“Primordiality is right here, you just need to know how to look at it.”
V. N. Toporov (1928 – 2005)
“In the book Croatian Folk Mythology: Gems of Tales from the Enchanted Empire of Ancient Times, published on the day of Saint Vitus in 1943, Dr. Nikola Sučić conveys: In the beginning, there was only an infinite universe, neither dark nor light, shapeless matter and misty abyss… At the very bottom, there was sura, a black force of darkness. That was the primordial darkness. Above it all, the all-powerful spirit of eternity reigned. He was the progenitor of everything. Many ages passed until his sign flashed like a lightening, distinguishing light from darkness, mist from matter. From matter, the ground came into being, and from mist and clouds, water poured out, rivers flowed, and saturated the dark abyss of outlines. Lakes and seas emerged. Beams of light caressed the Earth and dispersed the seeds of various forms of life within it. That’s how different beings came into existence. Everything that remained beyond that reach continued to be under the rule of semi-light and darkness, winter and ice. This is the primordial commencement of the battle between the forces of light and darkness…”
The myth says that In the golden Primordial World rested the father of gods, sky and earth. Under the influence of life forces, the Primordial World cracked and created light, the incorporeal creator of the sky under whose vault everything is born and happens, the primordial god of cosmic light, Svarog, the supreme deity of the Slavs. Svarog is above good and evil, and among the South Slavs we find a mention of him in the name of the Almighty Creator or the High God.
In the Eastern Slavic versions of the myth of creation, at the beginning appears Rod as an abstract and unknowable deity, a celestial source from which everything will come into being. Rod first creates love from himself – Lada. With the help of the power of love, he breaks through the shell of the golden Primordial World and creates the universe: countless starry worlds as well as our earthly world. He releases the Spirit of God from his mouth, the mother (Sva) and father (Svarog).
From Svarog’s shadow, the first offspring was created, Belobog and Chernobog. From the lower shell of the Egg that shattered into thousands of pieces, he created giants and dwarves, all magical beings, and from the upper part, the World Tree. He separated the sky from the earth with a whip. In his crown, he built Svarog’s abode of gods and his palace on the seventh, highest sky.
According to myth, Svarog created fairies from butterflies, earthly intermediaries between humans, heroes, and gods. Fairies often ride horses or deer, go hunting or dance in circles. They fall in love with brave young men and heroes whom they help with their advice and actions, and sometimes they become their step-sisters. In South Slavic mythology, fairies were imagined as exceptionally beautiful girls with golden hair, wings, dressed in long, airy dresses and armed with arrows. Mountain fairies and forest fairies live far away from humans in the mountains, water fairies live by water, and cloud fairies in clouds. Similarly to other nations, the Slavs also had three Birth Fairies or Fates. Stories of this magical world were more present in our people until the middle of the last century. Later, it seems like the remnants of the old closeness to the mysterious world of nature disappear, and its beings cease to be visible, except in exceptional circumstances. The awe.
The Gods who govern the world
The Slavs equally worshiped the White God and the Black God because they recognized in nature the permanent intertwining of their mutual influences that complement each other. The Black God, also known as the Dark One, was the master of the treasures hidden in the Earth, the master of matter when the life forces of the White God depart.
They perceived them as complementary forces of nature and dedicated sanctuaries to them along the river streams: elevated and bright places on the left side of the river for the White God, and dark places in the valleys on the right side for the Black God.
Troglav, the God of time, the ruler of the sky, earth, and underworld, who blends the aspects of the Real, the Dead, and the Overt, was depicted with three faces. The Overt was considered objective, material, the visible world of the present. From this concept, words like public, in public, and similar derive. The Dead was the realm of the afterlife, the dark, unenlightened world of the subconscious and instinctual. In this realm, Troglav appeared as the judge of the afterlife. The last concept, the Real, denoted the system a Cathedral of Light and Justice, Guided by Svarog, the Supreme Creator, the world of gods, the world of a bright future, the world of intuition and the subconscious in man. From him derive words such as justice, rules, righteous, and govern.
The God of the Sun, space, and an orderly universe was Svetovid. He was depicted with four faces that encompassed all sides of the world. In one aspect, his wife was Vida, also known as Božena or Višnjâ. Svetovid was a great prophet who knew the past, present, and future. The success of expeditions, wars, journeys, and the wealth of harvests depended on respecting his prophecies. Today, we find him present in the names of mountain peaks such as Sutvid on Biokovo and Dinara, Vid’s mountain on Brač, Vid’s field in Radimlja near Stolac, etc. It is believed that with the arrival of Christianity, Svetovid continued to live among the Slavic people in the form of Saint Vid.
Czech professor Jan Peisker described a Slavic sanctuary near Bautzen in Lusatia, in Saxony. That region was once a worshipping place In the Avenian region, the Lusatian Serbs (Sorbs) still live there today. On the right side of the Elsbach river is the Čorneboh hill, and on the left is Bileboh. The topographic markings have been preserved to this day and show an ancient Slavic sanctuary in its typical form. Following the same scheme, Prof. Peisker explored another thirty-one Slavic sanctuaries.
In the South Slavic region, churches dedicated to St. Vitus are arranged according to the same typical scheme, and it is believed that they were built on or near Slavic sanctuaries dedicated to Svetovid-Sutvid. Of course, it would be wrong to claim that every church dedicated to St. Vitus is a sign of a former sanctuary of Svetovid, but if we observe a sacred object on the right side of the river, following that scheme, we can be fairly certain that it is an ancient Slavic sanctuary.
When describing the ancient Old Slavic deities, it is impossible to omit Perun and Veles. Perun is the god of thunder depicted with a copper beard, a golden axe, or hammer. He would throw the axe, which would always return to his hand, at evil people. and spirits. Perun was a type of divine judge, the executor of fate. The Slavs mentioned his name in their oaths, as he would destroy those who broke their word with thunder. Perun’s “thunderous” symbols were engraved or drawn on house roofs for protection against troubles and evil. We also find him in the name of the iris flower, also called bogiša, “God’s plant”, believed to grow at the spot where lightning strikes. His sacred tree was the oak, from which we get the names Dubrava, Dubravko/a, Dubrovnik.
Perun’s wife was Mokoš, the Great Mother who represented the dark, fertile Mother Earth, later becoming the household spirit and guardian of women’s tasks and fields.
When we speak of battles and fights, you revive us with continuous spinning of the circle and lead us on the path of righteousness through battles to the Great Trizna… We give glory to the god Svetovid, for he is the god of Truth and Reality, and we sing to him, for he is the light through which we see the world. We look into Reality and survive in the Present, and he protects us from the Past, so we sing praises to him. All glory to Svetovid, our god who opens our hearts to acknowledge our wrongdoings and turn towards the good. There are two beings contained in the heavens, Belobog and Chernobog, and both of them are held and commanded by Svarog.
In maintaining the order of nature, Perun was assisted by Veles, the god of nature, the holder of secret knowledge about natural laws, the god of magic. And in his name, oaths were also taken. In different aspects, he had characteristics of a protector of the animal world and herders, he was the god of earthly blessings. The name of the settlement Velešići in Sarajevo, the city of Veles in Macedonia, the settlement Volosko near Rijeka, the mountain Velež above Mostar, undoubtedly carry the name of this ancient Slavic god. He is also mentioned as Volosa and Voloha. It is assumed that the name vol is derived from this name and that its name originates from the Old Slavic word “volodati,” which means to rule on earth.
The myth of the eternal struggle between Perun and Veles, through which they maintain order on Earth and the world tree, was reconstructed by Russian philologists V. V. Ivanov and V. N. Toporov.
The world tree is also a symbol of the tree of life, the axis between heaven and earth, and is most commonly depicted as an oak in the South Slavic regions, or an ash tree in the North and East Slavic regions. The world tree consists of three basic parts: the invisible spiritual world, the visible manifest world, and the underworld. At its golden top, the god Perun sits in the form of an eagle or falcon; the branches are inhabited by bees, doves, or other birds, while Veles resides in the subterranean roots in the form of a dragon, snake, or otter.
The Old Slavic mythological religiosity is preserved in names and sayings, but it has not been sufficiently researched to this day. When we say the wind “shears,” we don’t even realize that this word We connect with the Slavic deity of wind and forest, Stribor; when we say “ladanje” we mention the heavenly patroness of summer and summer crops, Lada. In Slavonian customs, the queen-ljelja invokes the Slavic god of love, Ljelja, and the expression “ruse kose” is associated with the fairies, rusalke. Expressions like “jarko” sunce (bright sun) and “jâra” pšenica (ripe wheat) originate from Jarilo, and “noćna mora” (nightmare) comes from the goddess of darkness, coldness, and death, Morana. The name of the rain lizard, daždevnjak, is related to the god of sacred rain, Dažd, and the radiance is associated with the goddess of morning light, Zarenica – Zarja – Zora (Dawn), etc.
The eternal battle between these two gods symbolizes the cyclical nature of life and the play of opposites that sustains the life of nature. The myth tells us that Veles constantly challenges Perun by stealing his cattle, which leads Perun to chase him with golden arrows. Veles escapes by transforming into various animals or hiding behind trees, houses, and people. Eventually, Perun manages to defeat Veles and drive him underground, where he continuously gnaws at the roots of the Tree of Life. In this ritual, Veles is portrayed as a chaotic and disruptive force, while Perun represents order and protection. At the forest death, the sky opens up and fertile rain saturates the ground. This struggle is repeated every year as Veles would be reborn, like a snake shedding its old skin and being born in a new body.
Cycle of Seasons
Slavic peoples gradually adopted Christianity from the 7th to the 12th century, but ancient protective deities and household spirits continued to live on through folk customs that connected them to the natural world. Festivals celebrating the awakening of spring, the fertile, vibrant summer, and the bountiful autumn offered the joy of living in harmony with what was happening behind the veil of appearance, with the divine world whose actions in nature were sensed. They perceived the inhospitable winter world from which the forces of life had withdrawn as the death of nature. However, the celebration of the winter solstice, when the young god Svarožić was born, carried a spark of joy in its heart, in the hope of the rebirth of the dormant forces of light and creation.
Historian Prisk from Pania in Thrace passed through in the year 448. While in Vojvodina (Panonia), as a member of the Byzantine delegation to Attila’s Hun court, he noted that the delegation sought refuge from a severe storm in a Slavic village for a few days. Upon leaving, they rewarded the hospitality with Indian pepper, dates, and other items that, according to Priscus, “barbarians do not produce”. He mentions that among them there were people who spoke Hunnic, Gothic, and Latin languages, as well as Greek, albeit rarely and poorly. Among these peoples, there were also foreigners, as confirmed by the Byzantine emperor Pseudo-Maurice (6th century AD) in his Strategikon, who had the custom of either ransoming or allowing captives to stay in the community after a certain period of time, with the condition of accepting Slavic culture.
Related to the annual cycle in nature, folklore speaks of Morana, who transforms into the ugly Baba Yaga, a terrifying goddess of death and cold, at the beginning of winter. She moves easily and swiftly as if flying, sweeping away the old and worn-out with her broom, no longer able to support the spark of life and why it is necessary to wait for the birth in a new cycle of life. In some stories, she sails in an eggshell, the eternal symbol of the embryo of new life. In spring, Morana’s power diminishes and then she appears on Earth in the form of a beautiful girl with long snow-white hair, charming young men with her soothing voice. She asks them for sincere love, but never gets what she wants, so she leaves them with infinite sadness in their hearts, reflecting her own. Gradually, Morana’s strength is overshadowed by that of Vesna, the lovely and gentle goddess of blossoming spring, dressed in a cloak of buds and flowers, leaving behind a mesmerizing scent. Vesna would clothe the earth in a garment of flowers, grass, and other greenery. When her time of the year came, processions of beautiful girls celebrated her power with song and dance, worshiping her beauty (rusalkas, queens, dodolas, lazaricas). According to folklore, in Vesna, the heart was harmonized with reason and beauty with tenderness. Vesna’s arrival was awaited by the ancient Slavs. She announced her arrival using messengers – swallows.
Voloska or Vlasta is the protector of the hearth and home. She was considered in ancient times to be the protector of the agricultural world. The bird dedicated to her is the swallow, which builds its nest under the roof of the house. It was believed that the good spirit of ancestors and household resided in the swallows. In every home, a dedicated corner called “mir” or “mirište” was chosen for her. There, a flame would burn in honor of the domestic peace. Blowing out the flame would mean extinguishing the household peace, so it had to be put out with fingers.
However, in order for the seasons to truly change on Earth, there needs to be a celestial stimulus embodied in the divine hero Jarilo. In Slavic mythology, Jarilo is the god of abundant vegetation. In the myth, he opens the gates of heaven and descends to Earth in spring, bringing the breath of a new life cycle on the command of the goddess mother Lada. Vesna, the goddess of spring and youth, notices Jarilo on Earth, and together they give birth to lush nature, reaching its peak in… Summer is the time of the year. As the power of nature begins to decline after the summer solstice, Morana falls in love with Jarilo and leaves Vesna. In autumn, Jarilo dies, or rather, returns to the sky, the leaves take on warm autumn colors, and Morana gradually takes over and envelops the earth in darkness and cold. At the beginning of the next spring, everything repeats itself. Watching over the course of natural cycles from the sky is Lada, the goddess of love, harmony, and loyalty, a force that ignites the spark of life. On Earth, she is the personification of the peak of fruitful summer and its beauty.
Stribor is a Slavic god of wind and forest, an tireless traveler who easily moves from one place to another. Sometimes he would appear violently and destructively, and other times gently and fruitfully, with an unstable character that ranged from anger to kindness. In winter, he was merciless: freezing water, covering thresholds and roads with snow, and punishing with cold. In spring, he brought joy to people by sending gentle breezes on his wings. The fire gave them new life and adorned their surroundings in a green, flowery, and fragrant attire.
The Creation of Man
Slavic mythology also contains legends about the creation of the first human couple. Svarog divided himself into two, male and female. Thus, the first human couple, who were giants, a male and a female giant, were created. He made clothes for him from oak leaves and for her from lime leaves.
However, the father of the gods, Svarog, did not abandon the humans. He sent the goddess Dawn to bring the “gleam of the gods” to the people on Earth. And so, since ancient times, Dawn and the youngest of Svarog’s sons, the god of morning light Svanimir, bring the light of the heavenly world to the people every day. And just as before, today, the glow of dawn and the rays of the young Sun dispel darkness and bring hope for a new morning…