do we simply do evil, but we even mix certain pure prayers with the execrable supplications to idols, those who also lay the table for the kut’ja and rightful food, which is called a false table when dedicated to Rod and the Rožanicy, to the wrath of God."

- Sermon by One Who Loves Christ and Is a Jealous Defender of the Righteous Faith

”God says: My chosen ones will inherit my holy mountain. These are the ones who serve God and do his bidding, and not serve Rod or the Roženicy or empty idols. These are the servants of God, who bring victims to the blessed God living in the meekness of their heart with the discernment of the Church’s good teachings.

And they will be in a meadow with flocks of sheep. The meadow is called Paradise and the flock, the places in Paradise, and the sheep are people who believe, and work for God and not the Roženicy. And the valley of Achor, a pasture for cattle. Here, the valley of Achor is a pasture in high Jerusalem, and the cows are bishops and ordinary priests who follow ecclesiastical teachings and preach better than others.

But for you who abandoned me and forgot my holy mountain and prepared a table for Rod and the Roženicy, you filled cups for the demons, I send you to take arms and you will all die in the slaughter. This slaughter is death and the arms are eternal punishments. Because I called to you and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen to me, you did what displeases me and chose what is not acceptable to me.

For this reason, God spoke thus: “Here my servants will eat and you will be thirsty. [Eat your fill from the table you set for the Rožanicy], drink the drink, you who fill the cups for the demons. And those who serve me will be joyful and you will be ashamed, they will be singing their joy with happiness in their heart. And you, who serve the demons and worship idols and set the table for Rod and the Roženicy will groan from the pain in your heart, and this will come to pass, not here, but in another time, for you left your solace and rest in the future life to my chosen servants, and for you the Lord God will make you die, but my servants will be rewarded, singing to the true God, and you sing a a demonic song to the idol Rod and the Roženicy, and not knowing the scriptures leads to great destruction and it is a great evil not to understand what is read and a great evil not to listen to those who have a better understanding than you or, even if they are understood, God’s will is not fulfilled according to the written law. And, brothers, you spurn what you have heard for that empty creature and to serve Satan and to set the table for the idols, Rod and the Roženicy. Brothers, obey the will of God, as taught in the books of the prophets and apostles and fathers, and receive pardon for your sins and we will receive eternal life in Jesus Christ Our Lord”.”

- Sermon by the Prophet Isaiah, Commented by Saint John Chrysostom, on Those Who Set a Second Table for Rod and the Roženicy