The most interesting of the cultural treasury of civilizations is myths. All countries and peoples had their own legends about the power of the gods, about the courage of heroes, about the power of rulers. Ancient Russia is no exception. Her myths speak of twenty thousand years during which she perished and was reborn. Our time is the moment of the revival of long-departed faith, and it began from the publication of books about ancient Slavic traditions.
Russian Vedas, Book of Veles
In these books - a reminder of the ancestral home. These are the lands that gave birth to one or another Russian clan. And also it says about their ancestors. Judging by the contents of the book “Russian Vedas”, the sacred Belovodye, the Russian North, is considered one of the most ancient lands of the Slavs.
From here, our ancestors, led by the god of the Sun and Prince Yar, moved first to the Urals, then to the steppes of Semirechye. And finally they mastered Iran and India. There are already Aryan, that is Indo-Iranian, clans singled out the actual Slavs, those who praised the ancestors and gods.
Other sources
It so happened that the originals of the Slavic texts did not reach us. The integrity of paganism was almost completely destroyed when not only myths, but traditions themselves were eradicated by Christianity.
The whole picture of the mystical representations that Ancient Russia had (myths, epics, legends) can be composed or reconstructed only using secondary material and written sources. Of the most important are the medieval chronicles of observers (Germanic and Latinic) and books preserved from Czech and Polish tribes. Also interesting are the works of Byzantine authors, Arabic and European.
Folklore
Oddly enough, but much of the information about beliefs and beliefs practiced by Ancient Russia, its myths in the most simplified and often deliberately perverted state can be gleaned from the teachings of the persecutors of paganism - Christian missionaries. It speaks of the deceitfulness of certain rites, where the actions of the Gentiles are commented in detail. The lower mythology can still be obtained from folklore: various spirits, witches, mermaids, kikimors and immortal immigrants come from beliefs, fairy tales, rites, conspiracies.
These are later myths, when deities, even remotely similar to humans, began to replace the elements and animals. Like, for example, a goblin. In fact, at first he was considered kind, helping to find a way in the forest, and only those who behaved incorrectly in his possessions could do much harm. Such a person could get lost and even die. After the advent of Christianity, goblin became uniquely evil characters.
Fertility is impossible without water, and for a good harvest the ancient people needed coastlines that shed dew on the fields. Half the bird, half the girl, the mistress of all the wells and ponds, first flew from heaven, and then “grew” the fish tail and became mermaids. In Christian teachings, they are also negative characters.
Archeology
Archeology provides some information: in the places of ritual prayers, many treasures with male and female jewelry were found, where pagan symbolism is present. The surviving remains of ancient beliefs among neighboring peoples also help. And of course, most of our knowledge is associated with epic tales, for example, epics, which Ancient Russia is famous for. Her myths did not die, they are simply forgotten.
Beliefs
The beliefs of the Slavic tribes are characterized by double peace, animism and totemism. The worlds were, in their view, equivalent and tightly interconnected: human, real, and another, in which only gods lived - evil or good, which also welcomed the souls of their ancestors.
Another world is at once difficult and far, and familiar, and close, as if a place often visited, like native forests, mountains or steppes. The ancestor ruled there - the main deity.
Totem
In the depths, if not millennia, then of many, many centuries, when the Slav peoples lived only on the hunt, they knew and believed that the ancestors who awaited them in another world were the same forest inhabitants who gave them food, clothing, household items, and even medicines. For this, the animals were sincerely worshiped, seeing in them powerful and intelligent patron gods.
Each tribe had its own totem - a sacred beast. For example, people who consider the Wolf to be their patron, put on skins on the winter solstice and feel like wolves, talking with their ancestors and receiving strength, wisdom and protection from them. Ancient Russia was so strong, clever, its myths about it were made up.
The pagan forest has always had a master - the strongest. Lions in the Slavic lands were never found, so the king of animals was the Bear. He not only protected from all evil, but also patronized the crops. A bear woke up in the spring - it’s time to engage in farming. A bear paw in the house is a talisman and a talisman: it will protect against witchcraft and all sorts of diseases. The strongest oath was in the name of the bear, and the hunter who violated it would inevitably die in the forest.
Ungulates
The hunting era was rich in totems, and one of the most striking and widespread revered animals was the deer (or elk). Moreover, the deer was clearly embroidered on towels - the oldest goddess of fertility, as well as sunlight and the sky itself. Forest inhabitants were not literally depicted by the Slavs. Horned deer do not exist in nature, but each animal has embroideries with horns. He carries the sun on them. The horns in the house are a symbol of sun rays, heat. Elk and deer were often called sokhatnye (and now they are so called), from the word "plow", which calls an agricultural tool.
Heavenly elk and calf - constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the sky. And Cassiopeia is two men with braids that mow the heavenly grass. The golden horse of heaven is the sun, later the chariot, but also harnessed by horses. In the ideas of ancient people, a horse from the time of nomadic life is the most useful and most intelligent animal. The skate on the roof is still being installed by the builders of new village houses, although people have probably forgotten why and why it is needed. Horseshoe for happiness and is now considered quite an effective amulet. The thing is that the ancient Slavs had a horse cult.
Image of the world
Legends have been preserved about how the creation of the world occurred, where it came from and who its inhabitants are. The ancient Chinese, Iranians, Greeks believed that our world hatched from an egg. Similar myths exist among the Slavs. For example, such. The three kingdoms that the prince received in the lower worlds from the three princes were laid in eggs, and the prince simply unfolded them when he rose to the ground, breaking the shell. The kingdoms are copper, silver and gold.
Another legend says about a duck that flew over an empty ocean and dropped an egg into the water. It split in two. From the lower half, moist earth was obtained, and from the upper - the vault of heaven. There is also a legend about the snake that guarded the golden egg. The hero came, the serpent decided, the egg was split, and three kingdoms came out of it - underground, earthly and heavenly.
Carpathian song
In the Carpathians they sing about the creation of the world this way: when there was no light, no sky, no earth, but only the blue sea, a tall oak tree grew in the middle of the water. Two pigeons flew in, sat down on branches and began to think about how to establish a white light.
They went down to the seabed, brought a small sand in their beaks, captured golden stones. Sown sand, sprinkled with gold pebbles. And black earth came up, icy water poured, the grass turned green, the sky turned blue, the sun shone, a clear month came out and all the stars.
But how exactly the creation of the world actually happened, let everyone decide for himself.
Triplicity
In the image of the world surrounding the ancient tribes, three-partness is clearly traced. Earth is the middle world, lying on the three heads of the leader of the underworld in the middle of the ocean.
The bowels of the middle world are the lower subworld. It is hell with unquenchable fire. The upper world is heaven, with many arches extending above the earth, with luminaries and elements living there. The seventh heaven is forever shining. This place is the abode of the highest forces.
Country of ir
A special word about the Ocean (as it was called - Kiyan, with the navel of the earth in the middle, namely the sacred stone Alatyr, which lies at the very roots of the World Tree) says that legends most often describe an oak on Buyan Island. This is the center of the whole universe. The holy mountains sometimes take upon themselves the concept of the World Tree.
The latter is sometimes called the tree of Iri from the blessed country, bearing the name of Ir. This is the place where all the birds fly away in autumn and where Spring spends the winter. The most ancient beliefs say that the country of Ir is located at the very bottom of the sea-ocean, that it is there that constantly higher forces live, which decide all the fate of people.
Geography
All sides of the world in the ideas of the ancient Slavs had their own functions associated with the deification of natural forces. The most fertile lands were in the east. There is a wonderful holy country with the abode of the gods. But the northwest was the edge of death and winter.
Of great importance in ancient beliefs was the location of the rivers. The Don and Danube were considered the borders of the world of people, then - another world, the ancestral home, where the souls of deceased ancestors await everyone who is ready to overcome impenetrable forests, huge mountains and ferocious rivers. Only there awaits man eternal rest. Or troubled, because those guilty in life, who have violated at least one moral law, will certainly be punished.
Svarog and sons
Among the ancient Slavs, the supreme deities were a married couple: Mother Earth and Father Sky. The shining, brilliant god Svarog was revered on a par with Mother Earth. His other name is Stribog, which means God the Father. He brought people in the Stone Age iron tools (blacksmith mites), taught to melt copper, and then iron. The sons, whom God Svarog also taught to help people, were called Dazhdbog Svarozhich and Perun Svarozhich. The most interesting myths about the latter have developed, almost like about the Greek Hercules.
The exploits of Perun are described quite extensively even in fiction until the twentieth century. This is the ancient god of thunder, thunder and lightning. His name is translated in several versions as “Smashing, ” “First, ” and even “Right.” He has different lightnings: gold - life-giving, purple - deadly. His weapon is an ax, with which some customs in peasant farming are still associated. A six-spoke wheel-shaped lightning rod can now be seen in old buildings. This is also a sign of Perun. But he was not only a deity, but also a hero. The basic qualities and even some deeds of Perun, as it were, were inherited by Elijah the Prophet with the advent of Christianity.
Smoke
A goat-born god was in charge of the night sky. Having been born, he even overshadowed the clear sun, and then settled in the Ural Mountains, gave birth to a son, Churila. Churil gathered his giant friends and began to offend the warriors of Svarog. Svarog and Dy - both gods, they had to deal with each other in a divine way. First, Svarog beat Dyi, drove his people into the piedmont land. And then he had mercy, arranged a feast in the Dyevy mansions. Churila shared gold and precious stones with Svarog. He thawed completely and took Churila to his service.
