EAST SLAVIC PAGANISM

1. Indo-European heritage.
The Slavs inherited from the Indo-Europeans a threefold functional division
of society (called tripartition) into priest-rulers, warriors, and peasantproducers. The Slavic peoples held the Indo-European concept of a
universe divided into the three realms of heaven, earth, and an
underworld. This tripartite division of the worldly universe was sometimes
called by the deity name Triglav, which means "three-head". In what we
can piece together of the ancient Slavic pantheon, each realm had its own
set of divinities, and each class seems to have worshipped its own favorite
gods.
2. Gods of sun, sky or atmosphere (worshipped mainly by the
priestly or warrior class).
Belbog (BELL-bog), also called Div, the god of life. The general, distant god
of good, law and order opposed to Chernobog, the god of evil. (Slavs
worshipped him too as a sort of insurance.) These were gods of the priestly
class. The following more defined atmospheric gods seem to have been
important to both the priestly and the warrior classes: Svarog (SVAR-ug)
God of the sky (cf. Sanskrit svarga, sky. These gods were considered the
mythic progenitors of various peoples. Forfathers of various clans were
sometimes called Svarozhiches (svar-OZH-ich-ez), or sons of the sky;
Dazhbog (DAZH-bog) God of white light, day, sun; Stribog (STREE-bog)
God of the winds; Hors God of the sun, (the root "horo, kolo" = round,
circle, whole); and finally, Perun, one of the most important gods, the main
god of the warrior class. He was the Slavic equivalent of Thor and Jupiter,
god of thunder and lightning and of the atmosphere in general (overlap with
the older gods Belbog, Svarog, Stribog, Xors). Warriors claimed descent
from him and called themselves his grandsons; him they called Ded or
Dido, grandfather. His day was the 20th of July.
3. Gods of earth or underworld (mainly worshipped by the producing
class)
Makosh (MA-kush), or Mokosh, Mother Moist Earth, goddess of the female
beginning, the dark female earthy and watery counterpart of the airy male
beginning, protectress of the producing class of people (sometimes also
called Didilia, Lada, etc.) Protectress of marriage and patron of household
chores, symbol of the female beginning and of the productive earth; Lada
(Lado) God of Love, Slavic Venus, and her first child (son or daughter)
Lela/Leli, the child-god of spring; and her second son Polelia the god of

marriage (Cupid), who was depicted wearing a white peasant shirt and a
crown of thorns (to emphasize everyday life and the difficulties of marriage);
Srecha--goddess of fate and also of spinning and household chores. She
spun and cut the thread of life (like the three Greek fates). People tried to
guess the future by various methods. Makosh was also considered to be
involved with fate; Siva, or Diva, female goddess of life; the masculine
Yarilo (also called Yarovit, Porevit, Radegast), an important peasant
deity considered to be the god of the sowing of seed and of the male
incarnation, reincarnation, connected with the cult of Rod and Rozhanitsa.
Holiday celebrated in spring with great rowdyness. Female personage
Morena (ma-REN-uh), or Martsana, the goddess of growing things (she
was like the Greek Persephone; "mor" = death). Effigies of Yarilo and
Martsana were burned at midsummer, when they were no longer needed.
In opposition to gods of life and fertility were gods of death and the
underworld: Vii (VEE) and Kashei, or Koshei, were the gods of the
underworld who incarcerated Yarilo and Morena during the cold months;
Simargl (SEE-mar-gul), or Pereplut (pi-ri-PLUT), was the winged dog who
guarded the harvest and the underworld. He was a sort of Slavic Cerberus.
There was also an underwater king, a sort of Slavic Neptune, who held
power over storms and sea creatures; he was accompanied by various
serpents, spirits monsters. We do not know his original name.
Finally, there was Volos, or Veles, the livestock god, patron of shepherds
(originally the patron of hunters). Later he came to be considered a patron
of the mounted horsemen of the warrior class as well. His holiday was Dec.
25-Jan 6 and also March 20-25. Jan 6 was Veles' Day. Also considered the
God of riches, hence such words as vladet' to possess, vlast' power. In
Christian times Volos was confused with the Devil.
4. Lesser gods and spirits mainly known from peasant superstition.
Many of these spirits were once thought to be good but Christianized
peasants came to consider them mischevious and demonic. Bereginya
ancient guardian spirits, originally beneficial, female spirits. Upyr (bes,
chort) troublesome spirits, mischievous beings who brought evil. Chur the
god or spirit of boundaries, originally depicted as a four-sided stone; later
given a head. The marking of ancestral lands and graves was of prime
importance to the Slavic tribes and bands (chort, a violator of boundaries,
later the Slavic word for the Christian devil). The Slavs believed that those
who moved boundary stones were doomed to wander the earth after death
with no homeland--the spirits of these people were thought to be seen as
will o' the wisp lights in fields; Domovoi (duh-ma-VOI) house spirit;
Ovinnik (a-VEE-neek) threshing barn spirit; Polevik (pa-li-VEEK) field

spirit; Leshy (LE-shee) (like the Greek Satyrs) mischievous forest spirits.
These were thought to have the power of becoming as small as blades of
grass in a field, but when walking in the woods they would grow to the size
of trees. They were said to call people into the forest and cause them to get
lost there. Sometimes they would lure travelers into their lair and tickle
them to death; Rusalka (roo-SAL-ka), also called Vila (VEE-la) or Sirin
(SEE-rin) were water spirits like the Greek nymphs, sirens, and naiads.
Originally they were good spirits who helped bring rain and watched over the
growing crops. Later they became evil. Had blond hair and lured young men
into the water and drowned them. Often portrayed as the spirits of drowned
maidens, sometimes with pale skin and greenish hair; Nav was a bird with
the soul of the dead who came from the other world, somewhere in the east,
from a place called vyrei (VI-ray), or rai (pronounced like "rye"). People
warmed up the bathouse and set out food to placate these birds; Kikimora
(kee-KEE-ma-ra) was the female evil spirit of nightmares; one legend has it
that the Kikimora was a baby stolen from its mother's womb by the devil.
Dryoma was the spirit of sound sleep, and Bayunok (ba-YOON-uk) was the
spirit of good dreams (sometimes thought of as a cat); Polkan (pal-KAN)
Centaur, part human and part horse; originally a guardian spirit.