The ancestors of today’s Russians were the ancient Slavs whose beliefs were devoted to nature and its forces. Those beliefs affected life, prosperity, and their wellbeing in general. Ancient Russians believed that nature and its surroundings...
Category - Mythology
We might not have a lot of written material to look at and read if we want to learn more about Slavic history and culture, but fortunately, Slavs all around the world love to tell stories and pass down the history of their people, so we still have a...
The goddess Marzanna, also known as Morana (in Serbian, Slovakian and Macedonian), Marena in Russian, Mara in Ukrainian, is the pagan Slavic goddess of winter, death, harvest, witchcraft, and nightmares. According to the myth, Marzanna is the...
The god Rod, also known as Род or Рiд in Cyrillic or as Sud (translated as the judge) is one of the most significant gods in Slavic mythology. As the god of family, rain, fertility, fate, kinship, and ancestors, Rod was regarded as a supreme god. He...
Everyone who knows a thing or two about Slavs and their culture will tell you that they are very religious, with most of them belonging to the Eastern Orthodox denomination, and some of them (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia)...
There are no first-hand records for the study of Slavic mythology prior to Christianisation. According to historians, the scope of Slavic religious beliefs and traditions was passed down orally (over generations) and obviously, much of it was...
Legends about dangerous creatures that feed off others’ blood or flesh have been around for more than a millennia. While Slavs are the first ones to develop myths and legends about vampires as we know them, Mesopotamian, Hebrew, ancient Greek, and...
Slavic tales and legends are filled with various mythological creatures, some good, some bad, but all picturesque for understanding how Slavic people lived back in the day. Sirin is one of these creatures. Even though Sirin is considered to be...
First, before we start with this article, I would like to scream from the top of my lungs: SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t seen John Wick, watch it first, and then come back to this article. So, with that out of the way, let’s start! John Wick is one...
In Slavic mythology, the goddess Lada is considered the counterpart of the Scandinavian goddess Freyja and the Greek goddess Aphrodite, both divine representations of beauty, spring and rebirth (end of winter). In some Slavic myths, she is mentioned...
The first historical record that mentions Devana is the Czech “Mater Verborum” which is a Latin dictionary from the 13th century. Devana is mentioned in the text “Diana, Latonae et louis branch” or “Diana, the daughter...
Ugly, bony, immortal, and evil, Koschei the Deathless is the archetypal male antagonist and probably one of the scariest characters in Eastern Slavic folklore. Having had his soul separated from his body and hidden on an island far away...