Russian 0090: Russian Fairy Tales
Russian Pagan Gods
The following inventory and discussion of Russian pagan gods is taken from Linda Ivanits,
Russian Folk Belief, Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1989. Russian words are
transliterated according to the Library of Congress system, with the
stressed vowel indicated by bold type. Numbers in parentheses are page
references to Ivanits’s book.
- Dazhbog
- sun god, also god of blessings and son of Svarog; Iranian influence
(13)
- Iarilo
- minor god of male sexual potency (14); associated by Rybakov with
semik (17)
- Khors
- sun god; Iranian influence (13)
- Koliada
- spirit of the winter solstice (14)
- Kupalo
- spirit of the summer solstice, associated with Kupalo’s Day (June 24)
(14)
- Lada, Lado
- variously thought to be the mother of Lel′ and Polel′, a
god of the underworld and marriage, or not a deity at all (14); Rybakov considers her the
goddess of spring and mother of Lelia (17)
- Lel′
- possibly the son of Lada and brother of Polel′ (14)
- Lelia
- possibly the daughter of Lada (17)
- Mat′ syra zemlia
- Moist Mother Earth, personification of the earth as a female deity (15)
-
Mokosh′
- only female deity included among Vladimir’s idols, possibly associated with Moist Mother
Earth (14); Rybakov associates her with fertility, bounty, mositure, women’s work, the
protection of maidens (16), October 28 (Saint
Paraskeva-Friday) (17, 35)
- Perun
- chief of the pagan gods, god of thunder and lightning and of war (13); Rybakov associates
him with July 20 (Elijah the Prophet) (17)
- Polel′
- possibly the son of Lada and brother of Lel′ (14)
- Rod
- minor god of birth (14); Rybakov sees him as an early primary god of the east Slavs, a
creater and god of fertility and light, associated with the winter solstice and July 20, who
was replaced by Perun shortly before the tenth century (17)
- Rozhanitsy
- minor goddess of birth (14); Rybakov associates her with the harvest (September 9)
(17)
- Simargl
- a winged dog, guardian of seed and new shoots; Iranian influence (13); associated by
Rybakov with rusal′naia week (17)
- Stribog
- possibly god of wind, storm, and destruction; Iranian influence (13)
- Svarog
- sun god, father of Dazhbog, divine smith (13)
- Svarozhichi
- sons of Svarog (13)
- Sviatovit
- possibly an important god of the west Slavs, god of light, bounty, and divination
regarding the harvest (14)
- Volos, Veles
- god of cattle (skotnyi bog), commerce and
possibly the dead (14), associated by Rybakov with the winter solstice and spring equinox
(17)