The Creation of the World in the Slavic version totals the seventh thousand, that is, at the time of 2017 from the Nativity of Christ (according to the Old Slavic calendar already 7526) - this, apart from the fourteen previous eras, is a time of a total length of more than six hundred thousand years! Each era had its own beliefs and religious worships, and before Christianity introduced in Russia by Vladimir in the tenth century, Slavic paganism, or clandestine rule, ruled.
Old Russian paganism: what did our ancestors believe in?
Before Christianity, paganism reigned in the territory of the ancient Slavs, the basis of which was beliefs in the power of natural spirits, supernatural entities (demons, their totem animals) and gods: Svarog, Veles, Kolyada and Yarilo, Dazhbog and Lada. People believed in goblin and kikimore living in the forest and protecting him from the harmful effects, brownies - the true owners of the house, water and mermaids, which turned the souls of people who died a violent death.
Next, we will consider the Slavic gods and their significance, as well as the impact on the life of the tribes inhabiting the eastern part of Europe (the territory of present-day Russia, the Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine). Only after counseling did they begin sowing or reaping, they called on spirits to facilitate delivery and eliminate diseases, sacrifices were made to the gods for a rich harvest or successful light hunting, and they were asked for protection during the days of military operations and natural disasters.
It is noteworthy that the religion of our ancestors did not have priests, clergy, or a specially trained caste in charge of worship and sacrifice: this mission was usually carried out by the oldest resident of the tribe or elder. Since the majority of Slavic tribes led an agricultural way of life, the cult of the earth and the cult of their ancestors, in which Slavic myths about the creation of the world played a primary role, were considered the most important in their religion.
The essence is one
Legends, ancient legends and mythology of different countries contain many similar facts about the current religion - Christianity and its key figures, as well as earlier pagan beliefs. So, for example, Slavic legends about the creation of the world are largely intertwined with the stories of other countries and religions about the same process:
- The Egyptian god Atum grew the earth's surface from the oceans by the power of his spells.
- The Chinese religion claims that the first god came from a huge egg. He broke the shell from the inside with his strength and, separating the two parts with his body, formed Heaven and Earth. Parasites living on the body of this deity and crawling as they please became humans.
- A Muslim general book called the Qur'an says that the world arose from a single word-command-desire of God. He said, “Be!” And the universe materialized from nothingness.
- In Christianity, the Word was first. That is, again, certain sounds were voiced, which became the beginning of everything. Moreover, some experts say that this word was "Ohm", meaning in Hinduism the primary vibration of energy, from which the whole universe is woven.
- The Slavic myths about the creation of the Earth are very similar to the legends about how the god Vishnu in Hinduism created the golden egg from which Brahma was born and with his mantras (muttering or singing the Om mantra) gave rise to further mixtures of energy and thought, which led to the creation of the material world.
The Slavic paganism and the religion of the Hindus are not in vain very similar to each other: historians claim that Hinduism arose from a mixture of Slavic-Aryan beliefs and local customs of India, eventually overgrown with folk interpretations and allegories, preserving the basis of religion, the images of gods and their meaning.
"Book of Carols": author Alexander Asov
This book is a collection of ancient pagan legends, myths, legends and traditions of the Slavic culture, collected by the author over many years of work. It is often called the Slavic Vedas or the Holy Russian Vedas, which are part of Asov’s even more significant work, the Veles Book. The collection tells of Slavic myths about the creation of the world, the birth and significance of Slavic gods in the lives of people: Svarog, Perun. The subject of everyday life of ancient people, their culture and customs are touched.
The book also has many entertaining stories about the Slavic nature spirits, the god Semargle and Kupala, introducing previously unknown gods Kryshen (in Hinduism - Krishna) and Vyshen (Vishnu). Not all historians and scholars like this work of Alexander Igorevich: many consider him frankly fake and insulting real Slavic history and religion. Each of the positions has adherents and ardent opponents. In order to form your own opinion and for general development, the book is still worth reading, as are the works of Asov's opponents.
The myth of the creation of the world from the chronicle of Asov
According to the story told at the beginning of the book, the universe was in the darkness of nothingness for quite a long time. But the Almighty (God, Cosmic Mind) materialized from the seed a golden egg, in which the Progenitor of everything - the Spring (Rod), stayed. He gradually became filled with love and finally broke the sacred egg with this primary and most powerful force, which turned into a woman - the goddess Lada, who carried this great feeling throughout the universe, with pressure from within.
Further, the Spring created two worlds: Heavenly (spiritual) and Celestial, that is, material, physical, thus dividing Light (mind) and Darkness (ignorance). From this it becomes apparent that everything around Rhoda is Nature, the true essence of everything. God's words - muttering, voicing various sounds gave birth to Barma, the god of words, poetry, sound, which in turn carried the doctrine of the gods and their instructions on the rules of life around the world. Also from the breath of the Ancestor came Svarog - the god of the Slavs, the father of the material world, whom the Slavs respectfully called the Heavenly Father. The Rod gave him four whole heads - one for each side of the world, so that he would completely control what was happening.
Then Rod turned into a Spring and appeared to the world in the image of the World Ocean, from the foam of which, like Aphrodite in Greek mythology, the World Duck was born. She became the Foremother to numerous deities, demigods, and higher entities. So the first myth about the creation of the Earth arose. In the work of Asov, he is described in more detail.
Slavic gods and their significance. Analogs in other religions
In the above retelling, you can see that identical archetypes of essences are found in the religion of the Hindus and not only. In Greek mythology there are also quite a lot of coincidences with Slavic legends:
- Genus is the first principle of all things, the Progenitor, emerged from a golden egg, which split by the power of his love. Often depicted as a gray-haired grandfather holding a wheel (Samsara), standing on a fish. Identical in Hinduism is the god Brahma, who in many respects was very similar to Rod: had four faces (hands in Hinduism).
- Svarog is the god of the Slavs, who was considered the patron saint of spirituality and the heavenly halls, an analogue of paradise in subsequent Christianity. The name Svarog is a Sanskrit word meaning "walking in the sky", that is, the father of heaven - God in Christianity and Ishwara in Hinduism. It was this deity that taught the inhabitants of the earth the art of making cottage cheese and cheese, “baking” them from milk, and also presented people with heavenly fire for cooking and protection from the cold, so the Slavs knew that it was forbidden to speak swear words near the fire - it was sacred. It was believed that Svarog had four heads that looked and guarded all parts of the world from the influence of evil forces.
- Barma - the middle name of the Holy One, was considered the god of prayer, born from the words of the Family (mumble of prayers, recitation of the Vedas and mantras). He was considered good-natured, but if he was angry, he swept everything in its path. Some linguists draw parallels with Brahma in Hinduism because of the consonance of names and similar factors, but there is no unanimous opinion on this subject.
- Lada - she patronized lovers, kept a family hearth and married couples, was also considered the goddess of fertility and spring. She was the wife of Svarog and also had a swan in her circle.
- Mother of Cheese-Earth - according to some reports, was the wife of the Family, thanks to her energy, love was born, with which the Progenitor split the sacred egg, creating the world. In Hinduism, this is Prakriti - the female energy and Mother of all things.
- World Duck (Rocking in the language of the ancients) - world swing, primary ancient vibration. She was a bird. According to Slavic mythology about the creation of the world, she took Alatyr-stone from the bottom of the World Ocean. Mother of all demons (asuras), including Satan. Often the World Duck is identified with Makosh - the goddess of fate.
- Smoke - was considered the absolute opposite of the spiritual Svarog and was the patron of the material, earthly world, the god of gold and valuable things, as well as the ruler of the night sky. The ancient Slavs believed that he could easily turn into a magical Smoke-bird, and it was almost impossible to see him in his real guise.
Reality, Rule and Nav: the basis of the three-dimensional world
The current system includes three worlds:
- Physical: the material level, the one that can be seen and felt. The world of people, animals, birds and all other physical beings, called the Slavs of Javu. It is considered the most rude manifestation of divine being, but at the same time the most powerful manifestation of the power of his love, since the world of people is the most emotional and sensitive among the rest.
- The astral (or etheric) level of living of creatures of the subtle plane, invisible to the simple eye: the world of demons, demons, natural spirits and others, called Navu, that is, unmanifest reality, non-reality.
- The mental (divine) level of Rule (from the word "rule") was divided into two parts: Heaven - a place where there is no god, and Heaven - where there is no demon (devil, demon). That is, Heaven is above everything, below them is Sky, then Nav and at the very bottom Yav is our earthly manifested world.
There is also an opinion that there is another world - Glory, which is the world of ancestors and is located between Heaven and Navu. That is, it is an intermediate mental world, a kind of purgatory for souls. Unconditional love of God was the key to the world of Law, that is, Orthodoxy was considered the right path for spiritual growth, and the glorification of the gods was the main direction. From here one can draw a simple parallel to Hinduism, in particular to the Vaishnava tradition of singing the "Maha Mantra" (Hare Krishna), which is considered the easiest way to achieve unity with God.
Similar structures of the Slavic creation of the world in the myths of other countries, continents and religions are also actively used: the names of essences, the names of gods and places change, but the primary essence remains the same - in order to become a highly spiritual person, it is necessary to love God.
What is Alatyr?
From ancient Slavic legends, one can learn that the white-combustible stone Alatyr is the "navel of the Earth" from which the Mother of the Earth-Cheese originated, that is, land, which means this stone is an important sacred object. According to myths it is: Svarog strikes him with a hammer, and sparks scattered from the blow turn into various gods and divine entities. Moreover, Alatyr is considered an altar stone on which the Almighty sacrifices himself for peace. Hence it went: "the altar" - a place for worship of God.
They say that Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus is the visible part of the same Bel-combustible stone, a sacred place for communication with God. After all, it is not in vain that the mountain is indicated as the last refuge of Noah’s ark, which was indicated by a dove released by a direct descendant of Adam. Another part of this miraculous stone appears to the gaze of a man in Altai: Mount Belukha and the small island of the Sun in the White Sea in the north. All these places are dearly revered by the Slavs as places of power and manifestation of gods to people.
Where did the Alatyr stone come from?
According to Slavic myths about the creation of the world, Bel-combustible stone was taken from the bottom of the ocean by a duck, a magic bird (analogue: a dove in Christianity, a harbinger of land during a flood). When Svarog looked around the world he created, he was not satisfied: the sky and the dawns, the ocean - everything is wonderful, but there is no land, that is, land. He peered into the distance for a long time, but saw nothing but water, only a small bird - the duck swayed and tumbled on the foam of the waves.
Svarog began to pry her, where is the land, to which Duck pointed out to him that there is land deep beneath the water. Then, by the power of his power over everything, he ordered Svarog to the World Duck to get a piece of land. She ducked and disappeared for a whole year, and when she returned, she told that she could not cope with the task. The second time she also dived and after two years she appeared exhausted, explaining that such a mission was beyond her strength.
Then Svarog began to get angry and, gathering the strength of the Sort, inhaled it in a small body of a bird, having ordered to try again. Three long years passed, and Utochka returned, carrying a handful of damp earth in her beak, and gave it to Svarog, but concealed a small pebble, which was Alatyr - a stone of universal wisdom with sacred knowledge inscribed on it.
But Svarog is the founder of everything. He sensed something was amiss and began to knead the damp earth, warming with the warmth of his hands and the sun, blowing his breath and universal winds. The mother of cheese-earth began to increase in size, turning into land, and with it Alatyr. Duck understood that she was no longer able to hold the stone of wisdom, and dropped it, and where he fell, Alatyrskaya Mountain - Elbrus grew. For a long time, her name was Alatyrka, or Golden Mountain.
Semargl
There was another significant god of the Slavs - Semargl (or Simargl). That was the name of the god of fire, born of a spark flying off from a blow by the hammer of Svarog on a white-hot stone. The ancient Slavs considered him a god of sacrifice, a mediator between the world of people and gods, which could turn into a huge dog with wings. In "The Tale of Bygone Years" - one of the main annals of the Rus, there is a record from 980. In the myth of the birth of the world, Simargl is mentioned. There were other deities of religion of that time. These include the Black Serpent, or Chernobog, who was the son of the World Duck (a type of Satan in Christianity and Shiva in Hinduism).
Chernobog wanted to be like Svarog and also began to knock on Alatyr-stone, carving sparks from it. Only the gods were not born, but the demons. The God of the Slavs Semargl called him to battle, but could not win - he did not have the strength, he had to go to his father in a heavenly forge. They say that after the battle of that, the light faded on the earth and impenetrable darkness reigned. Then Svarog himself went into battle and defeated the Black Serpent, already weakened by Semargl, driving him into the ghostly world of Navi. This was the very first world battle of Good and Evil, which was subsequently presented in Christianity as the victory of St. George the Victorious over the serpent and presented as a genuine Orthodox fact.
Does the work of Alexander Azov have historical value and reliability of facts?
Almost all the works of this author by scientific researchers, historians and linguists consider not too diligent falsification, falsification and profit of antiquity, which does not correspond to the accuracy of legends too accurately. Of the most common accusations, there are accusations of ignorance of the grammar of the Old Slavic language, spelling and similar flaws. It is also alleged that Azov himself invented some images of gods who had never existed before and especially not revered in the territory of ancient Russia. Therefore, the value of the Book of Kolyada along with the Veles Book and other legends about the life of the ancient Slavs is negligible and has more artistic, rather than historical value.
Moreover, the books of Azov are actively promoted as insulting Christianity, in some cases even called extremist and insulting human dignity. But where is freedom of choice of religion, so protected by everyone, if you are a Muslim or a Jew, you are allowed on Russian land, but not an Old Believer or Rodnover? Of course, everyone has their own opinion on this matter, so it makes no sense now to argue about who is right and who is guilty.
Considering that these works have a rather detailed description of various life aspects of antiquity, which coincide with real facts, it’s worthwhile not to cut the many years of work of Alexander Igorevich and perhaps consider Slavic myths about the creation of the world as high-quality historical stories or fantasy novels with elements of real-life aspects of the life of the ancient Slavs, which will be very informative to learn.