All about Slavic mythology. Slavic paganism and mythology
The Slavs, like other Indo-European peoples, rose from the lowest level of demonology associated with magic to the highest forms of religion. However, we know very little about this process. What we know is mainly the rich world of lower spirits and magic that surrounded the Slav. This world of spirits and magic formed the basis of the religious worldview of the Slavs from ancient times until the end of the pagan period. Russian medieval writers - chroniclers and church preachers - followed the traditions of the ancient Christian church fathers, who castigated and ridiculed ancient paganism, but did not describe it as it was around and in reality. Old Russian authors did the same. They addressed an audience that was full of pagan thoughts, actions, and constant witchcraft spells, which avoided church services and willingly participated in colorful and intoxicating riotous and popular pagan games. Therefore, they did not so much describe as blame. In XV – XVII centuries Slavic historians had already overcome their predecessors’ disdain for the mythological ideas of their ancestors and began to collect written and ethnographic data about the ancients pagan gods and details of the cult of the Slavic peoples.
Unfortunately, in these Renaissance works by various authors, be it the Pole Jan Dlugosz or the Russian author of the Gustyn Chronicle, the main idea was comparison with such an international standard as Greco-Roman mythology. Essentially, from the total sum of Slavic and foreign sources we can reliably draw only a list of names Slavic gods and goddesses. Russian chronicles name the gods whose cult was established by Prince Vladimir in 980 - these are Perun, Stribog, Dazhbog, Khors, Semargl and the goddess Makosh. In addition, Veles, Svarog, Rod and women in labor are mentioned. Ethnography already in the 17th century added several mythological characters such as Lada and Lelya.
Catholic missionaries in Western Slavic lands call the gods Svyatovit, Svarozhich, Yarovit, Virgo, Zhiva, Radogost and other gods. Since the actual Slavic texts and images of gods and spirits have not been preserved due to the fact that Christianization interrupted the pagan tradition, the main source of information is medieval chronicles, teachings against paganism, chronicles, archaeological excavations, folklore and ethnographic collections. Information about the gods Western Slavs very scarce, this is, for example, the “History of Poland” by Jan Dlugosz (1415 - 1480), which gives a list of deities and their correspondences from Greek and Roman mythology: Perun - Zeus, Nyja - Pluto, Dziewana - Venus, Marzana - Ceres, Share – Fortune, etc.
Czech and Slovak data on the gods, as many scientists believe, need a critical attitude. Little is known about the mythology of the southern Slavs. Having early fallen into the sphere of influence of Byzantium and other powerful civilizations of the Mediterranean, having adopted Christianity before other Slavs, they largely lost information about the former composition of their pantheon.
The mythology of the Eastern Slavs has been most fully preserved. We find early information about it in the “Tale of Bygone Years” (XII century), which reports that Prince Vladimir the Holy (? – 1015) sought to create a nationwide pagan pantheon. However, his adoption of Christianity in 988 entailed the destruction of the idols of the so-called Vladimirov pantheon (they were solemnly thrown into the Dnieper), as well as the ban on paganism and its rituals.
The old gods began to be identified with Christian saints: Perun turned into Saint Elijah, Veles into Saint Blaise, Yarila into Saint George. However, the mythological ideas of our ancestors continue to live in folk traditions, holidays, beliefs and rituals, as well as in songs, fairy tales, conspiracies and signs. Ancient mythological characters such as goblin, mermaids, merman, brownies and devils are vividly imprinted in speech, proverbs and sayings. Developing, Slavic mythology went through three stages - spirits, nature deities and idol gods (idols). The Slavs revered the gods of life and death (Zhiva and Moran), fertility and the plant kingdom, heavenly bodies and fire, sky and war; Not only the sun or water were personified, but also numerous house spirits, etc. - worship and admiration were expressed in the offering of blood and bloodless sacrifices.
In the 19th century, Russian scientists began to explore Russian myths, tales and legends, understanding their scientific value and the importance of preserving them for subsequent generations. Key to new awareness Slavic mythology became the works of F. I. Buslaev, A. A. Potebnya, I. P. Sakharov, such works as the three-volume study of A. N. Afanasyev “Poetic views of the Slavs on nature”, “Myths of Slavic paganism” and “A short sketch of Russian mythology” "D. O. Sheppinga, "Deities of the Ancient Slavs" by A. S. Famintsyn and others.
The first to arise was the mythological school, which is based on the comparative historical method of study, the establishment of an organic connection between language, folk poetry and folk mythology, the principle of the collective nature of creativity. Fyodor Ivanovich Buslaev (1818-1897) is rightfully considered the creator of this school.
IN ancient period language,” says Buslaev, “the word as an expression of legends and rituals, events and objects was understood in the closest connection with what it expresses: “the name imprinted a belief or event, and from the name a legend or myth arose again.” A special “epic ritual” in the repetition of ordinary expressions led to the fact that what was once said about any subject seemed so successful that it no longer needed further modification. Language thus became a “faithful instrument of tradition.” A method originally associated with comparing languages, establishing common forms of words and raising them to language Indo-European peoples, for the first time in Russian science, was transferred by Buslaev to folklore and used to study the mythological legends of the Slavs.
"Poetic inspiration belonged to one and all, like a proverb, like a legal saying. The poet was whole people. Some individuals were not poets, but singers or storytellers; they only knew how to tell or sing more accurately and skillfully what was known to everyone. The power of tradition reigned supreme over the epic singer, not allowing him to stand out from the group. Not knowing the laws of nature, neither physical nor moral, epic poetry represented both in an inseparable totality, expressed in numerous similes and metaphors. Heroic epic is only a further development of the primitive mythological legend. The theogonic epic gives way to the heroic at that stage of development epic poetry, when legends about the affairs of people began to join pure myth. At this time, an epic epic grew out of the myth, from which the fairy tale subsequently emerged. The people preserve their epic legends not only in epics and fairy tales, but also in individual sayings, short spells, proverbs, sayings, oaths, riddles, signs and superstitions."
These are the main provisions of Buslaev’s mythological theory, which in the 60-70s of the 19th century gradually developed into a school of comparative mythology and the theory of borrowing.
The theory of comparative mythology was developed by Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasyev (1826-1871), Orest Fedorovich Miller (1833-1889) and Alexander Alexandrovich Kotlyarevsky (1837-1881). Their focus was on the problem of the origin of myth in the very process of its creation. Most of the myths, according to this theory, go back to the most ancient tribe Aryans Standing out from this common ancestral tribe, the peoples spread its legends throughout the world, therefore the legends of the “Dove Book” almost completely coincide with the songs of the Old Scandinavian “Elder Edda” and ancient myths Hindus.
The comparative method, according to Afanasyev, “provides a means to restore original form legends." Of particular importance for understanding Slavic mythology are epics (this term was introduced into use by I.P. Sakharov; before that epic songs were called antiquities). Russians heroic epics can be placed next to heroic myths in other mythological systems, with the difference that the epics are largely historical, telling about the events of the 11th-16th centuries. The heroes of the epics - Ilya Muromets, Volga, Mikula Selyaninovich, Vasily Buslaev and others are perceived not only as individuals related to a certain historical era, but above all - as defenders, ancestors, namely epic heroes. Hence their unity with nature and Magic power, their invincibility (there are practically no epics about the death of heroes or about the battles they fought). Initially existing in an oral version, as the work of singer-storytellers, epics, of course, have undergone considerable changes. There is reason to believe that they once existed in a more mythologized form.
Slavic mythology is characterized by the fact that it is comprehensive and does not represent a separate area of the people's idea of the world and the universe (like fantasy or religion), but is embodied even in everyday life - be it rites, rituals, cults or the agricultural calendar, preserved demonology (from brownies, witches and goblin to banniks and mermaids) or a forgotten identification (for example, pagan Perun with the Christian Saint Elijah). Therefore, practically destroyed at the level of texts until the 11th century, it continues to live in images, symbolism, rituals and in the language itself.