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)