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Jazyk / Ezichestvo / Slavianstvo - 11 / 11 / 2007
folkway
reconstruction based on researchable historic antecedents
archeological remains
the problems of recovering a wood based culture
folklore
largely oral tradition
ecclesiastic prohibitions
issued as late as the early 20th century
linguistic evidence
lack of recorded mythology
"rustic" mythology
"urban" mythology nipped in the bud by arrival of Christianity
dvoeverie
- dual faith
urban & rustic
Christian & rustic later
mnogoverie
- many faiths
many paganisms, not monolithic
sources of disputed authenticity
The Book of Veles
The Veda Slovena
not just spirituality
a culture / a way of thinking / a worldview
community
material & non-material
spirituality not separated from the material world
spirituality embedded in a cultural context
linguistic groups
South Slavic
Western subgroup
Slovenian
Serbo-Croatian subgroup
Serbian
Bosnian
Croatian
Eastern subgroup
Bulgarian
Old Church Slavonic (extinct)
Macedonian
West Slavic
Czech
Bohemian
Central Moravian (Hana)
Eastern Moravian
Silesian
Slovak
Rusyn (Ruthenian)
Panonian-Rusyn
Lusatian (Sorbian or Wendish)
Lekhitic subgroup
Polish
Lekhitic Pomeranian
Kashubian
Slovincian (extinct)
Polabian (extinct)
Obodrits
East Slavic
Russian
Ukrainian
Rusyn (Ruthenian)
Carpatho-Rusyn
Belarusian (White Russian)
Jazyk
- language, speech
Jazychnystvo [Ukranian]
Yazychnystvo [Russian]
Yazychestvo [Russian]
Slavianstvo Russkiy
Ezichestvo
- heathendom, people's tradition, native religion
ienzyku [Old-Bulgarian, Old-Slavonic, Old Church Slavonic]
1. tongue (organ)
2. language, speech
3. native, tribe;
Slavianstvo
- the ways of the Slavs
Slovanska Vira
Rodoverie
- kin's faith / faith in the kin / caln / ancestor worship
Rodna Vera / RodNoverie
rodna / rodno
- something dependent on birth, by birth, aquired with birth
vera
- faith
Rodna Vira [Czech/Slovak]
Rodzima Wiara [Polish]
Runvira [Ukrainian]
Pravoslav'ja [Ukranian]
- laudation of the (Native) Gods
prav
- peace of gods and divine law
slav'ja
- ceremonial divine heathen service
Romuva [Lithuanian]
- from medieval sources in East Prussia mentioning the pagan temple Romowe
Baltic
Dievturiba [Latvian]
- persons who hold God's laws, or who holds or possesses God
Baltic
ancestor reverence
the "natural" dead
Rod
creator of world
male kin
the Rozhanitsy
birth
mother / daughter
three "fates"
Dziady
- forefathers
feast on honor of the ancestors
first portion of each dish placed on empty plate for ancestors
kutia / kutya
traditional food like a frumenty (wheat berries)
leftovers of feast taken to cemetary & left as an offering
4 times a year
Vjunitci (Navii's Day)
March 1
Maslenitsa
spring equinox
Rodonica
several days around the end of April
Zaduszki
several days around November 1
customs & beliefs
the moist earth is our sacred mother - revere & respect her
the spirits, human and natural, are all about us - act accordingly
pleme / community / rodu / kin (pcrk) - come before self
duty / responsibility / obligation - are owed to the pcrk
industriousness / Willingness to Work - are the strength of the pcrk
perserverance / endurance / stubbornness - hold the pcrk together
generousity / sharing - let no member of the pcrk suffer
hospitality - to all who hold the peace
respect / courtesy / politeness - is everyone's due
ethical behavior / fairness - in all your dealings
humor - know how to laugh
cleanliness - like attracts like
order / structure - adhere to the sacred laws
love of freedom - choose choice
spirit / god names are job descriptions
apparent taboo against using "real" name
duality
Bialobog
- white god
no evidence for him found in any reliable historic or ethnographic record
apparently recently created as a counter to Czarnobog
Czarnobog
- black god
less white & black, good & evil
more domestic & wild
urban gods
appeared with the rise of the city state
Kiev
Dazhbog
- gift god
sun & warmth
son of Svarog
the summer soltice
ultimate ancestor of Russian people
Khors
sun & light
the winter soltice
Mokosh
- wet
rain / moisture
weaver / spinner
associated with Mati Syra Zemlya
- mother moist earth
conflated with St. Paraskeva
Perun
lightning, thunder, storm
parallels with Norse Thor
conflated with St.Ilya (Elias)
Semargl
- cognate with words for "sow seeds"
soil / fertility
new plant life
seven heads (faces)
Stribog
air / wind
ice / cold / winter
ancestor of the winds
seven winds
Svarozhich
- son of svarog
fire
Svarog
- fear lord
sky / fire
blacksmithing
Volos
cattle / wealth
patron of poetry & eloquence
oaths were sworn by his name
presides over the underworld
Rugen
Svantovit
four faces
the four seasons / the four directions
Dzarowit
spring aspect
Porovit
summer aspect
Ruevit
autumn aspect
Triglav (Pomerania)
three heads (faces)
the three worlds
sky / earth / underworld
the world tree
common motif on rushnyk & pysanky
Prav
- right / true / proper
upper world / sky / realm of celestial spirits
Yav
- visible
this world / realm of the living
Nav
- the dead
the underworld / realm of the dead
country spirits
spirits of time & place
the rule of distance
- the further from the center of the home, the more malevolent the spirit
domestic, familiar, & relatively safe
Domovoi
male guardian of hearth & home
ancestor
Domovikha
wife to Domovoi
ancestor
Kikimora
wife to Domovoi
ancestor
Dvorovoi
male guardian of the farmyard
Krukis
male guardian of domestic animals
patron of blacksmith
Vazila / Vazily
guardian spirit(s) of the stable
Gumenik
presides over barns / storehouses / grainaries
Ovinnik
presides over drying-houses / food preservation
Bannik
male spirit associated with bath-house (sauna)
can be dangerous
Polevoi
male spirit of the field
Lugovik
male spirit of the meadow / pasturage
Lesovik / Leshy
male guardian of the forest & wild animal
Lesovikha
wife to Lesovik
Vodonoi
male spirits associated with water
springs / pools / lakes / rivers / millponds
Bereginy
female riverbank-spirits
steal babies & leave changelings
Vila
female tree-spirits
often vicious & cruel
can heal, give advice, reveal treasure, or teach magic & medicine
Rusalka
female spirits found dancing on rivers / riverbanks
drowned maiden / woman
usually dangerous
will pull passerbys into their circle & dance them to death
drown bather / swimmers
Baba Yaga
- grandmother fight/battle
female spirit witch, cannibal, magical helper
wild, unknown, & dangerous
witches & witchcraft
- vedma
spoiling
werewolves
- volkodlak
vampires
- upior
the "unnatural" dead
became a problem with the switch from cremation to inhumation
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