Slavic Mythology

The origins and functions of the Polabian god Sventovit venerated at Arkona temple on the island of Rügen eluded most of the past and modern scholars. Most common, current theory postulated by Aleksander Gieysztor claims that Sventovit was an incarnation of Perun. 1 A deity that evolved to prominence with the rise and growth of Ranove's principality and acquired different, local name during the process. However, deriving Sventovit from Perun is based on a false assumption that both were war deities. It is true that Perun attained war-god attributes among the Eastern Slavs and was perceived as such, but this does not imply that he was a common Slavic war deity. On the contrary, evidence shows that Perun was initially an atmospheric deity sharing its origin with Indian weather god, Parjanya, whose domains were atmospheric forces, thunderstorms and seasonal monsoons. He was also a deity that made things grow, and like the Slavic Perun he was associated with cattle. 2 At the same time Sventovit's war functions and attributes are beyond doubt as they are well attested in the sources. A huge sword and Ranove's war standard that belonged to Sventovit 3 is a prime example. Other evidence provided by Saxo Grammaticus explicitly stated that the Ranove believed in Sventovit riding his horse at night, and fighting their enemies. Moreover, divinations involving a horse to predict the outcome of oncoming conflicts or raids 4 are also the evidence for the warlike characteristics of this god. Furthermore, there were 300 mounted horsemen assigned to the temple at Arkona who must have been the core of the Ranove's army as they carried Sventovit's war standard during the war. 5 However, one of the primary domains of Sventovit of Rügen was farming and agriculture. This should not be a surprise taking into consideration that like the all Slavs, the Ranove of Rűgen was predominantly an agricultural society. The Ranove's harvest festival is relatively well documented in the sources. The first reference to it comes from William of Malmesbury, an early twelfth century English chronicler. 6 He lived in western England and it is commonly believed that he used a now lost German source of the middle of the eleventh century from the times of the emperor Henry III. 7 Another 1

The time frame of the thesis is the period approximately from the tenth to the twelfth century and it focuses on the area of north-eastern Germany that was more or less the north-eastern quarter of the former German Democratic Republic. The Warnow river, the Baltic sea, the Oder river and the Havel river basin roughly define this region.  The thesis concentrates on the Slavic inhabitants of this area in that time and their political and ideological response to challenges from the Empire, in political terms, and Christianity in the ideological and religious spheres, looking also into a similar pressures, albeit much weaker, from other neighbours such as Poland and Denmark.
The thesis not explore a single issue, and as it follows Emil Durkheim’s notion of  social basis of religion, it analyses not only political but also religious developments.  One of the major findings of the research is that, despite the strong influence of and extensive contacts with Western Christendom, Polabian religion remained basically Slavic in character, and there were not significant borrowings. Nonetheless, Christianity provided  ready models for organized cults, a formal priesthood and temples.  The research demonstrates that from various early and common Slavic deities new syncretic gods and cults emerged, comprising features and functions from numerous deities.  At the same time certain tribal deities emerged as dominant ones and Polabian beliefs underwent a transformation into a clearly defined henotheistic religion.
A certain uniformisation of these Polabian deities was also observed. Various, originally different tribal gods with different functions evolved into deities that shared many functions, rituals and characteristics.  In reality although their names differed they turned functionally into practically the same deities. The findings challenge common assumption of the origin of Polabian deities. In particular, they show that Polabian gods were not Perun (allegedly a war god) disguised under a different name, and that Perun was not originally a war deity but rather an atmospheric god.  The research shows that gods like Sventovit of Rügen and Yarovit at Wolgast and Havelberg were initially agricultural Slavic deities, who in the course of the time amalgamated other functions and characteristics.  As war dominated the last centuries of the Polabian independence, all these gods evolved into clearly martial deities.
In the political sphere the research demonstrates that under strong external pressure many Polabian Slavs organized themselves into larger, supra-tribal political entities.  In some areas a city emporium such as Wolin, Szczecin or Wolgast emerged. They were characterized by the dominant role of craftwork and commerce in their economy and relatively small size.  Generally all north-eastern Polabian political entities developed a peculiar political system.  They retained in most cases the old institution of a tribal assembly, called in Slavic veche, despite emerging local elites and upper class.  One of the unique characteristics of their political system was the very prominent role of  the pagan priesthood.  Nowhere did this system become a true theocracy but at least on Rügen island the pagan priests were a dominant political force, and in fact they were the real rulers of the principality.  This finding challenges the commonly accepted notion that the north-eastern Polabian priesthood played a much less prominent role and was the same footing  the tribal assembly and local elite or "princes".

The article analyzes the pre-Slavic and Carpathian lexicon, borrowings of different times and specific terms in Moravian terminology of the mythological characters, considering the all-Slavic background. Based on the comparison and confrontation of demonological vocabulary and beliefs of the Moravian and Moravian-Silesian ethnographic regions with the Czech and Slovak regions, the isoleks and isodoxes that connect or separate these three closely related West Slavic regions, and partly continue in Slovenian and Croatian dialects.

Casimir III the Great (Polish: Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He was the third son of King Władysław I ("the Elbow-high") and Duchess Jadwiga of Kalisz, and the last Polish king from the Piast dynasty.
Kazimierz inherited a kingdom weakened by war and made it prosperous and wealthy. He reformed the Polish army and doubled the size of the kingdom. He reformed the judicial system and introduced a legal code, gaining the title "the Polish Justinian". Kazimierz built extensively and founded the University of Kraków, the oldest Polish university. He also confirmed privileges and protections previously granted to Jews and encouraged them to settle in Poland in great numbers.
Kazimierz left no lawful male heir to his throne, producing only daughters. When Kazimierz died in 1370 from an injury received while hunting, his nephew, King Louis I of Hungary, succeeded him as king of Poland in personal union with Hungary.
When Kazimierz attained the throne in 1333, his position was in danger, as his neighbours did not recognise his title and instead called him "king of Kraków". The kingdom was depopulated and exhausted by war, and the economy was ruined. In 1335, in the Treaty of Trentschin, Casimir was forced to relinquish his claims to Silesia "in perpetuity".
Kazimierz rebuilt and his kingdom became prosperous and wealthy, with great prospects for the future. He waged many victorious wars and doubled the size of the kingdom, mostly through addition of lands in modern-day Ukraine (then called the Duchy of Halych). Kazimierz built extensively during his reign, ordering the construction of over 40 castles, including many castles along the Trail of the Eagle's Nests, and he reformed the Polish army.
At the Sejm in Wiślica, on 11 March 1347, Kazimierz introduced reforms to the Polish judicial system and sanctioned civil and criminal codes for Great and Lesser Poland, earning the title "the Polish Justinian". He founded the University of Kraków, the oldest Polish University, and he organized a meeting of kings in Kraków in 1364 at which he exhibited the wealth of the Polish kingdom.
Succession
In 1355, in Buda, Kazimierz designated his nephew Louis I of Hungary as his successor should he produce no male heir, as his father had with Charles I of Hungary to gain his help against Bohemia. In exchange Kazimierz gained a favourable Hungarian attitude, needed in disputes with the hostile Teutonic Order and Kingdom of Bohemia. Kazimierz at the time was still in his early years and having a son did not seem to be a problem (he already had a few children).
Kazimierz left no legal son, however, begetting five daughters instead. He tried to adopt his grandson, Casimir IV, Duke of Pomerania, in his last will. The child had been born to his second daughter, Elisabeth, Duchess of Pomerania, in 1351. This part of the testament was invalidated by Louis I of Hungary, however, who had traveled to Kraków quickly after Kazimierz died and bribed the nobles with future privileges. Kazimierz III had a son-in-law, Louis VI of Bavaria, Margrave and Prince-elector of Brandenburg, who was considered a possible successor, but he was deemed ineligible as his wife, Kazimierz's daughter Cunigunde, had died in 1357 without issue.
Thus King Louis I of Hungary became successor in Poland. Louis was proclaimed king upon Kazimierz's death in 1370, though Kazimierz's sister Elisabeth (Louis's mother) held much of the real power until her death in 1380.

Komparácia vybraných textov slovenskej a českej tradície -Ľubomír Gábor -Ľudové rozprávky sú dôležitými reprezentantmi kultúry, ktorú by sme v intenciách koncepcie a terminológie amerických vedcov Marshalla McLuhana a Waltera J. Onga mohli nazvať orálnou. Orálne kultúrne systémy vo svojej čistej forme, t.j. v podobe nezasiahnutej "nánosmi" písomníctva a písma ako mladšieho fenoménu konštruovania verbálnych prejavov, vykazujú celý komplex charakteristických vlastností, zodpovedajúcich prirodzenej mentalite ľudových spoločenstiev pred epochou písma, ktoré túto prirodzenú mentalitu ovplyvňovalo a kvalitatívne menilo.

Princes Boris and Gleb were the first East Slavic saints canonized after the baptism of their father, prince Vladimir of Kiev, in 988. Murdered by their half-brother Svjatopolk in the fight for the power that followed Vladimir’s death in 1015, they were canonized in the Kievan Rus’ already in 1071, and their cult became a way to legitimate and strengthen the Christian faith as well as the reigning dynasty. However, they share many motifs and attributes in common, and even some parts of the story, with the old Indo-European myth on the Divine Twins, that is embodied by the Indian Aśvins, the Greek Dióskouroi, and even the Roman founding brothers Romulus and Remus. Here, we can find also the sacrificed twin myth in their quarrel over kingship, the same as the fight between Vladimir’s sons after his death.

System of Slavic calendar created on old Aryan astronomy and mathematical system 60. Work show all astronomical body's who influenced yearly procession of festival. It show  how division of year on 28 lunar mansion influenced in order of festivals during the year with four corner of the world. Also identified the astronomical connections with planets and gods. For a first time full reading of Zbruh idol ....

Pred okvirno 70 leti je v drugi oziroma tretji številki Zgodovinskega časopisa potekala vroča diskusija, ki še danes ni razrešena. Gre za eno najbolj perečih vprašanj arheologije v Sloveniji, to je problem staroslovanskega svetišča na Ptuju. Avtor predstavi pester potek odkritja zloglasnega objekta v »podivjanih« povojnih letih v Jugoslaviji med velikimi arheološkimi izkopavanji na zahodnem platoju ptujskega gradu. Izkopavanja postavi v širši okvir povojne gradnje države in nacije (Jugoslovanov), ko so tudi arheologi in zgodovinarji pomagali postavljati novo državo na nove temelje.

This article presents a description Triglav, a god or complex of gods in Slavic mythology. Oracular ceremonial that take place for Triglav was the same as the oracular ceremony of Svantevit from Arkona temple in Rugia island. The informations were taken from the medieval sources such as the Vita Ottonis of Otto from Bamberg and the chronicles from Prieflingen monastery. This triad is part of the Indo-european system of multi-headed deities (polycephaly).

Baba Yaga, the well-known figure of Russian and other Slavic fairy tales has a dual, both terrifying and beneficial character. She is an amalgamation of deities as a pre-Slavic goddess of death and birth, who, with time, converted into an ugly and malevolent witch.
The present article aims to seek the evolution of Baba Yaga’s figure based on an overview of scientific research projects of pupils from Russia. After a short presentation of scholar approaches we demonstrate some aspects and attributes of Baba Yaga. Her „bony leg” and blindness while recognizing human beings by their scent prove that she belongs to the world of the dead. Her hut on hens feet can be a vestige of common funeral practice in Neolitic Age consisted in so called „openair” burials where bodies were placed on wooden platforms on poles.
In the second part we focus on changes of Baba Yaga’s figure until the present time. The illustrations of children’s picture books have an influence on how tale heroes are to be imagined. Recently, the pictures still show Baba Yaga’s Russian heritage as travelling in mortar but the pestle is substituted by a broom. We suppose that this phenomen is a result from contamination with the crosscultural image of the witch. Furthermore, from the research of pupils it appears that the estimation of this fairy tale figure has changed, she is considered rather positive. In the museum of Russian folktales the personified Baba Yaga is an amicable and droll old woman with a dose of sorcery.

Do tej pory pokutuje w oficjalnej nauce pogląd o niepiśmienności Słowian przed misją braci Cyryla i Metodego. Ale, co ciekawe, ten sam osąd dotyczył także do niedawna ludów germańskich, z czego obecnie już się wycofano, pozostawiając jedynie Słowian w absurdalnej pustce niepiśmiennictwa wczesnego średniowiecza, choć taki R. Page w swej popularnej pracy o runach jeszcze pisze: Powszechnie uważa się, że plemiona germańskie były niepiśmienne aż do chrystianizacji, kiedy to Kościół przyniósł im naukę chrześcijańskiego Rzymu; kiedy nauczył je zarówno czytać i pisać, jak i co to jest grzech i pokuta. Twierdzenie to, chociaż zasadniczo prawdziwe, zawiera w sobie _pewne uproszczenie. Niektóre ludy germańskie miały swój własny sposób pisania, z charakterystycznym alfabetem nazwanym runicznym, którego litery zwane są runami. Obecnie wiemy, że runy stanowią zapis wczesnych stadiów rozwoju języków gockiego, duńskiego, szwedzkiego, norweskiego, angielskiego, fryzyjskiego, frankijskiego i różnych języków plemion środkowych Niemiec oraz że być może służyły innym językom germańskim, nie pozostawiwszy żadnego, widocznego śladu do dziś. Według danych archeologicznych najstarsze istniejące runy są datowane na drugi wiek e.ch. Pismo to funkcjonowało w niektórych regionach poprzez wieki średnie, aż do wczesnych czasów nowożytnych.

Cóż można do tego dodać, chyba jedynie to, że taki znany runolog Page – nie wiedzieć czemu – zapomniał wymienić Słowian, jako tych, którzy bez żadnych wątpliwości także używali pisma runicznego, o czym zapewne musiał wiedzieć, a świadczą o tym niezbicie znajdywane artefakty, kroniki i relacje historyczne. Niestety wszystko wskazuje na to, że jest to kolejny przykład niezrozumiałej manipulacji faktami, przypominający politykę historyczną z czarnego okresu dziejów Europy.

Dodatek: czcionka TTF Runy_slowianskie do pisania w Wordzie http://marek-medrzak.pl/runy_slowianskie_kosinski.7z

Baba Jaga jest postacią powszechnie znaną oraz obecną w kulturze popularnej, jednak niewiele wiadomo o jej początkach. Badacze Słowian, folkloru polskiego i rosyjskiego zgodnie przyznają, że Baba Jaga pojawiła się w opowieściach ludowych bardzo wcześnie, a ślady jej obecności można zauważyć w kulturze wszystkich rejonów Słowiańszczyzny. Andreas Johns w swojej monografii zatytułowanej Baba Yaga: The Ambiguous Mother and Witch of the Russian Folktale stwierdza, że jest ona „jedną z najbardziej charakterystycznych i najsilniej zapadających w pamięć postaci wschodnioeuropejskiego folkloru” – a jednak pozostaje jedną z białych plam pośród naszej wiedzy o wierzeniach Słowian.
W podejmowanych przez badaczy próbach opisu tej postaci wyróżnić można trzy postawy: uznanie Baby Jagi za bóstwo słowiańskie, włączenie jej w poczet demonów oraz przedstawianie jej jako kobiety, czarownicy. W swoim wystąpieniu chciałabym skoncentrować się na koncepcjach dotyczących początków opowieści o Babie Jadze, genezy imienia oraz tradycyjnie przypisywanych jej atrybutów. Szczegółowej analizie poddam teorie rozstrzygające o jej naturze, szukając odpowiedzi na pytanie o jej miejsce w dawnych wierzeniach ludowych.
Próba interpretacji funkcji, jakie pełniła w dawnych opowieściach oraz przemian w sposobie jej opisu na przestrzeni wieków może stanowić kolejny głos w debacie na temat istnienia bądź braku zorganizowanego systemu mitów u Słowian, a przede wszystkim stanowi interesujący kierunek badawczy, do tej pory w Polsce niepodejmowany.

The Green Knight was a character featured in the classic poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (fourteenth century) and its derivative The Green Knight (c. 1500). This knight came into Arthur’s hall and asked any one of his knights to trade blows.

Sir Gawain accepted this challenge and he was allowed to strike first. He cut off the Green Knight’s head. The latter calmly picked it up and told Gawain to meet him on New Year’s Morning for his turn.

On his way to this meeting, Gawain lodged with a lord and each agreed to give the other what he had obtained during each day of Gawain’s stay. On the first day, when the lord was out hunting, Gawain received a kiss from his wife which was duly passed on. On the second day, he received a brace of kisses which were also passed on. On the third day he was given three kisses and some green lace which would magically protect him, but only the three kisses were passed on.

The Green Knight is most often and closely associated with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ("green", "associated with trees", "a ruler of trees").
Later on, the Nazi's took over this title to name Dr.Green, aka 'Dr.Jozef Mengele')

Having left the lord’s residence, Gawain arrived at the Green Chapel where he was to meet the Green Knight. He knelt for the blow. The Green Knight aimed three blows at Gawain, but the first two did not make contact and the third but lightly cut his neck.

The Green Knight turned out to be the lord with whom he had been staying and he said he would not have cut Gawain at all had the latter told him about the lace. The Green Knight was called Bertilak and he lived at Castle Hutton. The tale bears a striking resemblance to an Irish narrative in which Cu Roi takes the part of the Green Knight and Cuchullain that of Gawain. The Green Knight may have been the Green Man, a wild man featured on inn signboards whose effigy was carried in civic processions.

*Sir Pertolepe was also called the Green Knight, and he was defeated by Sir Gareth.

This paper critically analyses and discusses two recent re-interpretation of the name of the Slavic god known as Sventovit.  This deity was worshiped on Rügen Island, on Wittow Peninsula, at a locality called Arkona.  The temple of Sventovit, with his four-headed statue, stood there on the cliff there in the Middle Ages until its destruction by the Danes in 1168/9.  The paper explores an article by Michał Łuczyński published in the Polish journal Ling Varia in 2015, and a chapter on Sventovit in the book by Judith Kalik and Alexander Uchitel titled Slavic Gods and Heroes that was published by Routledge in 2018, in USA and UK.  In his work Łuczyński postulated that root-stem -vit in the name of a deity is in fact a suffix –ovit implying its attributive character.  The paper argues for a widely accepted explanation that root-stem -vit derives from the Slavic vitędzь denoting warrior, hero, free man, lord, master or ruler.  In their book, Kalik and Uchitel argued that the name Sventovit was a corrupted form of the name of the Christian Saint Vitus.  The article challenges this notion arguing that the deity’s name Sventovit has nothing to do with Saint Vitus.

Wydanie Staroruskiej Inglistycznej cerkwi Prawosławnej Starowierców￾Inglistów. Asgard Iryjski (Omsk), rok 7500.

Oryginalne San'ti jedynie obrazowo można nazwać "książką". San'ti - to płyty z metalu
szlachetnego, nie poddającego się korozji, na których umieszczono stare H'Aryjskie Runy.

Runy H'Aryjskie to nie litery i nie hieroglify w naszym współczesnym tego słowa
rozumieniu. Runa - to tajne Obrazy zawierający ogromny zakres pradawnej wiedzy.

Ta stara forma pisma nie zniknęła w otchłani wieków tak, jak inne stare alfabety, takie jak
choćby bukwica, lecz nadal pozostaje podstawową formą pism u Kapłanów Staroruskiej
Cerkwi Inglistycznej. W czasach starożytnych h'Aryjskie runy stały się główną bazą dla
stworzenia uproszczonych form zapisu: starego Sanskrytu, pisma klinowego, Dewanagari,
germano-skandynawskiej runiki i liczny innych.

Dowiedz sie wiecej o runach I slowianskiej historii w tej niezwyklej publikacji.

*SPRAWDZ MOJA STRONE I POBIERZ JUZ TERAZ WYDANIE SLOWIANSKO-ARYJSKICH WED Z ZAPISEM RUNICZNYM!

The Slavic language is spoken by some four hundred million Slavs and being different nationally, they can still recognize the similarity of their connection. According to some studies the "Y-D.N.A." ( R1a ) haplagroup of peoples may have arisen around about 15,000 years ago in the vicinity of present day Ukraine.

Życie, a tym bardziej wierzenia dawnych Słowian, zwłaszcza w okresie przedchrześcijańskim, ze względu na niewielką liczbę zachowanych przekazów drukowanych i archeologicznych, po-zostają dla nas w dużym stopniu zagadką przeszłości. Jest to wciąż przedmiot badań religioznawców, historyków, archeolo-gów, etnografów, językoznawców, antropologów religii i innych naukowców, którzy różnymi metodami próbowali rekonstruo-wać słowiański panteon oraz podstawy rodzimego kultu.
W 1808 r. Dobrovski, w swej przedmowie do pracy Slavia, napisał sławne zdanie: „nic nie wymaga bardziej krytycz¬nej re-wizji i naprawy w obrębie wiedzy o starożytnościach słowiań-skich, jak mitologia”.
Niestety większość naszych uczonych, podobnie jak Dobrov-ski, ogranicza się do krytykowania spraw związanych z mitolo-gią czy wiarą słowiańską, których po prostu nie rozumieją. Jedni przepisują od drugich, powtarzając te same schematy myślowe. Im więcej krytyki i podważania źródeł tym większy mir w bran-ży.
Trend ten zapoczątkował u nas A. Brückner, a za nim poszli inni wątpiący, m.in. S. Urbańczyk, H. Łomiański, J. Strzelczyk, L. Moszyński i ostatnio D. A. Sikorski. Każdy, kto wychodzi poza ten schemat jest napiętnowany. Dlatego praca nad pozna-niem i zrozumieniem słowiańskich wierzeń zamiast się rozwijać to się cofa. Takim autorom jak Kazimierz Szulc, który przecież w czasach Brücknera (zabory) prosto objaśnił podstawę sło-wiańskiej wiary opartej na kulcie słońca, księżyca i ziemi, przy-pięto etykietę nawiedzonego oszołoma, słowianofila oderwane-go od rzeczywistości. A tą rzeczywistością naukową było służe-nie zaborcom i uczestniczenie w procesach germanizacji i rusy-fikacji. Narzędziem tej polityki było między innymi gmatwanie historii i mitologii Słowian, aby zniechęcić naukowców i społe-czeństwo doby Kulturkampfu do podejmowania niewygodnych dla zaborców tematów.

The Book of Veles came into being as mystification with the “genealogy”
tracing back to Ossianism, and it has become the holy script of Rodnovers (Slavic Neo-Pagans). The topic of this paper is the question which layer of The Book itself enables such a reading. It contains mythical themes but also a historical, euhemeristic layer related to identity. The possibilities of it being adopted by Rodnovers are provided by both of them, although the historical one seems more influential.

Dosadašnju recepciju Priča iz davnine Ivane Brlić-Mažuranić u velikoj je mjeri usmjeravala pitanje načina na koje je naslijeđe slavenske mitologije utjecalo na genezu ove prozne zbirke. Podrazumijevanu dihotomiju između vlastitoga autorstva i zapravo "nesuvisloga" mitskog naslijeđa sama je autorica usložnila pristajući uz, kroz 19. stoljeće formuliran, kolektivni identitet slavenskoga naslijeđa, "slavenske duše" koja, u njezinoj interpretaciji geneze vlastite zbirke, isključuje mitski sloj. Zaobilazeći ovu autoričinu eksplicitnu razliku između mitologije i tradicije, dosadašnji su istraživači nastojali precizirati mitološke motive, simbole, likove i autore čiji je utjecaj vidljiv u opusu Ivanu Brlić-Mažuranić. Za razliku od toga, u ovom se članku pokušava razumjeti mjesto autoričine kritike i odmaka od slavenske mitologije. Uzimajući u obzir ne samo narativni i ideološki koncept Priča iz davnine nego i niz autoričinih pisama, članaka i intervjua, razotkriva se prepoznatljiv okvir unutar kojeg Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić daje novo značenje doista brojnim, kako ih naziva, "imenima" iz porušenog mitološkog svijeta. Nasuprot binarizmu i voluntarizmu mitološkoga univerzuma, kao kritiku i korektiv, autorica postavlja referencijalno provjerljiv i etički fundiran svijet svojih priča.

eSamizdat  (III) -, pp. - ♦ I. LA TRADIZIONE EPICA ORALE C ON il nome di byliny 1 vengono identificati i canti popolari epici di area slava orientale, tramandatisi oralmente per oltre nove secoli. Dal IX al XVIII secolo le byliny vivono esclusivamente nel patrimonio culturale dei contadini, mentreè solo a partire dalla metà del XIX secolo che spariscono significativamente dal repertorio orale, proseguendo la loro vita su materiale cartaceo, ovvero libri, raccolte, miscellanee, trascrizioni in presa diretta.

there were many Slavic tribes that at the time of Samo ( a Frankish merchant) that were regularly attacked by the Asiatic tribe,the Avars. Samo being a business man,decided to protect his business and what a better way than founding the first recorded political union of Slavic tribes.They "elected" him as their first King.

THE HĂRCOI OF HURS. PROBLEMS OF THE ETHYMOLOGISATION AND THE MYTHOLOGISATION IN THE HUMANITIES
Valery Stoyanov
(Abstract)

The Hărcoi are an ethnographical group located in the area of the cities of Biala and Russe in North-Eastern Bulgaria. They belong to the inhabitants of the plane – to the so called Polianci (“the meadow folk”) and are considered as an “old local population” (Yerlies – from the Turkish yerli “local” < yer “place”). Because of their conservative way of life and some particularity of the vernacular they often have been mocked by the neighboring groups. And their name was once interpreted in a pejorative sense as (h) ărcoi “fool; stupid, simple” from the Rumanian word răţoi “duck, drake; fool” by a metathesis of the first syllable. The designation of the Hărcoi as “a simple one, stupid (like a duck)” is a kind of a folk-etymology although it finds a support in the grammatical regularities of the Bulgarian language.

In the ethnographical research one often identifies the Hărcoi with the Polianci, i. e. they have been taken not as a part of the peoples in the Danube plane but as an equal denotation of them. This leads to the interpretation of both names from “field” – an explanation developed in the 1980ies by the folklorist Ivan Koev. He thought the Hărcoi were distant descendants of the Slavs inhabited the lands along the Mid-Dnepr river. Their movement in the 6th century a. D. toward the Low Danube led to the appearance of the Slavic tribe Poliani there. As a century later also the Protobulgarians came, the need of an ethno-cultural interactions required probably the literal translation of the Slavic name Poliani, Polianci (“the field people, the meadow folk” – from Slav. pole “field” or poliana “meadow”) into the Protobulgarian as Hărcoi – from *hăr (< Chuv. hĕr; Turk. qïr, kır) “field” + Turk. soy “stock, breed, ancestry”. So seemed the name Hărcoi to be a Protobulgarian loan translation of the Slavic Polianci in the meaning of the “people of the field, field stemmed ones, *hăr-soy”. A variant of this interpretation, trying to make it compatible with the “Iranian thesis” on the Bulgarian origin, appeared in the newer time. It uses instead of the Chuv. hĕr Iranian words for “field”, for instance the Ossetian hėrs. And the term Hărcoi would be developed then from * hėrs-soy (?) or *hėrs-oi (?).

A different starting point offers the explication of the name Hărcoi as a derivative from the name of Vladimir Rasate (or Hrăsate) – the son of King Boris, the Convertor. According to this version, the Hărcoi were descendants of clans who followed Vladimir in the attempt to throw off the new Christian faith. This idea of the late Bulgarian writer Jordan Vălchev found a wide echo among the Hărcoi community and if one regards in the form Hrăsate also an alternate variant Hărsate, then is only one step left to links it with the name of the old Slavic sun-god Hurs.

The first one who definitely connected the ethnographic group Hărcoi with the name of the god Hurs (Hărs) was the folklorist Ancho Kaloyanov. He announced 1998 that the name Hărcoi derives actually from hărsovi i. e. “belonging to Hărs (villages, lands, people)”. After exploring some place-names and other evidences, the scholar tried to prove the origin of the term Hărcoi from “the god’s name (“people of Hurs”, “Hurs’s people”)”.

Hurs or Hors was the name of a solar deity, honored by the Eastern (Russian) Slavs before their Christianization. He was mentioned in many old texts in connection with the pagan believe, some of them with Bulgarian “padding”. There is an opinion, that the name of Hurs was additional put in the oldest Russian chronicle after hearing about it in the city of Tmutarakan. If so, this leads us to the Khazarian-Bulgarian cultural sphere, whose traces beside the names of Tmutarakan and Sarkel (Šaru-kel, Belaia veža, d. i. Bel-gorod, “the white city”) include the designation of the Great prince of Kiev as kagan, too. The name of Hurs has an Iranian etymology. It is connected with the Pers. xoršîd (“sun”) < Mid Pers. xvaršēt < Old Pers. xwara-xšaētam < Iran. xwar-xšaēta (“bright shining sun”). In the first element one can see the common word for “sun, light, sunlight” in many I. E. languages. The N. Pers. xor means now “East” (where the sun rises from) and “an angel, patronizing the sun”. K. Menges supposes that the transition from xvare-xšaēta to Hurs could be appeared before the name was taken by the Slavs, in an Ossetic milieu. This hints at the possible way of the borrowing – from the Alani-Aorsi, ancestors of the future Ossetians. They have played an important role as militaries in the Khazarian Empire.

The hypothesis of Prof. A. Kaloyanov about the connection of the name Hărcoi with that of Hurs gained with the time a big popularity. Especially under the brighter public influenced by the mass media through loud poetical messages. The Hărcoi became “the pride children of the sun-god Hurs”, their name stemmed from the “Old-Bulgarian (or even “Proto Bulgarian”) name of the sun-god Hurs”, they were also “the former sun-worshiper, sons of Hurs”, and so on. So result the comparison of the two close sounding words in an imaginary construct, having the potential to “turn over” all our concepts on the essence of the preserved cultural heritage. There were not however any other data to support such a presumption.

Searching in an explanation of a particular ethnographic name is sometimes very useful to take into consideration also the known evidences about earlier ethnical groups, especially if they dwelled in the roughly same area, carried similarly designations and if one can suppose the presence
of an ethnically and linguistically continuity. There is such possibility also with the case of Hărcoi. Some years ago an attempt were made to derive this appellation from the name of the ancient tribe Carsi (Karsi), who migrate from Siret River to low Danube and mingled with the Slavic Anti and Sklavini. This altered their name Karsi (Karsali) into Hărsi (Hărsali). During the Slavic expansion in the 7th century the main group of the Harsi (Hărsi, Hărsali) came to the lands of the South-Eastern Bulgaria. They settled down around the present-day town of Rasgrad (Hrăsgrad) and the neighboring
village Hărsovo, who became the main tribe territory of the Hărsi, Hărsali – the future Hărcoi.

This new hypothesis has many obscurities. But it is more satisfying from the scientific point of view. Because the “truth” often wears simple and not so pompous clothing, in which one tries to pack it up on the way to our mind.

Primary Chronicle, sub anno 945) Aleksandr V. Koptev Th e article deals with the story of the revenge of Kievan Princess Olga to the Drevlyans who murdered her husband, Prince Igor, in 945. Th ree stages of the revenge are interpreted as a princely funeral ritual, determined by the mythological picture of the tripartite structure of the universe. Th e Russian Primary Chronicle (Th e Tale of Bygone Years, ca. 1110), under the year 945, relates the story of the murder of Kievan prince Igor by tribesmen of the tributary Drevlyans:

Working with the premise that groups of three Slavic gods mentioned in ancient literature may indeed be the same three-part seasonal deity seen throughout Old Europe, deduction is used to sort through the regional names. The written records are fragmentary, however once the attributes are sorted and the titles of the triple god are laid out step-by-step then details can be crosschecked. This reveals that gods which were once thought of as part of a Slavic Pantheon are instead different masks of the same Divine that became transformed into separate deities over time. This is incredibly important in the field of metaphysics as it brings out our commonalities of belief.

Leta 2009 so prvič poročali o nenavadnih petroglifih v Japodski jami, severovzhodno od Ilirske Bistrice. Katja Hrobat Virloget je v poglobljenem članku petroglife opisala in predlagala nekaj hipotez o njihovem nastanku ter avtorjih, a se je tik pred pomembnim zaključkom ustavila. Ta članek predstavlja nekaj opazovanj, novih dejstev in hipotez, da bi podkrepil bolj divji zaključek: Japodska jama je bila staroslovansko svetišče, posvečeno Perunu oziroma Kresniku, sam Kresnik pa je v jami tudi upodobljen.

Сегодня в России активно строятся православные храмы, СМИ рассказывают о церковных праздниках, представители духовенства часто принимают участие в"разных официальных мероприятиях. Много говорится о торжестве православия, о «православном ренессансе». Парадоксально, но вместе с тем можно говорить и о возрождении славянского язычества. Его исповедуют некоторые известные персоны, языческие персонажи проникают на страницы художественных книг, в кино, живопись, тексты песен. Языческие волхвы проводят обряды, языческие талисманы продаются в сувенирных магазинах, именами славянских богов предприниматели называют свои фирмы. Почему это происходит и что вообще известно науке о язычестве восточных славян? Ответы на подобные вопросы вы найдёте в этой книге.
Today in Russia, Orthodox temples are actively being built, the mass media covers church holidays, and clergy often participate in public ceremonies and national events. Recently, there has been much talk about the triumph of Russian Orthodoxy. It is ironic that we can talk about the revival of Slavic Paganism at the same time that we are discussing
the triumph of the so-called Orthodox Renaissance in contemporary Russia. In the midst of this Orthodox Renaissance, celebrities are openly professing their conviction in pagan beliefs, pagan characters, symbols, and images are featuring prominentley in films, paintings, and lyrics, pagan priests are practicing their respective rituals, pagan talismans are being sold in gift shops, and entrepreneurs are naming their companies
after Slavic gods. Why is this happening and what do we really know about East Slavic Paganism? This book aims to answer these very questions.

In the all-Slavic ethnolinguistic studies, the Slovak tradition is still not sufficiently covered, first of all, the mythological vocabulary has not been compiled and analyzed in various aspects. This article, based on
the earlier work of 2013, is an attempt to analyze Slovak demonological vocabulary among and against the  background of other Slavic vocabularies: to determine the amount of common Slavic mythonyms in it (for example, čarovnica, divá žena); to examine its correspondence with other West Slavic (Moravian, Czech and Polish) terminological systems (the terms rarášek, škriatok, permoník); to analyze the Slovak-East Slavic (rusalka) and Slovak-South Slavic (víla, moria noha) parallels; to reveal the own Slovak vocabulary of demons (such as futkač, molek, grgalica etc.). Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the Carpathian features in Slovak demonological beliefs (beliefs about the «double-souled» men, flying dragons) and their vocabulary (striga, bosorka, šarkan, etc.).