Wooden idols of the ancient Slavs. Gods, idols and shrines. Slavic "theology" of nature

The ancient Slavic pantheon is very complex in structure and numerous in composition. Most of the gods were identified with various forces of nature, although there were exceptions, the most striking example of which is Rod, the creator god. Due to the similarity of the functions and properties of some gods, it is difficult to determine for sure which names are just variations on the names of the same god, and which belong to different gods.

The entire pantheon can be divided into two large circles: the elder gods who ruled all three worlds in the primordial stage, and the second circle - the young gods who took the reins of government in the new stage. At the same time, some older gods are present in the new stage, while others disappear (more precisely, there are no descriptions of their activities or interference in anything, but the memory that they were, remains).

In the Slavic pantheon, there was no clear hierarchy of power, which was replaced by a tribal hierarchy, where sons obeyed their father, but brothers were equal among themselves. The Slavs did not have pronounced evil gods and good gods. Some deities gave life, others took it away, but all were revered equally, since the Slavs believed that the existence of one without the other is impossible. At the same time, the gods, good in their functions, could punish and cause harm, while the evil ones, on the contrary, help and save people. Thus, the gods of the ancient Slavs were very similar to people, not only outwardly, but also in character, since they simultaneously carried both good and evil.

Outwardly, the gods were similar to people, while most of them could turn into animals, in the form of which they usually appeared before people. From ordinary beings, the gods were distinguished by superpowers that allowed the deities to change the world around them. Each of the gods had power over one of the parts of this world. The impact on other parts beyond the control of the deities was limited and temporary.

The most ancient supreme male deity among the Slavs was Rod. Already in Christian teachings against paganism of the XII-XIII centuries. they write about Rod as a god worshiped by all peoples.

Rod was the god of the sky, thunderstorms, fertility. They said about him that he rides on a cloud, throws rain on the ground, and from this children are born. He was the ruler of the earth and all living things, he was a pagan creator god.

In the Slavic languages, the root “genus” means kinship, birth, water (spring), profit (harvest), such concepts as people and homeland, in addition, it means red and lightning, especially ball, called “rhodium”. This variety of cognate words undoubtedly proves the greatness of the pagan god.

Rod is a creator god, together with his sons Belbog and Chernobog, he created this world. Alone, Rod created Rule, Yav and Nav in the sea of ​​chaos, and together with his sons he created the earth.

The sun then went out of His face. A bright moon - from His chest. Frequent stars - from His eyes. Clear dawns - from His eyebrows. Dark nights - yes from His thoughts. Violent winds - from the breath ...

"The Book of Carols"

The Slavs had no idea about the appearance of the Rod, since he never appeared directly in front of people.

Temples in honor of the deity were arranged on hills or simply large open areas of land. His idol was phallic in shape or simply made in the form of a pillar painted red. Sometimes the role of an idol was performed by an ordinary tree growing on a hill, especially if it was old enough. In general, the Slavs believed that Rod is in everything and therefore you can worship it anywhere. There were no sacrifices in honor of Rod. Instead of them, holidays and feasts are arranged, which are held directly near the idol.

The companions of the Sort were Rozhanitsy - female deities of fertility in Slavic mythology, the patroness of the clan, family, home.

Belbog

Son of Rod, god of light, goodness and justice. In Slavic mythology, he is the creator of the world along with Rod and Chernobog. Outwardly, Belbog appeared as a gray-haired old man dressed as a sorcerer.

Belobog in the mythology of our ancestors never acted as an independent individual character. As any object in the world of Reveal has a shadow, so Belobog has its integral antipode - Chernobog. A similar analogy can be found in ancient Chinese philosophy (yin and yang), in Icelandic Ynglism (rune yudzh) and in many other cultural and religious systems. Belobog, thus, becomes the embodiment of bright human ideals: goodness, honor and justice.

A sanctuary in honor of Belbog was built on the hills, turning the idol to the east, towards the sunrise. However, Belbog was revered not only in the sanctuary of the deity, but also at feasts, always making a toast in his honor.

Veles

One of the greatest gods of the ancient world, son of Rod, brother of Svarog. His main act was that Veles set the world created by Rod and Svarog in motion. Veles - "cattle god" - the owner of the wild, the owner of Navi, a powerful wizard and werewolf, interpreter of laws, teacher of arts, patron of travelers and merchants, god of luck. True, some sources point to him as the god of death ...

At the moment, among various pagan and native faith directions, the book of Veles is a fairly popular text, which became known to the general public in the 1950s of the last century thanks to the researcher and writer Yuri Mirolyubov. The Veles book actually consists of 35 birch planks, dotted with symbols, which linguists (in particular, A. Kur and S. Lesnoy) call Slavic pre-Cyrillic writing. It is curious that the original text does not really resemble either Cyrillic or Glagolitic, but the features of the Slavic runic are also indirectly presented in it.

Despite the great distribution and mass veneration of this god, Veles was always separated from other gods, his idols were never placed in common temples (sacred places in which images of the main gods of this territory were installed).

Two animals are associated with the image of Veles: a bull and a bear; in the temples dedicated to the deity, the magi often kept a bear, which played a key role in the rituals.

Dazhdbog

God of the Sun, giver of heat and light, god of fertility and life-giving power. The solar disk was originally considered the symbol of Dazhdbog. Its color is gold, which speaks of the nobility of this god and his unshakable strength. In general, our ancestors had three main solar deities - Khors, Yarila and Dazhdbog. But Khors was the winter sun, Yarilo was the spring sun, and Dazhdbog was the summer sun. Of course, it was Dazhdbog who deserved special respect, since a lot depended on the summer position of the sun in the firmament for the ancient Slavs, the people of the tillers. At the same time, Dazhdbog never had a sharp temper, and if a drought suddenly attacked, then our ancestors never blamed this god.

The temples of Dazhdbog were arranged on the hills. The idol was made of wood and placed facing east or southeast. Feathers of ducks, swans and geese, as well as honey, nuts and apples were brought as a gift to the deity.

Devana

Devana is the goddess of hunting, the wife of the forest god Svyatobor and the daughter of Perun. The Slavs represented the goddess in the form of a beautiful girl dressed in an elegant marten fur coat trimmed with a squirrel. Over the fur coat, the beauty put on a bearskin, and the head of the beast served as her hat. With her, Perun's daughter carried an excellent bow with arrows, a sharp knife and a horn, with which they go to a bear.

The beautiful goddess not only hunted forest animals: she herself taught them how to avoid dangers and endure harsh winters.

Dewana was primarily revered by hunters and trappers, they prayed to the goddess to grant good luck in hunting, and in gratitude they brought part of their prey to her sanctuary. It was believed that it was she who helped to find the secret paths of animals in the dense forest, avoid skirmishes with wolves and bears, but if the meeting did take place, the person would emerge victorious from it.

Share and Nedolya

Share - a kind goddess, Mokosh's assistant, weaves a happy fate.

It appears in the guise of a sweet young man or red-haired girl with golden curls and a cheerful smile. He cannot stand still, he walks around the world - there are no barriers: a swamp, a river, a forest, mountains - The share will overcome in an instant.

He does not like lazy and negligent, drunkards and all sorts of bad people. Although at first he makes friends with everyone - then he will figure it out and leave the bad, evil person.

NEDOLYA (Nuzha, Need) - the goddess, Mokosh's assistant, weaves an unhappy fate.

Share and Nedolya are not just personifications of abstract concepts that do not have objective existence, but, on the contrary, they are living faces, identical to the maidens of fate.

They act according to their own calculations, regardless of the will and intentions of a person: the happy one does not work at all and lives in contentment, because the Share works for him. On the contrary, Nedolya's activities are constantly directed to the detriment of man. While she is awake, misfortune follows misfortune, and only then does it become easier for the unfortunate when Nedolya falls asleep: “If Likho is sleeping, don’t wake him up.”

Dogoda

Dogoda (Weather) - the god of fine weather and a gentle, pleasant breeze. Young, ruddy, blond-haired, in a cornflower blue wreath with blue, gilded butterfly wings around the edges, in silvery bluish clothes, holding a thorn in his hand and smiling at the flowers.

Kolyada

Kolyada - the baby sun, in Slavic mythology - the embodiment of the New Year cycle, as well as a holiday character similar to Avsen.

“Once upon a time, Kolyada was perceived not as a mummer. Kolyada was a deity, and one of the most influential. They called the carol, called. New Year's Eve was dedicated to Kolyada, games were arranged in her honor, which were subsequently performed at Christmas time. The last patriarchal ban on worshiping Kolyada was issued on December 24, 1684. It is believed that Kolyada was recognized by the Slavs as the deity of fun, which is why they called him, called on New Year's festivities by cheerful gangs of youth ”(A. Strizhev.“ People’s Calendar ”).

Rooftop

The son of the Almighty and the goddess Maya, was a brother to the very first creator of the world Rod, although he was much younger than him. He returned fire to people, fought on the shores of the Arctic Ocean with Chernobog and defeated him.

KUPALO

Kupala (Kupaila) is the fruitful deity of summer, the summer incarnation of the sun god.

“Kupalo, as I think, was the god of abundance, as with the Hellenes Ceres, who is insane for the abundance of thanksgiving at that time, when the harvest is imminent.”

His holiday is dedicated to the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. The night was also sacred, on the eve of this day - the Night on the eve of Kupalo. All that night, feasting, games and mass bathing in reservoirs continued.

They sacrificed to him before the collection of bread, on June 23, on the day of St. Agrippina, which was popularly nicknamed the Swimsuit. Young people decorated themselves with wreaths, laid out a fire, danced around it and sang Kupala. The games went on all night. In some places, on June 23, bathhouses were heated, grass bathing suit (buttercup) was laid in them, and then they swam in the river.

On the very Nativity of John the Baptist, weaving wreaths, they hung them on the roofs of houses and on stables in order to remove evil spirits from the dwelling.

Lada

LADA (Freya, Preya, Siv or Zif) - the goddess of youth and spring, beauty and fertility, the all-generous mother, the patroness of love and marriages.

In folk songs, “lado” still means a dearly beloved friend, lover, groom, husband.

Freya's outfit shines with the dazzling brilliance of the sun's rays, her beauty is charming, and the drops of morning dew are called her tears; on the other hand, she acts as a militant heroine, rushing through the heavenly spaces in storms and thunderstorms and driving rain clouds. In addition, she is a goddess, in whose retinue the shadows of the dead march into the afterlife. The cloudy fabric is precisely that veil on which the soul, after the death of a person, ascends to the kingdom of the blessed.

According to the testimony of folk verses, angels, appearing for a righteous soul, take it in a shroud and carry it to heaven. The cult of Freya-Siva explains the superstitious respect that Russian commoners have for Friday, as a day dedicated to this goddess. Whoever starts a business on Friday, he, according to the proverb, will back away.

Among the ancient Slavs, the birch, personifying the goddess Lada, was considered a sacred tree.

Ice

Ice - the Slavs prayed to this deity for success in battles, he was revered as the ruler of military actions and bloodshed. This ferocious deity was portrayed as a terrible warrior, armed in Slavic armor, or all-weapon. At the hip, a sword, a spear and a shield in his hand.

He had his own temples. Going on a campaign against the enemies, the Slavs prayed to him, asking for help and promising plentiful sacrifices in case of success in military operations.

Lel

Lel - in the mythology of the ancient Slavs, the god of love passion, the son of the goddess of beauty and love Lada. About Lele - this cheerful, frivolous god of passion - is still reminiscent of the word "cherish", that is, undead, love. He is the son of the goddess of beauty and love, Lada, and beauty naturally gives rise to passion. This feeling flared up especially brightly in the spring and on the Kupala night. Lel was portrayed as a golden-haired, like a mother, winged baby: after all, love is free and elusive. Lel threw sparks from his hands: after all, passion is fiery, hot love! In Slavic mythology, Lel is the same god as the Greek Eros or the Roman Cupid. Only ancient gods strike the hearts of people with arrows, and Lel kindled them with his fierce flame.

The stork (heron) was considered his sacred bird. Another name for this bird in some Slavic languages ​​is leleka. In connection with Lel, both cranes and larks, symbols of spring, were revered.

Makosh

One of the main goddesses of the Eastern Slavs, the wife of the Thunderer Perun.

Her name is made up of two parts: "ma" - mother and "kosh" - purse, basket, koshara. Makosh is the mother of full cats, the mother of a good harvest.

This is not the goddess of fertility, but the goddess of the results of the economic year, the goddess of the harvest, the giver of blessings. The harvest every year determines the lot, fate, so she was also revered as the goddess of fate. An obligatory attribute in her image is a cornucopia.

This goddess connected the abstract concept of fate with the concrete concept of abundance, patronized the household, sheared sheep, spun, punished the negligent. The specific concept of “spinning” was associated with a metaphorical one: “spinning fate”.

Makosh patronized marriage and family happiness. It was presented as a woman with a big head and long arms, spinning at night in a hut: beliefs forbid leaving a tow, "otherwise Makosha will spin."

Moraine

Morena (Marana, Morana, Mara, Maruha, Marmara) is the goddess of death, winter and night.

Mara is the goddess of death, the daughter of Lada. Outwardly, Mara looks like a tall beautiful girl with black hair in red clothes. Maru can not be called either an evil or a good goddess. On the one hand, it bestows death, but at the same time it also bestows life.

One of Mary's favorite activities is needlework: she loves to spin and weave. At the same time, like the Greek Moiram, he uses the threads of the fate of living beings for needlework, leading them to turning points in life, and, in the end, cutting the thread of existence.

Mara sends her messengers all over the world, who appear to people in the form of a woman with long black hair or in the form of doubles of people who are meant to be warned, and portend an imminent death.

In part of Mary, no permanent places of worship were erected; honors could be paid to her anywhere. For this, an image of the goddess, carved from wood or made from straw, was installed on the ground, stones were laid around the place. Directly in front of the idol, a larger stone or wooden plank was installed, which served as an altar. After the ceremony, all this was sorted out, and the image of Mary was burned or thrown into the river.

Mara was revered on February 15, and flowers, straw and various fruits were brought as a gift to the goddess of death. Sometimes, during the years of severe epidemics, animals were sacrificed, bleeding them directly at the altar.

Meeting spring with a solemn holiday, the Slavs performed the rite of expelling Death or Winter and plunged an effigy of Morana into the water. As a representative of winter, Morana is defeated by the spring Perun, who smashes her with his blacksmith's hammer and casts her into an underground dungeon for the whole summer time.

According to the identification of Death with thunder spirits, ancient belief forced these latter to fulfill its sad duty. But since the thunderer and his companions were also the organizers of the heavenly kingdom, the concept of Death was bifurcated, and fantasy depicted it either as an evil creature, dragging souls into the underworld, or as a messenger of the supreme deity, accompanying the souls of the deceased heroes to his heavenly chamber.

Diseases were considered by our ancestors as companions and helpers of Death.

Perun

The God of Thunder, a victorious, punishing deity, whose appearance excites fear and awe. Perun, in Slavic mythology, the most famous of the Svarozhich brothers. He is the god of thunderclouds, thunder and lightning.

He is represented as stately, tall, with black hair and a long golden beard. Sitting on a flaming chariot, he rides through the sky, armed with a bow and arrows, and strikes the wicked.

According to Nestor, the wooden idol of Perun, placed in Kyiv, had a golden mustache on its silver head. Over time, Perun became the patron of the prince and his squad.

Temples in honor of Perun were always arranged on hills, and the highest place in the district was chosen. Idols were made mainly of oak - this mighty tree was the symbol of Perun. Sometimes there were places of worship to Perun, arranged around an oak tree growing on a hill, it was believed that this way Perun himself designates the best place. In such places, no additional idols were placed, and the oak, located on a hill, was revered as an idol.

Radegast

Radegast (Redigost, Radigast) is a lightning god, a killer and a devourer of clouds, and at the same time a radiant guest who appears with the return of spring. The earthly fire was recognized as the son of Heaven, brought down to the bottom, as a gift to mortals, a fleeting lightning, and therefore the idea of ​​​​an honorary divine guest, an alien from heaven to earth, was also connected with it.

The Russian settlers honored him with the name of a guest. At the same time, he received the character of a saving god of any foreigner (guest), who appeared in a strange house and surrendered himself under the protection of local penates (i.e. hearth), the patron god of merchants who came from distant countries and trade in general.

The Slavic Radigost was depicted with the head of a buffalo on his chest.

Svarog

Svarog is the creator god of earth and heaven. Svarog is the source of fire and its master. He creates not with a word, not with magic, unlike Veles, but with his hands, he creates the material world. He gave people the Sun-Ra and fire. Svarog threw a plow and a yoke from heaven to earth to cultivate the land; a battle ax to protect this land from enemies, and a bowl for preparing a sacred drink in it.

Like Rod, Svarog is the creator god, he continued the formation of this world, changing its original state, improving and expanding. However, blacksmithing is Svarog's favorite pastime.

Temples in honor of Svarog were arranged on hills overgrown with trees or shrubs. The center of the hill was cleared to the ground and a fire was made in this place; no additional idols were installed in the temple.

Svyatobor

Svyatobor is the god of the forest. Outwardly, he looks like an aged hero, representing an old man of strong build, with a thick beard and dressed in animal skins.

Svyatobor fiercely guards the forests and mercilessly punishes those who harm them, in some cases even death or eternal imprisonment in the forest in the form of a beast or a tree can become a punishment.

Svyatobor is married to the goddess of hunting Devan.

Temples in honor of Svyatobor were not arranged, their role was played by groves, pine forests and forests, which were recognized as sacred and in which neither deforestation nor hunting was carried out.

Semargl

One of the Svarozhichs was the god of fire - Semargl, who is sometimes mistakenly considered only a heavenly dog, the guardian of seeds for sowing. This (storage of seeds) was constantly engaged in a much smaller deity - Pereplut.

The ancient books of the Slavs tell how Semargl was born. Svarog hit the Alatyr stone with a magic hammer, carved divine sparks from it, which flared up, and the fiery god Semargl became visible in their flame. He sat on a golden-maned horse of a silver suit. Thick smoke became his banner. Where Semargl passed, there was a scorched trail. Such was his strength, but more often he looked quiet and peaceful.

Semargl, God of fire and moon, fire sacrifices, home and hearth, keeps seeds and crops. Can turn into a sacred winged dog.

The name of the God of Fire is not known for certain, most likely, his name is so holy. Still, because this God does not live somewhere in the seventh heaven, but directly among people! They try to say his name out loud less often, replacing it with allegories. The Slavs associate the emergence of people with Fire. According to some legends, the Gods created a Man and a Woman from two sticks, between which a Fire flared up - the very first flame of love. Semargl does not let evil into the world. At night, he stands guard with a fiery sword, and only one day a year does Semargl leave his post, responding to the call of the Bather, who calls him to love games on the day of the Autumn Equinox. And on the day of the Summer Solstice, after 9 months, children are born at Semargl and Bathing - Kostroma and Kupalo.

Stribog

In East Slavic mythology, the god of the wind. He can summon and tame a storm and can transform into his assistant, the mythical bird Stratim. In general, the wind was usually represented in the form of a gray-haired old man living at the end of the world, in a deep forest or on an island in the middle of the sea-ocean.

The temples of Stribog were arranged on the banks of rivers or seas, they are especially often found at the mouths of rivers. The temples in his honor were not enclosed in any way from the surrounding territory and were designated only by an idol made of wood, which was installed facing north. A large stone was also erected in front of the idol, which served as an altar.

Triglav

In ancient Slavic mythology, this is the unity of the three main essences-hypostases of the gods: Svarog (creation), Perun (the law of Rule) and Svyatovit (light)

According to various mythological traditions, different gods were included in Triglav. In Novgorod of the 9th century, the Great Triglav consisted of Svarog, Perun and Sventovit, and earlier (before the Western Slavs moved to the Novgorod lands) - from Svarog, Perun and Veles. In Kyiv, apparently - from Perun, Dazhbog and Stribog.

Small Triglavs were made up of gods, standing lower on the hierarchical ladder.

Horse

Khors (Korsha, Kore, Korsh) - the ancient Russian deity of the sun and the solar disk. It is best known among the southeastern Slavs, where the sun simply reigns over the rest of the world. Khors, in Slavic mythology, the god of the Sun, the keeper of the luminary, the son of Rod, the brother of Veles. Not all the gods of the Slavs and Rus were common. For example, before the Russ came to the banks of the Dnieper, Khors was not known here. Only Prince Vladimir installed his image next to Perun. But he was known among other Aryan peoples: among the Iranians, Persians, Zoroastrians, where they worshiped the god of the rising sun - Horset. This word also had a wider meaning - “radiance”, “brilliance”, as well as “glory”, “greatness”, sometimes “royal dignity” and even “hvarna” - a special mark of the gods, chosenness.

Temples in honor of Khors were arranged on small hills in the middle of meadows or small groves. The idol was made of wood and placed on the eastern slope of the hill. And as an offering, a special pie "horoshul" or "kurnik" was used, which crumbled around the idol. But to a greater extent, dances (round dances) and songs were used to pay tribute to Khors.

Chernobog

God of cold, destruction, death, evil; the god of madness and the embodiment of everything bad and black. It is believed that Chernobog is the prototype of Kashchei the immortal from fairy tales. Kashchei is a cult character of Slavic mythology, whose folklore image is extremely far from the original. Kashchei Chernobogvich was the youngest son of Chernobog, the great Serpent of Darkness. His older brothers - Goryn and Viy - feared and respected Kashchei for his great wisdom and equally great hatred for his father's enemies - the Iry gods. Kashchei owned the deepest and darkest kingdom of Navi - the Koshcheev kingdom,

Chernobog is the ruler of Navi, the god of time, the son of Rod. In Slavic mythology, he is the creator of the world along with Rod and Belbog. Outwardly, he appeared in two forms: in the first, he looked like a hunched, thin old man with a long beard, a silver mustache and a crooked stick in his hands; in the second, he was depicted as a middle-aged man of thin build, dressed in black clothes, but, again, with a silver mustache.

Chernobog is armed with a sword, which he masterfully wields. Although he is able to instantly appear at any point in Navi, he prefers to travel on horseback on a fiery stallion.

After the creation of the world, Chernobog under the patronage went to Nav - the world of the dead, in which he is both a ruler and a prisoner, since, despite all his strength, he is not able to leave its limits. The deity does not release the souls of people who got there for sins from Navi, however, its sphere of influence is not limited to one Navi. Chernobog managed to bypass the restrictions imposed on him and created Koshchei, who is the embodiment of the ruler of Navi in ​​Yavi, while the power of God in another world is much less real, but still allowed him to extend his influence to Yav, and only in the Rule Chernobog never appears.

The temples in honor of Chernobog were made of dark rocks, the wooden idol was completely upholstered with iron, except for the head, on which only the mustache was trimmed with metal.

Yarilo

Yarilo is the god of spring and sunlight. Outwardly, Yarilo looks like a young man with red hair, dressed in white clothes with a flower wreath on his head. This god moves around the world riding a white horse.

Temples in honor of Yarila were arranged on top of hills overgrown with trees. The tops of the hills were cleared of vegetation and an idol was erected in this place, in front of which a large white stone was placed, which sometimes could be located at the foot of the hill. Unlike most other gods, there were no sacrifices in honor of the god of spring. Usually the deity was revered with songs and dances at the temple. At the same time, one of the participants in the action was certainly dressed up as Yarila, after which he became the center of the whole festival. Sometimes they made special figurines in the form of people, they were brought to the temple, and then smashed against a white stone installed there, it is believed that this brings Yarila's blessing, from which the harvest will be greater and sexual energy higher.

A little about the world order of the Slavs

The center of the world for the ancient Slavs was the World Tree (World Tree, World Tree). It is the central axis of the entire universe, including the Earth, and connects the World of people with the World of Gods and the Underworld. Accordingly, the crown of the tree reaches the World of the Gods in heaven - Iriy or Svarga, the roots of the tree go underground and connect the World of the Gods and the World of people with the underworld or the world of the Dead, ruled by Chernobog, Marena and other "dark" Gods. Somewhere in the sky, behind the clouds (heavenly abysses; above the seventh sky), the crown of a sprawling tree forms an island, here is Iriy (Slavic paradise), where not only Gods and human ancestors live, but also the progenitors of all birds and animals. Thus, the Tree of the World was fundamental in the worldview of the Slavs, its main component. At the same time, it is also a staircase, a road through which you can get to any of the worlds. In Slavic folklore, the Tree of the World is called differently. It can be oak, and sycamore, willow, linden, viburnum, cherry, apple tree or pine.

In the views of the ancient Slavs, the World Tree is located on Buyan Island on Alatyr-stone, which is also the center of the universe (the center of the Earth). Judging by some legends, light gods live on its branches, and dark gods live in its roots. The image of this tree has come down to us, both in the form of various fairy tales, legends, epics, incantations, songs, riddles, and in the form of ritual embroidery on clothes, patterns, ceramic decorations, painting dishes, chests, etc. Here is an example of how the Tree of the World is described in one of the Slavic folk tales that existed in Russia and tells about the extraction of a horse by a hero-hero: forehead red sun ... ". This horse is a mythological symbol of the entire universe

Of course, in one post it is not possible to cover all the gods that our ancestors worshiped. Different branches of the Slavs had the same gods called differently, and had their own "local" deities.

Far from all aspects of the pagan worldview of the Eastern Slavs are considered here. This is the topic of a special study (V. A. Rybakov, 1974, pp. 3-30). We touch upon only certain issues of Slavic paganism, the solution of which is directly related to the study of the remains of material culture obtained as a result of archaeological research.

The question of the nature and structure of the pagan sanctuaries of the East Slavic tribes has long been of interest to researchers. Many scientists have tried to imagine what the pre-Christian places of prayer and sacrifice looked like. However, until recently, there was no actual data to cover this issue. Some researchers, paying attention to the pagan temple buildings of the Baltic Slavs, believed that in Russia in the pre-Christian period there were similar religious buildings made of wood. Another group of scientists pointed out that the Russian chronicles do not report anything about the existence of pagan temples in the East Slavic environment, and in the architecture of ancient Russia there are no traces of pre-Christian religious construction. These historians argued that the Eastern Slavs-pagans did not erect places of worship, but performed prayers, rituals and divination "under the barn, under the grove, or near the water."

The situation has seriously changed as a result of archaeological excavations of the last three decades, when materials were obtained that made it possible to restore the appearance of a number of pagan sanctuaries in various areas of East Slavic settlement.

One of the most interesting pagan structures of the Eastern Slavs is the sanctuary of Perun, explored near Novgorod the Great in the Peryn tract (Fig. 18), which is located where the Volkhov flows from the lake. Ilmen (Sedov V.V., 1953a, p. 92-103). The Peryn hill, ringed on the slopes by a pine grove, majestically and picturesquely dominates the northern low-lying and treeless banks of the Ilmen. Obviously, here was not an ordinary, but the central sanctuary of the Slovenes of Novgorod. During pagan festivals, a large number of people could gather on the hill.

The central part of the sanctuary was a horizontal platform raised above the surrounding surface in the form of a regular circle with a diameter of 21 m, surrounded by an annular moat up to 7 m wide and more than 1 m deep. Exactly in the center of the circle, excavations revealed a pit from a pillar with a diameter of 0.6 m. Here stood a wooden statue Perun, which, according to the chronicle, was cut down in 988 and thrown into the Volkhov. In front of the idol was an altar - a circle made of cobblestones.

The ditch surrounding the cult site was not a simple ring in plan, but a rim in the form of a huge flower with eight petals. This shape was given to it by eight arched protrusions, arranged correctly and symmetrically. In each such ledge at the bottom of the moat, during pagan festivities, a ritual fire was kindled, and in one of them, the eastern one, facing the Volkhov, judging by the amount of coals and the calcination of the mainland, an “unquenchable” fire was burning (Plate LXXIII, 9).

In the layout of the sanctuary, one can probably see a geometrized image of one of the flowers dedicated to Perun. It is known that the pagan Slavs loved to dedicate flowering plants to the Thunderer. The ditch surrounding the site with the idol, like burial mounds, had a ritual significance. As for the bonfires fixed in the moat, there is direct evidence from written sources about fire as a sacred accessory of worship to Perun: “To him, like a god, he offers sacrifice and unquenchable fire for an oak tree without ceasing fire” (PSRL, II. p. 207). However, bonfires were an obligatory attribute not only of the sanctuaries dedicated to Perun.

More modest are the sanctuaries found among forests and swamps and outwardly similar to settlements. These places of worship are usually called bog settlements. They are known in many regions of the East Slavic settlement, including in the land of the Smolensk Krivichi (Sedov V.V., 1962c, pp. 57 - 64), in the Pskov region, in the Pripyat Polissya and other places.

The shape of these places of worship is round or oval in plan, the diameters of the sites are from 14 to 30 m. The sites are often even, horizontal, as in Peryn, in other cases they are convex with a slightly raised middle, in still others they have a slight funnel-shaped concavity. They are usually outlined by an annular ditch and a low rampart, sometimes by one ditch, sometimes by two ramparts, between which there is a shallow ditch. The ramparts are insignificant in size, and their tops are usually lower than the surface of the cult sites (Pl. LXXIV, 7). These ramparts could not have military-defensive significance and, obviously, like the ditches, they had a cult character.

Such sanctuaries were built on small natural islands among swamps or at the end of low capes formed by marshy lowlands, and rose above the level of the surrounding area by only 2-5 m. Artificially built sanctuaries are also known. This is, in particular. Krasnogorsk in the Smolensk region. In a trench laid in the eastern part of its site, a pavement measuring 3.5x3 m was found on the mainland, built in one tier of cobblestones and crushed stones that were not fitted to each other. All stones bore traces of fire, the gaps between them were filled with an ash layer, and above lay a thick layer of ash with burnt logs (Lyavdansky A.N., 1926, p. 266-269). Apparently, the pavement was built before the elevation was poured, and a ritual fire was lit on it to consecrate the site of the future sanctuary.

Table LXXIII. Pagan shrines and cult objects
1 - Pskov; 2 - Kvetun, mound 4; 3, 6-8 - Novgorod;
4 - temple in Kyiv (sketch by V.V. Khvoyka); 5 - Kokhany, mound 9; 9 - Peryn sanctuary (reconstruction)
1-3, 5-7 - non-ferrous metal; 8 - tree

Table LXXV. stone idols
1 - Novgorod region; 2 - Slonim; 3 - Pskov region; 4 - Sebezh; 5 - Akulinino, Moscow region.

Table LXXVII. Pagan pendants-amulets
1 - Sarogozhskoe; 2 - Zalakhtove, mound 17; 3, 13 - Settlement, barrows 1985 and 2085; 4 - Isakov, barrow 444; 5 - Rutshshtsy, barrow 75; 6 - Lowland; 7 - Trashkovichi, barrow 15; 8 - Kvetun, barrow 4; 9 - Gnezdovo, Forest group, mound 47; 10 - from the Kostroma burial mounds; 11 - Shchukovshchina, barrow 56; 12 - Kokhany, a find outside the barrows
1-3, 5-12 - non-ferrous metal; 4 - cowrie shell; 13 - fang on a bronze ring

Table LXXVIII. Pagan amulets
1 - Pezhovitsy, barrow 8; 2 - Ushchevitsy, barrow 4; o, 10 - Terpilitsy (5 - barrow 21; 10 - barrow 29); 4 - Kabanskoe, barrow 443; 5 - Kokhany, mound 11; 6 - Big Brembola, mound 1460; 7 - Khreple,
. 3, 29);
mound 5; 5 - Conversation, mound 61; 9 - Zagorye, barrow 7; 11 - Kozhino; 12 - Erovshchina, mound 4 1-12 - non-ferrous metal

In the Smolensk region, cult places of this type date back to the 8th-10th centuries. Apparently, in other places they refer to the same centuries or, more broadly, to the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e.

No excavations have been carried out on these monuments. Therefore, it is still difficult to say whether wooden idols or stone statues stood on such sanctuaries, which were found in the same places where monuments of the described appearance are known.

The topographic position of the East Slavic sanctuaries depends on the features and topography of the area. In low, flat places, they settled on hillocks among swamps. In lands with a strongly indented or hilly-mountainous relief, sanctuaries were built on the tops of elevations, often occupying a dominant position on the ground. However, both of them had a homogeneous structure. They were based on small round or oval-rounded platforms with a horizontal or slightly rising surface, ringed by a moat or rampart.

Sanctuaries on high places are typical, in particular, for Northern Bukovina (Tymoshchuk V.O., 1976, p. 82-91). One of them - in the Rzhavinsky forest - was built on a high hill near the springs. Its flat, rounded platform was 2 h m in diameter and was surrounded by a rampart 1.5 m high and a moat 5-6 m wide. . There was also a second concentric rampart, also with a moat adjoining it. Its diameter is 60 m. At the top of the rampart, ledges for ritual fires were also arranged.

During excavations on the slope of the first shaft, a stone tetrahedral pillar without any images was found. Its height is 2.5 m, the dimensions of the base are 0.9 X 0.6 m, it became thinner upwards. In pagan times, according to B.A. Timoshchuk, the researcher of the monument, a stone pillar stood in the center of a round cult platform, performing the functions of an idol. During the period of the struggle between Christianity and paganism, it was apparently dumped and thrown outside the central platform of the sanctuary.

The sanctuary in the Rzhavinsky forest is located in the center of the nest of Slavic settlements of the 8th-10th centuries. The sanctuary was also located, examined by the same researcher in Gorbov, on the high bank of the river. Rod.

On the top of a high mountain there was also a sanctuary near Kanev on the Dnieper. It occupied a fairly flat area of ​​the rocky mountain Plastunka. In the center of the site, excavations revealed a round pit 1.85 m in diameter and 1.2 m deep. ).

All these sanctuaries served more or less large regions, including several, and
sometimes even several dozen settlements. Apparently, these were tribal cult places. In contrast to the Peryn sanctuary, which served to perform the pagan cult of the Slovenes of Novgorod, the other monuments described here, it must be assumed, were the cult centers of small or primary tribes, as a result of which unions of tribes were formed, known to Russian chronicles. The most important feature of such tribal sanctuaries is their isolated position from settlements. Residents of the surrounding villages gathered at these sanctuaries mainly during major pagan festivals and prayers, or in connection with events important to the tribe. In terms of structure, these sanctuaries differed from one another in particulars. Common elements, obviously due to the unity of the pagan worldview of the Eastern Slavs, were their round shape with an idol or pillar in the center and ritual fires.

In addition to tribal sanctuaries, the Eastern Slavs also had small ones, arranged directly on the settlements and intended for a narrower circle of people. They, apparently, served for everyday prayers, they were attended mainly by residents of the settlements where they were located, and, perhaps, neighboring villages that once spun off from the main ones.

Among these small sanctuaries is Khodosovichskoe, located on the shores of the lake. Holy, in the land of Radimichi (Nuza A. V., Solovieva G. F., 1972, p. 146-153). It was arranged on the outskirts of the settlement of the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e., on the cape of a sand dune, stretched along the edge of the lake. The sanctuary itself dates from the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century. Its central part was made up of a horizontal, circular platform with a diameter of 7 m, ringed with a groove 0.4 m wide. In the center of the platform, a pit from a wooden pillar-idol was opened. In the annular groove, apparently, there was a low palisade, enclosing the area with the idol (Pl. LXXIV, 5). On four sides, at a distance of up to 2 m from the edge of the site, there were crescent-shaped trough-shaped recesses oriented to the cardinal points. During pagan rituals, bonfires burned in them (the western edge of the sanctuary was washed away by the waters of the lake, so only three sickle-shaped pits with fires were recorded by excavations).

The sanctuary, explored in the settlement of the Roman-Borshevsky culture near the village. Lower Vorgol in the basin of the middle Don, also arranged in the cape (Moskalenko A.N., 19666, pp. 203-209). This is a adobe burnt area of ​​a rounded shape with a diameter of 12 m. In its middle was a pit from a wooden idol, and near it was an altar (heavily calcined clay with ash), in which horse bones and iron arrowheads were found. The researcher of the settlement believes that horse meat and arrows were sacrificed to a pagan god. The clay platform was bordered by pits, in which ritual bonfires were lit during prayers and festivities.

In the settlement of the VI-VII centuries. in the tract Gniloy Kut on the outskirts of the city of Gorodok in Podolia, a sanctuary was explored, which consisted of a rectangular platform (2.3 X 1.5 m), lined with small flat stones, and a round fire, arranged in a depression near the eastern edge of the site. Burnt animal bones and fragments of pottery were found among the remains of the fire (Prikhodnyuk O.M., 1975, pp. 98, 99).

To the same type of sanctuaries belongs Kiev, discovered back in 1908 by excavations by V.V. Khvoyka and re-examined in 1937 (Khvoyko V.V., 1913, p. 66; Karger M.K., 1958, p. 105-112). It was located in the middle part of the city of Dovladimirov, on Andreevskaya Hill. The temple was built dry of unhewn stones and formed an irregular rectangle in plan with rounded corners and four ledges on the cardinal points. Its dimensions are about 4.2 X 3.5 m, height - 0.4 m (Plate LXXIII, 4). To the south of this building was a layer of burnt clay, which, according to V.V. Khvoyka, was an altar. Many bones of domestic animals were found near it.

The Kiev sanctuary dates back to the 8th-10th centuries. It is located in the very heart of the princely court, and, perhaps, the Kyiv princes of the 9th and 10th centuries swore before it and made sacrifices to the pagan gods. Oleg, Igor and Svyatoslav. Chronicles report that in 980 Vladimir Svyatoslavich built a new sanctuary outside the territory protected by the city rampart, far from the ancient one: , Dazhbog, and Stribog, and Simargl, y Mokosh ”(PVL, I, p. 56).

Pagan sanctuaries among the Eastern Slavs were widespread. According to the device, they were not the same.

The original sanctuary of the 8th - 9th centuries. investigated in Shumek near Zhitomir (Rusanova I. Ya., 19666, pp. 233 - 237). It was arranged on a spur of the low bank of the river. Rotten, occupying a secluded place, was a shallow flat pit cut into the ground measuring 14X11 m. Traces of pillars and fire were found in it, and stones were found. The pit configuration is complex. The researcher of the monument calls the sanctuary cruciform. B. A. Rybakov saw anthropomorphic outlines in it: “The head, female breasts spread to the sides, the hips and the bottom of the feet are outlined. The most massive pillar falls on the site of the heart of this giant female figure, stretched along the high bank of the river. Bones of a bird and a bull were found in the bonfire. It is possible that we have before us a peculiar form of sacrifice to some significant female deity: Makoshi, Zhiva, and perhaps the goddess of death Baba Yaga (there is a burial ground nearby, and the figure itself is placed with its head to the north, to the kingdom of darkness and death). The spindle whorl found in this peculiar sanctuary also speaks of the female essence of the deity” (Rybakov B.A., 1974, pp. 14, 15).

Wooden cult buildings of the type that are known from the descriptions of Saxo Grammaticus (XII century) among the Baltic Slavs were not found in the region of settlement of the East Slavic tribes. Excavations of recent years in Gross Raden (Schwerin district of the GDR) revealed and investigated the remains of one of the pagan temples of the northwestern Slavs. It was a rectangular structure with dimensions of 12.5X7 m. The walls of the sanctuary were vertically placed logs, which were sheathed with flattened beams on the outside. From above, the bars were decorated in the form of schematically carved images of human heads. Above the entrance to the temple hung a bison skull - a symbol of strength and prosperity (Herrmann /., 1978, S. 19-27).

It turned out that this temple and others similar to it, recorded by excavations in other places of settlement of the Baltic Slavs, have analogies in the religious construction of the Celts. Their origin, obviously, is due to the long-standing contacts of part of the Slavic tribes with the Celts somewhere in the upper reaches of the Vistula or Odra.

There is evidence of pagan prayers of the Slavs in barns, that is, outbuildings associated with agriculture. It is difficult to say how widespread this custom was among the Eastern Slavs.

The sources noted the worship of the Slavs to the mountains and springs, groves and individual plants.

The sacred tree of the pagan Slavs was the oak. The cult of this tree is closely connected with the cult of Perun. Konstantin Porphyrogenitus (X century) describes the sacrifice of Russian merchants at the sacred oak on the island of Khortitsa on the Dnieper. There are also references to the oak as a sacred tree in other written sources relating to the Eastern and Western Slavs.

Twice - from the bottom of the Dnieper, as well as in the lower reaches of the Desna (between Chernigov and Oster) - oak trunks were raised, standing on the banks of these rivers and washed up in antiquity. These trees were undoubtedly objects of cult veneration. Nine and four boar tusks were driven into the trunks of oaks, respectively (with the points outward). Probably, the trees with fangs played the same role as the oak on the island of Khortitsa.

In the northwestern part of the East Slavic territory, cult worship of stones was widespread in the early Middle Ages. The cult of stone in various forms here dates back to an ancient era and is not associated with the Slavic ethnos in its origin. The Slavs, apparently, inherited the cult of stone worship from the aboriginal population.

The monuments of this cult are large stones with pits, with notches - footprints of a person or animal (the so-called tracer stones), known in the Novgorod-Pskov land and on the territory of Belarus (Myaleshko M., 1928, p. 155-182). In some areas, ethnographers recorded the relic preservation of cult worship of these stones; rainwater from pits and depressions on the stones was represented as "holy"; up to the beginning of the 20th century. flowers were placed on these stones or food was brought. In Christian times, Christian emblems began to be carved on cult stones.

Idols-idols were the most important attributes of both tribal and settlement sanctuaries of the Eastern Slavs. The most common wooden statues. This is evidenced by both archeological materials and written sources. “Not the essence of the Bozi, but the tree” (PSRL, I, p. 82), the Christians reproached the pagans. Perun, set by Vladimir Svyatoslavich in Kyiv, was made of wood, and the idol of the main sanctuary of the Novgorod Slovenes in Peryn was also made of wood.

The wooden idols of the Eastern Slavs, judging by the descriptions, are pillars, on top of which a human head was depicted. They have not reached us, so their appearance cannot be fully recreated. Perhaps some idea of ​​them is given by wooden sculptural finds from Novgorod excavations (Kolchin B.A., 1971, pp. 41-44). First of all, these are sticks with pommel carved in the shape of a man's head. Obviously, they are associated with pagan beliefs, since they had no utilitarian significance. Apparently, these are idols - figurines of "brownies", patrons of the family or protectors from evil spirits. One of them is shown in Table. LXXIII, 8. Before us is the figure of an old man, on whose somewhat flattened face the eyes, nose, and beard are depicted. A hat is put on the head.

Miniature wooden cult figurines were repeatedly found in the West Slavic lands (Herrmann /., 1971, S. 210, 211, Bild 58-60; Hensel W., 1978, s. 13-15). Among them, one, originating from Volin, had a four-faced image of the head, the rest are in general similar to the Novgorod wooden sculptures.

In different places of the East Slavic territory, stone idols were found, indicating that images of deities made of stone were also widespread among the pagan Slavs. The so-called Novgorod idol, discovered in 1893 during the clearing of the Sheksna and the Belozersky Canal, was carved from granite (Pl. LXXV, 1). Its height is 0.75 m. Eyes, mouth and chin are made in primitive relief. The head is crowned with a hat (Porfiridov N. G., 1930, p. 31-33).

The Sebezh idol (pl. LXXV, 4) was found in a swamp; This is the tanith head of a man in a hat with a round crown and straight brim. The idol's face is isolated from the rest of the stone mass - two eyes are carved into vice lye, a slightly protruding nose is conveyed by two longitudinal lines, the mouth is carved in the form of a horizontal line. The height of the idol is 0.67 m (F. D. Gurevich, 1954, p. 176-179).

An idol found in a stream near the river. Pskov, is a rather roughly carved granite figure of a man 0.7 m high (Pl. LXXV, 3).

The Akulinin statue (pl. LXXV, 5), discovered in the land of the Vyatichi people - near the villages of Akulinino and Dolmatovo in the Podolsky district, is a bust figure without a hat. Here the face and chin are volumetrically highlighted. The eyes, nose, and mouth are only indicated by incised lines.

The Slonim idol, in contrast to the Akulinin idol, has a relief depicted face, with a well-pronounced nose, lips and chin (Pl. LXXV, 2). The height of the image is 46 cm. Like Akulininskiy, it was made of limestone (Stabrnwski 1939, pp. 24-26).

Stone idols (pl. LXXIV, 2) were also found in other places of the East Slavic territory (Shtykhov G., V., 1964, pp. 66, 67; Nikitina V. B., 1971, pp. 317, 318).

In the southern Russian lands, where Slavic culture was influenced by ancient civilizations, more complex pagan idols are known. So, at s. Yarovka, Chernivtsi region, a two-faced stone idol was discovered at an ancient Russian settlement (Pl. LXXIV, 6). This is a pillar 1.7 m high. By means of rough upholstery, two flat faces turned in opposite directions are schematically depicted on it. The contours of the faces, eyes, nose and mouth are marked with pits. One apparently male head is depicted wearing a pointed headdress; the face of the other, obviously, belongs to a woman on whose head there is no hat (Tymoshchuk B.O., 1976, pp. 91, 92, fig. 45).

The most remarkable monument of Slavic paganism is the Zbruch idol, found at the foot of a hill in Zbruch, a tributary of the Dniester, near Gusyatin, and now located in the Krakow Archaeological Museum (Fig. 19; Table LXXVI). Conventionally, this idol is called Svyatovit, and dozens of scientific studies are devoted to it (Sreznevsky I.I., 1853, pp. 163-183; Gurevich F.D., 1941, pp. 279-287; Beranova M., 1955, s. 804 -808; Rosen-Przeworska /., 1963, pp. 111-118).

The statue is a tall (2.7 m) tetrahedral pillar, on each of the four sides of which there are a series of images. The manner of images is flat and schematic. Only the main contours are transferred. Details may have been painted. Traces of paint were found in the hollows of the limestone pillar.

The general cosmogonic meaning of the Zbruch idol and images on each of its four faces was deciphered and interpreted by B. A. Rybakov (Rybakov B. A., 19536, p. 75-79).

The three horizontal tiers of images of the Zbruch statue symbolize the widespread division of the universe into heaven - the world of the gods, the earth inhabited by people, and the underworld (the underworld), the mysterious inhabitants of which hold the earth on themselves.

Above, on each of the four sides of the pillar, are depicted full-length figures of four deities crowned with one common cap. On the main front side there is a female deity with a turkish horn-rhyton in her right hand. This is the goddess of fertility with a cornucopia. On the left side of her is a male figure of a warrior god with a saber at his belt and a horse below. Most likely it is Perun. On the right side of the main goddess is placed another female deity with some kind of ring in her right hand. On the back side there is an image of a male deity without attributes. These figures have strict poses, as if talking about their unearthly origin.

Alternating figures of men and women are placed in the middle belt. This is a land with a round dance of people holding hands.

The lower tier - three figures of mustachioed men. These are the underground gods supporting the globe above them.

The Zbruch idol sheds light on the pagan ideas of the Slavs about the three-tier structure of the world. This idea was formed in ancient times and was common among different peoples. The single cap of the four heavenly deities, perhaps, reflects the idea of ​​a single supreme god.

During archaeological excavations of mounds and settlements of the Eastern Slavs, metal images of pagan deities were found. The discovery of a bronze idol in the Black Grave barrow is discussed below.

A small lead fugure of a man standing on a high pedestal was found in Novgorod (Pl. LXXIII, 3). This is a man with a big mustache, in a long shirt, with his hands resting on his sides. Judging by all signs, this metal figurine depicts the Slavic Thunderer Perun (Artsikhovsky A.V., 1956, pp. 35, 36).

In all likelihood, the image of Perun is another figurine - a metal pendant found in the Novgorod cultural layer of the 12th century. (Yanin V. L., Kolchin B. A., Khoroshev A. S., 1976, p. 49). The figurine is flat cast, with an image only on the front side. A man with a beard is depicted, his arms are bent and rest on his sides. He is dressed in a long shirt with folds, and on his head is a cap that turns into an eyelet for hanging (Pl. LXXIII, b).

Similar metal miniature cult figurines depicting male gods in a akimbo position are also known in the West Slavic territory (Niederle L., 1913, s. 419; obr. 34; Vana Z., 1977, obr. 95). In vain, P. M. Aleshkovsky believes that the amulet described here was brought to Novgorod by a pagan from the Kama region (Aleshkovsky P. M., 1980, p. 284-287). Rather, on the contrary, similar images found in the Kama region are of Novgorod origin. It is from the XII century. in the settlements of the Perm-Kama region, objects of ancient Russian origin appear, indicating the penetration of the Novgorodians into the expanses of the North.

A similar image of a man, but with his hands raised up, is on a small plaque found in Pskov (pl. LXXIII, 1). The legs of the man, slightly bent, as if dancing, are reminiscent of the silver figurines of the Martynovsky treasure.

An idol was also a bronze figurine of a man with arms spread apart and legs bent, found in a mound near the village. Sarogozhskoye in the Vesyegonsk district (Catalogue, 1907, p. 60). He is depicted in short clothes, intercepted by a belt, and in a small but rather high hat. Facial features are unclear (Pl. LXXIV, 3).

A very close bronze pendant-idol (Pl. LXIV, 4) - a male figurine akimbo with a brace haircut and a knee-length shirt - was found on the banks of the Volga in Zubtsovo (Rikman E.A., 1951, p. 73).

A small bronze idol was found in the grave of a prince in the Chernihiv barrow Chernaya Mohyla (10th century). Its poor state of preservation makes it impossible to describe the details. Apparently, the deity is depicted sitting and holding something in his hand, maybe a horn (Rybakov B.A., 1949a, p. 43, fig. 17). The figure is quite voluminous, with the correct proportions of the body.

The listed finds so far exhaust the East Slavic images of pagan gods. Russian village in the XI-XII centuries. was still largely pagan. However, many figurines found in mounds and settlements of that time cannot always be confidently associated with the image of deities.

Among the mound materials, there are numerous decorations due to pagan symbols and mythology. Of particular interest are pendants-amulets. They are associated with spell magic. In separate burials, whole sets of amulets were found, suspended on chains from a common base.

In one of the burial mounds near the village of Kvetun near Trubchevsk (Padin V.A., 1958, pp. 221, 222), a set of amulets consisted of seven twisted wire links and two wire chains of eight-shaped links, to which a bronze spoon, pendant - a sickle, a bone duck, a bronze wide-middle unsoldered ring with a circle ornament, and a miniature comb with heads in the form of skates (Pl. LXXIII, 2). The handle of the spoon is molded in the form of a human figure in a cloak or cape, the folds of which are visible on the torso and legs. The right leg is longer than the left, giving the impression of a walking person. There is a loop on the head for hanging (Pl. LXXVII, 8).

A set of amulets from the Sarogozh barrows (N. I. Repnikov, 1904, p. J7, 18) was worn on a 65 cm long chain worn around the neck. A spoon, a horse, a bell, a boar's tusk (Plate LXXVII, 1), as well as amber and bone hand-held pendants, a cross and a bone kopoushka were suspended from the chain.

Usually, amulets were hung on short or long chains worn on the chest. Such a chain was found in one of the Trashkovichi mounds (Bulychov N.I., 18996, pp. 60, 61). A plate horse is hung on a ring to it, a wire ring is threaded into its front leg, and the same ring into its back leg with two pendants - animal fangs and a third - a bone plate (Pl. LXXVII, 7). The same type includes a chain of two rows of intertwined links with a lamellar ridge-pendant and bells (Pl. LXXVII, 12), originating from the Kokhanovsky barrows (Bulychov N.I., 18996, p. 79). Often, a set of pendants-amulets were attached to special openwork plaques-chain holders with the help of chains (Pl. LXXVII, 6; LXXVIII, 5). Among the amulets there are spoons, keys, saws and openwork lamellar ducks.

Significantly more often, pendants-amulets are found in barrow burials not in sets, but individually. These are the same spoons, keys, bells, combs, fangs or jaws of animals, hatchets and various zoomorphic pendants.

The spoon is a symbol of satiety, prosperity and contentment. The pendant-key (Table LXXVII, 11) is a symbol of wealth and safety. Amulets-fangs (Plate LXXVII, 13) and claws of predators served "to scare away evil." The jaws of predators among the amulets most likely had an apotropaic meaning. The bells in the sets of pendants-amulets, at the slightest movement, began to oscillate and made a ringing, which, obviously, had some kind of magical meaning. Sometimes they were hung on rings individually (Plate LXXVIII, 9). Apparently, pendants made of cowrie shells were also amulets (Pl. LXXVII, 4).

In Slavic paganism, the ax was a symbol of Perun. Even in the X-XII centuries. The image of Perun among the pagan Slavs was associated with a fiery ax flying across the sky (Darkevich V.P., 1961, p. 91-102). In ancient Russian mounds there are miniature axes placed buried for superstitious ritual purposes. Hatchet amulets are also known (Table LXXVII, 3, 5), however, they are quite rare in Slavic barrows. Perhaps this is due to the special significance of such symbolic images.

Pendants in the form of swords are also very rare. One of them was found in mound 47 of the Forest group of the Gnezdovsky burial ground (Avdusin D.A., 1952a, p. 98). The pendant is made of iron, has a straight crosshair and a triangular knob with a hole, a small ring is inserted for hanging.

Lunnitsa pendants associated with the cult of the moon were very common. “If you are guided by mythology, then they should be considered an accessory of a girl’s attire, since Selena, the goddess of the moon, was the patroness of girls” (Rybakov V.A., 1971, p. 17).

Since ancient times, in the pagan worldview, the image of a woman expecting the birth of a child was intertwined with the image of a grain growing in the earth. Pendants in the form of a young sprout-krin (Plate LXXIII, 5), found in burial mounds and included in some ancient Russian treasures of the pre-Mongolian period, symbolized the birthing vitality of women.

On the outskirts of the Slavic territory, where the Slavs were in direct contact with the Finno-Ugric population, needle-hinged pendants are found in barrow burials (Pl. LXXVII, 10). They can also be attributed to cult items, since some of the needle cases have pagan noisy pendants.

A fairly large group of amulets of the Eastern Slavs is formed by zoomorphic pendants. These are flat images of birds and animals, obviously possessing cult life-giving properties.

Among the zoomorphic pendants, amulets called skates are often found (Pl. LXXVIII, 3, 4). The horse was a symbol of goodness and happiness and was associated with the cult of the Sun. Maybe that's why many ridge pendants have solar signs - a circle ornament. However, B. A. Rybakov, noting the clearly non-horse depiction of the ears and front legs of these stylized animals, believes that they depicted a lynx, “or, as it was called allegorically in ancient Russia, a “fierce beast”” (Rybakov B. A. , 1971, pp. 21, 23).

Ridge amulets also include pendants with heavier images (Plate LXXVIII, 2, 10). They are ornamented, sometimes a bridle descends from the head.

Duck pendants (Table LXXVIII, 5, 6) are characterized by image accuracy. The general silhouette of the bird is clearly captured. Duck tails and slits are decorated differently.

Pendants in the form of a fantastic beast are widely represented (Pl. LXXVIII, 1, 8). He has a wide convex chest. On a slightly elongated neck, a head is raised, crowned with lunar ears. The image combined the features of an animal with the features of a bird. In some cases, the legs are spread apart, and one can guess that a four-legged animal is depicted, sometimes it is an animal with a bird's body.

There are also pendants in the form of dogs (Plate LXXVIII, 11), hares, falcons, deer (Plate LXXVIII, 12). A fish pendant comes from the Khreplevsky mounds on the upper Luga (Plate LXXVIII, 7).

All these pendants in the form of animals, birds and fish are flat and many of them are slotted. Ornamented, as a rule, one side. All pendants have an eyelet for hanging. They were usually worn on the chest with laces, less often on chains.

From the Finno-Ugric world to the Slavs of the northern strip of Eastern Europe came hollow duck pendants with a relief zigzag ornament. They were usually hung with houndstooth or bell-shaped pendants.

Pagan symbolism is widely represented not only in village burial mounds, but also on objects of artistic crafts originating from the cities of ancient Russia - bracelets, kolts, monists and diadems (Rybakov B. A., 1967, pp. 91-116; 1971).

From written sources it is known that the Eastern Slavic pagans sacrificed animals, grain, various clothing gifts to idols, and human sacrifices were also performed (PSRL, I, p. 82). Near the images of pagan deities, fortune-telling, ritual lots took place, the pagans swore "according to Russian law ... with their weapons and Perun the god and the Hair of the cattle god" (PSRL, I, p. 32).

The most important component of the Slavic pagan cult were festivities and ritual feasts. Traces of one of the cult feasts - bratchina - is the above-mentioned offering of wooden ladles and pieces of wax, recorded by excavations in Novgorod in the layers of the first half of the 10th century. (Sedov V.V., 1956, p. 138-141). Festivities and feasts were accompanied by cult, according to the chronicler - "demonic", dances and chants (PSRL, I, p. 14) to the playing of lutes, harp or pipes. In Novgorod, a leather mask was found (Fig. 20), which was worn on the face during such "games". Arab historian of the ninth century. Ibn Ruste testifies that both stringed and wind instruments were known to the Eastern Slavs (Novoseltsev A.P., 1965,
With. 388). Some of them have been studied by archaeologists based on materials from excavations of ancient Russian cities (Kolchin B.A., 1978, pp. 358-366).

In the second half of the first millennium A.D. e. the main deity of the Eastern Slavs was, obviously, Perun - the pan-Slavic god of thunder and lightning. Apparently, a Byzantine author of the 6th century wrote about him. Procopius of Caesarea: “They [Slavs and Antes] believe that God alone, the creator of lightning, is the master of everything” (Procopius of Caesarea, p. 297).

The economic basis of the life of the Slavs - agriculture - left a significant imprint on pagan beliefs. According to the pagan calendar, most ritual festivities reflected a certain cycle of agricultural work. Agricultural products were staples in pagan sacrifices. The sun deities Dazhdbog and Khore were apparently associated with the agrarian cult. Veles - a cattle god and, perhaps, a god of wealth, judging by ethnographic information, was also related to rituals associated with harvesting (Bestuzhev-Ryumin K., 1872, p. 15). Stribog, the god of the wind, also played a certain role in the agricultural cult.

The sources also name other, lower deities of the Eastern Slavs - Rod and women in childbirth, coasts and ghouls (Galkovsky N. M., 1913, p. 150-186). The teachings against paganism say that Rod was the main object of worship of the pagans. Some researchers believed that it was the supreme deity of the Slavs. If so, then the dominant role of the Genus, whose name is associated with the concept of kinship, refers to ancient times. In the second half of the first millennium A.D. e. it was probably a household deity, perhaps a deity of family communities. In the annals of the name of the god Rod is not. Women in labor are also terminologically connected with the concept of kinship, but we cannot say anything concrete about their essence. Beregyns - deities associated with waters and trees; ghouls, judging by later sources, are identical to vampires.

It is difficult to say whether the Eastern Slavs had priests or cult rituals were performed by princes, tribal and tribal elders. Most likely, priestly functions were performed by princes. The etymology of the Slavic word prince (Fasmer M., 1967, p. 266) indicates that initially princely power combined the functions of a military leader and a priest. In the princely mound Chernaya Mogila (Rybakov B.A., 1949a, pp. 43-46), along with other things, objects of cult purpose were found (the bronze idol mentioned above, a sacrificial knife, dice, possibly used for ritual divination). In the Slavic area, priestly knives with volute-shaped handles were found (Pl. LXXIV, 1; Minasyan R. S., 19786). Thus, it can be assumed that even in the X century. princes performed priestly functions. However, it would be premature to generalize this conclusion based on a single example.

Paganism was a determining factor in the ideology of the Slavs. All other manifestations of spiritual culture, as well as elements of material culture and art dependent on it, were largely determined by the pagan worldview.

On this day:

• Birthdays
• 1884 Was born Pavel Sergeevich Rykov- Soviet archaeologist, historian, museum worker and local historian, researcher of the Armeyevsky burial ground.
• 1915 Was born Igor Kirillovich Sveshnikov- Ukrainian archaeologist, doctor of historical sciences, known for archaeological excavations at the site of the Battle of Berestets.
• 1934

Slavic idols were an indispensable attribute of the priestly religious rites of ancient Russia. The idol was not considered a mere image of the god, but was the home of his spirit. There are references that the Slavs worshiped idols outside the temples. Nestor himself, the author of The Tale of Bygone Years, without mentioning anything about temples, speaks of the hills on which the idols stood.

He writes about Vladimir: "and Volodymyr began to reign in Kiev alone, and the posture of the idol on the hill outside the courtyard of the wooden perun, and his head was silver, and the mustache was gold, and the kharsa was a dazhdbog, and a stribog, and a simargl, and mokosh. And Dobrynya came Novgorod the posture of an idol over the river Volkhov. Generally speaking, the Slavs had many idols that the fields and cities were full of them.

Archaeological excavations give an idea of ​​how the ancient Russian sanctuary on the hill looked like. At the top of the hill there was a temple - a place where a drop stood - a sculptural image of a deity. Around the temple there was an earthen rampart, 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 tremble - there they "consumed", that is, ate, sacrificial food. At ritual feasts, people, as it were, became companions of the gods. The feast for the deceased could take place both in the open air and in special specially erected buildings standing on the same ruin - mansions (temples), originally intended exclusively for ritual feasts.

Idols were of different sizes - small and large. Most of them were carved from wood, they were painted or silvered and gilded, others were of pure metal, copper, silver, gold and expensive stones, and were made so skillfully that they amazed educated contemporaries. Some of the idols had a fantastic image, were presented with two, three or more heads or several faces.

Slavic idols were dressed in clothes, partly carved from wood or cast from metal, partly sewn from fabric, and were almost always armed. Weapons and other such things were arranged around them. The gods were mostly depicted as standing.

Almost all known stone Slavic idols that have survived to this day were found on the Black Sea coast and in the Dnieper region. They depict a bearded god with a sword at his belt, a horn in his right hand and a hryvnia (necklace) around his neck. Scientists believe that these idols were created in the VI - V centuries. BC e. Proto-Slavs - farmers who then conducted an extensive trade in bread with Greek cities.

Stone and wooden figures of gods are found in Slavic settlements. The so-called Novgorod idol, discovered in 1893 when clearing the channel of the sheksna and the Belozersky canal, was carved from granite. Its height is 0.75 meters. Eyes, mouth and chin are made in primitive relief. The head of the idol is crowned with a cap.
Around 980, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kyiv placed huge idols of pagan deities in his capital. Among them, the wooden idol of Perun was especially luxuriously decorated: he had a silver head and a golden mustache. The wooden idols of the Eastern Slavs, judging by the descriptions, are pillars, in the upper part of which human heads were carved. An idea of ​​them is given by wooden sculptural Finds from the Novgorod excavations. These are sticks with pommel carved in the shape of a man's head. Apparently, these are figurines of "Domovoi" - patrons of the family and protectors from evil spirits.

The finds of monumental wooden sculpture at the Fischerinsel settlement of the 11th - 12th centuries (Lake Tollense, Neu - Brandenburg, Germany) can partly characterize the West Slavic (Lusatian) pantheon: a two-headed deity (1.78 meters high) with the image of eyes on the chest correlates with the twin characters of the Slavic folklore, notions of duality, etc.; another sculpture (1.57 meters) is female, without characteristic symbolic attributes. Both statues were made of oak. Anthropomorphic structures were used in the construction of the excavated sanctuary in Gros Raden (9th century, Mecklenburg, Germany), in particular, as the two main supports of the roof.

The most remarkable monument of Slavic paganism is the four-headed Zbruch idol (dated from the 10th-11th centuries), found in 1848 on the Zbruch River, a tributary of the Dniester, and now located in the Krakow Archaeological Museum. The presumed place of its original location is on the settlement-"sanctuary" of the gods (near the city of Gusyatin, Ternopil region. Most of the Finds on the cape where the sanctuary was located are interpreted by archaeologists as the remains of human sacrifices.

The statue is a high tetrahedral pillar 3 meters high, on each side of which there are a series of images. Three horizontal tiers of images symbolize the division of the universe into heaven - the world of the gods, the earth inhabited by people, and the underworld (the underworld), the mysterious inhabitants of which hold the earth on themselves. At the top, on each side of a pillar crowned with one common cap, full-length figures of four deities are carved. On the main (front) side is placed the goddess of fertility with a tury horn in her right hand, symbolizing the cornucopia. To the left of it is a male figure of a god in the form of an equestrian warrior with a saber at his belt. Most likely, it is perun. To the right of the main goddess is placed another female deity with a ring in her right hand. On the back is an image of a male deity. In the middle tier, the figures of men and women alternate - this is the earth and a round dance of people holding hands. In the lower tier there are three figures of mustachioed men. These are the underground gods who support the earth above them.

Analogies to the Zbruch idol are known in small sculpture in almost all Slavic regions: a tetrahedral wooden rod with four faces (end of the 9th century) was also found in Volin (Pomerania, Poland), a horn point topped with four heads was found in Preslav (Bulgaria), etc. .

A characteristic feature of the higher gods of the pagan pantheon - many heads - allows us to compare the Zbruch idol and its analogues with the Baltic-Slavic four-headed sventovite; the phallic form is typical for figures - embodiments of the connection between earth and sky; four faces are associated with the four cardinal points, three friezes of the Zbruch idol - with the division of the universe into heaven, earth and the underworld.

During the period of Christianization, state and church authorities first of all destroyed the images of the gods and the sanctuary. The destruction took the form of desecration of false (demonic) shrines: the overthrow of Perun and other idols in Kyiv (988), the dragging of the statue of Perun, tied to the tail of a horse, from the hill are described, and 12 husbands beat her with "Wands"; Perun, thrown into the Dnieper, was escorted to the thresholds - outside the Russian land ("The Tale of Bygone Years." In a similar way, a statue of Perun in Novgorod was cut down and thrown into the Volkhov. By order of the Danish king, a Slavic idol of Sventovit was thrown a rope around his neck, dragged through the middle of the army in front of the Slavs and they broke it into pieces and threw it into the fire.

Very few idols have survived to this day. This fact is explained not so much by the persecution of paganism, but by the fact that the majority of Slavic idols were wooden. The use of wood, not stone, for the images of 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 both the tree and the deity.

All other so-called. “Russian pagans” or “neopagans” are nothing more than charlatans or simply outright sectarians who pulled knowledge and gods from a pine forest for their “religions”. The fact that they celebrated Easter means nothing. There is nothing similar to Orthodoxy. That's just the fact that they celebrated Easter for the sake of appearance, while worshiping their gods, and is called "external Orthodoxy." They believe that they support the real traditions of Russia, but in fact they will come up with something that they like. Because all the official churches are for non-resistance to evil by violence.

Paganism is a term denoting forms of religions of polytheism that preceded theism. It is believed that it comes from fame. "tongues" are non-Christian "peoples" hostile to Orthodoxy. Paganism - (from the Church Slavonic languages ​​peoples, foreigners), the designation of non-Christian religions, in a broad sense, polytheistic.

However, any action of a pagan should also be based on his personal spiritual experience, while not entering into an imbalance with World Harmony. It is worth noting that paganism in Russia today is not some kind of cult, but a unique and all-encompassing philosophy, which continues to be a national phenomenon. This difference is especially pronounced when comparing the program principles that pagans profess in large cities, as well as pagans in rural pagan associations.

Ardent animal rights activists, they all put animals above humans and do not allow them to be killed just because, in their opinion, it is “wrong”. This is nothing but animal worship.

After the removal of the ban on religiosity, people got the opportunity to believe in anything or not to believe at all. Someone discovered Orthodoxy, someone - other religious confessions and cults, but many decided to start looking for pre-Christian beliefs. If Rodnoverie is a subculture built on pagan beliefs, then in addition to it there is still a huge number of pagans who do not belong to Rodnovery. I have already spoken above about astrology and various superstitions, which are also a manifestation of paganism. In Christianity, as in Islam and Buddhism, in order to change your future, you must change yourself, but in paganism it is different. In this regard, a huge number of Christians do not really understand what Christianity is, and treat it as paganism.

Orthodoxy is not necessary and it is not possible to invent. Even non-church people imagine what exactly Christianity evaluates as sin. And in response they say (through the mouth of a certain singer) - “It’s so hard for me! And here you can’t imagine anything better than the “ancient Rus”. This is our gospel too!” Yes, there was duality.

Some Rodnovers call themselves "Orthodox". In their opinion, the concept of “Orthodoxy” arose from the “Vles-Knigovoi triad: Yavo, Pravo, Navo” and the phrase “Right to praise”.

They say you can go back to pre-Christian times, because Russia is there too. But is Orthodox Christianity really a religion of slavery, a religion of non-resistance to evil by force? This view of Christianity is completely wrong. Christianity is better than paganism, not because it created such an Empire, and not because we have become accustomed to it for a thousand years. Only Christianity explains the meaning of human life and the meaning of history.

It turns out that the pagan Germans, like the pagan Slavs, have the same source of power. This is the realm of death. Everything else is dead and alien. The rest is an alien world, as I wrote above - the world of the dead. And if paganism is established in the present, then the entire Christian heritage must be destroyed. Otherwise, the triumph of paganism is impossible, for it and Christianity are opposites. But do not think that Christianity is only temples, clergy, culture, in general - all sorts of "heritage".

There will be no place for Orthodox Christianity in this new society. It won't because the reality they are building has nothing to do with historical Russia. And in general, according to the same Mr. Brzezinski, we are a “black hole”. Hence the inevitability of civilizational conflicts. Perhaps some of us believe that states at the turn of the 21st century are guided by the norms of international law and sacredly observe the rights of all, even the smallest peoples? All Russian history testifies that this faith is Orthodox Christianity.

They are very fond of calling themselves patriots and stigmatizing the enemies of "Light Russia", by which they primarily mean Christians. Since ancient times, Russian people have perceived their Fatherland and their statehood as a God-given vessel, which is called upon to preserve the Orthodox faith until the Second Coming of Christ. In the West, Christianity was first corrupted into Catholicism and Protestantism. And what about the new pagans?

Gods of Slavic paganism. Gods as the basis of Slavic mythology

The basis of the mythology of the Slavs is the Slavic gods, amazing creatures that our ancestors worshiped for centuries, offered gifts, sang laudatory songs. It is difficult to talk about whether there were real people behind the images of the gods, and this question is quite controversial. Perhaps in a few centuries the secret of the origin of the gods will be revealed, but now we will talk about the pantheon of the Slavic gods in a slightly different context - their symbols, essence and ideas that were invested by our ancestors in each bright and peculiar image.

This section is dedicated to all the gods who occupied a certain place in the life and life of our ancestors. The gods that were worshiped, feared, praised and revered. If we turn to the results of studies of chronicles and archaeological excavations, then on the territory of Ancient Russia in different time periods the gods of Slavic mythology changed their meanings somewhat - Light (Yasuni) and Dark (Dasuni) in different parts of Russia were somewhat different. The reason for this was internecine wars, and attacks by external enemies, and a rethinking of the nature of things, and inevitable progress. But at the same time, the list of Slavic gods and the scheme of Slavic gods remained practically unchanged - Rod was the supreme god (although there are references to Perun as the world ruler), Lada is one of the incarnations of the Family, which combines vitality, loyalty and love. It is worth saying that the list of gods of Slavic mythology at different times varied somewhat and changed its composition, so it is impossible to unequivocally say who was on this list. It is impossible to say with absolute certainty that the data on the gods given on our website have real documentary evidence - we have collected maximum information not only from open sources, but from highly specialized scientific works, so we hope that these data will appeal to connoisseurs of the commandments of the Slavic gods and to all who are interested.

Slavic amulets. How to choose the right Slavic amulet

Slavic amulets and their meanings are a whole section of history, despite their simplicity and clarity at first glance. Everyone who decides to buy a Slavic amulet should know that it only benefits if it is charged on time and according to all the rules. In ancient times, this mission was undertaken by the Magi, who specialized in concentrating energy in the amulet. Today it is almost impossible to meet them, but this is not a reason to be upset - the amulet can be charged on its own if you follow a simple set of actions. You should not think that the process of loading the amulet resembles some kind of satanic actions with obligatory sacrifices, in most cases the forces of nature are used, unity with which for the Slavs has always been the most important magical ritual. In order for Slavic amulets to work to protect their owner, it is important to choose them correctly. Below are the main tips for choosing and using Slavic symbols in everyday life:

Periodization of Slavic paganism

In most studies, Russian paganism appears to us as a cumbersome, but unified whole, divided into two topics only by the nature of the information about it. The first theme is connected with the annals and church teachings of the 10th-13th centuries, which speak of the overthrow of the pagan gods and condemn the continued veneration of them. The second theme arose as a result of the contact of science with the ethnographic, everyday remnants of paganism in the Russian village of the 18th - 19th centuries. The problem of the evolution of the pagan worldview over the millennia that preceded the adoption of Christianity was almost never raised. There was only a weathering, a weakening of paganism, turning into "dual faith".

Meanwhile, already the ancient Russian scribes of the 11th-12th centuries, who wrote about the paganism that surrounded them, tried to look into the history of Slavic beliefs and show their various stages in ancient times. In Russian sources of the times of Kievan Rus, the question of periodization of paganism was raised three times.

The first reasoning, anticipating the retelling of the Bible, but created independently and even contradicting it, we find in the so-called "speech of the Greek missionary philosopher who came to Kyiv in order to persuade Prince Vladimir to be baptized" . The Philosopher's Speech, known to us from The Tale of Bygone Years (under 986), was written in the form of a dialogue between a prince and a preacher; the philosopher succinctly and businesslike outlined the old and new testament and the basic principles of Christianity. According to him, people fell into paganism after the destruction of the Tower of Babel by the god. The first stage of the views is the cult of nature: "According to the devil, he taught us to grow, storehouses and rivers of zhpyakhy and not to feed our god."

The second stage is connected with the making of idols and human sacrifices, which was done by the father and grandfather of the biblical Abraham.

Another periodization, made according to Byzantine models, is given in the Ipatiev Chronicle under 1114 and belongs to the chronicler Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, who visited Ladoga during the construction of a new fortress wall there.

An insignificant episode served as a pretext for including two most interesting messages about paganism into the chronicle: the chronicler collected at the Ladoga settlement, where at that time they were digging holes for the foundations of new walls, a whole collection of hundreds of "checked glass eyes". These were, obviously, well-known to us from the excavations in Ladoga multi-colored beads of the 10th century. with bulging eyes, abundantly presented in museum collections. Local residents told him that their children had found these eyes before, "when the cloud was big" or when the Volkhov water "rinsed" them. It was believed that the eyes fell out of the clouds. The chronicler was skeptical about the report of the Ladoga residents about the cloud, and then he was told an even more amazing story that far in the North, in the Samoyed and Yugra regions, there are such clouds that newborn squirrels fall out of them and deer. Introducing all these curiosities into his chronicle and fearing that readers might not believe him, the chronicler referred to all the Ladoga residents, to his archaeological collection, to the authority of the mayor Pavel, and additionally cited several quotations from the Byzantine chronograph about the fall of wheat or silver from the clouds, and even metallurgical pincers. The last case attracted the author, and he wrote out a fantastic genealogy of the ancient king-gods. This genealogy of the gods is important for us because the chronicler provided their names with Slavic parallels. The third king after the Flood was "Feosta (Hephaestus) like and Svapoga called the Egyptians." Svapog is obviously a deity of the sky, since the Indian "svarga" means sky; in Russian sources, the son of Svapog is also known - fire-Svarozhich. In accordance with this fiery-heavenly essence, Svarog endowed people with the ability to forge metal. After Hephaestus-Svapog, his son reigned for two decades "by the name of the Sun, he is also called Dazhbog": In these extracts with comments, we see a kind of attempt to periodize the entire human culture.

Slavic paganism today. The main stages and features of Slavic paganism

Each nation worshiped its own gods. Like the Greeks or Romans, the Slavs also had their own pantheon. Gods and goddesses were present in it very different: good and evil, strong and weak, main and secondary.

A religion in which people worship several gods at the same time is called polytheism or polytheism. The term comes from the combination of two Greek words: "poly" - many and "theos" - god. We began to call such a religion paganism - from the Old Slavonic word "languages", that is, foreign peoples who did not accept Christianity.

In Slavic paganism, there were several magical holidays, and such rituals were carried out strictly according to the schedule. Our ancestors necessarily met and saw off the seasons and agricultural seasons. For example, in December, the Slavs celebrated the arrival of Kolyada, the harsh god of winter. The New Year, which was celebrated on January 1st, was considered the best day for well-being spells for the year ahead.

With the advent of spring, the “solar” holidays began. The sun was symbolized by pancakes baked at Shrovetide, as well as a wheel tarred and lit on a high pole. At the same time, a straw effigy of winter was burned outside the village. After spring, summer came, and its first week was devoted to the patrons of love - Lada and Lelya. These days it was customary to sing cheerful songs and celebrate weddings.

In Slavic paganism, an important place was occupied by the worship of the gods of the elements, as well as those of the deities who patronized a certain type of human activity. City squares were decorated with images of the gods, entire temples were erected, followed by sorcerers, sorcerers and magician priests. Slavic paganism has its own myths about the life and deeds of the gods. The forefathers were especially grateful to the sun god, who taught people blacksmithing and established a set of family rules.

Today, much of Slavic paganism, unfortunately, has been forgotten. That is why modern scientists interpret the religious and mythological ideas of our ancestors in different ways.

If we talk about the periodization of Slavic paganism, then most often there are four main stages in the development of religion:

The cult of ghouls and coastlines

People who lived in the Stone Age endowed all natural phenomena with a spiritual beginning. The spirits that existed around could be disposed towards a person both hostile and benevolent. The most ancient cult is the worship of coastlines. For the Slavs, they were the guardians of life and patrons of the hearth.

But a special place among them was occupied by Bereginya-Earth. Needlewomen on some things depicted the rite of serving this goddess: Beregini's hands are raised, and several solar disks are above her head. In Slavic paganism, the great goddess was also inseparable from other symbols of life - flowers and trees. No wonder the sacred tree of our ancestors is called "birch" - a word similar in sound to the name of the goddess.

The cult of "Rod" and "women"

In Slavic paganism, Makosh and Lada (women in labor) appeared before Rod, back in the days of matriarchy. These goddesses of the fertility cult were responsible for female fertility. But matriarchy was replaced by patriarchy, and Rod, also symbolizing fertility, but already male, stood at the head of the pantheon. The formation of a monotheistic religion, where Rod is the main one, belongs to the VIII - IX centuries.

Cult of Perun

In the tenth century, Kievan Rus was founded, and Perun became the supreme deity of the Slavic pagan pantheon. Initially, it was the god of thunder, lightning and thunder, but after some time, Perun began to be considered the patron of war, warriors and princes. Prince of Kyiv Vladimir Svyatoslavovich in 979–980 ordered to gather various Slavic gods in one place and arrange a temple, in the center of which to install the image of Perun. The supreme deity was surrounded by other gods:

Dazhdbog - the giver of heavenly blessings and the god of light;

Svarog is the father of Dazhdbog, the deity of the upper tier of heaven and the universe;

Khors - the deity of the solar disk;

Makosh - the ancient goddess of the earth;

Simargl - was depicted as a winged dog and was responsible for seeds, roots and sprouts.

Time after the adoption of Christianity

Many Russians, even when they were baptized, continued to worship their gods at the same time. This is the so-called period of dual faith in Slavic paganism. Since the 10th century, Christianity has gradually taken over the pagan culture, and the times of ancient beliefs are coming to an end. But this can only be said in a formal sense. In fact, the ancient cults have not completely disappeared. They have lost their original magical meaning, but still remain in oral folk art, their echoes are present in arts and crafts.

Paganism is an echo of ancient times. It was ubiquitous. The Slavs were no exception. Slavic idols personified the gods. They were considered protectors and guardians of the home. And people became equal to the gods at special meals.

Types of idols

The Slavs made figures of gods from wood. They were sure that the tree would receive the power of a god. And thanks to this, reliable protection of the house from evil spirits will turn out.

Slavic idols could be large and small. As mentioned, most often they were made of wood. But other materials were also used. Granite, metal, copper were popular. Noble Slavs made gold and silver idols.

Appearance

What the idols of the Slavic gods looked like, we see in the photo. Some of them were made with several heads or many faces. Most of them looked normal, resembling a figure with a human face.

The clothes of the gods were carved from wood. Another part consisted of fabric materials and precious stones. Weapons were a must. The figures of the idols were vertical, were in a standing pose.

Where were

Slavic idols (pictured below - one of them) had their own territories. Unlike the Greek gods, who had temples, everything was simpler among the Slavs. The idols were on high hills. There were sanctuaries called temples. Drop is an idol in translation.

The temple had a kind of fence. The sanctuary was surrounded by an earthen rampart. Sacred bonfires blazed at its top. The first shaft was hiding behind the second. The latter was the boundary of the sanctuary. The area between them was called a trebish. Here worshipers of the gods ate. They used sacrificial food, becoming like the gods. The Slavs believed in ritual feasts that helped them become equal to the gods.

The most beautiful idol

Speaking of ancient Slavic idols, it is worth mentioning Perun. He was the most revered god. And shortly before the baptism of Russia, in 980, his idol was in the capital. Luxurious full-length figure carved from wood. Perun's head was silver. And the mustache did not spare gold. This idol was the most luxurious among the rest.

What happened to them?

The indispensable attributes of priests are Slavic idols. Some of them are kept in museums to this day. The rest were destroyed.

When the baptism of Russia took place, they began to get rid of idols. Paganism is recognized as a diabolical religion. And her attributes have no place next to Christians.

The same Perun, which is described above, was solemnly overthrown from his temple. Nothing remains of its former beauty. The god was tied to the horse's tail and beaten with sticks. The horse pulled Perun from the top of the hill. Beaten, having lost the remnants of his beauty, one of the most beautiful Slavic idols was thrown into the Dnieper.

A rope was thrown around the Novgorod Perun's neck. He was dragged between the Slavic army, and then cut into pieces and burned.

Found idols

Among the lucky Slavic idols is Svyatovit. It was found in relative safety. The deity was discovered on the Zbruch River, for which it received the name "Zbruch idol". This event took place in the middle of the XIX century. It was 1848 when this idol was discovered near the town of Gusyatin. On the site of the city there was previously a Slavic settlement. And judging by the huge sanctuary and its findings, human sacrifices were made in front of the idol.

The find was a tall pillar. Its length was about three meters. The pillar itself was tetrahedral. On each side there were numerous images. Three horizontal tiers personified the universe. Heaven, earth and the underworld are depicted on the idol. Four divine figures were carved on each side of the pillar. One of them is the goddess of fertility. In her right hand she held a cornucopia. To the right of the goddess is Perun. At least judging by his looks. An equestrian warrior with a saber on his belt. To the left of the goddess of fertility is another deity. A woman with a ring in her hand. A male figure was carved on the back of the pillar. So the Slavs represented the sky and the main gods of the pantheon.

The middle tier is dedicated to people. Round dance of men and women holding hands tightly. This is the personification of the earth and its inhabitants.

Three male figures are depicted on the lower tier. All of them are mustachioed and strong. Underground gods on whose shoulders the earth rests. They hold her, not allowing her to tilt or fall.

Here is such an idol of Slavic gods (made of wood) was found more than a hundred years ago.

Interesting facts about the religion of the Slavs and idols

The Slavs were not pagans. So called those who renounced their religion and speakers of a foreign language. Our ancestors were considered carriers of their own beliefs. They were Vedic. The word "know" means "to know, to understand".

The most revered god of the Slavs is Perun. He was represented as an old man, very strong and strong. Perun rode across the sky in his chariot. He was the lord of the sky, the thunderer. Perun's main weapons are arrows, lightning and axes.

The old god loved sacrifices. He was content with killed bulls and roosters, as a rule. But in special cases demanded more. To beg for victory over the enemies, human sacrifices were made to Perun. Very young girls and young people. They were pure, and it was precisely such a sacrifice that the bloody god required.

Perun's wife was Mokosh. The only female goddess among the Slavs. Less bloodthirsty than her husband, she was content with honey and life as sacrifices.

Mokosh demanded respect from women. Friday was dedicated to her, when any business was forbidden. On Friday the women refrained from their troubles. Punishment awaited the violator of the charter. An angry goddess could make her spin at night. Or just beat with a spindle.

Conclusion

The Slavs were kind to their deities. This is proved by the idols that have survived to this day.

It is believed that Slavic paganism did not bring evil. It was kind, like Greek or Indian. But it is enough to read about bloody sacrifices to challenge this hypothesis.

Too few Slavic idols have survived to this day. The rest were destroyed. Whether this is good or bad is not for us to judge. Our task was to acquaint the reader with the idols of the ancient Slavs.

In "Bulletin", vol. 9, No. 4, an article "ZBRUCH IDOL AS A MODEL OF THE SLAVIC UNIVERSE" was published Valery Yurkovets. The Academy of DNA Genealogy, Newton, USA

REQUIRED FOREWORD

The enduring relevance of the study of Slavic paganism in order to restore the worldview of our ancestors was recognized by the best representatives of the national historical and philosophical school almost from the beginning of the formation of Russian science. Thus, the idea of ​​Slavic pagan monotheism, which had ideological significance when comparing the pre-Christian tradition of the Slavs with monotheistic religions, was first expressed by Lomonosov (Lomonosov, 1766). As for the Slavic people themselves, they, not having the support of state and religious structures, nevertheless, preserved his Tradition in the richest oral tradition in the world, everyday life, pagan rites and holidays, which turned out to be so strong that they were able to transform Christianity, once alien on our land, into leaving from it, to a large extent, only the outer shell. Exactly Orthodoxy, considered today in its historical development, unexpectedly turns out to be the source of the Slavs, which is especially pronounced in comparison. For every Catholic for example, seeing from the side all the depth pagan abyss, separating Orthodoxy from Catholicism, the first is the most that neither is, paganism. So, absolutely pagan is the tradition of baking cakes for Easter in honor of Yarila(spring Sun), which are phallic symbol, poured on top with symbolic seminal fluid, sprinkled with symbolic seed and overlaid with chicken eggs.

Need to say, the pagan cult of the Sun in Orthodoxy is preserved in almost all of its pagan fullness. All the “ages” of our luminary accepted before Christianity are celebrated - from "baby" Kolyada(newborn on the day of the winter solstice of the Sun) through "guy" Yarilu in the spring(spring equinox) and "husband" Kupala in the summer(summer solstice) until autumn(autumn equinox). These are the well-known "carols" in winter, the Easter symbols inherent only to the Slavs on Krasnaya Gorka in the spring, which are mentioned above, the celebration of Ivan Kupala at the "crown" of summer, when a burning wheel is launched from the mountain - a symbol of the Sun that has declined. Concerning Khorsa then his praise on the autumnal equinox turned out to be in the shadow of one of the most important Christian holidays - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Nevertheless, the memory of this day (and the autumn "age" of the Sun) transformed by Christianity has been preserved in the celebration in Ukraine and Belarus. Day "Grandfathers".

Pagan heritage in Orthodoxy is also wedding ceremony, copying the wedding to the kingdom in the "seed power" (family) of the former boyfriend and maiden, who became "upon conception" the bride and groom. As well as veneration of Perun in the image of Elijah the prophet, Veles-Volos - as St. Blaise, mermaids, carnival and much more.

An amazing connection example paganism and christianity is a saint glorified in Catholicism and Orthodoxy Christopher Peseglavets depicted on icons in the image "Wolf God" Semargl.

Semargl. St. George's Cathedral - 1234, Yuryev Polsky, Vladimir Region

All these holidays, cults of saints, significant dates, which are based on paganism, were included in the Orthodox calendar after unsuccessful attempts by the church to eradicate manifestations of pre-Christian tradition among the people. Attempts, accompanied by efforts aimed at replacing the content of the traditional cult. Somewhere it was possible, as in the case of Khors, somewhere all efforts were in vain, which contributed to preservation in Orthodoxy of invaluable information about the Slavic Custom, at the same time representing the balance achieved over the centuries between paganism, which gave the new religion its name, and Christianity proper.

SLAVIC "THEOLOGY" OF NATURE

Almost all researchers agree that « Slavic paganism is a harmonious system of views, which permeated the life of the traditional Slavic society, solving emerging worldview issues, defining collective priorities and the value and activity attitudes of people's behavior that follow from them.(Osipova, 2000). Consistency, which does not contradict the modern natural-science view of the world, is striking at the first acquaintance with what Orthodoxy preserved in itself from paganism. So, all the age "faces" of the Sun from the "baby" Kolyada to the "grandfather" Horos strictly correspond to astronomical cycle of our luminary, due to the inclination of the axis of rotation of the Earth relative to the plane of the ecliptic - from the winter solstice to the autumn equinox. That's why all solar "gods" of the Slavs we can see with our own eyes, understand their essence and classify them as natural phenomena, including the common epithet Sun - Dazhdbog (Giving). The use of the human dimension (baby-boyfriend-husband-grandfather) to classify the stages of the annual cycle of the Sun is nothing more than an adequate terminological analogy, understandable to everyone. We see the same thing in relation to other "gods" known to us - Thunderer Perun, visibly manifesting itself in a thunderstorm, Stribog - the essence of the wind, Rod - the male "hypostasis" of the Universe, Svarog, responsible for everything that is "cooked" - happened, happened.

Thus, there is no need to “believe in the gods” of the Slavs - slavic gods- this is visible aspects of the world, the environment in which every Slav or Slav lives, that is, they represent the natural conditions of their existence. This, obviously, should be considered a Slavic definition God is a condition, he is the cause. That is why the Abrahamic “methodology”, with the help of which scientists have been trying to reconstruct Slavic paganism for hundreds of years, is initially an unsuitable tool.

In the Slavic pre-Christian Tradition there is not a single "god" "in whom" one must believe, which is the basis of Abrahamism. All the gods of the Slavs are the manifested sides of the world around interconnected, interpenetrating and interdependent. All together representing a single cumulative Vsegod, including and the Slavs themselves, as an obvious part of nature. Because the the Slavs did not separate themselves from nature, that is, from their gods, it turns out that the Slavs were (and are) in this "coordinate system" the same divine side of Vsegod as Perun, for example. Comprehending this world, deepening your knowledge about self and nature, giving new names to discovered phenomena and material objects, deifying them, the Slavs thereby comprehended their “pantheon”, which in essence represents the most ancient natural history, which can be called “deification of nature” to the same extent.

SYMBOLS OF THE ZBRUCH IDOL

The Zbruch idol is a tetrahedral pillar divided vertically into three tiers. The height of the top is 160 centimeters, it is crowned with a headdress, under which are located four faces. The height of the middle tier is 40 centimeters, it depicts four female figures, the height of the lower tier is 67 centimeters, it depicts "Atlant", holding on his hands all this ideological, as will be shown below, construction. One of the top tier figures holds a horn in his right hand, the other - a ring, another depicts a horse and a sword. At the right shoulder of one of the figures of the middle tier depicted as a child. On the reverse side of the "atlas", where there are no elements of the figure, a little to the right of the central axis is depicted solar sign. Drawing. Rice. one.

A. N. Afanasiev wrote about this discovery: “In 1851, an open on Zbruch Svyatovitov idol, rough work, with four faces everything that was dedicated Saint of Arkon, this idol is depicted in the drawing (in outline): on one side, God holds horn in right hand; on the other - hanging sword at the waist, and under it you can see the image horse with an underbelly. Four heads of Svyatovit, probably meant four corners of the world and put in connection with them four Seasons… "(Afanasiev, 1865).

After B. A. Rybakov(Rybakov, 1981), most modern researchers consider the top two figures in Fig. 1 in the center (with a ring and a horn), under the same hat with two others, are female, and the two extreme figures of the middle tier are male, with which we strongly cannot agree. Firstly, the Slavic "pantheon" does not know a single androgynous deity or a hermaphrodite deity, but with the fact that the upper tier is occupied by a single four-faced god, all historians agree; secondly, it is impossible to find any grounds for this in the statue itself.

On fig. 2 shows the front side of the idol, the upper part of which B. A. Rybakov identified as Makosh. Probably, this side of the statue was assigned to a female deity by xenolith (heterogeneity) in limestone, from which the idol was carved, visually creating a certain bulge on the left side of the chest. However, it is quite balanced by a cavity at the same level on the right side, where there is no bulge that could be interpreted as a female breast.

As you know, limestone is a water-soluble sedimentary rock, unlike foreign inclusions that enter it during sedimentation for various reasons. The destruction of limestone by water is greatly enhanced by the presence of carbon dioxide, which, dissolving in water, actively reacts with alkaline earth metals, the compounds of which limestones are composed of. In the river Zbruch, where the idol was found, Most carbon dioxide is found in bottom silt, where it is a product of the vital activity of microorganisms. If you look closely at the four sides of the idol, you will notice that side 4 is more damaged than the others. Therefore, this side the idol was immersed in silt. The figure of the middle tier suffered the most on it, having lost visible signs of the female sex, as well as the legs of the upper figure and the “fur edge” of the headdress. In the photographs of the upper figure of side 4 (Fig. 1), the legs, due to the strongly smoothed surface in the water, are not visible at all. However, in the drawing that V.V. Sedov cites in his work "Eastern Slavs in the VI-XIII centuries.”(Sedov, 1982), all upper figures have legs, therefore, some of their signs are still preserved on side 4. This also testifies in favor of the fact that this side was destroyed more than others.

Attracts attention unified iconography of all four figures middle tier- they all have hands with outward palms open in a "giving" gesture at the level of the lower third. This means that all these female figures - "giving new life", and their presence at the main cult object of the Zbruch sanctuary confirms the above conclusion that the content of Slavic paganism is the deification of nature.

The same iconography figures of the upper tier, the "canonical" element of which here is also the symbolic position of the hands, the right hand (taking) in all images is above the left (giving), which quite transparently correlates with the masculine and feminine principles. Compare with traditional: husband takes woman married, a woman marries a man, according to tradition, leaving for his family. The position of the male figures of the upper tier in relation to the women of the middle tier is the same. From this follows the obvious conclusion: the gesture indicates the natural balance in nature opposite each other of the active and passive principles, which personify the right hand is a man and the left hand is a woman. All this refutes the conclusions made by B. A. Rybakov about the gender of some of the figures of the upper and middle tiers, which (conclusions) are based solely on random petrological anomalies of the rock from which the idol is made, and which have nothing to do with the intention of its creators.

We see the same obvious patriarchal symbolism in on the lower tier of the Zbruch idol, which, as follows from the excavations (Rusanova, Timoshchuk, 2007), was immersed in the sanctuary in the earth. Obviously here is Ancestor of the Slavic family. In a broad sense - the ancestor of each of the men, the first ancestor of each individual clan, of all Slavs. The female half coming into the genus, tradition as you can see on the middle tier, deifies not personified, but as a cumulative Motherland that has come down to our days in sculpture (for example, inherently pagan memorials dedicated to the feat of the people in the Great Patriotic War), literature, and painting. The concept of "Motherland" includes the land where everyone goes after temporary death, which also follows from the symbolism of the same Zbruch idol, (more on this below). Consequently, underground position of the First Ancestor, depicted on the lower tier, is also quite “canonical”, natural and, again, in a Slavic way.

Simultaneously, three-tier division of symbols of the Slavic people on the "vertical scale" of the idol divides the time of all the Slavs and each individual Slav on the past, present and future: nav, reality and rule, where the lower tier symbolizes nav-past, middle - reality-present, upper - right-future.

ZBRUCH IDOL AS AN IMAGE OF SPACE AND TIME CONTINUUM

Four faces of the Zbruch idol were oriented to the four cardinal directions: north, east, south, west(Rusanova, Timoshchuk, 2007). Compliance with them four seasons - winter, spring, summer, autumn, about which A. N. Afanasiev wrote (see above), reveals an additional dimension-coordinate in Orthodoxy. They, as noted above, correspond to four "ages" of the Sun: "baby" Kolyada, "guy" Yarilo, "husband" Kupalo, "grandfather" Khors, which are strictly tied to the annual astronomical cycle with its characteristic points - winter and summer solstices, spring and autumn equinoxes. Each of these points is the culmination of the corresponding season, these days in Orthodoxy the corresponding "ages" of the luminary are celebrated.

In addition to the cyclic flow of processes with ever reborn Sun, every Kolyada returning the Slavic universe habitual order of things understanding of the irreversibility of the course of time is also reflected in the structure of the Zbruch idol. It has time vertical, symbolized its three tiers - nav-reveal-right(past present Future). The vector of time is directed along the body of the idol, graphically expressing the idea of ​​the present, every moment passing into the past, which, in turn, unfolds the apparent movement of the Sun in a circle into a time spiral directed upwards into the future. Such a connection in one direction object (category space) and the ever-recurring seasons of the year, "implanted" on time axis(category of time), is a visible image "space-time continuum" , wherein space and time are inseparable and indistinguishable. This image is made up of elements (components) of the surrounding universe, bearing names of slavic gods, which, in fact, are conceptual the basis of Slavic pagan natural science, allowing to formulate general principles and categories, in accordance with which the whole universe was built.

Perhaps such reasoning may seem like some kind of abstraction or abstract scholasticism, however, the obvious systemic nature and the ultimate level of generalization of the phenomena of the surrounding world, achieved in the Zbruch idol with the help of simple and clear analogies, amaze with its depth, ultimate conciseness and finally achieved perfection. Which, however, is not limited to the "universal" level alone. The fate of every Slav is inscribed in this model just as voluminously and organically, repeating the “stages of the path” of his deity, Dazhdbog, from birth to death.

ANNUAL CYCLE IN THE LIFE OF THE SLAVES

The human dimension is present not only in the images of the gods of the Zbruch idol, which the ancient Tradition uses. The symbols depicted on the figures of the upper and middle tiers are dedicated to him. The reference for their understanding is the side with the figure holding in the right hand, the horn is a symbol of male power, generosity. The same - consistency in the matter of procreation - is also evidenced by a female figure below him with a child at the left (female) shoulder. Obviously, this side (and its time) is dedicated to the past husbands - men who have given birth to offspring, and wives - women who gave new life. Therefore, to the right of it (i.e. earlier in time moving "salting" - clockwise) located time guys who, according to their "rank", everything yet to be mined, built and generated, and on the left - in the course of the age of the sun - grandfather time, who have already secured their personal immortality in their grandchildren. The symbolism of the objects depicted on these sides confirms this conclusion. A guy at the beginning of his life will need a horse and a saber, symbolizing a means and a way to achieve an end, and grandfather in his right hand holds a circle as a symbol of eternity He has already done everything he was supposed to do in this life.

Here, in confirmation, the drawing of a figurine of the Paleometal era can be cited "The Man Looking to the Sky" found in the Southern Urals (Chenchenkova, 2004), through which migration from the Russian Plain of the Aryans, who created the civilizations of the Far East, India, Iran(Klyosov, 2015). figurine depicts ancestor, it has the same symbolism, as on the figure of the grandfather on the Zbruch idol, only here its meaning is even more transparent - personal man finds eternity in the eternal return in his descendants.

Curiously, the iconography easter island statues completely identical to the iconography of the "Man looking into the sky" - the same schematically indicated phallus crowned with a circle, and located to the right and left of the circle of the hands. However, this question is beyond the scope of this topic.

No compliance issues sides of the world to the age of a person. Youth is associated with the beginning of human life, maturity (courage) - with its heyday, old age - with sunset. Consequently, the time of guys is spring, husbands are summer, grandfathers are autumn.

This, in turn, rigidly orients the Zbruch idol with respect to the cardinal points. To the north (winter) is a figure without symbols in the upper and middle tiers, to the east (spring) - a figure with a horse and a saber to the south (summer) - a figure with a horn, to the west (autumn) - a figure with a circle.

This order is also confirmed by the solar sign in "navi" (lower tier) - a symbol of the temporarily dead Sun, which, as you can see, is applied where it should be - until the middle of the winter period, coming December 22, when the Sun after a temporary death is born again.

THE NATURE OF THE SANCTUARIES

Calendar Orthodox holidays also make it possible to understand the general structure of “full-sized” pagan sanctuaries like Zbruch, in which the central idol is surrounded by eight "petals" of oval recesses. On fig. 4 shows the plan of the Zbruch sanctuary. In the center is a square pit in which an idol stood, the recesses located in a circle are numbered from 1 to 8 (Rusanova, Timoshchuk, 2007).

Rice. four

The same structure was pagan sanctuary in Peryn near Veliky Novgorod- rice. 5.

Rice. 5

Ashes, small fragments of dishes, animal bones were found in the recesses of the sanctuaries. Obviously, each of them the fire burned at the appointed time, in which the relevant "timely" requirements. V.V. Sedov, who conducted excavations at Peryn, notes that, judging by the small amount of ash, « the fires in the moat did not burn constantly, but were lit only on especially solemn holidays» (Sedov, 1953). We already know the names of four of these eight holidays - Kolyada, Yarilo, Kupalo, Khoros. The remaining four are located between them and correspond in time to the boundaries between the seasons, that is, the transition of winter to spring, spring to summer, summer to autumn, autumn to winter. Knowing the time (the middle of the time intervals between the winter solstice - the spring equinox - the summer solstice - the autumn equinox), we easily find the names of these holidays in the Orthodox calendar - Maslenitsa (end of winter), Radunitsa (end of spring), Ilyin's Day (end of summer), Grandfathers (end of autumn). Of these, only Perun's day changed its name (Ilya the prophet replaced Perun in Orthodoxy), the rest, judging by the purely Slavic names, remained as they were.

Based on the last name - grandfathers, By analogy, one can conclude that Radunitsa was dedicated to guys, Perunov's day - to husbands, Grandfathers - respectively, to grandfathers.

AT Maslenitsa celebrated the victory of light over darkness and of life over death, which personified straw scarecrow (Marena), burned at the end of the holiday (Tolstoy, 2004). Just as simply and at the same time, the initial dates of pagan holidays are determined astronomically precisely: Kolyada - December 22, Maslenitsa - February 4-5, Yarilo - March 20, Radunitsa - May 5, Kupalo - June 21, Perun - August 5, Horse - September 22-23, Grandfathers - November 6-7.

CONCLUSION

The scientific bibliography on the themes of paganism unites more than one and a half hundred works (Osipova, 2000). Slavic paganism in them is considered by representatives of different disciplines - history, ethnography, philology, folklore. As the representative of the historical and philosophical school O. S. Osipova writes, “archaeological science provides an answer to questions about the external side of the ancient Slavic life and, which is especially valuable, the cult, describing the symbolism of pagan objects and the arrangement of places and sanctuaries. Archeology helps to solve questions about the continuity of the Proto-Slavic and Slavic cultures, about the ethnic evolution of the Slavs. History reveals to us the written evidence and references preserved over the centuries about the customs and beliefs of the ancient Slavs, about pagan gods and mythological characters. Ethnography allows you to see the residual forms of ancient Slavic rites and customs, reveals their meaning. Folklore gives the opportunity to learn the Slavic pagan spiritual culture, refracted through fairy tales, epics, traditions, legends, folk spiritual poems, ritual songs and texts, sacred spells and conspiracies"(Osipova, 2000).

In my opinion, this list lacks representatives of the natural sciences who could appreciate natural science aspects of Slavic paganism. This is necessary, first of all, in order to separate Tradition from Faith, that is nature, the foundation of the tradition, from the mysticism introduced into Slavic life by Christianity. And, thus, to restore the worldview of our ancestors in an unclouded form, not "diluted" with Christianity.

This also applies to rituals, which, in the opinion of the "unbeliever" person, is basically "game" form of preserving the memory of the events of ancient times, therefore, may contain information of a specific historical and (or) ideological nature. So, what is stated above already allows us to draw some conclusions. For example, refute unscrupulous "information" about human sacrifices at Slavic sanctuaries. Firstly, there are no remnants of such "requirements" in archaeological research, and secondly, they have no place in principle or content in the solar Slavic rituals - neither associated with Yarila, nor with Kupala, nor with the Grandfathers, nor with Shrovetide, and so on. It's exactly the opposite - On Maslenitsa, the Slavs still bury death itself.

Literature:

1. Lomonosov M. V. Ancient Russian history from the beginning of the Russian people to the death of Grand Duke Yaroslav the First or until 1054. - St. Petersburg, Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1766. - P. 145.
2. Osipova O. S. Slavic pagan world outlook (philosophical research). - M.: 2000. - S. 60.
3. Afanasiev A. N. Poetic views of the Slavs on nature. M.: 1865-1869. T. 1-3.
4. Rybakov B. A. Paganism of the ancient Slavs. - M.: Nauka, 1981.
5. Rusanova I.P., Timoshchuk B.A. Pagan sanctuaries of the ancient Slavs. - M.: Ladoga 100, 2007 - S. 304.
6. Sedov V.V. Eastern Slavs in the VI-XIII centuries. / Series: Archeology of the USSR. M.: 1982. - S. 328.
7. Chenchenkova O.P. Stone sculpture of the forest-steppe Asia of the Paleometallic era III - I millennium BC. e. - Ekaterinburg, Thesis, 2004. - P. 342.
8. Klyosov A. A. The origin of the Slavs: Essays on DNA genealogy. - M.: Algorithm, 2015. - S. 512.
9. Sedov VV Old Russian pagan sanctuary in Peryn. // Brief reports of the Institute of the History of Material Culture, vol. 50. 1953. S. 92-103.
10. Slavic Antiquities: Ethnolinguistic Dictionary: in 5 volumes / Ed. N. I. Tolstoy; Institute of Slavic Studies RAS. - M.: International relations, 2004. - V. 3: K (Circle) - P (Quail). - S. 697.