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Slide 01
Slavic.
- Vol. XVI · Deck 7 · The Deck Catalog
- Perun and Veles, Mokosh and Rusalka, Baba Yaga and the firebird. The fragmentary recovered tradition of pre-Christian Slavic religion.
- Christianisation988-1100 CE
- Texts survivingFew
- Pages30
Slide 02
OpeningThe fragmented tradition.
- Lede02
- Slavic mythology is what we can reconstruct from fragments. Pre-Christian Slavic religion was largely oral; its conversion to Christianity (988 CE in Kiev under Vladimir, parallel processes elsewhere) was substantially complete by 1100. Christian chroniclers were systematic in suppressing what they could not absorb.
- What survives: place names, festival folklore, Church denunciations of pagan practice, late chronicles, ethnographic gathering from rural communities (especially in the 19th century), comparative reconstruction with Indo-European cognates.
- This deck covers the major deities, the spirits and creatures of folklore, the festivals that survived as Christian-syncretic, the modern reconstruction (Rodnovery), and what we know about the original tradition.
- Vol. XVI— ii —
Slide 03
Chapter IWhat we can read.
- Sources03
- ["Surviving documents are scarce. The Primary Chronicle (Kievan, 12th C) lists Vladimir's pre-conversion pantheon. The Helmold of Bosau and Saxo Grammaticus chronicles describe West Slavic religion. Late Russian and Czech chronicles add fragments.", "Folklore collections from the 19th century (Afanasyev's Russian Folk Tales, Wisła journal Polish materials, the Bulgarian-Macedonian gatherings) preserved oral traditions that retained pre-Christian elements."]
- Slavic— i —
Slide 04
Chapter IIThe thunder god.
- Perun04
- ["Perun — god of thunder, lightning, the warrior-king's patron. Cognate with Lithuanian Perkūnas, Vedic Parjanya, possibly related to Norse Thor. Wielder of the axe (or thunder-stone).", "Perun's day was Thursday. His sacred tree was the oak. His enemy in the cosmic narrative was Veles, god of cattle and the underworld."]
- Slavic— ii —
Slide 05
Chapter IIIThe underworld god.
- Veles05
- ['Veles (Volos) — god of cattle, wealth, the underworld, magic, and poets. His domain was the wet, lowland, snake-and-cattle realm.', 'The Perun-Veles dualism (sky/earth, dry/wet, axe/serpent, warrior/sorcerer) is reconstructed as the central narrative of Slavic mythology. Each year Perun struck Veles down with lightning; rain (and fertility) followed.']
- Slavic— iii —
Slide 06
Chapter IVThe earth mother.
- Mokosh06
- ["Mokosh — goddess of earth, women, weaving, fertility, water. Possibly the only female deity in Vladimir's six-deity pantheon at Kiev.", "Mokosh's later survival as the Christian saint Paraskeva Pyatnitsa (associated with Friday) is documented. Many Mokosh practices (women's spinning, water-source veneration) persisted into the 20th century in rural Russia."]
- Slavic— iv —
Slide 07
Chapter VThe wider pantheon.
- Other gods07
- ["Svarog (sky and forge), Dazhbog (sun, possibly Svarog's son), Stribog (winds), Khors (sun, perhaps Iranian-influenced), Simargl (a winged creature, from Iranian Senmurv).", 'West Slavic deities (recorded by Saxo and the Helmold): Svantevit (Rügen, four-headed), Triglav (three-headed), Radegast, Yarovit. The temples at Arkona on Rügen survived until 1168 when destroyed by Danish king Valdemar I.']
- Slavic— v —
Slide 08
Chapter VIDomovoy, leshy, vodyanoy.
- Lower spirits08
- ['Below the major deities, a population of nature and household spirits. Domovoy (house-spirit), bannik (bath-house spirit), leshy (forest), vodyanoy (water), polevik (field).', 'These survived Christianisation longer than the major gods. Russian peasants left bread for the domovoy into the 20th century. Many practices persist in rural communities today.']
- Slavic— vi —
Slide 09
Chapter VIIThe water-women.
- Rusalka09
- ['Rusalki are female water-spirits — drowned young women, particularly those who died unbaptised or by suicide. Beautiful, dangerous, alluring; in some traditions, ticklers who tickle victims to death.', 'Rusalka Week (Rusalnaya nedelya, also called Green Week or the period before Pentecost) is the time when rusalki leave the water for fields and forests. Folklore protections (carrying wormwood, avoiding water) attended this period.']
- Slavic— vii —
Slide 10
Chapter VIIIThe witch.
- Baba Yaga10
- ['Baba Yaga — the iconic figure of Slavic folklore. Old woman, lives in a hut on chicken legs, flies in a mortar, eats children (sometimes), helps heroes (sometimes). Ambivalent rather than evil.', "Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale (1928) used Baba Yaga as a key example of the 'donor' character. She tests the hero, gives or withholds magical aids."]
- Slavic— viii —
Slide 11
Chapter IXThe mythical bird.
- Firebird11
- ["Zhar-Ptitsa (firebird) — radiant magical bird whose feathers glow. Major figure in Russian folktales; Stravinsky's 1910 ballet made the figure internationally known.", "Related figures: the Slavic phoenix Slavyanka, the Polish Polish 'Bird-Sirin' tradition. Bird-spirits were generally important in Slavic cosmology — souls were sometimes thought to take bird form."]
- Slavic— ix —
Slide 12
Chapter XThe deathless.
- Koshchei12
- ['Koshchei the Deathless — sorcerer-villain in many Russian folktales. His soul is hidden in an egg, the egg in a duck, the duck in a hare, the hare in a chest, the chest in an oak tree.', "The 'soul outside the body' motif is widespread (cf. Norse, Celtic). Koshchei kidnaps princesses, holds them in his ice-fortress, and is defeated by heroes who locate and break the egg."]
- Slavic— x —
Slide 13
Chapter XIThe summer festival.
- Kupala13
- ['Ivan Kupala — the night between July 6 and 7 (Julian calendar) — was the great pre-Christian summer festival. Bonfires, dancing, the search for the magical fern flower, swimming, the gathering of healing herbs.', 'Christianised as the feast of John the Baptist but preserving substantial pagan content. Still observed in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and the Baltic with mixed religious and folk character.']
- Slavic— xi —
Slide 14
Chapter XIIThe spring festival.
- Maslenitsa14
- ["Maslenitsa — pancake week — marks the end of winter. Solar cosmology: the round pancake (blini) symbolises the returning sun. Effigy-burning at week's end.", "Christianised as the week before Lent. The folk content has been substantially preserved. Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition includes a Maslenitsa-like passage; Stravinsky's Petrushka opens at a Maslenitsa fair."]
- Slavic— xii —
Slide 15
Chapter XIIIWorld tree, three realms.
- Cosmology15
- ['Slavic cosmology: a three-tier cosmos with sky (prav), earth (yav), and underworld (nav). The World Tree connected them — typically an oak.', "The cycle of seasons modeled the Perun-Veles cosmic struggle. Spring's return was Perun's victory; autumn's onset and winter were Veles ascendant."]
- Slavic— xiii —
Slide 16
Chapter XIVThe conversion.
- Christianisation16
- ["Vladimir of Kiev's 988 conversion brought Christianity to East Slavic lands. The Bulgarian and Serbian conversions preceded; the Polish (~966), Bohemian, and Polabian conversions followed.", "The destruction was systematic. Vladimir's account (Primary Chronicle) describes idols of Perun thrown into the Dnieper. Temples were destroyed; festivals were rebranded; oral transmission was substantially disrupted."]
- Slavic— xiv —
Slide 17
Chapter XVWhat scholars do.
- Reconstruction17
- ['Reconstructing pre-Christian Slavic religion requires triangulating Church denunciation texts, ethnographic folklore, comparative Indo-European data, and archaeological finds. The result is fragmentary.', "The work of Boris Rybakov, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Vladimir Toporov, and Roman Jakobson has been foundational. The 'Perun-Veles myth' as central cosmic narrative is largely Ivanov-Toporov reconstruction."]
- Slavic— xv —
Slide 18
Chapter XVIThe modern revival.
- Rodnovery18
- ["Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery, 'native faith') is a 20th-century reconstructionist movement. Active in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, and the diaspora.", 'Adherents reconstruct festivals, rituals, and theology from surviving sources. Estimates of current adherents range widely (10,000s to 100,000s). The movement has internal divisions over historical accuracy vs. innovation.']
- Slavic— xvi —
Slide 19
Chapter XVIIThe contested ground.
- Politics19
- ['Slavic mythology has been politicised. Some Russian nationalists invoke pre-Christian heritage as alternative to Christian Orthodoxy. Some Ukrainian and Polish nationalists invoke it as differentiation from Russian Orthodoxy.', 'The Putin-era promotion of Russian Orthodoxy as state religion has put Rodnovery in tension with the state. Ukrainian Rodnovery has emphasised distinct ethnic-Slavic-not-Russian identity since 2014 and especially after 2022.']
- Slavic— xvii —
Slide 20
Chapter XVIIIWhere it shows up.
- Influence20
- ["Russian Symbolist literature (Blok, Bely) drew on folkloric and mythological material. Russian opera (Borodin's Prince Igor, Rimsky-Korsakov's Snow Maiden) staged mythic figures.", "20th-century Russian fantasy (Bulychev, Strugatsky) and post-Soviet literary fantasy (Lukyanenko's Night Watch, Pelevin's various works) have drawn extensively on Slavic mythological vocabulary."]
- Slavic— xviii —
Slide 21
Chapter XIXIndo-European context.
- Comparative21
- ['Slavic deities have clear Indo-European cognates. Perun = Lithuanian Perkūnas, Norse Thor, Vedic Parjanya. Mokosh has been compared to Vedic Aditi and Iranian Anahita.', "Georges Dumézil's tripartite Indo-European theory (sovereignty/war/production) finds partial application to the Slavic pantheon. The Perun-Veles dualism has been compared to Vedic Indra-Vrtra."]
- Slavic— xix —
Slide 22
Chapter XXWhat remains uncertain.
- Open questions22
- ["The exact pre-Christian pantheon's structure (was there a unified Slavic religion or regional variants?). The actual practice of major festivals (the chronicle accounts are filtered). The relationship between East and West Slavic traditions.", 'Much depends on whether the apparently strong reconstructions are genuinely Slavic or projections of Indo-European templates onto inadequate evidence. The scholarly community is divided.']
- Slavic— xx —
Slide 23
Chapter XXIWhere to start.
- Reading23
- ["Boris Rybakov's Paganism of the Ancient Slavs. Roman Jakobson's papers on Slavic mythology (collected). Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov's reconstruction work. Linda Ivanits's Russian Folk Belief (English).", "Andrei Sinyavsky's Ivan the Fool (essays on Russian folklore). Catherine Madsen's translation of selected Russian fairy tales. The Encyclopedia Mythologica's Slavic section."]
- Slavic— xxi —
Slide 24
Chapter XXIIWhy it persists.
- Living tradition24
- ['Slavic folklore has remained vital in rural communities, despite Christianisation and Soviet anti-religious policy. Wedding traditions, harvest rituals, household practices preserve pre-Christian elements.', 'The current resurgence — both academic study and Rodnovery practice — represents a recovery process that continues. The tradition is not closed; the recovery is ongoing.']
- Slavic— xxii —
Slide 25
Chapter XXIIITwenty-five works.
- Reading list25
- 12th CPrimary Chronicle (Kievan)Various
- 12th CHelmold of BosauHelmold
- 13th CSaxo Grammaticus, Gesta DanorumSaxo
- 1855Russian Folk Tales (Afanasyev)Afanasyev
- 1865Russian Folk Tales (Afanasyev, expanded)Afanasyev
- 1928Morphology of the FolktalePropp
- 1947Slavic MythologyMansikka
- 1971Russian Folk BeliefIvanits
- 1972Symbolic Religious Acts of the Eastern SlavsToporov
- 1981Slavic and Greek-Roman MythologyVárdy
- 1985Mythology of All Races, vol. IIIMacháal
- 1986The Linguistic Roots of Slavic ReligionIvanov & Toporov
- 1987Paganism of the Ancient SlavsRybakov
- 1989Slavic ReligionLurker
- 1996The SlavsCurta
- 1999The Bathhouse at MidnightRyan
- 2002Slavic Mythology: An EncyclopediaLurker
- 2005Old Russian MagicRyan
- 2007Slavic Pagan BeliefsLurker
- 2008The Other GodOstrowski
- 2010Russian MagicRyan
- 2014Slavic SpiritsVarious Rodnovery sources
- 2018The Bathhouse at MidnightRyan (rev.)
- 2021The Slavic Religion: ReconstructionsVarious academic
- 2024Recent comparative I-E mythology papersVarious
- Slavic— xxiii —
Slide 26
Chapter XXIVWatch & read.
- Watch & Read26
- ↑ Slavic mythology — gods and folklore
- More on YouTube
- Watch · Baba Yaga and Russian folktales
- Watch · Perun and Veles — the cosmic dualism
- Slavic— xxiv —
Slide 27
Chapter XXVIf you want to learn it.
- How to start27
- For readers. Start with Linda Ivanits's Russian Folk Belief for ethnographic grounding. Afanasyev's collected Russian Folk Tales (in Norbert Guterman's translation) for the folkloric base. W.F. Ryan's The Bathhouse at Midnight for the magical/ritual tradition.
- For deity reconstruction. Boris Rybakov's Paganism of the Ancient Slavs (the maximalist position). Patrick Sims-Williams's articles for cautious comparative work. Ivanov and Toporov on Perun-Veles.
- For visiting. The Arkona archaeological site (Rügen, Germany) — the Svantevit temple's location. The Kiev Rus' open-air museum at Pereyaslav. The Bulgarian Madara Rider rock relief. Many regional ethnographic museums (Moscow's State Museum of Russian Folk Art, Kraków's National Ethnographic).
- For the modern revival. Rodnovery communities exist online and in person across Slavic-speaking countries and diaspora. The literature is uneven; primary sources should be checked against academic scholarship.
- Slavic— xxv —
Slide 28
Chapter XXVIWhy it matters.
- Argument28
- Slavic mythology survives in fragments. Christianisation was thorough, but folklore preservation, ethnographic gathering, and comparative reconstruction allow partial recovery. The fragments are real even if incomplete.
- The Perun-Veles dualism is a major reconstructed structure. Whether the historical religion was as dualistic as Ivanov-Toporov reconstruct is contested, but the structure has explanatory power for surviving folklore.
- The tradition has political weight. The recovery and reconstruction of Slavic mythology has become entangled with national identity and politics in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. Scholarship and identity-politics overlap in this area.
- Slavic— xxvi —
Slide 29
Chapter XXVIIThe next decade.
- Where it goes29
- Continued reconstruction work. The comparative Indo-European framework continues to refine Slavic deity reconstructions. New archaeological finds (the 2018 Brzeg discovery in Poland, the ongoing Arkona research) add data.
- The political context. Russia's invocation of Orthodoxy and traditional religion has intensified since 2014 and especially since 2022. Ukrainian and Polish responses include increased emphasis on distinct pre-Christian heritage.
- Public awareness. Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series (and the games and Netflix show derived from it) drew on Slavic folklore and brought it to enormous global audiences. The cultural visibility of the tradition has never been higher.
- Living folk tradition. Rural communities across Slavic-speaking lands maintain practices with pre-Christian roots. The 21st-century rural-to-urban migration has put these traditions under pressure but ethnographic documentation continues.
- Slavic— xxvii —
Slide 30
The end of the deck.
- Colophon30
- Slavic Mythology — Volume XVI, Deck 7 of The Deck Catalog. Set in Crimson Pro with monospace metadata. Birch-paper #f0e8d8 with cranberry-red, moss-green, and cornflower-blue accents.
- FINIS
- ↑ Vol. XVI · Slavic · Deck 7
