Dabog was a major deity in Slavic mythology, most likely associated with the sun. "" - slavic sun wheel - "kolovrat" means "spinning wheel" in a number of slavic languages. [138], Laruelle observed that Rodnovery is in principle a decentralised movement, with hundreds of groups coexisting without submission to a central authority. [63] The term was originally also applied to the modern Pagan religions of non-Slavic groupsfor instance, in the Polish language Lithuanian Romuva has been referred to as Rodzimowierstwo litewskie ("Lithuanian Native Faith") and Celtic Paganism has been referred to as Rodzimowierstwo celtyckie ("Celtic Native Faith"),[63] however, "now, especially if you write [it] with the capital letter, the term is understood, first of all, as a designation of the Slavic Native Faith". [69] Another term employed by Rodnovers, but historically associated to the Russian Orthodox Christian movement of the Old Believers, is "Starovery" (Russian: Starovry, "Old Faith"). [109] Conversely, Sylenko's Native Ukrainian National Faith (RUNVira; also called "Sylenkoism") regards itself as monotheistic and focuses its worship upon a single God whom the movement identifies with the name Dazhbog, regarded as the life-giving energy of the cosmos. The name Radegast translates approximately to dear guest or welcomed guest. He is associated with many animals, particularly birds and snakes. Laruelle has thus defined Rodnovery as an "open-source religion", that is to say a religion which "emphasizes individual participation and doctrinal evolution, and calls for the personal creation of religious belief systems". Besides varieties of "traditional" clothing and the tambourine, the most distinctive element accompanying the Rodnover volkhv is their staff, conferred at the moment of their initiation, an "invariable attribute of religious and secular power (the sceptre, the wand) in the traditions of the peoples of the world". [189] The northern homeland was the Hyperborea, and it was the terrestrial reflection of the north celestial pole, the world of the gods; the North Pole is held to be the point of grounding of the spiritual flow of good forces coming from the north celestial pole, while the South Pole is held to be the lowest point of materialisation where evil forces originate. Air is associated with communication, wisdom or the power of the mind. Triquetra [107] Rodnovers also worship tutelary deities of specific elements, lands and environments,[108] such as waters, forests and the household. Stribog translates to mean wealth spreader, and he was said to connect the earth to the heavens. [92], The root *rod is attested in sources about pre-Christian religion referring to divinity and ancestrality. [299], After Mikhail Gorbachev's Soviet government introduced the policy of perestroika in the 1980s, Slavic Native Faith groups established themselves in Ukraine. [119] Although some Rodnovers aspire to paradise, they argue that retribution is not deferred to a transcendent future but realised in the here and now; since gods manifest themselves as the natural phenomena, and in people as lineage descendants, Rodnovers believe that actions and their outcomes unfold and are to be dealt with in the present world. [445], There are also practising Rodnovers among Lithuania's[446] and Estonia's ethnically Russian minorities. withershins, leftwise) in those rituals dedicated to the gods of Nav (underworld). He is a god of thunder, lightning, and war, and is often associated with the oak tree. [109] In keeping with the pre-Christian belief systems of the region, the groups who inherit Volodymyr Shaian's tradition, among others, espouse polytheism. [404] In 2016, Aitamurto noted that there was no reliable information on the number of Rodnovers in Russia, but that it was plausible that there were several tens of thousands of practitioners active in the country. As of 2013, Rodnover groups in Bulgaria were described as having few members and little influence. [332], Russian Rodnovery also attracted the attention of Russian academics, many of whom focused on the political dimensions of the movement, thus neglecting other aspects of the community. [271] The use of the term "Vedism" to refer to Slavic religion goes back to Yury Mirolyubov, the writer or discoverer of the Book of Veles. I want to invite you on a small journey into Slavic mythology and Polish witchcraft. [48] As such, it represents wholeness, the ultimate source of renewal, the cosmic order and the four directions. I personally feel like these are more like good general pagan symbols rather than anything too specific. [83] Some practitioners describe themselves as atheists,[84] believing that gods are not real entities but rather ideal symbols. [396] Ritual is extremely simplified and the god of warriors, the thunderer, is worshipped through war totems (falcon, kite, bear, wolf and lynx). [382] According to the movement, which presents itself as the true, orthodox, olden religion of the Russians, the Slavs and the white Europeans,[382] Yngly is the fiery order of reality through which the supreme Godcalled by the name "Ramha" in Ynglist theologyongoingly generates the universe. [402], According to Laruelle, the most politicised current of Rodnovery has given rise to organisations in Russia including the Church of the Nav ( ), founded by Ilya Lazarenko and inspired by German Ariosophy; the Dead Water movement and its parties which participated to the State Duma elections in 2003; Aleksandr Sevastianov's National Party of the Russian Great Power, which has had links with politicians close to the former mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov (19362019); and the Party of Aryan Socialism led by Vladimir Danilov. [55] The suffix "-ism" is usually avoided in favour of others that describe the religion as if it were a practice or craft (which is the meaning of the Ukrainian and Russian suffix -stvo, thus translatable with the English suffix "-ery, -ry"). [232] The rival and near homonymous Association of Sons and Daughters of the Native Ukrainian National Faith (OSID RUNVira), also conducts weekly services, but incorporates a wider selection of sourcessuch as readings from the pan-Rodnover Book of Veles or the poetry of Taras Shevchenkointo the proceedings, and its liturgy is characterised by a more colourful ritual action. In doing so, pre-Christian belief systems underwent a rehabilitation. Ruling over the Slavic pantheon was Perun, the god of thunder and lightning, associated with fire and mountains and more. Aitamurto summarised Rodnover ethics in the concepts of patriarchy, solidarity and homogeneity, with the latter two seen as intrinsically related. [128] Laruelle similarly found an emphasis on patriarchy, heterosexuality, traditional family, fidelity and procreation. [368] Orantism is a movement centred around the cult of Berehynia, linked to Ukrainian national identity, non-violence and resistance to global assimilation. [365] According to the definition of Sylenko himself, Sylenkoite theology is a solar "absolute monotheism", in which the single God is identified as Dazhbog. [327] These groups have strong political motivations, being extremely nationalistic, anti-Western, and anti-Semitic. Marija Gimbutas, instead, found Slavic religion to be a clear result of the overlap of Indo-European patriarchism and pre-Indo-European matrifocal beliefs. The symbol of Rod is identical to the swastika symbol with four points and rounded edges. [203] Some Rodnovers also take a hostile stance towards Judaism, which they regard as having spawned Christianity,[204] or believe that Christianity has led the Slavs under the control of the Jews. [79] However, the prefix "neo-" within "Neopaganism" is a divisive issue among Rodnovers. [261], The origins of Slavic Native Faith have been traced to the Romantic movement of late eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe, which was a reaction against rationalism and the Age of Enlightenment. [124] Immediately related to the morality of a responsible community is the respect for the whole world of nature, or what Aitamurto defines "ecological responsibility". [447] In Lithuania there are also homesteads of the Anastasian movement. [79] Many Rodnovers straightforwardly reject the designator "paganism", whether "neo-", "modern", "contemporary" or without prefixes and further qualificators, asserting that these are "poorly defined" concepts whose use by scholars leads to a situation in which Rodnovery is lumped together with "all kinds of cults and religions" which have nothing to do with it. [333] Rodnover themes entered the heavy metal subculture, particularly in bands like Sokyra Peruna ("Perun's Axe"), Whites Load, and Komu Vnyz ("Who Will Go Down"). [9], According to Schnirelmann, it was the Soviet Union's official scientific atheism, which severely weakened the infrastructure of universalist religions, combined with anti-Westernism and the research of intellectuals into an ancient "Vedic" religion of Russia, that paved the way for the rise of Rodnovery and other modern Paganisms in Eastern Europe. Indra), Iranian deities (such as Simargl and Khors), deities from the Book of Veles (such as Pchelich) and figures from Slavic folk tales such as the wizard Koschei. [158] Other Rodnovers hold philo-Semitic views instead;[159] for instance, Kandybaites regard Jews and Asians in general as part of the same Eastern spiritual humanity of which the Slavs themselves are part, opposed to a Western despiritualised beastly humanity. [111] A number of senior followers broke with Sylenko during the 1980s, rejecting the idea that he should be the ultimate authority in the religion; they formed the Association of Sons and Daughters of the Native Ukrainian National Faith (OSID RUNVira) and secured legal control of the temple in Spring Glen. Veles is associated with creativity, honesty and determination, as well as common sense wisdom and personal responsibility. He is associated with the oak tree, and is a god of war; in some respects, he's a lot like the Norse and Germanic Thor and Odin combined. Reportedly, one of the greatest symbols of Slavic nationality was the symbol of the deity Rod who was considered a patron of all the Slavic people. She was also exquisitely honored through numerous rituals and ceremonies. Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich was assigned by the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party the task of studying folk religious movements, and in 19081910 a faction of the Bolsheviks, represented by Anatoly Lunacharsky, Alexander Bogdanov, Maxim Gorky, and Vladimir Bazarov, formulated the "God-Building" movement (Bogostroitelstvo), whose aim was to create a new religion for the proletariat through a synthesis of socialism with folk religion. They are those responsible for holding rites for worshipping the gods and leading communities and religious festivals. Wojdart From shop Wojdart. [290], Russian Rodnovery originated in the Soviet dissidents' circles of the 1970s,[291] as intellectuals became concerned for the eradication of traditional Russian culture and identity. [14] The ethnonym "Slavs" (Polish: Sowianie, South Slavic: Sloveni, Russian: Slavyane), derives from the Proto-Slavic root *slovo, "word", and means "those who speak the same words", and according to Rodnovers it has the religious connotation of "praising one's gods". But there's little reason to believe it is a universal Slavic symbol, or that it was particular to Slavic Pagans. It is also a symbol for those going through spiritual hardship or hard toil, offering strength and perseverance to those who need it. [284] Sylenko presented himself as a prophet of Dazhbog who had been sent to the Ukrainian people. The name "Ringing Cedars" derives from the beliefs held by Anastasians about the spiritual qualities of the Siberian cedar. [251], The common Rodnover ritual calendar is based on the Slavic folk tradition, whose crucial events are the four solstices and equinoxes set in the four phases of the year. In one gruesome instance near the Ukrainian border in 1997, a man and his nephew attacked a woman who they claimed used black magic to cast a spell on them. [14] Some practitioners regard "ethnic religion" as a term synonymous with "Native Faith", but others perceive a distinction between the two terms. The Svarozhich, then, is the heavenly fire from which the gods were forged. LADA Lada is the goddess of summer, love and beauty and even fertility. Nevertheless, Laruelle says that the most politicised right-wing groups are the most popularly known, since they are more vocal in spreading their ideas through the media, organise anti-Christian campaigns, and even engage in violent actions. [137] There is an academic consensus that the Proto-Slavic language developed from about the second half of the first millennium BCE in an area of Central and Eastern Europe bordered by the Dnieper basin to the east, the Vistula basin to the west, the Carpathian Mountains to the south and the forests beyond the Pripet basin to the north. He wrote that the Yarilo-Sun would soon burn the most sensitive to increased ultraviolet radiation, to which he attributed primarily the Jews. Sventovit is the Slavic god of war. [310] In 2002, groups of Rodnovers that did not share the extreme right-wing views dominant within some of the largest organisations at the time, promulgated the "Bittsa Appeal", which among other things condemned extreme nationalism and was the foundation charter of another umbrella organisation, the Circle of Pagan Tradition headquartered in Moscow. In Yakutovsky's Rodnovery, male gods are secondary in importance compared to goddesses, and he claims that this was typical of ancient Slavic religion, which according to him was matriarchal. Other festivals include the Days of Veles (multiple, in January and February) and the Day of Perun (August 2), the latter considered to be the most important holiday of the year by some Rodnover organisations. Slavs are the largest ethnic group in Europe that share a linguistic and cultural history. [355] An organised attempt at a renewal of the Scythian religion by the Cossacks started in the 1980s building upon the folk religion of the Ossetians, who are the modern descendants of the Scythians. [223], Most Rodnover groups strongly emphasise the worship of ancestors,[224] to continue and cultivate the family, the kin and the land,[126] as the ancestors are those personalities who effectively generated presently living offspring. Ancient Slavs lived in tribal societies, presided over by tribal chieftains, and practiced a multi-theistic form of Paganism. [449] In Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, within the Ukrainian diaspora, there are various congregations of the Native Ukrainian National Faith (RUNVira).[286]. [75] Yazychnik has been adopted especially among Rodnovers speaking West Slavic languages, where it has not any connotations related to "paganism". Morok, which translates literally as darkness in modern Russian, is the Slavic god of ignorance, error, deceit and lies. [338] In June 2017, during the celebrations of the nationwide holiday called Stado, a new religious organisation was created: the Religious Organisation of Polish Rodnovers "Kin" (Zwizek Wyznaniowy Rodzimowiercw Polskich "Rd"). The Slavs, who were their creators, are an ethnic group that has existed in Europe since at least the time of the Romans. In 2012, in Russia, representatives of the Union of Slavic Native Belief Communities, the Circle of Pagan Tradition and the Circle of Veles, signed an "Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Priests" that defined the criteria for the ordination of those wishing to become Slavic priests. and the "Perun's sign", or "thunder wheel" (e.g. It guards the living from destruction, and from the degradation of the soul and spirit. Vedic ta, "Right"), was usurped by the Christians. Local Rodnover groups usually call themselves obshchina (the term for traditional peasant communities), while skhod, sobor and mir are used for informal meetings or to refer to traditional Russian ideas of commonality. [262] This was accompanied by a growth in nationalism across Europe, as intellectuals began to assert their own national heritage. [227] The swastika (or kolovrat, as the eight-spoked wheel is called in Rodnovery) is considered the main symbol for mystical ascension to the divine world. The cultural center "Vyatichi" in the "Russian Pagan Manifesto" of 1997 (Nikolai Speransky - Velimir and others) on the threshold of the third millennium announced the end of the "night of Svarog" and "the morning of the new great day of the gods. [333] This attitude generated some mutual hostility between academics and practitioners of Rodnovery, rendering subsequent scholarly fieldwork more difficult. [68] They claim that the term, which refers to the "praise" or "glorification" (slava) of the universal order (Prav, cf. [164], Laruelle has observed that even in groups which reject extreme nationalism or are apolitical, ethnic identity is still important, and a good Rodnover is considered one who is conscious of ethnic identity, national traditions, and knows the history of the ancestors. Russian folklore has its roots in the Slavic pagan traditions. It connects the feminine energy to the lunar cycle, the menstrual periods, and brings to women health, fertility and protection from conspicuous eyes and evil spirits. He was associated with thunder, lightning, storms, fire, mountains, fertility, law, war and weapons. [28] Some Rodnovers believe that the Aryans originated at the North Pole but moved southwards when the climate there became uninhabitable, settling in Russia's southern steppes and from there spreading throughout Eurasia. "[199], Rodnovery is essentially a religion of the community, with most adherents actively joining organisations; only a minority of believers choose solitary practice. [119], Rodnovers express their anti-Christian views in various ways. Russian rodnaya or rodnoy); and *vera, which means "faith", "religion". [163] The scholars Kaarina Aitamurto and Roman Shizhenskii found that expressions of extreme nationalism were considered socially unacceptable at one of the largest Rodnover events in Russia, the Kupala festival outside Maloyaroslavets. 5 out of 5 stars (1) $ 5.58. Kupalo is the Slavic god of the summer solstice. The Rarg usually was depicted taking the form of a phoenix, falcon or other bird of prey. [118] Rodnover ethics have been defined as a "safety technique"[118] and as "ecoethics", at the same time environmentalist and humanistic, stemming from the awareness that all existence belongs to the same universal, cosmic God. Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. These accoutrements represent four elements: water, earth, sun and air.