I. Introduction

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

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

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

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

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

II. Slavic pagan world

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

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

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

1. Beregini and spirits

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

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

Here is some of them:

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

Woman. The most ancient of them is Baba Yaga.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Pagan gods

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Makosh patronized marriage and family happiness.

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

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

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

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

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

3. Gods of death and the underworld

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

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

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

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

III. Conclusion

Fusion of paganism and Christianity

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

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

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

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

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

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

More examples of the fusion of holidays and individual gods can be given. Thus, both faiths have undergone many changes from their original nature and now already exist together and monolithically, having received, not by chance, the name Russian Orthodoxy .

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

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

Literature

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

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

Applications

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

(drawings by E.I.Obertynskaya)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is paganism? What does the Church warn us against? What did the ancient Slavs believe in and what were the pagan gods? We will tell you why you should not get carried away with faith in the "magical" power of church rites, whether pagans always believe in several gods and what the Scripture says about paganism.

Paganism: what is it?

In modern theology, any religion that professes polytheism can be called paganism. However, not all pagan beliefs are polytheistic (that is, they worship many gods). Pagan gods, as it is right, are more like a person. This is due to the fact that a person invented them, relying on his own qualities. Many natural phenomena used to be explained by the wrath or mercy of the pagan gods. Paganism is the oldest "religion", most people became disillusioned with the beliefs of their ancestors, but pagans still exist.

The pagans deify the "created" world, that is, they worship what the Lord created. Idolatry and reverence for stones, trees, water, the forces of nature, fire and other elements are paganism.

pagan religions

The religious ideas of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Celts and other peoples are in many ways similar, since with the help of divine intervention, people tried to explain natural phenomena or their own feelings that were incomprehensible to them. That is why there were gods of anger or gods of love. People attributed human qualities to supernatural beings in order to explain the nature of strong feelings that they could not handle.

In the modern sense, paganism is:

1. For Christians, any religion that has nothing to do with Christianity. From the point of view of a Christian, there is only one God - our Lord Jesus Christ and other "gods" do not exist, which means that they cannot be worshiped. This is what the Bible command says.
2. All religions that profess polytheism.
3. Ritual belief is faith in the mystical power of church rites, divorced from Holy Scripture. Unfortunately, paganism is also found among those who sincerely consider themselves Christians, but at the same time do not know the basics of the dogma, betraying the meaning of external rites - “light a candle”, “read a prayer from corruption and good luck”. All this has nothing to do with Orthodoxy.

Paganism of the ancient Slavs

The word "paganism" comes from the word "language", which used to mean "people". Paganism is folk beliefs and can be interpreted as a collection of ancient myths.

The gods of the Slavs are unsympathetic and vindictive characters. Fragments of Indo-European religions united in the worship of mostly evil Slavic gods. The gods common to all Slavic tribes are Perun and Mother Earth. Perun is a formidable thunderer, commanding the elements. Mother-Raw earth, rather, a positive image of the breadwinner and protector of people.

The eastern and western Slavs had different pantheons of gods. This is largely due to the peculiarities of the weather conditions in the territory and what exactly people did. So Stribog - the god of the wind was in the pantheon of Prince Vladimir. Mokosh, the patroness of weaving, was also there. There was a blacksmith god Svarog.

Some deities belonged to calendar dates - Maslenitsa, Kupala were considered rather "folk favorites" and were mythical game characters.

The Western Slavs believed in Chernobog, who brought bad luck and sent misfortune, in Svyatovit, the god of war, and Zhiva, a female deity guarding certain territories.

In addition, there was a huge number of spirits, brownies, forest dwellers and other mythical creatures:

• Mermaid
• Ghoul
• werewolf
• kikimora
• Water
• Goblin
• baba yaga

We know many of them as fairy-tale characters.

neo-paganism

After the Baptism of Russia, much has changed. Paganism was exterminated by Prince Vladimir by rather harsh methods. Nevertheless, new spiritual practices based on shamanism have also appeared, which are also referred to by theologians as paganism.

These teachings can be considered syncretic, formed under the influence of various beliefs and. based on a common philosophy. The Russian Orthodox Church condemns paganism as a false faith. Patriarch Alexy II called neo-paganism "one of the main threats of the 21st century", considering it as dangerous as terrorism and putting it on a par with "other destructive phenomena of our time."

Many neo-pagans commit dangerous occult acts, often being aggressive towards representatives of monotheistic religions, condemning Prince Vladimir for the harsh introduction of Christianity.

Despite the fact that the pagans strive to understand the essence of things and the surrounding phenomenon, they are moving on the wrong path, deifying what the True Lord created. The New Testament speaks of "pagan" ritual belief in Christianity: “Not everyone who says to me: “Lord! God!" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

Christians can pray for Gentiles to have faith in the Lord. Passion for magic, occultism and other pagan trends can be dangerous for the soul, and sometimes for human life and health.

In Slavic fairy tales, there are many magical characters - sometimes terrible and formidable, sometimes mysterious and incomprehensible, sometimes kind and ready to help. To modern people, they seem like a bizarre fiction. but in the old days in Russia they firmly believed that Baba Yaga’s hut stands in the thicket of the forest, a snake abducting beauties lives in the harsh stone mountains, they believed that a girl can marry a bear, and a horse can speak in a human voice.

Such a faith was called paganism, i.e., "folk faith."

The pagan Slavs worshiped the elements, believed in the relationship of people with various animals, and made sacrifices to the deities inhabiting everything around. Each Slavic tribe prayed to their gods. There have never been common ideas about the gods for the entire Slavic world: since the Slavic tribes in pre-Christian times did not have a single state, they were not united in beliefs. Therefore, the Slavic gods are not related by kinship, although some of them are very similar to each other.

Due to the fragmentation of pagan beliefs, which never reached their peak, very little information about paganism has been preserved, and even then it is rather meager. Actually Slavic mythological texts have not been preserved: the religious and mythological integrity of paganism was destroyed during the Christianization of the Slavs.

The main source of information on early Slavic mythology is medieval chronicles, annals written by outside observers in German or Latin and Slavic authors (the mythology of Polish and Czech tribes), teachings against paganism (“Words”) and chronicles. Valuable information is contained in the writings of Byzantine writers and geographical descriptions of medieval Arab and European authors.

All these data refer mainly to the eras that followed the Proto-Slavic, and contain only separate fragments of common Slavic mythology. Archaeological data on rituals, sanctuaries, individual images (Zbruch idol, etc.) chronologically coincide with the Proto-Slavic period.

Funeral ritual.

The stages of development of the pagan worldview of the ancient Slavs were largely determined by the Middle Dnieper historical center. The people of the Middle Dnieper region laid "sacred paths" to the Greek cities and placed stone idols with a cornucopia along these paths. Somewhere on the Dnieper there should have been the main sanctuary of all the skolots - farmers, in which the sacred heavenly plow was kept. Much will be explained in the religious history of Kievan Rus through an appeal to the ancestors of Rus.

The evolution of funeral rites and different forms of funeral rite mark significant changes in the understanding of the world.

The turning point in the views of the ancient Slav occurred back in the Proto-Slavic time, when the burial of crouched corpses in the ground began to be replaced by the burning of the dead and the burial of burnt ashes in urns.

The crouched burials imitated the position of the embryo in the mother's womb; crouching was achieved by artificially binding the corpse. Relatives prepared the deceased for a second birth on earth, for his reincarnation into one of the living beings. The idea of ​​reincarnation was based on the idea of ​​a special life force that exists separately from a person: the same physical appearance belongs to a living person and a dead one.

The crouching of corpses persists until the turn of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Crouching is being replaced by a new form of burial: the dead are buried in an extended position. But the most striking change in the funeral rite is associated with the appearance of cremation, the complete burning of corpses.

In real archaeological traces of the funeral rite, the coexistence of both forms is constantly observed - ancient inhumation, burial of the dead in the ground.

During the cremation, a new idea of ​​the souls of the ancestors appears quite clearly, which should be somewhere in the middle sky, and, obviously, contribute to all heavenly operations (rain, snow, fog) for the benefit of the descendants remaining on earth. Having carried out the burning, sending the soul of the deceased to a host of other souls of the ancestors, the ancient Slav then repeated everything that was done thousands of years ago: he buried the ashes of the deceased in the ground and thereby provided himself with all those magical advantages that were inherent in simple inhumation .

Among the elements of the funeral rite, one should name: mounds, a burial structure in the form of a human dwelling and the burial of the ashes of the deceased in an ordinary food pot.

Pots and bowls of food are the most common things in Slavic pagan burial mounds. The pot for preparing food from the first fruits was often considered a sacred object. The pot, as a symbol of goodness, satiety, goes back, in all likelihood, to very ancient times, approximately to the agricultural Neolithic, when agriculture and pottery first appeared.

The closest to the relationship of the sacred pot for the first fruits with the urn for the burial of ashes are anthropomorphic stove-vessels. Vessels-stoves are a small pot of a simplified form, to which a cylindrical or truncated-conical oven tray with several round smoke holes and a large arched opening at the bottom for burning with torches or coals is attached.

The connecting link between the god of the sky, the god of fruitful clouds and the cremated ancestors, whose souls are no longer incarnated into living beings on earth, but reside in the sky, was the pot in which for many hundreds of years the primitive farmers cooked the first fruits and thanked the god of heaven with a special celebration .

The rite of cremation appears almost simultaneously with the separation of the Proto-Slavs from the common Indo-European array in the 15th century. BC e. and exists among the Slavs for 27 centuries until the era of Vladimir Monomakh. The process of burial is imagined as follows: a funeral pyre was laid, a dead man was “laid” on it, and this funeral business was accompanied by a religious and decorative structure - a geometrically exact circle was drawn around the steal, a deep, but narrow ditch was dug in a circle and a light fence was built like a wattle fence from twigs, to which a significant amount of straw was applied. When the fire was lit, the flaming fence with its flame and smoke closed the process of burning the corpse inside the fence from the participants in the ceremony. It is possible that it was precisely this combination of the funeral "heap of firewood" with the regular circumference of the ritual fence that separated the world of the living from the world of the dead ancestors, and was called "steal".

Among the Eastern Slavs, from the point of view of pagan beliefs, the burning of animals, both domestic and wild, along with the dead, is of great interest.

The custom of burying in dominoes, or rather erecting dominoes over Christian graves, survived in the land of the ancient Vyatichi until the beginning of the 20th century.

Animal deities.

In a distant era, when the main occupation of the Slavs was hunting. rather than agriculture, they believed that wild animals were their progenitors. The Slavs considered them powerful deities to be worshiped. Each tribe had its own totem, that is, a sacred animal that the tribe worshiped. Several tribes considered the Wolf as their ancestor and revered him as a deity. The name of this beast was sacred, it was forbidden to pronounce it aloud.

The owner of the pagan forest was a bear - the most powerful beast. He was considered the protector from all evil and the patron of fertility - it was with the spring awakening of the bear that the ancient Slavs associated the onset of spring. Up to the twentieth century. many peasants kept a bear's paw in their homes as a talisman-amulet, which should protect its owner from diseases, witchcraft and all kinds of troubles. The Slavs believed that the bear was endowed with great wisdom, almost omniscience: they swore by the name of the beast, and the hunter who violated the oath was doomed to death in the forest .

Of the herbivores in the hunting era, the Olenikha (Moose Elk) was the most revered - the most ancient Slavic goddess of fertility, sky and sunlight. In contrast to real deer, the goddess was thought to be horned, her horns were a symbol of the sun's rays. Therefore, deer antlers were considered a powerful amulet against all evil spirits at night and were attached either above the entrance to the hut or inside the dwelling.

Heavenly goddesses - Deer - sent newborn deer to the earth, pouring like rain from the clouds.

Among domestic animals, the Slavs revered the Horse most of all, because once the ancestors of most of the peoples of Eurasia led a nomadic lifestyle, and in the guise of a golden horse running across the sky, they imagined the sun. Later, a myth arose about the sun god riding a chariot across the sky.

domestic deities.

Spirits inhabited not only forests and waters. There are many household deities known - well-wishers and well-wishers, at the head of which is a brownie table, which lived either in the oven, or in a bast shoes hung for him on the stove.

The brownie patronized the household: if the owners were diligent, he added good to the good, and punished laziness with misfortune. It was believed that the brownie treated cattle with special attention: at night he combed the manes and tails of horses (and if he was angry, then on the contrary he tangled animal hair into tangles), he could take milk from cows, or he could make milk yield plentiful, he had power over life and health of newborn pets. Because the brownie tried to appease. When moving to a new house on the eve of the move, they took 2 pounds of white flour, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 0.5 pounds of butter, 2 pinches of salt. They kneaded the dough and carried it to a new house. They baked bread from this dough. If the bread is good, then life is good; if the bread is bad, then soon move. On the 3rd day, guests were called and dinner was served and an extra appliance was placed for the brownie. They poured wine and clinked glasses with the brownie. They cut the bread, treated everyone. One humpback was wrapped in a cloth and kept forever. The second was salted 3 times, a silver money was stuck in an edge and placed under the stove. This stove was tilted 3 times from 3 sides. They took a cat and brought it to the stove as a gift for a brownie: “I give you a brownie-father, a furry beast for a rich yard. After 3 days, they looked - whether the wine was drunk, if it was drunk, then it was topped up again. If the wine is not drunk, then they asked 9 days 9 times to taste the treat. A treat for the brownie was set every 1st day of the month.

Faith in the brownie was closely intertwined with the belief that dead relatives help the living. In the minds of people, this is confirmed by the connection between the brownie and the stove. In ancient times, many believed that it was through the chimney that the soul of the newborn entered the family and that the spirit of the deceased also left through the chimney.

Images of brownies were carved from wood and represented a bearded man in a hat. Such figurines were called churami and at the same time symbolized the dead ancestors.

In some northern Russian villages, there were beliefs that, in addition to the brownie, the housekeeper, the cattleman and the kutny god also take care of the household (these well-wishers lived in the barn and looked after the cattle, they were left some bread and cottage cheese in the corner of the barn), as well as the ovinnik - the keeper stocks of grain and hay.

Completely different deities lived in the bath, which in pagan times was considered an unclean place. Bannik was an evil spirit that frightened people. To appease the bannik, after washing, people left him a broom, soap and water, and a black chicken was sacrificed to the bannik.

The cult of "small" deities did not disappear with the advent of Christianity. Beliefs persisted for two reasons. Firstly, the veneration of "small" deities was less obvious than the cult of the gods of heaven, earth and thunder. Sanctuaries were not built for “small” deities; rituals in their honor were performed at home, in the family circle. Secondly, people believed that small deities live nearby and a person communicates with them daily, therefore, despite church prohibitions, they continued to revere good and evil spirits, thereby ensuring their well-being and safety.

Deities are monsters.

The most formidable was considered the lord of the underworld and underwater world - the Serpent. The serpent - a powerful and hostile monster - is found in the mythology of almost any nation. The ancient ideas of the Slavs about the Serpent have been preserved in fairy tales.

Northern Slavs worshiped the Serpent - the lord of underground waters - and called him the Lizard. The sanctuary of the Lizard was located on the swamps, the banks of lakes and rivers. The coastal shrines of the Lizard had a perfectly round shape - as a symbol of perfection, order, it was opposed to the destructive power of this god. As victims, the Lizard was thrown into the swamp of black chickens, as well as young girls, which was reflected in many beliefs.

All Slavic tribes that worshiped the Lizard considered him to be the absorber of the sun.

With the transition to agriculture, many myths and religious ideas of the hunting era were modified or forgotten, the rigidity of ancient rites was softened: the sacrifice of a person was replaced by the sacrifice of a horse, and later a stuffed animal. The Slavic gods of the agricultural era are brighter and kinder to man.

Ancient shrines.

The complex system of pagan beliefs of the Slavs corresponded to an equally complex system of cults. "Small" deities had neither priests nor sanctuaries, they were prayed either one by one, or by a family, or by a village or tribe. To honor the high gods, several tribes gathered, for this purpose temple complexes were created, and a priestly class was formed.

Since ancient times, mountains, especially “bald”, that is, with a treeless peak, have been a place of tribal prayers. At the top of the hill there was a "temple" - a place where a drop - an idol stood. Around the temple there was a horseshoe-shaped bulk shaft, on top of which the thieves were burning - sacred bonfires. The second rampart was the outer boundary of the sanctuary. The space between the two ramparts was called the treasury - there they "consumed", that is, ate, sacrificial food. At ritual feasts, people became, as it were, companions of the gods. The feast could take place in the open air and in special buildings standing on that trek - mansions (temples), originally intended exclusively for ritual feasts.

Very few Slavic idols have survived. This is explained not so much by the persecution of paganism, but by the fact that the idols, for the most part, were wooden. The use of a tree, and not a stone to represent the gods, was explained not by the high cost of the stone, but by the belief in the magical power of the tree - the idol, thus, combined the sacred power of the tree and the deities.

Priests.

Pagan priests - sorcerers - performed rituals in sanctuaries, made idols and sacred objects, using magic spells, they asked the gods for a bountiful harvest. The Slavs for a long time kept faith in the wolves-clouders, who turned into wolves, in this guise rose to the sky and called for rain or dispersed the clouds. Another magical effect on the weather was - "enchantment" - incantations with a chara (cup) filled with water. Water from these vessels was sprinkled on crops to increase the yield.

The Magi also made amulets - women's and men's jewelry, covered with spell symbols.

gods of the era.

With the transition of the Slavs to agriculture, the solar (solar) gods began to play an important role in their beliefs. Much in the cult of the Slavs was borrowed from the neighboring eastern nomadic tribes, the names of the deities also have Scythian roots.

For several centuries, one of the most revered in Russia was Dazh-bog (Dazhdbog) - the god of sunlight, heat, harvest time, fertility, the God of summer and happiness. Also known as the Bountiful God. The symbol is the solar disk. Dazhdbog is located in a golden palace on the land of eternal summer. Sitting on a throne of gold and purple, he is not afraid of shadows, cold or misfortune. Dazhdbog flies across the sky in a golden chariot trimmed with diamonds, pulled by a dozen white horses with golden manes breathing fire. Dazhdbog is married to the Moon. A beautiful young girl appears at the beginning of summer, grows older every day and leaves Dazhdbog in winter. They say that earthquakes are a sign of a couple's bad mood.

Dazhdbog is served by four virgins of exceptional beauty. Zorya Morning opens the palace gates in the morning. Zorya Vechernyaya closes them in the evening. The Evening Star and the Star Dennitsa, the Morning Star, guard the wonderful horses of Dazhdbog.

Dazhbog was the god of sunlight, but by no means the luminary himself. Khors was the sun god. Khors, whose name means "sun", "circle", embodied the luminary moving across the sky. This is a very ancient deity, who did not have a human appearance and was represented simply by a golden disk. A ritual spring dance was associated with the cult of Khors - a round dance (moving in a circle), the custom of baking pancakes on Maslenitsa, resembling a solar disk in shape, and rolling lighted wheels, which also symbolized the luminary.

The companion of the gods of the sun and fertility was Semargl (Simorg) - a winged dog, the guardian of crops, the god of roots, seeds, sprouts. The symbol is the World Tree. Its animal appearance speaks of its antiquity; The idea of ​​Semargl - the protector of crops - as a wonderful dog is easily explained: real dogs protected the fields from wild roe deer and goats.

Khors and Semargl are deities of Scythian origin, their cult came from eastern nomads, therefore both of these gods were widely revered only in Southern Russia, bordering on the Steppe.

Lada and Lelya were female deities of fertility, well-being, spring flowering of life.

Lada is the goddess of marriage. abundance. crop ripening time. Her cult can be traced among the Poles until the 15th century; in ancient times, it was common among all Slavs, as well as the Balts. Prayers were addressed to the goddess in late spring and during the summer, a white rooster was sacrificed (white color symbolized good).

Lada was called "Mother Leleva". Lelya is the goddess of unmarried girls, the goddess of spring and the first greenery. Her name is found in words associated with childhood: “lyalya”, “lyalka” - a doll and an appeal to a girl; "cradle"; "leleko" - a stork that brings children; "to cherish" - to take care of a small child. Lelya was especially revered by young girls, celebrating the spring holiday Lyalnik in her honor: they chose the most beautiful of their friends, put a wreath on her head, seated her on a turf bench (a symbol of sprouting young greenery), danced around her and sang songs glorifying Lelya, then the girl - "Lelya" presented her friends with wreaths prepared in advance.

The all-Slavic veneration of Makosha (Moksha) - the goddess of the earth, harvest, female fate, the great mother of all living things - goes back to the most ancient agricultural cult of Mother Earth. Makosh, as the goddess of fertility, is closely connected with Semargl and griffins, with mermaids irrigating fields, with water in general - Makosh was worshiped at springs, as a sacrifice, the girls threw yarn into the wells.

The male deity of fertility associated with the lower world was Veles (Volos). God of trade and beasts. Also known as the Keeper of the Flocks. Symbol - Sheaf of grain or grain tied into a knot. Sacred animals and plants: Ox, grain, wheat, corn. Volos is a benevolent god who regulates trade and makes sure promises are kept. Oaths and contracts are sworn in his name. When Perun became the greatest god of war, he recognized that, unlike Svarozhich, he needed a cool head to advise. Because of this, he enlisted Volos to be his right hand and advisor.

The hair also has a different side. He is the protection of all tamed animals. Volos appears in the guise of a bearded shepherd. Volos is the patron god of armor.

Among the common Slavic gods of fertility, a special place is occupied by warlike gods, to whom bloody sacrifices were made - Yarilo and Perun. Despite the deep antiquity and, consequently, the wide popularity of these gods, they were little revered by most Slavic tribes because of their warlike appearance.

Yarilo is the god of spring and fun. The symbol is a garland or crown of wild flowers. Sacred animals and plants - wheat, grain. Cheerful Yarilo is the patron saint of spring plants.

The Slavic Thunderer was Perun. The symbol is a crossed ax and hammer. His cult is one of the oldest and dates back to the third millennium BC. e. when warlike shepherds on war chariots, possessing bronze weapons, subjugated neighboring tribes. The main myth of Perun tells about the battle of God with the Serpent - the thief of cattle, waters, sometimes luminaries and the wife of the Thunderer.

Perun - a snake fighter, the owner of a lightning-hammer, is closely associated with the image of a magical blacksmith. Blacksmithing was perceived as magic. The name of the legendary founder of the city of Kyiv Kiy means hammer. Perun was called the "princely god", since he was the patron of princes, symbolizing their power.

Svantovit is the god of prosperity and war, also known as the Strong. The symbol is a cornucopia. Svantovit is worshiped in richly decorated temples guarded by warriors. It contains the priest's white horse, always ready to race into battle.

Svarozhich is the god of strength and honor. Also known as - scorching. Symbol: Black bison head or double-sided axe.

Svarozhich is the son of Svarog, and the fact that he manages the pantheon together with Dazhdbog is the intention of Svarozhich's father. The gift of Svarog - lightning - was entrusted to him. He is the god of the hearth and home and is known for his faithful advice and prophetic power. He is the god of a simple warrior who values ​​peace.

Triglav is the god of plague and war. Also known as the Triple God. The symbol is a snake, curved in the shape of a triangle.

Triglav appears as a three-headed man wearing a golden veil over each of his faces. His heads represent heaven, earth and lower regions, and in wrestling he rides a black horse.

Chernobog is the god of Evil. Also known as the Black God. Symbol: Black figurine. It brings bad luck and misfortune; she is the cause of all disasters. Darkness, night and death are associated with her. Chernobog is in all respects the opposite of Belbog.

Paganism in urban life of the XI-XIII centuries.

The adoption of Christianity as the state religion did not mean a complete and rapid change in the way of thinking and way of life. Dioceses were established, churches were built, public services in pagan sanctuaries were replaced by services in Christian churches, but there was no serious change in views, a complete rejection of the beliefs of great-grandfathers and everyday superstitions.

Paganism was reproached for polytheism, and Christianity was credited with the invention of monotheism. Among the Slavs, the creator of the world and all living nature was Rod - Svyatovit.

Russian people singled out Jesus Christ from the trinity and built the Church of the Savior, which replaced the pagan Dazhbog.

Christianity also reflected primitive dualism. The head of all the forces of evil was Satanail, undefeated by the god, with his numerous and branched army, against which the god and his angels were powerless. Almighty God could not destroy not only Satan himself, but also the smallest of his servants. A person himself had to “drive away demons” by the righteousness of his life and magical actions.

Such an important section of primitive religion as a magical effect on higher powers by ritual action, a spell, a prayer song was absorbed by Christianity at one time and remained an integral part of church rituals. Religious support of statehood at the time of the progressive development of feudalism, the prohibition of bloody sacrifices, a wide stream of literature that went to Russia from Byzantium and Bulgaria - these consequences of the baptism of Russia had a progressive significance.

An outbreak of sympathy for great-grandfather paganism occurs in the second half of the 12th century. and, perhaps, it is connected both with the disappointment of the social elites in the behavior of the Orthodox clergy, and with the new political form, which brought closer in the XII century. local princely dynasties to the land, to the zemstvo boyars, and partly to the population of their principalities in general. It can be thought that the priestly class improved their ideas about the magical connection of the macrocosm with the microcosm of personal attire, about the possibility of influencing life phenomena through incantational symbols and pagan apotropaea. Dual faith was not just a mechanical combination of old habits and beliefs with new Greek ones; in a number of cases it was a well-thought-out system in which ancient ideas were quite consciously preserved. An excellent example of Christian-pagan dual faith are the well-known amulets - coils, worn on the chest over clothing.

Dual faith was not just the result of the church's tolerance for pagan superstitions, it was an indicator of the further historical life of aristocratic paganism, which, even after the adoption of Christianity, developed, improved, developed new subtle methods of rivalry with religion imposed from outside.

Pagan rites and festivities in the 11th-13th centuries

The annual cycle of ancient Russian festivities was composed of different, but equally archaic elements, dating back to the Indo-European unity of the first farmers or to the Middle Eastern agricultural cults adopted by early Christianity.

One of the elements was the solar phases: winter solstice, spring equinox and summer solstice. The autumnal equinox is very poorly marked in ethnographic records.

The second element was a cycle of prayers for rain and for the impact of the vegetative force on the harvest. The third element was the cycle of harvest festivals. The fourth element was the days of commemoration of the ancestors (radunitsa). The fifth could be carols, holidays in the first days of each month. The sixth element was Christian holidays, some of which also marked the solar phases, and some were associated with the agrarian cycle of the southern regions of the Mediterranean, which had different calendar dates than the agrarian cycle of the ancient Slavs.

As a result, a very complex and multi-basic system of Russian folk holidays was gradually created.

One of the main elements of Christmastide rites was dressing up in animal-like clothes and dancing in "mashkers". Ritual masks were depicted on silver bracelets.

Masquerades continued throughout the winter Christmas time, acquiring a special revelry in their second half - from January 1 to January 6, on the "terrible" Veles days.

After the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, there was a calendar contact of the ancient pagan holidays with the new, church-state, mandatory for the ruling elites. In a number of cases, Christian holidays, which arose, like Slavic ones, on a primitive astronomical basis, on solar phases, coincided in time (Christmas, the Annunciation), often they diverged.

Rusal spell rites and dances were the initial stage of the pagan festival, culminating in an obligatory ritual feast with the obligatory consumption of sacrificial meat meat: pork, beef, chickens and eggs.

Since many pagan holidays coincided or corresponded in calendar with the Orthodox ones, outwardly decency was almost observed: the feast was arranged, for example, not on the occasion of the holiday of women in childbirth, but on the occasion of the Nativity of the Virgin, but continued the next day already as a “lawless second meal” .

The historical development of Slavic-Russian paganism.

"Paganism" is an extremely vague term that arose in the church environment to refer to everything non-Christian, pre-Christian.

The Slavic-Russian part of the vast pagan massif should by no means be understood as a separate, independent, and inherent only to the Slavs, variant of primitive religious ideas.

The main defining material for the study of paganism is ethnographic: rituals, round dances, songs, children's games into which archaic rituals have degenerated, fairy tales that have preserved fragments of ancient mythology and epic.

As primitive society developed, to a greater and greater extent, a complication of its social structure developed on religious ideas: the allocation of leaders and priests, the consolidation of tribes and tribal cults, external relations, and wars.

Speaking about evolution, it should be noted that the deities that have arisen under certain conditions can acquire new functions over time, their place in the pantheon can change.

The world of the then pagans consisted of four parts: the earth, two heavens and the underground-water zone. This was not the specifics of Slavic paganism, but was the result of a universal stadial-convergent development of ideas that varied in details, but were mainly determined by this scheme. The most difficult thing is to unravel the ancient ideas about the earth, about a large land area filled with rivers, forests, fields, animals and human dwellings. For many peoples, the earth was depicted as a rounded plane surrounded by water. Water was concretized either as a sea or in the form of two rivers washing the earth, which may be more archaic and local - wherever a person was, he was always between any two rivers or streams, limiting his nearest land space.

Medieval people, regardless of whether they were baptized or not, continued to believe in the great-grandfather dualistic scheme of the forces that rule the world, and by all archaic measures tried to protect themselves, their homes and property from the action of vampires and "Navii" (alien and hostile dead).

Under the princes Igor, Svyatoslav and Vladimir, paganism became the state religion of Russia, the religion of princes and combatants. Paganism was strengthened and revived the ancient rituals that began to die out. The commitment of the young state to ancestral paganism was a form and means of preserving state political independence. Renewed paganism in the 10th century It was formed in the conditions of rivalry with Christianity, which was reflected not only in the arrangement of magnificent princely funeral pyres, not only in the persecution of Christians and the destruction of Orthodox churches by Svyatoslav, but also in a more subtle form of opposition of Russian pagan theology to Greek Christian.

The adoption of Christianity to a very small extent changed the religious life of the Russian village in the 10th-12th centuries. The only innovation was the cessation of cremations. According to a number of secondary signs, one can think that the Christian doctrine of a blessed afterlife “in the next world”, as a reward for patience in this world, spread in the village after the Tatar invasion and as a result of initial ideas about the inescapability of a foreign yoke. Pagan beliefs, rituals, conspiracies, formed over thousands of years, could not disappear without a trace immediately after the adoption of a new faith.

The fall of the authority of the church reduced the power of church teachings against paganism, and it was in the XI - XIII centuries. did not fade away in all strata of Russian society, but moved to a semi-legal position, since the church and secular authorities applied harsh measures to the pagan Magi, up to a public auto-da-fe.

In the second half of the XII century. there is a revival of paganism in the cities and in the princely-boyar circles. The explanation for the revival of paganism can be the crystallization of a dozen large principalities-kingdoms with their stable dynasties, which took shape since the 1130s, with the increased role of the local boyars and the more subordinate position of the episcopate, which turned out to be dependent on the prince. The renewal of paganism was reflected in the emergence of a new doctrine of an inscrutable light other than the sun, in the cult of a female deity, in the appearance of sculptural images of the deity of light.

As a result of a number of complex phenomena in Russia, by the beginning of the 13th century. a kind of dual faith was created both in the village and in the city, in which the village simply continued its religious great-grandfather life, being baptized, and the city and the princely-boyar circles, having adopted a lot from the church sphere and widely using the social side of Christianity, not only did not forget their paganism with its rich mythology, rooted rituals and cheerful carnivals with their dances, but also raised their ancient, church-persecuted religion to a higher level, corresponding to the heyday of Russian lands in the 12th century.

Conclusion

Despite the thousand-year domination of the state Orthodox Church, pagan beliefs were the popular faith and until the 20th century. manifested in rituals, dance games, songs, fairy tales and folk art.

The religious essence of the rites-games has long since disappeared, the symbolic sound of the ornament has been forgotten, fairy tales have lost their mythological meaning, but even the forms of archaic pagan creativity unconsciously repeated by descendants are of great interest, firstly, as a vivid component of the later peasant culture, and secondly, as an invaluable treasury of information about the many thousands of years of knowledge of the world by our distant ancestors.

In Slavic fairy tales, there are many magical characters - sometimes terrible and formidable, sometimes mysterious and incomprehensible, sometimes kind and ready to help. To modern people they seem like a bizarre fiction, but in the old days in Russia they firmly believed that Baba Yaga’s hut was in the middle of the forest, a snake abducting beauties lives in the harsh stone mountains, they believed that a girl could marry a bear, and a horse could speak in a human voice .

Such a faith was called paganism, i.e. "folk faith".

The pagan Slavs worshiped the elements, believed in the relationship of people with various animals, and made sacrifices to the deities inhabiting everything around. Each Slavic tribe prayed to their gods. There have never been common ideas about the gods for the entire Slavic world: since the Slavic tribes in pre-Christian times did not have a single state, they were not united in beliefs. Therefore, the Slavic gods are not related by kinship, although some of them are very similar to each other.

Due to the fragmentation of pagan beliefs, which never reached their peak, very little information about paganism has been preserved, and even then it is rather meager. Actually Slavic mythological texts have not been preserved: the religious and mythological integrity of paganism was destroyed during the Christianization of the Slavs.

The main source of information on early Slavic mythology is medieval chronicles, annals written by outside observers in German or Latin and Slavic authors (the mythology of Polish and Czech tribes), teachings against paganism ("Words") and chronicles. Valuable information is contained in the writings of Byzantine writers and geographical descriptions of medieval Arab and European authors.

All these data refer mainly to the eras that followed the Proto-Slavic, and contain only separate fragments of common Slavic mythology. Chronologically, archeological data on rituals, sanctuaries, individual images (Zbruch idol, etc.) coincide with the Proto-Slavic period.

Funeral ritual.

The stages of development of the pagan worldview of the ancient Slavs were largely determined by the Middle Dnieper historical center. The people of the Middle Dnieper region laid "sacred paths" to the Greek cities and placed stone idols with a cornucopia along these paths. Somewhere on the Dnieper there should have been the main sanctuary of all the skolots - farmers, in which the sacred heavenly plow was kept. Much will be explained in the religious history of Kievan Rus through an appeal to the ancestors of Rus.

The evolution of funeral rites and different forms of funeral rite mark significant changes in the understanding of the world.

The turning point in the views of the ancient Slav occurred back in the Proto-Slavic time, when the burial of crouched corpses in the ground began to be replaced by the burning of the dead and the burial of burnt ashes in urns.

The crouched burials imitated the position of the embryo in the mother's womb; crouching was achieved by artificially binding the corpse. Relatives prepared the deceased for a second birth on earth, for his reincarnation into one of the living beings. The idea of ​​reincarnation was based on the idea of ​​a special life force that exists separately from a person: the same physical appearance belongs to a living person and a dead one.

The crouching of corpses persists until the turn of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Crouching is being replaced by a new form of burial: the dead are buried in an extended position. But the most striking change in the funeral rite is associated with the appearance of cremation, the complete burning of corpses.

In real archaeological traces of the funeral rite, the coexistence of both forms is constantly observed - ancient inhumation, burial of the dead in the ground.

During the cremation, a new idea of ​​the souls of the ancestors appears quite clearly, which should be somewhere in the middle sky, and, obviously, contribute to all heavenly operations (rain, snow, fog) for the benefit of the descendants remaining on earth. Having carried out the burning, sending the soul of the deceased to a host of other souls of the ancestors, the ancient Slav then repeated everything that was done thousands of years ago: he buried the ashes of the deceased in the ground and thereby provided himself with all those magical advantages that were inherent in simple inhumation .

Among the elements of the funeral rite, one should name: mounds, a burial structure in the form of a human dwelling and the burial of the ashes of the deceased in an ordinary food pot.

Pots and bowls of food are the most common things in Slavic pagan burial mounds. The pot for preparing food from the first fruits was often considered a sacred object. The pot, as a symbol of goodness, satiety, goes back, in all likelihood, to very ancient times, approximately to the agricultural Neolithic, when agriculture and pottery first appeared.

The closest to the relationship of the sacred pot for the first fruits with the urn for the burial of ashes are anthropomorphic stove-vessels. Vessels-stoves are a small pot of a simplified form, to which a cylindrical or truncated-conical oven tray with several round smoke holes and a large arched opening at the bottom for burning with torches or coals is attached.

The connecting link between the god of the sky, the god of fruitful clouds and the cremated ancestors, whose souls are no longer incarnated into living beings on earth, but reside in the sky, was the pot in which for many hundreds of years the primitive farmers cooked the first fruits and thanked the god of heaven with a special celebration .

The rite of cremation appears almost simultaneously with the separation of the Proto-Slavs from the common Indo-European array in the 15th century. BC. and exists among the Slavs for 27 centuries until the era of Vladimir Monomakh. The process of burial is imagined as follows: a funeral pyre was laid, a dead man was “laid up” on it, and this funeral business was accompanied by a religious and decorative structure - a geometrically exact circle was drawn around the steal, a deep, but narrow ditch was dug in a circle and a light fence was built like a fence made of twigs, to which a significant amount of straw was applied. When the fire was lit, the flaming fence with its flame and smoke closed the process of burning the corpse inside the fence from the participants in the ceremony. It is possible that it was precisely this combination of the funeral "heap of firewood" with the regular circumference of the ritual fence that separated the world of the living from the world of the dead ancestors, and was called "steal".

Among the Eastern Slavs, from the point of view of pagan beliefs, the burning of animals, both domestic and wild, along with the dead, is of great interest.

The custom of burying in dominoes, or rather erecting dominoes over Christian graves, survived in the land of the ancient Vyatichi until the beginning of the 20th century.

Animal deities.

In a distant era, when the main occupation of the Slavs was hunting, and not agriculture, they believed that wild animals were their ancestors. The Slavs considered them powerful deities to be worshiped. Each tribe had its own totem, i.e. a sacred animal worshiped by the tribe. Several tribes considered the Wolf as their ancestor and revered him as a deity. The name of this beast was sacred, it was forbidden to pronounce it aloud.

The owner of the pagan forest was a bear - the most powerful beast. He was considered the protector from all evil and the patron of fertility - it was with the spring awakening of the bear that the ancient Slavs associated the onset of spring. Up to the twentieth century. many peasants kept a bear's paw in their homes as a talisman-amulet, which should protect its owner from diseases, witchcraft and all kinds of troubles. The Slavs believed that the bear was endowed with great wisdom, almost omniscience: they swore by the name of the beast, and the hunter who violated the oath was doomed to death in the forest .

Of the herbivores in the hunting era, the Olenikha (Moose Elk) was the most revered - the most ancient Slavic goddess of fertility, sky and sunlight. In contrast to real deer, the goddess was thought to be horned, her horns were a symbol of the sun's rays. Therefore, deer antlers were considered a powerful amulet against all evil spirits at night and were attached either above the entrance to the hut or inside the dwelling.

Heavenly goddesses - Deer - sent newborn deer to the earth, pouring like rain from the clouds.

Among domestic animals, the Slavs revered the Horse most of all, because once the ancestors of most of the peoples of Eurasia led a nomadic lifestyle, and in the guise of a golden horse running across the sky, they imagined the sun. Later, a myth arose about the sun god riding a chariot across the sky.

domestic deities.

Spirits inhabited not only forests and waters. There are many household deities known - well-wishers and well-wishers, at the head of which is a brownie table, which lived either in the oven, or in a bast shoes hung for him on the stove.

The brownie patronized the household: if the owners were diligent, he added good to the good, and punished laziness with misfortune. It was believed that the brownie treated cattle with special attention: at night he combed the manes and tails of horses (and if he was angry, then on the contrary he tangled animal hair into tangles), he could take milk from cows, or he could make milk yield plentiful, he had power over life and health of newborn pets. Because the brownie tried to appease. When moving to a new house on the eve of the move, they took 2 pounds of white flour, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 0.5 pounds of butter, 2 pinches of salt. They kneaded the dough and carried it to a new house. They baked bread from this dough. If the bread is good, then life is good; if the bread is bad, then soon move. On the 3rd day, guests were called and dinner was served and an extra appliance was placed for the brownie. They poured wine and clinked glasses with the brownie. They cut the bread, treated everyone. One humpback was wrapped in a cloth and kept forever. The second was salted 3 times, a silver money was stuck in an edge and placed under the stove. This stove was tilted 3 times from 3 sides. They took a cat and brought it to the stove as a gift for a brownie: “I give you a brownie-father, a furry beast for a rich yard. After 3 days, they looked - whether the wine was drunk, if it was drunk, then it was topped up again. If the wine is not drunk, then they asked 9 days 9 times to taste the treat. A treat for the brownie was set every 1st day of the month.

Faith in the brownie was closely intertwined with the belief that dead relatives help the living. In the minds of people, this is confirmed by the connection between the brownie and the stove. In ancient times, many believed that it was through the chimney that the soul of the newborn entered the family and that the spirit of the deceased also left through the chimney.

Images of brownies were carved from wood and represented a bearded man in a hat. Such figurines were called churami and at the same time symbolized the dead ancestors.

In some northern Russian villages, there were beliefs that, in addition to the brownie, the housekeeper, the cattleman and the kutny god also take care of the household (these well-wishers lived in the barn and looked after the cattle, they were left some bread and cottage cheese in the corner of the barn), as well as the ovinnik - the keeper stocks of grain and hay.

Completely different deities lived in the bath, which in pagan times was considered an unclean place. Bannik was an evil spirit that frightened people. To appease the bannik, after washing, people left him a broom, soap and water, and a black chicken was sacrificed to the bannik.

The cult of "small" deities did not disappear with the advent of Christianity. Beliefs persisted for two reasons. Firstly, the veneration of "small" deities was less obvious than the cult of the gods of heaven, earth and thunder. Sanctuaries were not built for “small” deities; rituals in their honor were performed at home, in the family circle. Secondly, people believed that small deities live nearby and a person communicates with them daily, therefore, despite church prohibitions, they continued to revere good and evil spirits, thereby ensuring their well-being and safety.

Deities are monsters.

The most formidable was considered the lord of the underworld and underwater world - the Serpent. The serpent - a powerful and hostile monster - is found in the mythology of almost any nation. The ancient ideas of the Slavs about the Serpent have been preserved in fairy tales.

Northern Slavs worshiped the Serpent - the lord of underground waters - and called him the Lizard. The sanctuary of the Lizard was located on the swamps, the banks of lakes and rivers. The coastal shrines of the Lizard had a perfectly round shape - as a symbol of perfection, order, it was opposed to the destructive power of this god. As victims, the Lizard was thrown into the swamp of black chickens, as well as young girls, which was reflected in many beliefs.

All Slavic tribes that worshiped the Lizard considered him to be the absorber of the sun.

With the transition to agriculture, many myths and religious ideas of the hunting era were modified or forgotten, the rigidity of ancient rites was softened: the sacrifice of a person was replaced by the sacrifice of a horse, and later a stuffed animal. The Slavic gods of the agricultural era are brighter and kinder to man.

Ancient shrines.

The complex system of pagan beliefs of the Slavs corresponded to an equally complex system of cults. "Small" deities had neither priests nor sanctuaries, they were prayed either one by one, or by a family, or by a village or tribe. To honor the high gods, several tribes gathered, for this purpose temple complexes were created, and a priestly class was formed.

Since ancient times, mountains, especially “bald”, i.e. mountains, have been a place of tribal prayers. with a bare top. At the top of the hill there was a "temple" - a place where a drop - an idol stood. Around the temple there was a horseshoe-shaped bulk shaft, on top of which the thieves were burning - sacred bonfires. The second rampart was the outer boundary of the sanctuary. The space between the two ramparts was called the treasury - they “consumed” there, i.e. ate sacrificial food. At ritual feasts, people became, as it were, companions of the gods. The feast could take place in the open air and in special buildings standing on that trek - mansions (temples), originally intended exclusively for ritual feasts.

Very few Slavic idols have survived. This is explained not so much by the persecution of paganism, but by the fact that the idols, for the most part, were wooden. The use of a tree, and not a stone to represent the gods, was explained not by the high cost of the stone, but by the belief in the magical power of the tree - the idol, thus, combined the sacred power of the tree and the deities.

Priests.

Pagan priests - sorcerers - performed rituals in sanctuaries, made idols and sacred objects, using magic spells, they asked the gods for a bountiful harvest. The Slavs for a long time kept faith in the wolves-clouders, who turned into wolves, in this guise rose to the sky and called for rain or dispersed the clouds. Another magical effect on the weather was - "enchantment" - incantations with a chara (cup) filled with water. Water from these vessels was sprinkled on crops to increase the yield.

The Magi also made amulets - women's and men's jewelry, covered with spell symbols.

gods of the era.

With the transition of the Slavs to agriculture, the solar (solar) gods began to play an important role in their beliefs. Much in the cult of the Slavs was borrowed from the neighboring eastern nomadic tribes, the names of the deities also have Scythian roots.

For several centuries, one of the most revered in Russia was Dazh-bog (Dazhdbog) - the god of sunlight, heat, harvest time, fertility, the God of summer and happiness. Also known as - Generous God. The symbol is the solar disk. Dazhdbog is located in a golden palace on the land of eternal summer. Sitting on a throne of gold and purple, he is not afraid of shadows, cold or misfortune. Dazhdbog flies across the sky in a golden chariot trimmed with diamonds, pulled by a dozen white horses with golden manes breathing fire. Dazhdbog is married to the Moon. A beautiful young girl appears at the beginning of summer, grows older every day and leaves Dazhdbog in winter. They say that earthquakes are a sign of a couple's bad mood.

Dazhdbog is served by four virgins of exceptional beauty. Zorya Morning opens the palace gates in the morning. Zorya Vechernyaya closes them in the evening. The Evening Star and the Star Dennitsa, the Morning Star, guard the wonderful horses of Dazhdbog.

Dazhbog was the god of sunlight, but by no means the luminary himself. Khors was the sun god. Khors, whose name means "sun", "circle", embodied the luminary moving across the sky. This is a very ancient deity, who did not have a human appearance and was represented simply by a golden disk. A ritual spring dance was associated with the cult of Khors - a round dance (moving in a circle), the custom of baking pancakes on Maslenitsa, resembling a solar disk in shape, and rolling lighted wheels, which also symbolized the luminary.

The companion of the gods of the sun and fertility was Semargl (Simorg) - a winged dog, the guardian of crops, the god of roots, seeds, sprouts. The symbol is the World Tree. Its animal appearance speaks of its antiquity; The idea of ​​Semargl - the protector of crops - as a wonderful dog is easily explained: real dogs protected the fields from wild roe deer and goats.

Khors and Semargl are deities of Scythian origin, their cult came from eastern nomads, therefore both of these gods were widely revered only in Southern Russia, bordering on the Steppe.

Lada and Lelya were female deities of fertility, well-being, spring flowering of life.

Lada is the goddess of marriage, abundance, harvest time. Her cult can be traced among the Poles until the 15th century; in ancient times, it was common among all Slavs, as well as the Balts. Prayers were addressed to the goddess in late spring and during the summer, a white rooster was sacrificed (white color symbolized good).

Lada was called "Mother Leleva". Lelya is the goddess of unmarried girls, the goddess of spring and the first greenery. Her name is found in words associated with childhood: “lyalya”, “lyalka” - a doll and an appeal to a girl; "cradle"; "leleko" - a stork that brings children; "to cherish" - to take care of a small child. Lelya was especially revered by young girls, celebrating the spring holiday Lyalnik in her honor: they chose the most beautiful of their friends, put a wreath on her head, seated her on a turf bench (a symbol of sprouting young greenery), danced around her and sang songs glorifying Lelya, then the girl - "Lelya" presented her friends with wreaths prepared in advance.

The all-Slavic veneration of Makosha (Moksha) - the goddess of the earth, harvest, female fate, the great mother of all living things - goes back to the most ancient agricultural cult of Mother Earth. Makosh, as the goddess of fertility, is closely connected with Semargl and griffins, with mermaids irrigating fields, with water in general - Makosh was worshiped at springs, as a sacrifice, the girls threw yarn into the wells.

The male deity of fertility associated with the lower world was Veles (Volos). God of trade and beasts. Also known as - Keeper of the herds. Symbol - Sheaf of grain or grain tied into a knot. Sacred animals and plants: Ox, grain, wheat, corn. Volos is a benevolent god who regulates trade and makes sure promises are kept. Oaths and contracts are sworn in his name. When Perun became the greatest god of war, he recognized that, unlike Svarozhich, he needed a cool head to advise. Because of this, he enlisted Volos to be his right hand and advisor.

The hair also has a different side. He is the protection of all tamed animals. Volos appears in the guise of a bearded shepherd. Volos is the patron god of armor.

Among the common Slavic gods of fertility, a special place is occupied by warlike gods, to whom bloody sacrifices were made - Yarilo and Perun. Despite the deep antiquity and, consequently, the wide popularity of these gods, they were little revered by most Slavic tribes because of their warlike appearance.

Yarilo is the god of spring and fun. The symbol is a garland or crown of wild flowers. Sacred animals and plants - wheat, grain. Cheerful Yarilo is the patron saint of spring plants.

The Slavic Thunderer was Perun. The symbol is a crossed ax and hammer. His cult is one of the oldest and dates back to the 3rd millennium BC, when warlike shepherds on war chariots, possessing bronze weapons, subjugated neighboring tribes. The main myth of Perun tells about the battle of God with the Serpent, the thief of cattle, waters, sometimes luminaries and the wife of the Thunderer.

Perun - a snake fighter, the owner of a lightning-hammer, is closely associated with the image of a magical blacksmith. Blacksmithing was perceived as magic. The name of the legendary founder of the city of Kyiv Kiy means hammer. Perun was called the "princely god", since he was the patron of princes, symbolizing their power.

Svantovit - the god of prosperity and war, also known as - Strong. The symbol is a cornucopia. Svantovit is worshiped in richly decorated temples guarded by warriors. It contains the priest's white horse, always ready to race into battle.

Svarozhich is the god of strength and honor. Also known as - scorching. Symbol: Black bison head or double-sided axe.

Svarozhich is the son of Svarog, and the fact that he manages the pantheon together with Dazhdbog is the intention of Svarozhich's father. The gift of Svarog - lightning - was entrusted to him. He is the god of the hearth and home and is known for his faithful advice and prophetic power. He is the god of a simple warrior who values ​​peace.

Triglav is the god of plague and war. Also known as the Triple God. The symbol is a snake, curved in the shape of a triangle.

Triglav appears as a three-headed man wearing a golden veil over each of his faces. His heads represent heaven, earth and lower regions, and in wrestling he rides a black horse.

Chernobog is the god of Evil. Also known as the Black God. Symbol: Black figurine. It brings bad luck and misfortune; she is the cause of all disasters. Darkness, night and death are associated with her. Chernobog is in all respects the opposite of Belbog.

Paganism in urban life of the XI-XIII centuries.

The adoption of Christianity as the state religion did not mean a complete and rapid change in the way of thinking and way of life. Dioceses were established, churches were built, public services in pagan sanctuaries were replaced by services in Christian churches, but there was no serious change in views, a complete rejection of the beliefs of great-grandfathers and everyday superstitions.

Paganism was reproached for polytheism, and Christianity was credited with the invention of monotheism. Among the Slavs, the creator of the world and all living nature was Rod - Svyatovit.

Russian people singled out Jesus Christ from the trinity and built the Church of the Savior, which replaced the pagan Dazhbog.

Christianity also reflected primitive dualism. The head of all the forces of evil was Satanail, undefeated by the god, with his numerous and branched army, against which the god and his angels were powerless. Almighty God could not destroy not only Satan himself, but also the smallest of his servants. A person himself had to “drive away demons” by the righteousness of his life and magical actions.

Such an important section of primitive religion as a magical effect on higher powers by ritual action, a spell, a prayer song was absorbed by Christianity at one time and remained an integral part of church rituals. Religious support for statehood at the time of the progressive development of feudalism, the prohibition of bloody sacrifices, a wide stream of literature that went to Russia from Byzantium and Bulgaria - these consequences of the baptism of Russia had a progressive significance.

An outbreak of sympathy for great-grandfather paganism occurs in the second half of the 12th century. and, perhaps, it is connected both with the disappointment of the social elites in the behavior of the Orthodox clergy, and with the new political form, which brought closer in the XII century. local princely dynasties to the land, to the zemstvo boyars, and partly to the population of their principalities in general. It can be thought that the priestly class improved their ideas about the magical connection of the macrocosm with the microcosm of personal attire, about the possibility of influencing life phenomena through incantational symbols and pagan apotropaea. Dual faith was not just a mechanical combination of old habits and beliefs with new Greek ones; in a number of cases it was a well-thought-out system in which ancient ideas were quite consciously preserved. An excellent example of Christian-pagan dual faith are the well-known amulets - coils, worn on the chest over clothing.

Dual faith was not just the result of the church's tolerance for pagan superstitions, it was an indicator of the further historical life of aristocratic paganism, which, even after the adoption of Christianity, developed, improved, developed new subtle methods of rivalry with religion imposed from outside.

Pagan rites and festivities in the 11th-13th centuries

The annual cycle of ancient Russian festivities was composed of different, but equally archaic elements, dating back to the Indo-European unity of the first farmers or to the Middle Eastern agricultural cults adopted by early Christianity.

One of the elements was the solar phases: winter solstice, spring equinox and summer solstice. The autumnal equinox is very poorly marked in ethnographic records.

The second element was a cycle of prayers for rain and for the impact of the vegetative force on the harvest. The third element was the cycle of harvest festivals. The fourth element was the days of commemoration of the ancestors (radunitsa). The fifth could be carols, holidays in the first days of each month. The sixth element was Christian holidays, some of which also marked the solar phases, and some were associated with the agrarian cycle of the southern regions of the Mediterranean, which had different calendar dates than the agrarian cycle of the ancient Slavs.

As a result, a very complex and multi-basic system of Russian folk holidays was gradually created.

One of the main elements of Christmastide rites was dressing up in animal-like clothes and dancing in "mashkers". Ritual masks were depicted on silver bracelets.

Masquerades continued throughout the winter Christmas time, acquiring a special revelry in their second half - from January 1 to January 6, on the "terrible" Veles days.

After the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, there was a calendar contact of the ancient pagan holidays with the new, church-state, mandatory for the ruling elites. In a number of cases, Christian holidays, which arose, like Slavic ones, on a primitive astronomical basis, on solar phases, coincided in time (Christmas, the Annunciation), often they diverged.

Rusal spell rites and dances were the initial stage of the pagan festival, culminating in an obligatory ritual feast with the obligatory consumption of sacrificial meat meat: pork, beef, chickens and eggs.

Since many pagan holidays coincided or corresponded in calendar with the Orthodox ones, outwardly decency was almost observed: the feast was arranged, for example, not on the occasion of the holiday of women in childbirth, but on the occasion of the Nativity of the Virgin, but continued the next day already as a “lawless second meal” .

The historical development of Slavic-Russian paganism.

"Paganism" is an extremely vague term that arose in the church environment to refer to everything non-Christian, pre-Christian.

The Slavic-Russian part of the vast pagan massif should by no means be understood as a separate, independent, and inherent only to the Slavs, variant of primitive religious ideas.

The main defining material for the study of paganism is ethnographic: rituals, round dances, songs, children's games into which archaic rituals have degenerated, fairy tales that have preserved fragments of ancient mythology and epic.

As primitive society developed, to a greater and greater extent, a complication of its social structure developed on religious ideas: the allocation of leaders and priests, the consolidation of tribes and tribal cults, external relations, and wars.

Speaking about evolution, it should be noted that the deities that have arisen under certain conditions can acquire new functions over time, their place in the pantheon can change.

The world of the then pagans consisted of four parts: the earth, two heavens and the underground-water zone. This was not the specifics of Slavic paganism, but was the result of a universal stadial-convergent development of ideas that varied in details, but were mainly determined by this scheme. The most difficult thing is to unravel the ancient ideas about the earth, about a large land area filled with rivers, forests, fields, animals and human dwellings. For many peoples, the earth was depicted as a rounded plane surrounded by water. Water was concretized either as a sea or in the form of two rivers washing the earth, which may be more archaic and local - wherever a person was, he was always between any two rivers or streams, limiting his nearest land space.

Medieval people, regardless of whether they were baptized or not, continued to believe in the great-grandfather dualistic scheme of the forces that rule the world, and by all archaic measures tried to protect themselves, their homes and property from the action of vampires and "Navii" (alien and hostile dead).

Under the princes Igor, Svyatoslav and Vladimir, paganism became the state religion of Russia, the religion of princes and combatants. Paganism was strengthened and revived the ancient rituals that began to die out. The commitment of the young state to ancestral paganism was a form and means of preserving state political independence. Renewed paganism in the 10th century It was formed in the conditions of rivalry with Christianity, which was reflected not only in the arrangement of magnificent princely funeral pyres, not only in the persecution of Christians and the destruction of Orthodox churches by Svyatoslav, but also in a more subtle form of opposition of Russian pagan theology to Greek Christian.

The adoption of Christianity to a very small extent changed the religious life of the Russian village in the 10th-12th centuries. The only innovation was the cessation of cremations. According to a number of secondary signs, one can think that the Christian doctrine of a blessed afterlife “in the next world”, as a reward for patience in this world, spread in the village after the Tatar invasion and as a result of initial ideas about the inescapability of a foreign yoke. Pagan beliefs, rituals, conspiracies, formed over thousands of years, could not disappear without a trace immediately after the adoption of a new faith.

The fall of the authority of the church reduced the power of church teachings against paganism, and it was in the XI - XIII centuries. did not fade away in all strata of Russian society, but moved to a semi-legal position, since the church and secular authorities applied harsh measures to the pagan Magi, up to a public auto-da-fe.

In the second half of the XII century. there is a revival of paganism in the cities and in the princely-boyar circles. The explanation for the revival of paganism can be the crystallization of a dozen large principalities-kingdoms with their stable dynasties, which took shape since the 1130s, with the increased role of the local boyars and the more subordinate position of the episcopate, which turned out to be dependent on the prince. The renewal of paganism was reflected in the emergence of a new doctrine of an inscrutable light other than the sun, in the cult of a female deity, in the appearance of sculptural images of the deity of light.

As a result of a number of complex phenomena in Russia, by the beginning of the 13th century. a kind of dual faith was created both in the village and in the city, in which the village simply continued its religious great-grandfather life, being baptized, and the city and the princely-boyar circles, having adopted a lot from the church sphere and widely using the social side of Christianity, not only did not forget their paganism with its rich mythology, rooted rituals and cheerful carnivals with their dances, but also raised their ancient, church-persecuted religion to a higher level, corresponding to the heyday of Russian lands in the 12th century.

Conclusion

Despite the thousand-year domination of the state Orthodox Church, pagan beliefs were the popular faith and until the 20th century. manifested in rituals, dance games, songs, fairy tales and folk art.

The religious essence of the rites-games has long since disappeared, the symbolic sound of the ornament has been forgotten, fairy tales have lost their mythological meaning, but even the forms of archaic pagan creativity unconsciously repeated by descendants are of great interest, firstly, as a vivid component of the later peasant culture, and secondly, as an invaluable treasury of information about the many thousands of years of knowledge of the world by our distant ancestors.

Paganism is a religion based on the belief in the existence of several deities, and not in one creator God, as, for example, in Christianity.

The concept of paganism

The term "paganism" itself is inaccurate, as it includes too extensive a layer of culture, today the terms "polytheism", "totemism" or "ethnic religion" are used instead.

The paganism of the ancient Slavs is a term that is used to refer to the totality of religious and cultural beliefs of the ancient Slavic tribes before they adopted Christianity. There is an opinion that the term "paganism" in relation to the culture of the ancient Slavs does not come from the religion itself (polytheism), but from the fact that numerous Slavic tribes living on the territory of Russia had one language, although they were not connected with each other. Nestor the chronicler used the term "pagans" to refer to the totality of these tribes, that is, tribes united by one language. Later, paganism began to denote the features of the religious and cultural views of these ancient Slavic tribes.

The emergence and development of paganism in Russia

Slavic paganism began to form as early as the 1st-2nd millennium BC, when Slavic tribes gradually began to stand out from the peoples of the Indo-European group, settled in new territories and interacted with the cultures of neighboring peoples. It was from the Indo-European culture that the images of the god of thunder, the fighting squad, the god of cattle and the important image of mother earth arose. Also an important influence on Slavic paganism was the Celts, who not only brought certain images into the Slavic religion, but also gave the Slavs the very word "god" to designate images. With the German-Scandinavian mythology, Slavic paganism has a lot in common - the presence of the motif of the world tree, dragons and other deities, transformed taking into account the living conditions of the Slavs.

After the Slavic tribes actively began to separate and leave for different territories, paganism itself was also transformed, each tribe had its own elements. In particular, by the 6-7th century, the religion of the Eastern and Western Slavs was quite noticeably different from each other.

It should also be noted that often the beliefs of the ruling elite of society and the lower ones could also differ significantly, as mentioned in the ancient Slavic chronicles. What was believed in the big cities might be different from what the villagers believed.

With the formation of the ancient Russian centralized state, the relations of the Slavs with Byzantium and other countries began to develop, paganism was increasingly questioned, and in some cases even persecuted - teachings against paganism appeared. In 988, the Baptism of Russia took place and Christianity officially became the main religion, displacing paganism, however, it should be noted that, despite the fact that to this day Russia remains a Christian state, there are territories and communities where people still profess Slavic paganism.

The essence of Slavic paganism

Despite a sufficient number of historical sources, information about the beliefs of the ancient Slavs remains very fragmentary, so it is not easy to form an accurate picture of the world of our ancestors. It is generally accepted that the religion of the ancients was based on belief in the power of nature and the earth - hence the gods-rulers of certain natural phenomena. In addition to the higher gods, there were also lower creatures - brownies, mermaids and others - who could not seriously affect a person's life, but could participate in it. The Slavs believed in the existence of hell and heaven, in the existence of a soul in a person, which was one of the important values.

The Slavs had many rituals associated with the interaction of people and gods, they brought offerings, worshiped, asked for help and protection. As for sacrifices, oxen or other cattle were most often offered; there is no exact information about human sacrifices of Slavic pagans.

List of Slavic gods

Common Slavic gods:

• Perun - Thunderer, the main god of the pantheon;
• Mother - Cheese Earth - the female personification of the viviparous, fertile land, she was worshiped, asking for a good harvest or a large number of children; there was also an "oath by the earth", which was considered inviolable.

Gods of the Eastern Slavs (pantheon of Prince Vladimir):

• Perun is the main god, patron of the prince and squad, also a thunderer;
• Horse - the personification of the sun;
• Dazhdbog - a solar deity, is considered the ancestor of the Russian people;
• Stribog - a deity associated with the winds;
• Simargl - a messenger between heaven and earth;
• Mokosh - a female deity, the patroness of spinning and weaving;
• Hair is the patron saint of cattle;
• Veles is the patron of storytellers and poetry;
• Rod and women in labor - deities personifying fate;
• Svarog - the blacksmith god;
• Svarozhich is the personification of fire.

Characters such as Shrovetide, Kolyada, Kupala and others cannot be considered gods in the full sense of the word, they were only ritual personifications of certain phenomena that were often burned during pagan holidays and rituals.

The persecution of the pagans and the end of paganism

With the development of the Russian state and the increasing focus on more developed countries, paganism gradually began to be persecuted by supporters of Christianity. However, the population of many territories desperately resisted the adoption of Christianity even after the official baptism of Russia - many newly-born Christians returned again to paganism, secretly performed old rituals and worshiped the old Slavic gods. The relationship between Christianity and paganism has always been very tense, but along with the growing role of the Christian Church in the political and social life of Russia, the new religion gradually supplanted paganism and eventually almost destroyed it.

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