Transcription
In this video, we discuss the religious beliefs and ritual practices of the East Slavs, also known as Slavic paganism. Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. Present-day Slavs are classified into three groups: East Slavs, West Slavs, and South Slavs. Here, we discuss specifically the religion of the East Slavs before Christianization. Mainly, they are Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, and Rusyns. And when I say Russians and Ukrainians, I do not mean the whole territory of modern Russia and Ukraine, but only Slavic people that lived in the 6th-10th Century on this piece of land.
In a separate video, I'll discuss the process of Christianization of these people and territories and so-called "dvoeverie" that translates as "double faith" or "full Christianity," which is syncretism of Christianity and pagan religious traditions and practices that could be observed even today.
Actually, very little is known about Slavic mythology or, in general, about the elements of the Slavic indigenous religion in the pre-Christian era. The Slavs didn't know writing and did not leave much information about themselves. In the Early Middle Ages, the religion and material culture of the Slavs were described by Byzantine and Arab writers, but most sources of information known to us today came through the scope of later Christian writings that, for obvious reasons, cannot be viewed as unbiased.
The process of Christianization, as we'll learn from the other video, wasn't that simple. It took centuries since many people resisted Christianity. Another obstacle scholars face is that the places of worship and sacrifice, statues of gods, and other attributes were made out of wood. Thus, excavations and the attempt to understand the religion of Slavs through art or material culture isn't that simple. Plus, most of the pagan sanctuaries were destroyed during the forceful Christianization of the Slavs.
Eastern Slavs worshiped their gods in "kapishche" or pagan temples. That indeed were not temples as we understand it today. It wasn't a building but an open-air place of gathering. Thus, we can even say that Slavs didn't know temples. Usually, "kapishche" was located away from houses, on hills, river banks, or forest groves. So, the priest held services and sacrifices in the open air, surrounded by wooden and, less often, stone idols of the gods. And because the fortifications intended for religious purposes contained wooden structures, including a cell for the statue of God, also made of wood and sometimes covered in metal, they did not survive.
These representations, all anthropomorphic, very often had excessive bodily parts: seven arms or three or five heads, and so on. For example, one of the best-known artifacts is the Svarog Idol that was found on the territory of modern Ukraine and is currently located at the Krakow Archaeological Museum in Poland. It is a 9th-century sculpture. Scholars believe that presumably, the three tiers of the pillar represent the three levels of the world. The upper part of the idol is decorated with four Slavic deities. The middle tier depicts people, the inhabitants of the Earthly world, and at the very bottom, the creatures of the underworld.
It helps us to understand the picture of the world of early medieval Slavs. Based on ethnographic sources, we know that Slavs bow to the soil before plowing it. It was disrespectful to kick the soil. Also, it was forbidden to spit in a fire or trample it with your feet. And people must not use obscene language near the water because you won't be able to catch enough fish this way. We can see how Slavs treated everything around them as living beings. Slavs were also known for their animal and even human sacrifice to their gods or to a lake or river.
But before we discuss various spirits such as Leshy, Domovoy, and Vodyanoy, or cosmology and other practices of East Slavs, let us consider some gods they worshiped. And here, I'd like to remind you that religious beliefs always keep changing and adapting to new realities. When we discuss some ritual or the attributes of some god, please remember that it is not set in stone. Depending on time and space, it could be viewed differently.
There was an evolution of Slavic beliefs from animism through the cult of natural forces to perhaps henotheism. Similarly to other Indo-European mythologies, Slavic mythology also developed in few stages until its evolution was stopped by Christianity. If not Christianity, possibly Slavic paganism could turn into a more developed mythology, similar to those found in Greek or Germanic traditions, when gods become even more like human beings who marry and have children. And not only from gods, Slavic mythology could also have people, demigod heroes, and gods that are concerned with human issues and emotions in a more sophisticated way. But we don't find any proof of this among scholars today.
There are arguments about some deities, for example, the god Chernobog, whose cult was almost completely forgotten over time, or mysterious Svarog, a deity that possibly was borrowed from the Iranian Simurgh, or the god Radegast, whether it was an actual god or just a spirit of fire, we don't know. Also, scholars are divided over the possible origins of certain concepts and divine beings. For instance, how much the Slavic culture was influenced by Iranian mythology.
But what we do know is that one of the most popular and important deities was Perun, the god of thunder. Of all historic records describing Slavic gods, those mentioning Perun are the most numerous. Ma'aradh mentions that all Slavic tribes had Perun in their pantheons back in the 6th Century. The Byzantine writer Procopius of Caesarea wrote about the Slavs: "They acknowledge one God, creator of lightning, is the only Lord of all. To him do they sacrifice an ox and all sacrificial animals." The Primary Chronicle relates that Prince Oleg of Novgorod in 907 made a peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire and, by taking his men to the shrines and swearing by their weapons and by their god Perun and by Volos, the god of cattle, they confirmed the treaty. We find the same form of confirmation of the peace treaty by Prince Igor in 945. Also, in 980, when Prince Vladimir the Great came to the throne of Kyiv, he erected statues of five pagan gods in front of his palace, which he soon thereafter discarded after his Christianization in 988. Perun was chief among these five gods, represented with a silver head and a golden mustache.
Shrines of Perun were located either on top of mountains or hills or in sacred groves underneath ancient oaks. These were general places of worship and sacrifice. Perun was described as a deity armed with an ax and a bow with arrows. Traditionally, he's considered the god of war, but this is only partially true. The common people also relied on his strength because Perun was in charge of the rain and could save them from the dry period.
As I've mentioned, when the treaty was signed, the prince and the squad swore by two gods: Perun and Volos, or Veles. Volos was a very popular god among his Slavs. He patronized cattle breeding and wealth. At the same time, since a person's wealth in ancient Rus was measured by the number of cattle they owned, Volos is sometimes compared to Greek Hermes. Some Slavs possibly believed that Volos could change shape into a dragon. In modern Russia, there is a city Volosovo, and on its flag, we can see this god. Perun and Volos more likely were seen as opponents. It seems as Perun primarily represented the military class, and Volos was considered the protector of the peasants.
Another important deity is Goddess Mokosh. She's the mother goddess, protector of women's work and women's destiny, that protects women in childbirth. Women honored the memory of Mokosh on Friday. On this day, they did not spin or wash. She was also considered a deity of agriculture and fertility. Mokosh may have originated among the northern Finno-Ugric people of the Vogu who worshiped the divinity Mokosh. In Eastern Europe, we see villages are named after this goddess.
Other gods of Slavic mythology are known a little less and were possibly honored only in some regions. They are Stribog and Dazhbog. By the way, in Slavic, "bog" means god. The winds were called the grandchildren of Stribog. He is often interpreted as a wind deity who distributes wealth, but we know very little about this god. It appears only in three sources. Dazhbog was most likely a solar deity and possibly a cultural hero. The Slavs worshiped the sun, as without the sun, there is no harvest. Many mythologists also believe Dazhbog to be identical with another East Slavic deity with possible solar attributes, Khors. Possibly, this god was imported from Iranian mythology due to the mixture of cultures. Boris Rybakov, for example, compared Khors and Dazhbog both to Helios and Apollo respectively, concluding that both of them were solar gods. But while Helios represented the sun itself, Dazhbog symbolized the life-giving power of the sun.
So, basically, those are the main known to us deities of the Eastern Slavic pantheon. But it is important to recognize that East Slavs seem to never have formed a single pantheon of gods with a strict hierarchy. We do not find indications that, for instance, Svarog or Mokosh are obeying Perun. What is seen, however, is that in different regions, the cults of some gods were more prominent than in other regions. For example, in Kyiv, the cult of Perun prevailed. In Novgorod, of Volos. Close to the Black Sea coast, people mostly worshiped Khors.
Ritual sacrifices were made to the gods in order to appease them and lure them to their side. Back then, the Slavs did not have a clear concept of good and evil. It was later brought by Christianity. Slavs revered this supreme power not for kindness or affection, but for strength and power. They respected the desire of gods to receive a sacrifice in exchange for help. Also, the pagan Slavs understood and accepted the fact that other gods inhabit other lands. The only question was whose god is stronger. Going to war on foreign lands, the leaders and warriors hoped that their god Perun would be more powerful than the gods of the people.
Procopius also describes how Slavic people worship the rivers, forests, demons, and other spirits to which they regularly sacrifice animals. Therefore, now I'd like to mention some other agents of Slavic folklore. Slavs believed in a tree spirit that enters buildings through the trunk. Every structure is thus inhabited by its particular spirit: the Domovoy in the house, the Aist in the drying house, the Goryn in the storehouse, and so on. Thus, each place had its spirits. For example, the sauna was inhabited by the Bannik, a bathhouse spirit, and people had to communicate with them because the Bannik is prone to burning down the threshing house by setting fire to the grain. To placate him, peasants would offer him roosters and blood. Even in the 19th and 20th centuries, some people in Russia and Ukraine performed such sacrifices. A chicken is sometimes slaughtered in the drying house as a sacrifice to the Aist.
Leshy was another deity, a forest spirit that regulates and assigns prey to hunters. Though in early times, the Leshy was the protector of wild animals, in later ages, it became the protector of flocks and herds. It could manifest in the form of animals such as bears and wolves. The field spirit is called Polevoy, and the water spirit Vodyanoy. The Vodyanoy is that every body of water, whether it be a river or a small pond, has an owner. Slavic fishermen sacrifice butter and water to appease him. In Slavic folklore, there are many tales about the Vodyanoy who drowns travelers when they were behaving disrespectfully. So, Slavs were very careful with water and also believed that rivers and lakes are inhabited by female spirits: Rusalka or Mafka in Ukrainian folklore and mythology. Mafka is a beautiful woman with long hair, often naked or half-naked, who may be dangerous to young men and could bring them to death by drawing them to deep water. Such spirits are considered to be the spirits of dead children or young women. They could climb trees and sing songs, comb their hair, or even join a Rusalki in circle dances in the field.
I'll stop here, but in future videos, I'll share more details about specific rituals, holidays, and traditions of the East Slavs, many of which survived even after Christianization and became a part of Eastern European culture. Thank you for watching to the end. Please consider pressing the like button and the bell button to be notified of new videos.