Hello, everyone! This is Casimir with The Skald’s Circle again. Today we’ll be talking about Slavic Mythology.
I am aware that this is a shockingly broad topic to be covering tonight, and well, there’s a good reason for that. There really isn’t that much out there. It hurts me. So, this article is a short talk about some Slavic myths, and also a plea for assistance. If you know of any Slavic myths that we haven’t recorded, please, please, please send them to us; I will sing your praises to the ends of the earth until you tell me to stop because it’s annoying. So, without any further adieu…Slavic Myth.
Now, Slavic mythology has a creation myth like most other mythologies that we know about. However, there are some interesting parallels with non-European sources. The world in Slavic myth was created by a single deity, Rod, rather than a host of deities. After he forged the world, he then created more deities to help rule over it: Lada and Svarog are named specifically. Also, interestingly enough, the “evil” deity of night, Chernobog, had a hand in creating humanity, and after his failed attempt at attacking and overthrowing Svarog, begged for forgiveness for humanity, and they were spared. Chernobog was punished by making it so only half the world would be shrouded in night at one time and the other half covered in daylight. The wars between the god of the skys, Perun, and the god of the underworld, Veles, are particularly interesting, and I definitely look forward to telling these stories. Unfortunately, these are almost all of the stories that we’ve been able to find, in English, online. Hence my dilemma.
Now, I would like to note before it is mentioned, that the Book of Veles is considered an untrustworthy source. It is discredited by historians in Eastern Europe, and generally considered to have been created in the 1900s as a forgery. So, here is my request to all of our fans. If you know of any reliable sources of Slavic mythology or folklore, please send us names of books or links that we can look into adding to our growing library. We would be eternally grateful.
I hope you have enjoyed this discussion of myth on History with The Skald’s Circle. If you’d like to know more, or perhaps discuss it with me, I’m always more than willing. Also, if you have something you would like us to research, please let us know! Don’t forget if you learned something new, give us a like, and let us know — we really appreciate being noticed. Until then, I’ll be back next week with another fascinating topic. This is Casimir, signing off, and remember, always check your sources!