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Table of ContentsJazyk / Ezichestvo / Slavianstvo

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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