[328], The 1990s and 2000s also witnessed the development of international contacts between Rodnover groups from all Slavic countries, with the organisation of various All-Slavic Rodnover Councils. It is also a symbol for those going through spiritual hardship or hard toil, offering strength and perseverance to those who need it. One of the founders of the Russian Rodnoverie, Aleksey Dobrovolsky (Dobroslav), denounced the "Judeo-Christian obscurantism" that allegedly led the world to an ecological catastrophe. [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. [323] During the 1990s and 2000s, a number of groups were established in Bulgaria, namely the Dulo Alliance, the Warriors of Tangra, and the Bulgarian Horde 1938. [271] The adherents believe that the class of the warriors should have the superior and leading role in society (espousing the idea of a military state and rejecting communism and democracy), and should be always ready to sacrifice themselves for the community. For this reason, the symbol represents wealth. [285] In 1979 he published the Maha Vira ("Great Faith"), a book which he claimed chronicled the ancient history of the Ukrainian people. [8] Sometimes, the meaning of the word is left deliberately obscure among Rodnovers, allowing for a variety of different interpretations. The term was first employed by Yury Petrovich Mirolyubovthe writer or discoverer of the Book of Velesin the mid-twentieth century, and later adopted by the founder of Peterburgian Vedism, Viktor Bezverkhy. Add to Favorites 31 Slavic Beings of Myth & Magic, an Illustrated Folklore Book by Alex Kujawa - Slavic mythology and folklore, now in COLOR! Antecedents of Rodnovery existed in late 18th- and 19th-century Slavic Romanticism, which glorified the pre-Christian beliefs of Slavic societies. The locution "Slavic Neopaganism" has been used within the academic study of the movement but it is never used by adherents themselves, who reject it for the connotations of both "new" and "pagan". [186] Some Rodnovers take their cosmology, ethical system, and ritual practices from the Book. [223] The Anastasians also celebrate the Day of the Earth on July 23 with characteristic rituals prescribed in their movement's books. Meryan Rodnovers also rely upon the uninterrupted traditions of the Mari Native Faith; on 27 September 2015, they organised a joint Mari-Merya prayer in the Moscow region. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, "rda Rodzimej Wiary wtki aryjskie i zadrune w doktrynie zwizku wyznaniowego Rodzima Wiara", "Shaman, Schismatic, Necromancer: Religious Libertarians in Russia", " . . ", " ", " ' ' ", "Qualification of Slavic Rodnovery in scientific literatureneopaganism or ethnic religion", Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Castro culture/Proto Gallaecian-Lusitanian, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slavic_Native_Faith&oldid=1141331410, Articles containing Belarusian-language text, Articles containing Bulgarian-language text, Articles containing Bosnian-language text, Articles containing Macedonian-language text, Articles containing Croatian-language text, Articles containing Russian-language text, Articles containing Slovene-language text, Articles containing Serbian-language text, Articles containing Ukrainian-language text, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Serbo-Croatian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 14:39. [339], There are many denominations of Rodnovery as it is in general a democratic, free, or "open-source religion", that emphasises the "equality of men in their access to the divine" from different perspectives. [418], In the global Ukrainian diaspora, there has been a "great decline" in the numbers practising the Native Ukrainian National Faith branch of Rodnovery. [253] Shizhenskii and Aitamurto described one Kupala festival, held over the course of three days outside Maloyaroslavets in Russia; at this event, weddings, purification rituals, and name-giving ceremonies took place, accompanied by musical performances, martial arts, and folkloric plays, while a market sold traditional handicrafts. Kupala night is still celebrated in many Northern European countries on the summer solstice, as the Pagan Slavic tradition was assimilated into early Christian rituals. The hammer-and-knife attack would leave . [130] Other Rodnovers are openly anti-Semite,[156] a category which for them means not only anti-Jewish but more broadly anti-Asian, anti-Christian and anti-Islamic, and anti-Byzantinist sentiment,[157] and espouse conspiracy theories claiming that Jews and Asians control the economic and political elite. [133] Many groups in both Russia and Ukraine have demanded the prohibition of mixed-race unions,[134] while the doctrine of the Ynglist Church includes an articulate condemnation of race mixing as unhealthy. [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. In the modern day, some ancient Slavic rituals persist in Eastern and Northern Europe. [44] The scholar of Russian folk religion Linda J. Ivanits has reported ethnographic studies documenting that even in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russia there were entire villages maintaining indigenous religious beliefs, whether in pure form or under the cover of a superficial Christianity. Sources that Rodnovers rely upon include valued scholars like Vladimir Dal and Boris Rybakov. [258] Rodnover rituals and festivals often include martial arts displays; these sometimes symbolise seasonal change, such as the victory of spring over winter, or can be regarded as manifestations of bravery, strength, and honesty. In all traditions, circles can be made of with lighted candles, drawing circles in the soil, or with natural objects and tools. Over time, however, tribes were consolidated and, not long after, most converted to Christianity. [331] From the mid-2000s, Rodnovers made increasing use of social media to communicate with other members of their community. Slavic Pagan symbols - Slav myth - home decor - Occult wallart - download png print Wojdart. [149] According to them, the Slavs are the directest descendants of an ancient Aryan race, whom they equate with the Proto-Indo-Europeans. [264] Similarly, the Polish philosopher Bronisaw Trentowski (18081869) saw the historical religion of the Slavs as a true path to understanding the divine creator, arguing that Christianity failed to do so. [359] Makeyev himself, in a 2007 publication entitled "Assianism and world culture" (Assianstvo i mirovaya kul'tura), presented the religion as a worldwide spiritual heritage. [316], Modern Rodnovery in the Czech Republic emerged in 19951996. [302] The first Rodnover website on the Russian Internet (so-called Runet)was created by a Moscow-based believer in 1996. The moon was a symbol of masculinity in Slavic mythology and was venerated during lunar feasts as a symbol of health and prosperity. [269] He turned to recorded Ukrainian folklore to find what he regarded as the survivals of the ancient Slavic religion. Animals always played a important role among Slavic people. [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". The symbol of Rod is a circle containing a rose with six petals reaching out towards the edges. [283], One of the disciples of Volodymyr Shaian was Lev Sylenko (19212008). [135] Aitamurto and Gaidukov noted that it would be "difficult to imagine that any Rodnover community would accept members who are openly homosexual". [270][271] One of the most influential Ukrainian Rodnover ideologues was Volodymyr Shaian (19081974), a linguist and philologist who worked at Lviv University. Russian rodnaya or rodnoy); and *vera, which means "faith", "religion". [92] The BelobogChernobog duality is also represented on the human plane as the PerunVeles duality, where the former is the principle of martiality and the latter is the principle of mystical philosophy. Nemiza brought unhappiness with death, but also ended suffering, ushering souls from one life into the next. [79] Some practitioners dislike it because it minimises the continuity of indigenous pre-Christian beliefs. Etymology. [249], According to Rodover cosmology: the top of the staff of the volkhv represents the overworld, Prav, and is either carved as an anthropomorphic face representing the patron deity of the volkhv, or as the symbol of Rod, and is associated with Rod itself, the "God of the gods", representing the unity of the generated gods in the universal Rod, or with his visible manifestation, Svarog; the middle part of the staff represents Yav and Perun, and is carved with the symbols of the powers that the volkhv "commands" in the real world; the bottom of the staff represents Nav and Veles, and is burnt in fire to symbolise the infernal forces of the underworld. [60] In 1996, the non-compound form was adopted by a Polish group, the Association of Native Faith (Zrzeszenie Rodzimej Wiary) and in 1997 by the Russian Union of Slavic Native Belief Communities ( ) led by Vadim Kazakov,[62] while the portmanteau Rodnoverie was widely popularised in Russia by volkhv Veleslav (Ilya G. Cherkasov) by 1999. [43] Slavic Native Faith adherents, as far as they are concerned, believe that they can take traditional folk culture, remove the obviously Christian elements, and be left with something that authentically reflects the historical beliefs of the Slavic peoples. [247] In 2012, a number of Rodnover organisations in Russia made an agreement for the mutual recognition of their priesthood and for the uniformisation of ordination policies. The Svarozhich, then, is the heavenly fire from which the gods were forged. [116] Rodnovers generally believe that death is not a cessation of life, and believe in reincarnation only in mankind and in the possibility of deification in paradise, Iriy or Vyriy, which is the same as Prav. [266] This organisation was a government-recognised entity until 2010, when it was unregistered and became an informal association due to disagreements between the Castists and other subgroups about whether Slavic religion was Indo-European hierarchic worship (supported by the Castists), Neolithic mother goddess worship, or neither. Truth is sometimes personified as a god, Prov, who is the guardian of the law, lawfulness and righteousness. 3. [289] Boris Rybakov (19082001), former head of the Institute of Archaeology, provided the first academic studies about ancient Slavic religion. He wrote that the Yarilo-Sun would soon burn the most sensitive to increased ultraviolet radiation, to which he attributed primarily the Jews. Her main themes are weather, winter, spring, protection, death, rebirth, the cycle of changes, and growth. [191], Rodnovery has a "cyclical-linear model of time", in which the cyclical and the linear morphologies do not exclude each other, but complement each other and stimulate eschatological sentiments. Radegast is the Slavic god of strength, honor and hospitality. [256] The same Kupala Night is a reappropriation, being the day of the year when Christian churches set the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. [72] Another term employed by some Rodnovers has been "Slavianism" or "Slavism", which appears especially in Polish (Sowiastwo), in Russian (Slavianstvo), and in Slovak (Slovianstvo). The study of this syncretic popular religion and philosophy was the foremost interest for late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Russian intellectuals: early revolutionaries (Alexander Herzen, Nikolay Ogarev, Mikhail Bakunin), Narodniks (Populists), and early Bolsheviks were inspired by the radical forms of society practised within folk religious communities, which in many ways were precursors to socialism. [141] In 2017, he stated that between 2000 and 2500 "actively engaged and regular participants" were likely active in the country. Short version: the Kolovrat, as a modification of the swastika does have some evidence of use going back into ancient & medieval times. Black magic spells were also used for revenge, protection, and power. Long before Russia adopted Christianity in the 10th century, folk tales, songs and rituals existed as an established art form. The Slavic mythology personified many aspects of the world, with worshipers believing that waters, forests, households and even illnesses were represented or governed by spirits. [432] In Bosnia and Herzegovina there is a Slavic Native Faith group called Circle of Svarog (Svaroi Krug), founded in 2011. [106] Some Rodnover groups espouse the idea that specific Slavic populations are the offspring of different gods; for instance, groups relying upon the tenth-century manuscript The Lay of Igor's Host may affirm the idea that Russians are the grandchildren of Dazhbog (the "Giving God", "Day God"). In the modern day, some ancient Slavic rituals persist in Eastern and Northern Europe. [252], Usually, the organisation of festivals involves three layers of society: there is a patronising "core" of practitioners, who are often professionally affirmed people, usually belonging to the intellectual class; then there is the population of committed adherents; and then there is a loose "periphery" constituted by sympathisers, generally relatives and friends of the committed followers. [441] While the contemporary association is completely adogmatic and apolitical,[442] and refuses to "introduce a solid religious or organisational order" because of the past internal conflicts,[443] between 2000 and 2010 it had a complex structure,[442] and redacted a Code of Native Faith defining a precise doctrine for Czech Rodnovery (which firmly rejected the Book of Veles). [109] In keeping with the pre-Christian belief systems of the region, the groups who inherit Volodymyr Shaian's tradition, among others, espouse polytheism. Later, Avdeyev abandoned Eurasian ideas and came to racial doctrine. Glory to Dazhboh! The scholar of religion Scott Simpson has stated that Slavic Native Faith is "fundamentally concerned with questions of community and ethnic identity",[141] while the folklorist Nemanja Radulovic has described adherents of the movement as placing "great emphasis on their national or regional identity". Here is a list of (almost) all Slavic mythical creatures. 1938). The South Slavs, who likely settled in the Balkan Peninsula during the 6th-7th centuries AD, bordering with the Byzantine Empire to the south, came under the sphere of influence of Eastern . [280], A key influence on the movement was the circulation of the Book of Veles among Russian and Ukrainian emigrees. Alkonost, who gets her name from the Greek demigod Alyclone, is a creature with the body of a bird and the head of a woman. Volkhvs are the higher rank of the sacerdotal hierarchy, while zhrets are of a lower authority. [16] In the Russian intellectual milieu, Rodnovery usually presents itself as the ideology of "nativism" (narodnichestvo),[17] which in Rodnovers' own historical analysis is destined to supplant the mono-ideologies whose final bankruptcy the world is now witnessing. Slavs are the largest ethnic group in Europe that share a linguistic and cultural history. Rodnover theology and cosmology may be described as pantheism and polytheismworship of the supreme God of the universe and worship of the multiple gods, the ancestors and the spirits of nature who are identified in Slavic culture. [91] Rod is also "Time" (Kolo), scanned by the cycle of the Sun, ad reflected in the turning of the hours, the days, the months, the seasons, and the year. I want to invite you on a small journey into Slavic mythology and Polish witchcraft. [118] According to Rodnovers, justice and truth have to be realised in this life, so that "turning the other cheek", waiving agency and intervention in the things of this world, is considered immoral and equivalent to welcoming wrongness. Yarilo, in the Slavic mythology, is the god of springtime, fertility, sexuality and peace. The movement has its headquarters in eastern Ukraine,[377] the region of origin of Ivanov himself, and it is widespread in Russia. [192] Such morphology of time is otherwise describable as "spiral". It was believed that dead ancestors existed within the same spiritual plane as the Slavic deities. [73], In Slavic languages the closest equivalent of "paganism" is poganstvo (taking for instance Russian; it itself deriving from Latin paganus), although Rodnovers widely reject this term due to its derogatory connotations. Vedic ta, "Right"), was usurped by the Christians. [296] In the 1980s, Boris Rybakov published his last books, including The Paganism of the Ancient Slavs (1981) and The Paganism of Ancient Russia (1988). [23], In developing Slavic Native Faith, practitioners draw upon the primary sources about the historical religion of Slavic peoples, as well as elements drawn from later Slavic folklore, official and popular Christian belief and from non-Slavic societies. Sventovit is the Slavic god of war. Ad vertisement from shop Wojdart. Air is associated with communication, wisdom or the power of the mind. [302], After the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine became an independent republic, with many Ukrainians turning to strongly nationalistic agendas; among those to have done so are pseudo-archaeologists like Yury Shylov, who posits Ukraine as the "cradle of civilisation". [9], The scholar of religion Alexey Gaidukov has described "Slavic Neopaganism" as a term pertaining to "all quasi-religious, political, ideological and philosophical systems which are based on the reconstruction and construction of pre-Christian Slavic traditions". [284] He subsequently left Europe and moved first to Canada and then the United States. Check out our slavic pagan symbols selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our shops. [129] Most Rodnover groups will permit only Slavs as members, although there are a few exceptions. [123] This emphasis on individuality is not at odds with the value of solidarity, since collective responsibility is seen as arising from the union of the right free decisions of reflexive individuals. [142] They conceive ethnicity and culture as territorial, moulded by the surrounding natural environment (cf. [119], Rodnovers express their anti-Christian views in various ways. [11], Some involved in the movement avoid calling their belief system either "paganism" or "religion". [99], Sylenko proclaimed himself a prophet, bringing to the Slavs a new understanding of God that, according to him, corresponds to their own and original understanding of God. [395] The theology of Slavic-Hill Rodnovery is pantheistic and polytheistic, and the movement's military orientation is reflected in its pantheon, which gives prominence to military deities headed by Perun, identified as the ruler of the universe. They propose a political system in which decisional power is entrusted to assemblies of consensually-acknowledged wise men, or to a single wise individual. [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. ",[210] while in 1996 an Orthodox Christian cathedral was desecrated in Minsk by Rodnovers who covered it with graffiti, including one which read "Christians, go away from our Belarusian soil!". [349] Koliada Viatichey refutes any non-Slavic influence in their religion, including the label "Vedic" and Vedic literature, influences from Eastern religions, influences from Roerichism and esotericism, and also the Book of Veles. For some Rodnovers, the Orthodox cross is another Slavic version of the swastika. [297] In 1986, Viktor Bezverkhy (19302000) established the Saint Petersburg-based Society of the Mages (Obshchestvo Volkhvov), an explicitly white supremacist and anti-Semitic organisation; it was followed by the Union of the Veneds, founded in 1990. [335][336], Donbas has been documented as being a stronghold of Russian Rodnover groups that are reorganising local villages and society according to traditional Indo-European trifunctionalism (according to which males are born to play one out of three roles in society, whether priests, warriors or farmers). [78] It was adopted among Rodnovers in the 1990swhen it appeared in such forms as the Russian Neoyazychestvo and the Polish Neopogastwobut had been eclipsed by "Slavic Native Faith" in the 2000s. In Belarus and the neighbouring regions of Russia there are groups taking inspiration from the Kriviches, of one of the tribal unions of the early East Slavs, mixing Slavic and Baltic traditions. [340] There are often tensions between nondenominational Rodnovers and followers of well-defined doctrines; it is the case of the doctrine of Ynglism, which is not recognised as true Slavic Native Faith by the major Rodnover organisations of Russia,[342] and of Yagnovery, Ladovery and Sylenkoism, which some Rodnovers opine not to be classifiable as branches of Slavic Native Faith. [341] Because of its "open" nature, Rodnovery also hosts in itself denominations which have developed clear doctrines around an authoritarian charismatic leadership. [327] These groups have strong political motivations, being extremely nationalistic, anti-Western, and anti-Semitic. Check out our slavic pagan symbols selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our figurines shops. [269] Particularly interested in the idea about an ancient Aryan race that were popular at the time,[272] he subsequently began promoting what he called a "pan-Aryan renaissance". [14] In 2002, six Russian Rodnover organisations issued the "Bittsa Appeal" (Bittsevskoe Obraschchenie), in which, among the many topics discussed, they expressed the view that "Rodnovery" should be regarded as the foremost name of the religion. [26] Tengrist-influenced Rodnovery is practised by Bulgarian groups who identify as descendants of the ancient Turkic Bulgars. [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". [292] The first manifesto of Russian Rodnovery is considered to be the letter "Critical remarks by a Russian man" (Kriticheskie zametki russkogo cheloveka) published on such journal, anonymously in 1973, by Valery Yemelianov (19291999), who was then close to Khrushchev. [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. [269] The Ukrainian literary magazine Dazhboh, published in 19311935, was imbued with Neopagan ideas (Bohdan Ihor Antonych and others). It was in Chicago that he established the earliest groups of the Native Ukrainian National Faith (Sylenkoism) in 1966. Also, Saint Leontius of Rostov is appropriated as a native god. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [376], Ivanovism is a spiritual discipline based on the teachings of the mystic Porfiry Ivanov, based on the Detka healing system and religious hymns. [315] Another Polish Rodnover group under the leadership of Lech Emfazy Stefaski registered by the state in 1995 is the Native Polish Church (Rodzimy Koci Polski), which represents a tradition that goes back to Wadysaw Koodziej's Holy Circle of the Worshippers of Svetovid. It is a symbol, also, of protection. [11] Many Rodnovers refer to their belief system as an "ethnic religion",[12] and Rodnover groups were involved in establishing the European Congress of Ethnic Religions. He is likely to have been the highest ranking god in the Slavic tradition, similar to Zeus in Ancient Greek mythology. The Svarozhich (or Svarojich) is the symbol of Svarog. Dodola is the Slavic Goddess of rain, sometimes thought to be the goddess of the air, also. [333] This attitude generated some mutual hostility between academics and practitioners of Rodnovery, rendering subsequent scholarly fieldwork more difficult. [178], Schnirelmann noted that the movement of Rodnovery is fundamentally concerned with the concept of "origins". Their settlements are known as "kinship homesteads" ( , rodovoye pomest'ye), and are usually grouped in broader "ancestral villages" ( , rodovoye poseleniye),[373] where an extended faily, a kin, may conduct a harmonious autonomous life in at least one hectare of land of their property. The name "Ringing Cedars" derives from the beliefs held by Anastasians about the spiritual qualities of the Siberian cedar. The latter, which is a derivation of the near-homophonous yazyk, "tongue", is prevalent and has a less negative acceptation, literally meaning "pertaining to (our own) language". [113] Lesiv reported about a Sylenkoite follower who said that "we cannot believe in various forest, field and water spirits today. [322], Rodnovery spread to the countries of former Yugoslavia in the early twenty-first century. pertaining "to the gens", "to the kin"), which in turn it itself renders in Slavic translations of the Bible. [149] There are Rodnovers with extreme right-wing nationalist views,[150] including those who are Neo-Nazi and openly inspired by Nazi Germany. [206], Christianity is denounced as an anthropocentric theology which distorts the role of mankind in the cosmos by claiming that God could have been incarnated as a single historical entity (Jesus), at the same time creating hierarchical and centralised powers that throughout history defended the rich, legitimised slave mentality,[207] and promoted humile behaviour, antithetical to the Rodnover ethical emphasis on courage and fighting spirit,[208] and to the theological emphasis on the ontological freedom of living beings. [166] Historiosophical narratives and interpretations vary between different currents of Rodnovery,[179] and accounts of the historical past are often intertwined with eschatological views about the future. [435] Simpson observed that in the country, Rodnovers were "still relatively young",[436] and saw an overlap with the community of historical re-enactors.