Introduction

What is the secret of the popularity of fairy tales? Fairy tales are endlessly fascinating, mysterious and entertaining. These are stories about the obviously impossible, wonderful, extraordinary. They contain something fantastic, improbable. Fairy tales awaken the imagination, develop fantasy, take the reader to an unusual, but, at the same time, easily recognizable world. “The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows,” our ancestors loved to repeat. Having originated in ancient times, fairy tales were passed down from generation to generation, from storyteller to storyteller, retaining their vitality.

At the end of the nineteenth century in P.V. Vladimirov in the book "Introduction to the History of Russian Literature" (1896) singled out animal epic, myths and everyday works in fairy tales. By myth he meant fairy tales. But myths are not fairy tales, and besides, not all fairy tales have mythical creatures; Finally, every fantastic image cannot be considered mythical, such as the firebird.

1. Myth is the oldest literary monument

1.1 Origin of the myth

We rarely think about what became the living basis of literary creativity. And that was the Word. Pronounced, "spoken" in ancient times, it seemed to people a sign "from above", a sign of "God's inspiration", which should be kept in memory, passed on to posterity.

The aspiration of this kind was manifested at first in the so-called syncretic form - in the cult song and dance, reflecting the relationship of man with the forces of nature deified by him. Gradually, in the course of people’s labor activity, their development of certain natural resources, in such “actions”, from still disordered ideas about the world around them, a tendency arose for a more harmonious understanding and humanization of its forces - myths about gods were born, although they had supernatural abilities, but very similar by their aspirations and actions on the very unknown creators of these legends. But the less in the process of development of society the dependence of a person on the outside world became, the more often he himself appeared in the epic as an increasingly stronger, invincible hero. Usually, such a character was the ruler of the earth, the king, - after all, now not only the forces of nature, but also the leaders determined the life of ordinary people. So there were myths about heroes, heroic epos. These myths were first imprinted with the help of drawings on stones, dishes, fabrics, and with the advent of writing - in cuneiform form on clay tablets.

Myth tells about events taking place in space and time. In this narrative, philosophical and religious ideas are expressed in the language of symbols, the inner state of a person is conveyed, and this is the true meaning of the myth. Myth is not a "fiction", not a "relic" of the past. But a certain primary language of description, in terms of which a person has modeled, classified and interpreted himself, society, the world since ancient times.

Even in the early stages of history, people not only cared about maintaining their existence, but also sought to preserve their tribe, their clan. And everything that contributed to the upbringing of a smart, strong, dexterous person became the content of lullabies, nursery rhymes, riddles, fairy tales... forms that they can understand. Folklore bears witness to this. Myth is the oldest literary monument.

Scientists believe that myths served as a kind of source for the development of scientific ideas, the emergence of philosophy, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theatrical art. The most ancient tales reveal a plot connection with primitive myths. It is quite obvious that the myth was the forerunner of a fairy tale about marriage with an enchanted creature, which then threw off its animal shell and took on a human form (the plot of the well-known fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower"), a fairy tale about a wonderful wife who gives her chosen one good luck in business, hunting, etc. .d., but leaves him due to the violation of any prohibition (“The Frog Princess”). Popular fairy tales about children who fell into the power of an evil spirit, a monster, a sorcerer and were saved thanks to the resourcefulness of one of them (Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka), fairy tales about the murder of a mighty snake, dragon (3mey Gorynych, Koshchei the Immortal) reproduce the motives of certain rituals of ancient people.

Over time, with the development of human society, children "appropriated" most of these fairy tales, myths, legends. Perhaps this happened because the children's consciousness is somewhat closer to those naive and at the same time deeply wise ideas about human nature, about good and evil, which peoples worked out during their infancy and at the early stages of their history.

1.2 "Mythological tales"

In Russian science, the term "mythological fairy tales" is often used. It originates from the works of folklorists of the first half of the 19th century, for example, from I. P. Sakharov. He was followed by P. A. Bessonov, O. F. Miller, the collector of fairy tales E. R. Romanov and others who called fairy tales mythological.

What is mythological in Russian fairy tales? First, miracles that happen in fairy tales at the behest of characters with magical abilities, or at the behest of miraculous animals, or with the help of magical objects; secondly, characters of a fantastic nature, such as Baba Yaga, koshchei, a many-headed serpent; thirdly, the personification of the forces of nature, for example, in the form of frost, the animation of trees (talking trees); fourthly, anthropomorphism - endowing animals with human qualities - mind and speech (talking horse, gray wolf).

But all these are just traces of mythological ideas, since “the formation of the classical form of a fairy tale ended far beyond the historical boundaries of the primitive communal system, in a society that was much more developed,” writes E.M. Meletinsky in the article "Myth and Fairy Tale"

The question of the direct origin of a fairy tale from myth remains controversial. EAT. Meletinsky believes that the transformation of the myth into a fairy tale took place. This view is held by many folklorists. But it needs more justification. Only the opinion is correct that the mythological worldview provided the basis for the poetic form of the fairy tale, that the poetic mythology of the fairy tale was created. The elements of mythology listed above, included in the fairy tale, have acquired artistic functions.

The important point is that the plots of fairy tales, the miracles they talk about, have a vital basis. This is, firstly, a reflection of the peculiarities of the work and life of people of the tribal system, their relationship to nature, often their powerlessness in front of it; secondly, a reflection of the features of the feudal system, especially early feudalism (the king is the enemy of the hero, the struggle for inheritance, obtaining the kingdom and the hand of the princess for victory over evil forces). Characteristically, capitalist relations were not reflected in fairy tales. Obviously, its development stopped before the formation of the capitalist formation.

The life basis of fairy tales was also that dream of power over nature, which, according to M. Gorky, is so characteristic of them.

In fairy tales, goblin, water, kikimora are sometimes found. They replaced real characters in a wonderful story. So, for example, in one of the versions of the fairy tale “Morozko”, instead of the all-powerful master of the winter elements, Frost, a goblin is presented, who gave his stepdaughter everything that a peasant girl could wish for.

2. Connection of fairy tales and myths

2.1 Fairy tale "White Duck"

Let's take the fairy tale "White Duck" for analysis. One prince married a beautiful princess. I didn’t have time to talk with her, I didn’t have time to listen to her enough, but we already have to part. “The princess cried a lot, the prince persuaded her a lot, commanded not to leave the high tower, not to go to a conversation, not to hang out with bad people, not to listen to bad speeches.” The prince left. The princess locked herself in her chamber and did not come out.

How long, how short, a certain woman came to her. “So simple, heartfelt!” - adds a fairy tale. “What,” he says, “do you miss? If only she looked at God's light, if only she walked through the garden, opened her longing, refreshed her head. The princess made excuses for a long time, did not want to listen to the stranger, but she thought: it does not matter to take a walk in the garden - and she went. The day is so hot, the sun is scorching, and the water is “cold”, “it splashes”. The woman persuaded the princess to take a bath. The princess threw off her sundress and jumped into the water, just plunged, and the woman suddenly hit her on the back: "Swim," she says, "swim like a white duck." And the princess swam like a duck. The black work has been done. The witch took the form of a princess. The prince returned, did not recognize the deception.

In the meantime, the duck laid eggs and brought out children, not ducklings, but guys: two good ones, and the third - a scumbag. The children began to walk along the shore and look at the meadow where the prince's court stood.

The mother duck tells them: “Oh, don’t go there, children!” But they didn't listen. The witch saw them and gritted her teeth. She called the children, fed them, gave them a drink, and put them to bed, and she herself ordered to build a fire, hang cauldrons, and sharpen knives.

The older brothers are sleeping, but the squirrel is not sleeping. At night, a witch came under the door and asked: “Are you sleeping, children, or not?” Zamoryshek replies: “We sleep - we don’t sleep, we think that they want to cut us all: they put red-hot fires, boiling boilers hang, damask knives sharpen!” “They don’t sleep,” the witch decided. She came another time and asked the same question, heard the same answer. The witch thought and entered. She circled the brothers with a dead hand - and they died.

Size: px

Start impression from page:

transcript

1 Research work Theme of the work: “Reflection of the beliefs of the ancient Slavs in Russian folk tales” Completed by: Tsvetkova Maria Yuryevna, student of grade 6 B MBOU “Secondary school 2 with in-depth study of individual subjects”, Reutov, Moscow region Head: Grishina Irina Gennadievna Teacher of the Russian language and literature MBOU "Secondary School 2 with in-depth study of individual subjects", Reutov, Moscow Region, 2016

2 Contents. Introduction Theoretical part. Beliefs of the ancient Slavs Wild animal progenitors The magical power of amulets, amulets and magic Ancient Slavic deities The dead ancestors patrons of the clan Underground world Practical part. Comparative analysis of the beliefs of the ancient Slavs and the artistic features of Russian folk tales Manifestation of totemism in fairy tales: .11 - about animals; in fairy tales Protection from evil spirits. Charms, amulets, magic of the Deity Method of protection from hostile forces - prohibitions The other world in fairy tales..17 Conclusion...18 Questions for the curious 20 List of used literature

3 Introduction The fairy tale is one of my favorite genres of folklore. The plot is interesting and easy to understand. When you read fairy tales, sometimes questions arise. For example, why do animals speak human language in fairy tales; where did they get creatures that do not exist in real life - Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal, witches, sorcerers who either harm the heroes or help; Why is the number "three" often found in Russian fairy tales? From generation to generation, stories about the events of bygone days were passed on, thus turning into fairy tales. It is not in vain that they say: "A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows." The fairy tale not only contains our dreams, public morality, national character, but also the history of the fatherland. First of all, in the texts of folk tales, we find a reflection of pagan traditions and rituals. I think this issue is still relevant today. In everyday life, we often come across signs, superstitions, customs, the origin of which remains a mystery to us. As it turned out, rituals, signs and superstitions in the life of modern people have been preserved since pagan times. There, in this mysterious and extraordinary world of the ancient Slavs, 3

4 formed our worldview. The superstitions of the ancient Slavs are still alive, despite the fact that we live in the 21st century, a century of intensively developing computer and information technologies. If a black cat crosses the road, we try not to cross the road. Many of us are afraid to look into a broken mirror as it is a sign of unhappiness. Sweeping crumbs from the table with your hand will not be enough. A thing dressed inside out means: to be beaten, etc. I believe that the beliefs of the ancient Slavs are alive in the subconscious of Russian people. It is known that people began to compose fairy tales long ago, in the days of paganism. Therefore, my hypothesis is to find out how the beliefs of the ancient Slavs were reflected in Russian folk tales. The object of research is Russian folk tales. The subject of research is the artistic features of Russian folk tales. The purpose of my work is to find out in what artistic features of Russian folk tales the beliefs of the ancient Slavs are reflected. Tasks: to study the information of additional literature and get acquainted with the beliefs of the ancient Slavs; carefully re-read Russian folk tales and identify their artistic features; to determine how the beliefs of the ancient Slavs were reflected in Russian folk tales. At the same time, I used research methods - work with additional literature: - analysis, - generalization, - synthesis. four

5 1. Beliefs of the ancient Slavs Time has left too few sources by which historians and archaeologists could reconstruct the picture of such a distant past. Various sources help to replenish information about the ancient Slavs: chronicles; records of ancient customs and beliefs; archaeological finds. The most ancient Slavic beliefs and rituals are based on the deification of nature, the worship of the elements. In the minds of an ancient pagan, two worlds lived simultaneously - a real (human) world - a world inhabited by the souls of ancestors. There were never common ideas about the gods for the entire Slavic world, since their tribes were not united into one common state, therefore the ancient Slavs were not united in their beliefs Wild animal progenitors It turns out that in a distant era, when the main occupation of the Slavs was hunting, not agriculture, they believed that wild animals were their progenitors. The Slavs considered them powerful deities to be worshiped. Each tribe had its own totem, i.e. a sacred animal worshiped by the tribe. Ancient people were convinced that it was impossible to kill, eat ancestral animals. I found out that some tribes considered the Wolf their ancestor and revered him as a deity. The wolf was considered a powerful protector of the tribe, the devourer of evil spirits. The name of this beast was 5

6 sacred, it was forbidden to say it out loud, so instead of a wolf they spoke fierce, and they called themselves lyutichi. During the winter solstice, the men of these tribes put on wolf skins, which symbolized the transformation into wolves. So they communicated with animal ancestors, from whom they asked for strength and wisdom. The owner of the pagan forest was the Bear, the most powerful beast. He was considered the protector from all evil and the patron of fertility, it was with the spring awakening of the bear that the ancient Slavs associated the onset of spring. Among domestic animals, the Slavs revered the Horse more than others, because the ancestors of most of the peoples of Eurasia led a nomadic lifestyle, and in the guise of a golden horse running across the sky, they imagined the sun. The image of the Sun-horse was preserved in the decoration of the Russian hut, crowned with a ridge depicting one or two horse heads at the junction of two roof slopes, in combination with the sign of the sun. The magical power of amulets, amulets and magic The ancient Slavs lived in unity with nature. And in ancient times, everything that happens around was attributed to a mystical origin. The pagans have always in the first place been the fear of powerful and incomprehensible natural forces. Therefore, it was necessary to come up with a way to protect against the so-called "tricks of fate", "evil fate" and "dark forces". Thus, Slavic amulets, amulet pendants were used everywhere: in household items, in jewelry, in clothes. 6

7 As it turned out, the amulets of the ancient Slavs helped protect a person from diseases and evil spirits. In addition, thanks to such amulets, a person could communicate with nature and with higher powers, which always served as helpers for him. Many pendants-amulets, amulets, which were worn on the chest, suspended on chains, were found in ancient burial mounds. As, for example, the bells of amulet pendants, at the slightest movement, began to sway and make a ringing, which probably had some kind of magical meaning. Also found were pendants in the form of a fantastic beast, the image of which combines the features of an animal and a bird. The amulets of the ancient Slavs also protected dwellings. Most often, security symbols were placed in the courtyard of the house, in front of the entrance to the house, in the most vulnerable and poorly protected places of the dwelling. They depicted the sun, "thunder signs", figures depicting a horse's head on the roof of buildings, horseshoes. This tradition has been preserved to this day. Carved decorations on huts or window casings are not only the works of skilled craftsmen. Their true purpose was to protect the home from evil spirits and the evil eye. 7

8 1.3. Ancient Slavic deities Analyzing information from various sources, I found out that the ancient Slavs were pagans and worshiped many gods. The main deity of the Eastern Slavs was Perun, the god of lightning, thunder, war, weapons. In the popular imagination, it was represented as a warrior deity, whose weapons were directed against evil spirits. Also, the ancient Slavs worshiped the god of the Sun (Yarilo) or Dazhdbog, and the god Veles was considered the patron of cattle, which in the annals is called the "cattle" god. During the excavations of Slavic settlements, stone and wooden idols of the figures of the gods are found. The most remarkable monument of Slavic paganism is the four-headed Zbruch idol, found in the 19th century on the Zbruch River, a tributary of the Dniester. The statue is a three-meter tetrahedral pillar. 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. There is no information about pagan temples in the chronicles. However, archaeological excavations give an idea of ​​East Slavic pagan sanctuaries. So, one of these sanctuaries was found near Lake Ilmen, not far from Novgorod. Here stood a wooden idol of Perun, which, according to the chronicle, after the baptism of Rus' in 988 was cut down and thrown into the Volkhov River. eight

9 1.4. The deceased ancestors are the patrons of the family I found out that the ancient Slavs deified not only the phenomena of nature, but also the dead ancestors. They believed in Rod. The clan, according to the concepts of the Slavs, unites good and evil, love and hate, life and death, creation and destruction. Some scholars even believe that Rod in ancient times was the supreme deity of the Slavs. The name Rod meant, probably, the soul of the deceased ancestor; he was the patron of the whole family and every kinsman. The Underground World Over time, totemic deities were replaced by gods and spirits with a human appearance. For example, the goblin, considered the owner of the forest, resembled a person. It was believed that he could lead a lost traveler out of the forest, but if he was annoyed, he could, on the contrary, lead a person into a forest thicket and destroy him. With the adoption of Christianity, the goblin, like other spirits of nature, began to be perceived as hostile. “The foundations of religion were that after the death of a mortal, something remains forever that connects the outer world with the spiritual world, shadows (souls) appeared three times a year on earth.” “All pagan peoples were full of faith that they eat after the grave (8 p. 106, 108).” It turns out that almost all ancient peoples believed that the supreme deity did not exist alone in its immaterial world. Some of them were essentially pure, located between the supreme light and people. Further, individual spirits lost their purity, but retained their power and immortality. It is from this concept created by people that the existence of pure and impure spirits, spirits of light and darkness, good and evil, influencing the affairs of the world and people, arises. 9

10 Pagan beliefs and customs were preserved among the Eastern Slavs for a long time even after the adoption of Christianity, intertwined with Christian holidays and rituals for many centuries. So, for example, if the pagans had many gods and demigods who patronized and ruled the seas, land, rivers, fields, forests, then the first Slavic Christians had goblets, brownies, mermaids, kikimors, water ones. All these spirits, according to the concept of superstitions, interfered in the affairs of people and for the most part caused evil. People believed in wizards, sorcerers of persons mediating between people and spirits. Under the name of Baba Yaga, the ancient Slavs revered the goddess of hell, depicted as a monster sitting in an iron mortar. She was offered a bloody sacrifice. Under the influence of Christianity, the people forgot their main gods, remembering only those myths that have personified phenomena and forces of nature. Thus, Baba Yaga turned from an evil hellish goddess into an evil old sorceress who lives in the forest, in a hut on chicken legs, flies in a mortar, covers her tracks with a pestle, speaks rudely. Let us represent the beliefs of the ancient Slavs in the form of the following diagram: Wild animals (totems) The magical power of amulets, amulets and magic Beliefs of the ancient Slavs Ancient Slavic deities Genus Underground world 10

11 2. Practical part. Comparative analysis of the beliefs of the ancient Slavs and the artistic features of Russian folk tales Having become acquainted with information from additional literature on the history of the ancient Slavs, I learned that our ancestors were pagans. To determine whether paganism had an impact on the creativity of the people, I carefully re-read the famous Russian fairy tales, comparing the beliefs of the Slavs and the features of folk tales. Manifestation of totemism in fairy tales. . Such an ancestor was called a totem, and beliefs "totemism". Totemism In fairy tales about animals In fairy tales Consider these manifestations of totemism in fairy tales. In fairy tales about animals I believe that totemism manifested itself most clearly in fairy tales about animals, where various animals and birds are the main characters. Animal characters from fairy tales are very similar to people. eleven

12 For example, in the fairy tale “The Midwife Fox,” the Fox says that she is going to receive the baby like a real midwife, while she herself steals honey; in the fairy tale “The Fox and the Crane”, the Crane invites the Fox to visit and serves okroshka in a jug with a narrow neck in revenge for her stinginess. In fairy tales, animals speak human language and their characters are the same as those of people: the fox is cunning, the hare is cowardly, the bear is stupid, the wolf is greedy. In fairy tales In fairy tales, it is not uncommon to find many magical and mystical characters, sometimes terrible and formidable, sometimes mysterious and incomprehensible, sometimes kind and peaceful. In our time, these tales seem like bizarre fiction. However, the ancient Slavs firmly believed that the whole world around them was permeated with magic. 12

13 I found that totemism was also reflected in fairy tales. In them, animals (totems) help a person, serve him faithfully. For example, in the fairy tale "Sivka-Burka" the horse serves as the hero of the fairy tale. In the fairy tale “The Frog Princess”, on the way of Ivan Tsarevich to Koshcheevo’s kingdom, a bear, a hare, a drake, a pike meet, and although Ivan was hungry, he did not kill them. I believe that the memory of ancestral totems was also reflected here: it was impossible to kill and eat animal ancestors. Animal patrons of the family helped man. So, in the fairy tale, the animals saved by Ivan help him defeat Koshchei. 13

14 In the fairy tale “Khavroshechka”, the totem animal is a cow helping her stepdaughter. The stepdaughter does not eat cow meat and buries it with honor. In this case, the attitude towards the cow is determined by the idea that the totem can save a person, warn him of danger; harming the totem harms the person associated with it. Protection from evil spirits. Charms, amulets and magic The ancient Slavs believed in more than one god. They believed that the world is inhabited by many gods and spirits, some of which helped a person, others, on the contrary, harmed. Evil spirits, according to our ancestors, came from the underworld. The ancient Slavs sought to protect themselves from them with conspiracies, amulets, the so-called "amulets", magic. I found out how this belief of ancient people is reflected in folk tales. In fairy tales, there are amulets that protect heroes, help them escape persecution, for example, Baba Yaga or Koshchei the Immortal. So, in the fairy tale “Baba Yaga”, a comb and a towel are endowed with the power of amulets, which the cat gave to the heroine because she fed him ham. While chasing the girl, the towel turned into a wide river, and the scallop into a dense forest. fourteen

15 It turns out that magic also works in Russian folk tales. So, for example, in the fairy tale “By the Pike’s Command”, the words are magical: “By the Pike’s command, at my will” - and everything that the hero of the fairy tale, Emelya, wanted, came true. According to our ancestors, the fate of a person was determined by the gods. An attempt to change something in this fate was punished, so all that remained was to submit to fate. fifteen

16 This belief in fate was reflected, for example, in the fairy tale “The Frog Princess”: when Ivan Tsarevich saw that his arrow was in the possession of the frog he was supposed to marry, the hero wanted to give it up first, but his father told him: “Take ! To know, this is your destiny. Way of protection from hostile forces - prohibitions It turns out that in order to get away from hostile forces, an ancient person had to observe various prohibitions (taboos) that were imposed on individual actions of a person, on touching certain objects. There were punishments for breaking the rules. In the fairy tale "Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka", brother Alyonushka did not listen, drank water from a hoof and became a kid. In the fairy tale "Geese Swans", a girl violated her parents' ban on leaving home and the geese took her brother to Baba Yaga. 16

17 2.5. The other world in fairy tales In their own way, our ancestors imagined what death was. They believed that this was a simple transition from the human world to the underground world, as real as the earthly one. Ancient people believed that trouble comes to people from the other world. Comparing with the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, I found out how this belief was reflected in fairy tales? Most often in fairy tales, heroes are harmed by Koschey the Immortal and Baba Yaga. Koshchei's palace is in the realm of the dead, and he himself looks like a dead man. The description of Baba Yaga is also similar to the description of a dead man, for example, in one version of the fairy tale "The Frog Princess" it says: "on the stove, on the tenth brick, Baba Yaga lies a bone leg, teeth on the ceiling, and his nose has grown into the ceiling." Her hut is cramped, because it is not just a house, but a coffin (the coffin is popularly called a domino, that is, a house for the dead). Thus, in fairy tales, the dead heroes Koschey the Immortal and Baba Yaga act as if they were alive. This once again confirms the idea of ​​the ancient Slavs that a person continues to live even after death, only passes into another world. 17

18 Conclusion I really enjoyed reading and analyzing fairy tales. I realized that you should always be very careful when reading any work of art, since only thoughtful reading will allow you to make some new discoveries. As a result, I analyzed information on the beliefs of the ancient Slavs and the artistic features of Russian folk tales. Comparative table Beliefs of the ancient Slavs Wild animals progenitors. The Slavs believed that totemic animals are powerful deities that should be worshiped. Russian folk tales Animal heroes from animal tales are very similar to people. In fairy tales, they speak human language and their characters are the same as those of people: the fox is cunning, the hare is cowardly, the bear is stupid, the wolf is greedy. In the fairy tale “The Fox and the Crane”, the Crane invites the Fox to visit and serves okroshka in a jug with a narrow neck in revenge for her stinginess. They were not allowed to be killed or eaten. They help and protect people. The magical power of amulets, amulets. Magic. Deities. According to our ancestors, the fate of man was determined by the gods. An attempt to change something in this fate was punished, so all that remained was to submit to fate. In the fairy tale “The Frog Princess”, on the way of Ivan Tsarevich to the Koshcheevo kingdom, a bear, a hare, a drake, a pike meet, and although Ivan was hungry, he did not kill them. The animals rescued by Ivan help him defeat Koshchei. In the fairy tale "Sivka-Burka" the horse serves the hero of the tale faithfully. In the fairy tale "Baba Yaga", the scallop and towel that the cat gave to the heroine for feeding him ham are endowed with the power of amulets. In the fairy tale about Emelya, the words are magical: “By the pike, at my will” - and everything that Emelya wanted came true. In the fairy tale “The Frog Princess”, Ivan Tsarevich, seeing that his arrow was in the frog, whom he was supposed to marry, wanted to refuse it at first, but his father said to him: “Take it! Know that this is your fate. eighteen

19 Underground world. Our ancestors believed that death is a simple transition from the human world to the underground world, as real as the earthly one. Ancient people believed that trouble comes to people from the other world. Most often in fairy tales, heroes are harmed by Koschey the Immortal and Baba Yaga. In fairy tales, the dead heroes Koschey the Immortal and Baba Yaga act as if they were alive. This once again confirms the idea of ​​the ancient Slavs that a person continues to live even after death, only passes into another world. Thus, I confirmed my hypothesis: the beliefs of the ancient Slavs were indeed reflected in Russian folk tales. The practical significance of my work lies in the fact that this material can be used in lessons where students are studying Russian history, literature, social science, the Russian language, which will allow to some extent to restore the most ancient pagan ideas of our ancestors. Folk tales, round dances and songs, epics, colorful and meaningful wedding ceremonies, folk embroideries, artistic wood carving, all this can be historically comprehended by us only taking into account knowledge about our ancient ancestors. 19

20 Questions for the inquisitive 1. What are the sources through which information about the ancient Slavs is replenished? 2. What is a "totem"? 3. What does the phrase mean: “The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows”? 4. What is the name of the Russian folk tale, which shows that there is a punishment for violating prohibitions? 5. How do the dead heroes Baba Yaga and Koschei the immortal act in Russian folk tales? 6. What folk signs, superstitions, rituals do you know? 7. What other Russian folk tales do you know? twenty

21 List of used literature 1. Encyclopedia for children. History of Russia, vol. 5, part 1. M .: "Avanta +", Encyclopedia for children. Russian literature, vol. 9, M.: "Avanta +", Prot V.Ya. The historical roots of fairy tales. L., Russian folk tales. Rostov-on-Don: "Vladis", Rybakov B.A. The paganism of the ancient Slavs. M., Sakharov A.N., Buganov V.I. Russian history. M .: "Enlightenment", Folklore of the peoples of Russia, vol. 1, M .: "Bustbust", Russian people. His customs, rituals, traditions, superstitions and poetry. Sobr. M. Zabylin. M., joint Soviet-Canadian enterprise "BOOK PRINTSHOP", Russian oral folk art: Reader. Proc. allowance / comp. V.P. Anikina. M.: Higher. Shk., Russian oral prose. Proc. allowance / comp. V.G. Smolitzky. M., Enlightenment, Russian folk tales: - “The midwife Fox”; - "The Fox and the Crane"; - "Sivka-Burka"; - "Princess Frog"; - "Havroshechka"; - "Baba Yaga"; - "By magic"; - “Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka” - “Geese-swans”. 21

Subject: literary reading, visual arts, computer science. prepared by Students of grades 2 2 MBOU "Gatchinskaya secondary school 8" Education Center "2013 Question (problem) of the project. Purpose and objectives of the project.

Baba Yaga's adventures or how the flying stupa bombed the bogatyrs >>>

The Adventures of Baba Yaga, or How the Flying Stupa of Bogatyrs Bombed >>> The Adventures of Baba Yaga, or How the Flying Stupa of Bogatyrs Bombed The Adventures of Baba Yaga, or How the Flying Stupa of Bogatyrs Bombed According to researchers,

The frog is a female symbol in world culture and the culture of the peoples of the North Ryabtseva Alina, grade 6 MBOU secondary school %7, Noyabrsk The frog is a female symbol in the world culture and culture of the peoples of the North Why is there a frog in a fairy tale

Number of respondents Number of respondents Survey results 50 45 40 43 Baba Yaga is considered evil. Considered kind 49 people 35 30 Difficult to answer Ugly 25 20 15 10 5 0 4 2 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Research work Russian language The main character traits of characters in fairy tales about animals Completed by: Voronkova Maria Olegovna Student of the 3rd "B" class of MBOU "School 77", Kazan Head: Savina

MBOU "Burlin secondary school" interdisciplinary project Pagan God Perun (Product + presentation-application) Completed by: 6-A grade student Maxim Doroshenko Explanatory note Project goal

The sacred meaning of the characters of Russian folk tales BABA YAGA character of Slavic mythology Do you remember what she is? Terrible, angry, shaggy, her nose has grown into the ceiling, she is blind, she has a bone leg, she flies in a mortar,

Eastern Slavs History lesson in grade 6 Repkina M.B. Lesson objectives: Learn about the ancestors of the Slavs. Find out the area of ​​\u200b\u200bsettlement of the Eastern Slavs. Get acquainted with the main occupations, life, beliefs, social

Topic of the lesson: The history of the emergence of amulets and their types. Objectives of the lesson: 1. Educational: To give initial information about the history of the emergence of home amulets and their types; 2. Developing: Develop creative

Municipal budgetary educational institution "Secondary school 6 with in-depth study of individual subjects" Authors: Popova Polina 4 "V" Supervisor: Demikova

A little about fairy tales Pavlova Natalya Alekseevna Russian folk tales Fairy tales are the oldest genre of oral folk art. Every nation has its own stories. And all of them are interesting in their own way, all are wise and beautiful,

"Healing power of fairy tales" The purpose of the project: to explore the life and future of fairy tales Objectives To explore the interest in fairy tales among students of our school. To promote the development of interest in oral folk art.

OPEN LESSON ON THE TOPIC: "Pagan BELIEFS OF THE SLAVES" Compiled by: teacher of history MBOU Odintsovo gymnasium 11 Kochetkova L.A. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE LESSON: Acquaintance with the pagan beliefs of the Slavs Development of creative

Fundamentals of the religion of the ancient Slavs in the catalog of the best abstracts of the network, in total more than 300,000 works. 048282718577 The history of the religion of the ancient Slavs. Pantheon of the Gods of the Eastern Slavs. Rites and sacrifices of the Eastern

Oksana Viktorovna Nikulnikova Municipal preschool educational institution "Child Development Center Kindergarten 178" of the city of Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, Magnitogorsk "WE TRAVEL THROUGH TALES"

READING Lesson 2 2 Tales. “The Cockerel and the Bean Seed” Pages 32-35 Good afternoon! 1. Actualization of the topic of the lesson Do you remember what miracle we talked about in the last lesson? This is a miracle. That's right, a book! And today

Head of work I.K. Murane Petrik Ilya 4-A Gornova Anita 4-A Skaptsova Tatiana 4-A Ilkiv Ilya 7-B Khvostov Konstantin 6-B Putilov Igor 6-B Levshunov Nil 5-A Petrov Roman 8-B Yes 147 No-29 This is one

Section 2. Beliefs of the ancient Slavs Part 2 What we will learn in this part How and why the gods appeared What functions were endowed by man What happened to paganism after the adoption of Christianity What are the features

Lesson on the world around in grade 4 Topic: “Ancient Rus'” Teacher: Yu.S. Smolina Objectives: to tell when and where the unification of the Novgorod and Kyiv principalities took place, to introduce epics about the Grand Duke

DMITRY BERANGER WHO ARE THE GODS? In Paganism, as such, there are no stereotypical almighty Gods on the clouds, who command the fate of people and created everything and everything. There are beings of the same blood with us who have crossed

Seminar 2 Early Forms of Religion (2 hours) Purpose: To study the early forms of religion and their relationship to contemporary religions and cultural traditions. Knowledge is formed at the seminar: - the main features of animism,

THE IMAGE OF Baba Yaga IN RUSSIAN FOLK TALES Author(s): Tikhonovich Anastasia and Sadakova Sofia School: GBOU Lyceum 1561 Class: 4 "E" Head: Rubtsova Natalya Yakovlevna We all love miracles. Where do they take place?

PROJECT "A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it ..." (long-term) PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT Development of personal integrative qualities of preschoolers using Russian fairy tales PROJECT OBJECTIVES To expand children's ideas about fairy tales,

Federal Agency for Education Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Siberian Federal University"

MBOU "Secondary School 3 with UIEP", Kotovsk, Tambov Region Scenario of the extra-curricular event "Baptism of Rus'" History teacher Lisenkova E.P. Topic: "The Baptism of Rus'" The purpose of the extracurricular activity: to trace the process

Questionnaire program for representatives of Islam Personal data (answer optional) Tell us about yourself: what is your name, when and where were you born, where do you live, what nationality, religion? 1. Household, life. How does it go

School scientific-practical conference "Step into the Future" Laws of the fairy-tale genre Dampilova Svetlana Alexandrovna Bagdarinskaya secondary school, 3rd grade Home address: s. Bagdarin,

In order to order products you need to write a letter to the address: [email protected] in which to indicate the names and article of products, as well as your contacts (name, e-mail and phone). Orders worth

Municipal Autonomous Educational Institution of the City of Kaliningrad Secondary School 38 DISCUSSED at the meeting of the Ministry of Defense Protocol 1 "29" August 2016 "AGREED" at the meeting of the PS Protocol

Eastern Slavs in the VIII-IX centuries Lecturer Kiyashchenko A.A. The Tale of Bygone Years The Tale of Bygone Years is the first historical work that has come down to us, since this chronicle does not simply describe

But not only Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, but also other composers portrayed Baba Yaga in their musical fairy tales. Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov - Russian composer also wrote a short piece for a symphony

Federal Agency for Education Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Siberian Federal University"

Project for younger students "What are the fairy tales?" Educator: Krylova Svetlana Anatolyevna Location of the project: OGKOU "Sanatorium boarding school" Project participants: 3rd grade students. Time

The play by A.N. Ostrovsky "The Snow Maiden" Nikulshin Julia 8-A grade. Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich Russian playwright, whose work became the most important stage in the development of the Russian national theater. Corresponding Member

LESSON OF LITERARY READING IN GRADE 3 Theme of the lesson: Comparative analysis of fairy tales of different peoples. "Sivka-Burka" and "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" Purpose: to identify common motifs and differences in the tales of different peoples

Jan 25, 2013. For my taste, this is one of the most appropriate genres for family viewing, watching with children.. Good old favorite series.. Fantastic cute animals, cute characters

Explanatory note Appeal to the age-old experience of the people and their spiritual heritage is of great importance today. Without the study, preservation and development of the past, the future itself is unthinkable. Working programm

Plan - a summary of leisure activities for children of the preparatory group. Title: "Journey through fairy tales in search of treasure." Purpose: to cultivate love for the family; help children understand the importance of the family. Tasks:

SURNAME CLASS - FIRST NAME Mark the correct answer. The running time is 90 minutes. 1. Determine the correct sequence of events in the Russian folk tale "The Fox and the Wolf." A. B. C. D. E. F. G. 1

Prepared by the teacher: Baklanova L.I. GBDOU 68 St. Petersburg Our ancestors, the Slavs, came from Asia to Europe in ancient times. First they settled along the lower reaches of the Danube and occupied

01 The house where I live 1. Where do we live? 2. What do I know about the world around me? Country Talk to parents about the country where they were born. 02 My second Motherland 1. Motherland is the place where we were born.

Scenario plan for joint activities with children of the middle group Topic: Magic Through the Looking Glass Purpose: to consolidate the skill of compiling a syncwine. Tasks: Educational: improve children's ability to recognize fairy tales

GBOU secondary school 229 of the Admiralteisky district of St. Petersburg Educational and methodological manual on literature (grades 5-6) Topic: “Folklore of Ancient Rus'. The history of Baba Yaga "Teacher of Russian language and literature:

Lesson 2 Topic: What languages ​​does art speak. The biblical legend tells us about the construction of the Tower of Babel about the "golden age" of mankind, when "the whole earth had one language and one dialect."

Summary of a lesson on literary reading (Grade 2). School "2000" Topic: "How different peoples appeared (Dolgan fairy tale)" Course of the lesson: I. Self-determination for learning activities. 1) Motivate for learning activities

RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT GODS AND PRIESTS The ancient Egyptians believed that gods controlled nature, that they needed to be pleased and appeased. They built dwellings for the gods - temples. At the temples there were servants

Municipal preschool educational institution kindergarten 5 of the general developmental type of the Istra municipal district Joint partnership educational activities in the educational field

Essay on literature on the topic of the Snow Maiden and oral folk art From oral folk art. Historical Theme of good and evil in the works of Russian literature. Protection of Karamzin's abstract on the pages

Education with a fairy tale Presentation Streltsova Nadezhda Pavlovna - The magical meaning of fairy tales has been known for a long time. Quite a few fairy tales have come down to us, reflecting the centuries-old experience of previous generations.

How the wolf got his bottom "wait but" whose fox "went" to the ay "l 1 for the chicken. She "went" there "because" she "really wanted" to eat. In au "le fox" stole "la * sa" most big "yu ku" ritsu and would "stro-by" quickly run "la to

Dear Guys! This year you begin to study the history of our multinational Motherland Russia. The textbook you hold in your hands covers the period from ancient times to the end of the 16th century. It tells

Primorskaya School of the 1st and 3rd levels Literary reading Grade 3 Zhirun Victoria Alexandrovna 2016 Theme. General lesson on the section "Oral folk art" Purpose: to generalize and systematize the knowledge of students

Vagizova Rumiya Akhtyamovna MBOU "Secondary School 9", Nefteyugansk KhMAO-Yugra Folk art is our material and spiritual wealth. Unique and diverse in its types, it makes up a significant part

Project type: information-practice-oriented. project type: long-term. by the number of participants: group. by the nature of the content: the child and Russian national culture. implementation period: 1

Municipal preschool educational institution "Kindergarten 12, Pugachev, Saratov Region" Tales for the safety of children Educational lesson "Fox sister and gray wolf" Teacher-psychologist Volkogon

Paganism in the Literature of Ancient Rus Rus: Questions, Riddles, Discussions Anna Valerievna Arkhangelskaya Sources of Information on Old Russian Paganism “The Tale of Bygone Years” (beginning of the beginning of the 12th century); "The Word of Idols" (xii

P / n Grade 3 Calendar and thematic planning of the subject "Fine Arts" within the framework of the TMC PNS for the 2015-2016 academic year 34 hours Lesson topic Date Element of content Level requirements

Fundamentals of Orthodox culture Lesson 18 How Christianity came to Rus' City of Vladimir Kyiv. Vladimir Cathedral Vladimir Cathedral. Sevastopol St. Petersburg. Prince Vladimir Cathedral Irkutsk. Vladimirsky

Consultation for teachers "Folk rag doll as a means of introducing preschoolers to folk culture" Prepared by the educator Baymatova Ira Vladimirovna

creative work

Reflection of Slavic myths in fairy tales.

· Conclusion.

Introduction.

If you read or speak Russian, whether you like it or not, feel it or not, you are in the world of Slavic culture.

But many customs are just from there, from our pagan times. There, in this mysterious and extraordinarily interesting world, our worldview is rooted. Is it really fair that we study the Egyptian, Greek, Roman Gods in every detail, but we don’t even know our own.

It was the desire to learn about the way of life and thinking of the Slavs, about the origin of Slavic mythology that made me take up this work.

Working on this research project helped me not only get acquainted with the primary sources of Slavic pagan mythology in detail, but also prove the relevance and timeliness of my chosen topic: Ancient Slavic deities in Russian fairy tales. History and fiction.

As a result, it became necessary to set a specific goal for the project:

Present pagan mythology as the main way of understanding the natural and human world of the ancient Slavs, revealing history and fiction.

Effective implementation of the goal is possible only when solving the following tasks:

Show the pagan mythological system in order to understand the worldview of the ancient Slavs.

Represent the Ancient Pantheon and the cult of the gods.

Familiarize yourself and compare the gods of the ancient Slavs with the folklore and ethnographic material of A.N. Afanasyev.

Demonstrate independent research skills in working with works of art.

The practical significance of my project is that this material can be used in lessons where students are deeply engaged in the study of national history and literary creativity.

The structure of the world of the ancient Slavs.

The ancient Slavs were people of the Vedic culture, so it would be more correct to call the ancient Slavic religion not paganism, but Vedism. The word "veda" is consonant with the modern Russian "know", "know". This is a peaceful religion of a highly cultured agricultural people, related to other religions of the Vedic root - Ancient India and Iran, Ancient Greece.

The beginning of Slavic culture dates back to the 6th century. In the early stages of development, the nature of the country left a huge imprint on the entire course of its history. Before the formation of the Kievan state, they had a significant history, notable successes in the field of material culture, owned the secrets of metal processing, and used agricultural tools. This people developed well-known ideas about the earthly and the afterlife, strictly observed rituals developed, and when the process of ethnogenesis - the formation of the ancient Russian people - was completed, these cultural achievements of the past were not forgotten.

An important feature of the way of life and thought of the ancient Slavs is the idea of ​​the inextricable unity-kinship of those living with their ancestors-forefathers and gods as a condition for the harmony of the worlds: earthly and heavenly. The fragility of such a balance was felt by people and personified by them in the battle of Truth and Falsehood.

The opposition white - black is embodied in the pantheon - Belobog and Chernobog, divination, signs. White corresponds to the positive beginning, black - to the negative.

The worldview of the ancient Slavs was characterized by anthropotheocosmism i.e. they did not divide into the spheres of the human, divine and natural, the understanding of the world as not created by anyone, eternal.

Orthodoxy began to supplant the ancient culture and faith of the Slavs not earlier than the 11th century. - much later than other European nations. Prior to that, it existed for at least one and a half thousand years. The legacy of such a powerful layer of Slavic cultural archaism declared, continues to declare itself both clearly and gradually: in the way of thinking, style and phraseology of speech, facial expressions and gestures, unconscious movements of the soul in contact with the world of native nature. Its significance also lies in the fact that we get acquainted with the images of the characters of that distant world in early childhood, when a person is most open to this universe.

Since ancient times, along with agriculture and cattle breeding, the population of Ancient Rus' was successfully engaged in trade. Under this condition, one can assume the early existence of cities, already in the 7th-8th centuries. The chronicle does not give the time of their appearance. They were "originally" - Novgorod, Polotsk, Rostov, Smolensk, Kyiv - all on the river, trade routes. Cities were not only points of tribal defense and worship. By the 11th century they are the centers of political, cultural life, handicraft production. With the advent of private property, rich farmers, mansions (castles) arose. In the Scandinavian sagas of the ninth century. Ancient Rus' was called "Gardarika" - a country of cities. The emerging culture of Kievan Rus was urban. Thus, before the second half of the 9th century, before the formation of the state, the Eastern Slavs already had a significant history, managed to achieve noticeable success in the field of material culture, which was the basis of social life.

The pagan religion occupied a central place in the culture of this period. The religious views of the ancient Slavs reflected the worldview of our ancestors. Man lived in a mythological picture of the world. In its center was nature, to which the collective adapted. There are several stages in the development of pagan culture.

At the first stage, nature was inhabited by many spirits, which had to be propitiated so that they would not harm a person, help in labor activity. The Slavs worshiped Mother Earth, water cults were quite developed. Considering water as the element from which the world was formed, the Slavs inhabited it with various deities - mermaids, watermen, sailors, dedicated holidays to them. Forests and groves were revered, they were considered the dwellings of the gods. The god of the sun - Dazhdbog, the god of the wind - Stribog was revered. The Slavs thought that their genealogy comes from the gods.

At the second stage, in Russian-Slavic paganism, the cult of ancestors develops and lasts longer than other types of beliefs. They revered Rod - the creator of the Universe and Rozhanitsa - goddesses of fertility. The Slavs believed in the other world, they perceived death not as disappearance, but as a transition to the underworld. They burned the corpses or buried them in the ground. In the first case, it was assumed that after death the soul remains to live, in the other it was assumed that they continue to live, but in a different world. After being burned, the soul retained connections with the material world, taking on a different image, moving into a new body. The Slavs believed that the ancestors continue to live with them even after death, constantly being near.

At the third stage of the development of pagan religion, the “God of gods” appears, removed from the world. This is already a celestial being, the head of the hierarchy of the gods. In the VI century. the god of thunder Perun was recognized as the ruler of the universe. In the contracts of the X century. with the Greeks, the Russian princes swore by two gods: Druzhinny - Perun (later - the princely god), and merchants - Veles - the god of cattle (later the god of wealth and trade). The Slavs had quite developed forms of pagan rituals, i.e. an organized, ordered system of magical actions, the practical purpose of which is to influence the surrounding nature, to make it serve man. The worship of idols was accompanied by pagan rituals, which were not inferior to Christian ones in pomp, solemnity and impact on the psyche.

Pagan rituals included various types of arts. With the help of sculpture, carving, chasing, images were created, the possession of which, the Slavs thought, gave power over the forces of nature, protected from troubles and dangers (amulets, amulets). Pagan symbols appeared in Slavic folklore (images of birch, pine, mountain ash), in architecture - images of birds and horse heads were carved on the roofs of dwellings.

The Slavs built multi-domed wooden pagan temples, but their temple was rather a place of storage of objects of worship. The rituals were accompanied by the pronunciation of incantations, spells, singing, dancing, playing musical instruments, elements of theatrical performances.

Levels of Slavic mythology.

What is mythology?

Myth (Greek word, legend) is a legend that conveys the ideas and beliefs of people in antiquity about the origin of the world and life on earth, about brgs and heroes.

Slavic mythology can now be judged only by secondary - written, folklore and material sources. I think that folklore is a rich source for researchers of Slavic mythology - fairy tales, epics, ritual songs, incantations, etc., based on ancient myths and legends. Of course, the myths in this presentation were greatly distorted, and the main problem of researchers is to isolate, reconstruct the most ancient ideas, cleanse them of everything introduced later. Fairy tales, as well as epics, in some cases preserve some plots of pagan myths about animals, gods, spirits and the world order.

· Highest level. Two Proto-Slavic deities Perun and Veles belonged to the highest level. These deities embody military and economic-natural functions. They are interconnected as participants in a thunderstorm myth: the thunder god Perun, who lives in the sky, on top of the mountains, pursues his serpentine enemy, who lives below, on earth. The persecuted Veles hides successively under a tree, a stone, turns into a man, a horse, a cow. During a duel with Veles, Perun splits a tree, splits a stone, throws arrows. Perun's victory ends with rain that brings fertility.

· The deities associated with economic cycles and seasonal rituals, as well as the gods who embodied the integrity of closed small groups could belong to a lower level: Rod, Chur. It is possible that most of the female deities, who show close ties with the collective, belonged to this level, sometimes less likened to a person than the gods of the highest level.

With the designation of share, good luck, happiness, the common Slavic God was probably also connected. One can compare the rich (who has a god, a share) - the poor (who does not have a god, a share), in the Ukrainian language - negod, neboga - unfortunate, beggar. The word "God" was included in the names of various deities - Dazhdbog, Chernobog and others. Slavic data and evidence of other most archaic Indo-European mythologies allow us to see in these names a reflection of the ancient layer of mythological ideas of the Proto-Slavs. Many of these characters appear in fairy tales in accordance with the time of the existence of the fairy tale and even specific life situations.

Fairy-tale characters, apparently, are participants in the ritual in their mythologized guise and leaders of those classes of creatures that themselves belong to the lowest level: such are the baba-yaga, koschey, miracle-yudo, the forest king, the water king, the sea king. The lower mythology includes different classes of evil spirits, spirits, animals associated with the entire mythological space from the house to the forest, swamp. These are brownies, goblin, water, mermaids, kikimors; from animals - a bear, a wolf.

Man in his mythologized incarnation correlates with all levels of Slavic mythology, especially in rituals.

Pantheon of gods.

main gods.

In connection with the need for internal unification, the princely god Perun becomes the god of the state. Rod was the supreme male deity of the Slavs.

In the Slavic pantheon there were also gods of non-Slavic origin: the Finnish goddess Mokosh, the god of the sun of the peoples of the East - Khors. As a result, ordinary tribal conflicts were reinforced in the religious sphere. In 980, Vladimir undertook the first religious reform, the essence of which was the merging of heterogeneous gods into a single pantheon, but it failed. The most ancient teachings against paganism XII-XIII centuries. they write about Rod as a god worshiped by all peoples:

The Hellenes began to put a meal to Rod and Rozhanitsy, also the Egyptians, also the Romans. It even came to the Slavs, these same Slavs began to put a meal on Rod and Rozhanitsy before Perun, their god. Another Christian scribe instructs: "God is the creator of God, and not Rod." With this opposition, the chronicler involuntarily makes it clear what a significant place was assigned to the Family in the pantheon of ancient Slavic deities.

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. Rod is the ruler of the earth and all living things, he is a pagan god - the creator.

in Slavic languages, the root "genus" means kinship and birth, water (spring), profit (harvest). Concepts such as people and homeland, in addition - red (red) and lightning, especially ball lightning, called "rhodium". Such a variety of cognate words undoubtedly proves the greatness of the pagan god.

Stribog and Svarog have much in common with Rod. "Stribog" means god-father, winds were considered his grandchildren. "Svarog" is translated as "heavenly", in myths it is said about him as a god who sent ticks to people, thanks to which they learned to process iron. Svarog is also associated with fire, which was called "Svarozhich".

The companions of the Family were Rozhanitsy - the nameless goddesses of fertility, abundance, prosperity. Their image goes back to the ancient Deer, but Rozhanitsy are the guardians of life.

According to the most ancient notion, Rozhanitsy were conceived as two heavenly goddesses, givers of rain, but the belief in them as the protectors of young mothers and small children lasted the longest.

In honor of Rod and Rozhanitsy, ritual feasts were held during the autumn harvest festival and on the winter solstice. Offerings to the gods consisted of bread, honey, cottage cheese, pies.

Gods of the agricultural age.

With the transition of the Slavs to agriculture, the solar gods began to play an important role in their beliefs. The Slavs borrowed a lot in the cult from neighboring eastern nomadic tribes, the names of deities also have Scythian (Iranian) roots. After reading many myths of the ancient Slavs, I realized that for several centuries one of the most revered pagan deities in Rus' was Dazhbog (Dazhdbog) - the god of sunlight, heat, crop ripening time, fertility in general (his name is translated as "god of heat"). The Slavs called him "The Sun-Tsar, the son of Svarog", the symbols of this god were gold and silver. The cult of Dazhbog especially flourished in Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries, in the era of state fragmentation, coexisting with Christianity (the religion of that time is called dual faith). Over time, the ancient meaning of the name, dazhbog, was forgotten, and they began to talk about him as Daibog, about “giving God”.

Russian people revered Dazhbog as their protector, calling themselves his grandchildren. Dazhbog - the Sun-Tsar - was spoken of as the first ruler, the founder of the calendar account of days, the legislator. The Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir the Holy was called the Red Sun (it is noteworthy that the prince who brought Christianity to Rus' received a pagan nickname - this suggests that in the era of dual faith, Christian and pagan symbols were not separated in the public mind).

Dazhbog was depicted flying in a chariot harnessed by griffins - dogs with bird wings, satellites of the gods of fertility; in the hands of the god are ritual wands with the image of fern leaves. Such wands (toyagi) were used by Bulgarian priests during summer prayers for rain.

Dazhbog was the god of sunlight, but by no means the luminary himself. Khors was the god of the sun. The idea that sunlight exists independently of the sun is common to many peoples;

Khors, whose name means "sun" "circle", embodied the luminary moving across the sky. This is a very ancient deity, who did not have a human appearance and was represented simply by a golden disk. With the cult of Khors, a ritual spring dance was associated - a round dance (movement in a circle). The custom is to bake pancakes on Maslenitsa, resembling a solar disk in shape, and to roll lighted wheels, which also symbolized the luminary.

The companion of the gods of the sun and fertility was Semargl (Simargl) - a winged dog, the guardian of crops, the god of roots, seeds, sprouts. Its animal appearance speaks of its antiquity; The idea of ​​Semargl - the protector of crops - as a wonderful dog is easily explained: real dogs protected the fields from wild roe deer and goats.

Khors and Semargl are deities of Scythian origin, their cult came from eastern nomads, therefore both of these gods were widely revered only in Southern Rus', bordering on the Steppe.

Lada and Lelya were female deities of fertility, well-being, spring flowering of life. They are like the nameless Rozhanitsy - the companions of the Family; comparison with the mythology of other peoples allows us to assert that the goddesses were mother and daughter.

Lada is the goddess of marriage and love, abundance, harvest time. Her cult can be traced among the Poles until the 15th century; in ancient times, it was common among all Slavs, as well as the Balts. Prayers were addressed to the goddess in late spring and during the summer, a white rooster was sacrificed (white color symbolized good). Her name was repeated in the refrains of the songs: "Oh, Lado!".

The image of Lada as the goddess of harvest and weddings is most clearly reflected in the folk game “And we sowed millet”, where the entire cycle of agricultural work was first listed, and then one of the groups of players “wooed” to another, and the game-rite ended with a “wedding” -

the transition of one of the girls to another group. This game was accompanied by a song, each stanza of which ended with the chorus “Oh, Did-Lado!”, That is, the game was nothing more than a prayer for the harvest and marriage addressed to the goddess.

Lada was called "Mother Leleva".

Lelya is the goddess of unmarried girls, the goddess of spring and the first greenery. Her name is found in words associated with childhood: “lyalya”, “lyalka” - a doll and an appeal to a girl; "cradle"; "leleko" - a stork that brings children; "to cherish" - to take care of a small child. Lelya was especially revered by young girls, celebrating the spring holiday Lyalnik in her honor: they chose the most beautiful of their friends, put a wreath on her head, seated her on a turf bench (a symbol of sprouting young greenery), danced around her and sang songs glorifying Lelya, then a girl - "Lelya" presented her friends with wreaths prepared in advance.

The all-Slavic veneration of Makosha (Mokoshi) - the goddess of the earth, harvest, female fate, the great mother of all living things, goes back to the most ancient agricultural cult of Mother Earth. Makosh, as a goddess of fertility, is closely connected with Semargl and griffins, with mermaids irrigating fields, with water in general - Makosh was worshiped at springs, as a sacrifice, girls threw yarn into her wells (hence the explanation for another spelling of the name of the goddess: Mokosh - from " get wet "; however, with this understanding of the name, the goddess turns out to be only the patroness of water and spinning, and not land and harvest). Makosh was also the goddess of women's work, a wonderful spinner.

Friday was considered the sacred day of Mokosh; twelve Fridays a year were especially celebrated (each month), of which the ninth and tenth (end of October - November) are the most important, when all work in the field ended and women's gatherings began, where they spun, weaved, sewed .-

On these Fridays, the girls invited the guys, treated them, sang songs, made riddles. In honor of the ninth Friday, the girls wove an “ordinary veil” (that is, a fabric made in one day): having gathered together, they did the entire annual cycle on this day works - they pulled flax, spun, wove, whitewashed; this cloth was sacrificed to the goddess. In northern Russian embroideries, a female figure is often found among floral ornaments. It is assumed that this is Makosh.

The male deity of fertility associated with the lower world was Veles (Volos). His image and cult differed significantly from the image and cult of Rod - the heavenly god of fertility. The name Veles goes back to the ancient root "ve1" with the meaning "dead"; Veles is the ruler of the world of the dead. But since the world of the dead was associated with ideas about magical power, the owner of which subjugates people, the same root means power and is found in the words “power”, “command”, “own”, “great”. The owner of the other world - the progenitor deity - in ancient mythology has the appearance of an animal, and the image of Veles goes back to the image of the Bear as a powerful deity: the god retains the features of the beast for a long time, seems to be hairy (in the South Slavic languages, the name of wool - wave - goes back to that same root; another form of the god's name is Volos).

The combination of these ideas about God gives the key to understanding the word "sorcerer", he communicates with another world, endowed with great wisdom and a poetic gift.

He is a powerful magician and, possibly, a prophet (as you know, people often turned to the dead with questions about the future).

The cult of Veles among the Slavs has changed greatly over time. The most ancient form of the god is the Bear, which is the progenitor of wild animals that are hunted. With the transition to cattle breeding, Veles turned into the patron of domestic animals, the "cattle god", while the veneration of the Bear becomes an independent cult and is gradually forgotten.

But the “cattle god” has not yet completely lost its bearish appearance: for example, Russian peasants until the 20th century. they kept the bear's paw in the stables as a talisman and called it the "cattle god". Performing magical actions designed to protect livestock, the owner put on a fur coat with fur outside. With the development of agriculture among the Slavs, Veles becomes the god of the Harvest, remaining still the god of the dead - the ancestors buried in the ground were patrons and givers of the harvest. The idea of ​​Veles as the god of the dead and the god of the harvest was reflected in the custom of leaving Veles on his beard uncompressed not the first, but the last sheaf of bread.

Ever since the pastoral lifestyle, the Slavs have revered Veles as the god of wealth (in ancient times they paid with pets, the word "cattle" meant money). In Ancient Rus', Veles was also the patron of merchants.

The cult of Veles - the great underground god, the giver of fertility and wealth, the lord of wisdom, witchcraft, poetry, the lord of the dead - was very widespread in Rus'. This, in particular, is evidenced by the abundance of villages and villages with the names Velesovo, Volosovo, Volotovo. .

In many ways, it is similar to Veles Morena (Marena) - the goddess of the world of the dead, her name has a common root with the words ("death and" pestilence ") and the fertility of the earth. Traces of her cult among the Slavs could be traced until recently: Mara or Madder was called a straw effigy - the personification of the winter cold, which was torn up on Maslenitsa and scattered across the fields so that they would give a rich harvest.

Ideas about Morena as the queen of another world, the giver of blessings, are also preserved in Russian fairy tales, where she is called the elatokdra Princess Marya Morevna. She is usually kidnapped by Koschey (the capture of the goddess of fertility leads to hunger and trouble), Ivan Tsarevich frees her, and happiness, the flowering of life comes (a symbol of victory over the winter cold and the arrival of spring).

Gods of war.

Among the common Slavic gods of fertility, a special place is occupied by warlike gods, to whom bloody sacrifices were made - Yarilo and Perun.

Despite the deep antiquity, and therefore the wide popularity of these gods, they were little revered by most Slavic tribes because of their warlike appearance.

Yarilo - the god of grain dying in the ground to be reborn as an ear - was both beautiful and cruel. He appeared to the pagans as a young man on a white horse, in white clothes, in a wreath of wild flowers, with a sheaf of rye in one hand and a severed human head in the other. The root of his name - "yar" - is found in words associated with the idea of ​​​​fertility and the flourishing of LIFE: spring wheat; yarochka - a young sheep; but the same root means anger, ardor: furious, ardent - angry or ardent; bright fire. Yarila, as the god of death and resurrection, was sacrificed a young sheep, the blood of which was sprinkled on arable land in order to make the harvest more plentiful.

The Slavic Thunderer was Perun. His cult is one of the oldest and dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. e., when warlike shepherds on war chariots, possessing bronze weapons, subjugated neighboring tribes. Perun was more of a warrior god than the embodiment of spring thunderstorms fertilizing the earth, so it is not surprising that until the tenth century. - the time of the military campaigns of Kiev - his cult did not occupy a central place, and in some areas of the Slavic world was not known at all. The main myth about Perun tells about the battle of the god with the Serpent - the thief of cattle, waters, sometimes luminaries and the wife of the thunderer. Both heroes of the myth are associated with a stone: either the battle takes place on a mountain, or the Serpent is a stone one, or Perun strikes him with a stone weapon (the word lightning is related in origin to the word hammer and means “stone axe”; in the same way, the sky to ancient people seemed to be stone, and clouds - colliding heavenly mountains).

Perun the snake fighter, the owner of the lightning-hammer, is closely associated with the image of a magical blacksmith. So, in Russian fairy tales, blacksmiths often defeat the Snake, grabbing it with pincers by the tongue. Blacksmithing was perceived as magic. Young Vladimir Svyatoslavich proclaims Perun the supreme god of Rus' and sends his uncle Dobrynya to Novgorod in order to introduce a new cult there as well. The god-warrior was alien to the trading people of Novgorod, they resisted the people of Kiev, but their indignation was suppressed, the idol of the Lizard was cut down, and the idol of Perun was put in its place.

Perun was called the "princely god", since he was the patron of princes, symbolizing their power. Such a god was alien to the majority of communal Slavic farmers, and this indifference of the people to the god declared supreme repeatedly led scientists to believe that Perun was a non-Slavic deity borrowed from the Varangians. However, the name of God is of primordially Slavic origin; Scandinavian legends about the Thunderers bear little resemblance to the myths about Perun.

domestic deities.

Spirits inhabited not only forests and waters. Many domestic deities are known - well-wishers and well-wishers, at the head of which was a brownie, who lived either in the oven, or in a lapta hung for him on the stove. The brownie was transferred to the new house in a pot with coals from the old stove, while repeating: “Brownie, brownie, come with me!”. The brownie patronized the household: if the owners were diligent, he added good to the good, and punished laziness with misfortune.

It was believed that the brownie treated cattle with special attention: at night he allegedly combed the manes and tails of horses (and if he was angry, then, on the contrary, he tangled the animals' hair into tangles); he could<отнять>milk from cows, but could make milk plentiful; he had power over the life and health of newborn pets.

Faith in the brownie was closely intertwined with the belief that dead relatives help the living. In the minds of people, this is confirmed by the connection between the brownie and the stove.

In ancient times, many peoples believed that it was through the chimney that the soul of the newborn entered the family and that the spirit of the deceased also left through the chimney.

Images of brownies were carved from wood and represented a bearded man in a hat. Such figurines were called churami shurs and at the same time symbolized the deceased ancestors - great-grandfathers, ancestors. Expression: "Stay away from me!" meant to ask:<Предок, охрани меня!>. The ancestors of the family - grandfathers - were its reliable and caring defenders.

In Rus', they believed that the brownie's face was similar to the owner of the house, only his hands were covered with wool. In Belarus and neighboring regions, the brownie is revered in the form of a real snake living under the stove; housewives call such a gospodarik snake and feed it with milk. The custom of keeping snakes in houses has been known to all Slavs since ancient times: snakes were considered the guardians of seed grain, because mice are afraid of them.

Archaeologists find images of snakes on many objects, for example, on vessels with grain. In some northern Russian villages, there were beliefs that, in addition to the brownie, the housekeeper, the cattleman and the kutny god also take care of the household (these well-wishers lived in the barn and looked after the cattle; they were left some bread and cottage cheese in the corner of the barn as a sacrifice), as well as a barn - the keeper of stocks of grain and hay.

Completely different deities lived in the bath, which in pagan times was considered an unclean place. Bannik was an evil spirit that frightened a person, almost drove him to suffocation in a bathhouse that was heated in black, i.e. with an open hearth inside and without a chimney. To appease the bannik, after washing, people left him a broom, soap, water; a black chicken was sacrificed to the bannik.

In the bath, they also left sacrifices to navyam - the evil souls of those who died a violent death. Navyas were represented as huge black birds without plumage, flying at night, in storm and rain,<`на злых ветрах>. These birds were screaming like hungry hawks; their cry foreshadowed death. Navi attacked women, children, sucked their blood.

To protect themselves from the wrath of the Navi, they always carried a head of garlic, a needle without an eye or a silver amulet with them (These amulets protected from any evil spirits and from witchcraft).

Cult<малых>deities, whether household spirits or nature spirits, did not disappear with the advent of Christianity. Beliefs persisted for two reasons. First, respect<малых божеств было менее явным, чем культ богов неба, земли, грозы. Малым божествам не строили святилищ, обряды в их честь совершались дома, в кругу семьи. Во-вторых, люди считали, что малые божества живут рядом, и человек общается с ними ежедневно, поэтому, несмотря на церковные запреты, продолжали почитать добрых и злых духов, тем самым, обеспечивая себе благополучие и безопасность.

In the mind of an ancient pagan, two worlds lived simultaneously - the real, human world and another world inhabited by deities (good and Evil) and the souls of ancestors. Since animal deities were considered the most ancient relatives, they were thought of as the masters of another world.

The other world was perceived, on the one hand, as very distant and difficult to access (located underground or in the sky). A powerful sorcerer, who managed to penetrate it, returned back wiser, learned magical techniques and brought various wonderful objects with him. On the other hand, another world was conceived as close, often visited by a person, as if it were a familiar forest, swamp or mountains. The owners of the forest - the Bear and the Wolf - were simultaneously presented as the owners of another world. But the most formidable of the owners was considered the lord of the underworld and the underwater world - the Serpent.

Deities are monsters.

The serpent - a powerful hostile monster - is found in the mythology of almost any nation. The ancient ideas of the Slavs about the Serpent have been preserved in fairy tales.

In them, the hero fights with a multi-headed monster, as a rule, near the river (the Serpent is associated with underground waters), defeating him, frees the princess, and the epic hero Dobrynya - numerous captives.

The liberation of the captives is an echo of an ancient myth in which the hero-sorcerer, going to another world, was swallowed by the Serpent and found that the realm of death was in the belly of the monster. There he met dead ancestors, learned wisdom from them, accumulated strength, and then got back. Over time, ideas about the Serpent changed, he was perceived more and more hostile, and if in the ancient versions of the myth getting into his belly was considered a great success, then later such an event began to be perceived as a disaster. Northern Slavs (Novgorodians, etc.) worshiped the Serpent - the lord of underground waters - and called him the Lizard.

Sanctuaries of the Lizard were located on the swamps, the banks of lakes and rivers; the most famous of them was located in Peryn, not far from Novgorod, in the place where the Volkhov River flows out of Lake Ilmen. The ancient sanctuary received the name "Peryn" when, on the orders of the still young Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the idol of the Lizard was defeated and replaced by Perun. The coastal shrines of the Lizard had a perfectly round shape - the circle as a symbol of perfection, order, was opposed to the destructive power of this god. As victims, the Lizard was thrown into the swamp of black chickens, as well as young girls, which was reflected in many beliefs (as if the mermen carry women under water or marry drowned women). The echo of the same myths was preserved in the children's game of "Yasha", that is, in the Lizard, waiting for his bride-victim. All Slavic tribes that worshiped the Lizard considered him to be the absorber of the sun: every day the evening luminary descends beyond the limits of the world and floats to the east like an underground river. This river flows inside the two-headed Lizard, swallowing the sun with its western mouth and belching out of the eastern one. The antiquity of the myth is evidenced by the fact that the Lizard is not hostile to the sun: he returns the luminary voluntarily.

The most detailed myths about the Lizard have been preserved in the Novgorod region. Novgorodians called him "prince of Volkhov." The chronicler reported that the Lizard “blocked the waterway in that Volkhov River. And he devoured others who did not worship him, others ... he drowned. Therefore, people, then ignorant, called that accursed god the real god. When the god was killed, his body went up the Volkhov, was thrown ashore in Peryn and buried there with great honors, as the later chronicles report. Echoes of sacrifices to the Lizard in Peryn survived until the twentieth century. Fishermen, sailing past the sanctuary, according to ancient tradition, made a sacrifice - they threw coins into the water.

I think that one of the most detailed expositions of the myth about the Lizard is the epic about Sadko, the guslar, who delighted with his game the underwater lord (called the Sea King in the epic). Sadko received gifts from him and became fabulously rich. The second part of the epic tells that Sadko went to the bottom of the sea as a sacrifice to the Lizard-king, but with the help of his daughter he got back.

The custom of sacrificing a person to an underwater god existed for a very long time in the north in a transformed form: for example, on Onega in the early twentieth century. the old people made a scarecrow and sent it to the lake in a leaky boat, where it sank. Another sacrifice brought to the Lizard was a horse, which was first fed by the whole village, and then drowned.

With the transition to agriculture, many myths and religious ideas of the hunting era were modified or forgotten, the cruelty of ancient rites was softened: the sacrifice of a person was replaced by the sacrifice of a horse, and later - stuffed animals. The Slavic gods of the agricultural era are brighter and kinder to man.

Reflection of Slavic gods in fairy tales.

Like a fairy tale - the world. The tales of the people

Their wisdom is dark, but doubly sweet,

Like this ancient mighty nature,

From infancy sunk into my soul.

Rulers of another world

In fairy tales, the ruler of another world appears in different guises, for example, in the guise of Koshchei (the name comes from the word `bone and means "skeleton").

Koschey, like the Serpent, holds the princess captive. He is called Immortal, if only because the lord of the world of death himself is a dead man invulnerable to conventional weapons. The description of the battle with Koshchei, especially the victory over him, could only arise in an era when faith in ancient myths about another world was shaken and communication with its rulers began to appear not as a blessing, but as white. Apparently, this happened when the pagans began to leave the forests and began to settle on the plains, and the hunting lifestyle was replaced by an agricultural one. The description of Koshcheev's death belongs to deep antiquity - his soul is stored outside the body and is an inanimate object (needle). She is guarded by everything living and inanimate: water (the sea surrounding the island of Koshchei), land (the island itself), a tree (an oak tree on which the chest hangs), animals (hare), birds (duck). The egg, in which the needle is stored, in mythology is often a symbol of the entire universe - in other words, Koschei was represented as the lord of all things.

Even more ancient and complex is the image of the mistress of another world, known in fairy tales by the name of Baba Yaga. Her hut on chicken legs is depicted standing either in the forest bowl (the center of the other world), or at the edge. But then the entrance to it is from the side of the forest, that is, from the world of death. The name "chicken legs" most likely came from "chicken", that is, fumigated with smoke, pillars on which the Slavs put the "hut of death" - a small log house with the ashes of the deceased. Inside (such a funeral rite existed among the ancient Slavs as early as the 5th-10th centuries). Baba Yaga inside such a hut seemed to be like a living dead - she lay motionless and did not see a person who had come from the world of the living (the living do not see the dead, the dead do not see the living). She learned about his arrival by smell - "it smells of the Russian spirit." The chicken legs of the hut can be simply animal or bird, paws, and Yaga herself has some features of the beast, and sometimes a bear or a goat lives in the hut instead of Yaga. Yaga is the mistress of time: she is served by the Crane, White and Black horsemen, i.e. morning, day and night. A person who meets Baba Yaga's hut on the border of the world of life and death, as a rule, goes to another world to free the captive princess. And for this he must join the world of the dead.

He usually asks Yaga to feed him, and she gives him the food of the dead. There is another option - to be eaten by Yaga and thus end up in the world of the dead. Having passed the tests in the hut of Baba Yaga, a person turns out to belong to both worlds at the same time, is endowed with many magical qualities, subjugates various inhabitants of the world of the dead, overcomes the terrible monsters inhabiting it, wins back the magical beauty from them and becomes the king. By the name of "yaga" - just like the name of "witch" - the villagers call old, grumpy and ugly women in abuse. Following the epic description of fairy tales, Baba Yaga, a bone leg, her head lies like a pestle in her hut from corner to corner, her nose has grown into the ceiling, her breasts hung through the garden. Fairy tales often mention three prophetic sisters - Baba-Yagas, depicting them, although grumpy, but kind, helpful old women: they foretell the wanderer what awaits him ahead, help him with wise advice, give him a heroic horse, a ball showing the way to unknown countries, flying carpet and other curiosities ...

TALES ABOUT ANIMALS.

Tales about animals took on forms of fiction that attributed to animals the ability to think, speak and act intelligently. Under the early tribal system, a kind of belief in family ties between people (most often a clan) and some kind of animal was widespread almost everywhere. The animal was considered the ancestor - the totem. The totem could not be killed. He should be revered, as he patronized the family. So, in the nicknames of the bear among the Slavs, ideas about the consanguineous relations of a person with a bear are imprinted. Traces of totemism have also been preserved in superstitions. Russians have a bear - "grandfather", "old man". They believed that a bear could help a person, lead a lost person out of the forest. It was believed that a mysterious power was hidden in the bear’s paw: the bear’s claws, drawn along the udder of a cow, seemed to make it milk, the paw was hung in the yard from the brownie or underground - “for chickens” Archaeologists also found direct traces of the bear cult. In the burial grounds of the Yaroslavl Territory, drilled bear teeth and necklaces of teeth were found, which in ancient times had the meaning of talismans. There were similar ideas about other animals.

Not all stories and myths of antiquity have disappeared. There is a fairy tale about a bear who took revenge on a man and a woman for a severed paw. The bear broke a linden, made himself a wooden leg and sang:

Creak, leg,

Squeak, you bastard!

And the water sleeps

And the earth is sleeping...

The bear found a hut where a fire was burning and ate his offenders. He takes revenge according to all the rules of the tribal law. The tale "The Bear" retains traces of ancient ideas. On the basis of comparative observations on the nature of such mythical concepts and representations, it can be concluded that the appearance of fairy tales about animals proper was preceded by stories associated with beliefs. The main characters of future fairy tales about animals acted in them. The stories did not yet have an allegorical meaning. It was animals that acted in the images of animals. The stories had a narrowly practical purpose: they prescribed, advised, taught how to treat animals. Such could be the initial stage through which fantastic fiction passed in its development, later adopted by the artistic fairy tale. With the death of the cult of animals, the ironic depiction of the funny habits of animals entered the fairy tale. These stories depicted animals, not people. Allegorical meaning is still alien to these stories. . In the tale "The Insatiable Wolf" the wolf came to the "palace, thatched porch" and howled:

Good, good palace.

Straw porch.

The tale parodies the custom of caroling. The wolf song lists everything that a peasant has: seven sheep, a foal, a bull, a cow, a pig, a cat, a dog, a guy and a girl. The wolf demands a sheep for himself first, then another, he ate them all. And the old man would have eaten if he had not taken up the club.

In fairy tales, a bear, an animal of the “highest rank”, is also bred. The bear is the most powerful forest animal. Its position in the animal hierarchy is explained in its own way by its connection with traditional pre-fabulous totemic legends, in which the bear occupied the highest place. At the time of the formation of the tale as an artistic phenomenon, the bear was given the features of the sovereign - the ruler of the district, the owner of power over everyone. A tale about how a bear and a peasant shared the harvest is indicative. The agreement between the peasant and the bear was as follows: “I have a spine, and you, Misha, an inch.” The sown turnip sprouted, grew - the bear got tops. The bear decided to be smarter. They sowed wheat, the bear says: “Give me the roots, and take tops for yourself.” The bear was left with nothing. He does not know what and how grows. He is a stranger to men's work. The stupidity of a bear is the stupidity of a powerful, but little-informed, strong creature. A hare, a frog, a mouse, a thrush act in fairy tales as weak. They serve on parcels, they are easy to offend. The storytellers made a cat and a rooster out of animals and birds as "goodies". The cat is faithful in friendship and saves the rooster from death three times. The warlike rooster is ready to come to the aid of anyone offended.

MAGIC TALES.

Not a single fairy tale can do without the intervention of a miracle in the life of a person.

By comparing fairy tales, I was able to establish the similarity of their fantastic plots coming from the ancients.

These stories were complicated by ritual-magical and mythological concepts and ideas. Predictive fables judged and judged the most diverse phenomena of everyday life, insisted on observing everyday rules and orders. The forerunner of a fairy tale was a story that taught to observe various everyday prohibitions, the so-called taboos (the Polynesian word for “no”). According to the primitive man, in the field, in the forest, on the waters and in the dwelling - everywhere and constantly he encounters a living, conscious force hostile to himself, looking for an opportunity to send bad luck, misfortune, illness, fire, death. People sought to get away from the power of a mysterious force, arranging life and behavior with the most complex system of prohibitions. Prohibitions were imposed on a number of human actions, on touching individual objects, etc. Violation of the ban, according to people, entailed dangerous consequences. Taboos have given rise to numerous stories about how a person violates any household prohibition and falls under the power of hostile forces.

Many fairy tales talk about the prohibition to leave the house, leave the dwelling, eat any food or drink, touch anything. Fairy tales, by tradition, have preserved the plot provisions, which, although they have changed, have acquired a new meaning, but were originally due to the origin of antiquity. The beginning of many fairy tales is characteristic. Parents leave home and punish their daughter: "Be smart, take care of your brother, don't go out of the yard." Daughter forgot the order. Geese-swans flew in and carried away the boy on wings ("Geese-swans"). Sister Alyonushka does not tell brother Ivanushka to drink on the road from a hoof track full of water, but the brother did not obey - and became a goat ("Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka"). The princess violated her husband's order, went out into the garden, began to bathe - and the evil sorceress turned her into a white duck ("White Duck"), etc. Prohibitions are violated, and transgressions are never left without consequences. The forerunner of a fairy tale - a story of an everyday nature warned, instructed, taught to observe taboos.

A voluntary or involuntary violator of a taboo could avoid the disastrous action of hostile forces if he took protective actions. Man came up with saving magic, endowed many objects with the power of "amulets". The logic of defense underlies many of the actions of fairy tale characters. A scallop thrown over his shoulder grew into a dense forest, a towel spread out like a river and saved a person from the monster's pursuit. These and similar motifs, poetically developed in fairy tales, originate in ritual magic, in the belief in the saving power of amulets. The amulets included a ring, an axe, a scarf, a mirror, a belt, a broom, coal, wax, bread, water, earth, fire, an apple, grass, a branch, a stick. Objects and substances work wonders. For example, water - a frequent accessory of a number of ancient rituals - in fairy tales returns sight, former appearance and well-being, bestows youth, heals from diseases, revives, makes the hero stronger than terrible monsters. There is also water in fairy tales that can turn a person into a beast, a bird.

The connection between fairy tale fiction and magical action is also found when it comes to the magic word: after its pronunciation, everything obeys the will of man. By a single word, golden palaces are erected, crystal bridges are built, roads are paved, cities are erected, huge carpets are woven. There are also plots that are associated with the search for a cherished word that will protect against trouble, called out by a carelessly escaped black word.

“A fairy tale will be born from the same sources as the incantatory songs of magicians with their inspiring, commanding-healing power...”

I. A. Ilyin Philosopher and cultural historian

The whole mythological story, the prototype of a late fairy tale, was permeated with an instructive thought about what a person should not do and what he should do if he, voluntarily or involuntarily, violated the domestic establishment. Unlike its distant ancient ancestor, the fairy tale as an artistic phenomenon was already free from mythical meaning.

The logic of the myth, guessed behind the traditional plot positions, had to include a number of other components and the mythical logic associated with them. Before becoming the basis of fairy tales as a phenomenon of artistic creativity, the tradition of the elementary scheme of the mythological story had already become more complicated. The narrative basis early, and perhaps simultaneously with its emergence, included additional motifs, which are also well preserved in fairy tales. This is, first of all, a reproduction of an imaginary world dominated by forces that are fatal to humans: an unknown land, a kingdom far away, the world of the deep sea, dense forests, sky-high distances, etc. Such, for example, is the habitat of Baba Yaga. Her hut stands on the edge of the forest, and there is no further progress - only pitch darkness. A living person meets a dead Yaga in places where even a raven does not bring bones. The features of medieval witches were layered on the image. Later tales know Yaga like this, in which, as a rule, the hero defeats her, brutally cracks down on her.

The tale of Baba Yaga's ball dates back to the time of matriarchy. According to the well-known folklorist V.Ya. Proppa, Baba Yaga is a typical pagan priestess, the keeper of the “library of balls” in birch bark boxes. (Isn't this where the expression "lie from three boxes" comes from?) In addition, it is believed that in addition to Greek, the Slavs also had their own original writing system: the so-called nodular writing. Her signs were not written down, but transmitted using knots tied on threads, which were wrapped in balls of books. The memory of the ancient knot writing remained in the language and folklore. We are still tying “memory knots”, talking about the “thread of the story”, “the intricacies of the plot”. Continuous struggle and alternate. In the dead realm, monsters have power over everything. The mysterious distant world is recreated with features and properties that are hostile to the world of people in everything. The imagination struggled to lift the veil separating the everyday world of people from the disastrous, alien one. But the other world was involuntarily recreated in the imagination with the features of the ordinary world. And in the unearthly world, a person found helpers for himself. These are animal totems and ancestors, recently deceased relatives. Wonderful helpers take part in the fate of people who have fallen into a mysterious perilous world. In the fairy tale about Khavroshechka, a cow becomes such an assistant, in the fairy tale about "Sivka-burka" - a wonderful horse, which in other fairy tales invariably helps the hero. A falcon, an eagle and a raven become the husbands of three princesses, and the sons-in-law help their brother-in-law to get a beautiful bride, and when she disappears, they help to find her (“Marya Morevna”). A bear, a hare, a dog, a pike and other animals, birds, fish constantly help the hero out of trouble. The motive for helping the hero is also connected with Yaga's actions. She takes on the role of a donator of some wonderful object, gives advice and instructions on how to behave. Ivan receives a ball from her, which rolls and leads to the goal. Yaga or a nameless old woman can give a wonderful horse, on which the hero will cover thousand-mile distances in the blink of an eye, reach the unknown Far Far Away kingdom. Yaga gives Ivan a towel, which you just have to wave - and an outlandish bridge will rise. However, in a number of fairy tales, Yaga is endowed with the traits of a cannibal, a kidnapper of children (“Tereshechka”, “Geese-swans”), traits of an evil and insidious warrior, merciless to her victims (“Medvedko, Usinya, Gorynya and Dubynya heroes”). The continuous struggle and alternate victory of the light and dark forces of nature are most visibly captured in the ideas of the Slavs about the cycle of the seasons. Its starting point was the onset of a new year - the birth of a new sun at the end of December. This celebration received a Greco-Roman name from the Slavs - carols (Latin calendae - the first day of the new month). The complete victory of the new thunderer over winter - "death" on the day of the vernal equinox was celebrated with the funeral ceremony of Marena (Marena (in Slavic mythology) is a goddess associated with the embodiment of death, with seasonal rituals of dying and resurrecting nature.). There was also a custom to walk with May (symbol of spring), a small Christmas tree decorated with ribbons, paper, eggs. The deity of the sun, seen off for the winter, was called Kupala, Yarilo and Kostroma. During the holiday, the straw effigy of these deities was either burned or drowned in water.

“The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it! Whoever knows, that is the lesson.

In order to understand the ancient tales and the meaning inherent in them, it is necessary to abandon the modern worldview and look at the world through the eyes of people who lived in ancient times, when the tales themselves appeared. The keys to attuning to the ancient perception are the immutable figurative roots of this or that fairy tale. For example, animals are the name of the palaces on the Svarog Circle, but when they help, this should be perceived as the help of ancestors, a totem animal.
As they write in the Slavic-Aryan Vedas, the first Great Flood occurred as a result of the destruction of the Moon Leli, one of the three Moons revolving around Midgard-Earth at that time.
Here is what ancient sources say about this event:

“You are My children! Know that the Earth walks past the Sun, but My words will not pass you by! And about ancient times, people, remember! About the Great Flood that destroyed people, about the fall of fire on Mother Earth!

"Songs of the bird Gamayun"

“You have been living quietly on Midgard since ancient times, when the world was established ... Remembering from the Vedas about the deeds of Dazhdbog, how he destroyed the strongholds of the Kashcheevs that were on the nearest moon ... Tarkh did not allow the insidious Kashchei to destroy Midgard, as they destroyed Deya ... These Kashchei, the rulers of the Gray , perished together with the Moon in half an hour ... But Midgard paid for freedom with Daaria, hidden by the Great Flood ... The waters of the Moon created that Flood, they fell to Earth from heaven like a rainbow, for the Moon split into parts and descended to Midgard with the army of Svarozhichs ... "

"Santii of the Vedas of Perun"

In memory of the salvation from the Flood and the Great Migration of the Clans of the Great Race in the 16th year, a kind of rite appeared - "Easter" ( P ut ace ami X clothes E st T verdo Kommersant- Sotvoryasha), with a deep inner meaning, performed by all Orthodox people. This rite is well known to all. On Easter, colored eggs hit each other to see which egg is stronger. A broken egg was called the Kashcheev egg (they gave it to dogs), i.e. destroyed by the Moon Lelei with the bases of the Outlanders, and the whole egg was called the Power of Tarkh (they ate themselves). And so that the peeled egg differs from the unpeeled one, they were dyed. A fairy tale also appeared in everyday life about Kashchei the Immortal, whose death was in an egg (on the Moon Lele) somewhere on top of a tall oak (on a world tree, that is, in fact, in heaven). And do not confuse - immortal and immortal, there used to be such a form of writing, which meant eternity. And Lunacharsky spread a continuous "demonic". And note that neither among Catholics, nor in Judaism, nor in Islam, although everyone has the same roots, there is no such rite! Having become Orthodox, Christianity was forced to introduce this custom, laying it out in a new way and sprinkling the blood of Yeshua.
Christians not only distorted Slavic fairy tales, but also invented their own. In such tales, the eternal dream of the Christian people about "freebies" is mainly present. While in Slavic fairy tales, the main characters always achieve their goals only with their own work.
One example of distortion is The Tale of the Turnip, known to everyone from early childhood. In the original Slavic version, this tale indicates the relationship of generations, and also indicates the interaction of temporary structures, forms of life and forms of existence.
In the modern version of this tale, two more elements that existed originally are missing - Father and Mother, without which seven elements are obtained, since Christians have a septenary system of perception, in contrast to the ninefold Slavic system.
There were nine elements in the original tale, each of which had its own hidden image:
turnip- the wealth and wisdom of the Family, its roots. It seems to unite the earthly, underground and aboveground;
Grandfather– Ancient Wisdom;
grandma- traditions of the house, housekeeping;
Father- protection and support;
Mother- love and care;
Granddaughter- children, grandchildren;
bug- prosperity in the Family, there is something to protect;
Cat- a blissful situation in the Family, because cats are harmonizers of human energy;
mouse- the welfare of the family, where there is nothing to eat - and there are no mice.
But Christians removed the Father and Mother, and replaced their images with protection and support from the church, and care and love with Christ.
The original meaning was: have a connection with the Family and Family Memory, live in harmony with relatives and have Happiness in the family. Maybe this is where the expression came from - "Give a turnip - so that enlightenment comes."
Another of the many distortions is the fairy tale "Gingerbread Man".
Here is her original version:

This tale is a figurative description of the astronomical observation of the Ancestors over the movement of the Moon across the sky from the full moon to the new moon. In the Halls of Tarkh and, on the Svarog Circle, a full moon occurs, and after the Hall of the Fox, a new moon occurs.
Thus, it was possible to obtain basic knowledge in astronomy and study the star map of the world.
Confirmation of this interpretation of "Kolobok" can be found in Russian folk riddles (from the collection of V. Dahl):
"A blue scarf, a red bun: rolls on a scarf, smiles at people."
This is about Heaven and Yarilo-Sun. I wonder how fabulous remakes would portray the red Kolobok? Did you mix rouge into the dough?
Let's take the description of the snake Gorynych.
The image of a snake - means round and long, like a snake, a mountain - because it is as high as a mountain.
In this case - an explicit description of the tornado. The Serpent Gorynych can be both three-headed (three funnels) and nine-headed.
Other ancient Russian tales describing the appearance of a snake say that it can fly, its wings are fiery. Clawed paws and a long tail with a point - a favorite detail of popular prints in fairy tales, as a rule, are absent. The constant feature of the snake is its connection with fire: “A strong storm rose, thunder rumbles, the earth trembles, the dense forest bows down to the bottom: the three-headed serpent flies”, “A fierce serpent flies at him, scorches with fire, threatens with death”, “Here the serpent emitted a fiery flame from itself, it wants to burn the prince”.
In this snake, the Kundalini serpent is recognized - the spiritual power of man. His constant threat: "I am your kingdom(i.e. body) I'll burn it with fire, I'll scatter it with ashes".
In Russian folk tales, the snake is the guardian of the border between Yavu and Navu. The border itself is described as a fiery river, called ("mor" - death, "one" - one; that is, death is one). A bridge called “viburnum” (in Sanskrit “kali” – ill-fated) leads through it, that is, only those who have fully manifested their egg-chore (“the seed of the devil” - a drop of Causal matter) can step on this border. The one who kills the snake (yaytsekhore), that is, defeats all his animal elements, will be able to cross the bridge.
If we decompose the word Gorynych according to the initial letters of the Old Russian language, we will get confirmation of the above. G-OR-YNY-CH - GO r - path, YNY e - manifested into an unknown multitude, H- leading to a certain line, the Line, the bridge.
When meeting with a snake, the hero is in danger of sleep, falling asleep, that is, obsession - trouble: “The prince began to walk along the bridge, with a cane(the main ascending channel of the Kundalini force, running along the center of the human spine) tapping, jug popped out(mystical abilities manifesting as the Kundalini rises) and began to dance before him; he looked at him(I got carried away by mystical abilities) and fell into a deep sleep(i.e. "fell into charms"). An unprepared person falls asleep, a true hero never: Storm - the hero did not care(didn't get carried away by these abilities), naharka l (brought them to "hara", balanced) on it and broke it into small pieces. The serpent is immortal and invincible for the uninitiated, it can only be destroyed by a certain hero: the egghore can only be defeated by the one in whom it is located - “There is no other rival for me in the whole world, except for Ivan Tsarevich, and he is still young, even a raven of his bones will not bring him here”.
The serpent never tries to kill the hero with weapons, paws, or teeth - he tries to drive the hero into the ground (i.e. into sin) and thereby destroy him: “Miracle Yudo began to overcome him, drove him knee-deep into the damp earth”. In the second fight "hammered to the waist in the damp earth", that is, with each fight in a person, dirt (damp earth) of the egg-chore begins to appear more and more. The snake can be destroyed only by cutting off all its heads, that is, by defeating one's senses. But these heads have a wonderful property - they grow again, that is, the power of the senses increases with their satisfaction: “I cut down nine heads of miracle Yudu; Miracle Yudo picked them up, struck a fiery finger - the heads grew back again.. Only after the fiery finger (lust) is cut off does the hero manage to cut off all the heads.
Knowing the dependence of spiritual development on mastering our feelings, our Ancestors gave us the following instruction:

Where feelings dominate - there is lust,
And where there is lust, there is anger, blindness,
And where is the blindness - the mind is fading,
Where the mind fades away, knowledge perishes there,
Where knowledge perishes, everyone knows -
There perishes a human child in the darkness!

And the one who has achieved over the feelings of power,
Trampled disgust, does not know addictions,
Who forever subjugated them to his will -
Reached enlightenment, getting rid of pain,
And since then his heart has been impeccable,
And his mind is firmly established.

Outside of yoga, do not consider yourself reasonable:
Outside of clarity there is no creative thought;
Outside of creative thought there is no peace, rest,
And where is human peace and happiness outside?
THERE IS REASON AND WISDOM,
WHERE THE FEELINGS ARE OUT OF THE WILL.

Peoples about the world, expressed in religious beliefs, rituals and cults. It is closely connected with paganism and cannot be considered separately from it.

Slavic myths (summary and main characters) are the focus of this article. Consider the time of their occurrence, similarity with ancient legends and tales of other peoples, sources of study and the pantheon of deities.

The formation of Slavic mythology and its connection with the religious beliefs of other peoples

The myths of the peoples of the world (Slavic myths, ancient Greek and ancient Indian) have much in common. This suggests that they have a common beginning. Links their common origin from the Proto-Indo-European religion.

Slavic mythology was formed as a separate layer of the Indo-European religion over a long period - from the 2nd millennium BC. e.

The main features of Slavic paganism, reflected in mythology, are the cult of ancestors, belief in supernatural forces and lower spirits, and the spiritualization of nature.

Ancient Slavic myths are strikingly similar to the legends of the Baltic peoples, Indian, Greek and Scandinavian mythology. In all the myths of these ancient tribes, there was a god of thunder: the Slavic Perun, the Hittite Pirva and the Baltic Perkunas.

All these peoples have the main myth - this is the confrontation of the supreme deity with his main opponent, the Serpent. The similarity can also be traced in the belief in the afterlife, which is separated from the world of the living by some kind of barrier: an abyss or a river.

Slavic myths and legends, like the legends of other Indo-European peoples, also tell about heroes fighting a snake.

Sources of information on the legends and myths of the Slavic peoples

Unlike Greek or Scandinavian mythology, the Slavs did not have their own Homer, who would take up the literary processing of ancient legends about the gods. Therefore, now we know very little about the process of formation of the mythology of the Slavic tribes.

The sources of written knowledge are the texts of Byzantine, Arabic and Western European authors of the period of the 6th - 13th centuries, Scandinavian sagas, ancient Russian chronicles, apocrypha, teachings. In a special place is the "Word of Igor's Campaign", which contains a lot of information about Slavic mythology. Unfortunately, all these sources are only a retelling of the authors, and they do not mention the legends in their entirety.

Slavic myths and legends are also preserved in folklore sources: epics, fairy tales, legends, incantations, proverbs.

The most reliable sources on the mythology of the ancient Slavs are archaeological finds. These include idols of gods, cult and ritual places, inscriptions, signs and decorations.

Classification of Slavic mythology

Gods should be distinguished:

1) Eastern Slavs.

2) Western Slavic tribes.

There are also common Slavic gods.

The idea of ​​the world and the Universe of the ancient Slavs

Due to the lack of written sources, almost nothing is known about the beliefs and ideas about the world of the Slavic tribes. Fragile information can be gleaned from archaeological sources. The most obvious of them is the Zbruch idol, found in the Ternopil region of Ukraine in the middle of the 19th century. It is a four-sided limestone pillar divided into three tiers. The lower one contains images of the underworld and the deities inhabiting it. The middle one is dedicated to the world of people, and the upper tier depicts the supreme gods.

Information about how the ancient Slavic tribes represented the world around them can be found in ancient Russian literature, in particular, in the Tale of Igor's Campaign. Here, in some passages, a connection with the World Tree is clearly traced, myths about which exist among many Indo-European peoples.

On the basis of the listed sources, the following picture is obtained: the ancient Slavs believed that there was an island (possibly Buyan) in the center of the oceans. Here, in the very center of the world, either the sacred stone Alatyr lies, which has healing properties, or the World Tree grows (almost always in myths and legends it is an oak). The Gagana bird sits on its branches, and under it is the snake Garafen.

Myths of the peoples of the world: Slavic myths (the creation of the Earth, the appearance of man)

The creation of the world among the ancient Slavs was associated with such a god as Rod. He is the creator of everything in the world. He separated the obvious world in which people live (Yav) from the invisible world (Nav). Rod is considered the supreme deity of the Slavs, the patron of fertility, the creator of life.

Slavic myths (the creation of the Earth and the appearance of man) tell about the creation of all things: the creator god Rod, together with his sons Belbog and Chernobog, decided to create this world. First, Rod from the ocean of chaos created three hypostases of the world: Yav, Nav and Rule. Then the Sun appeared from the face of the supreme deity, the moon appeared from the chest, and the eyes became stars. After the creation of the world, Rod remained in Prav - the dwelling place of the gods, where he leads his children and distributes responsibilities between them.

pantheon of deities

Slavic gods (myths and legends about which have been preserved in very small numbers) are quite extensive. Unfortunately, due to the extremely scarce information, it is difficult to restore the functions of many Slavic deities. The mythology of the ancient Slavs was not known until they reached the borders of the Byzantine Empire. Thanks to the records of the historian Procopius of Caesarea, it was possible to find out some details of the religious beliefs of the Slavic peoples. The Laurentian Chronicle mentions gods from the Vladimir pantheon. Having ascended the throne, Prince Vladimir ordered to place idols of the six most important gods near his residence.

Perun

The god of thunder is considered one of the main deities of the Slavic tribes. He was the patron of the prince and his squad. Among other nations, it is known as Zeus, Thor, Perkunas. First mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. Even then, Perun headed the pantheon of Slavic gods. They sacrificed to him, slaughtering a bull, and oaths and agreements were secured in the name of God.

The god of thunder was associated with heights, so his idols were set on the hills. The sacred tree of Perun was the oak.

After the adoption of Christianity in Rus', some of the functions of Perun passed to Gregory the Victorious and Elijah the Prophet.

solar deities

The god of the sun in Slavic myths was in second place in importance after Perun. Horse, that's what they called him. The etymology of the name is still unclear. According to the most common theory, it comes from the Iranian languages. But this version is very vulnerable, since it is difficult to explain how this word became the name of one of the main Slavic deities. The Tale of Bygone Years mentions Khors as one of the gods of the Vladimir pantheon. There is information about him in other ancient Russian texts.

Khors, the god of the sun in Slavic myths, is often mentioned along with other deities related to the heavenly body. This is Dazhbog - one of the main Slavic gods, the personification of sunlight, and Yarilo.

Dazhbog was also a deity of fertility. The etymology of the name does not cause difficulty - "the god who gives welfare", such is his approximate translation. He played a double function in the mythology of the ancient Slavs. As the personification of sunlight and warmth, he gave fertility to the soil and at the same time was a source of royal power. Dazhbog is considered the son of Svarog, the blacksmith god.

Yarilo - a lot of ambiguities are connected with this character of Slavic mythology. Until now, it has not been precisely established whether it should be considered a deity, or whether it is a personification of one of the holidays of the ancient Slavs. Some researchers consider Yarilo a deity of spring light, warmth and fertility, others - a ritual character. He was represented as a young man on a white horse and wearing a white robe. On her hair is a wreath of spring flowers. In the hands of the deity of spring light holds ears of cereal. Where he appears, there will certainly be a good harvest. Yarilo also engendered love in the heart of the one he looked at.

Researchers agree on one thing - this character of Slavic mythology cannot be called the god of the sun. Ostrovsky's play "The Snow Maiden" fundamentally misinterprets the image of Yarilo as a solar deity. In this case, Russian classical literature plays the role of harmful propaganda.

Mokosh (Makosh)

There are very few female deities in Slavic mythology. Of the main ones, only such as Mother - Cheese Earth and Mokosh can be named. The latter is mentioned among other idols installed by order of Prince Vladimir in Kyiv, which indicates the importance of this female deity.

Mokosh was the goddess of weaving and spinning. She was also revered as the patroness of crafts. Her name is associated with two words "wet" and "spinning". The day of Mokosh's week was Friday. On this day, it was strictly forbidden to engage in weaving and spinning. As a sacrifice, Mokosh was presented with yarn, throwing it into the well. The goddess was represented as a long-armed woman spinning at night in houses.

Some researchers suggest that Mokosh was the wife of Perun, so she was given an honorable place among the main Slavic gods. The name of this female deity is mentioned in many ancient texts.

After the adoption of Christianity in Rus', part of the features and functions of Mokosh passed to St. Paraskeva-Pyatnitsa.

Stribog

Mentioned in the Vladimir pantheon as one of the main gods, but its function is not entirely clear. Perhaps he was the god of the winds. In ancient texts, his name is often mentioned together with Dazhbog. It is not known whether there were holidays dedicated to Stribog, since there is very little information about this deity.

Volos (Veles)

Researchers tend to believe that these are still two different characters of myths. Volos is the patron saint of domestic animals and the god of prosperity. In addition, he is the god of wisdom, the patron of poets and storytellers. It is not for nothing that Boyan from The Tale of Igor's Campaign is called Veles' grandson in the poem. A few uncompressed stalks of cereals were left on the field as a gift to him. After the adoption of Christianity by the Slavic peoples, the functions of Volos were taken over by two saints: Nicholas the Wonderworker and Blasius.

As for Veles, this is one of the demons, the evil spirit that Perun fought.

Slavic mythical creatures - forest dwellers

Several characters were associated with the forest among the ancient Slavs. The main ones were water and goblin. With the advent of Christianity in Rus', they began to attribute exclusively negative features, making them demonic creatures.

Leshy is the owner of the forest. They also called him a forester and a forest spirit. He carefully guards the forest and its inhabitants. Relations with a good person are neutral - the goblin does not touch him, and can even come to the rescue - take him out of the forest if he gets lost. Negative attitude towards bad people. Their forest master punishes: makes them stray and can tickle to death.

Before people, the goblin appears in different guises: human, vegetable, animal. The ancient Slavs had an ambivalent attitude towards him - the goblin was revered and feared at the same time. It was believed that shepherds and hunters needed to make a deal with him, otherwise the goblin could steal cattle or even a person.

Water - a spirit that lives in reservoirs. He was represented as an old man with a fish tail, beard and mustache. It can take the form of a fish, a bird, pretend to be a log or a drowned man. Especially dangerous during big holidays. Vodyanoy likes to settle in whirlpools, under mills and sluices, in polynyas. He has herds of fish. It is hostile to a person, always trying to drag under the water the one who came to swim at an inopportune time (noon, midnight and after sunset). The favorite fish of the merman is catfish, on which he rides like a horse.

There were other, lower beings, such as the forest spirit. In Slavic myths, he was called Auka. He never sleeps. He lives in a hut in the very thicket of the forest, where there is always a supply of melt water. A special expanse for Auka comes in winter, when the wood goblin falls asleep. The forest spirit is hostile to humans - it will try to lead a random traveler into a windbreak or make him circle until he gets tired.

Bereginya - this mythical female character has an unclear function. According to the most common version, this is a forest deity that protects trees and plants. But also the ancient Slavs considered the shores to be mermaids. Their sacred tree is a birch, which was very revered by the people.

Borovik is another forest spirit in Slavic mythology. Outwardly, it looks like a huge bear. It can be distinguished from a real animal by the absence of a tail. Under him are boletus mushrooms - the owners of mushrooms, similar to little old men.

Kikimora marsh is another colorful character in Slavic mythology. He does not like people, but he will not touch them as long as the travelers are quiet in the forest. If they are noisy and harm plants or animals, a kikimora can make them stray through the swamp. Very secretive, very rarely seen.

Bolotnik - a mistake would be to confuse it with a water one. The swamp among the ancient Slavs has always been considered a place where evil spirits live. The swamp was represented as a terrible creature. This is either a motionless eyeless fat man, covered with a layer of algae, silt, snails, or a tall man with long arms, overgrown with dirty gray hair. He cannot change his appearance. Represents a great danger to a person or animal caught in a swamp. He grabs the victim, stuck in the quagmire, by the legs and drags him to the bottom. There is only one way to destroy the swamp - by draining its swamp.

Slavic myths for children - briefly about the most interesting

Acquaintance with samples of ancient Russian literature, oral legends and myths is of great importance for the comprehensive development of children. Both adults and the smallest need to know about their past. Slavic myths (grade 5) will introduce schoolchildren to the pantheon of the main gods and the most famous legends. The reading book on literature includes an interesting retelling of A.N. Tolstoy about Kikimor, there is information about the main characters in the mythology of the ancient Slavs, and an idea is given of such a concept as a “temple”.

If desired, parents can introduce the child to the pantheon of Slavic gods and other mythological creatures at an earlier age. It is advisable to choose positive characters, and not tell young children about such frightening creatures as navy, sinister, werewolves.

To get acquainted with the characters of Slavic mythology, you can recommend the book by Alexander Asov "Myths of the Slavs for children and their parents." It will be of interest to both the younger generation and the older. Svetlana Lavrova is another good author who wrote the book Slavic Tales.