Paganism of pre-Christian Russia. The history of the emergence of paganism

Introduction The Slavic people are considered relatively young in history. Under their own name, they were first mentioned in written sources only from the 6th century. For the first time we meet the name of the Slavs in the form oxhabnvos at Pseudo-Caesarius around 525. At present, the region extending north of the Carpathians is recognized as the homeland of the Slavs. But with a closer definition of its boundaries, scientists differ very significantly among themselves. For example, one of the founders of Slavic studies, the Czech scientist Shofarik, drew the border of the Slavic ancestral home at the plant from the mouth of the Vistula to the Neman, in the north - from Novgorod to the sources of the Volga and Dnieper, in the east - to the Don. Further, she, in his opinion, went through the lower Dnieper and Dniester along the Carpathians to the Vistula and along the watershed of the Oder and Vistula to the Baltic Sea. The problem of the origin and settlement of the Slavs is still debatable, but numerous studies by historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnographers and linguists make it possible to draw up a general picture of the early history of the Eastern Slavic peoples. In the middle of the 1st millennium AD. on the general territory of Eastern Europe, from Lake Ilmen to the Black Sea steppes and from the Eastern Carpathians to the Volga, East Slavic tribes developed. Historians number about 15 such tribes. Each tribe was a collection of clans and then occupied a relatively small isolated area. According to The Tale of Bygone Years, a map of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the 8th-9th centuries. looked like this: the Slovenes (Ilyinsky Slavs) lived on the shores of Lake Ilmenskoye and Volkhva; Krivichi with Polochans - in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, Volga and Dnieper; Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Berezina; Vyatichi - on the Oka and the Moscow River; radimichi - on the Sozh and Desnezh; northerners - on the Desna, the Seimas, the Sula and the Northern Donets; Drevlyans - in Pripyat and in the Middle Dnieper; clearing - along the middle course of the Dnieper; Buzhans, Volynians, Dulebs - in Volyn, along the Bug; tiverci, streets - in the very south, by the Black Sea and the Danube. The group of Eastern Slavs includes: Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The Slavs bred cattle and pigs, as well as horses, were engaged in hunting and fishing. In everyday life, the Slavs widely used the so-called ritual calendar associated with agricultural magic. It celebrated the days of the spring-summer agricultural season from seed germination to harvest, and highlighted the days of pagan prayers for rain in four different periods. These four periods of rain were considered optimal for the Kiev region and in the agronomic manuals of the late 19th century. , which testified to the presence of the Slavs of the 4th c. reliable agrotechnical observations. Paganism in Russia The pagans looked at a person's life from a purely material side: under the dominance of physical strength, a weak person was the most miserable creature, and again the life of such a person was considered a feat of compassion. The religion of the Eastern Slavs is strikingly similar to the original religion of the Aryan tribes: it consisted in the worship of physical deities, natural phenomena and the souls of the dead, tribal household geniuses. But we do not notice traces of the heroic element, which develops anthropomorphism so strongly, among the Slavs, and this may mean that conquering squads under the command of leaders - heroes did not form between them and that their resettlement was carried out in a tribal, and not in a squad form. East Slavic paganism on the eve of the creation of Kievan Rus and in its further coexistence with Christianity is reflected in a large number of materials that are sources for its study. First of all, these are authentic and accurately dated archaeological materials that reveal the very essence of the pagan cult: idols of the gods, sanctuaries, cemeteries without external ground signs (“fields of burials”, “fields of burial urns”), as well as with preserved mounds of ancient mounds. In addition, these are diverse products of applied art found in mounds, in treasures and simply in the cultural layers of cities, saturated with archival pagan symbols. Of these, women's adornments are of the greatest value, often being wedding sets in burial complexes and, because of this, are especially rich in magical incantatory plots and amulets - amulets. A peculiar, but very poorly studied remnant of the pagan side are the numerous names of tracts: “Holy Mountain”, “Bald Mountain” (the location of witches), “Holy Lake”, “Holy Grove”, “Peryn”, “Volosovo”, etc. A very important source is the testimonies of contemporaries, recorded in the annals, or in specially recorded teachings against paganism. For about a century and a half, Kievan Rus was a state with a pagan system, often opposed to the penetration of Christianity. In Kievan Rus IX - X centuries. an influential class of priests (“magi”) was formed, who led the rites, preserved the ancient mythology and developed thoughtful agrarian-incantational symbolism. In the era of Svyatoslav, in connection with the warriors with Byzantium, Christianity became a persecuted religion, and paganism was reformed and opposed to the penetration of Christianity into Russia: the so-called "Vladimir Pantheon" was, on the one hand, a response to Christianity, and on the other hand, the assertion of princely power and domination of the warrior class - the feudal lords. The performance of tribal ritual actions (“cathedrals”, “events”), the organization of ritual actions, sanctuaries and grandiose princely burial mounds, the observance of the calendar terms of the annual ritual cycle, the storage, execution and creative replenishment of the fund of mythological and ethical tales required a special priestly class (“Magi” , "sorcerer", "cloud-devourers", "witches", "indulgences", etc.). A century after the baptism of Russia, the Magi could, in some cases, attract an entire city to their side to oppose the prince or bishop (Novgorod). In the 980s, Greek Christianity found in Russia not a simple village quackery, but a significantly developed pagan culture with its mythology, a pantheon of the main deities, priests, in all likelihood, with their own pagan chronicle of 912-980. The strength of pagan ideas in the Russian feudal cities of the Middle Ages is evident, firstly, from numerous church teachings. Directed against pagan beliefs and pagan rites and festivities held in cities, and secondly, from the pagan symbolism of applied art, which generally desired not only ordinary people in the urban settlement, but also higher, princely circles (treasures of the 1230s). In the second half of the twelfth century, the pagan element was still fully expressed. Rites and ritual actions And so, we already know that the ancient Slavs are pagans who deified the forces of nature. Their main gods were: God mouth - the god of heaven and earth; Perun - the god of thunder and lightning, as well as war and weapons; Volos or Veles - the god of wealth and cattle breeding; Dazh god (or Yarilo) - the solar deity of light, warmth and blossoming nature. The deities associated with those forces of nature that affect agriculture were very important. Also, the ancient Slavs greatly revered the souls of their ancestors, thinking that they are somewhere in the middle sky "aer" - "Irya" and obviously contribute to all celestial operations (rain, fog, snow) for the benefit of the remaining descendants. When on the days of commemoration of their ancestors they were invited to a festive meal, the "grandfathers" seemed to be flying through the air. Ready-made products - porridge and bread from time immemorial have been ritual food and an obligatory part of the sacrifice to such fertility deities as women in childbirth. There were special types of porridge that had only a ritual purpose: "kutya", "kolivo" (from wheat grains). Kutya was cooked in a pot, and in a pot or in a bowl it was served on the festive table or was taken to the cemetery in the "domovina" when commemorating the dead. There were houses of the dead, as a place of communication with benevolent ancestors. In many ceremonies, the inhabitants of the village left their family mansions and participated in the general rural ritual action. Some of these ceremonies were held inside the village, but most of them, in all likelihood, were arranged outside the outskirts on the hills, near the "treasures" of many honors or between several villages ("games between villages"). It is impossible to exclude the long existence of the ancient common tribal sanctuaries on the sacred mountains that arose back in the Scythian-Skolot time. An example of a Zarubenets cult place inside the village can be a settlement (breast) near Pochep in the basin of the Middle Desna, where for the first century AD Slavic colonization from the Middle Dnieper region headed in the middle of the excavated space, among a large number of rectangular dwellings with traces of powerful stove pillars, a building round in plan was found . Interesting utensils with magical signs “Pots for illuminated brew” were found there; a bowl with a sign of fertility and a pot with four signs were found there, which indicate a variety of signs of fertility, ideograms of a plowed or sown field. An ornament of drop-shaped round impressions goes around the neck of the vessel from the girdle of these drops, triangles of three drops descend down. In general, the ornament on this pot is very eloquent: “heavenly moisture irrigates the fields”, i.e. contains the main idea of ​​agrarian magic spells. In this small house, in all likelihood, only sacred dishes were kept, and the ceremony of boiling the first fruits was carried out, judging by the excavation data, in a neighboring round room, in the middle of which there was a large hearth - an altar. At the altar, closer to the entrance, there are traces of pillars and massive remains of burnt wood, which can naturally be regarded as the remains of the main idol, which occupied the main position in the entire sanctuary. In the depths of the rotunda, to the left and right of the altar-hearth and the central idol, two large niches were arranged, near which, on the circumference of the building, there were pillars, obviously, idols of lesser significance. It is natural to assume that with the round construction of the temple and with the central position of the hearth-altar, a wide smoke hole in the center of the conical roof. It gave an outlet for flame and smoke to the sky and at the same time illuminated the entire temple from above with natural daylight. In Slavic embroideries, the motif of the goddess in the temple is very common, but the temple is presented in three forms: firstly, in the form of a house with a gable roof (in this case, the goddess in childbirth) and secondly. Like a building in the form of a barn with a suspended middle part and a magnificently decorated closed roof. On such embroideries in the middle, to the full height of the building shown as if in a section, a huge idol of Mokosh was depicted with his hands down to the ground; calendar, this pose of the goddess can be timed to the Kupala ritual (June 23 - 29), by the time of the initial ripening of ears and the appearance of the first fruits of this year (peas, beans) Makosh points to the ground that has already grown a plant, while in embroideries associated with spring rites , Makosh raises his hands to the sky, to the supreme deity with a prayer for the sun and rain for the newly sown seeds. The large central idol of Mokosh is accompanied by two idols of women in labor - Lada and Lely, standing on the sides of the "Mother of the Harvest" - Mokosh. The coincidence with the Pochep temple is complete - one idol in the middle and two on the sides. Embroidery gives something that archeology can rarely give - all three idols are female. But there is also a third type of temple buildings in Russian embroideries, inside which the idol of Makosh is also placed, but the roof over the head of the goddess is not closed and leaves a significant opening. Mokosh's idol is placed in the middle under the roof opening. On the sides of the huge Mokosh there are not idols of women in childbirth, but images of horsemen (or horsewomen?). The upper part of the building on the embroidery is usually occupied by images of birds and star-shaped signs (it will not be a stretch to recognize these embroideries as the image of the firmament). However, another assumption is also possible, that the embroidered temple of Mokosh with a cut off roof is, as it were, a section of the Pochep-type sanctuary. The heavenly signs do not contradict this, since the sky was clearly visible from the koliba. The presence of riders on the sides of the main idol contradicts this assumption, but, given the season (“crown of summer”), it can be assumed that the sanctuary was not an enclosed space, but was a canopy with pillars that walked in a circle (traces of nine pillars were preserved) inside which there were three idol and altar. In this case, all the internal elements of the temple were visible to the entire village from the outside. It is possible that horsemen should not be taken too realistically - the spring goddesses Lada and Lelya on ritual towels intended for the festivities of meeting spring were depicted on horseback, with plows behind the saddle, the presence of horseback riders around Mokosh could be just an image of a familiar symbol, and not confirmation of real horsewomen in the inside of the temple. The perimeter of such a dugout could serve as a circular earthen bench, a kind of "syntron" around the main idol and the hearth, on which a sacred brew from the first fruits was brewed in a pot with signs of fertility. Approximately 30 - 35 people could sit on the "syntron" with a circumference of 15 m. P. Bessonov recorded an interesting cycle of Kupala ritual songs. Songs for Kupala (the night of June 23-24, solstice) constitute a special, clearly distinguishing and very archaic cycle; they are accompanied by the refrain “so-and-so!” or “tu-tu-tu” (typical only for Kupala songs) and obligatory stomping and knocking at this time. Obviously, these are the remains of a ritual dance. The Kupala Festival, writes Bessonov, is “the highest summer point of the most ancient sacred rites, legends and songs ... As if exhausted in the revelry of Kupala, songwriting from here on for a long time falls silent ...”. Kupala is called "sobotka" i.e. "co-existence", a joint collection. The plots of the Kupala songs are associated with traditional erotica at the games (No. 62 according to Bessonov), with the obligatory bathing and with the echoes of the sacrifices of girls to the deity of the river, the “Danube” (No. 68, 72), with the collection of healing potions (No. 79), etc. One of songs (No. 94) tells about the preparation of a ritual potion (angelica) in a pot; in some way it is connected with the death of a woman (“I’m talking about a pot, an uncle at a piss”). Ritual food at the festival is vegetable and dairy. The main thing in the Kupala ritual was, as you know, a fire, through which they jumped in pairs. An echo of ritualism is the game of burners (“burn, burn clearly so that it does not go out ...”). the construction of the fire was entrusted to a woman (“young is young, lay out the bathing suit”; No. 87). The basis of the future fire was a pillar or a stake driven into the ground: “just as Kupala catfish was depicted as a pillar, and her head is in gold or all of it is green, so in her image a stake is made in the rite, stuck into the ground, wrapped around with straw, threshed ears, hemp, and at the top is a bundle of straw, which is called Kupala and which is lit on the Kupala night. People come running to this sign, the famous Kupala bonfire flares up. An important role in the songs is played by the oak; oak branches go to the fire. The connection of the Kupala rites with the agrarian magic of the “crown of summer” is undoubted. An analysis of Russian embroidery showed that ritual towels with the image of Makoshi-Kupala belong to this season, where the goddess is surrounded by solar signs and is always shown with her hands lowered to the fruit-bearing earth; Kupala's head is often entwined with ears of corn; ears of corn were also depicted at the feet of the goddess. If in the spring cycle, women were depicted on the sides of the goddess - riders with plows behind their backs, then riders - men were embroidered on the towels of the Kupala cycle. Makosh, the goddess of earthly fertility, was the mediator between heaven and earth (in the spring cycle, she was always depicted with her hands raised to the sky). This duality can be compared with a curious detail of women's Kupala clothing: "In the decoration of those celebrating, the main attention is paid to the female head and shoes." Girls, in addition to wreaths and greenery, put on their heads a “warrior” made of fabric, always blue, heavenly, in color; stockings and garters were decorated on the legs. On the face of attention to the symbolism of the sky (blue warrior) and earth (shoes, stockings), the ritual archaic song about the unclean Kupala - Mokosh is very fully correlated with the excavation data. Both here and there the sanctuary is located “syared sala”; and here and there the cult place was like a small building with a canopy. Syarod syala Vouchkovsky That's it! (chorus with tapping and stomping) Tu-tu was an oak lantern (canopied canopy, open chapel) Tu-tu-tu! And the kids (guys, well done) went to pray to God: That's it! Stoub was hugged, the stove was kissed Tu-tu-tu! Pereryad Sopukha (Kupala) lay with a roof That's it! Yana thought - hidden, Tu-tu-tu! And the knife of Sopukha (Kupala) is not clean! That's it! According to folklore data, the main object of worship was the pillar, which the worshipers hugged, and the stove, which they kissed. Both the stove and the pillar in the center of the building were discovered during excavations. The embroideries convey to us the image of Mokosh as the center of a three-figured composition with three upcoming deities. Excavations also allow us to speak of three figured compositions: in the center there is a pillar near the stove (Makosh - Kupalo), and on the sides - forthcoming in the side niches. In combination with dishes marked with magical signs of fertility, found in a house adjacent to the sanctuary, the entire ritual complex of the Zarubinets village "Grudka" (Pochepskoye settlement) can be interpreted as the temple of Makoshi, called Kupala for the Kupala ritual on June 23 - 29, which is common in folklore personification of the holiday. So from the winter carols the god of carols took shape by the 17th century, and the deity Kupala came from the summer festival of Kupala. A rural sanctuary was also found, intended for winter New Year fortune-telling about the fate of the coming year. In it were found places for sacrifices and general rural feasts - bratchins, again three stone idols. Of particular interest is the first four-faced idol; it is decorated in the upper part in the form of a round head with four faces in each face, respectively. In this respect, he resembles the Zbruch Svyatovit-Rod. Faces looking "on all four sides" - an apotropaic, protecting from evil. Front and back, right and left. No wonder the expression “from all four sides” has taken root in the Russian language. “Everything” is the four indicated directions, which sometimes could also indicate geographical coordinates: from the north and south, from the west and from the east. Since the "evil winds" were considered the bearers of evil, the geographical concept is quite appropriate in the idea of ​​ubiquity. The outcome of evil was regarded not only in relation to the individual (behind, on the left), but also in relation to nature as a whole - according to the cardinal points or, in modern terms, according to geographical coordinates. Such idols, more than once found in excavations, were supposed to guard the village from all four sides. Of the diverse annual cycle of pagan rites recorded by ethnographers, only a small part was held inside the village and in houses. These are winter Christmas time with their carols, New Year and Veles Day. But already Shrovetide with its rolling fiery wheel. Riding with bells, burning an effigy of winter, mummers, a spell of spring, fisticuffs, etc. went beyond the boundaries of the village and turned into "games between the village." The entire spring cycle and summer, Kupala, are connected with nature, with fields, with “red hills”, river banks, birch groves. The calendar timing of rituals, preserved both by the wooden carved calendars of the Russian village, and by agricultural signs, later dated to the holy calendar, arose long before the baptism of Russia, as evidenced by the most interesting calendars of our era. The vast majority of ancient Slavic pagan festivals and prayers were held publicly, were an "event", a joint spell of nature and were held not in a house or in a village, but outside the everyday household circle. The ancient farmer needed, first of all, to influence nature, to appeal to its vegetative power, to turn to various "groves", sacred trees, to water sources - springs, wells of students, to the fields in the process of plowing, sowing and in time for the ripening of the precious harvest. In addition to these very specific sections of nature, where seven-mile magic is very easy to see, there was also the veneration of mountains and hills, associated with the generalization of nature, with those rozhanitsari and Rod, who controlled nature as a whole, controlled it from the sky on which they were. Universal is the veneration of the mountains and holding special prayers on them, addressed to one or another supreme deity. Sacrifice to the forces of nature and the religious prayerful attitude to the forces of nature are recorded by many ancient Russian sources, which the clergy in their teachings very much condemned, explaining either by not knowing the truth of the faith or by the machinations of the devil, who “you are deceived into believing in the creature and in the sun and fire and in the sources of the same and in the tree and in the other things are different. ..". And so, a more accurately recorded place of annual prayers were high hills, mountains, elevating the worshipers above the level of ordinary life and, as it were, bringing them closer to the heavenly guardians of the world, women in childbirth or the Family. “Red Hills”, “Red Hills”, where Shrovetide burnings of winter effigies were held, the rite of conjuration of spring, the meeting of Lada and Lelya, rolling eggs on Thomas's week (which was called the “Red Hill”) were probably near each village. In the plains, where there were no noticeable hills, the peasants marked the first spring thaws in the meadows, where the snow began to melt first of all, and there they held the ceremony of welcoming spring. Sacred mountains often bear the name "Bald" or "Maiden". there is an assumption that the first name could be associated with one or another male deity, with the goddess - the maiden, who was a distant predecessor of the Christian Mother of God, the Virgin Mary. Often, idols of a naked male deity were found on bald mountains. There were often rumors about such mountains that witches lived on them. The Maiden Mountains in some cases confirm their name. On one of the maiden mountains, a kind of altar oven was found, which is a composition of nine hemispherical recesses. The number nine, combined with the maiden name of this huge and very imposing mountain, suggests (as with the fortune-telling bowl with nine month marks) that the creators of the altar with nine components primarily associated this central structure of the Maiden Mountain with nine months of pregnancy. The virgin goddess, as a stable idea of ​​a female agrarian deity, was obviously thought, like the Christian virgin, not just a girl, but one who had already “carried in her womb” and she had to prepare the birth of a new life for nine months. The number nine is included in the category of common Slavic sacred numbers (“for three to nine lands”, “to the three to ninth kingdom, three to tenth state”, etc.). Also in the Pogan settlement, the nine-hole complex is located near the wall of the pagan temple, which preceded the construction of the church. There were also Babina Mountains dedicated to a female deity, but, obviously, of a different type than the virgin goddess; it could be a mother goddess like Ma-kosha, the goddess of harvest and fate, the personification of all earthly nature (mother-earth). Near some Babin mountains, burial grounds with cremations and corpses were discovered. Their peculiarity was in the preservation of infant skulls without ritual inventory. Based on these findings, one can recall the words of medieval writers about ancient pagan sacrifices. Kiril Turovsky in his sermon for Fomin's week ("Red Hill") wrote: "From the village (from now on), more will not accept hell, slaughtered fathers baby, not death honor - stop idolatry and pernicious demonic violence." Another author, somewhat earlier, wrote: "Tavera child-cutting with an idol from the first-born." * * * Ethnography knows many beliefs about werewolves - ghouls (Vovkodlaks), confined mainly to the territory of Belarus and Ukraine, i.e. to those places where the Milograd culture is known. It was believed that once a year they became wolves for a few days and then returned to their previous state again. The marsh settlements and the pagan essence of this cult are still mysterious and unsolved for us. Of course, there is no doubt a connection with the cult of water and the underwater-underground "lower world", best expressed by the swamp itself with its unknown and inaccessible depths, marsh lights, the deceit of marsh greenery and bogs, the malignancy of marsh fevers. The sanctuary in the swamp was given a perfectly round shape. It is possible that here, as in the creation of the barrow, a model of the visible earth was conceived, a regular circle of the horizon-horizon, as an antithesis to the semi-hostile element of water. There is an assumption that the swamp settlements (sometimes heaped, artificially made by people) could be dedicated to the owner of this lower world, in the role of which the lizard often acts. In the cosmological composition of the mountain or Samogil shamanic plaques, the lower world was always depicted as a lizard with a wolf's ear and open mouth - the lizard swallows the evening setting sun. The absence of real traces of consumption of the victims by the ritual participants on the settlement may indicate a special form of sacrifice, different from the usual laying of sacrificial meat on the fire and then eating it. Two forms of sacrifice are reported by one of the main teachings against paganism: 1. And they (the pagan gods) slaughter chickens, and then the bluffers also eat themselves ... essence. And the monks pray to the wells that bring and throw into the water, offering sacrifice to Velear. This relatively late teaching deals with the sacrifice of chickens. And how was the situation among the peoples - werewolves (Neurs) who lived in a "bestial way" one and a half - two thousand years before this teaching, who then were "thrown into the water"? we see some hint of this in the children's game "Lizard": children lead a round dance; in the center of the circle sits a boy imitating a lizard, the choir sings: The lizard sits under the fireworks On the walnut bush, Where is the walnut bush. .. (I want to Zhanitisya) - Take yourself a girl, Which you want ... In some versions, the beginning of the song contains the words: I'll give you, lizard, a red girl. In other versions, there is a funeral motif: digging a hole and commemorating a lizard. The lizard game is widely known in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Judging by the fact that the lizard plucks nuts from the bush, the rite refers to the second half of summer, when the nuts ripen. Many children's games are a transformation of ancient pagan rites and a transformation, of course, softened. Let us compare with this the belief that watermen marry drowned women. The same cycle of rites of propitiation of water or underwater underground forces should also include numerous widespread rites (also turned into games) of the “Kostroma funeral”, “Morena’s funeral”, “Kupala’s funeral”, when a doll dressed in girl’s clothes is drowned in water. All fragments and echoes of Slavic rituals are brought together into a single complex: the ancient Slavs, like the ancient Greeks, had a rite of propitiation for the deities of the underworld, which affects fertility by making sacrifices thrown into the water. Rituals associated with “throwing into the water” of sacrifices to the deity of the underwater world, directly related to the fertility of the soil, and, consequently, to the harvest, were held in the middle of summer for semik, on Kupala, when the grain began to sprout and the final result of the season was not yet clear. In these rituals, the masculine, fertilizing principle and the feminine, bearing and giving birth, were intertwined. Among the ancient Greeks, in the middle of summer, two victims were drowned in the sea from a chip - a man and a woman. In Slavic rites, we also know the funeral of Yarila (Ivan) as the personification of the masculine principle, which has already given a new life and therefore has become useless, and the funeral of Kostroma, Kupala, whose images, dressed in women's clothes, were escorted by funeral crying, and then drowned in water. The duality of the masculine and feminine principles was reflected in the fact that the doll-effigy of Kostroma was sometimes dressed like a man. The drowning of Kostroma in water remains unknown. Etymologically, the word "kostroma" is associated with words denoting "shaggy top of grass", "broom", "beard of ears". Based on this, perhaps the word Kostro-ma should be considered as a compound: Mother of ears? Then the drowning of Kostroma should topologically correspond to the departure of Persephone-Proserpina to the underworld, and the Slavic Lizard, who married the drowned girl, should correspond to Hades, the god of the underworld, the spouse of Persephone. The seeming illogicality of the sacrificed images of Yarila, the god of fierce spring vegetative power, and Kostroma, the Mother of ears, is eliminated by calendar terms: the personification of these natural forces was drowned or burned only when spring sprouts appeared instead of old grain, when ears were already formed. In the temporal transformations of the rite, the dolls of Kostroma or Kupala replaced not the deity Kostroma or Kupala (the researchers who deny the existence of the idea of ​​such goddesses are right), but a sacrifice, a human sacrifice, brought in gratitude to these forces of seasonal action, but to the constantly existing ruler of all underground and underwater forces that promote fertility, i.e. Lizard, Hades, Poseidon. This ceremony was performed among the Greeks in the month of targelion in the middle of summer, and among the Slavs on Kupala (June 23) or on Peter's Day (June 29). Through the softened form of later theatricalization and game convention, one can discern the cruel primary form of the primitive rite. A. A. Potebnya, in his study of the Kupala festival, cites the tragic cry of a mother for a drowned (in ancient times - drowned) girl: people, do not take water, do not fish, do not mow grass on the bends of the river - this is the beauty of my daughter, this is her body, her braid... This song was sung when the ceremony of drowning Kupala was performed. The widest distribution of rites of drowning dolls (mainly female) on the days of the “crown of summer” (end of June), coinciding with the summer solstice, is quite consistent with the abundance of swamp settlements in the forest zone that arose in the Scythian time and existed until Kievan Rus. As a warning that requires archaeological and folklore verification, one can suggest that the swamp settlements of the Milograd and Zarubinets culture zone (and for a later time, and wider) are part of the ritual sites of the ancient Slavs (along with revered mountains), dedicated to the archaic cult of the underground-underwater the deity of the Lizard, whose victims were drowned in the water of the swamp surrounding the sanctuary. In Russian folklore, as we see above, a gloomy2 image of the rite of sacrificing a goat has been preserved. This, as V. Ya. Propp established, is a song version of the tale about brother Ivanushka and sister Alyonushka, drowned by an evil sorceress. Ivanushka wants to return her drowned sister Alyonushka, my sister! Swim out to the shore: Fires are burning flammable, Cauldrons are seething, They want to kill me ... The drowned girl replies: (I would be glad) to jump out - Combustible stone pulls to the bottom, Yellow sands sucked my heart out. The name of brother Ivanushka may indicate a rite on the night of Ivan Kupala; then sister Alyonushka - - Kupala herself, a victim doomed to become "sinkable in water." On the Kupala night and "great fires burn" and rituals are performed near the water, imitating the drowning of the victim: bathing a girl dressed up as Kupala, or dipping a stuffed doll depicting Kupala into the water. Ancient Russian sanctuaries Outwardly, the sanctuary looked like a real fortress on the high bank of the Desna: a deep ditch, a high horseshoe-shaped rampart and wooden walls (fence?) along the upper edge of the site. The diameter of the rounded (now triangular) area was approximately 60 m, i.e., equal to the diameter of medium-sized swamp settlements. The internal structure of the courtyard of the sanctuary-fortress was as follows: along the entire rampart, close to it, in the western part of the site, a long structure 6 m wide, curved in the shape of a rampart, was built. Its length (including the collapsed part) should have been about 60 m. 5 - 6 meters from the long house, vertical pillars were dug into the mainland to a depth of more than a meter, located, like the house, in a semicircle. These are idols. At the eastern end of the site, opposite from the house and idols, there was a certain structure, from which (or from which, if one was replaced by another) there were vertical pillars, coals, ash, calcined earth. At the southern wall of the site - ash, coals, animal bones and an abundance of so-called "horned bricks" - stands for skewers. The middle of the yard, free from structures, was about 20-25 meters in diameter. The entrance to the settlement was from the side of the plateau. The fortification is an impressive sight, but it was purely symbolic, since the ditch was blocked by an earthen "rowing", and the rampart was cut in the middle. The only real protection here could be only the gate, from which only one massive pillar survived, giving us the mentioned line of symmetry. The structure on the eastern edge of the settlement, located at the opposite end from the entrance, could have been a scaffold-altar, on which a fire burned often and in large quantities and cutting of sacrificial carcasses took place. Abundant traces of fires near the southern wall testify to the roasting of meat on numerous skewers. All this took place in front of a semicircle of idols that bordered the empty center of the sanctuary courtyard. The idols were probably tall, as their bases were dug very deep into pits carefully dug into the dense material. In the surviving part of the settlement, pit-nests of only 5 idols have been preserved; there could have been 10 - 12 in total. Near the idols, at the very foot, small clay vessels were found, and at the idols located in the center, at the entrance, bronze torcs were found, cast, but not cleaned, with foundry burrs. A living woman could not physically wear such a hryvnia. Obviously, they either decorated wooden idols or were offered to them ex voto. Near these female idols, near the entrance, the most remarkable find of the Annunciation Mountain was made - the neck of a huge thick-walled vessel in the form of a bear's head with a wide-open mouth. The middle position of the vessel on the settlement on the line of the entrance - the altar, at one of the central idols of the goddess with a bronze torc around her neck, reveals to us the contents of the entire sanctuary. The goddess with a bear is well known to us from ancient mythology - this is Artemis, or Diana, the sister of the solar giver of blessings Apollo, the daughter of the goddess Leto, known since Crete-Mycenaean times. In honor of Artemis Brauronia, the priestesses of the goddess performed sacred dances, dressed in bear skins. Artemis is associated with the creation of the constellation Ursa Major. Artemis was dedicated to the month of Artemision - March, the time when the bears woke up from hibernation. According to the solar phases, this coincided with the spring equinox around March 25. The bear holidays were called by the Greeks comoedia, which served as the basis for later comedy. Bear holidays with exactly the same name, which has preserved the ancient Indo-European form of "komeditsa" - are known among the Slavs. In Belarus, komoyeditsy was held on March 24, on the eve of the Orthodox Annunciation. Housewives baked special "comas" from pea flour; dances were arranged in clothes turned inside out with fur in honor of the spring awakening of the bear. The ancient Shrovetide turned out to be shifted from its calendar period by the Christian Great Lent, incompatible with Shrovetide revelry. And since the post was subject to a movable Easter calendar, the pagan Maslenitsa, although it survived after the baptism of Russia and has survived to this day (at least in the form of pancakes), but its timing is changeable. The initial term of the undisturbed Maslenitsa is the spring equinox. The indispensable mask at the Maslenitsa carnival was the “bear”, a man dressed up in a bear coat or a turned-out sheepskin coat. Inside, a longitudinal, flat-bottomed recess was dug in the entire length of each half of the "house" and on both sides of it solid benches-beds were made in the mainland, also in full length. On the flat floor in three places (in the surviving half) bonfires were laid without special hearths. In total, 200 - 250 people could sit on four earthen benches in both halves of the building. This premise was built, obviously, for those feasts and brotherhoods that were an integral part of the pagan ritual. Having made a sacrifice, stabbed the victim on a distant platform, bestowed and praised the semicircle of idols, cooked sacrificial meat on horned bricks, the participants of the ceremony completed it with a “conversation”, “table, an honorable feast” indoors, sitting on benches near small (obviously, lighting ) campfires. The entire clothing material of the Blagoveshchensk Mountain differs sharply from the material of ordinary Yukhnov settlements. There are no ordinary dwellings, no hearths, no fishing sinkers, no spindles for spindles. Everything found here is intended specifically for feasts: large vessels (for beer?), small goblets, knives, animal bones, stands for skewers. The entrance to the sanctuary was arranged in such a way that at first the person entering the bridge passed through the ditch (“rowing”), then he got into the narrow space of the gate, which was in the middle of the rampart and in the middle of the long house. It is possible that some kind of ceremony of “groaning” with the contents of the bear-vessel took place here. From this middle room, two gentle descents led to the left, to the northern half of the building, and to the right, to the southern half. Directly from the entrance was the entire courtyard of the sanctuary. It is possible that a clear division of the premises into two halves is associated with the phratral division of the tribe. The presence of an enclosed space, which favorably differed from open-air tebisches, confirms the assumption about Lada as the main mistress of this unique temple: songs in honor of Lada were sung on New Year's Eve and then in the spring, from March 9 to June 29, - half of the holidays associated with in the name of Lada (including the annunciation) falls on the cold winter and early spring season, when it is preferable to celebrate not in the cold. However, it cannot be ruled out that the most massive actions could take place on the entire plateau of the high bank of the Desna and outside the actual sanctuary. Fibulae The ancient Slavs had magical figures, or amulets, consider one of them. A. Sky: ruler with swans. This is where rain and sunshine come from. B. The earth receives rays and jets of rain. The living principle of the earth is represented only by waterfowl and snake-snakes. All attention is paid to the theme of water. B. The underworld. Birds and snakes connect him with the upper worlds. The Lord of the lower world is the Lizard (or the Lizard?). The lower world is not opposed to the middle one, but merged with it. Six birds represent the daily course of the Sun. The Kiev Historical Museum has two paired complex-compositional brooches, which, according to the general pattern of the base, are very close to the fibula from Blazhkov disassembled above, but in their content are identical to the pastoral fibula No. There is no lizard on such brooches (pastoral and Kiev ones) either - it has been replaced by a woman, obviously Makosh. If we continue the thought of the ritual purpose of such brooches, then the composition with horses and a female figure in the center should be compared with a similar plot in embroidery and attributed to another category of festivities - not to prayers for rain, but, for example, to the Kupala holiday, when rain was not asked for. ; the goddess Makosh lowered her hands to the ground. Both varieties of complex compositional brooches reveal to us different forms of showing the macrocosm, attracted in one form or another to the magical designs of the ancient plowmen of the Dnieper region, and, in all likelihood, are associated with the specific ritual function of one or another category of brooches. Each of them contained a reflection of a complex picture of the world, but different elements of the macrocosm were put forward for different sacred purposes. For prayers for rain, they turned to the heavenly Dazhdbog and saturated the jewelry with figures of waterfowl, snakes and pangolins. For the festivities of spring sowing or the “crown of summer” - Kupala, a female deity - Makosh - was displayed and surrounded (as in later Russian embroidery) by horses, which were necessary as a real force during a flash, and were symbolically associated with the sun (Phoebus's chariot ) and with the water element - horses were sacrificed to the water; ancient Poseidon is also firmly connected with horses. Toponymic accounting of tracts at its present level gives, unfortunately, an extremely fragmentary and incomplete picture, since there was no systematic study and it is extremely difficult to carry out. Such prayers. As if "who prays under a barn or in the rye under the grove or near the water," they did not even leave toponymic traces. Sacred Trees Sacred trees and sacred groves, "trees" and "groves" according to the terminology of medieval scribes, were not sufficiently mentioned in historical sources. One of the revered trees was the birch, which is associated with a number of spring rituals and round dance songs. It is possible that the birch was dedicated to coastlines, the spirits of goodness and fertility. Ethnographers have collected a lot of information about the "curling" of young birches, about spring ritual processions under the bound branches of birches. A felled birch tree in Semik (ancient date - June 4) served as the personification of some female deity and was the center of all Semitsky rituals. The trees involved in the pagan ritual were lavishly decorated with ribbons and embroidered towels. The embroidery on the ribs contained the image of those goddesses who prayed and sacrificed during these periods: the figures of Mokosh and two women in labor (mother and daughter) Lada and Lelya, prayers in “groves”, in “trees” can be functionally likened to a later church deity, where the temple corresponded to a grove or clearing in the forest, fresco images of deities - individual revered trees (or idol trees), and icons - images of Mokosh and Lada on the timbers. Trees located near springs, springs, springs, enjoyed special reverence, since here it was possible to simultaneously turn to the vegetative power of "growing" and to the living water of a key gushing from the earth. The meaning of turning to spring water and the emergence of the fabulous concept of “living water” is explained by the thought often carried out in anti-pagan literature: “Recoste: we create evil, so that good things will come upon us - we will devour students and rivers and this, so that we will improve our petitions.” "Ov demanded to create on the student, waiting for lawsuits from him." From the cult of birch and trees growing among students, the cult of oak differs significantly. Oak - the tree of Zeus and Perun, the strongest and most durable tree of our latitudes - has firmly entered the system of Slavic pagan rituals. The Slavic ancestral home was located in the zone of oak growth, and the beliefs associated with it must go back to ancient times. Until the XVII - XIX centuries. oak and oak forests retained their leading place in rituals. The village wedding train, after the wedding, circled the lone oak tree three times; Feofan Prokopovich in his "Regulations of the Spiritual" forbids "singing prayers in front of an oak." Live roosters were sacrificed to the oak tree, arrows were stuck around, and others brought pieces of bread, meat and what each had, as their custom demanded. Hostile and Evil Deities Altars have also been found dedicated to some special, exceptional occasion: a natural disaster, a drought, an epidemic. The epidemic, pestilence, fully explains the combination of a stuffed altar with a cemetery and stealing near it. Such altars had a female outline. The female deity, absorbing her gifts, could be Makosh (in case of a threat to the harvest), and in the case of pestilence and a threat to people's lives, this could be the personification of that hostile and evil deity like Mara, Morena, (from "pestilence", "starve"), which later took on the well-known appearance of the fabulous Baba Yaga. Fairy tales often emphasize the immensity of this creature: Baba Yaga lies in the hut from corner to corner: “in one corner of her legs, in the other her head, her lips on the lintel, her nose stuck to the ceiling”; “Baba Yaga, the bone leg is a clay muzzle, she plugs the stove with her chest” (sometimes - “her boobs hang in the garden”). Baba Yaga's counterpart is Likho One-Eyed: "Likho is personified in our legends as a giant woman, greedily devouring people." Ukrainian fairy tales. In which the main opponent of the hero is Likho, they equate Likho with Baba Yaga: this giantess lives in the forest, barely fits in her hut, fries the people she slaughtered in the oven. The blacksmith, who has fallen into the power of Likh, only by cunning gets rid of the monster giantess. The blacksmith opposing the personification of evil is a character from the ancient epic of the beginning of the Iron Age. The one-eyed Likho "was taller than the tallest oak." As for the one-eyedness of the Drevlyan ritual figure that interests us, it should be said that in the entire semicircle of its head (“northern ledge”) only one point is marked in the place of the first eye - four large stones are laid there. Such altars were a public sacrifice to the evil deity of death and evil in some special frightening circumstances. Likha was brought, seeing from the excavations, animals and people, judging by the abundant folklore material, the heads of the sacrificed were separated and exhibited around the dwelling of Baba Yaga or Likha on stakes - “stamens”. In many fairy tales, Baba Yaga's hut is furnished with such poles with skulls on them; Likha's one-eyed guest is treated with severed heads; palace of Baba Yaga, the leader of the cavalry. “Fenced with a tyne, on each stamen there is a head and only one head is missing” (it is intended for the head of the hero of a fairy tale). Present in fairy tales is the motif of making a “cup” from a skull, known from the annals. Priests and Their Role In order to recreate the general picture of primitive Slavic paganism, it is not enough for us to have only village magi. After all, we know that even in the I millennium BC. e. there were "events", "cathedrals", "crowds" - crowded tribal gatherings with a complex scenario of a pagan ritual, with a developed set of rites, accompanied by pre-made props. The tribal nobility should have included people who developed a system of rituals, who knew (or created again) the texts of prayers and chants, melodies of tunes, and formulas for addressing the gods. The age-old tradition inevitably had to be intertwined with creativity and the expansion of the repertoire. Priests were an integral part of any primitive society, and the more complicated its social structure was, the closer it was to the upper limit of pre-class primitiveness, the clearer and more diverse was the role of tribal priests, priestesses and princes who performed part of the priestly functions. In order to reproduce the composition of the priestly class of the ancient Slavs, in addition to the universal sorcerers - "cloakers", leaders of pagan rites and sacrifices, we must also include blacksmiths in the general list of wizards, who made not only tools and weapons (which already gave them considerable weight) , but also “female forge”, “forge of great value”, showing “cunning” and “blacksmithing art”. From the ancient verb “to forge”, to make something out of metal, the word “deceit” comes, which we use only in a figurative sense, and at one time meant: wisdom, skill, intricacy. "The root of wisdom, to whom it was revealed, and deceit (wisdom), who understand." These "insidious" goldsmiths were perfectly aware of pagan symbols and widely used their knowledge both for the manufacture of village amulets and jewelry with amulets, as well as for the "mane utensils" of the most noble women of the country up to the Grand Duchesses. From the information of the XI - XIV centuries. we have data on the following category of people involved in a pagan cult: Men Women Magi Haranniki Magi (sorcerer) Wizards Adherents Witches Cloud-catchers Sorcerers Sorceresses Priests Bayans Enchantresses Veduns Sorcerers Sorceresses Sorcerers Kobniki Nauzniki Enchanters Patvors, sorcerers Direct information about the Magi and their role in public life the young state of Russia in the 9th - 10th centuries. we have little. Records about the actions of the Magi in the bearish corners of the northeastern outskirts - in Suzdal and Poshekhonye - date back only to the 11th century. Perhaps that is why such a historically interesting topic as the priestly class has not even been posed in our literature as a problem to be considered. It is not uncommon to look at the Magi, only as village sorcerers, healers of a small scale. Such were the distant descendants of the ancient Magi in the 16th - 17th centuries, who, according to tradition, were still called Magi. But even fragmentary information about the Magi of the 11th century, acting on the very edge of the earth subject to Russia, draws them to us as powerful figures who raised their hands both to the local nobility (“old child”) and to the noble Kiev boyar, who arrived with a whole retinue. At the time of the introduction of Christianity, the Magi led the people and openly fought with government troops. A century later, in the same Novgorod, “the Vlkhv stood under Gleb (Svyatoslav, the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise) ... To speak to people, acting like a god and a lot of deception - not a whole city is enough ... And bast a rebellion in the city and give him faith and even if you want to beat the bishop ... And they are divided in two: the prince Gleb and his squad stay with the bishop, and the people go for the vlhva ... ". This well-known episode testifies to the power of influence of pagan priests not only in the wilderness, but also in the city, where the episcopal see was established long ago and the majestic St. Sophia Cathedral was built. Among the Slavs, Hilferding writes, “priests had the meaning of a special estate, strictly distant from the people ... they performed popular prayers in sanctuaries and those divinations by which the will of the gods was recognized. They prophesied and spoke to the people on behalf of the gods... They enjoyed special honor and wealth, disposed of the income from the estates that belonged to the temples and the abundant offerings of worshipers. The most famous among the Baltic Slavs was the famous temple of Svyatovit (corresponding to the Russian Family) in Arkona on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Managing religious life was not easy, even at the level of a single village; it was complex at the level of a tribe with a common tribal sanctuary, and it became very complicated and diverse at the level of a state united by about fifty tribes. A simple rural sorcerer had to know and remember all rituals, incantations, ritual songs, be able to calculate the calendar dates of all magical actions, and know the healing properties of herbs. In terms of the sum of his knowledge, he should have approached a modern professor of ethnography, with the only difference being that the ethnographer has to search for half-forgotten remnants for a long time. And an ancient sorcerer, probably. He received a lot from his teachers-predecessors. Without continuous succession of generations, it is impossible to imagine the thousand-year tradition of all varieties of East Slavic folklore. Koshchuny An important part of the activity of the Magi-wizards was the creation and transmission of diverse ritual folklore. Its origins came from the distant depths of primitiveness, and thanks to the careful preservation of traditions, the echoes of verbal creativity reached the remote corners of Russia until the 19th century, before meeting with ethnographers. Translations from Greek allow us to determine how some words were translated into Russian, for example, “koshchyuns”, “fables”. Blasphemers and fables are close concepts, but not identical: “Inii buzz (play bowed instruments), ini bait him and slander.” Bayat, tell fables, obviously refers to different types of oral literature, and this action is subjected to much less attacks by churchmen than blasphemers, from whom our modern word to blaspheme, to desecrate a shrine, is also derived. In fables, obviously, there is a great secularity, perhaps everyday (but not epic), and in blasphemers there is more paganism, mythological, what seemed especially blasphemous to the church fathers of the 4th-7th centuries. and Russian clergy XI - XIV centuries. The blasphemers were semantically associated with the sorcerers and the magician: "Neither the devils heed, nor the blasphemous magicians." Mythic blasphemers are clearly opposed to true epic-historical narratives. Church writers of that time believed that it should be “in the place of the glorious deles of the story to tell”, i.e. preferred epic to myth. There were special "button accordions" and storytellers of myths - "blasphemers", to which people flocked, despite the prohibitions: "Yes, start relics with a blasphemer - you see many people going to blasphemers." To some extent, blasphemers are associated with the funeral rite: “Many people, for the sake of vanity, cry (for the dead), and when they have departed, they blaspheme and get drunk.” From this phrase it can be seen that blasphemers were performed during the commemoration of the deceased. Moreover, they were performed "for the sake of vanity", i.e. a particularly solemn memorial cake was considered to be the one on which some mythological legends were sung. When determining the original etymology of the word "blasphemer", obviously, one should accept the assumption of its dual basis; the first half (kosh-) is directly stated with the concept of fate, lot, and the second - with a more diverse set of meanings. Russian translators of the XI - XII centuries. steadily translated the Greek word "koshchyuny", combining in it the concepts of fate and a good start. Myths-blasphemers were performed by the elders: "old men's basses", "old men's blasphemers". “Koschyunoslovie” is sometimes combined in one phrase with “kobeniya”, obviously, the performance of legends could be accompanied by certain ritual gestures and body movements. In Sreznevsky's "Materials" (including translated works, according to which we can more accurately imagine the meaning of Russian words), the following terms are associated with folklore: Bayan, charmer (incantator) - "producing or singing spells." Saying, saying. Koshchyun is a myth. Swearing is the telling of myths. Koshchyunit - conjure, tell. Koshchyunnik - a magician, a blasphemer storyteller. Blasphemy (later) - desecration of a Christian shrine. To this material should be added: Koshchnoe - “that is to say, pitch darkness”, “hell” Koschei, Koshui the Immortal, Korchun - a fairy-tale character. The key to penetrating the half-forgotten world of ancient Slavic mythology can be the widespread and stable image of Koshchei the Immortal, whose very name contains an indication of the mythological archaic “blasphemer” and the connection with the infernal essence of the “koshchei”, otherworldly kingdom. The East Slavic fairy tale was called mythological for a long time by researchers, until the famous Ukrainian ethnographer N.F. Sumtsov expressed serious doubts about the possibility of scientific knowledge of Slavic mythology: “The boundaries of mythology hang in the air; there has never been anything solid and stable here, and now, in the current state of folklore, mythology has no definite content. However, with further study of folklore, it turns out that fairy tales and fairy (mythological) fairy tales are indeed the shredded descendants of ancient myths: "The origin of a fairy tale from a myth is beyond doubt." And in the future, in connection with the growth of tribal squads and military clashes, the heroic epic is increasingly woven into the mythological narratives. Thus, the East Slavic magical heroic tale is the keeper of the echoes of archaic myths mixed with each other and fragments of the heroic epic, which was born back in the 1st millennium BC. “The beginning of the magic concludes the so-called remnant moments and, above all, the religious and mythological views of primitive man ... The tale is full of motives containing belief in the existence of the “other world” and the possibility of returning from there ... ". “The space hostile to man is a “different” kingdom, the sea kingdom, the kingdom of the Serpent, Koshchei, Yaga ... Penetrating into this world, destroying it, the hero affirms a single world of human justice and humanism.” The struggle of Christianity against paganism The adaptation of paganism to the needs of the emerging state took place in the conditions of rivalry with such world religions as Christianity and Islam, which was reflected in the legend "of the choice of faith." The Byzantine Empire was directly interested in the Christianization of the young but powerful state of Russia, believing that every nation that accepted the Christian faith from the hands of the emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople, thereby already became a vassal of the Orthodox Empire. Naturally, with such stable contact with Christian lands, Christianity could penetrate into the Russian environment, which we can see from a number of documents of the 9th century, especially from the 860s. There is a missionary activity of the Greek Orthodox Church: Metropolitan Mikhail (Bulgarian) was sent to Russia, who baptized the Kiev prince Oskold. One of the ways for Christians to penetrate Kyiv, the well-known historian of the Russian church E.E. Golubinsky rightly considers the arrival at the service of the Kiev prince of the Varangians from the Norman community of Constantinople, baptized Scandinavians. The Varangians-Scandinavians had their own, well traveled by these sailors, sea route to Constantinople, which for some reason has been mixed up in our scientific and popular literature for two centuries with the route through Eastern Europe. Nestor in his text leads the reader from the Black Sea up the Dnieper and further to the Baltic Sea, pointing out that from the Varangian Baltic it is possible to sail by sea, without any portage, to Rome and Constantinople. Historians are still confused by the general title of this paragraph; since the question of the Varangians is directly related to our topic, I will quote Nestor’s text: “Be the path from the Varangians to Grky and from Grk along the Dnieper and the Dnieper viers dragged to Lovot and along Lovot enter the great lake into Ilmer, from which the lakes will flow Valkhov and to flow into the lake the great Nevo (Ladoga) and that lake to enter the mouth into the Varangian (Baltic and Northern) Sea. The route from the Varangians to the Greeks is designated as the route of the Scandinavian fleets, well known to us, across a single body of water (along the same sea) from the Baltic and the North Sea through the Channel, past Normandy, through Gibraltar in the Mediterranean to the Norman possessions in Italy and to Constantinople, where the Normans served in the Imperial Palace Guard. These Vikings of the Byzantine service naturally adopted Christianity, knew to some extent the Greek language. One can fully agree with E. E. Golubinsky that it was from these Constantinople Varangians that the hired squads of the Kiev princes were recruited: “The Varangians in very large numbers moved from Constantinople to Kyiv.” The first pagan action described in the chronicle was the sacrifice of a Christian Varangian youth to Perun. “Because the Varangian t (the father of the young man) came from Grk and kept the Christian faith in secret.” The Varangian, as we see, was one of those Constantinople Normans about whom Golubinsky wrote. The religious question was raised to the level of international politics. This was especially clearly manifested after Igor's campaign against Byzantium in 943 and the conclusion of an agreement in 944, already in the reign of Igor's widow Olga (since 945). The chronicle texts do not say a word about the priestly class, about the pagan sorcerers in Russia and about their actions at that time, but without taking into account this social element, so well described among the Western Slavs, it will be difficult for us to comprehend many events. The conflict between Svyatoslav and his pagan squad with Olga began at the moment when the regency of the princess ended. Obviously, Svyatoslav forbade the public holding of a Christian cult (prayer services, crusades, blessings of water, etc.), giving the main place to "pogansky tempers." Olga became, obviously, half a Christian, confessing. But without demonstrating their Orthodoxy. With this understanding of events, we will not have to reproach Jacob Mnich for using the inaccurate date of Olga's baptism (955) - he conscientiously said that the princess for 15 years after her baptism pleased God with good deeds. Naturally, the orator of the 11th century kept silent about the renunciation of Christianity or the prohibition of rituals. Concluding the consideration of the last period of the heyday of the paganism of Kievan Rus, when the ancient religion had to be improved not only in the interests of the state, but also in the confrontation with the penetration of Christianity into Russia, we should dwell on the most interesting work that reflected this confrontation in a peculiar epic form - the epic about Mikhail stream. The bylina about Mikhail Potok is a widespread and most significant work of the Russian heroic epic: it has over 1100 lines, it consists of two parts, and each part is equal to the average size of the songs of the Iliad. The literature devoted to this epic is very extensive; it was studied by V. I. Stasov, A. N. Veselovsky, O. Miller, V. F. Miller, G. N. Potanin, B. I. Yarkho, B. M. Sokolov, V. Ya. Propp, and others. And yet, in the historical interpretation of the epic, much remained unfinished and should be studied in conjunction with Russian and Byzantine historical evidence and archaeological data, which provide a convincing dating of the main plot of the epic. Chroniclers and church writers eventually began to call the Prince of Kiev Vladimir Svyatoslavovich (980 - 1015) Saint and Equal to the Apostles, crediting him with the baptism of Russia, but in the folk epic epic he remained an archaic mythological epithet, like "Volodimer the Sun". This solar sign made him related to the distant mythical Sokolot (Orthodox) king Kolaksai, the “Sun King”. Vladimir was the last pagan prince of Russia, and only he retained this poetic nickname, coming from great chronological depths. For almost two centuries, Kievan Rus was a pagan power that needed religious and ideological support for the statehood and power of the Kievan princes. Christianity, which had become the state religion in Byzantium already six centuries ago and in kindred Bulgaria for more than a century, by that time had become no longer the hope of a persecuted plebs, but a well-developed religion of a class society with the main thesis: "let slaves obey their masters." The adoption of Christianity was supposed to help strengthen statehood, but there was a great danger in such an act: the Byzantines believed that every nation that received a new faith from the hands of the Greek clergy, thereby becoming a vassal of the Byzantine Caesar, who headed both secular and supreme spiritual power. In the late 980s, Russia adopted Christianity as a public state religion. After the siege and capture of the capital of the Byzantine possessions - Chersonesos-Korsun - the Kiev boyars and Prince Vladimir could no longer fear that the empire would regard the acceptance of the faith from the hands of the Caesar and the patriarch as a sign of recognition of the vassal dependence of Russia on the Greeks. The conditions were dictated by the winner, who wanted to secure peace by marrying a Byzantine princess; "Hedgehog and come true." The adoption of Christianity immediately put Russia on a par with the advanced states of that time, facilitated diplomatic ties, since the people of the Middle Ages attached great importance to religion, and by this time Christianity had covered about three-quarters of Europe, Transcaucasia and a significant part of the Middle East. One of the political results of the baptism was that the son of Vladimir, by agreement with the Caesar of the Byzantine Empire, received the highest European title of "Caesar", i.e. emperor. And the son, grandchildren and granddaughters of Vladimir intermarried with the largest royal houses of the continent. The point was, of course, not in one religion, but also in the objective political power of Russia, but Christianity formalized this new force, and in Europe there were three monarchs of the highest rank: the emperor of Byzantium, the emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire" (Germany) and the emperor ( Tsar) of Russia, Grand Duke of Kyiv. In Russia, Christianity did not appear in its original form, in which it was in the first centuries of its existence; it has long ceased to be the religion of the disenfranchised and the oppressed, who expected compensation only in the other world. From the time of Constantine the Great (306 - 337), who baptized Byzantium, Christianity became the state religion and moved further and further away from the principles of the "new testament", relying more and more on the "old testament" (Bible) full of deceit, cruelty and autocracy. The strength of such state Christianity was the combination of the principle of inviolability and limitlessness of power, taken from the Bible, with the principle of humility and humility, taken from the gospel teaching. All subsequent Christian literature followed this path; Christian clergy took an active part in the development of state legislation. For a millennium, paganism retreated very slowly under the persistent onslaught of the Orthodox clergy. The village essentially became Christian hardly earlier than the 13th century, and the remnants of pagan cremations in the form of huge bonfires over the grave (“smoke” according to the life of Konstantin of Murom) survived in some places until the end of the 19th century. Churches were built in the cities of Kievan Rus; they were supplied with liturgical books, utensils, served by the clergy; around the cities, immediately outside the fortress walls, monasteries arose, which were the "nodes of strength" of the church organization; the clergy organized solemn prayers in the cities, crusades, read sermons; but paganism continued to be strong not only "in Ukraine", but also in big cities. To characterize the correlation between the Christian and the pagan beginnings in Russian cities, it is enough to cite the well-known "Word about the Creature ...", compiled by the Russian scribe of the 12th century. The author strengthens the previous generations of Russian people in the fact that they created a pagan religion: "I made our fathers lie, bow down like an idol in the image of a man and serve the creature." The author of the "Word..." also scourged his contemporaries for worshiping the images of pagan gods ("those who wrote the light with a blockhead bow to him"); these images of light (Svyatovich?) are "creature", i.e. the creation of human hands "write in the image of a man for the charm of the unintelligent." Paganism was preserved in the early days of the existence of the Old Russian state and Christianity, coexisting with Christianity, and the remnants of paganism are still preserved: Maslenitsa, Ivan Kupala, seeing off winter and much more. Literature 1. S. M. Solovyov Works book 1, volume 1 (c) 1988 "Thought" 2. Rybakov B. A. Paganism of the ancient Slavs. 3. Bessonov Petor. Belarusian songs with detailed descriptions of their creativity and language with essays on folk rites, customs and everyday life M., 1871. 4. Propp V.Ya. Russian agricultural holidays. M., 1963. 5. Levchenko MV Essays on the history of Russian-Byzantine relations. M., 1956. 6. Sakharov A. N. Diplomacy of ancient Russia. M., 1980. 7. Golubinsky EE History of the Russian Church. M., 1901, vol. 1, first half of the volume. 8. Rybakov B. A. Prerequisites for the formation of the Old Russian state (Essays on the history of the USSR III - IX centuries. M., 1958. 9. Rybakov B. A. Ancient Russia ...
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1. Paganism. five

1.1. Stages of development of pagan religion. five

1.2. The influence of paganism on the culture and life of the Eastern Slavs. 8

2. Adoption of Christianity. 10

2.1. Reasons for the adoption of Christianity. 10

2.2. Baptism of Russia. 13

3. Christianity. 15

4. Consequences of the adoption of Christianity. 16

4.1. political consequences. 16

4.2. cultural implications. 17

Conclusion. twenty

References. 23

Introduction

Christianity in Ancient Russia existed long before it was given the status of an official religion, but it was not widely spread and, of course, could not compete with paganism. But trade relations with Greece made it easier for Russia to get acquainted with the Christian faith. Varangian merchants and combatants, earlier and more often than the Slavs, who went to Constantinople, before the Slavs began to convert to Christianity there and brought a new teaching to Russia, passing it on to the Slavs. At first, the Christian churches were small pockets in a sea of ​​paganism. Only later, with the support of state power, the church began to take root in the people's environment, cities and villages, despite the fact that the main part of the population of Russia actively or passively resisted the new religion. It was the general rejection of it in the conditions of even limited democracy that thwarted the plans of the Kiev nobility and turned the introduction of Christianity into a centuries-old process. In most of the cities that openly rebelled against Christianity, the local secular and former spiritual nobility came forward.

Paganism has passed a complex centuries-old path from the archaic, primitive beliefs of an ancient person to the state princely religion of Kievan Rus by the 9th century. By this time, paganism was enriched with complex rites (one can single out the burial rite, in which many ideas of the pagans about the world were concentrated), a clear hierarchy of deities (the creation of a pantheon) and had a huge impact on the culture and life of the ancient Slavs.

The Christian faith formed a new, but not completely freed from the influence of paganism, picture of the world of ancient Russian man. At the center of it were ideas about the relationship between God and man. The idea of ​​love as a force dominating in people's lives and in their relationship with God and with each other organically entered Russian culture. The idea of ​​personal salvation, which is the most important for the Christian faith, oriented a person towards self-improvement and contributed to the development of individual creative activity. However, while promoting the development of culture and literacy, the church at the same time suppressed the culture based on pagan traditions and rituals with all its might. Happy holidays, carols and carnivals were persecuted, like demonic ones, buffoonery, playing folk instruments were punished.

But paganism did not give up completely. Russia became a country where an unusual and rather strong combination of Christian dogmas, rules, traditions and old pagan ideas was realized. There was a so-called dual faith. Christians prayed in churches, bowed before home icons, but at the same time celebrated the old pagan holidays.

The popular consciousness stubbornly intertwined the old pagan beliefs into its way of life, adapting Christian rituals to the phenomena of nature blown through the ages, which were so carefully and accurately determined by paganism. Dual faith has become an amazing hallmark of the history of the Russian and other Christian peoples who inhabited Russia.

1. Paganism

Paganism is a religious form of human exploration of the world. The religious views of the ancient Slavs reflected the worldview of our ancestors. They developed, became more complex, not differing significantly from the similar development of the religions of other peoples. Man lived in a mythological picture of the world. In its center was nature, to which the collective adapted.

1.1. Stages of development of pagan religion

At the first stage, the forces of nature were deified. All of it was inhabited by many spirits, which had to be propitiated, so that they would not harm a person, help in labor activity. The Slavs worshiped Mother Earth, water cults were quite developed. The god of the sun - Dazhdbog, the god of winds and storms - Stribog was revered. In addition to them, the Slavs also worshiped Veles, the god of cattle and wealth, Khors, associated with the solar cult. God Yarilo was responsible for the germination of cereals, Kupalo was responsible for the ripening of fruits, the Court was in charge of human destinies, Chur guarded the boundaries between the fields and all kinds of borders. In addition to the characters of higher mythology (gods and goddesses), the Slavs also inhabited their world with less significant creatures: mermaids (spirits of nature, originally living everywhere: in forests, meadows, valleys, and not just in the water), goblin, water, brownies, barns, banners and other small gods and spirits.

At the second stage, in Russian-Slavic paganism, the cult of ancestors develops and lasts longer than other types of beliefs. According to B.A. Rybakov, the god Rod came to the fore. The Slavs revered Rod - the creator of the Universe and Rozhanitsa - goddesses of fertility, and believed in the other world. Death was perceived not as disappearance, but as a transition to the underworld. They burned the corpses or buried them in the ground. In the first case, it was assumed that after death the soul remains to live, in the other it was assumed that they continue to live, but in a different world. After being burned, the soul retained connections with the material world, taking on a different image, moving into a new body. The Slavs believed that the ancestors continued to live with them even after death, constantly being nearby. “Own” dead helped their relatives in every possible way, “strangers” harmed them. “Hence the superstitious fear that took possession of a Russian person at crossroads: here, on neutral soil, a relative felt himself in a foreign land, ..., outside the sphere of help of his protective gurs”

At the third stage of the development of the pagan religion, according to many scientists, the cult of Rod broke up into many smaller cults, of which, in the end, the cult of the “God of Gods” became the most important. This is already a celestial being, the head of the hierarchy of the gods. In the 6th century, the God of Thunder Perun, the patron of the prince and his squad, the god of war and battles, throwing lightning at his opponents, was recognized as the ruler of the Universe. Despite this, the Slavs still revered other gods, which confirms the polytheism of religion. But it is also worth listening to the opinion of B.A. Rybakov: in Russia, “the idea of ​​monotheism in its patriarchal male form arose before Christianity, completely independently of it and, in all likelihood, long before it.” As evidence, the text of Procopius of Caesarea, dating back to the 6th century, is usually cited: “They (Antes and Slavins) believe that only one god, the creator of lightning, is the ruler over all, and bulls are sacrificed to him and other sacred rites are performed.” The only question that remains is which god this statement refers to - Rod or Perun.

The priestly class of ancient Russia played a special role here. The general name of the priests was "wizards" or "wizards". There were many different ranks in the entire priestly class. There are known "magicians-clouders", those who were supposed to predict and, by their magical actions, create the weather necessary for people. There were sorcerers-healers who treated people with folk medicine, "magicians-keepers" who led the complex business of making various kinds of amulets-amulets and, obviously, ornamental symbolic compositions. The work of this category of sorcerers can be studied both by archaeologists on the basis of numerous ancient ornaments that served as amulets at the same time, and by ethnographers on the vestigial plots of embroidery with the goddess Makosh, the goddesses of spring, riding horses "with a golden plow" and numerous symbolic patterns. The most interesting category of the Magi was the "blasphemer Magi", the narrators of "koshchyun" - myths, the keepers of ancient legends and epic tales. In addition to the magicians-sorcerers, there were also women-sorceresses, witches (from "to know" - to know), enchantresses, "intrigues".

Prince Vladimir, being at the top of the process of creating a unified Russian statehood, decided to give the pagan religion a socially significant state character. To this end, in 980, he established a single pantheon, obligatory for the veneration of all his subjects. This pantheon included: Perun, Khors, Dazhdbog, Stribog, Semargl and Mokosh. “From political calculations, his own retinue-Rurik Perun had to be furnished with the gods of the tribes subordinate to the Igorevichs and Novgorodians.” However, the reform did not satisfy the prince, who was building a unified state. A few years later, he decided to adopt the Christian religion, actively spread by the most powerful state of that time - the Byzantine Empire.

1.2. The influence of paganism on the culture and life of the Eastern Slavs

The culture of Russia from the very beginning was influenced by various cultural trends, styles, and traditions. Russia not only blindly copied other people's influences and recklessly borrowed them, but applied them to its cultural traditions, to its people's experience, which came down from the depths of centuries, and understanding of the surrounding world.

The pagans knew many kinds of arts. They were engaged in painting, sculpture, music, and developed crafts. Here, archaeological research plays an important role in the study of culture and everyday life.

Excavations in the territories of ancient cities show all the diversity of life in urban life. Many found treasures and opened burial grounds brought to us household items and jewelry. The abundance of women's jewelry in the found treasures made it possible to study crafts. On tiaras and earrings, ancient jewelers reflected their ideas about the world; with the help of ornate floral ornaments, they could tell about the change of seasons, about the life of pagan gods and other events. Unknown animals, mermaids, griffins occupied the imagination of the then artists.

West Slavic twin idol

The beliefs of the Slavs and the Balts were very close. This applies to the names of such deities as Perun (Perkunas) and Veles. There is a similarity in the names of the gods of the Slavs and Thracians (most often they cite Dazhbog as an example). There is also a lot in common with German, in particular with Scandinavian, mythology (the motif of the world tree, the cult of dragons, etc.).

In the same period, with the division of the Proto-Slavic community, the tribal beliefs of the Slavs began to form, which had significant regional differences. Along with the common Slavic deities (Svarog, Perun, Lada), each tribe developed its own pantheon of gods, the same gods received different names. It can be argued that in the early Middle Ages, the beliefs of the western Baltic Slavs and the eastern Dnieper Slavs were divided, while the paganism of the southern, eastern and also Polish Slavs largely retained unity.

During the resettlement of Slavic tribes in - centuries. their culture mixed with the beliefs of the local Finno-Ugric, Baltic and Turkic peoples.

Worldview of the Slavs

The nature of beliefs

Slavic paganism refers to polytheistic religions, that is, the Slavs recognized the existence of many gods. The pagan, using the word "god", did not mean a specific deity.

A feature of Slavic paganism is often the allocation of its main deity for each tribe. So in the treaties of Russia with Byzantium, Perun is called "our god", "in whom we believe." Helmold speaks of the worship of Svyatovit, "to whom they dedicated the temple and idol to the greatest splendor, attributing to him the primacy among the gods."

At the same time, the Slavs, like the Balts, had an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe supreme deity.

Animals and a female bird, figurines of the Ant type of the 6th-7th centuries, Velestino

Paganism is often referred to as the deification of natural forces. Slavic pagans praised their ancestors and the surrounding nature (thunder and lightning, wind, rain, fire). The Slavs are characterized by the veneration of animals (bear, wolf, lizard, eagle, horse, rooster, duck, tour, wild boar). But totemism is practically unknown.

The sun, moving around the world of people along its own path ("Khors' path"), visits both the sky and the underworld (the night Sun). A special place is occupied by the moments of sunrise and sunset (images of the evening and morning Dawn).

The Slavs singled out four or eight cardinal directions. The most significant were the west, as the orientation of the body of the deceased in the grave, and the northeast, as the orientation of the temples to the point of sunrise on the day of the summer solstice.

The element that binds the universe for the Slavs was fire. It was used in offering sacrifices, at funerals, at holidays, for protective purposes, etc. Fire was a symbol of eternity. The personification of fire was Svarog. Researchers call Svarog the god of the universe. Arab authors call Slavs and Russes fire-worshippers.

It is believed that the Slavs had ideas about " paradise", Which in East Slavic folklore is called Iriy (Vyriy), this place is associated with the Sun and birds, is located in the south or underground (under water, in a well). The souls of the dead go there. There are also ideas about Buyan Island, also identified with the other world. In medieval Novgorod, there was an idea that paradise could be reached by sea, and that allegedly one of the Novgorodians did this by going east. Ibn Fadlan (vek) conveys the views and vision of paradise during the funeral of the Rus as follows:

And there was a certain Russian husband next to me ... and he said: “You, O Arabs, are stupid ... Truly, you take the person most beloved to you and from you the most respected by you and throw him into the dust, and eat his dust and vile, and worms, and we burn him in the twinkling of an eye, so that he enters Paradise immediately and immediately.”

The Eastern Slavs associate the origin of people with Dazhbog, the son of Svarog. In the "Word of Igor's Campaign" (XII century), he is called the ancestor of the princes and Russian people in general, and in the "Sofia Time" (XIII century) - the first king of the Slavs.

The Slavs considered the Danube lands to be their ancestral home. Procopius of Caesarea (VI century) called the ancestral home of the Slavs “the country of Sporaden”, the Bavarian Geographer (IX century) left the following legend about the Danube region of Zaryania: “Zeruyan (Zeriuani), who alone have a kingdom and from which all the tribes of the Slavs, like them assert, originate and lead their own kind. In the annals of the 17th century, in the legend of the ancestor Slovene, Zardan is named among the Danube ancestors. Some historians also note that among the Slavs there were ideas about the Carpathians as the Holy Mountains, where their ancient ancestors (“foremothers”) lived. The personification of such ideas is the epic giant Svyatogor.

Each tribe told about their migration from their ancestral home, naming their ancestors: Radim and Vyatko, Kriv, Chekh and Lekh. Legends were transmitted about the founders of dynasties and cities - Kiy, Krak (Krok), Piast.

The Slavs believed in life after death, believed in immortality, and according to some researchers, in reincarnation.

Periodization of the development of Slavic paganism

There were also ideas about the Stone Age and the Iron Age. The legends about the Asilk giants say that they did not know God and threw stone clubs into the sky. In the north of Russia there were legends about "divine people" who changed fur for iron things. As far back as the century, the Slavs, according to Theophylact Simokatta, spoke about the production of iron as follows:

There were also tribes that had personalized gods, and those that did not have idols. Helmold (XII century) writes that some Slavs did not have idols:

“The Slavs have many different types of idolatry. For not all of them adhere to the same pagan customs. Some cover the unimaginable statues of their idols with temples, such as, for example, the idol in Plun, whose name is Podaga; among others, deities inhabit forests and groves, like Prove, the god of the Aldenburg land, - they do not have any idols.

B. A. Rybakov also draws attention to the ideas of the ancient Russian scribe that before the establishment of faith in Perun, the Slavs believed in Rod, and even earlier - only in ghouls and beregins. Thus, paganism developed from beliefs with lesser personification of deities to idolatry. B - cc. part of the tribes retained paganism without the personification of gods and without idols, the other part - worshiped the idols of the gods.

The issue of idol worship in Europe was discussed as early as the time of Pythagoras, who lived in the century BC. e. Iamblichus (-3rd century BC) and other authors describing the life of this ancient Greek sage tell that a Scythian priest of Apollo named Abaris came to him, who was interested in particular in the veneration of the gods through idols:

“When Pythagoras was in captivity ... a wise man appeared to him, a native of Hyperboreans, named Abaris, who arrived precisely for a conversation with him, and asked him questions about the most sacred objects, namely about idols, about the most reverent way of worshiping God ... "

The very first Slavic idols can be dated to -VII centuries, although there are also earlier datings of idols - centuries. D. N. Kozak and Ya. E. Borovsky tend to combine all pagan monuments of the Zarubinets culture with monuments of a later time into a common branch of evolution, supporting the “Scythian” concept of B. A. Rybakov, who sees in the Scythian funeral idols of the 7th-4th centuries. BC e. statues of the Slavic-Scythian god Goytosir. Apparently, the personification of the Slavic gods took place in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e., when the Iron Age began, and at the beginning of our era. By the century, the Slavs knew both weapons (Pshevorsk swords) and strong princely power (Prince Bozh), and, probably, the first gods. This is evidenced by indirect references to names formed from the names of deities. In the 5th century, the vandals were led by a leader named Radigast (Radogais), who was also worn by the god of the Baltic Slavs (Veneti) Radegast. In the century, among the mercenaries in Byzantium was a Slavic warrior named Svaruna, whose name contains the same root as the name Svarog. In the description of Procopius of Caesarea (v.), the main god of the Slavs and Antes is the Thunderer, therefore, we can talk about the personification of Perun. There are also studies that bring together the already mentioned Apollo and Leto with Kupala and Lada, the personification of which was never completed, but took place from the earliest centuries of the development of Slavic paganism.

The third stage, identified by Rybakov, is recognized by most researchers who tend to separate pre-state paganism (“the paganism of the ancient Slavs”) and the paganism of the state period (“the paganism of Ancient Russia”). In the most general framework, this period is limited to -XII centuries. So it is generally accepted that with the advent of the state, Perun becomes the head of the gods of the Eastern Slavs, as the patron of the prince and squad.

In addition, state paganism evolved into state polytheism, when the prince selected some gods for the pantheon and did not accept others.

It is also necessary to single out the period of development of paganism after the adoption of Christianity, when the latter significantly influenced traditional beliefs and mythology. This period in the most general framework can be limited to -XIV centuries. This period is characterized by “dual faith”, and for Russia of the XII-XIII centuries they even talk about a pagan renaissance.

In the future, open manifestations of paganism among the Slavs can rarely be found. Pagan beliefs become part of popular culture, remnants that are found in Christian culture to this day, but are not seen as opposed to it (except for the Church's struggle with superstitions).

At the present stage, pagan beliefs are being revived in the form of neo-paganism, including Slavic Rodnoverie.

Myths of the ancient Slavs

Sources of information about myths

Quite a lot of texts, collections of myths, Russian fairy tales and significant pictorial compositions on mythological themes such as "The Tale of Prophetic Oleg" have survived from Slavic paganism. The Tale of Bygone Years says: "All these tribes had their own customs, and the laws of their fathers, and traditions, and each had its own temper."

Scientists also reconstruct Slavic mythology according to various other sources.

First, there are written sources. Texts of Byzantine authors - centuries: Procopius of Caesarea, Theophylact Simokatta, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Leo the Deacon and others. Western European authors -XIII centuries: Bavarian Geographer, Titmar of Merseburg, Helmold, Saxo Grammatik and others. Arab authors -XIII centuries: al- Masudi, Ibn Fadlan, Ibn Ruste and others. In the Scandinavian sagas of the 13th century, in the Elder and Younger Eddas, there is also information that can be used to reconstruct Slavic paganism. Russian, West Slavic (Kozma of Prague) and South Slavic sources - centuries: chronicles, teachings and instructions against the pagans (Kirill of Turovsky, Kirik Novgorodets, etc.) and inserts in translated literature, including apocrypha. A special place is occupied by "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", which reflected a significant layer of pagan myths mentioned by the heir and bearer of pagan culture - an anonymous songwriter. All these texts do not contain any holistic expositions of mythology or individual myths.

Secondly, written sources -XVII centuries. and folklore sources of the 18th - centuries, which are less close to paganism, but contain a number of information from earlier sources that have not come down to us, as well as detailed records of legends, fairy tales, epics, conspiracies, bylichki and byvalshchina, proverbs and sayings, on which it is possible to reconstruct ancient myths. A special role is played by the information of Polish, Czech and German authors and historians who wrote down the local legends of the Western Slavs, who preserved the information from ancient Russian sources. In Russia XVI-XVII centuries. some information was recorded by Western diplomats, military men and travelers (Sigismund Herberstein, Olearius, etc.). Among folklore stories, epics about Svyatogor, Potyk, Volga (Volkh), Mikul are usually attributed to paganism; fairy tales about Kashchei the Immortal, Zmeya Gorynych, Baba Yaga, Alyonushka and Ivanushka. The difficulty of interpreting these sources lies in the fact that later layers, fabrications of authors, storytellers, collectors of folklore are superimposed on ancient ideas. Among the authoritative researchers of folklore Sakharov I.P., Afanasyev A.N., Propp V.Ya. and others.

Archaeological sources are more reliable, but less informative: information from excavations of places of worship, finds of idols, ritual objects, jewelry, pagan symbols, inscriptions mentioning pagan gods or pagans, remnants of sacrifices and ritual actions. A significant contribution to the study of pagan antiquities was made by Nederle L., Lyavdansky A. N., Hermann I., Kyassovskaya E., Gyassovsky E., Losinsky V., Lapinsky A., Sedov V. V., Tretyakov P. N., Rybakov B. A., Vinokur I. S., Tolochko P. P., Kozak D. N., Borovsky Ya. E., Timoshchuk B. A., Rusanova I. P. et al.

No less important are the data of linguistics, comparative religion and the study of mythological subjects from other peoples. In addition to the world authority in this area, Fraser D., one can name Tokorev S.A., Toporov V.N. and Ivanov V.V. Many Slavic myths are known from scientific reconstructions.

Mythological connections in the "Tale of Igor's Campaign", XII century.

A figurine in the Antian style from Velestino, 6th-7th centuries, depicting a baby lizard in the arms of a mother holding a seven-stringed harp depicting a nightingale.

Chi whether it was sung, Boyana things, Velesov's granddaughter ... About Boyana, the nightingale of the old time!

A div sitting on top of a tree (perhaps the world tree) predicts disaster with his cry, like an eclipse of the Sun

The sun blocks the way for him with darkness; night, moaning to him with a thunderstorm, wake the bird; whistle beast vsta; Zbisya Div, calls to the top of the tree

Anyhow, you tickled the regiments, jumping ... rushing into the path of Troyan through the fields to the mountains ... There were Trojan’s veins ... Resentment arose in the forces of Dazhdbozh’s grandson, entered the land of Troyan as a virgin ...

now they began to put the words of rags, Rodow and the women in childbirth, before Perown their god, and before that they laid the treb with the opirem and the coast ... So it’s up to the sloven to reach these words, and you began to lay the treb to the Family and the Rozhanits, ... and now the Egyptians put the treb to the Nile and fire, the river Nile is the fruit-giver and grower of the class.

Pagan wrote, Novgorod. Miniature idols are depicted: a lizard, twins, a lizard, a four-faced god.

Reconstruction of the myth about Svarog and Svarozhichs

The fourth idol is Lado. This name is the god of joy and all prosperity. Offering sacrifices to him who is preparing for marriage, with the help of Lada, imagine good fun and kindly acquire life. This same charm from the most ancient idolaters originated, even some gods Lel and Polel are honored, their Bogomeric name is still proclaimed in some countries in the hosts of merrymakers with the singing of Lelyum-Polel. So is the mother of Lelev and Polelev - Lado, singing: Lado, Lado! And that idol of the decrepit charm of the devil at the wedding oars, splashing his hands and beating on the table, sing.

The simplest form of a specially organized cult place among the Slavs is cult sites with idols and sacrificial pits. Such places were supposedly called "demands", on which they "made treb", or "temple"- from "kap", that is, they performed what was necessary to glorify their native gods. Sacrificial pits were located on the outskirts of the villages and did not have fences. Sometimes several idols-drops were arranged in a geometric order on the cult sites: the main idol stood in the center or behind, and the secondary idols stood around or in front.

Sometimes places of worship and idols were fenced off. The fence could be "stamens", on which the skulls of sacrificial animals were hung, or from pillars on which the curtain was attached. The fenced area became a sacred area. The most common form of fencing was a rampart, a moat, and artificial elevation. Some temples are oriented to the northeast, in which case the entrance was in the southwest, and entering the temple one could watch the sunrise on the day of the summer solstice.

Among the settlements-sanctuaries, large cult centers are distinguished, which included a trespass, several temples, sacred paths (roads to temples), temple buildings with idols, wells, springs and buildings for holidays. On the territory of the sanctuaries there were ritual burials of older members of the clan, which became objects of veneration.

Cultists, sacrifices and predictions

The sources contain references to special men and women who performed pagan rites and took care of the temple. According to various sources, their names are as follows: sorcerers (“volkh” - a wolf, from “hairy” - hairy, lost from the custom of putting on clothes with fur outward when performing certain ceremonies), princes (among the Western Slavs, it approaches “prince”), keepers ( creators of amulets - amulets), panders and indulgences ("indulgence" - secret ritual actions), cloud chasers and wolves (from "wolf" and "skin"), blasphemers ("koshchi" - words at burial, keepers of the wisdom of departed ancestors), sorcerers and sorceresses, enchantresses and enchantresses (from “ charm" - ritual vessels and magical actions), bayans (" bayat" - to speak, tell), "healers", sorcerers, witches (from "to know" - to know) and sorcerers (from " broadcast"), sorcerers (from "kudesa" - a tambourine), obavniki, kobniki ("kob" - fortune-telling about fate, fortune-telling by the flight of birds, "koben" - unusual body movements), fortune tellers (from "thief" - a fence), nauzniki and nauznitsy (from "nauzy" - knots tied in a special way). In synchronous Russian sources, the word "magicians" was most often used.

The various titles of pagan priests are related to their status, the cult they served, and the activities they performed. Most often, the main duty of the priests was to conduct rituals, glorify the gods and make sacrifices in accordance with which god the holiday was in honor of. In addition, such designations of victims as “treat” and “treba” were used. Drinks (wine), food (pie), part of the crop (grain, straw) were used as sacrifices, there were birds (roosters and chickens) for the celebration of Perun's day.

Sacrifices are closely related to predictions. Procopius of Caesarea (v.) writes about the faith of the Slavs and Antes:

When they gather there to offer sacrifice to the idols, or to appease their wrath, they sit while the rest stand by; secretly whispering to each other, they dig the earth with trepidation, and, having cast lots, they learn the truth in matters of doubt. Having finished this, they cover the lot with green turf, and, having stuck 2 pointed spears crosswise into the ground, with humble obedience, they lead a horse through them, which is considered the largest among the others and therefore is revered as sacred; despite the already thrown lot, which they observed earlier, through this, allegedly divine animal, they again carry out divination. And if in both cases the same sign falls out, the plan is carried out; if not, the saddened people give up the idea. An ancient legend, entangled in various superstitions, testifies that when they are in the terrible danger of a long rebellion, a huge boar comes out of the said sea with white fangs shining with foam, and happily wallowing in the mud, reveals itself to many.

When it was supposed to start a war against any country, according to custom, ministers placed three spears in front of the temple. Of these, two were stuck with tips into the ground and connected [by the third] across; these structures were placed at an equal distance. To them, a horse, during a marching performance, after a solemn prayer, was led out in a harness by a priest from the entrance. If the erected structures were crossed with the right foot before the left, this was considered a sign of the coup of the war; if he stepped on the left before the right, then the direction of the campaign was changed. Speaking also at various enterprises, predictions were received from the first movement of the animal. If it was happy, they joyfully moved on; if unfortunate, they turned back.

Three wooden boards, white on one side and black on the other, were thrown into the pit as a lot; white meant good luck, black meant bad luck.

The same said: “The gods tell us: you can’t do anything to us!” ... When they were beaten and torn out with a split beard, Yan asked them: “What do the gods say to you?” They answered: “To stand before Svyatoslav ... But if you let us in, you will have a lot of good; if you destroy us, you will receive a lot of sadness and evil ”... Such a sorcerer also appeared under Gleb in Novgorod; he spoke to people, pretending to be a god, and he deceived many, almost the whole city, he said after all: "I foresee everything"

So it is said that his mother was a prophetess... Such was their custom that on the first evening of Yule they had to bring her to a chair in front of the king's high seat. And ... the king asks his mother, does not see or does not know if she knows any threat or damage hanging over his state, or the approach of any non-peace or danger, or an attempt by someone on his possessions. She replies: “I do not see anything, my son, that, I would know, could harm you or your state, as well as anything that would frighten away your happiness. And yet I see a great and beautiful vision. The son of a king in Noreg was born at this time ... "

The Magi differed from other people in clothing, long hair, a special staff (for example, in Novgorod - with the head of a god) and a way of life. Only priests in a number of cases could enter the sacred zone of temples, temples and sacred groves. Priests were held in high esteem by the people.

In separate tribes or among the priests of individual gods, a hierarchy developed, high priests stood out. Saxo Grammatik about the priests of Svyatovit:

To maintain the idol, each inhabitant of the island of both sexes contributed a coin. He was also given a third of the booty, believing that his protection would grant success. In addition, he had at his disposal three hundred horses and the same number of horsemen, who handed over everything that was obtained in battle to the high priest ... This god also had temples in very many other places, ruled by priests of lesser importance.

They revere the priest more than the king. They send their army where divination will show, and when they win, they take gold and silver to the treasury of their god, and divide the rest among themselves.

They have healers, of whom others command the king, as if they were their bosses (Rus). It happens that they order to bring a sacrifice to their creator, whatever they want: women, men and horses, and even when the healers order, it is impossible not to fulfill their order in any way.

Bogomil, superior to the priests of the Slavs, called the Nightingale because of sweetness, strictly forbade people to submit to forced Christian baptism.

B. A. Rybakov recognized the historicity of Bogomil and even attributed to him the Novgorod gusli of the 11th century with the inscription “Slavisha”.

From the sources, only a few names of people are known that can be attributed to pagan ministers. Firstly, this is Prince Vseslav of Polotsk, who, being a Christian, according to the annals, was born from sorcery, “in a shirt”, and “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” endows him with such features of the Magi as the ability to guess about fate by lot, werewolf ( “jump away from them like a fierce beast”, “jump like a wolf”) and guidance (“get pissed off in the blue mist”). Another character is the Kyiv witch Potvora, whose name is written on a whorl from the 13th century treasure. Along with the whorl, a knife was found, possibly of a ritual nature.

Holidays and rituals

Pagan holidays: a dancing bird woman, a harper, military games, a treat for a deity, a run, a feast. Draw images of ancient Russian bracelets of the XII-XIII centuries.

Calendar holidays

The calendar holidays of the Slavs were associated with the agricultural cycle and astronomical phenomena. There are a huge number of reconstructions of the calendar of Slavic holidays, while there are quite a few synchronous sources on this issue. Important information about the festive rituals is provided by archeology, but all this data again has to be interpreted through the late folk calendar.

Most researchers refer to pagan holidays as Maslenitsa (“komoeditsy”), the day of Ivan (Yanka) Kupala, Kolyada. Less well known is Tausen (Ovsen), which belongs to a number of these holidays associated with the days of the solstice and equinox. The symbolism of these holidays is associated with the sun, fertility and procreation. The burning of an effigy of Mary (the goddess of winter and death) on Maslenitsa, round dances on Ivan Kupala record the ritual dances and marriage customs of antiquity. The Kupala cult is noted on Slavic calendars of the 4th century from the village of Romashki and the village of Lepesovka, as well as on the Zbruch idol of the 10th century.

On the Romashkin calendar, the holidays of Perun on July 12 and 20 are marked - which was replaced by Christians with "Ilyin's Day". Day of Veles (patron of wisdom and housekeeping) - was also replaced by Christianity on the day of St. Blaise (patron of livestock)

The calendar also records the holidays that lasted several days or even weeks: the “Rusal Week” and “Ladovanie” that preceded the Kupala holiday. Such a holiday is known to many peoples and at the beginning of autumn - "Indian summer", it lasted from one to two weeks.

Saxo Grammatik described in detail the feast in the church of Svyatovit, which took place in August:

Every year, after the harvest, a mixed crowd from all over the island in front of the temple of the god, sacrificing cattle, celebrated a solemn feast, which was called sacred. His priest… the small sanctuary… was carefully cleaning… The next day, when the people stood at the entrance, he, taking a vessel from the statue, carefully observed whether the level of the poured liquid had dropped, and then he expected a crop failure next year… Having made a cake with honey wine round shape, the size of such that it was almost equal to human growth, proceeded to the sacrifice. Putting him between himself and the people, the priest, according to custom, asked if the rouge could see him. When they answered that they saw, he wished that in a year they would not be able to see. With this kind of prayer, he asked not for his own or the people's fate, but for the growth of the future harvest. Then, on behalf of God, he congratulated the crowd present, for a long time called on them to worship this god and diligently perform sacrificial rites, and promised the surest reward for worship and victory on land and sea. Having finished this, they themselves turned the sacrificial dishes into a feast food ...

wedding customs

Wedding customs varied among different tribes depending on the type of marriage. Slavic marriage was strictly monogamous, that is, it allowed only one wife or husband. The Tale of Bygone Years distinguishes two types of marriage and wedding ceremonies among the Slavs, which can be conditionally called patriarchal and matriarchal.

Glades have the custom of their fathers meek and quiet, bashful in front of their daughters-in-law and sisters, mothers and parents; before mothers-in-law and brothers-in-law they have great modesty; they also have a marriage custom: the son-in-law does not go for the bride, but brings her the day before, and the next day they bring for her - what they give.

Similar customs are described as early as the 6th century. Among the Rus, the payment for the bride was called "veno". Mention is made of the wedding ceremony of "taking off the shoes" of the groom.

... And they didn’t have marriages, but they kidnapped girls by the water ... And they shamed them under their fathers and daughters-in-law, and they didn’t have marriages, but games were arranged between villages, and they converged on these games, on dances and on all kinds of demonic songs, and here they kidnapped their wives in collusion with them.

At the end of May - June, round dances (“ladovanie”) were held, representatives of different clans (villages) gathered around the fire on Ivan Kupala and chose brides and grooms from another clan (such a marriage is called exogamous). Women played the role of the “eldest child” in families; when the husband changed, the boys were sent to their father. The symbolism of such a marriage is two crosses, a wedding ring, wreaths, tufts of hair or a belt with which plants or trees were tied. Love conspiracies are considered traditional for the Slavs, with the help of which girls or boys could influence their fate, attracting the attention of the chosen one. A number of incantations (in different languages) are read in the birch bark letters of Novgorod - centuries.

Funeral rites

The funeral rites of various groups of Slavs at different times were different. It is believed that the ancestors of the Slavs were carriers of the culture of the "fields of funeral urns" (II millennium BC), that is, they burned the dead, and the ashes were placed in an earthen vessel and buried in a shallow pit, marking the grave with a mound. Subsequently, the rite of cremation prevailed, but the shape of the burials changed: volotovki (round mounds-hills with a wooden fence) - among the Slovenes, long family mounds - among the Krivichi, cremation in a boat and a barrow mound - among the Rus.

The Russian chronicle very briefly describes the funeral rite of the northerners, Krivichi, Radimichi and Vyatichi:

And if someone died, they arranged a funeral feast for him, and then they made a large deck, and laid the dead man on this deck, and burned it, and then, having collected the bones, they put them in a small vessel and placed them on poles along the roads, as they still do now. Vyatichi.

The described rite is recorded among the Vyatichi and some Baltic Slavs - archaeologists note the absence of burials, suspecting the "scattering" of ashes, but ethnographic data and some written sources speak of dominas ("theaters of death") - funerary buildings at the forks in the roads where urns with ashes were stored. Outwardly, they sometimes resemble the “hut on chicken legs” of Baba Yaga in Russian fairy tales, and Baba Yaga herself is sometimes regarded as a priestess who performed the cremation. By the 13th century, the Vyatichi began to build barrows.

"Krada" (treasure, deck) is a funeral pyre. It is customary to distinguish between "feast" (feast at the grave and military games) and "strava" (memorial feast). Princess Olga describes the feast in the following way in her address to the Drevlyans: “I’m already coming to you, prepare many honeys in the city where my husband was killed, let me cry on his grave and create a feast for my husband.” Ibn Fadlan describes an old woman and her daughters, who led the funeral of the Rus, killed sacrificial animals and a concubine, he calls her "the angel of death." Funeral idols ("bdyn"), installed over the grave, are also mentioned. They depicted the deceased and had an inscription containing his name and the name of the prince.

In mythology, the deities of the wind (Stribog, Viy) and the sun were associated with the funeral rite. The wind fanned the fire, and the sun delivered the souls of the dead to the world of shadows, so the time of burial (sunrise, sunset or night) and the orientation of the grave during the burial were of particular importance. Such animals as a rooster, a horse, a dog were associated with the burial. The serpent was the collector of the bodies of the buried. The Tale of Igor's Campaign mentions Karna and Zhlya (Zhelya), who are preparing the burial of the dead soldiers, their names are reconstructed from the words "reproach" and "regret" ("zhalnik" - a burial mound). In the "Word of St. Dionysius about those who are sorry" it is said about behavior during burial:

“Is there any benefit to the departed souls there from pity? The devil teaches pity and causes others to fight over the dead, while others drown themselves in water and teaches them to choke.

White mourning clothes of women and the ritual of cutting faces and tearing their hair are also mentioned.

The burial rites of the Rus and Slavs are described in detail by the Arab authors Ibn Ruste and Ibn Fadlan. The rite of inhumation (body position) is also described, which is indirectly mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years and legends in relation to princes and various revered characters. Burials by the type of inhumation are typical for ritual burials.

The most famous pagan funerary monument is the Black Grave of the 10th century in Chernihiv.

Calendar and writing

Old Slavic calendar

From the "Sofia Time" we learn about the presence of the Slavs lunar and solar calendars. It is generally believed that the lunar calendar was adopted by the Slavs from the Bulgarians. But in the “Teaching about Numbers” by Kirik of Novgorod (XII century), one of the options for the lunar calendar is described, other options were used in Easter tables, and in Russian chronicles - centuries. dates are marked according to the lunar calendar - all this allows researchers to assert that, along with the solar calendar of 12 months, a lunar calendar of 13 months also constantly existed in Russia. The earliest date of the lunar calendar is applied to the campaign of Oleg the Prophetic Year in the Chronograph of the Western Russian edition: "This summer is evil: 13 months to have."

Due to differences in the solar and lunar calendar, as well as variants of the lunar calendar, the Slavs have the same month names, but they do not match when paired with the months of the modern solar calendar, that is, the Slavs did not have a single chronology.

Calendar ornament on a Chernyakhiv jug of the 4th century, the arrow marks the sign of the holiday of Perun on July 20

The number 5 has a lunar character and is found on brooches and temporal rings of the Slovene tribe.

Some authors claim that the number 5 is the number of days in the Slavic week, which was later supplemented with Saturday and Sunday. There is no evidence for this, except for the five Slavic names of the days of the week, on the contrary, the number 7 is also sacred and is often found in the symbolism of idols. The days of the week were dedicated to different gods among the Eastern and Southern Slavs: Thursday - Perun, and Friday - Mokosh. In Russian Orthodoxy, the veneration of 12 Fridays a year has been preserved. Friday had, apparently, an important meaning when conjugating the lunar and solar calendar, since there is a Russian proverb: "Seven Fridays in a week." For example, in some Christian calendars, the time count began from the creation of the world, starting from Friday.

On the question of when the Slavs began the year, there are several opinions. Most often referred to as March. The March New Year was tied in Russia for up to a century either to March 1 or to the 20th of the month. A number of researchers claim that the Slavs had a January New Year. In any case, all calendar calculations were consistent with the points of the equinox and solstice. The conjugation of the lunar and solar calendar took place in the spring. According to an old belief, the sun meets the month in April, and from the first frost they diverge to far sides: one to the east, the other to the west, and from then on they do not meet each other until the very spring (Indo-European motif of the wedding of the month and the sun).

Features and cuts

A number of sources mention writing among the pagan Slavs. Chernorizet Khrabr called this writing "features and cuts", with the help of which they "counted and guessed." Al-Masudi speaks of multiple inscriptions on the walls (stones) in the temples of the Slavs, containing predictions. Ibn Fadlan mentions the inscriptions of names on the grave idol of the Rus. Titmar of Merseburg knows about the inscriptions of names on the idols of the Baltic Slavs.

This kind of use of letters can speak of the runic nature of writing, when the letters had sacred, verbal and sound meanings.

Some archaeological finds allow us to speak of "features and cuts". The inscriptions on the idols of the Baltic Slavs, which may form the alphabet, but are considered fake, have analogues among the Prussians and on the “Novocherkassk eggplants” (Khazar lands), but there are no serious studies on this issue.

Runic signs from the temple of Lepesovka, II-IV centuries.

The earliest signs of the runic type, which can be attributed to the Slavic, are found in the temple of the Chernyakhov time c. Lepesovka. In the same temple, two divination bowls with clay rings on the handles were found. There is a lot of ceramics with Greek inscriptions, and the material culture of the settlement belongs to the Wielbar culture (presumably the Goths). Three inscriptions were found. One of them is “karakul-shaped” on the whorl, the other two are on ceramics and correlate with Germanic runes. E. A. Melnikova read one of the inscriptions as lwl, but could not identify it with the German language.

Signs on ceramics, which are attributed to the Slavs, are also known in a later period, for example, on ceramics from the village. Alekanovka.

Literature

Literature of the 18th - first half of the 20th century.

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Popular literature of the mid-20th - early 21st centuries

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• Mother Lada: Divine Genealogy of the Slavs: Pagan Pantheon. / Prev., slovar.st., glossary and comments. D.Dudko. M., Eksmo. 2002.430 p.
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T.1. M., 1995. T.2. M., 1999. T.3. M., 2004.

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• Aladzhov Zh. Pmentnitsa on Proto-Blgarian Hezichestvo: [Album]. Sofia.1999.44+71 p.
• Wrazinowski T. Folk mitology in Macedonian. Skopje, 1998.

Book 1. 351 p. Book 2. Ethnographic and folklore materials. 323 p.

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Book 1. System srpske mitology. 404 p. Book 2. Mitołoška Mape sa pregled of the South Slavic space. 312 p. Book 3. Anthropology of the Serbian ritual. 225 p. Book 4. Mitology coloring. 187 p. Book 5. Mitology, magic and custom: the destruction of the region. 512 p.

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• Rosic S. Interpretacja chrześcijańska religii pogańskich slowian w świetle kronik niemieckich XI-XII wieku: (Thietmar, Adam z Bremu, Helmold). Wroclaw.2000.368 p.

Paganism was the main religion of our ancestors before the adoption of Christianity in Russia, what is it, what exactly is meant by this name, was it such an unequivocal evil as it appears in the early Christian annals of the beginning of the second millennium?

Many questions can be asked on this topic, and not all of them will be answered even by recognized experts in the study of that era. Let's just try in general terms to try to understand what it was and how it affected people.

origin of name

The term paganism itself is derived from the word peoples (languages) in the Church Slavonic language, this language was the main written means of communication at the dawn of the formation of Christianity in Russia. Accordingly, the largest part of the written evidence about the events associated with the change of religion has come down to us written from the point of view of Christian missionaries and preachers.

And the attitude, quite justified from their point of view, was extremely negative in relation to the competing religion. Accordingly, any peoples professing a religion other than Christianity were collectively called the word pagans.

Causes of paganism

Thus, it becomes clear that in Russia, before the arrival and establishment of Christianity, there was no one single religion, and the beliefs of different tribes and nationalities that inhabited northeastern Russia were different in many ways, but at the same time they had one common basis that originated from similar conditions life, way of life and cultural traditions.

North-eastern Russia, with its location and topography, also determined the main ways of obtaining food for the tribes inhabiting it. A large number of large forests, an abundance of rivers, lakes, wetlands implied hunting, gathering, and later breeding of livestock, coupled with agriculture, as priority sources of food.

Against this background, with the development of culture and social relations between the tribes, the objects deified by the people also changed. At first, at the dawn of formation, these were the simplest things on which the survival of man depended. It could be stones, tools, animals and the like. Gradually, they improved, acquiring more humanized forms, for example, back in the last century in Belarus, there was a belief that stones in the old days were alive and could even multiply ... .. animals eventually took on semi-human features, like, for example, God Veles. The elements and natural phenomena were also revered, which, due to their constancy and inexplicable reasons for existence, became the main ones in the pantheon of Russian gods of pagan times.

pagan gods

By the time of the arrival of Greek-Byzantine Christianity in Russia, the generally revered gods in the Slavic tribes were Rod (the god of fertility, the sun and thunder) as the supreme god, he had four hypostases: Khors (Kolyada), Yarilo, Dazhdbog (Kupaila) and Svarog (Svetovit). Each incarnation corresponded to the time of the year. A common misconception is that these are separate gods who were worshiped at different times of the year, which is fundamentally wrong and hinders the understanding of how significant the god Rod was in the life of an ordinary Russian person. As a simple experiment, try querying for cognates with his name...

In some sources, there is such a term as “Perunov Brothers”, judging by the name, they were either the highest caste of warriors who reached the heights of art in military affairs, or, by analogy with Japanese kamikaze, former people who devoted themselves to war and went into battle without thinking about what will be their fate.

Veles should also be considered the highest gods of the Slavs, who eventually became not only and not so much the god of cattle breeders, he became a black god, the lord of wisdom, magic and the dead. God Semargl is the god of death, the image of the sacred heavenly fire. And the god Stribog is the god of the wind.

These were the gods, who included in their sense the entire life cycle of a person of those times, everything depended on their good will, as it was then believed. Birth, how life will pass, death ...

In addition to the higher ones, there were also lower gods, which it would be more appropriate to call the spirits of nature. Among them, the most mentioned are Bird Gamayun, Bannik, Kikimora, Leshy, and so on.

This review includes only the generally accepted names of the gods in Russia at that time. Each tribe, and often nationality, in addition to the generally revered ones, had its own, tribal gods. If you set out to enumerate them, the list will exceed a hundred names, often duplicating each other in function, but differing in names.

Adoption of Christianity in Russia

Representatives of the Christian church who came to Russia at the turn of the 12th century had in their arsenal a powerful set of tools to influence the psyche and views of the masses of people, worked out over centuries of practice during the formation of their church in Europe and Byzantium. This, coupled with the experience of struggle and political intrigues against the related Catholic branch, led to their successful incorporation into the structure of the Russian state, and continuously increasing influence and authority.

However, paganism was not forgotten overnight. At the initial stage, many princes resisted the adoption of Christianity, which caused a series of civil strife, the pagan priests, whose most common name was the Magi, had great authority among the masses, as they were the keepers of the "wisdom of the people" and personified the old pokon. One sorcerer, under certain conditions, could raise support against the ruling prince for an entire city! As it happened in Novgorod.

Over time, the Christian church managed to turn the tide in its favor, planting its values ​​primarily among the princes and the highest boyars, often simply buying or blackmailing representatives of noble families. After the complete official adoption of Christianity in Russia, the eradication of pagan traditions among the people began. It was a difficult process for the church, and even today it cannot be said that it ended in complete success; during the process of bringing the Russian people to the Christian faith, the process became mutual.

The church eradicated the basic beliefs in pagan gods among the people, and the people modified many of the postulates of the church. Ultimately, the Russian version of Christianity appeared to the world - Orthodoxy. But pagan traditions continue to live in our time, for example, caroling is popular in the age of digital technology! .. remember the name of one of the incarnations of the Family. And the small gods of pagan Russia migrated to folklore, we all know Russian fairy tales from childhood.

I. Introduction

The word "culture" comes from the word "cult" - faith, customs and traditions of ancestors. Anyone who forgets this has no right to be considered a cultured person.

Before Christianity and other monotheistic religions, all nations were pagans. The culture of earthlings dates back millennia.

Now not a word is spoken about paganism in schools. Not only students, but also teachers have no idea about paganism. Meanwhile, the school curriculum should begin with a fairy tale, song, myths of their ancestors. Myths are the primary layer of the cultural life of mankind; religion, science, and art draw their origin from them.

Slavic paganism developed along different channels: some tribes believed in the forces of space and nature; others - in Rod and Rozhanits, others - in the souls of dead ancestors and spirits (inspired forces); the fourth - in totem animals - ancestors, etc. Some buried (kept) their dead ancestors in the ground, believing that they then help the living from the Other World, left them something to eat. Others burned the dead in boats (boats), sending their souls on a heavenly voyage, believing that if the body is burned, the soul will quickly rise to heaven and there each will perish in its own star (hence - to perish).

According to the ideas of the ancient Slavs, the highest gods lived in the sky, the spirits of nature lived on the earth, and evil demons lived underground. Probably, such a structure did not appear immediately. In the beginning there was a cult of the spirits of nature, the spirits of the patrons of man, the spirits of ancestors. Then the images of the gods were formed, the list of which was gradually replenished. Man improved, and spirits and gods became more and more humanized.

II. Slavic pagan world

Today it is possible to give only a general idea of ​​the Slavic pagan world. Moreover, if individual gods can be described in more or less detail, then only names have been preserved from others.

The most ancient non-personalized gods of the Slavs are Rod and Rozhanitsy. The genus is sometimes identified with the phallus, sometimes with grain (including solar and rain grain, fertilizing the earth). Women in labor are the female giving birth, giving life to all living things: man, flora and fauna. Later, Rod and Rozhanitsy began to perform more functions, unified into supreme gods and personified in different tribes of the Slavs - they received proper names: Yarovit, Svetovid, Rigevit, Makosh, Golden Baba, Didiliya, Zizya, etc.

The ancient Slavic ones include the worship of ghouls and coastlines.

1. Beregini and spirits

Beregini(like the Greek penates) kept the well-being of different places and types of nature, as well as the house. There were many house spirits: brownie, kutny god, grandfather, ergot and haste (spirits that contributed to human affairs), drowsiness (home peaceful deity of sleep), bayunok (storyteller, night storyteller, lullaby songwriter), laziness, otet (extreme laziness) , okoyoms, prosecutors, prokudy (rogues, non-rumors, pranksters), bannik (bath spirit), evil spirits, demons, devils, shishigs (devils with hair sticking out a bump), kikimora or shishimora (devil with hair sticking out a bump, deity of restless dreams and night phenomena). The Orthodox "devil" means the damned, who has crossed the line, the border.

There were many beregins; they protected people everywhere: at home, in the forest, in the field, on the water, protected crops, stockyards, children, sang lullabies to them, told fairy tales (tales), evoked dreams. Later they received some proper names, some proper group names, for example, own Did, Baba - progenitors; group - mermaids, goblin, etc.

Here are some of them:

grandfather (did)- progenitor, ancestor For those who believed that they were descended from Perun (Olgovichi and others), this is also a synonym for Perun. Grandfather is the guardian of the family, and, above all, children, of course. The senior man, a representative of the tribal eldership, who pacifies the passions within the clan, keeps the basic principles of the morality of the clan, strictly following their implementation. The forest deity was also called grandfather - the keeper of the Perunov treasure (gold, silver, i.e. Lightning, thunderstorms, silver rain). Grandfather prayed for guidance, the discovery of the treasure. According to legend, where the light shines, there is this treasure (rain with a thunderstorm), which is vital and important for people.

Woman. The most ancient of them is Baba Yaga.

What does Yaga mean? Why is she so scary? And even more so, no one believes that the terrible Baba Yaga is originally a caring coastline.

The word "Yaga" coarsened from "Yashka". Yasha in Slavic songs was called foot-and-mouth disease - once living on earth and the disappeared progenitor of all living things; hence our more understandable - ancestor. Baba Yaga was originally a progenitor, a very ancient positive deity of the Slavic pantheon, the keeper of the clan and traditions, children and the near-home (often forest) space. During the period of Christianity, all pagan gods and deities, spirits, including those who protected people (shorelines), were given evil, demonic features, ugliness of appearance and character, evil intentions. So the pagan strict progenitor was turned into an evil demon, which is used to scare our little children. In different Slavic tribes, there were later other progenitors who received proper names: Golden Baba, Golden Mother, Makosh, etc.

There are especially many coastlines (they were also later given evil features) among the wood spirits: a forester, a woodsman, a leshak, a wild man, Mikola (Nikola) Duplyansky, a companion, a boletus, crafty (bent and twisted, like a bow, and the same internally, which is the main thing) , grandfather, grandfather; as well as demons (Slavic "demon" literally means "without", and then any positive concept could follow, for example, a person without conscience, God, concept (knowledge), goodness, justice, honor, intelligence, etc.) devils ; shishigi; mavki forest; ghouls; anchutki (a cross between a devil and a duck); werewolves; werewolves (dlaka - skin); bats; miracle Yudo; forest king; sudichki and hartsuks (small spirits, assistants to Perun); famously one-eyed; bird fear-Rah - this is an incomplete list of forest dwellers who were the embodiment of the forest as a space hostile to man.

Sometimes the goblin did not differ from people, but more often the owner of the forest seemed to be dressed in an animal skin (dlaka); sometimes it was with animal attributes: horns, hooves, etc.

In winter, the usual goblin in the forest was forced out by Perun's helpers, who were even more strict with a person - Kalinniks (from the word "fire"): Morozko, Treskunets, Karachun. Thus, a person, leaving the house in the forest, field, tuned in to a constant struggle with unforeseen circumstances and merciless elements; on the other hand, he could always count on the unexpected help of the forest deity, the forest owner, so he tried to please him; do not harm in the forest, do not beat animals unnecessarily, do not break trees and bushes in vain, do not litter the forest, do not even shout loudly, do not disturb the peace and quiet of nature.

The fact that from the Slavic kikimora (shishimora) - the deities of sleep and night ghosts tried to make an evil spirit, is evidenced by the second part of the word - “mora”. Mora (Mor), Mara is the goddess of death. But still, kikimora is not death. If she gets angry and plays pranks, for example, disturbs babies at night, confuses yarn left for the night, etc. - does not mean that someone will die as a result of her evil tricks. Kikimora is a weak, as it were, mirror image of only the fear of death, or even just fear.

Christianity managed to turn into its opposite and mermaid- the oldest type of coastline that lived in the waters. She was always depicted with a female face and breasts, a fish body and tail. The very word "shore" comes from the concept - to protect, to help the wandering, sailing, in distress to get to the shore. This was done by the Slavs mermaids. However, during the period of criticism and denial of paganism, the idea was gradually introduced that mermaids were drowned women and dead unbaptized children. They became afraid. It was believed that they are more dangerous for people in the Russian week (June 19 - 24), before Ivan Kupala, especially on Thursday (Perun's day). During the Russian week, they sang mermaid songs, hung yarn, threads, towels on trees and bushes - symbolic clothes for mermaids; either to appease them, or to pity ...

The ancient Semargl also ascended to the shores - a sacred winged dog that guarded seeds and crops. Semargl is, as it were, the personification of armed (warlike) good. Later, Semargl began to be called Pereplut, perhaps because he was more associated with the protection of plant roots (Pluto is the Greek god of the underworld). The cult of Pereblut celebrated the Russian week. And the seeds and crops began to protect Yadrey and Obilukh. Mermaids brought news of rain.

Bereginami were the same bird with a woman's face: the sweet-sounding Sirin, the Phoenix bird reborn from the ashes, Stratim - the mother of all birds, the oldest in the big one, the Firebird, swan girls (swans), Nail-bird, etc.

mythical half-animal, half-human also called chimeric or chimeras. The purpose of many coastlines is now lost. For example, the dog name Polkan, many people think that in ancient times there was such a winged dog (confusing it with Semargl), while polkan (half-horse) is literally a half-horse. The half-horse guarded the solar horses of Svetovid, the horses of the sun gods or the gods of thunder.

Among the half-horses are Russian Little Humpbacked Horse, Sivka Burka, etc. In appearance, they are half or much smaller than the heroic horses of God, they are plain, sometimes even ugly (hump, long ears, etc.). In a metaphorical sense, it is the half-horses-half-people who understand the affairs of people (gods and demons), speak human language, distinguish between good and evil, and are active in affirming good.

There is another extraordinary deity: Chur- the deity of the borders, one of the oldest deities of the coastline. Derived from "shur". Ancestors (ancestors) of any kind. Chur is connected with the world. He consecrates and protects the right to property (cf. “Chur-mine”), divides everything fairly: “Chur-in half!”, “Chur-together!”.

The word “chur” is associated with “damn”, “outline”, “outline”. Proto-Slavic "devil" - cursed, possibly violating boundaries, boundary, geographical, and then - inevitably, moral; replacing good with evil.

2. Pagan gods

Many references to solar cosmic pagan gods have come down to us.

Svarog- the god of the sky (Svarga - the sky), hence our expression "svara", "cook" - swear, scold, be like the sky in bad weather. Son of Svarog - Dazhdbog

Associated with Svarog Stribog - the god of air currents and elements. It was he who obeyed the winds. The proper names of some of them have been lost, perhaps one of them was called Wind, the other Hurricane, etc. But the names of the two winds have come down to us. This is Weather (Dogoda) - a light, pleasant westerly breeze. It is no coincidence that all the rest of the state of the atmosphere, except for the one named, is called bad weather. Posvist (Pozvist or Pokhvist) is the elder (or lord) wind living in the north. Depicted in a huge fluttering cloak.

Some believe that the sun god of the ancient Slavs was Yarilo, others - Dazhdbog, others call Svetovid. However, the Slavs had their own sun god. Name to him. It is best known among the southeastern Slavs, where, of course, there is a lot of sun.

From the ancient roots "horo" and "kolo", meaning a circle, the solar sign of the sun, the words "round dance", "mansions" (circular building of the courtyard), "wheel" are formed.

Hors is dedicated to two very large Slavic pagan holidays in the year - the days of the summer and winter solstices in June (when a cart wheel was rolled down from the mountain to the river - a solar sign of the sun, symbolizing the sun's rollback for the winter) and December (when they honored Kolyada, Yarila and so on. ).

Kolyada- a diminutive of "kolo", the sun-baby (it seemed to be a boy or a girl, because for a small age of a child, gender still does not play any role; the sun itself is of a middle gender). This deity arose from the winter solstice, from the poetic idea of ​​the birth of the young sun, that is, the sun of the next year (This ancient idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe annual baby has not died to this day. It has been transferred to the concept of "new year". On postcards and in New Year's design of festivities it is no coincidence that artists depict the new year in the form of a boy flying in space).

Kolyada was celebrated during winter Christmas time from December 25 (Novel, Christmas Eve) to January 6 (Veles Day). This time coincides with severe frosts (cf. Mora - death), blizzards (cf. Viy) and the most violent abysses of unclean (in the Christian view) spirits and evil witches who hide the moon and the stars. Everything is covered with a frosty veil and seems dead. However, winter Christmas time is the most cheerful revelry of Slavic festivities. The mummers walked around the yards, sang carols - songs glorifying Kolyada, who gives blessings to everyone. They also glorified the well-being of the home and family.

On the nights of winter Christmas time, fortune-telling took place for the future harvest, for offspring, and most of all - for marriage unions. There are countless ways to guess. This custom comes from the desire to communicate with the ancient Slavic goddess, who was represented as a beautiful spinning girl spinning the thread of fate, the thread of life - Srecha (Meetings) - in order to find out her fate. For different tribes, the synonyms “court”, “rock”, “share”, “fate”, “lot”, “kosh”, “verdict”, “decision”, “choice” have the same meaning.

Srecha- goddess of the night No one saw how she was spinning, so fortune-telling took place at night. Most often they guessed at the betrothed (cf. The word “bride” literally means “unknown”). It is assumed that the duties of the goddess of fate among other East Slavic tribes were performed by Makosh who patronized household chores.

If during the winter holidays, fortune-telling took place at night, then during the days - ladins - conspiracies of brides, and then weddings.

The Slavic holiday Kupalo is associated with the summer solstice. The day of the summer solstice is the most important holiday of the Slavs, the time of the highest development of the creative forces of nature.

On the night of June 24, there was a custom not to sleep: to guard the meeting of the month with the sun, in order to see how "the sun is shining." The Slavs went to the ritual hills or glades near the rivers, burned fires, sang, danced round dances, streams. Jumping over bonfires was both a test of dexterity and fate: a high jump symbolized good luck in plans. With jokes, feigned cries and obscene songs, the straw dolls of Yarila, Kupala, Kostrubonka or Kostroma were burned (fire - woody parts of flax, hemp).

At dawn, all those who participated in the holiday bathed in order to remove evil infirmities and illnesses from themselves.

On the Kupala night, according to legend, all sorts of miracles happened: rare mysterious herbs bloomed - gap-grass, fern, etc .; unseen treasures were discovered. Evil spirits - witches and sorcerers - also indulged in all sorts of revelry, hid the stars, the month and so on.

From the merger of the name of the pagan Slavic holiday of Kupala and the Christian Ivanov's day (meaning John the Baptist), a new name for the holiday appeared - Ivan Kupala.

If Khors was the god of the sun, then Svetovid, Dazhdbog, Rugevit, Porevit, Yarovit, Belbog carried in themselves both the masculine tribal principle, and the solar, cosmic one. These gods of late Slavic paganism are the supreme (ancestral) gods of different tribes, so there is a lot in common in their functions. Dazhdbog- one of the most famous gods of the East Slavic tribes. This is a giving god, a giver of earthly blessings, as well as a god protecting his family. He gave man everything that is important (by cosmic standards): the sun, heat, light, movement (of nature or calendar - the change of day and night, seasons, years, etc.). Probably, Dazhdbog was more than the god of the sun, although he was very close to this, he denoted what we call "the whole wide world."

Belbog- the keeper (conservative) and the giver of goodness, good luck, justice, happiness, all the best. An ancient sculptor made a statue of Belbog with a piece of iron in his right hand (hence - justice). Since ancient times, the Slavs have known a similar (trial by iron) method of restoring justice. A person suspected of some misconduct was given a red-hot piece of iron in his right hand, ordered to walk ten steps with him; the one whose hand remained intact was recognized as right. The concept of "branded with iron" from ancient times was equivalent to "branded with shame." From here we learn that the supreme Slavic gods carried another function - the Supreme Judge, Conscience, the Zealot of Justice, as well as the punishing god, protecting the family from moral decline.

Svetovid(Svyatovid) - the god of war, the sun, victory among the Western Slavs, was depicted as four-headed. Holidays in his honor began at the end of the harvest, in August. The Slavs brought fruits collected from fields, orchards and orchards as a gift to God. The priest filled Svetovid's horn with young wine, symbolizing the fullness of the next year's harvest. A lot of young animals were sacrificed to Svetovid, which were eaten right there during the feast.

Rugevit- the supreme god of one of the Slavic tribes. Rugevit had seven faces, seven swords with scabbards hung from his belt, and he held one sword in his right hand. Rugevit stood guard over the life of his tribe.

Porevit- one of the tribal supreme gods, more ancient. Pora (spore) is nothing but a seed, and vita is life. That is, this is the god of the male seed, the giver of life and its joy, love, just like the East Slavic Yarovit and the already named Svetovid, Belbog, Dazhdbog, Rugevit.

Something close to all these gods Perun, thunderer, god of the Western Slavs. Perun had a huge retinue of relatives and assistants: Thunder, Lightning, Hail, Rain, mermaids and water, winds, of which there are four, like the four cardinal points. Hence the day of Perun is Thursday (cf. “after the rain on Thursday”, “pure Thursday”), sometimes there are seven, ten, twelve or just a lot of winds.

Bogatyrs, oxen serve Perun and other gods, personifying the forces of nature. If they roam, then stones are turned out from the mountains, trees are felled, rivers are dammed up with rubble. There are many such heroes of different strengths in Slavic mythology: Gorynya, Verni-gora, Valigora, Vertigor, Dubynya, Duboder, Vertodub, Vyrvidub, Elinya (spruce), Lesinya (forest), Duginya (arc oppression), Bor, Verni-voda, Zapri - water, Potok-bogatyr, Usynya, Medvedko, Nightingale the robber (hurricane wind), Force-tsarevich, Ivan Popyalov (Popel), Svyatogor, Water, etc.

Forests and rivers were dedicated to Perun, which were considered sacred, for example, the Bug, the Volkhov.

Associated with Perun and snakes. There were several meanings and purposes for snakes (as symbols).

There are two holidays in the calendar of the Slavs, during which snakes are remembered (more often these are harmless snakes), March 25 is the time when cattle are driven out to St. George's dew and snakes crawl out of the ground, the earth becomes warm, you can start agricultural work. September 14 - snakes leave, the agricultural cycle basically ends. Thus, these animals, as it were, symbolized the cyclical nature of rural field work, they were a kind of natural climatic clock. It was believed that they also help to beg for rain.

Images of snakes - snakes - adorned ancient vessels with water. The snakes from the Perunov retinue symbolized the clouds of heaven, thunderstorms, the powerful revelry of the elements. These snakes are multi-headed. You cut off one head - the other grows and shoots fiery tongues (lightning). Serpent-Gorynych - the son of a mountain - heavenly (clouds). These snakes kidnap beauties (the moon, stars and even the sun). The snake can quickly turn into a boy or girl. This is due to the rejuvenation of nature after the rain, after each winter.

Snakes are the keepers of countless treasures, healing herbs, living and dead water. Hence the snake-doctors and symbols of healing.

Snakes from the retinue of the gods of the underworld - Viy, Death, Mary, Chernobog, Kashchei, etc. Guard the underworld. A variant of the snake - the owner of the underworld - Lizard, less often - Fish. The lizard is often found in folk songs of archaic times, sometimes, having lost the ancient meaning of symbolism, it is called Yasha.

Many tribes, especially in hunting, forest regions, believed that their ancestor was a mighty gigantic beast. For example, bear, deer, foot-and-mouth disease, etc. The cult of Veles is associated with such ideas. The ancients believed that the family is descended from a god, who is shown only in the form of a beast, and then again goes to the heavenly chambers (the constellation Ursa Major, etc.).

Veles- one of the oldest East Slavic gods. At first he patronized hunters. Due to the taboo on the deified beast, it was called “hairy”, “hair”, “veles”. It also denoted the spirit of a killed animal, hunting prey. "Vel" is the root of words meaning "dead". To die, to repose means to be attached in spirit, soul to the heavenly ancestors, whose soul flies to heaven, but the body remains on earth. There was a custom to leave on a harvested field “I harvest ears of hair to Hair on a beard”, that is, the Slavs believed that the ancestors resting in the ground also help its fertility. Thus, the cult of the cattle god Veles was somehow associated with the ancestors, with the harvest, with the well-being of the family. Herbs, flowers, bushes, trees were called "hair of the earth."

Since ancient times, cattle has been considered the main wealth of the tribe, family. Therefore, the cattle god Veles was also the god of wealth. The root "volo" and "vlo" became an integral part of the word "volodet" (to own).

The cult of Veles goes back to the cult of Rod and Rozhanitsy. Therefore, together with Yarila, the Slavs on the Semik holiday, on the oil week and on the winter Christmas holidays paid tribute to the voluptuous cattle gods Tur and Veles, sacrificing round dances, singing, kisses through a wreath of fresh flowers and greenery, all kinds of loving actions.

The concept is also connected with the cult of Veles. Magi, since the root of this word also comes from "hairy", "hairy". Magi during the performance of ritual dances, spells, rituals in ancient times dressed in the skin (dlaka) of a bear or other animal. Magi are a kind of scientists, sages of antiquity, who know their culture, in any case, better than many.

Very revered among the Slavs were female goddesses, dating back to the ancient cult of Rozhanitsy. The most ancient is the goddess of the Western Slavs Triglav(Trigla). She was depicted with three faces, her idols always stood in the open air - on the mountains, hillocks, by the roads. She was identified with the goddess of the Earth.

Makosh- one of the main goddesses of the Eastern Slavs. Her name is made up of two parts: "ma" - mother, and "kosh" - purse, basket, koshara. Makosh is the mother of filled cats, the mother of a good harvest. This is not the goddess of fertility, but the goddess of the results of the agricultural year, the goddess of the harvest, the giver of blessings.

The volume of the harvest with equal labor costs each year is determined by lot, fate, share, a lucky break. Therefore, Makosh was also revered as the goddess of fate. In Russian Orthodoxy, Makosh reincarnated as Praskeva Friday.

Makosh patronized marriage and family happiness.

The Slavs were especially fond of fret- the goddess of love, beauty, charm. With the onset of spring, when nature itself enters into an alliance with Yarila, Ladin's holidays also came. These days they played burners. Burn - love. Love has often been compared to red, fire, heat, fire.

Many words of marital meaning, union and peace are associated with the root “lad”. Lad - conjugal consent based on love; get along - live lovingly; get along - marry; frets - engagement; got along - matchmaker; ladniki - an agreement on dowry; Ladkanya - a wedding song; fine - good, beautiful. And the most common - fret, so they called loved ones.

Her child is associated with Lada, whose name is found in female and male incarnations: Lel(Lelya, Lelio) or Lyalya (Lelia). Lel is a child of Lada, he induces nature to fertilization, and people to marriage unions.

Paulel- the second son of Lada, the god of marriage. He was depicted in a white simple everyday shirt and a wreath of thorns, he gave the same wreath to his wife. He blessed people for everyday life, a family path full of thorns.

Also associated with Lada Znich- fire, heat, ardor, the flame of love, the sacred ardor of love (cf. on the back).

3. Gods of death and the underworld

The gods of the sun, life and love, the earthly kingdom were opposed to the gods of death and the underworld ... Among them - Chernobog , the ruler of the underworld, the representative of darkness. The negative concepts of “black soul” (a person who died for nobility), “rainy day” (day of disaster) are associated with it.

One of the main servants of Chernobog was Viy(Niy). He was considered the judge of the dead. The Slavs could never come to terms with the fact that those who lived lawlessly, not according to conscience, deceiving others, and unjustly used the benefits that did not belong to them, were not punished. They sincerely believed that they would take revenge, that someone else's grief would be cast off, at least not in this one - but in the next world. Like many peoples, the Slavs believed that the place of execution for the lawless was inside the earth. Viy is also associated with the seasonal death of nature during winter. This god was considered the sender of nightmares, visions and ghosts, especially for those who have a guilty conscience.

Associated with the seasonal death of nature during winter Kashchei- deity of the underworld. It symbolizes ossification, numbness from frost in the winter season of all nature. Kashchei is not a real god of death, his power is short-lived.

The real goddess of death was Mara(Mor). Hence, probably, the words “die”, “death”, “die”, “die out”, “dead”. The Slavs also had touching images of female deities of mortal sorrow. karny(cf. okarnat, punishment befell) and jelly ; KruchinyAndZhurba(in other tribes) - embodying boundless compassion. It was believed that the mere mention of their names (regret, pity) relieves souls and can save them from many disasters in the future. It is no coincidence that there are so many cries and lamentations in Slavic folklore. The root "three" is associated with the denial of an unfavorable sign - "odd", as a symbol of unhappiness, which is why it is often found in spells.

III. Conclusion

Fusion of paganism and Christianity

Christianity has ruled our land for a thousand years. If it had come to bare ground, it would not have taken root so firmly. It lay down on the prepared spiritual soil, its name is faith in God. Paganism and Christianity, despite the fact that you can find in them the most opposite positions in relation to certain phenomena (for example, to sacrifices, to the concept of sin, enemies), the main thing is in common: both of them are faith in God - the creator and guardian of the entire world we see.

The ancient Slavs did not separate the gods from the forces of nature. They worshiped all the forces of nature: large, medium, small. Every force was for them a manifestation of God, God was everywhere for them. Light, heat, lightning, rain, a spring, a river, wind, an oak that gave them food, fertile land, etc. All this, large and small, which gave and moved life, was a manifestation of God and, at the same time, God Himself.

A person changed, thinking changed, faith became more complicated, and faith changed. Christianity, which came to Russia with the sword of Prince Vladimir and trampled on pagan temples and shrines, could not resist the ethics of the people, their aesthetic predilections, could not but take into account the established rules of life.

So Easter- optimistic holiday of Christian salvation and resurrection - united with pagan rainbow- the day of memory of the ancestors and all the dead. In Christianity, it was not customary to commemorate the dead with food - this is a purely pagan tradition, but it is she who has now taken over. Even seventy years of atheism have not crossed out of the life of an Orthodox Slav the day when he is accustomed to commemorate dead relatives. During the rampant most terrible orgy of the union of militant atheists, during the years of war, famine, the flow of people to the cemetery on Easter days was not interrupted, because this tradition is not a thousand, but several thousand years old.

Thus, not only Christianity influenced paganism, but vice versa. After a millennium of Christianity, a pagan holiday passed safely - buttermilk. This is the farewell to winter and the meeting of spring. The pagans baked a pancake - a symbol of the hot spring sun - and ate it hot, thus filling themselves with the solar energy of life, solar power and health, which should have been enough for the entire agricultural annual cycle. Part of the pechev was given to animals, not forgetting to commemorate the souls of the dead.

Winter and summer Christmas time- games in honor of the god Svetovid during the turning of the sun for summer or winter are also not completely forgotten. Summer Christmas time partly merged with Christian Trinity and winter ones happy christmas holidays .

More examples of the fusion of holidays and individual gods can be given. Thus, both faiths have undergone many changes from their original nature and now already exist together and monolithically, having received the name Russian Orthodoxy .

All the current disputes about which is better - paganism or Christianity? - groundless. Well, let's say paganism is better. So what? After all, it does not exist in its pure form, in the broad faith of the people, in broad knowledge. Ask people who knows the name of the Slavic god of the sun? - no one will say. Also Christianity - it was split into many currents: Catholicism, Lutheranism, Gregorianism, etc.

The only acceptable thing for a modern Russian person is to return to Russian Orthodoxy. But this does not mean that everything pre-Christian should be considered useless and useless. Paganism must be studied as the most ancient period of our culture, the infantile and youthful period of the life of our ancestors, which will strengthen our spirit, give each of us the strength of the spiritual and national soil, which will help us to endure in the most difficult moments of life.

Literature

1. A.A. Kononenko, S.A. Kononenko. "Characters of Slavic Mythology". Kyiv, "Corsair", 1993.

• A.I. Bazhenova, V.I. Verdugin "Myths of the ancient Slavs." Saratov, "Hope", 1993.
• G. Glinka. "The Ancient Religion of the Slavs". Saratov, "Hope", 1993.
• A. Kaisarov "Slavic and Russian mythology". Saratov, "Hope", 1993.
• B. Cresen. Veles book. Saratov, "Hope", 1993.

Applications

Characteristics and drawings of some characters of the mythology of the ancient Slavs

(drawings by E.I.Obertynskaya)

Perun - the supreme god of Kievan Rus; a formidable god commanding celestial phenomena; god of War. Tall, broad-shouldered, black-haired, big-headed, golden-bearded (honey flows down his beard). In his right hand is a bow, and in his left hand is a quiver with arrows. The strongest in nature, fights evil forces. August 2 - Perun's day. On this day, all evil spirits, escaping from the fiery arrows of Perun, turn into various animals. In the old days, on August 2, dogs and cats were not allowed into the house, so as not to cause a thunderstorm - the wrath of Perun. Perun's bird is a rooster, Perun's day is Thursday. The statue of Perun the Thunderer stood in the pantheon of the gods of Prince Vladimir.

Veles (Volos) - the god of cattle breeding and wealth, the patron of the animal world. He related man and animal, taught people not to kill animals, but to use them in the economy. Veles - the guardian of the Magi, creators, shepherds, merchants; endows a person with talent, physical data: tall, good voice, hearing. He is the father of giants; ox - mighty, big. Volos is one of the gods of the pantheon of Prince Vladimir, his day is Monday. The ancient Slavs had a reaping custom - "curling a beard." The last ears were not reaped, but woven into a beard, as a gift to the god Veles. Grass and forest are the hairs of the earth.

Yarilo (Yar) - the deity of awakening nature, the patron of the plant world. This is a young handsome man on a white horse and in a white robe with a wreath of spring flowers on his head. In his left hand he holds ears of corn. In the spring, "yarils" were celebrated, which ended with the funeral of Yarila. Where Yarilo passes - there will be a big harvest, whoever he looks at - love flares up in his heart. Yarilo was identified with the Sun. In many songs, sayings, people turn to this deity with requests for a warm summer and a good harvest. June 4 - Yarilin day.

Dazhbog (Dazhdbog) - the god of the sun, harvest, the son of Svarog, the husband of the goddess of love. In myths - one of the first kings and legislators, laid the foundation for the chronology according to the solar calendar. A handsome strong young man, a young prince, a trustee of plowmen and sowers. Gives a person physical strength, health, wisdom, skill. In the annals, he is called the ancestor of the Russians. Dazhbog is also the keeper of earthly keys. The sun god closes the earth for the winter and gives the keys to the birds, which take them to the vyrey - the summer kingdom, the country of departed souls. In spring, the birds return the keys and Dazhbog opens the earth. One of the gods of the pantheon of Prince Vladimir, his day is Wednesday.

Belbog is a god who lives in heaven and controls them. It appears as an old man with a long gray beard, in white clothes and with a staff in his hand. There is the personification of a bright day. All the time in contradiction with the dark forces of the night, the personification of which is Chernobog. Belbog with his staff collects white clouds, if they were dispersed by the winds, pierces them to make it rain.

Zibog is the god of the earth, endowed with great power. He is the Creator, the Creator. He raised the earth in one place and mountain ranges, ridges, hills stood up; lowered it in another - water poured out, seas and oceans formed; made a furrow with huge fingers - rivers flowed. And where the little finger touched - the small lakes splashed. Zeebog keeps the earth, and people make him angry - the earth shakes, erupts volcanoes, raises huge waves. Zeebog is mighty, shaggy eyebrows, a beard is developing, it’s better not to anger him.

Rod is the god of the universe, living in heaven, who gave life to all living things that only exist in the world. Genus is credited with creative and masculine power (a phallic deity). Clay, wooden and stone images, protective talismans of this god are found during excavations. The genus is the embodiment of the ancient goddess of fertility, the masculine principle. The cult of this god, like most pagan gods, was lost after the introduction of Christianity.

Svarog is the god of heavenly fire, the father of Dazhbog. He threw Kuznetsk pincers to the ground from the sky and since then people have learned to forge iron. Svarog broke the heavenly cover with rays and arrows, opened the sky and the sun, sent heavenly fire to people, without which you can’t make weapons or jewelry: he kindled inspiration with sparks in the hearts and souls of the masters. Svarog is a capricious god, he rarely revealed his secrets to anyone. He presented himself in the form of a young broad-shouldered blacksmith, silent and strict; patronizes blacksmiths, whom they call his grandchildren - svarozhichs.

Khors is the god of the solar disk, the eye of the sky. An affectionate and kind god who gives his warmth to everyone. No one can defeat him, because it is impossible to approach him: he rises above all in heaven. Appears to be a handsome young man. On the idols of the god Khors, solar signs were depicted. Khors is the god of the pantheon of the Kiev prince Vladimir, his day is Tuesday.

Stribog is the god of the air elements, the ancient supreme deity of the sky and the universe. He breathes evenly and noisily, walks along the expanses of the sea. And if he gets angry, he will buzz, spin, howl, gather clouds, raise a wave, scatter ships, or even sink. It is presented in the form of a harp plucking the strings, with a bow behind his back, and on his belt - a sagaidak with arrows. Stribog - overcoming obstacles, the winds are his grandchildren, his day is Sunday. One of the gods of the pantheon of the Kiev prince Vladimir.

Beregini - air maidens that protect people from ghouls. The Slavs believed that beregini live near the house and protect the house and its inhabitants from evil spirits. Cheerful, playful and attractive creatures, singing enchanting songs with delightful voices. In early summer, under the moonlight, they circle in round dances on the banks of reservoirs. Where the coast ran and frolicked, there the grass grows thicker and greener, and in the field bread will be born more abundantly.

Numerogog is the goddess of the moon. She holds in her hand the moon, according to which time was calculated in ancient times, she is characterized by calmness, measuredness, impassivity. Her period is from early twilight to dawn, but despite this, she is indifferent to the dark forces of evil. Contemplating reality, calmly counts both seconds and centuries. He likes to walk in the snowy expanses on long winter nights, and to swim in warm water on short summer nights.

Nemiza is the god of air, the lord of the winds. His head is crowned with rays and wings, and a flying bird is depicted on his torso. Light as a feather, and sometimes he turns into a feather and sways in the air, resting from worries. When, in the very heat, a slight coolness suddenly touches the brow, it is Nemiza who favors, lazily flapping her wing. Nemiza is not grumpy and allows the winds to frolic without interfering in their affairs. But if they really quarrel and spin a crazy carousel, he will intervene and put things in order.

Alive (Zhivana, Siva) - "giving life", the goddess of life, she embodies the life force and opposes the mythological incarnations of death. He holds an apple in his right hand and a grape in his left. Alive is in the form of a cuckoo. In early May, sacrifices are made to her. The girls honor the cuckoo - the spring messenger: they baptize in the forest, fumble among themselves and curl wreaths on a birch.

Frost (Frost) - the god of winter, cold weather. Dressed in a warm fur coat, walks through the forests and covers the trees with snow. In winter, he is a complete master, in his submission are snowfalls, blizzards and blizzards. Always at war with the spring, resisting its coming, attacking at night, but always retreating in the end. Not all travelers are happy in their possessions. Depending on the behavior of a person, and sometimes on his own mood, he can reward a person or punish him. If he gets angry, he will sprinkle with snow, zavyuzit, knock him off the road, climb under his clothes. It can freeze your ears or hands, or even completely freeze.

Lada is the goddess of love, the patroness of marriages, the hearth, the goddess of youth, beauty, fertility. Femininity itself, tender, melodious, fair-haired; in white clothes - she will bring a guy to a sweetheart on Kupala night in a round dance, and hide her stepdaughter from her evil stepmother under the branches when she gathers to meet her friend. In young families, the hearth supports: it’s about to go out, and Lada will throw a twig, wave her clothes - the hearth will flare up, touch the hearts of the unreasonable with warmth, and again the harmony in the family.

Makosha (Mokosh, Makesha) - Slavic deity, patroness of women's work, spinning and weaving. Also agricultural deity, mother of the harvest, goddess of abundance. The flower is a poppy, intoxicating like love. From the name of this bright flower, which the girls embroidered on wedding towels, is the name of the goddess. Makosha is the deity of female vitality. The only female deity whose idol stood on a hilltop in the pantheon of Prince Vladimir. For some northern tribes, Mokosh is a cold, unkind goddess.

Lel is the young god of love. In his youthful years, Lel sometimes simply amuses himself with love, although he does it out of good intentions - for him this is a fun game. A handsome young man with curly hair makes girls fall in love with him by playing the flute and singing to them. When he doesn’t have a pass from another chosen one, Lel finds a boyfriend for her and convinces both that they were looking for each other. Lel appears in the spring, lives with his brother Polel in the forest. Together they go out in the morning to meet Yarilo. Lelya's pipe can be heard on the Kupala night.

Weather is the god of clear days, the herald of spring, the husband of the goddess Zimtserla. Light-faced, clear-eyed, beardless, cheerful in disposition. And sometimes he quarrels with his wife and walks gloomy. That's why the days are cloudy, and even rainy: Zimtserla pours tears. And when bad weather - a serious quarrel. Anger and anger pass, the weather is reconciled with his wife, again the days are clear and beautiful. We ask: “What will the weather be like?”, but we should be: “What will the weather be like?”

Karna (Karina) - the goddess of sorrow, the weeping goddess of the ancient Slavs, the sister of Zhelya. If a warrior dies far from home, Karna is the first to mourn him. According to the legends, weeping and sobbing can be heard over the dead battlefield at night. This goddess Karna in black long clothes performs a difficult female service for all wives and mothers.

The Magi (magician, wizards) are the chosen ones of the gods, mediators between heaven and people, executors of the will of the gods. Every popular faith presupposes rituals, the performance of which is entrusted to chosen people, respected for virtue and wisdom, real or imaginary. The Magi were the guardians of the faith, lived as hermits, ate gifts and sacrifices that were intended for the deities. They had the exclusive right to grow a long white beard, to sit during the sacrifice, to enter the sanctuaries. After the introduction of Christianity, they were persecuted, as they worshiped pagan deities and defended the old faith and rituals.

Bes is one of the names of Chernobog. Later - a generalized name for evil spirits. Ugly, with pig snouts, long ears and tails, horned and shaggy. Able to move quickly in space. Especially zealous in bad weather in autumn and winter. They grunt, champ, howl, squeal, spit, spinning in a frenzied dance. They lead a lone traveler astray, lead him into an impassable thicket or into a quagmire, push him into an ice-hole; they frighten the horses and, clinging to the mane, drive them to death. They can transform into inanimate objects.

Brownie is the patron of the house. They also call him for obvious and proven merits with the name “master” and for the antiquity of the years of his life - “grandfather”. Appears in the form of an old man, a shaggy little man, a cat or other small animal, but it is not given to see him. He is the guardian not only of the whole house, but mainly of all who live in it. Naughty: making noise, rocking the bed, throwing off the blanket, scattering flour. But it also helps: washing dishes, chopping wood. Rocks a child. On February 7, on Efim Sirin, the brownie is fed porridge so that he does not sneer. On April 12, at John of the Ladder, the brownie rages until the first roosters.

Bannik (baennik, laznik bainik) - an evil spirit that lives in a bathhouse, appears in the form of a small naked man with iridescent eyes. He always lives in an unheated bath, the steam drives him out for a short time. Can kill a person washing at an inopportune time (after midnight). First, it puts you to sleep, then with long and thick lips it envelops your mouth and drives hot air into your chest. He especially dislikes drunkards. Skillful people kick him out with a bath broom. The bannik washes along with the devils, goblin, ovinniks in the fourth place, whoever gets caught by them at this time will be steamed. If it happened, you need to run backwards.

Vodyanoy (vodyannik, vodyadnik) - the spirit of rivers and lakes, like all spirits from evil spirits - is not only a "grandfather", as he is usually called, but also a genuine "ancestor". Always naked, in black scales, wrapped and girded with mud, with long green hair and a beard, in a hat made of kugi. Instead of hands - paws with membranes, a fish tail, eyes burning with red-hot coals. He sits on a snag and loudly claps on the water. He gets angry - he breaks dams, washes away mills, drags animals and people into the water. Fishermen, millers, beekeepers sacrifice to him.

Chur (Tzur) - the ancient god of the hearth, protecting the boundaries of land holdings. A hearth and a warm hut are Chur's habitat. He is called upon during divination, games, etc. (“Church me!”). Chur sanctifies the right of ownership (“Chur is mine!”). He also determines the quantity and quality of the necessary work (“Too much!”). Churka is a wooden image of Chur.

Witch - according to ancient legends, a woman who sold her soul to the devil. In the south, this is a more attractive woman, often a young widow; in the north - an old woman, fat as a tub, with gray hair, bony hands and a huge blue nose. It differs from other women in that it has a small tail and has the ability to fly through the air on a broomstick, a poker, in a mortar. He goes to his dark deeds without fail through the chimney, can turn into different animals, most often a magpie, a pig, a dog and a yellow cat. It gets older and younger with the month. On Sila August 12, witches die after drinking milk. A well-known gathering place of witches for the Sabbath on Kupala Night is in Kyiv on Bald Mountain.

Baba Yaga is a forest old sorceress, witch, sorceress. The character of the fairy tales of the Eastern and Western Slavs. She lives in the forest, in a "hut on chicken legs", she has one bone leg, she does not see well, she flies around the world on a mortar. You can trace parallels with other characters: with a witch - a way to move, the ability to transform (turn into animals); with the goddess of animals and the forest - life in the forest, the complete subordination of animals to her; with the mistress of the world of the dead - a fence of human bones around the hut, skulls on stakes, a deadbolt - a human leg, constipation - a hand, a lock - teeth. In most fairy tales, she is the opponent of the hero, but sometimes his assistant and giver.