The main features of Slavic paganism as a worldview are the belief in the animateness of nature (animatism and animism), the cult of ancestors and supernatural forces that are constantly present. And take part throughout the life of each person, the developed lower mythology, the belief in the possibility of influencing the state of things in the world by means of primitive magic.
Slavic polytheism (belief in nature) is not the religion of one closed community. This is the religion of small communities connected by a single origin, language and elements of culture, and nothing more. This religion is deeply rooted in the history of the development of Slavic communities. The pagan Slavs worshipped the elements, believed in the kinship of people with various animals, offered sacrifices to the deities inhabiting everything around. Each Slavic tribe had its own gods, For example, the rites of the northern Baltic and Novgorod Slavs were very different from those of Kiev and the Danube. The Slavs never had a single idea of the gods, since the Slavic tribes in pre-Christian times did not have a single state, so they were not united in beliefs. Some gods are similar to each other, but have nothing in common with each other.
As with most peoples of the world, in the paganism of the ancient Slavs there was an idea of a single god. That is, it was a god above all the numerous gods. Who could directly influence all the processes taking place in the universe?
Rod is the main deity in the Slavic Pantheon. The Creator of everything, the primordial spirit, the Primordial God, the Prabog. The genus is also called the Supreme God or the Most High and Belbog, the White God, Sventovit. Sventovit translates as the Knight of Light. Dark – Dark Knight, or Chernoboga, the opposite of Belbog. The genus is the ancestor; all other gods obey him, because they are descended from this primordial deity, the closer they stand to their ancestor, the stronger their power.
The Eastern Slavs actually had two supreme gods. Most Slavs – especially revered Yar or Yarilo (in some tribes: Khoros). Horse is a borrowed god from Iranian mythology. So the Slavs called the sun, which was considered a living supernatural being, giving people warmth and light. Tribal nobility, engaged in military campaigns, defended their tribal lands from enemy attacks, this was their main occupation. They worshipped the thunder god Perun more. The god Perun was especially revered by vigilantes and warriors.
Svarog is one of the highest gods of the Slavic-pagan pantheon. This is a particularly revered god, the creator of Heaven and Earth. It is believed that Svarog endowed people with blacksmithing and taught them to forge metal products. Any forge itself is a temple of Svarog, and the anvil and hammer are symbols of Svarog. It is also known that the Slavs revered fire as a natural element, whose father was Svarog and affectionately called Svarozhich. Svarog is also considered the patron saint of warriors and weapons.
The patron god of cattle, Volos or Veles, was very revered. It was believed that this god patronizes the reproduction and damage of livestock, good offspring of meat and fat, the size of milk yield. Also, this god is considered the guardian of the forest, patronizes hunters and warriors. The god Veles, he has many personifications – the god of wisdom, the patron of the magi, can guide on the path of spiritual self-knowledge in the world of Reality, as a god-magician, the leader of magicians, the patron of the animal world, he is also addressed as the god of prosperity. The god Veles accompanies souls between the gates of the otherworld, helps to cross between the worlds of the doers, the lord of the underworld.
Of the female deities, Mokosh or Makosh is known. The goddess of fate, prosperity, family happiness. Makosh is one of the goddesses of childbirth. She is revered as the goddess of the harvest. Her sign is present in the ornaments of clothing, in spring with her hands raised up, in autumn with her hands lowered down. Makosh is one of the revered goddesses of the Slavic pantheon. She is revered as the goddess of needlework. He really dislikes the lazy, and those who depart from traditions. Her name is also Mati Spinning, her main occupation is spinning. He sits high in the heavenly palace and spins the threads of fate together with a share and a short time. If there was a difficulty on your way, or something went wrong, then Makosh tied a knot on your way. Makosh is especially revered by women, she is asked to create a marriage, the birth of healthy children.
There is also a particularly revered goddess Lada. The goddess Lada is one of the most important goddesses in the pagan pantheon. She is the daughter of a Genus (sometimes considered the female hypostasis of a Genus) and a Duck. The duck is the mother of all mythological birds, and Lada is very often depicted as a white swan. She is also the mother of Zhiva, Leli, Lelya and Morana. Morana (Madder, Morena, Mara, Morzhana, and Black Mother) is the goddess of winter, death, queen of the night, a mighty and formidable deity of the Slavs. Whole books have been written about Slavic gods. The Slavic pantheon of gods has more than a hundred deities.
In addition to the gods who personified the elements and phenomena, the Slavs revered the spirits – owners of specific natural objects and patrons of a particular house. So, in each house, according to the ideas of the Slavs, there was a house spirit. He was often personified with a schur (ancestor), believing that this was the spirit of the long-dead founder of the family. The brownie was considered a domestic deity; the whole life in the house in which he lives depended on him: the very integrity of the house, the health and family well-being of the owners, wealth, property, and pets. The owners of the house always tried to appease the brownie and left him some food for the night. Moving to another place, the Slavs took their brownie with them with the help of a special ceremony.
There is also a fairy-tale character who came to us from the world of ancient Russia – this is Baba Yaga. Now, she is considered an evil witch, and she exists only in fairy tales. Where did it come from? Let us try to figure out who Baba Yaga is. In fact, there is no precise and unambiguous opinion. According to some sources, she is considered the patron of the forest and animals, a kind ancient Greek goddess who guards the underground entrance to the kingdom Far Away (the afterlife). But there is another version that the word «yaga» took its origin from the word «yogi», and Baba Yaga herself is from India. Maybe that is why she is considered a hermit living in the forest, away from people and settlements. This is how hermit yogis used to live. This woman practiced yoga and treated people with herbs. According to other sources, she got this name because she was a very quarrelsome, angry and quarrelsome woman; in Russia, such people were often called Yagishnoyu.
Some researchers believe that Baba Yaga may have emigrated to us from the Northern part of the planet. In ancient times, in order to protect themselves, the inhabitants of the North built their dwellings on poles; this was done so that wild animals could not penetrate into the dwelling of reindeer herders. Thanks to this, at a height, the snow did not completely cover the house, and it was possible to get out of the snow blockage. These buildings in their shape resemble Baba Yaga’s dwelling – a hut on chicken legs. One version says that Baba Yaga was named after the plant «yagel». Once she lived in an area where yagel – deer moss grows, it has long been called «yag». Everyone saw that Baba Yaga wore a sleeveless fur coat, and there is a possibility that her name came from a simple phrase – baba in a yaga (a fur coat without sleeves). In addition, there is a belief that Baba Yaga had Asian roots and, accordingly, had an Asian name. Perhaps the expression came from there: «Fu-fu, it smells like Russian spirit.» The fact is that each race has its own body odor, and most often people can smell from a distance belonging to a person from another race.
After the advent of Christianity in Russia, Baba Yaga became a negative fairy-tale character. Yet,