The Beliefs of the Eastern Slavs
The ancestors of the Russians, the Ukrainians and the Byelorussians were the Eastern Slavs.Their lives were inseparably linked with agricultural year for they were indulged in farming, hunting and fishing. In fact, their very existence depended entirely on the knowledge of the laws of nature. The Eastern Slavs were nature worshippers. The festive season of svyatky marked ancient winter solstice celebraions, with meals for the departed and household fires being ceremonially extinguished and rekindled with people disguising into strange denizens in hope to scare evil forces off their places (compare with Hallowe’en). The great summer celebrations were called Kupala and were associated with water, urgent need of summer rains, ritual bathing and lighting of bonfires. From ancient times deep and fast rivers were highly honoured by these people. Yaroslavna begged the Dnieper about help, calling it Slavutich; many folk heroes talked with rivers as if they were human.
Such natural phenomena as sun, thunder and lightning had the strongest impact on the Slavs and they incarnated both natural powers and human feelings. The imagination of the ancient Slavs dwelled forests and valleys, rivers and mountains with mystical creatures: domovoy (a house spirit), leshiy (a male forest dweller), vila (a female mountain and cloud dweller), bereginya (a female with a fish tail), rusalka and vodyanoy (water dwellers), disgusting upyir (a wrong buried dead), terrifying oboroten' and others. There was much in common between a woman and a bird. «Cloud maidens» could turn into a dove, a duck, a goose or a swan. Rusalka was recognized by her swan paws and vilas converted into swan birds (e.g. A.S. Pushkin's tale about Tsar Saltan). Being one of the most ancient forms of the folk genre, the tale reflected the primitive beliefs. Fairy tales all centred on a dangerous quest when either a low-born fool Ivanushka Durak or a prince encountered with Baba Yaga who lived in a house on chicken legs, Koshchei the Immortal who could be killed if the egg that contained his death was discovered. To enable the hero to combat the evil, he received help from magical animals and objects (e.g. a comb that could turn into The times of Kyivan Rus were well described in bylinas, where Russian bogatyrs Ill'ya Muromets, Dobrynia Nikitich, Aliosha Popovich and others defended their Motherland from enemies' invasions.
1. Why did the life of the ancient Slavs depend on the agricultural year? 2. When were svyatky celebrated? 3. On what date was Kupala day marked? 4. What natural phenomena were praised by the Slavs and why? 5. How were beliefs in supernatural creatures reflected in folklore? Can you give any examples from your own experience? 6. What other magic objects can you name from Russian fairy tales? 7. Who ruled the Kyivan Rus in the times of the bogatyrs? 8. From what enemies did bogatyrs defend Rus?
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Great mounts and rocks were also praised and worshipped by the Slav folk. The destiny of Russian heroes had a mysterious connection with them. (E.g. Svyatohor). In Pereslavl'-Zalessky there is still a rock where the demon spirit is locked.
Old huge oaks were usually associated with magic power (compare it with the beliefs of druids). Birch tree is the symbol of Russia and there are many folk songs devoted to it. It was a birch tree that played the key role during Whitsun week. Many rituals, fortune-tellings and signs were linked with it. Girls would go to «curl a birch tree» or plait its branches. The girls believed that by tying together the branches of a birch tree and decorating them with ribbons they would link their thoughts with the young men they liked, and dreamt of the future. Green birch twigs were used to make switches for steam baths throughout the year. The switches were believed to give people additional strength and high spirits. Birch twigs protected houses from all sorts of evil spirits.
a forest; a purse that never emptied; a cloth-samobranka).
