Ancient Russia: myths and legends about heroes and gods

The most interesting of the cultural treasures of civilizations are myths. All countries and peoples had their own legends about the might of the gods, about the courage of heroes, about the power of rulers. Not an exception and Ancient Russia. Myths talk about twenty thousand years, during which she perished and reborn. Our time is the moment of the revival of the long-departed faith, and it began with the publication of books about the ancient Slavic traditions.

The Russian Vedas, The Book of Veles

In the books of these - a reminder of the ancestral home. These are the lands that gave birth to this or that Russian family. And they also talk about the ancestors. One of the most ancient lands of the Slavs, judging by the content of the book "Russian Vedas", is considered the sacred Belovodie, the Russian North.

Hence our ancestors, led by the Sun God and Prince Yar, first moved to the Urals, then to the steppes of the Semirechie. And finally they mastered Iran and India. There are already Aryan, that is, Indo-Iranian, genera singled out by the Slavs themselves, those who praised the ancestors and gods.

Other sources

It so happened that the originals of the Slavonic texts did not reach us. The integrity of paganism was virtually destroyed, when not only myths, but also traditions, were uprooted by Christianity.

The whole picture of the mystical representations that Ancient Rus had had (myths, epics, legends) can be compiled or reconstructed only using secondary material and written sources. Of the most important - the medieval chronicles of observers (German and Latin) and books, preserved from the Czech and Polish tribes. Also interesting are the works of Byzantine authors, Arab and European.

Folklore

Strange as it may seem, many of the information about the beliefs and beliefs of Ancient Rus, its myths in the most simplistic and often deliberately perverted state can be gleaned from the teachings of persecutors of paganism - Christian missionaries. There they speak about the deceitfulness of certain ceremonies, where the actions of the Gentiles are commented on in detail. The lower mythology can still be obtained from folklore: various spirits, witches, mermaids, kikimors and immortal goats come from beliefs, tales, rites, conspiracies.

These are later myths, when the deities and animals were replaced by deities, even remotely resembling humans. As, for example, goblin. Actually, at first it was considered good, helping to find a way in the forest, and only those who behaved incorrectly in his possessions could do much harm. Such a person could get lost and even die. After the appearance of Christianity, the lecheas became unequivocally evil characters.

Fertility is impossible without water, and for a good harvest to the ancient people needed bereguini, shedding dew on the fields. Half the birds, half the girls, the owners of all the wells and reservoirs first flew from heaven, and then "grew" the fish tail and became mermaids. In Christian teachings, they are also negative characters.

Archeology

Some information is provided by archeology: many treasures with male and female decorations are found on the places of ritual prayers, where pagan symbols are present. The surviving remnants of ancient beliefs from neighboring peoples also help. And of course, most of our knowledge is associated with epic tales, for example, bylinas, which are famous for Ancient Rus. Myths are not dead, they are just forgotten.

Beliefs

For the beliefs of the Slavic tribes are characterized by dvoemirie, animism and totemism. The worlds were in their conception equivalent and strongly interrelated: human, real, and another, in which lived only the gods - evil or good, who coveted the souls of their ancestors.

A different world is both difficult and at the same time difficult to reach, and far, and familiar, and close, as if a place frequented by native forests, mountains or steppes. There the supreme leader was the supreme god.

Totem

In the depths, if not thousands of years, many and many centuries, when the peoples of the Slavs lived only by hunting, they knew and believed that the progenitors awaiting them in another world are the same forest dwellers who give them food, clothing, household items and even Medicines. For this, the animals were sincerely worshiped, seeing in them powerful and intelligent patron gods.

Each tribe had its own totem - a sacred beast. For example, people who consider their Wolf patron on the winter solstice holiday wear skins and feel themselves like wolves, communicating with their ancestors and gaining strength, wisdom and protection from them. Such a strong, intelligent and was Ancient Russia, the myths of it about this and were composed.

The pagan forest always had a master, the strongest. Lions in the Slavic lands have never been driven, so the beast king was Bear. He not only protected from all evil, but also patronized crops. The bear woke up in the spring - it's time to farm. The bear's paw in the house is a talisman and a guard: it protects from witchcraft, and from all sorts of diseases. The most powerful oath was the bear's name, and the hunter who violated it, inevitably died in the forest.

Ungulates

The hunting epoch was rich in totems, and one of the most vivid and common revered animals was a deer (or moose). And on the towels embroidered clearly deer - the oldest goddess of fertility, as well as sunlight and the sky itself. Forest inhabitants were not represented literally by the Slavs. Horned deer do not happen in nature, but on embroideries each beast has horns. He carries the sun on them. Horns in the house - a symbol of sunlight, heat. Elk and deer were often called sukhatymi (and now so-called), from the word "plow", which calls the agricultural implement.

Celestial elk and losenok - constellations of the Great and Little Dipper in the sky. And Cassiopeia is two peasants with braids who mow the heavenly grass. The golden horse of heaven is the sun, later the chariot, but also harnessed by horses. In the representations of ancient people, a horse since the days of nomadic life is the most useful and cleverest animal. The horse on the roof is still being installed by the builders of new village houses, although people have probably forgotten why and why. Horseshoe for luck and now it is considered a very effective amulet. The thing is that the ancient Slavs had a cult of a horse.

The image of the world

There are legends about how the creation of the world happened, where it came from and who its inhabitants are. The ancient Chinese, Iranians, Greeks believed that our world hatched from the egg. Similar myths exist among the Slavs. For example, such. Three kingdoms, which the prince received in the lower worlds from the three priests, were folded into eggs, and the prince simply unfolded them when he rose to the ground, breaking the shell. The kingdoms are brass, silver and gold.

Another legend speaks of a duck flying over an empty ocean and dropping an egg into the water. It split in two. From the bottom half was a damp earth, and from the top - a celestial vault. There is also a snake legend that guarded the golden egg. The hero came, the snake decided, the egg split, and three kingdoms emerged from him - underground, earthly and heavenly.

Carpathian song

In the Carpathians they sing about the creation of the world so: when there was no light, no sky, no land, but only the sea is blue, a tall oak tree was growing in the middle of the water. Two pigeons flew in, sat down on branches and began to reflect on how to establish white light.

They went down to the seabed, brought a small sand in their beaks, they seized the gold stones. Sowed the sand, sprinkled with gold stones. And the black earth rose, the drizzled water drizzled, the grass turned green, the sky turned blue, the sun shone, a clear month and all the stars came out.

But how exactly the creation of the world actually happened, let everyone decide for himself.

Triple

In the image of the world surrounding the ancient tribes, there is clearly a three-part nature. The earth is an average world, lying on the three heads of the leader of the underworld in the middle of the ocean.

The subsoil of the middle world is the lower sub-world. It is scorching with unquenchable fire. The upper world is heaven, with many arches extending over the earth, with luminaries and elements dwelling there. The seventh heaven is ever-shining. This is the place of the abode of the highest powers.

Country Ir

A special word about the Ocean (as it was called - Kiyan, with the navel of the earth in the middle, namely the sacred stone of Alatyr, which lies at the very roots of the World Tree), says that the legends most often describe an oak tree on the island of Buyan. This is the center of the whole universe. Holy mountains sometimes take on the notion of the Tree of the World.

The latter is sometimes called the tree of Irius from the country of the blessed, bearing the name of Ir. This is the place where all birds fly away in the autumn and where Spring spends the winter. The most ancient beliefs show that the country of Ir is at the very bottom of the sea-ocean, that it is there that constantly live the higher forces that decide all the destinies of people.

Geography

All sides of the world in the representations of the ancient Slavs had their functions associated with the deification of natural forces. The most fertile regions were in the east. There is a wonderful sacred country with the abode of the gods. But the north-west was the edge of death and winter.

Great importance in ancient beliefs was the location of rivers. The Don and the Danube were considered the borders of the world of people, then - another world, a homeland, where the souls of the dead ancestors expect everyone who is ready to overcome the impassable forests, huge mountains and ferocious rivers. Only there is an eternal rest for man. Or nepokoy, because those guilty in life, violating at least one moral law, will certainly be punished.

Svarog and Sons

Among the ancient Slavs, the supreme deities were a married couple: Mother Earth and Father-Heaven. Shining, shining god Svarog was revered on a par with Mother Earth. His other name is Stribog, which means God the Father. He brought to the people in the Stone Age iron tools (blacksmith's tongs), taught to smelt copper, and then iron. The sons, whom the god Svarog also taught to help people, were called Dazhdbog Svarozhich and Perun Svarojic. On the latter, the most interesting myths developed, almost like the Greek Hercules.

The feats of Perun are described quite extensively even in fiction until the twentieth century. This is the ancient god of thunder, thunder and lightning. His name is translated in several variants as "Smashing", "First" and even "Right". Lightnings are different: gold - life-giving, purple - deadly. His weapon is an ax, with which some customs in the peasant farming are still connected. The lightning rod in the form of a wheel with six spokes and can now be seen on old buildings. This is also the sign of Perun. But he was not only a deity, but also a hero. The basic qualities and even some of Perun's exploits, as it were inherited, passed to Elijah the Prophet with the advent of Christianity.

Dy

God, born of a goat, was in charge of the night sky. Having appeared in the world, he even eclipsed the clear sun, and then settled in the Ural mountains, gave birth to his son Churila. He gathered Churila's friends-giants and began to offend the warriors of Svarog. Svarog and Dy - both gods, they had to deal with each other in a divine way. First Svarog broke Dyya, drove his people into the foothills. And then he relented, arranged a feast in the Dyevy mansion. Churila with gold and precious stones shared with Svarog. He thawed completely and took Churila to his service.

Velez and Yasunya

The patron of wealth and domestic cattle, a defender and assistant to all traders, cattlemen, hunters, tillers, lord over all the lower spirits, the ancient Slavic god was notable for his good character and great luck. Only he married Azovushka, and he loved Yasunya with her green skin, disgusting character, pugnaciousness and lack of hospitality. Baba-Yaga Bone Foot and only. But not exactly. Was called Yasunya otherwise - Storm-Yaga Golden Leg. But, it seems, Veles managed to consider in Yaga the enchanted Yasunya Svyatogorovna, but could not receive the blessings of the parent, separated him from Yasunya.