Most Recent Additions & Updates:
Added: Triglav 11/30/09
Update: Jarilo 11/27/09
Update: Mokosh 10/16/09
The Young Lord - from "jaru" - young, ardent, springtime, bright, rash. He is a beautiful, barefoot youth wearing a long white robe. His head is crowned with a wreath of flowers and he rides a white horse. He is seen holding a bunch of wheat ears in his left hand and a skull in his right. He is believed to have been a major God of fertility, war, passion, harvest, and Spring. It is believed he was sacrificed yearly on Kupalo and in Serbia and Croatia, the scarecrow burned at this time is called a Jarilo.
He is probably the same God as Dzarowit/Gerovit.
In Byelorus, on the 24th of June, the young girls of a village choose one of their own to represent Jarilo; they dress her as a boy with a white cloak, crown of flowers, barefoot with a bunch of wheat in her left hand. They then place "him" on a white horse, and if it is good weather they lead him out into the fields, across the plowed land. Then, in the presence of the elders, his companions stand around him, also wearing flowery crowns, singing a song in his honor:
"He goes everywhere, Jarilo,
All over the world,
Making the wheat to sprout in the fields,
Multiplying the children of men,
And wherever he places his feet,
There is wheat by the stack,
And wherever his eye rests,
The shoots grow strong and green."
Georges Dumezil, "From Myth to Ritual: The Saga of Hadingus"
God of thunder from "per, perk or perg" - to strike. He is described as a rugged man with a copper beard. He rides in a chariot pulled by a he-goat and carries a mighty axe, or strely, sometimes a hammer. This axe is hurled at evil people and spirits and will always return to his hand., and of oak. The word strela can mean either axe or arrow, i.e. bolt and strela are hung on hourses to protect them from storms, restore milk to cows, ease labor and grant good luck to newborns and newlyweds.
His lighting bolts are believed to pass through the earth to a certain depth and return gradually to the surface in a specific period of time - usually 7 yrs 40days. People, rocks and trees struck by lightening are considered to be sacred for the heavenly fire remains inside them. In 1652 a Lithuanian man was recorded to have eaten the ashes of a leather saddle burned by lightening. He believed his action would save him from illness and give him both oracular powers and the ability to conjure fire.
All big trees were sacred to Perun, but he especially loved the oak. There are records of oaks being fenced in as sacred to him. Sacrifices to him usually consisted of a rooster, but on special occasions, bear, bull or he-goat might be killed. The sacrificed animal was then communally eaten as it was seen to be imbued with the power of its patron God. Eating the god's animal to absorb the god's essence is similar to and predates the ritual of Holy Communion.
Perun's arch enemy was the zaltys, a great serpent curled at the base of the world tree. Somehow, this also put him on Veles' blacklist and worship of these two gods had to be kept separate.
Temples to Perun tended to be octagonal and on high ground. An idol of him set outside the castle of Vladmir was said to have a silver head and gold moustache - in some accounts, gold mouth. When Vladmir tore down the idol, it was tied to a horses tail and dragged to the Dnieper. Amid much weeping it was then tossed in as men with poles made sure that he was not washed ashore or pulled out. It eventually floated down river and was blown onto a sandbank still known as Perun's bank. Perun's holy day is Thursday, his feast day is the 20th of July or 2nd of August. He was Christianized as St. Ilya.
Svarog
"Among the multiform Divine Powers to whom they ascribe fields, forests, sorrows and joys, they do not deny that one God rules over the others in heaven and that he, pre-eminent in might, cares only for things celestia; whereas the rest, obeying the duties assigned them, have sprung from his blood and enjoy distinction in proportion to their nearness to that God of Gods."
- Helmold
Although this God is not named, it is assumed by most that this God is Svarog.
In the old chronicles, Svarog is identified with Hephaestos, as he was also a Smith God and is credited with creating the law that marriage is between one man and one woman. In the "Book of Veles" Svarog strikes the alatir with his hammer and the sparks create the spirits of light.
World of the Spirits or
Magic permeated every aspect of our ancestor's lives. The fields, forests, barn, bath and hearth were all ruled by spectral beings, sometimes good, sometimes horrible. Each flame and river was a goddess or god, each flower and stone a sentient being. The spirits of the dead too, filled the Slavic world. Life-draining wampyr, trees housing the souls of the departed, fairy-folk and ancestral spirits were an integral part of life, demanding respect and often, sacrifice. The Pagan Slav spent his entire existence tightly wrapped in a dark cloak of magic, mystery, and sometimes, terror. The spirits, after all, are always watching.
This page is a doorway to those ancient times. Do you really wish to pass through?:
Added Poludnica 9/12/09
Updated Vodonoi and Leshiy 9/6/09
Updated Bannik 9/5/09
