Russian ancient mythology. Slavic myths and legends

In his work “War with the Goths” (553) he wrote that the Slavs are people of “tremendous strength” and “ tall“He noted that they worship nymphs and rivers, as well as “all sorts of deities.” The Slavs make sacrifices to all of them and “make fortune telling” with the help of these sacrifices.

Where are the Slavs' ideas about the world reflected?

One of the first to talk about our ancestors was the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea. He left us rare and invaluable information about the Slavs. During the creation of the work "War with the Goths" they barely entered the world stage. At that time, the Slavs still lived as a separate culture, which was far from the culture of antiquity. Our ancestors will touch upon its achievements much later. This will happen after our country adopts Christianity.

Other myths put forward a slightly different version Ancient Rus'. Summary her next. When Svarog created (cooked) the earth, he found this magic stone. Alatyr grew after God said magic spell. Svarog foamed the ocean with it. The moisture, thickening, became the first dry land. The gods were born from sparks when Svarog hit Alatyr with a magic hammer. The location of this stone in Russian folklore is inextricably linked with the island of Buyan, which was located in the “Okiyan-sea”. Alatyr is mentioned in conspiracies, epics and Russian folk tales.

Smorodina River

Kalinov Bridge and are often mentioned in conspiracies and fairy tales. However, in them this river is most often called simply Resin or Fiery. This matches the descriptions presented in fairy tales. Sometimes, especially often in epics, Currant is called the Puchai River. Probably, it began to be called that because its boiling surface swells, seethes, and bubbles.

Currant in the mythology of the ancient Slavs is a river that separates two worlds from each other: the living and the dead. The human soul needs to overcome this obstacle on the way to the “other world.” The river did not get its name from the berry bush known to us. IN Old Russian language was the word "currant" used in the 11th-17th centuries. It means stench, stench, pungent and strong odor. Later, when the meaning of the name of this river was forgotten, the distorted name “Currant” appeared in fairy tales.

Penetration of Christian ideas

The ideas of Christianity began to penetrate our ancestors in the 9th century. Having visited Byzantium, Princess Olga was baptized there. Prince Svyatoslav, her son, buried his mother according to the customs of Christianity, but he himself was a pagan and remained a follower of the ancient gods. As you know, it was established by Prince Vladimir, his son. This happened in 988. After this, the struggle with ancient Slavic mythological ideas began.

Map of Slavic lands
Territory of the Slavs

Unlike ancient mythology, well known from fiction and works of art, as well as the mythologies of the countries of the East, the texts of the myths of the Slavs have not reached our time, because at that distant time when the myths were created, they did not yet know writing.

In the 5th – 7th centuries after the Great Migration of Peoples, the Slavs occupied the territories of Central and Eastern Europe from the Elbe (Laba) to the Dnieper and Volga, from the southern shores of the Baltic Sea to the north Balkan Peninsula. Centuries passed, and the Slavs became increasingly separated from each other, forming three modern branches of the largest family of related peoples in Europe. Eastern Slavs are Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians; Western - Poles, Slovaks and Czechs (the Baltic Slavs were assimilated by their Germanic neighbors in the 12th century); southern - Bulgarians, Macedonians, Serbs, Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians. Despite the division of the Slavs, their mythologies have retained many common features to this day.

Thus, all Slavs know the myth about the duel between the thunder god and his demonic opponent and the victory of the thunderer; All Slavic traditions are familiar with the ancient custom of burning an effigy at the end of winter - the embodiment of dark evil forces or burying a mythical creature like Maslenitsa and Yarila among the Russians and Belarusians and Herman among the Bulgarians.

Slavic mythology and the religion of the Slavs was composed of the deification of the forces of nature and the cult of ancestors. The only supreme god, the “creator of lightning”, like Indra among the Hindus, Zeus among the Greeks, Jupiter among the Romans, Thor among the Germans, Perkunas among the Lithuanians - among the Slavs Perun. The concept of the thunder god merged among the Slavs with the concept of the sky in general (namely, the moving, cloudy sky), the personification of which some scientists see in Svarog. Other high gods were considered the sons of Svarog - Svarozhichi; such gods were the sun and fire.

The sun was deified under the name Dazhdbog, and Khorsa. Brother of Svarog, the most mysterious god and guardian of herds Veles originally also a solar god. All these names of the highest god are very ancient and were used everyone Slavs. Common Slavic ideas about the highest god received further development among individual Slavic tribes, new, more defined and more bizarre forms.

Thus, among the Western Slavs the highest god was considered Svyatovit, and corresponded to it Triglav- a three-headed idol that was worshiped in Shchetin (Stettin) and Wolin. In the city of Retra, the same highest god, the son of Svarog, was called Radegasta, and in Czech and Polish legends he appears under the name Kroka or Kraka.

Already ancient writers assumed that the name Svyatovit appeared as a result of the confusion of the pagan god with the Christian saint Vitus; the name Radegost was also supposed to be transferred to the god from the name of the city, and the city received this name from one of its princes. Krak, according to the legend of Kozma of Prague, was a wise and fair judge and ruler of the people. Whatever these guesses may be, there is no doubt that all the names listed meant the same high god and that they all appeared later.

Vague evidence that has reached us about Slavic gods, which are explained in folk tales and songs, come down to the struggle between the light and dark forces of nature, fertility versus infertility, summer versus winter, light versus darkness, life versus death, Belbog versus Chernobog. Intertwined with these ideas were views on afterlife and ancestor cult. The souls of the deceased lived in some distant country at the end of the world, where the sun sets; this country was called by the Slavs navyem, vyryem, iriya, paradise, hell. The deceased must be prepared for this country as if on a long journey, which is achieved by proper burial.

Until the funeral rites are performed, the soul wanders on earth; among the southern Slavs the soul in this state is called Vidogonya. The soul is doomed to eternal wandering on earth if the correct ritual has not been performed; Thus, the souls of girls or children who drowned in water become mermaids, waving, with a pitchfork. To make it easier for the deceased to travel to the kingdom of the dead, the Slavs resorted to burning: the fire of a funeral pyre instantly separated the soul from the body and sent it to heavenly dwellings.

Fight of Dobrynya Nikitich
with Zmey Gorynych

In the cult fire of the funeral pyre, P. N. Milyukov sees a connection between two independently emerging systems of religious ideas: the deification of the forces of nature and the cult of ancestors. On the one hand, fire was a manifestation on earth of the heavenly solar god, a messenger of the heavenly gods; on the other hand, he contributed to the purification of the soul of the deceased and thus himself turned into a symbol of the soul of the ancestor, which under the name Rhoda, Chura,brownie became a household deity, guardian of the family and clan. On the hearth, both of these meanings of fire merged into one inseparable whole; it equally honored the elemental heavenly god and the tribal deity of the family community.

This dual meaning of fire finds the most striking confirmation in the belief of the Western Slavs about a domestic creature (its Czech name is Křet, Slovenian Skrat), which, under the guise of a fiery serpent, flies through a pipe and brings the owner all kinds of bread and other fruits of the earth, and sometimes various treasures. In the Tula province there is a belief that from the day of Epiphany (winter solstice) a fiery serpent (sun) appears and visits red maidens (earth). By the time Christianity began to spread among the Slavs, Slavic mythology had not yet created such clear ideas about the gods as, for example, the Greeks had come to: the Slavic gods continued to merge with the elements that they personified and did not yet have clear anthropomorphic features. Likewise, the cult of ancestors among the Slavs had not yet developed into such distinct, complete forms and did not have such strict legal consequences as among the Greeks and Romans.

The religious views of the Slavs come down to those ancient layers of religious beliefs that constitute the common property of the peoples of the Aryan tribe: they formed before the beginning of the history of the Slavs as a separate tribal group and hardly moved further. Accordingly, they did not develop strict forms of cult, and there was no special priestly class. Only among the Baltic Slavs do we find a strong religious organization: idols for whom temples were erected, priests who performed divine services according to a certain order, with known rituals, who had a hierarchical structure and over time acquired the significance of the leading caste. Other Slavic tribes had neither public idols, nor temples, nor priests; Representatives of clan unions made sacrifices to the clan and heavenly gods. It was only under the influence of the Varangians that the Russian Slavs came to the idea of depicting their gods in idols.

The first idols were placed by Vladimir, Prince of Kyiv, on the hill to Perun, Khorsu, Dazhdbog, and in Novgorod, Dobrynya - to Perun over Volkhov. Under Vladimir, for the first time, temples appeared in Rus', probably built by him, in which, according to the saga of Olav Trygveson, he himself made sacrifices. But under the same Vladimir, Christianity was introduced into Russia, which put an end to the development of the Slavic cult, although for a long time it was not yet able to supplant the remnants of pagan beliefs.

After the adoption of Christianity, the popular consciousness of the Slavs mixed the new faith with the old, partly merged their gods with Christian saints, partly relegated them to the position of “demons”, and partly remained faithful to their ancestral gods. Kozma of Prague († 1125) says: “and hitherto among many of the villagers, just like among pagans, some honor springs or fires, others adores forests or trees, or stones, others make sacrifices to mountains or hills, others bow to idols, deaf and dumb. which he made for himself, praying that they would rule his house and himself." By these idols Kozma obviously means the household gods, which the Czechs called with skrits And with grilles, among Russians - brownies, etc.; The Czech brownie Křet was depicted by the Czechs in the form of small bronze figurines, the size of a finger, which is why he was called Paleček (boy the size of a finger).

The most interesting reflection of Slavic mythology is the association of pagan beliefs with Christian holidays. Like others Aryan peoples, the Slavs imagined the entire cycle of the seasons in the form of a continuous struggle and alternate victory of the light and dark forces of nature. The starting point of this cycle was the onset of a new year - the birth of a new sun. The Slavs incorporated the pagan content of this holiday into the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, and the celebration of Christmastide itself received the Greco-Roman name. carols.

The rituals with which the pagan Slavs celebrated the onset of spring and the summer solstice were also, to a greater or lesser extent, timed to coincide with Christian holidays: such as Rusalia, Semik, Kupalo. Given the pagan nature of the holidays, the name of the holiday turned into the name of the deity in whose honor it was once celebrated. Thus, other Slavic gods appeared like Yarila, Kostroma, etc., the number of which probably increased thanks to the narrow-minded accusatory zeal of Christian missionaries, who did not think about the general religious thought of the Slavs and saw a special god in every name.

The originality of Slavic mythology, which, like any other, reflected the worldview of its creators, lies in the fact that their life was directly connected with the world of lower spirits that live everywhere. Some of them were credited with intelligence, strength, and benevolence, while others were credited with cunning, malice, and deceit. The ancients believed that all these creatures - beregins, pitchforks, watermen, field workers, etc., constantly interfere in their lives and accompany a person from the day of birth until death.

The Slavs believed that good and evil spirits were near them, that they helped to harvest a bountiful harvest and brought illnesses, promised a happy family life, order in the house and punished for unseemly deeds. The Slavs feared and revered the gods, of whom there were relatively few and who controlled natural phenomena and elements - thunderstorms, fire, rains, trying to appease them with prayers and sacrifices. 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 of the Western Slavs is very scarce, for example, “The History of Poland” by Jan Dlugosz (1415 - 1480), which gives a list of deities and their correspondence from Roman mythology: Nyya - Pluto, Devana - Venus, Marzana - Ceres.

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 national 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: the thunderer Perun turned into Saint Elijah, the god of wisdom Veles into Saint Blaise, the sun god Yarilo 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 and forest spirits; worship and admiration were expressed in the offering of blood and bloodless sacrifices to them.
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. The works of F.I. were key to the new understanding of Slavic mythology. Buslaeva, A.A. Potebnya, I.P. Sakharov, such specific works as the three-volume study by A.N. Afanasyev "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature", "Myths Slavic paganism" And " Brief essay Russian mythology" by D.O. Shepping, "Deities of the ancient Slavs" by A.S. Famintsyn.

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 the most ancient period of 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.” "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 comparison languages, establishment general forms 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 maxim. There was a whole people who were poets. 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." Special meaning for understanding Slavic mythology there 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 magical 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.

3. Slavic mythology, its features.

1. The essence of Slavic mythology

Slavic mythology is a set of mythological ideas of the ancient Slavs (proto-Slavs) from the time of their unity (until the end of the first millennium AD). Slavic mythology and religion were formed over a long period in the process of separating the ancient Slavs from the Indo-European community of peoples in II-I millennium BC and in interaction with the mythology and religion of neighboring peoples. Actually, Slavic mythological texts have not survived: the religious-mythological integrity of “paganism” was destroyed during the period of Christianization of the Slavs. It is only possible to reconstruct the basic elements of Slavic mythology on the basis of secondary written, folklore and material sources.

Actually, Slavic mythological texts have not survived: the religious-mythological integrity of “paganism” was destroyed during the period of Christianization of the Slavs. It is only possible to reconstruct the basic elements of Slavic mythology on the basis of secondary written, folklore and material sources. Before the adoption of Christianity, almost all East Slavic mythology was within the framework of the phenomenon called “Old Russian paganism, so we can glean information about it from Old Russian written sources.” It should be noted, however, that, firstly, the religion of the ruling elite and the common people always differ significantly, and, secondly, the sources usually consider characters of the upper level, pagan deities, while characters of lower mythology usually remain on the sidelines .

Scientists reconstruct Slavic mythology from various sources. Firstly, these are written sources. Texts by Byzantine authors of the 6th-10th centuries: Procopius of Caesarea, Theophylact Simocatta, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Leo the Deacon and others. Western European authors of the 9th-13th centuries: Bavarian Geographer, Thietmar of Merseburg, Helmold. Special place occupies the "Tale of Igor's Host", which reflects a significant layer of pagan myths mentioned by the heir and bearer of pagan culture - the anonymous songwriter. All these texts do not contain any holistic presentation of mythology or individual myths.

Secondly, written sources of the 15th-17th centuries and folklore sources of the 18th-20th centuries, which are less close to paganism, but contain a number of information from earlier sources that have not reached us, as well as detailed records of legends, fairy tales, epics, conspiracies, tales and stories, proverbs and sayings, from which it is possible to reconstruct ancient myths. Among folklore subjects, epics about Svyatogor, Potyk, Volga (Volkh), Mikul are usually attributed to paganism; tales about Kashchei the Immortal, the Serpent Gorynych, Baba Yaga, Alyonushka and Ivanushka.

Archaeological sources are more reliable, but less informative: information from excavations of religious places, finds of idols, ritual objects, jewelry, pagan symbols, inscriptions mentioning pagan gods or pagans, remains of sacrifices and ritual actions. No less important are information from linguistics, comparative religion and the study of mythological stories from other peoples.

Slavic mythology and religion were formed over a long period in the process of separating the ancient Slavs from the Indo-European community of peoples in the 2nd-1st millennium BC and in interaction with the mythology and religion of neighboring peoples. Therefore, naturally, there is a significant Indo-European layer in Slavic mythology. For example, these are images of the god of the thunderstorm and the fighting squad (Perun), the god of the other world (Veles), elements of the images of the twin deity (Yarilo and Yarilikha) and the deity of the Sky-Father (Stribog). Also Indo-European in essence are such images as Mother Cheese-Earth (Mokosh), solar deity (Dazhbog), and some others. In the 1st millennium BC. e. and in the first half of the 1st millennium, the religion of the Slavs was significantly influenced by the Celts and the Iranian-speaking steppe population (Scythians, Sarmatians and Alans). Some researchers suggest Celto-Slavic parallels between the deities Dagda and Dazhbog, as well as Maha and Makosh. The Eastern Slavs had in their pantheon deities of presumably Iranian origin - Khors, Semargl, etc.

The beliefs of the Slavs and Balts were very close. This applies to the names of such deities as Perun (Perkunas) and, possibly, Veles (Velnyas). There are similarities between the mythologies of the Slavs and Thracians. It also has a lot in common with German-Scandinavian mythology: the motif of the world tree, the cult of dragons, etc. During the same period, with the division of the Proto-Slavic community, tribal beliefs of the Slavs began to form, which had significant regional differences. In particular, the mythology of the Western Slavs was significantly different from all others.

2. The universe of the ancient Slavs

The so-called “Zbruch Idol” can provide a lot of data about the Universe of the ancient Slavs, which because of this is sometimes even called the “encyclopedia of Slavic paganism.” This tetrahedral stone sculpture is oriented to the cardinal points. Each side is divided into three levels - apparently, heavenly, earthly and underground. At the heavenly level, “deities are depicted, on the earthly level - people (two men and two women, like the deities), and in the underground - a certain chthonic creature holding the earth on itself.”

Among the Slavs (and many other peoples) the world tree is a universal image that synthesizes all the relationships described above. This function in Slavic folklore texts usually includes Vyriy, tree of paradise, birch, sycamore, oak, pine, rowan, and apple tree. Various animals are associated with the three main parts of the world tree: birds (falcon, nightingale, birds of a mythological nature, Divas, etc.), as well as the sun and moon; to the trunk - bees, to the roots - chthonic animals (snakes, beavers, etc.). With the help of the world tree, the triple vertical structure of the world is modeled - three kingdoms: heaven, earth and the underworld, a quaternary horizontal structure (north, west, south, east, cf. the corresponding four winds), life and death (green, flowering tree and dry tree, tree in calendar rituals), etc.

Fragmentary information about the worldview of the ancient Slavs can be obtained from ancient Russian literature. In particular, the “Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh” speaks of the priest - a distant southern country, where birds fly away for the winter. With the help of ethnographic materials, we can find out that ireus in folk memory was later identified with paradise. It also says: “On the sea-Ocean, on the island of Buyan there is an oak tree called Karkolist, on that oak tree sits a falcon, under that oak tree there is a snake...” Thus, the Slavs imagined the Universe: in the center of the World Ocean there is an island (Buyan), on which, in the Center of the World, there is a stone (Alatyr) or the World Tree grows (usually an oak tree). On this tree, as can be seen from the plot, a bird sits, and under the tree there is a snake. This picture is very similar to the German-Scandinavian one and to that presented in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”

The earliest information about the deities of ancient Russian paganism can be given to us by the materials of the treaties between Rus' and the Byzantines, concluded after the campaigns in 945 and 971. The conclusion of these treaties is described in ancient Russian chronicles, and there we are interested primarily in the oaths that the Russians took. The joint mention of Perun and Volos in this oath gave rise to numerous speculations - some compare Perun with weapons and war, and Volos with gold and trade, some associate Perun with the ruling elite (or Varangians-Rus), and Volos with common people(Slavs and even Finns), others generally contrast Volos with Perun. Otherwise, the data of this oath does not provide anything new, with the exception of the passage about gold, which has already been discussed above, in the section “The Universe of the Ancient Slavs.”

3. Cults of deities

3.1. Hierarchy of characters in Slavic mythology

According to the functions of mythological characters, the nature of their connections with the collective, the degree of individualized embodiment, the peculiarities of their temporal characteristics and the degree of their relevance for humans within Slavic mythology, several levels can be distinguished.

The highest level is characterized by “the most generalized type of functions of the gods (ritual-legal, military, economic-natural), their connection with the official cult (up to the early state pantheons).” The highest level of Slavic mythology included two Proto-Slavic deities, whose names are reliably reconstructed as *Rerunъ (Perun) and *Velesъ (Veles), as well as a female character associated with them, whose Proto-Slavic name remains unclear. These deities embody military and economic-natural functions. They are connected to each other as participants in a thunderstorm myth: the thunder god Perun, who lives in the sky, on the top of the mountain, pursues his serpentine enemy who lives below on the earth. The reason for their quarrel is Veles’s abduction of cattle, people, and in some cases, the wife of the Thunderer. The pursued Veles hides successively under a tree, a stone, and turns into a man, a horse, and a cow.

Knowledge about the full composition of the highest-level Proto-Slavic gods is very limited, although there is reason to believe that they already constituted a pantheon. In addition to the named gods, it could include those deities whose names are known in at least two different Slavic traditions. These are the ancient Russian Svarog (in relation to fire - Svarozhich, i.e. the son of Svarog). Another example is the ancient Russian Dazhbog.

A lower level could include deities associated with economic cycles and seasonal rituals, as well as gods who embodied the integrity of closed small groups: Rod, Chur among the Eastern Slavs, etc. It is possible that most of the female deities who reveal close connections with the collective (Mokosh and others), sometimes less anthropomorphic than the gods of the highest level.

Elements of the next level are characterized by the greatest abstraction of functions, which sometimes allows them to be considered as a personification of members of the main oppositions; for example, Share, Dashing, Truth, Falsehood, Death, or corresponding specialized functions, for example Court. The common Slavic god was probably associated with the designation of share, luck, happiness. The word “god” was included in the names of various deities - Dazhbog, Chernobog, etc. Many of these characters appear in fairy-tale narratives in accordance with the time of the fairy tale and even with specific life situations (for example, Grief-Misfortune).

The heroes of the mythological epic are associated with the beginning of the mythologized historical tradition. They are known only from individual data. Slavic traditions: these are the genealogical heroes Kiy, Shchek, Khoriv among the Eastern Slavs. More ancient origins can be discerned in the characters who act as opponents of these heroes, for example, in monsters of a serpentine nature, the later versions of which can be considered the Nightingale the Robber, Rarog-Rarashek. Fairy-tale characters are, apparently, “participants in the ritual in their mythologized guise and leaders of those classes of creatures that themselves belong to the lowest level: such are Baba Yaga, Koschey, Miracle Yudo, the forest king, the water king, sea king» .

Lower mythology includes different classes of non-individualized (often non-anthropomorphic) evil spirits, spirits, animals associated with the entire mythological space from home to forest, swamp, etc.: brownies, goblins, water creatures, mermaids, pitchforks, fevers, maras, pestilences , kikimoras, sudichki among the Western Slavs; of animals - bear, wolf.

The dualistic principle of opposition between favorable and unfavorable for the collective was sometimes realized in mythological characters endowed with positive or negative functions, or in personified members of oppositions. These are: happiness (share) - misfortune (not share). There is a significant difference between male and female mythological characters in terms of functions, significance and quantity: the small number of female characters in the pantheon, the ratios such as Divas - divas, Rod - women in labor, Court - judges. The role is especially significant feminine in magic, witchcraft.

In the contrast between land and sea, the sea is of particular importance - the location of numerous negative, mostly female, characters; the home of death, illness, where they are sent in conspiracies. Its incarnations are the sea, the ocean-sea, the sea king and his twelve daughters, twelve fevers, etc. The positive aspect is embodied in the motifs of the arrival of spring and the sun from across the sea. This opposition is superimposed on another: dry - wet (later - Ilya Sukhoi and Wet, Nikola Sukhoi and Wet, a combination of these signs in Perun, the god of lightning - fire and rain). The opposition between fire and moisture is embodied in the motifs of the confrontation between these elements and in such characters as the Fire Serpent (in Russian epics about Volkh Vseslavievich, in fairy tales and conspiracies, in the Serbian epic about the Serpent Fiery Wolf), the Fire Bird (the fairy-tale firebird). The mythological embodiments of the opposition between day and night are nocturnal, midnight and midday, Dawns - morning, noon, evening, midnight. Sventovit’s horse is white during the day, and splashed with mud at night. A special role in Slavic mythology was played by the images of an old woman-witch such as Baba Yaga and a bald old man, grandfather, etc. The opposition ancestors - descendants and rituals of commemoration of ancestors, “grandfathers”, as well as the opposition elder - younger are associated with the opposition old - young.

One should be very careful when comparing epic characters with mythological figures. However, two main characters“Epics” - Ilya Muromets and Dobrynya Nikitich were repeatedly compared with pagan gods - Perun and Dazhdbog, respectively. The very name of Muromets - Ilya - is symptomatic. The Prophet Elijah, as already mentioned, replaced Perun in the popular consciousness. Dobrynya is usually considered a late incarnation of Dazhdbog. This is confirmed by some similarity of names and the feat of snake fighting.

3.2. The process of studying the characters of Slavic mythology

It was only under the influence of the Varangians that the Russian Slavs came to the idea of depicting their gods in idols. The first idols were placed by Vladimir, Prince of Kyiv, on the hill to Perun, Khorsu, Dazhdbog, and in Novgorod, Dobrynya - to Perun over Volkhov. Under Vladimir, temples, probably built by him, appeared for the first time in Rus'.

One of the most important sources on Slavic, or rather Old Russian pagan mythology, is the chronicle story about the so-called “pagan reform” of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, when he installed idols of six most important deities in Kiev: “And Vladimir began to reign in Kiev alone, and placed idols on hill, outside the tower courtyard: wooden Perun with a silver head and golden mustache, Khors (and) Dazhbog, Stribog, Simargl and Mokosh." Perun, as is noticeable, is located in first place in the list, he begins the list of gods, so it is quite logical to consider him the main and most important of the deities (at least for the prince and the squad). The names Khors and Dazhbog appear side by side in the list, and in some versions of the chronicle they are not separated, like other deities, by the conjunction “and”. Therefore, it is quite logical to assume some similarity, connection (or even identity) between these deities, since both of them are solar, associated with the sun. Stribog and Simargl, apparently, were not as significant as Perun and Khors with Dazhbog, since they are mentioned after them. Mokosh, apparently, is a female deity, and therefore closes the list. Of the six deities on the list, two have undoubted Iranian roots - Khors and Simargl. This is explained by the fact that the pantheon was established in Kyiv, and the Eastern Slavs of Southern Rus' were greatly influenced by the Sarmatian and Alan tribes that dissolved in them.

“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is a unique monument to the ancient Russian epic tradition. It contains a lot of mythological data, although it was created already in the 12th-13th centuries. This is explained by the so-called “Revival of Paganism” - a phenomenon on a pan-European scale that also took place in Rus'. The reasons for it were that paganism had almost disappeared and no longer posed a threat to Christianity, so they no longer “feared” it. On the contrary, it began to play a completely different role in culture - aesthetic, archaizing, national-ideological. In the “Word”, as a rule, the “grandchildren” of various deities are mentioned - artistic phrases-metaphors for a synonymous replacement or epithet.

The storyteller Boyan in the Lay is called the grandson of the god Veles. Based on this passage, Veles is considered an ancient Russian pagan patron of poetry and singer-storytellers. The winds in the Lay are called the grandchildren of Stribog. Based on this passage, Stribog is considered the god-lord of the winds.

The Russian people, from the prince to the farmer, are called the grandchildren of Dazhbog in the Lay. Based on these two passages, we can say that Dazhbog was generally a fairly significant deity in Ancient Rus', who personified the prosperity, peace and unity of the Russian land. In the passages, the name Khors is replaced by the word “sun”, on the basis of which we can say that Khors was the personified sun in ancient Russian paganism.

In addition, in the Lay there is an epic image of Prince Vseslav, endowed with various supernatural abilities. This is a rather “archaic mythological image of a shaman-warrior, characteristic of the transition period from the primitive communal system to military democracy". The image of Prince Vseslav is related to the image of the epic Volkh Vseslavyevich or Volga.

A fragment of the Ipatiev Chronicle, which is an insert from the Slavic translation of the “Chronicle” by the Byzantine historian John Malala, is notable primarily for its mythological plots, or more precisely, the plot about Svarog and Dazhbog. The Slavic translator translated the names of Hephaestus and Helios respectively in this way, so we can judge about some connection with fire and, possibly, the blacksmith's craft of Svarog, and about the solar character of Dazhbog. The very plot of the mythological insertion from the “Chronicle” into the chronicle, unfortunately, cannot tell us anything about Slavic mythology.

3.3. Cult service of the ancient Slavs

Sacred places among the pagans could be various natural objects. The pagans came to special stones with “footprints”, went to sacred groves, made sacrifices from the labors of their hands to rivers and lakes, threw gifts at the bottom of wells, stuck objects into tree trunks, climbed to the tops of hills and mountains, mounds and mound complexes were ancestral temples on which idols sometimes stood.

The simplest form of a specially organized cult place among the Slavs is cult platforms with idols and sacrificial pits. Such places were supposedly called “treasures”, where they “performed rituals”, that is, they performed what was necessary to glorify the gods. Sacrificial pits were located on the outskirts of villages and did not have fences. Sometimes several drop idols were located on cult sites in a geometric order: the main idol stood in the center or behind, and the secondary ones stood around or in front. The attributes of idols were their name, sacred number (indicated by other objects or signs), color and various kinds of things: hat, helmet, sword, club, axe, shield, spear, horn, ball, stick, ring, cross - ancient symbol fire, “gorom arrow”, bowls. Sometimes the attribute is “individual objects that are associated with a specific idol: oak, hill, fire, horse, ants, dogs, bear.” In the temples there is a separation of the altar, on which the holy service is offered, and which could be paved with stone, and the sacrificial fire, which was located to the side, behind a fence, and where various kinds of gifts were also burned.

In the last period of pre-Christian paganism, temple buildings and large complexes appeared. Significant fortifications with ditches, ramparts and tyn are erected around the temple. Inside the settlement there remains an unbuilt shrine, where mass rituals are held, gifts are left, and a fire burns. In addition, long houses are built for holidays and family gatherings.

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.

Myth(from the Greek mythos - “tradition”) is a form of consciousness ancient man, his an attempt to explain the structure of the world, reflected in legends and rituals.
Myth is the basis pagan religion, i.e. belief in many gods, each of whom personified a natural phenomenon or was the patron of human life. The term “paganism” itself goes back to the Old Slavonic word “language” (people).
The mythology of the ancient Slavs has been little studied, because in the pre-Christian period in Rus' (i.e. until the 10th century) it was not literary processed, and after the baptism of Rus' in 988, paganism began to be supplanted, and this violated the integrity of Slavic mythology. However, many pagan traditions did not completely disappear and have survived to this day in rituals, fortune telling, and signs.

The ideas of the ancient Slavs about the world consisted of the following images-symbols:

1) SPACE EGG. The Slavs believed that starry sky surrounds the Earth just as the shell surrounds the contents of an egg. Just as many people are now interested in whether there is a God and how the world came into being, so the ancient Slavs were interested in the origin of the cosmic egg. The egg does not appear on its own, but is laid by a laying hen. Consequently, the cosmic egg must have its own creator. The most common plot is the creation of the world by a duck that swims across the vast oceans of the world. Sometimes the role of a duck was played by a swan, a goose or a chicken (for example, Chicken Ryaba). The cosmic egg was not simple, but golden, and it contained the whole world (Ukrainian fairy tale"Katigoroshek") One mythological tale details how the world came out of an egg:
From the egg, from the lower part, came mother earth, raw;
From the egg, from the upper part, a high vault of heaven rose.
From the yolk, from the upper part, the bright Sun appeared,
From the white, from the upper part, a clear moon appeared;
From the egg, from the motley part, the stars became in the sky.
The egg was considered a symbol of life, therefore in the fairy tale “Vasilisa the Wise,” death, or rather, Koshchei’s life, is in the egg.
There are many rituals associated with this symbol. From ancient times there is a custom to give gifts of eggs painted in different colors(pysanky) and call them in sacred chants. On the Semitic-Trinity holidays, they fried eggs, always with fried eggs, so that there was a “sun” in the center, i.e. yolk. Eggs were laid in temples, buried in those places where construction was planned.
Break the space egg to an ordinary person is not possible, which is why in the fairy tale “Ryaba Hen” this role is played by a mouse (it is one of the animals of the eastern calendar): “The mouse ran, waved its tail - the egg fell and broke.”

2) SPACE WHEEL. The word “wheel” comes from the Old Slavonic “kolo”, i.e. circle. Etymologically, the word “kolo” goes back to such words as wheel, ring, outskirts, well, kolobok, chain mail. The wheel symbolizes the eternal cycle in nature (solstice - spring, summer, autumn, winter, day and night). The wheel is a model of the Sun: there is a circle in the center, and the spokes are rays. Many holidays and rituals are associated with the worship of the Sun. For example, eating pancakes on Maslenitsa. The pancake is a symbol of the Sun, which is mentioned in Christmas songs: it is also round, yellow and hot. Kolyada holiday: carols were sung when the length of the day began to increase, it was the holiday of the “Nativity of the Sun.” The round dance symbolized the movement of the Sun.
In mythology, the circle is associated with the production of bread - bagels, bagels, rolls. Eating these foods was a ritual of Sun worship. During Christmas time during fortune-telling, girls sang “circular songs.” Weaving wreaths for the holiday of Ivan Kupala was symbolic. The production of all kinds of amulets, amulets, and talismans is also associated with the worship of the Sun. Sun signs were depicted on the patterns of towels and spinning wheels.
The pagans built temples to the glory of the gods (temples), also in the shape of a circle. This tradition has been preserved to this day, and the word “church” itself (as well as the word “circus”) comes from the German Zirkel - “circle”.

3) A TREE is a symbol of development. In the popular consciousness, the birch tree was a symbol of youth and femininity (the song “There was a birch tree in the field”). The apple tree acted as a symbol of health, strength and fertility, and this motif was preserved in fairy tales " Rejuvenating apples" and "Geese-swans". The oak is an eternal and invincible tree (it is on the oak tree that the casket where Kashchei’s death is located hangs).
The tree grew through three main worlds (kingdoms): heavenly, earthly and underground. Each of the three worlds through which the Tree grew had its own gods.

The word "god" comes from the Sanskrit Bhaga, which means "happiness, well-being." The ancient Slavs, like all pagans, worshiped many gods. However supreme god and ancestor of the Slavic gods counts Genus, or Once. He is also called the progenitor of the world, who created everything living and nonliving. It is no coincidence that the root “clan” underlies many words: people, homeland, nature, harvest, spring, etc. Since ancient times, it was believed that the clan is the keeper of the Book of Fates (there is a saying “What is written in the clan cannot be avoided”).

HEAVENLY WORLD personifies Svarog(translated from Sanskrit svar - “sky”), who was considered the lord of the celestial elements, and above all the wind. Subsequently, Svarog began to be identified with Stribog, and in science there is no consensus on whether these are different gods or two names of one god. In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” written at the end of the 12th century, the author calls the winds “the grandchildren of Stribog.” The world-building gods also live in the heavenly world: Horse, Dazhbog, Perun, which were three hypostases of the Sun(This is why the heroine of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” Yaroslavna calls the Sun “triple”, and in Christianity there is a postulate about the triune God). Horse personified the solar ball, so the ritual of worshiping the Sun was a round dance. Dazhbog is the personification of the sun's rays and the fertility bestowed by the Sun. IN ancient greek mythology Helios corresponded to it. Perun is the Russian Zeus, the god of thunder, thunderstorms, lightning and the element of fire, riding across the sky on a fiery chariot. Fire was considered a particle of the Sun, a gift from God, and therefore was called sacred. For a long time among some tribes, Perun played the role of the god of war, because he was considered the patron saint of the prince and his squad. Faith in Perun was so strong that even after the baptism of Rus', many continued to worship him. The priests of Perun were the Magi mentioned in the “Song of the Prophetic Oleg”.

The god of fertility, thanks to whom grains and fruits gained strength and ripened, was considered Yarilo. This is a dying and resurrecting Slavic god associated with natural cycles and the change of seasons. The onset of spring was associated with the “resurrection” of Yarila.

In addition to the gods, the heavenly world was inhabited by wonderful birds. Stratem- a mysterious and powerful bird of Russian mythology, the progenitor of the entire bird world, living in the sea-ocean. As soon as she wakes up, a storm begins. She can tame the storm. At night, Stratim hides the sun under his wing in order to present it to the world again in the morning. He can hide the Earth under his wing, saving it from universal troubles.
Firebird personifies the fire-light element and the cosmic beginning of the Universe encoded in it. The firebird flies from behind blue sea from a wonderful country where life flows according to laws different from earthly ones. The location of that country is also encoded in stable fairy-tale images and concepts. It happens that in fairy tales she is the thief of wonderful apples, but she flies from the “thirtieth kingdom”.
Phoenix- a bird that lives for many hundreds of years, burning itself in its nest before dying. And here a new Phoenix is reborn from the ashes. Ancient authors considered Egypt to be the birthplace of the Phoenix. In Russian folklore, the plot of the fairy tale “The Feather of Finist Yasna Falcon” is known, the hero of which, a good fellow-werewolf, combines two initial principles: 1) a clear (solar) falcon and 2) the Phoenix bird, to which the name Finist goes back.
Gamayun – prophetic bird with a human (female) face. The name of this bird comes from the words “hustle” and “gomon”, so it was perceived as a prophet, a herald, and a messenger of the ancient pagan gods. She was considered the keeper of the secrets of the past, present and future of the Universe.
Alkonost And Sirin– two birds of paradise with women's faces. They are always inseparable, so they were often depicted sitting on a tree opposite each other. Alkonost is a bird of joy; a person who hears it forgets everything in the world with delight. Sirin is the bird of sadness, which with its singing enchants and kills people. The Alkonost bird (according to legend) lays eggs on the seashore, and until the chicks hatch, the weather is calm. "Sirin" - Russian word, meaning owl, eagle owl. The owl was revered as the bird of wisdom.

THE EARTHLY WORLD was located in the crown of a tree. Here, according to the ideas of the ancient Slavs, lived gods associated with earthly life person, as well as half-spirit creatures. The father and mother of the earthly gods were considered Lad And Lada. Their names are associated with words such as “lad” (i.e. peace, harmony), “okay”. Lel- the god of love, the Slavic analogue of the ancient Roman Cupid. According to some assumptions, Lel was the son of Lada. God Warrior Semargl depicted with seven swords in his belt. Mokosh(or Makosh) – mother goddess, patroness of the human race, guardian of the family hearth. The cult of Mokoshi dates back to the era of matriarchy, when a woman was the head of the family due to the fact that she was assigned the role of continuer of the family. Veles(or Hair- from the word “ox”) - the patron of pastures and livestock. The veneration of Veles did not stop even after the introduction of Christianity: he was “replaced” by Saint Blaise. The six most significant gods of the Slavic “pantheon” were dedicated to certain days of the week for worship. For example, Mokoshi was given two days – Wednesday and Friday, Perun – Thursday.
IN earthly world also lived half-spirits.
Brownie was considered the patron of the house, so it was customary to cajole him in every possible way and address him affectionately. If the brownie left the home, the owners were inevitably threatened with misfortune. On certain days, the brownie was supposed to be fed porridge, leaving it behind the stove. The brownie, like all half-spirits, was invisible. If a person happened to see it, it foreshadowed death.
Kikimora - brownie's wife, evil spirit peasant hut. He usually lives behind the stove, where he creaks and knocks, scaring small children. Likes to play pranks with a spinning wheel, knitting, or started yarn.
Bannik- a small, toothless old man with long hair and a scraggly beard, living in a bathhouse. This evil spirit: He can splash boiling water or steam him to death. You can appease the bannik if you leave him a broom, water in a tub and a piece of soap. Bannik loves to wash, but does it after all the people (during the fourth steam, when everyone washes devilry).
Mermaids- these are mythological creatures in the form of women with green hair and a fish tail, living in lakes and ponds. It was believed that girls who drowned from unhappy love, or who died before the bride's wedding, became mermaids. But mermaids don't always live in water. In the summer, when the rye begins to bloom, they come out to the ground, swing on birch branches and lure careless fishermen and lonely travelers. This time is called “mermaid week”. At this time, no one dares to go into the forest: the mermaids will either tickle you to death or drag you to the bottom. In order to somehow appease the mermaids, the girls weave wreaths for them and leave them in the forest.
Goblin- Spirit of the forest. This is an old man with a green beard in animal skin (sometimes with horns and hooves), to whom all wild birds and animals obey. The goblin can laugh, hoot, whistle and cry, like a person, and can imitate the voices of birds and animals. The goblin loves to joke and play pranks: to let in fog and lead astray or lead into a remote thicket (“The goblin is circling”). In general, goblins are not evil creatures, but once a year (October 4) they become dangerous: people say that they go berserk. People used the name of the goblin as an insult (“Go to the goblin”, “The goblin will take you away”).
Water- an evil spirit of water in the form of an old man with a long gray or green beard, who lives in river whirlpools, pools or swamps. He also likes to settle under the wheel of a water mill, which is why in the old days all millers were considered sorcerers. During the day, the merman hides under water, and at night it swims to the surface in the form of a log or large fish. Knowing that a merman could drown a person or break fishing nets, millers and fishermen tried to appease him: they threw bread into the water, sacrificed some black animal (cat, dog, rooster), and the fishermen released the first fish they caught back into the water .

UNDERWORLD - the world of the dead, the other world, abode dark forces– located in the roots of the tree. The earthly and underground worlds were connected by a trunk: ancient people believed in a close connection between life and death. In fairy tales, the connection between the worlds of the living and the dead was carried out Baba Yaga- an old forest sorceress who helped the hero pass through the kingdom of the dead. Baba Yaga has long been considered the gatekeeper between the world of the dead and the living (it is no coincidence that she has one leg, like a skeleton), and her hut is the gateway to the otherworldly kingdom. Ancient riddles also reflected the connection between life and death: “It warms in winter, smolders in spring, dies in summer, then comes to life” (snow), “From the living - dead, from the dead - alive” (hen - egg - chicken). Death in Slavic mythology was embodied in the image Moraines(or Marans), whose name came from the Sanskrit mara - “death” and echoed the name of the Buddhist Satan, the god of death, whose name was Mara. Morena embodied the ideas of the ancients not so much about death individual person, how much about the mortal principle in nature: the death of the Sun, light is the onset of night, the death of the “life-giving” seasons is the onset of winter. Thus, Morena personified the universal dying in nature, but death was not irreversible, for night always comes with a new day, and after winter comes spring. Therefore, Morena herself was considered mortal. The ancient ritual of burning an effigy of Morena (which later became known as Maslenitsa), jumping over the fire symbolized the fight against death and darkness. IN underground world werewolves, ghouls (vampires) and ghouls also lived.

Our distant ancestors also believed that a person is related by blood to an animal. This belief was called TOTEMISM. Each ancient tribe had its own animal patron, it could be a wolf, a bear, a hare, one of the birds, etc. The sacred animal of most Slavic tribes was the bear, whose secret name - Ber (this is where the word “den” comes from - Ber’s lair) was not allowed to be pronounced out loud by the Slavs. The word "bear" was a euphemism, i.e. replacement for a forbidden name. The Germans call the bear Baer, the British - bear. In folk tales, a bear is sometimes a stupid creature, but kind and harmless, unlike, for example, a wolf or a fox.
After the baptism of Rus', pagan holidays and rituals received a Christian interpretation. The holiday of the birth of the Sun, celebrated at the end of December, when the length of the day began to increase, became the holiday of the Nativity of Christ. Originally pagan holiday Maslenitsa has survived almost unchanged to this day as a holiday to welcome spring. The day of the summer solstice, the “top of summer” - the holiday of Ivan Kupala - became the day of John the Baptist. Pagan ideas about the world took hold in a number of everyday traditions, in the plots of fairy tales, legends and songs.

Unlike Greek mythology, which already from the 7th century BC became the object of literary processing and creative enrichment by priests, poets, writers and special mythographers, Slavic mythology, as the “life of the gods,” remained undescribed.

What we know about Slavic mythology is mainly richest world lower spirits and magic that surrounded the Slav. This world of spirits and magic underlay the worldview of the Slavs from ancient times until the end of the Vedic period (the end of the Vedic period was marked by the Christianization of Rus'). Russian medieval writers - chroniclers and church preachers - followed the traditions of the ancient Christian church fathers, who castigated and ridiculed Vedicism, but did not describe it as it was around and in reality. They did the same Old Russian authors. They addressed an audience that was full of Vedic thoughts, actions, and constant witchcraft spells, which avoided church services and willingly participated in colorful festivities and popular Vedic 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 ancient Vedic gods and details of the cult of the Slavic peoples.

Unfortunately, in these Renaissance writings different authors, be it the Pole Jan Dlugosh or the Russian author of the Gustyn Chronicle, main idea there was a 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 the names of 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 Vedic tradition, the main source of information is medieval chronicles, teachings against Vedicism, chronicles, archaeological excavations, folklore and ethnographic collections. Information about the gods of the Western Slavs is very scarce, for example, the “History of Poland” by Jan Dlugosz (1415 - 1480), which gives a list of deities and their correspondence from Greek and Roman mythology: Perun - Zeus, Nyya - Pluto, Dzevana - Venus, Marzhana - 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 national Vedic 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 Vedicism 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.

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 the new understanding of Slavic mythology were 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 Brief Essay on Russian Mythology” by D. O. Shepping, “The Deities of the Ancient Slavs” by A. S. Famintsyn and others.

The first to emerge 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, and the principle of the collective nature of creativity. Fyodor Ivanovich Buslaev (1818-1897) is rightfully considered the creator of this school.
“In the most ancient period of 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.” "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."

The method, originally associated with the comparison of languages, the establishment of common forms of words and their elevation to the language of the Indo-European peoples, was for the first time in Russian science transferred by Buslaev to folklore and applied to the study of the mythological legends of the Slavs.

“Poetic inspiration belonged to everyone, like a proverb, like a legal saying. The whole people were poets. 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. The heroic epic is only further development primitive mythological legend. The theogonic epic gives way to the heroic at that stage of the development of epic poetry when legends about the affairs of people began to join pure myth. At this time, the myth grows epic epic, 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 years XIX century gradually develops 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 ancient Aryan tribe. 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 the most ancient myths of the Hindus.

The comparative method, according to Afanasyev, “provides a means of restoring the original form of legends.” Epic songs are of particular importance for understanding Slavic mythology (this term was introduced into use by I.P. Sakharov; before that, epic songs were called antiquities). Russian heroic epics can be ranked alongside 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 magical 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, the Vedic 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.

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