25.03.2010", " ( )", "Paganos de Rodnovery tambin participan en el conflicto ucraniano", "Locked up in the Donbas A look at the mass arrests and torture of civilians in Donetsk and Lugansk", "Some in Donbas who want to create a new 'Russian world' are reaching back to pre-Christian times", "Sprawozdanie z III Oglnopolskiego Zjazdu Rodzimowiercw", " : ", All-Russia Population Census 2010 ( 2010), " : ", "Eestis registreeritud usulised hendused", "Vernacular Beliefs and Official Traditional Religion", " ' ', " '': ' ', " ", "The Three-Headed One at the Crossroad: A Comparative Study of the Slavic God Triglav", "Scythian Neo-Paganism in the Caucasus: The Ossetian Uatsdin as a 'Nature Religion', "Olav's Rose, Perun's Mark, Taranis's Wheel", " ' ' ( )", "Saving the Native Faith: Religious Nationalism in Slavic Neo-paganism (Ancient Russian Yngling Church of Orthodox Old Believers-Ynglings and Svarozhichi)", " ", " Ultima Frontiera : ", Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, "In Search of Deeper Identities: Neopaganism and 'Native Faith' in Contemporary Ukraine", " - ' ' ", " ", "A Preliminary Quantitative Study of the Mysticism and Religious Maturity of Contemporary Slavic Neopagans in Poland", " ", " ", " : ", "Alternative Identity, Alternative Religion? The word Koliada is derived from the Slavic word for wheel or cycle. [55] The term is adapted from Slavic forms, and variations of it are used in different Slavic languages: for instance, in Ukrainian it is Ridnovirstvo or Ridnovirya, in Russian Rodnoverie, in Polish Rodzimowierstwo, and in Czech Rodnov. [70] Men are seen as innately disposed towards "public" life and abstract thought, while women are seen as better realising themselves in the "private" administration of the family and the resources of the house. [180] Archaic patterns of meaning re-emerge at different levels on the spiral of time. [180] Many Rodnovers magnify the ancient Slavs by according to them great cultural achievements. [333] Rodnover themes entered the heavy metal subculture, particularly in bands like Sokyra Peruna ("Perun's Axe"), Whites Load, and Komu Vnyz ("Who Will Go Down"). [366], Yagnovery (Ukrainian: ), Ladovery (), and Orantism () are other branches of Rodnovery that have their focus in Ukraine. [272] In 1944, he fled the Soviet government and travelled to refugee camps in Germany and Austria. [138] Over the course of several centuries, Slavic populations migrated in northern, eastern and south-western directions. [271] Together with a narrow circle of believers, Belov also experiments with an "inner energy" style of fighting based on folk magic. [345] Marlne Laruelle found that there are Rodnover movements which draw inspiration from Indo-Iranian sources, historical Vedism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism; Rodnover movements inspired to the Theosophy of Helena Blavatsky, the Fourth Way of George Gurdjieff and Peter Uspensky, and Roerichism (Nicholas Roerich); Rodnover movements inspired to East Asian religions with their practices of energetic healing and martial arts; Rodnover movements (often the most political ones) inspired to German Ariosophy and the Traditionalist School (studying thinkers such as Ren Gunon and Julius Evola);[346] Rodnover movements centred on the Russian folk cult of the Mother Earth;[221] and Rodnover movements drawing examples from Siberian shamanism. [421] This has been due to branch's inability to attract sufficient numbers of youth in this community. As of 2013, Rodnover groups in Bulgaria were described as having few members and little influence. Reportedly, one of the greatest symbols of Slavic nationality was the symbol of the deity Rod who was considered a patron of all the Slavic people. For some Rodnovers, the Orthodox cross is another Slavic version of the swastika. Kupala night is still celebrated in many Northern European countries on the summer solstice, as the Pagan Slavic tradition was assimilated into early Christian rituals. Koliada is the God of the new year and of the rising of the new sun each day. Air is the element of the East, connected to the soul and the breath of life. According to Helmold's Chronica Slavorum (compiled 11681169), "obeying the duties assigned to them, [the deities] have sprung from his [the supreme God's] blood and enjoy distinction in proportion to their nearness to the god of the gods". Perun is the Slavic god of thunder, and of war. History . Perhaps surprisingly, he is also a guardian of truth, hiding truthfulness from the vain and the selfish. [256] The calendar of some Sylenkoite organisations includes holidays that have been de-Christianised, such as a "Christmas of Dazhboh's Light" and an "Easter of the Eternal Resurrection". Dabog was a major deity in Slavic mythology, most likely associated with the sun. He is the guardian and protector of the Isle of Rgen in the Baltic Sea. [71] When using English language terms to describe their religion, some Rodnovers favour "Heathen", in part due to a perceived affinity with the contemporary Germanic Heathens who also commonly use that term. [78] It was adopted among Rodnovers in the 1990swhen it appeared in such forms as the Russian Neoyazychestvo and the Polish Neopogastwobut had been eclipsed by "Slavic Native Faith" in the 2000s. [27] Other influences include documents like the Book of Veles, which claim to be genuine accounts of historical Slavic religion but which academics recognise as later compositions. The Proto-Slavic reconstruction is *dadjbog, and is composed of *dadj, imperative of the verb *dati "to give", and the noun *bog "god". Perun is heavily masculine, and is representative of the most active parts of nature. [288] Joseph Stalin himself was a supporter of the idea of Slavic Vedism, the shared Indo-European origins of Vedic and Slavic cultures. Laruelle has thus defined Rodnovery as an "open-source religion", that is to say a religion which "emphasizes individual participation and doctrinal evolution, and calls for the personal creation of religious belief systems". Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft: Slavic Magic from the Witch of the Woods at the best online prices at eBay! [391] The movement is characterised by a military orientation, combining Rodnover worldview with the practice of a martial arts style known as Slavic-hill wrestling (- , Slavyano-goritskaya bor'ba). Dazhbog - Wikipedia [181], Rodnover organisations have inherited ideas of commonality and social governance from Slavic and Russian history. In Belarus and the neighbouring regions of Russia there are groups taking inspiration from the Kriviches, of one of the tribal unions of the early East Slavs, mixing Slavic and Baltic traditions. [331] From the mid-2000s, Rodnovers made increasing use of social media to communicate with other members of their community. Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. Meryan Rodnovers also rely upon the uninterrupted traditions of the Mari Native Faith; on 27 September 2015, they organised a joint Mari-Merya prayer in the Moscow region. [418], In the global Ukrainian diaspora, there has been a "great decline" in the numbers practising the Native Ukrainian National Faith branch of Rodnovery. Svarog, in the Slavic mythology, was the god of fire, sun and heaven (heaven being the world of the gods and dead souls). The Role of Birds in Slavic Folklore and Mythology - Slavic Saturday [68] It is often more accurately (though by no means thoroughly) translated as "Gentile" (i.e. [9], The earliest known usage of this term was by the Ukrainian emigree Lev Sylenko, who in 1964 established a mimeographed publication in Canada that was titled Ridna Vira ("Native Faith"). Ivanov, who declared himself a Zoroastrian and subscribed to "Arism" or "Slavism", published a fervently anti-Christian pamphlet entitled "The Christian Plague" (Khristianskaya chuma). [192] Such morphology of time is otherwise describable as "spiral". [146] A number of youth subcultures have been identified as introducing people to Rodnovery, among them heavy metal, historical re-enactment, and the admirers of J. R. R. The Witcher 3 runes are all based on Slavic gods. Mokosh is sometimes called the Great Mother. [13] The usage of this term suggests that the religion is restricted to a particular ethnic group. [405] The 2012 Sreda Arena Atlas complement to the 2010 census of Russia, found 1.7 million people (1.2% of the total population of the country) identifying themselves as "Pagans" or followers of "traditional religions, worship of gods and ancestors". He says that Meryan Native Faith is mostly Slavic Native Faith whose concepts, names and iconoraphy are Finnicised. This was changed with the promulgation of a law "on freedom of conscience and religious organisation", backed by three deputies professing Rodnovery, whose members organised the pro-Russian Svarozhich Battalion (of the Vostok Brigade) and the Rusich Company. [435] Simpson observed that in the country, Rodnovers were "still relatively young",[436] and saw an overlap with the community of historical re-enactors. [352] The scholar Pavel A. Skrylnikov notes that a salient feature of the movement is what he defines "ethnofuturism", that is to say, conscious adaptation of Merya heritage to the forms of modernity, in a process of distinction and interaction with Russian Native Faith. For instance, the Association of Sons and Daughters of Ukraine of the Native Ukrainian National Faith (OSIDU RUNVira), one of the churches of Ukrainian Sylenkoism, holds a weekly "Holy Hour of Self-Reflection", in which practitioners read from Sylenko's Maha Vira, sermons are given, the ancestors are commemorated, and prayers and hymns are given, and the meeting ends with the singing of the national anthem of Ukraine. This is a concept that was especially popular among nineteenth-century ethnographers who were influenced by Romanticism and retains widespread popularity across Eastern Europe, but has come under criticism in more recent times. ThoughtCo. Air is one of the four classical elements and is often invoked in Wiccan ritual. There are, otherwise, Rodnover groups that intertwine with forms of religion and spirituality which are not immediately related to the Slavic Native Faith (this is the case of Ivanovism, Roerichism and Anastasianism). [290] An intellectual circle that cultivated themes of Slavic indigenous religion formed as a wing of the predominantly Orthodox Christian samizdat nationalist journal Veche (19711974). [266] Another precursor in Poland was Jan Sas Zubrzycki (18601935), who elaborated the doctrine of "God-Knowing" (Bogoznawstwo). [307] Many people became unemployed, and many turned to the past, nourishing the study of ethnic roots. In some versions of the mythology, Svarog is the creator of many of the other gods, and a slayer of dragons. [138] In doing so, they branched out into three sub-linguistic families: the Eastern Slavs (Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians), the Western Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks) and the Southern Slavs (Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Macedonians and Bulgarians). [393] The original federation of Belov splintered many times over the years giving rise to other distinct groups of military Rodnovery; Belov, however, continued to remain a central figure for the movement as a whole. [67], In Ukraine and Russia many important Rodnover groups advocate the designation of "Orthodoxy" (Russian: Pravoslaviye, Serbian: Pravoslavlje, Ukrainian: Pravoslavya) for themselves. [193] The Rodnover movement claims to represent the return to a "Golden Age", while the modern world is seen as having entered a stage of meaninglessness and collapse; Rodnovery heralds the re-establishment of the cosmic order, which cyclically dies but then revives in its original form, either by returning to the lifestyle and life-meaning attitudes of the ancestors (retro-utopia), or by radically restructuring the existing world order on the principles of a renewed primordial tradition (archeofuturism). Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft: Slavic Magic from the Witch of the Woods | Books & Magazines, Books | eBay! [61], The appropriate name of the religion is an acute topic of discussion among believers. [350] Yet, they espouse Russian nationalism, ancestrality and ecology, and oppose Christianity (but not folk Orthodoxy, which is regarded as a continuation of Russian indigenous religion) and the Western "technocratic civilisation". [228], Rituals take place at consecrated places and generally include the lighting of fire (vozzhiganie ognia), invocation of gods, the singing of hymns, sacrifices (prinesenie treby) and the pouring of libations, circle-dances (khorovod or simply kolo, "circle"), and usually a communal meal at the end. [287], During era of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union (1920s1950s), research into prehistoric societies was encouraged, with some scholars arguing that pre-Christian society reflected a form of communitarianism that was damaged by Christianity's promotion of entrenched class divisions. [56] The term has different histories and associations in each of the Slavic languages in which it appears. [387], The Ynglist Church was prosecuted in the early 2000s for ethnic hatred according to Russian laws, and its headquarters in Omsk were dissolved. [130] Some regard ethnic minorities living in Slavic countries as a cause of social injustice,[130] and some Russian Rodnovers encourage the expulsion from Russia of those they regard as aliens, namely those who are Jewish or have ethnic origins in the Caucasus,[155] an approach which could require ethnic cleansing. The poles, or statues, are called rodovoy stolb ("ancestral pole"), idol, chur,[242] but also kapy. [351], Meryan Rodnovery is a movement present in the Russian regions of Ivanovo, Kostroma, Moscow, Vladimir, Vologda, Tver, and Yaroslavl. [22] The magazine and its associated group embraced members with a wide variety of viewpoints, ranging from secularly humanistic to religiously Slavic Native Faith stances. Slavs are the largest ethnic group in Europe that share a linguistic and cultural history. An insight into Slavic mythology: How to spot a Slavic witch? [333] This attitude generated some mutual hostility between academics and practitioners of Rodnovery, rendering subsequent scholarly fieldwork more difficult. [124] Immediately related to the morality of a responsible community is the respect for the whole world of nature, or what Aitamurto defines "ecological responsibility". [352], Various organisations have been established in the late 2000s and 2010s, including Merjamaa and Merya Mir ( , "Merya World"). 5 out of 5 stars (1) $ 5.58. [149] According to them, the Slavs are the directest descendants of an ancient Aryan race, whom they equate with the Proto-Indo-Europeans. [233] The structure of these Syenkoite rites is modelled on those of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It guards the living from destruction, and from the degradation of the soul and spirit. Is the Kolovrat really an ancient pagan Slavic symbol? For instance, the Russian Circle of Pagan Tradition characterises itself as "patriotic" rather than "nationalist", avoids ethnic nationalist ideas, and recognises Russia as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural state. and the "Perun's sign", or "thunder wheel" (e.g. [10] In 2005, Ivakhiv noted that there were likely between 5000 and 10,000 practitioners in Ukraine. [360] In 2009, on the occasion of a conference specifically dedicated to the subject held at the Moscow State University, the philosopher Alexander Dugin praised the renewal of Scythian culture as an inspiration that will be beneficial to all descendants of Indo-European peoples and to the whole world. In the 1960s, the renewal of militant atheism under Nikita Khrushchev also presupposed a recovering of pre-Christian and pre-Islamic traditions. [297] In 1986, Viktor Bezverkhy (19302000) established the Saint Petersburg-based Society of the Mages (Obshchestvo Volkhvov), an explicitly white supremacist and anti-Semitic organisation; it was followed by the Union of the Veneds, founded in 1990. ), a variant of the swastika (Sanskrit: "wellbeing", "wellness"). [253] Similarly, Schnirelmann noted that the founders of Russian Rodnovery were "well-educated urbanised intellectuals" who had become frustrated with "cosmopolitan urban culture". The 10 Most Important Slavic Gods - ThoughtCo Koliada Viatichey is theologically dualistic, giving prominence to the complementary principles of Belobog and Chernobog, respectively governing spirit and matter, a polar duality which reflects itself in humanity as the soul and the body. He is a symbol of protection for sailors. [142] They conceive ethnicity and culture as territorial, moulded by the surrounding natural environment (cf. [98] Already the pioneering Ukrainian leader Shaian argued that God manifests as a variety of different deities. Slavic Pagan Symbols - Etsy Concerted efforts by the communities of Moscow and Kaluga led to the establishment of the Union of Slavic Native Belief Communities in 1997, characterised by nationalist views. [303] It is within this broader milieu of cultural nationalism and interest in alternative spiritualities that Rodnovery re-emerged in Ukraine. [138], The belief systems of these Slavic communities had many affinities with those of neighbouring linguistic populations, such as the Balts, Thracians and Indo-Iranians. Slavic mythology has its roots in the human Neolithic Period, when various tribes of Slavic people, geographically designated as North, South, East, and West, worshiped pagan deities according to . [41] The movement of the Old Believers is a form of "folk Orthodoxy", a coalescence of Pagan, Gnostic and unofficial Orthodox currents, that by the mid-seventeenth century seceded from the Russian Orthodox Church (the Raskol, "Schism"), channelling the "mass religious dissent" of the Russian common people towards the Church, viewed as the religion of the central state and the aristocracy. The four points of the star represent faith, freedom, righteousness and honor, while the circle represents the Sun. [229] Circle-dances may be clockwise (posolon, i.e. [177] Aitamurto has defined the Rodnover idea of the veche as a form of grassroots democracy, or, using the term preferred by the Ynglists, as a samoderzhavie, that is to say a system of "self-power", "people ruling themselves". [240], Rituals and religious meetings are often performed in rural settings, forests and clearings. Some Rodnover organisations require that participants wear traditional Slavic clothes for such occasions, although there is much freedom in interpreting what constitutes "traditional clothes", this definition generally referring to folkloric needlecraft open to a wide range of artistic patterns. [364] Today, there are at least four Sylenkoite churches: the Association of Sons and Daughters of Ukraine of the Native Ukrainian National Faith (OSIDU RUNVira), the Association of Sons and Daughters of the Native Ukrainian National Faith (OSID RUNVira), Volodymyr Chornyi's western branch of OSIDU RUNVira centred in Lviv, and the more independent Union of the Native Ukrainian Faith (SRUV). [382] According to the movement, which presents itself as the true, orthodox, olden religion of the Russians, the Slavs and the white Europeans,[382] Yngly is the fiery order of reality through which the supreme Godcalled by the name "Ramha" in Ynglist theologyongoingly generates the universe. Slavic Mythology: Gods, Symbols & Stories - Study.com "[199], Rodnovery is essentially a religion of the community, with most adherents actively joining organisations; only a minority of believers choose solitary practice. [8] The historian Marlne Laruelle has described Rodnovery as "more inclusive than just adherence to a pantheon of pre-Christian gods". [399] He borrows from various Eastern traditions, including Hinduism (Tantrism), Buddhism and Taoism,[400] but also Western Neoplatonism, Hermeticism and alchemy, as well as the medieval German mysticism of the Friends of God (Meister Eckhart and Johannes Tauler). [277] He was nevertheless labelled a neopoganin ("Neopagan") by the Polish popular press, a term that he embraced as a self-descriptor in later life. [269] He claimed that in 1934 he underwent a spiritual revelation atop Mount Grekhit in the Carpathian Mountains. It originated in the early twentieth century and experienced a revival after the collapse of the Soviet Union, relying upon the Russian philosophical tradition, especially that represented by Vladimir Vernadsky and Pavel Florensky. Scholars of religion regard Slavic Native Faith as a modern Pagan religion. Glory to Dazhboh! Yes, our ancestors believed in these things but we should not any longer", as polytheism is regarded as obsolete within the religion. and is used in modern neo-paganism (see " In modern countries "). [444] Though Rodn Vra no longer maintains structured territorial groups, it is supported by individual adherents scattered throughout the Czech Republic. They hold that the Saga ob Ynglingakh, their Russian version of the Germanic Ynglinga saga (itself composed by Snorri Sturluson on the basis of an older Ynglingatal), proves their ideas about the origins of the Ynglings in Omsk, and that the Germanic Eddas are ultimately a more recent, western European and Latinised version of their own sacred books, the Slavo-Aryan Vedas. [407], Aitamurto observed that a substantial number of adherentsand in particular those who had been among the earliestbelonged to the "technical intelligentsia". Slavic paganism - Wikipedia [9], According to Schnirelmann, it was the Soviet Union's official scientific atheism, which severely weakened the infrastructure of universalist religions, combined with anti-Westernism and the research of intellectuals into an ancient "Vedic" religion of Russia, that paved the way for the rise of Rodnovery and other modern Paganisms in Eastern Europe. Ruevit is a local, warrior god. [11] In 2003, the Russian Ministry of Justice had forty registered Rodnover organisations, while there were "probably several hundred of them in existence". [191], Rodnovery has a "cyclical-linear model of time", in which the cyclical and the linear morphologies do not exclude each other, but complement each other and stimulate eschatological sentiments. Witchcraft and Magic in Russian and Ukrainian Lands before 1900 Equally important to the Slavic mythology was the worship of ancestors, though the tribes did not keep ancestral records. [48] As such, it represents wholeness, the ultimate source of renewal, the cosmic order and the four directions. [120], Rodnovers blame Christianity for transferring personal responsibility into a transcendent future when actions will be judged by God and people either smitten or forgiven for their sins, in fact exempting people from responsibility in the present time,[121] while at the same time imposing a fake moralism of self-deprecation, self-destruction and suppression of the flesh. [40], The concept of double belief is especially significant in Russia and for the identity of the Russian Orthodox Church[41] and the folk Orthodoxy of the Old Believers;[42] in that country, it is an oft-cited dictum that "although Russia was baptised, it was never Christianised". Scandinavian Symbols And Culture Black Color Set Solid Style Image. [281] This text was brought to the public by the Russian Yury Petrovich Mirolyubov (18921970), who claimed that it had been discovered by a friend of his, Fodor Arturovich Isenbek, while serving as a White Army officer during the Russian Civil War. [137] There is an academic consensus that the Proto-Slavic language developed from about the second half of the first millennium BCE in an area of Central and Eastern Europe bordered by the Dnieper basin to the east, the Vistula basin to the west, the Carpathian Mountains to the south and the forests beyond the Pripet basin to the north. [327] These groups have strong political motivations, being extremely nationalistic, anti-Western, and anti-Semitic. [182], In the 1970s, explicitly religious Rodnover groups had still to operate in secret, although a few small groups were known to exist in Moscow and Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), closely linked to the nationalist intellectual circles.