Category Archives: Religion

Further Tamga and the Like Spear/Lance Finds

PublishedMarch 1, 2020 Post authortorino

We’ve discussed spears with runes & signs here and more specifically here:

as well as here. Here are some other “tamga” spears. Tamgas are associated most typically with the Sarmatians. Yet, as we will see these spears are not found where the Jazyges resided and Ukraine, the are ruled by Sarmatians and later the Goths also does not generally yield tamga spear finds. Perhaps they could be associated with the Veneti Sarmatae. Some of these are from a 2012 article by Yatsenko & Dobrzanska. Others from Gustaf Kossina’s ever giving Die deutsche Vorgeschichte: Ein hervorragende nationale Wissenschaft or other Mannus-related publications such as Martin Jahn’s Die Bewaffnung der Germanen in der alteren Eisenzeit etwa von 700 v. Chr. bis 200 n. Chr. I also give citations in the text to various Polish articles announcing these finds (or analyzing them in depth). For more on this stuff is currently Bartosz Kontny if you can read Polish, of course.

Jankowo, Poland

This in the area of Mogilno is also the site of the discovery of the Jankowo “head” (for that discovery as well as its “viking” interpretation, you can see, for example, Der Kopf von Adolfinenhof Kreis Mogilno, eine Wikingische Holzplastik?)

Żurawiczki (Kamienica), Poland 

There are actually two finds here. The first is this:

And the second this:

The other side of this spear apparently was too worn out to provide anything of interest though we know it contains dots and a few concentric circles.

This was described in Włodzimierz Antoniewicz’s Żelazne oszczepy inkrustowane z Kamienicy, w pow. jarosławskim, „Przeglad Archeologiczny”, t. 1, s. 99–111 (1919) as well as other articles including in Andrzej Kokowski’s Problemy badania dziejów kultury przeworskiej in Kultura Przeworska, Lublin vol 1.

Zadowice, Poland

We can also see a similar “tree” symbol on an encrusted sword from Lachmirowice and Egge as discussed in Tadeusz Horbacz’s and Marek Olędzki’s Inkrustowane Miecze Rzymskie z Barbaricum i Obszarow Przylimesowych Imperium Romanum: Wybrane Zagadnienia in Acta Universatis Lodziensis, Folia Archaeologica, vol 17 (1992).

Grunówko, Poland

Another location where spears have been found is Grunówko. There are two specimen from Grunówko (near Wschowa by Leszno) though the silver encrustings apparently had melted in the ritual flames. The original publication here was Kurhan w Grunówku pod Lesznem by Romuald Erzepki from the Zapiski Archeologiczne Poznańskie, volume IV (1888). Here is the first:

And here is the other:

Września, Poland

Podlodów, Poland

The cover of Andrzej Kokowski’s Lubelszczyzna w młodszym okresie przedrzymskim i w okresie rzymskim features the following spear:

In order to identify it you can read Jan Gurba’s and Zygmunt Ślusarski’s 1966 article Bogato wyposażony grób z III wieku z Podlodowa w pow. tomaszowsko-lubelskim, „Przeglad Archeologiczny”, t. 17. This was discovered in the village of Podlodów by a local farmer – Jan Kukis in 1959.

You will soon discover that the spear actually looks like this:

Or rather like this:

Stryczowice by Ostrowiec, Poland

For more of this and others check out Andrzej Nadolski’s Kilka uwag o inkrustowanych grotach oszczepów z późnego okresu rzymskiego, Slavia Antiqua, t. 2 (1950) or Z problematyki badań nad wczesnośredniowiecznym uzbrojeniem polskim from “Z Otchłani Wieków: pismo poświęcone pradziejom Polski, Tom 21, Numer 5 (1952). More recently, see Jacek Andrzejowski’s Groty włóczni ze znakami symbolicznymi ze Stryczowic in „ZOW”, t. 61, nr 1–2.

Gać, Poland

For more on this you can check out an article by Anna Lasota, Cmentarzysko z okresu rzymskiego w Gaci w swietle nowych badan or Marcin Biborski’s Zdobiona broń z cmentarzyska ciałopalnego z okresu wpływów rzymskich z Gaci k. Przeworska in Materiały Archeologiczne, t. XXIII (1986).

Bodzanowo, Poland

The Bodzanowo of this spear lies about midway between Inowrocław and Włocławek.

Kopaniewo, Poland

This is from Jahn’s book where he says it comes from Koppenow, now Kopaniewo in Lębork County, Pomerania, Poland. Apparently, another example of this is from Neugut (near Sławno?).

Silesia, Poland 

On this one you cannot see any taigas but you can see the “moon” symbols.

The specific location of this find is uncertain. More on the topic in Rudolf Jamka’s Ozdoby oręża i narzędzi z podokresu późno-lateńskiego i okresu rzymskiego, odkrytych na Śląsku, “Polska Akademia Umiejętności – Prace Prehistoryczne”, nr 3. Quite a similar example comes from Hoppenrade, east Germany – see below for that.

Rogów Opolski, Poland

Here you have the same spear shown in two different ways.

Once again see the Rudolf Jamka article for more on these which also refers to articles by Raschke (from whom comes the version of the picture on the left) and Kurtz (same for the right side version). The tamga signs seem quite few and barely visible.

Sobótka, Łęczyca, central Poland

These pictures come from G Rycel’s’ article Cmentarzysko kultury przeworskiej w Sobótce (st. 1), woj. konińskie, Prace i Materiały Muzeum Archeologicznego i Etnograficznego w Łodzi. Seria Archeologiczna, nr 24 (1981). This Sobótka is between Warsaw and Poznan.

Here the “lunar” as well as “solar” (in the top picture) symbols are clearly visible.

Nadkole, Mazovia, Poland

Here is an interesting example of lunar and triangular (?) symbols from Mazovia.

For more information you can check out Jacek Andrzejowski’s “Nadkole 2. A Cemetery of the Przeworsk Culture in Eastern Poland.”

There are a few similar spears from outside of Poland. Such as this.

Medow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, east Germany
(Medowe or Miodowe)

Zihl, Switzerland

This Swiss example comes from Jahn’s book.

Недобоївці/Nedoboyivtsi/Nedoboivtsi, western Ukraine

Valle, Norway

Mos, Stenkyrka, Gotland, Sweden

This is an example from Sweden from an article “Runes and Romans in the North” by Lisbeth Imer (also her drawing).

With this exception, the Scandinavian versions of these spears or lances do not appear to be adorned by any of tamgas that are present on all the other spears shown here. Nevertheless, since some of them are quite cool and famous we show some below.

Hoppenrade, eastern Germany

This too comes from Jahn’s book.

Vimose, Funen, Denmark

This technically is not a spear but a sword scabbard but the left marking on this appears to be a tamga-like designation.

Ok so let’s map these tamga finds.

The makes clear that these tamga signs were not “Scandinavian” or “Nordic” in any common sense of the word. They are not found in central or west Germany or in France. On spears they appear primarily in Poland with a few examples also in the immediate surroundings. But the curious thing is that, outside of spear or lanceheads, they are found even earlier in the past – primarily in the Bosporan Kingdom but also in other places, including, again, in Poland. That is a topic for another time. In the meantime let’s look at some other spear finds that do not have tamga markings but do feature embroidery and runic symbols.

Of course there were many spears featuring various “patterns” that did not contain any tamga signs or runes or other characters such as these. In Poland you have examples such as these.

Prusiek, Poland
near Sanok

This comes from articles by Renata Madyda-Legutko, Judyta Rodzińska-Nowak and Joanna Zagórska-Telega. There apparently is also another Prusiek spear.

Or take a look at this.

Gródki, Poland
near Dzialdowo, Nidzica
(Grodtken near Soldau, Neidenburg)

For other decorated but not with tamga signs spears, check out the spear from Niemirow or Stara Rudowka.

And then there are quite a number of runic spears, mostly in Scandinavia or England such as these. They contain runes or other markings but not tamgas.

Wurmlingen, western Germany

The Wurmlingen speer certainly contains runes and other etchings but they do not appear to be similar to any known tamga signs. It is also much more recent, being dated apparently to the seventh century.

Vimose, Funen, Denmark

Back to Vimose again.

Øvre Stabu, Norway 

Copyright ©2020 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

March 1, 2020

Iarila

PublishedFebruary 26, 2020 Post authortorino

Here are some interesting Celtic (!?) divine names.

If the highlighted text is Celtic then we cannot be sure what is Suavic anymore, of course. Are we to believe that the Jarilo festivities were really just celebrations made up by some practical joker steeped in Celtic mysteries? That hardly seems likely with the more likely answer being either that Suavs occupied parts of Europe and were mistaken as Celts or that the Jarilo cult was an ancient IE cult that both some Suavs and some Celts maintained independently.

Here are is the earlier article on the Iassas of the Suevo-veneti.

Copyright ©2020 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

February 26, 2020

On Svarog’s or Svarozic’s Trail

PublishedFebruary 1, 2020 Post authortorino

We have not done articles about Svarog as you do not see this deity in the Polish Pantheon. If by swar we mean “raging” then perhaps he can be connected with Wodan and, hence, Jasion. In this case, he would be the God of the Sky. This would be somewhat consistent with the Svarga or Svarga Loka of Hindu mythology.

But there are signs that point to another role for Svarog – that of a chthonic deity. Both of these suggest a smith deity. Such a smith could be a smith among the stars or, alternatively, could be a smith deep down in the Earth. In other words, the stars can represent a forge via their “heavenly fire” but so can a volcano. In fact, Vulcan may also be relevant here as he is the Roman equivalent of the Greek Hephaestus.

To better address this question, we ought to look at the available sources, first noting that while Svarog does not appear appear among the Western Suavs, Svarozic does among the Polabians in:

PVL
Hypatian Codex/Chlebnikov Codex

The most well-known source mentioning Svarog are two manuscripts of the PVL – the Primary Chronicle. But the mention is present in only two (out of about eight) manuscripts of the PVL – the Hypatian Codex (beginning of the 15th century) which is one of the two main PVL manuscripts (along with the Laurentian Codex) and the lesser-known Chlebnikov Codex (15th or 16th century). In these two codices, under the year 1114 the scribe wrote an interpolation not present in other manuscripts. The following is the text of that interpolation as given by Mansikka (in German) (while that author is overly critical, much like Brueckner, his source compilation is quite thorough and about the only such compilation in Western literature):

“At the beginning Mestrom of the family of Ham began to rule, then Jeremiah and after him Feosta, who was also called Svarog (in the original Sovarog, Zvarog) by the Egyptians. At the time of this Feosta’s rule in Egypt, there fell tongs from heaven and he began to forge weapons for before that time people fought with rods and stones. This same Feosta proclaimed a law that women could marry only one man* and should fast and order that those who commit adultery should be executed. For this reason he was called God Svarog. For before that women lived licentiously with those men whom they liked and were like cattle in their fornication When a child was born that the woman liked, she would say [to her then man] “This is your child”; and he held a party and recognized it [the child as his own]. But Feosta abolished this law and commanded that one man could only marry one woman and one woman could only marry one man; and whoever should break this law, he had to be thrown into the fiery oven. For this reason he became called Svarog and was honored by the Egyptians. And thereafter there reigned his Son, who was called the “Sun”; he was also called Dadzbog… The ruler Sun, who was the son of Svarog and was also called Dadzbog, was a strong man; when he came to hear from someone that a rich and powerful Egyptian woman with whom one intended to cavort, he searched for her so as to capture her, for he did not want to abolish his father Svarog’s law. And he took with him several of his men, calculating the time when the night adultery was to begin, surprised her and he did not find her with her husband but rather lying with another whom she loved. And he grabbed her and toortured her and had her driven about [showcased for shame] as a rebuke, And he had the adulterer be beaten. And a clean life began to be led in all of the Egyptian land he began to be praised.”

Here is Mansikka’s Russian text:

Chronicle of John Malalas
Slavic Edition

The source of this, it turns out, is the Chronicle of John Malalas or, more specifically, since the original of that chronicle does not contain any references to Svarog or Dadzbog, the Slavic manuscript of that chronicle from the 15th-16th century. This was published over time in various publications (mostly; and with some later supplements by others) by Vasilii Mikhailovich Istrin under the overall title Khronika Ioanna Malaly v slavyanskom pervade. The relevant manuscript (Ark) is the 15th century Arkhjivskiy khronograf from TSGADA (Central State Archive of Early Acts), collection of GAMID (Saint Petersburg Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) 279/658. There is also an earlier – 13th century – Vilnius version (Vil) of the same (Vilenskiy khronograf) which is BAN Litovskoy SSR 109 – the BAN is the Library of the Academy of Sciences of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic; not sure what the current designation is.

This is the same manuscript that also contains the Lithuanian Baltic story of Sovius or Sovii that we discussed here (note too the similarity between Sovarog and Sovius). In fact, according to Mansikka, the same person added the Slavic and Lithuanian glosses about Baltic practices to the edition. In fact, another Mansikka claim is that both the Slavic and the Lithuanian glosses were known to the writers of the Hypatian and Chlebnikov Codices as evidenced not only by the Slavic mentions of Svarog and Dadzbog but also by the mention – this is not part of PVL but rather part of the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle (GVC) that is found in the same codices – under the year 1252 that Mindaugas’ baptism was a deception and that he would continue to make offerings to his pagan Gods:

“…first of all to Nunadiev, Teliavel and Diverikuz, the god of hares and to Meidein.”
(some translate these as Nunadievis, Teliavelis, Diviriks and Medeina)

Later there is also a discussion of the burning of the dead. Also the entry for the year 1258 records the names of the Gods Andajus and Divirikuz/Diviriks. Of these GVC mentions, Teliavel/Teliavelis and Andaeva/Andajus also appear in the Ark manuscript of the Slavic version of the Malalas Chronicle. Further, the main point of the same story of Sovii/Sovius is to discuss the establishment of the rite of cremation. For all these reasons, Mansikka believed that the writers of the Hypatian and Chlebnikov Codices simply inserted the Lithuanian and Slavic mythological references from the Ark manuscript into their codices – the Slavic into the PVL and the Baltic into the GVC. He also noted that the Lithuanian interpolation made its way into the Malalas Chronicle in the year 1262 and so believed, not unreasonably, that that also was the time of the Slavic interpolation. Because of the reference that says “in our Lithuania” in the Vil manuscript’s Lithuanian glosses both Istrin and Mansikka believed that the Slavic glosses of Malalas Chronicle were also made in Lithuania. Again, both of these time/place deductions are based on the reasonable assumption that the same person added both the Lithuanian and the Slavic interpolations. Istrin further believed that they may have been made originally in another manuscript (though around 1262 and in Lithuania still) and only then were introduced into the Slavic Malalas of the Ark manuscript (and the Vil manuscript?). Either from such original works or from these Malalas Chronicle’s manuscripts they made their way into the PVL and the GVC. So, at least, says Mansikka. However, others who prior to his examination looked at the glosses thought the origin may have been earlier. If you believe that the same person added the Lithuanian and Slavic glosses then an earlier date seems unlikely given, a fact pointed out some time back by Łowmiański, the fact that Lithuanian was not particularly relevant to the Kievan Rus prior to the Mongol invasions (though, perhaps, Novgorod might have been interested in the Baltics more). In any event this does not matter that much to the nature of the text.

So what does the Slavic transaction of Malalas say? The following comes from Mansikka who got it from Istrin’s publication of Book II of Malalas. Note that the English translation of the Malalas Chronicle which was made by Elizabeth Jeffreys, Michael Jeffreys and Roger Scott actually has this text appear in Book I and Book II (see the actual text below). In any event, here is the Mansikka text translation. The insertions are in italics. If a word was changed, the word is in italics while the original Malalas version is also given in brackets. To the extent there are differences between the Mansikka text and the Malalas translation given below, those stem from the text Mansikka used versus those used by the Malalas translators. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at the text:

“After Feosta’s death, who they also call Svarog, there ruled over the Egyptians his son the Sun [Helios], who they call Dadzbog… The Sun [Helios] being the ruler, son of Svarog’s [Hephaistos’], who is also Dadzbog, was a strong man… He did not want to break his father Svarog‘s [Hephaistos’] law… As Homer the poet said of him, that Dadzbog [Helios] accused Aphrodite of adultery with Ares… [He used the name Aphodite for the desire for fornication condemned by the emperor] Sun [Helios]… After the death of Dadzbog [Helios], son of Svarog [Hephaistos], Sosis ruled over the Egyptians…”

And the Russian text as given by Mansikka (which he got from Istrin):

Sermon of a Certain Christlover and Zealot for the Correct Faith
Слово некоего христолюбца и ревнителя по правой вере

Another potential Svarog source is a sermon the so-called “Christlover” found in manuscripts from the 14th-15th century. It seems to have originally been found by Aničkov. The Sermon conns a number of mentions of East Slavic paganism (to which we can later come back) but the mention that is relevant in this context is the following:

“…and they prayed to the fire, calling it Svarozits [or Svarozich]…”

However, in this case, the name is not Svarog but, as among the Polabian Suavs, “Svarozich.”

Here is the text (again from Mansikka):

Saint Gregory’s Sermon Composed on the Mountain About How the First Pagans Bowed to Idols and Gave Them Offerings, Which They Continue To Do
Слово св. Григория, изобретено в толцех, о томь, како первое погани суще языци кланялися идолом и требы им клали, то и ныне творят

Another mention which probably comes from the above Sermon of the Christlover is a mention in Saint Gregory’s Sermon. Specifically the Chudov codex (16th century) contains the following:

“…and  to the fire, Svarozic, they prayed…”

Here is the text (again from Mansikka):

Sermon of Our Father Saint John Chrysostom (the “Golden-Mouthed”), the Archbishop of the City of Constantinople About How the First Pagans Believed in Idols and Gave Them Offerings and Named Their Names, Which They Continue To Do in Christianity and They Do Not Know What Christianity Is
Слово св. отца нашего Иоанна Златоуста, архиепископа Костянтина града, о томь, како первое погании вѣровали въ идолы и требы имъ клали и имена имъ нарекали, яже и нынѣ мнози тако творять и въ крестьяньстве суще, а не вѣдають, что есть крестьяньство

This slovo is known from the 14th or 15th century Novgorodian manuscript:

“…and others believed in Svarozic…”

Here is the text (once again from Mansikka):

The Original Chronicle of John Malalas

Finally, here is the English translation of the original of the relevant portions of the Chronicle of John Malalas which was made by Elizabeth Jeffreys, Michael Jeffreys and Roger Scott.

Book 1
Chapter 15

“So when Hermes came to Egypt, Mestrem of the family of Ham then reigned over the Egyptians. On his death, the Egyptians made Hermes emperor and he reigned over the Egyptians for 39 years arrogantly. After him Hephaistos reigned over the Egyptians for 1680 days, that is for four years and 38 days. For the Egyptians then did not know ho two measure years but they called the cycle of the year “years”. They called Hephaistos a god, for he was also a fighting man with mystic knowledge. He fell with his horse when he had gone into battle and was left with a limp from his wound. Hephaistos issued a law that Egyptian women were to be monogamous and to live chastely, while those who were caught in adultery were to be punished. The Egyptians were grateful to him since thus was the first law on chastity which they received. Hephaistos through a mystic prayer received tongs from the air for the manufacture of implements from iron. Thus he became dominant in wars. They deified him, since he had legislated for chastity and he had procured food for men by the manufacture of implements and in war had given them power and safety; for before his day men had fought with clubs and stones.”

Book 2
Chapter 1

“After the death of Hephaistos, his son Helios reigned over the Egyptians for 4477 days, that is for 12 years and 97 days; for neither the Egyptians in those times nor any other people knew how to calculate the number.  Some calculated the cycles of the moon as years, others calculated the cycles of the days as years; for counting by the twelve months was devised after this from the time when it was customary for men to be taxpayers to emperors.”

Chapter 2

“Helios, the son of Hephaistos was very generous. He was informed by someone that an Egyptian woman, one of those who enjoyed wealth and rank amongst them, had fallen in love with someone and was committing adultery with him. When Helios heard this, he wanted to catch her, because of his father Hephaistos’ law, so that it should not be broken. He took soldiers from his army, having discovered that her adultery took place at night. He burst in on her when her husband was not there and found her sleeping with another man, her lover. Immediately he took her away and paraded her throughout the land of Egypt after torturing her. Chastity became widespread in the land of Egypt. He put that adulterer to death, and was thanked. The poet Homer tells this story poetically; Helios, he says condemned Aphrodite for having intercourse at night with Ares. He used the name Aphodite for the desire for fornication condemned by the emperor Helios. The truth, as it has been written above, was written by the most learned chronicler Palaiphatos.”

Chapter 3

“After the death of the emperor Helios, son of Hephaistos, Sosis* reigned over the Egyptians; after his reign, Osiris reigned; after Osiris, Horus; and after Horus, Thoulis, who captured all the land as far as the Ocean with a large force…”

[*note: later referred to as Sostris.]

For the mention of Suavs in the Chronicle of John Malalas see here.

Etymologies

What of the name Svarozic or Svarog? Svarozic can mean many things in Suavic. The -zic suffix can be an indication of:

  • A son or a descendant of Svarog (or Sovarog)
  • A “thing” coming from Svarog (or Sovarog)
  • A young Svarog (or Sovarog)
  • A little Svarog (or Sovarog)
  • A diminutive of Svarog (or Sovarog)
  • A thing that swarorzy (or svarycsa from svariti se; in which case swarzy would be a shorter version of the same)

With the exception of the last suggestion, all of the above are derived from Svarog.

What about Svarog? Here we have several possibilities: as well:

  • svar (old Indian) or svarga-s (Sanskrit) (“shine, sky, Sun)
  • *spar (Sogdian) (“to glitter, shine, bloom”)
  • hvar (Avestani) (“sky light, Sun”)
  • Sovarog > Sovi (Baltic)
  • swar (Polish) (“heat” or “quarrel”)
  • Zwerg, schwarz (Nordic)
  • stworek (Suavic) (“little creature”)

The Romanian words Sfarogu or svarogu (meaning “dry” or “glowing”) are probably derived from Suavic.

There is also sfora which means “host”. The following Polish and nearby towns and rivers come to mind though whether their etymology has anything to do with Svarozic is debatable:

  • Swaraszczyzna/Swarawszczyzna
  • Swarawa/Sworawa
  • Swareml/Swaromje
  • Swarliny
  • Swarocino
  • Swarowszczyzna
  • Swarożyn/Swaroschin/Swarisewo/Swarozino/Swarzissewo/Swarzystów
  • Swarreitkehmen
  • Swarren
  • Swarszowice/Swarzischowycze
  • Swarte
  • Swarteze
  • Swartówka
  • Swarycewicze/Swarycewiczy
  • Swaryczew
  • Swaryczów
  • Swaryn
  • Swaryn stream
  • Swarzeń
  • Swarzewo/Swarzow
  • Swarzewska Kępa (Swôrzewskô Kãpa)
  • Swarzędz
  • Swarzędzkie
  • Swarzów
  • Schwerin (Polabian)

Some of these may relate to the German schwartz, others clearly have something to do with the Polish “heat” or perhaps with “quarrels.” The best candidate for a Svarogian etymology would have been Swarożyn since the Polish “g” becomes a “ż”. But, the above show that that town had many other names previously: Swaroschin/Swarisewo/Swarozino/Swarzissewo/Swarzystów – most of which are unlikely to have had any “g”‘s in their earlier forms.

An interesting question is why Svarog nor Svarozic appear in the so-called PVL pantheon. My strong suspicion is that the same Deity is there. Specifically, the above distinction between Dadzbog and Svarog seems weak. Rather, it seems that Svarog, the Sky Deity may have been the single deity Dadzbog Chors – the PVL explicitly names this as a single Deity. Now, why was Dadzbog Chors listed after Perun? I think because Perun (previously meaning just “fork” which then became associated with lightning) was “elevated” by the Varangians who, in their own country, similarly saw the ascent of Thor. This Scandinavian invention mirrors Taranis of the Celts. But on the continent the Suevi, for example, clearly did not know Thor. Rather they worshipped Wodan.

Copyright ©2020 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

February 1, 2020

Łada Placenames in Central & Eastern Europe

Published Post authortorino

Just as the name Jasień is present in many town and river designations in Poland and vicinity so is Łada. Dlugosz spoke of a village named Łada and we’ve identified such a village already but there are more such place and water names. The following comes from various sources supplemented by the “Geographic Dictionary of the Polish Kingdom and Other Suavic Countries” (Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich).

Here is a list of some of those in and around Poland.

Villages

Łada – a village in the Lublin voivodeship. The river Łada runs through it. First mentioned in 1245 during the invasion of Ruthenian dukes of the “Lachic land” when Duke Wasilko raided the Łada and Dzwola areas. In the 14th century it was a royal village (that is it belonged to the crown). In 1377 it somehow came into the possession of Dmitri of Goraj (the royal treasurer) and then his nephews. The Lublin voivode  Mikołaj Firlej bought the village in 1508. In 1517 it was sold to Wiktoryn Sienieński who then donated it to the Gorka family. At the end of the 16th century it was bought by Jan Zamojski. The village suffered during the Napoleonic wars. It was partly repopulated by Uniates. In WWII most of Łada burnt down during a German air raid.

Łady – a village in the Mazovian voivodeship.

Ładawy – a village in the Łódź Voivodeship.

Ładowska-Wola – a village in the Mazovian voivodeship.

Ładzice – a village in Radomsko County, Łódź Voivodeship.

Ladzin (Ładzin) – a village in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship.

Ładzyń – a village in the Mazovian Voivodeship.

Ladorudz – a village in the Greater Poland Voivodeship.

Ładomierz – a former village near Wielun.

Lada – a village in Slovakia

Ladomirowa – a village in Slovakia.

Ladce – a village in Slovakia.

Ladygos (Ładogole) – a village near Vinius.

Ładyżyn – a village in Lithuania near Lazdijai.

Ładowszczyzna – formerly a private village near the town of Lida, Belarus.

Ladeniki (Ładzienniki) – a village in Belarus.

Ładonicha – a place in Дзісна region in Belarus.

Ladorozh (Ładoroże) – a village in Belarus on the Ukrainian border.

Malye Lyady (Lady) – ancient town and goods near Smilavichy in Belarus (part of former Červień or Chervyen (Чэрвень) fka Igumen (Ігумен) district.

Ladasna (Ladosno, Ładosno) – village in Belarus.

Ladyzhin – a town in Belarus.

Ładyżycze – a town in Belarus on the Braginka (Brahinka) river; today in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Lyady (Łady) – a village on the Belarussian – Russian border, east of Orsha (incidentally just West of the Russian Yasenets).

Lyadovichi (Ladowicze) – a village near Kobryn in Belarus.

Ladantsi (Ладанці, Ładańce) – Ukrainian village near Lviv.

Ladychyn (Лади́чин, Ładyczyn) – a village in Ukraine near Ternopil.

Ladyzhyn (Ладижин, Ładyżyn) – a town in Ukraine.

Ladyzhynka – a town in Ukraine.

Liadova/Lyadova – Ukrainian village on the border with Moldova on the river Liadova (presumably meaning “icy”).

Ladendorf – A village in Austria.

For a Liedena in Spain – rather curious next to Yesa – see here.

Rivers

Biala Łada  (White Łada) – starts northwards around the town of Chrzanów, heads south past the village Łada towards, then through Bilgoraj and merges with the Czarna Łada at Sol or so to form Łada.

Czarna Łada (Black Łada)- starts at Dabrowa/Gorecko Koscielne, then heads west towards Bilgoraj where it merges with the Biala Łada to form Łada.

Łada – the combined Łada has a short run west into the River Tanew.

Ladosnianka (Ładośnianka) – river near Lepel/Niemirava/Ladosno in Belarus.

Ladantsi (Ладанці, Ładańce) – Ukrainian stream near the village of Ladantsi. Flows into the Marushka river.

Liadova/Lyadova – river in Ukraine. Flows through village Liadova/Lyadova.

What about Germany? Well, there is the river:

Leda – the river Leda is in NW Germany and, of course, has an “e” not an “a” but its old name was shown with an “a” as in: fluuium Lade, flumen Lathe, Lathamuthon. The below etymology of Greule’s is rather improbable.

Other

Ladowa Niwa – a hill near Łukawiec (Лукавець, Lukavets’), Subcarpathian Voivodeship. Łukawiec itself was founded already in the 16th century.

Here is a map of the above.

Of course these are only some such names and there are many others such as several place names Łady near the Belarussian Dzisna (Дзісна), Ładycza, Ladzyny, Ladźwienie, Ladce, Ladniki, Ladna, Ladki, Ladendorf, Ladenberg, Ladeskul, Ladce & others. You could also look elsewhere such as at Ladenburg (remember Imple o Lada from the Rhine province).

Copyright ©2020 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

February 1, 2020

Radagost the Happy, Welcome Guest, Also Being a Present of Jasień’s

Published Post authortorino

We have suggested previously that Radagost (mentioned by Adam of Bremen as being a Deity worshipped at Rethra contrary to Thietmar‘s reports of the Suavic God Svarozic being venerated there) was the name of the wood around Rethra in which Svarozic was venerated (see here).

In doing so we rejected Alexander Brückner suggestion that Radagost simply means a “Happy Guest” which he, contemptuously, linked with the name of a tavern rather than with the name of a Deity.

But what if Brückner was – sort of – correct? What do we mean by that? Well, he spoke of a happy guest though perhaps he could have also said a “welcome guest.” Since we know that Svarozic was relatively frequently identified – at least among the East Suavs – with fire worship, perhaps Radagost is simply a moniker for “fire.”

Volume I of Pavel (Pavlo) Čubinski‘s (Chubynsʹkyĭ’s) 1872 book “Works of ethnographic-statistical expedition to western Russian region. Materials and researches” (Труды Этнографическо-статистической экспедиціи в Западно-Русскій край, снаряженной Императорским Русским географическим обществом (Юго-Западный отдѣл); матеріалы и изслѣдованія) contains an interesting testimony from villagers living at the upper Boh river (Southern Buh) in the Litinsky Uyezd of the Podolian Governorate of tsarist Russia. The villagers stated:

“We honor fire just as God. He is our dear guest. What he takes [that is, burns down] when he gets angry, that he won’t give again to another.”  

(Ми шануєм вогонь, як Бога, він нам дорогий гість. Він як розсердитьсяі візьме, то другому вже того не дасть; transliterated: My šanujem ohoń jak Boha; vin naš dorohyj hisť. Vin jak rozserdytśa i vizme, to duhomu vže toho ne dasť)

Polish villagers also spoke of fire as a guest:

“Welcome our guest in a red coat; do not go wide but rather go high .”

(Witaj nam gościu w czerwonym płaszczyku; nie bierz się szyroko, a bierz się wysoko…)

Now, the next question is did the Suavs really worship Fire as a God?

The answer to this question seems to be no. Rather they seem to have worshipped fire as present of God, specifically of the Sky God. Do we know this for sure? Of course not. But, there are hints…

For an answer we look to a tale of the Old Believers (starovéry) in the far east of Suavdom and, specifically, as was noticed already by Felix Haase, to Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov (alias Andrey Pechersky, Russian: Па́вел Ива́нович Ме́льников or Андре́й Пече́рский or Melnikov-Pechersky) and to volume IV of his Complete Collection of Works (or Collected Works) (Polnoe sobranie sochinenii or Полное собраніе сочиненій). There we find a story of how Jarilo came upon Mother Earth shrouded in darkness, loved her and as a result of this union all living things – including Man – were born. Jarilo hit Man with lightning which caused Man to awaken his faculties elevating him above the other living things. Man  spoke to Jarilo answering the God’s thunder and was made rule of all living and inanimate things. Long story short, Jarilo then left Mother Earth and all their creation placing it all again in cold and darkness but vowing to return. Mother Earth then pled for Jarilo to take pity on their special love child, that is Man. As a result of these pleadings, Jarilo gave Man fire. Here is that excerpt:

“…But Mother Earth cried further. ‘Don’t you feel sorry for me Jarilo? Do not the cries of your children reach you? Have mercy at least on your love child, who answered your thunder speech with eternal words. It is naked and weak, it will shortly perish if you take away heat and light from us.’ And the God Jarilo struck a stone with lightning, his flaming blitz hit the trees. And he said to Mother Earth: ‘Now I have brought fire to the stones and the trees. I myself am in this fire. With his mind will Man figure out how to take light and fire from wood and stones. This fire is my gift for my love son. For the entire living Creation will this gift be a fright and terror. Only for him alone will be of service.’ And so the God Jarilo left the Earth. Terrible winds blew, dark clouds covered Jarilo’s eye, the red Sun [and] white snow felt and enveloped Mother Earth like a pall. All froze, all fell asleep, only Man slept [but] did not slumber. He had the great gift of Father Jarilo and with it light and warmth.”

An interesting conclusion that can be drawn here is that if Svarozic is fire and Svarog is the Sky God then it is clear that Svarog is merely another title of Jarilo. Of course, I’ve previously made the connection between Jasień or Yassa, Jarilo, Ūsiņš, Usen, Jeuseņš and, importantly, also Iasion who lay with Demeter. Further, the above story neatly fits with the narrative of Jasień “waking” up Man with lightning (“It is almost as if man himself is “unfrozen” after the winter”) that I also alluded to here. Of course, in the above story, Man is not merely woken up after a winter, he is actually given his reason or mind via a thunder strike. Afterwards, Jarilo basically acts as a Suavic version of Prometheus.

Although the name Prometheus has an uncertain etymology, one version of such etymology points to pramantha – a fire-drill, that is the tool used to create fire. Curiously, in Polish promień simply means “ray”. Same for Ukrainian with its промінь.

Copyright ©2020 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

February 1, 2020

Annual Polish Pagan Customs

PublishedJanuary 13, 2020 Post authortorino

Here is a list of Polish, mostly pre-Christian, festivals of the annual cycle that survived in some form till recent times. As I discover more interesting things, I will try to continue adding to this article.

The Rites of Spring

Gromadki, Śmigus Dyngus, Kogutek, Gaik

The calendar began with a feast and a custom of ancestor remembrance. People burned candles and left food for their ancestors on the grave sites – the so-called gromadki. This typically happened on the Christian Maundy Thursday (before Easter) and was, perhaps, a type of dziady commemoration – remembering the dead celebration (more on that below in the rites of winter). Since this was also “Fat Thursday” and hence a day of doughnuts, there seems to have been plenty of foodstuffs to share with dead souls.

The Monday after Easter is typically the Śmigus-Dyngus Monday. On it men and women would go around and try to surprise each other by spraying the others with water. Younger folks would perform another ritual with young men and boys going around with a stylized rooster (kogutek) and young women going around with branches bound together to represent a young forest (gaik). The dyngus were the trinkets obtained by these spring carolers from the houses that they stopped at to sing and then ask for “payment” for the performance.

Although some have connected dyngus with payment (German: Dingen > things), a much more likely etymology, especially given the context of spring rites, spring rains and the rebirth of the world is the Prussian word dangus which means “sky.” This would also explain the suffix (-s) which is common in Baltic languages.

The kogutek, also celebrated on the second day of Easter, involved a rooster, typically stylized out of a pumpkin or made out of batter with attached feathers and a comb made from red cloth. The rooster was attached to a small wooden plank that sported wheels and served as a cart to have the rooster travel around the village. The procession started at a wealthier farmer’s house from whom a present was obtained and then went house to house while singing, playing pipes and obtaining gifts (the dyngus) from the residents. Eventually the whole troop found its way to the local tavern and then the things obtained were parceled out among all the gathered with everyone concluding the day’s events with a drinking party. The kogutek would then be stored with one of the partygoers till the next year.

The gaik involved young women and kids being led by one lady, again going house to house. The leader would carry a “forest” of greenery, plants, branches, adorned with many colored ribbons as well as, sometimes, with shining baubles. At each house this troupe would sing and, in return, also get small presents. The gaik was also occasionally referred to as maik (reffering to May).

Zielone Świątki

Zielone Świątki simply means the “Green Holidays.” These were associated with all kinds of games. In parts of Kujawy (on the Bachorza channel or at Lubień Kujawski), till about the beginning of the 19th century, the villagers played a game called the “King of Shepherds” – essentially a race (the “track” marked with wooden sticks) to bring one’s cattle herd to a previously agreed place the fastest. Both men and women partake and apparently both royal titles – king and queen – were available for the taking (for an annual period). Afterwards, all manner of simple gifts were given and the completed race turned into a party. In other parts of the country a similar “king” game was played involving horse races.

Later, on the first of May people would go out for walks – on the so-called majówka.

In Warsaw, the citizenry would head to Golendzin across the river where, so the tale goes, one lady from Old Town, chosen at random would be wed. The ferries would be adorned with birch branches and all manner of ribbons. The local mayor would collect the dowry for the bride from the party goers.

It seems that in the days of Jan Casimir, when the Swedes occupied Praga (in 1655) – on the East bank of the Vistula – the citizens unwilling to cross the river, conducted their majowka instead at Bielany, north of Warsaw. In other tellings, the relocation from Golendzin to Bielany was occasioned by the construction of the Camaldolese monk monastery at Bielany about 1630 – whether the monks invited the partygoers or the partygoers showed up of their own is another matter. (In fact, a similar event was sponsored by the Camaldolese of another Bielany near Cracow and may have been sponsored by other such monasteries elsewhere).  In any event, the weddings continued, sporadically, even as late as 1766 (during the reign of Stanisuav Augustus) but over time the majowka became more of an all day nature outing for the citizenry.

Whenever the kings Augustus II or Augustus III were in town, they would join the partygoers at Bielany where the ladies, particularly of the lower classes, would wear all kinds of colorful clothes and the coachmen would arrive with green-adorned carts.

In fact, even more generally, wagon and carriage drivers would place greenery on their carts and on their horses. During this month of May, even as late as the reign of Sigismund Augustus, married women would gather at a meadow and hold hands dancing and singing, praising spring.

On the Eve of the Green Holidays (the Pentecost, Whitsun, Whitsunday or Pfingsten in Germany) which was the Sunday (fifty days after Easter, for example May 12th), the partying and playing began.

During those days all the houses (and churches) would be “mayed” that is covered in green leaves and the townspeople would play zielone. Later, the custom included covering the floors in the house (as well as in churches!) with sweet flag leaves (tatarak).  The house lobby/foyer (sień) would be covered with birch branches. Various green herbs would also be placed on ceilings, on the windows and on pictures (especially on pictures of Holy Mary).

This was also the season of cake making (babki and placki).

At nights during those May days, there would begin the so-called sobótki. Fires would be lit on top of the hillocks and men and women would jump over them all the while dancing, singing and laughing.

Around 1405, the preacher and professor of Cracow University, Lucas of Great Kozmin also mentions dances with swords:

“I recall that in youth I read in a certain chronicle that there were in Poland Gods and from those days to our times such rites come that young women dance with swords, as if in offering to the pagan Gods, and not to [the] God, as well as [dances of] young men with swords and sticks, which they then hit about…”

These games would continue throughout May and June until Saint John the Baptist’s day. And, in fact, Lucas’ description may relate specifically to Saint John’s Day. On the night before, that is the Vigil (Wigilia) of Saint John, people celebrated the Sobótka. This ancient rite involved fires, wreaths placed on river water (often with a candle) and bylica which was put over house roofs. So let’s go to that.

Sobótka

The longest night of the year – so-called “Saint John’s” Eve – was also an occasion to perform ancient rites. Those typically involved making wreaths and garlands for the ladies followed by late night gatherings and the setting of fires usually in the fields (going ku-pole) or on hilltops. Next came the dancing around these fires. Young women lead those gatherings and young men joined later. They would then couple up and dance around the fires and, often, jump through them – sometimes together. (Incidentally, sobótka is only indirectly related to the “Sabbath” (though perhaps more to the “witches’ sabbaths.” Rather its direct etymology seems to be connected with certain West Anatolian festivities).

In some places, like Kujawy, all the village huts would be decorated with łopian (burdock) leaves (of the Asteraceae family – Kletten in German).

The wreaths would typically be made of bylica (artemisia or mugwort) though other plants were utilized as well, including  piołun (common wormwood also a type of artemisia), dziurawiec (Saint John’s wort), leszczyna branches (hazel), mięta (mint), ruta (ruta or rue), biedrzeniec (pimpinella) or czarny bez (black elderberry) were seen as having beneficial powers on this day. Of course, the most coveted was the fern flower – a mythical flower much like the four-leafed clover. Women would take venture naked into the woods, most often with their male companions, in search of this flower. As I understand it, few had found the flower though some had had an altogether good time nevertheless.

In a related custom, the wreaths (wianki – pronounced “vyankee“) would often end up being placed on the surface of local rivers and sent gently floating with the current. Frequently, they would also carry an attached candle so that they remained visible from afar. While women would float the wreaths on water, young men would light small fires on the river banks. These custom continued even into the 18th and 19th centuries when inhabitants in Warsaw would gather on the banks of the Vistula to send their wreaths on the way to the sea while cheering them on from the local bridges. Local potentates would also give out small gifts to the public on the occasion and the common people would exchange presents amongst themselves. The last Polish king – Stanisuav Poniatowski – was recorded attending these events. Sometimes the plants were forgotten and other means were used to float a fire; for example, in Pomerania, local inhabitants would place small barrels full of tar on the water surface and set them on fire, watching them head out to the Baltic.

Such gatherings were known in Poland as sobótki (diminutive for “sabbaths”) or palinoce (pronounced “palinotze“) aka palinocki (pronounced “palinotzki“) (that is “burning nights”). The rituals are alluded too already in the 11th century by Thietmar who describes Mount Ślęża in Silesia. That same mountain would be referred to as sobótka in the 13th century. The clergy typically bemoaned such pre-Christian relicts and forbade them as I have described previously:

“Prohibit too the nightly dances that take place during days of the sabbath (sobótki or kupalnocki in the summer) and on the days of the Saints John the Baptist and Saints Peter and Paul, for there are fornications and adultery and incest committed in those times.” (Bishop Andrzej Łaskarz Statutes from the 1420s)

& here:

“populi multitudo sexus utriusque assolet de consuetudine confluere, ubi tubarum, timpanorum. fistularum, aliorumque musicorum generum exercicia adhibentur, chorearum ceterorumque jocorum plausus exercentur…” (Royal Decree of Casimir IV from 1468)

& here:

“For this reason these pagan [maidens] dedicated this herb to her and when the day [of Diana/Artemis] was celebrated some hung it up around houses while others girded it on: and this was done on the twenty fourth day of the moon [month] June, on our day of Saint John: and so they [the ladies] lit fires in the night, danced, praying and honoring the devil.  [And] this pagan custom they [women] refuse to forsake to this day, for so they make offerings of this herb hanging it and girding it on.  And they honour holidays of this devil [i.e., Diana/Artemis] by making sabaths [sobótki], burning fires, kindling fires with planks [sticks], so that there should be the right devilish holiness: there they sing devilish songs, obscene/filthy while dancing.” (Marcin of Urzędów, circa 1500 – 1573.:

It is curious that these festivities were so much like the festivities conducted around Rome in honor of the Deity Pales (the so-called parillia). Palić, of course, means “to burn” in Polish. For more on these customs, see here.

Dożynki
(Okrężne or Wieńcowe or Święto Plonów)

First, let us note that there were some harvest festivals that were done during the overall harvest but after the conclusion of harvesting particular type of grain. Specifically, after the collection of żyto (English secale or German Roggen) or pszenica (wheat or Weizen), you had the game of pępkowe. This involved catching the slowest female harvester and forcing her to cut the last stalk – the pęp or, in the diminutive, pępek. This pęp is made part of a bouquet consisting of it and a variety of field flowers collected and is carried by the “tardy” farmer girl to the manor house for which she is rewarded by the local lord along with the accompanying “crew.” Curiously, the pępek is also the name for the navel and the cutting appears to imitate the cutting of the umbilical cord as in a birthing ceremony.

Dożynki these days refers to the Polish harvest festival. Specifically, the word refers to the cutting (dożynać derived from żąć, that is ścinać, kosić, all of which refer to cutting) of the (final) harvest.

Technically, the meaning of the word may have changed over the years and in different parts of Poland. Thus, some think that the cutting that dożynki referred to originally was the cutting of the ozimina, that is of winter wheat, that is of a biennial crop, during the late fall. Technically, this was a separate – and later (in September/October) – activity from the earlier harvest of the current – annual – crop (in August/September). That is, after the actual harvest of the annual crop, the winter crop would be sown and prepped for the winter via the dożynanie and would be harvested next year (though, typically, earlier than the annual crop). As part of the dożynki of ozimina, a garland or wreath (wieniec) would be brought back to the village for the landlord.

If this is true then the earlier activity of the fall harvest was instead called okrężne, the act of going “around” the krąg that is around the fields and checking for any remaining crop. It was that name that came to mean the festivities associated with the harvest, including the ultimate feast/party.

However, because the fall harvest and the associated okrężne of the annual crop would come within a month or so of the dożynki of the biennial crop, the latter name – which could be associated just as easily with the cutting of the harvest as of the ozimina – ultimately displaced okrężne as the name given to the festivities and rituals associated with the fall harvest.

(In some places in Poland, the old name of okrężne now refers to the actual feast part of the dożynki, the latter, originally, unrelated term having subsumed the former. Also, in some places dożynki are called obrzynki and, elsewhere, more appropriately for dożynki, wieniec or wieńcowe (for example in Kujawy), names referring to wreaths that would be created as part of the dożynki of ozimina. Apparently, in Opole Silesia the harvest fest is called  żniwniok. Finally, another common name is simply Święto Plonów or the Holiday of the Harvest).

In any event, here we are discussing the earlier-occuring harvest festival. This took place in August or in early September.

After clearing all the harvest from the fields by doing a final walkthrough “around” the fields and cutting the final kłos (the so-called “ear” or spike of the stem of a cereal plant), the villagers would make a garland/wreath entirely from the harvest cereal stalks and then head back to the village to celebrate. Sometimes the local lord’s kids would be part of the party coming from the fields. In some parts of the country this party also “captured” the landlord’s field officials – such as the field administrator and the lower-ranked tallyman (karbowy). These would then serve as “hostages.”

The group would then make its way through the fields to the house of the local lord (the dziedzic). They would find the gates closed but… after showing him the harvest wreath, they would be let in. (Compare this to the “gatekeeping” ceremony at the Temple of Svantovit at Arkona). If “hostages” had been taken, the landlord would now buy the “freedom” of his employees. Then the feast would begin.

The first drink would be taken by that local lord and the village leader, the highest ranking kmieć (that is farmer peasant), the so-called sołtys. After the feast the lord would dance with the village leader’s wife and the lady, the lord’s wife, lest you think this a one way street, would dance with the village leader (the sołtys). In other words, this particular feast’s economics brought all classes together.

Takci bywało, panie, pijaliśmy z sobą,
Ani gardził pan kmiotka swojego osobą;
Dziś wszystko już inaczej, wszystko spoważniało,
Jak to mówią, postawy dosyć, wątku mało.

Music, dancing and various games were part of the festival but the highlight, of course, was the actual feast.

Much preparation would go into ensuring a variety of drinks and foods were available for that party. Piwo (beer) was brewed along with miód (mead that is miód pitny which translates into “drinking honey” as opposed to regular honey) as well as other concoctions such as krupnik which, in this case, did not mean a soup but rather combination of vodka and mead. Cattle would be slaughtered for the beef. Among the soups, a popular type was, of course, barszcz (borscht). Bigos, the Polish stew combo of chopped meat (often beef) and cabbage (sauerkraut). Another course were the zrazy which were are thin slices of meat rolled around various stuffing components (mushrooms, vegetables, eggs, bacon, potatoes). For those grain-inclined, there was also kasza (kasha), typically made from gryka (buckwheat). 

Interestingly, already Jan Długosz (15th century) mentions similar harvest celebrations in Lithuania as well. There, he says, the parties took place in the holy sacred groves to which the people would bring the harvest (presumably in thanks to the Gods) in the fall. They would also make offerings from oxen, calves and rams and would party for three days, eating (the food offerings!), dancing and playing a variety of games. It is not clear whether these were Lithuanian customs or the customs of those people who the Lithuanians captured from neighboring regions (such as Mazovia) and brought East as prisoners (typically to harvest and colonize the vast forest lands that covered most of Lithuania and Belarus).

The Rites of Winter

Dziady

Dziady – the day of remembrance for the dead be they direct “ancestors” or simply passed away relatives and friends – are perhaps the most remembered Suavic holiday. This is certainly largely due to Mickiewicz’s play of the same name which served to etch this particular practice into Polish memory. It is widely believed that the Christian All-Saints Day or All-Souls’ Day (zaduszki) replaced the ancient Polish pagan traditions. While this may be the case, the matter is rather more complicated than just that.

As a starting matter, ancient Suavs actually had several days devoted to the Dead at various times of the year. In Belarus, dziady were held at least three times: right before the end of zapusty (for that see below) at the beginning of the calendar year; during the week before the Green Holidays; and one or two weeks before All-Saints Day. In Poland, as discussed above, there were gromadki on Thursday before Easter. And, at the Christmas meal, a place is left at the table (complete with a plate and cutlery) for a “wanderer” though this may originally have been intended for souls of ancestors. This would suggest that such ancestor and dead remembrance customs were part of a number of Polish rites which, in and of themselves, had nothing to do with ancestors or the dead. Thus, perhaps a more accurate statement regarding the timing of these rites is that anytime there was a party, people would do the decent thing and also take a moment away from the festivities to recall their dead relatives. Perhaps this was out of a desire to secure the favor of the dead in the upcoming undertaking, or to placate them so that they would at least not interfere with such undertaking or simply out of a human need to remember.

Further, to the extent we look for Suavic origins of the Christian holy days from the beginning of November, that is of the All-Souls or All-Saints Day, we should look rather to an earlier calendar time for associated traditions. It was in Belarus that the Christianity failed to stamp out various ancient practices associated with ancestor remembrance. And as mentioned above, in Belarus, a dziady holiday fell around the middle of October (though this may perhaps be a result of the Eastern calendar being used). What was it like? The practices (mentioned by Tyszkiewicz as quoted by Józef Gołąbek in Dziady Białoruskie) included: at night calling upon the shadows of the dead in what we would today describe as a séance): tossing crumbs for the shadows of those dead – not necessarily ancestors though all relations – who died in the given dwelling; the leaving of food and drink outside on the exterior window sill so as to provide food for traveling souls; finally, visiting the graves and delivering the food and drink to those dead who did not decide to come to the house.

In some parts of eastern Poland similar practices persisted though they had been mostly stamped out. Specifically, in the Ruthenian Podlasie (around Bielsk Podlaski), we have evidence of the dziady on the first of October. This suggests that the feast itself could also be connected with the harvest feasts. In any event, the whole feast would begin with the placing of a candle called gromnica in the main “honorary” corner of the house called pokut (hence pokuta – penance? or is it simply from pokąt meaning “corner”). (Incidentally, a gromnica was also the type of candle placed in the hand of the deceased, supposedly to help light the way for such departed. Further, as noted above, a gromnica, was also used prior to spring arriving to ward of thunder strikes). The dishes would be richly prepared as much as for Chrismas save that they were mainly meat dishes (not fish, as for Christmas). Further, the feast would begin with a drink and some of it would be spilled under the table for the dead souls. Likewise, morsels of food from each dish would be thrown under the table for the same purpose.

Interestingly, another festival similar to dziady was still alive in the 19th century in Bretagne (see the remarks of Józef Henryk Kallenbach on the work of Anatole Le Braz regarding the practices in Spézet, Bretagne). Whether the similarities are due to Celtic or Venetic influence is, of course, another interesting question.

Gwiazdka & Jasełka

The winter festival of Gwiazdka was the same as Kolęda. Gwiazda means “star”. However, long forgot, it also meant a “tree.” Around this time people would walk around the village with a “star” and sing, what we would today call, carols. These carols to this day are known as kolędy. Although koledy is generally derived from the Latin calends, this may simply be because the Latin word was recorded first. Lęda in Polish means simply an untilled field and is cognate with “land.” From this name we have also the tribal name of the Lendians (Lędzianie also, possibly, cognate with Leugii/Lugii). Among the Eastern Suavs going out to hold festivities in the untilled field (kolyada) in the winter seems similar to going out to hold festivities in the tilled fields (kupala) in the summer (with “ku” meaning towards or, alternatively, koło meaning “around”).

All this involved two further characters: the gwiazdor as well the Toruń or Turoń. The gwiazdor was the bringer of presents (a forerunner to Santa Claus) and he was represented symbolically by the gwiazda – the star that was carried around. Behind that star there would sometimes “hide” the Turoń. This was a person typically dressed as an animal of uncertain pedigree – a quasi horse, bull and goat (etymologically connected with the tur or auroch, a similar “bull” figure reappears during the Easter season as Tracz or traczyk). When the party arrived at a house, wishing happy festivities, the Turon previously “hidden” by the gwiazdor would jump out and act out all kinds of craziness.

At this time, ancient Poles celebrated jasełka from the Polish jasło meaning a “manger” or “feeder”. A manger (which comes from the French “manger” meaning “to eat”) corresponds to the Polish jasło which refers to eating presumably in the context of winter feasting connected with the gwiazdka (the word jasełko reappears at Easter where it refers to a small typically wooden bowl with offerings). It seems somewhat suspicious however that the name is also possibly cognate with Jasion – the Polish Primary Deity associated with the Sun and Moon. In general, however, the feats days appear to coincide with the start of “eating” through the winter supplies gathered at harvest time. Once the days began to be longer and the “Tree” began to grow back, the villagers felt freer to dig into the garnered provisions in expectation of Spring. (The Church appears to have transmuted this holiday into the celebration of the birth of Jesus who, curiously, was alleged to have been born at an animal feeder, that is a “manger” or trough (German Raufe, Krippe = crib). The fact that a manger looks like a baby crib may have had something to do with the association of these two concepts. The Christian version added young men walking around the village with a “szopka” which is a crèche.)

In the house, the tree was not used but jemioła (mistletoe) would frequently be hung from the ceiling. In other instances this would be the tip of a fir, spruce or pine. This was called podłaźniczka or podłaźnik (which with the pod- meaning “under” seems to refer to the ceiling somehow, though łaźnia means hot baths so who knows) or, in the Christian nomenclature sad rajski (Garden of Eden) or simply, jutka or wiecha or gaj (like gaik). Alternatively, it was called boże drzewko – God’s tree – of course the plant used had to be evergreen or at least then green. The ash tree, that is jesion – is, of course, deciduous and, thus, had to be reborn to be green again.

These winter festivals started after the winter solstice (around Christmas or, really, the Roman Feast of Sol Invictus) and continued for the next two weeks or so.

Zapusty

After that the winter merrymaking continued for the next month under the name zapusty (starting with the Christian Feast of the Epiphany or Three Kings Day and basically corresponding to the carnival). In fact, although certain aspects of the winter holidays are associated with their beginning – such as the gwiazdor and the jasełka, in general it is fair to say that the festivities rolled right into the new year and the partying continued throughout this entire period.

Among the wealthier classes of Polish society, a popular entertainment was the kulig – sleigh ride through the snow covered country between various manors. Often multiple sleighs would take part along with accompanying horses of servants. The travelers would don on various outrageous costume and would drive manor to manor picking up further participants. One manor would be selected as the final destination and a messenger would be sent ahead to inform the inhabitants of the impending arrival of the party. The host would arrive at the gates, where the lights were out and all was pitch dark as the locals would act as if they were not expecting anyone’s arrival. One of the party would knock on the doors, be let in and after some time “arguing” and negotiating with the manor dwellers, the lights would go on as a signal that the party was welcomed in at which point they would all stream in. These kuligs would often last several days and sometimes made multiple way stations.

Towards the end of the of the “zapusty” period (especially on Tuesday “zapustny“), final days of partying took place – the so-called ostatki. The custom of dressing up and walking around the village also also made its come back at this time. Specifically, young men went around dressed up as bears, horses, goats or storks and went around the village usually in the afternoon. This typically involved having the animal head attached to a stick along with sheets covering the young actor hiding under the same. The “animal” – much like the afore-mentioned Turoń – would then jump, poke and the like. Its mouth was movable with the jaw controlled by a piece of rope that the actor or his colleagues would operate to imitate speech. They would stop by a house and then the various animals would act up and sing. Sometimes this was referred to as a koza that is a “goat.” The whole group would then end up in a tavern in the evening where they would collect money to pay for the local violin player. This donation was called podkoziołek. In exchange the player “sells” various young ladies to the paying men. Conversely, those women who have not been sold pay him for an unspoken for man. All of this is done with jesting, cheering, jeering and singing and the group ends up dancing. In other places, the actual zapust would be personified with men walking around wearing conical paper hats with colorful ribbons. Occasionally, they called themselves bachuski (as if referring to Bacchus).

The name zapusty is somewhat mysterious. It may refer to the preparation for the great fasting of the Lent (that is post). Or it may refer to something like zaloty, that is courtships – the “preliminaries” of the Rites of Summer. Thus, for example, it was common to attach klocki that is “blocks” – in actuality consisting of sticks, bones or chicken feet – to those who did not get married during these festivities. Another alternative, and perhaps more likely, is to the eating of the winter supples – zapasy or, perhaps even more likely, to the emptying of cellars and granaries (“pusty” means empty). Presumably, it is not related to winter neglect (zapuszczone) of the fields or of the person’s appearance.

Gromnica/Marzanna

The last well-known winter rites consisted in the preparation for the arrival of spring and the official throwing out of winter.

The gromnica was the candle used in the ritual protection of the house against the desired but potentially dangerous arrival of spring storms (or, likely, of the Sky God – Jasion). It was meant to protect against thunder (grom) and specifically the effects of that thunder such as, of course, fires. The candle would be used to ward off thunder by making crosses on the main beam of the house. This was apparently absorbed into the Christian feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Tempe which in Poland was called Matki Boskiej Gromnicznej, that is the the Mother of God of Gromnica or, if you will, of thunder perhaps. When spring storms came, the same candles would be brought out to ward off the house being struck with thunder (keeping in mind that these houses almost universally had thatched roofs at that time).

With the defensive preparations for spring out of the way, you could move on to getting rid of winter. This was done by dressing up and taking out of the village the puppet of Marzanna. Typically, this puppet would be made of straw, dressed up and then officially transported out of the village to a nearby body of water into which it would be thrown. This has been interpreted as a ritual drowning of “winter/death” personified but matters are not so simple. Długosz identified Marzanna with Ceres and it appears that he was onto something. It is noteworthy that where no body of water was readily available, the villagers would sometimes burn the puppet. In this regard, as noted before, marznąć means “to freeze” and zamarzać means to freeze over. Interesting connotations may be seen in other “earthly” words such as the East Slavic mir (world), morze/mare (sea) or zmora (nightmare also perhaps connected to the “mare” horse). Thus, the puppet appears to be nothing more as the frozen Earth personified and the act of unfreezing Mother Earth is done by melting in running water (“drowning” but not really) or by the use of of fire, that is, burning. The fact that early Suavs used slash-and-burn agriculture (on “the Earth”) also suggests a connotation to the beginning of the agricultural cycle. The role of the Sky God in all of this who tosses bolts that “melt” the Earth (compare the PIE *meldh- with młot or molot (hammer) and miollnir – the “melting tool” of the Sky God with which He unfreezes the Earth, that is is the “Great Melter”).

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January 13, 2020

Marcin Błazowski’s Information

PublishedJanuary 5, 2020 Post authortorino

Another relatively late source for Polish Gods is a mention from the year 1611 by Marcin Błazowski (aka Błażewski or Błażowski). Błazowski was the translator of Marcin Kromer’s chronicle (written in Latin in the original) into Polish. While translating the passage about Polish Gods (which Kromer mostly got from Długosz), Błazowski decided to expand on Kromer’s brief description providing some additional information about Łado that he, it seems, felt comfortable supplementing Kromer on by reason of Błazowski having experienced some of the related celebrations in Ruthenia (around Sambor in Ukraine). He also gives more detail than Kromer on Pochwiściel.

Here are the relevant passages:

“Thus, the Poles and other Suav nations worshipped as Gods Jupiter personally, Mars, Pluto, Cerera, Venera, Diana: calling them: Jessa, Lada or Ladon, Nya, Marzana, Zezylia, Ziewonia. It is those that they understood as such; it was them that they offered altars, steeles, groves and priests to; it is to those that they made sacrifices to; killed cattle for; for their fame did they come together to annual holiday celebrations, feasting, dancing, clapping, singing and playing a variety of games. Of these idolatrous celebrations Dlugosz himself, having experienced them in his days some time after the Christian conversion, speaks of, saying that men and women, the old and the young would gather together in the fields for games and dances, precisely during our holidays; which gatherings they called stado [meaning “herd”] as if referencing a herd or a flock of some kind. From this, apparently, Ruthenia and Lithuania, the villagers especially, preserve the custom of dancing, clapping their hands and repeating Lado. Kromer does not discuss Ladon sufficiently, favoring pithy assessments, I guess; for this reason, having been born in this land, I provide a more complete description from Ruthenian texts and customs that I was able to get a hold of. For Ladon, the Ruthenian nations, took at times for such a God to whom they ascribed the rule over all fortune and important matters, making him the Lord of all good fortune; for this reason they called to him during the baptism of their children, during games, parties, weddings and all other matters of relevance. Much as the Catholics [would call upon] Hymen, the Greeks [upon] Iao or Bacchus and others. All of Ruthenia retaining this souvenir of paganism till this day, especially in wedding songs, they bring up the afore-mentioned Ladon: for either with their hands [hitting] against the table or with hand against hand [clapping], at each stanza of a song, they sing of him. Let us now return to Kromer…”

“…I would, however, say that Pochwiściel is a whistling wind or tempest, which whirls with great momentum and whatever it hits, it swirls it around; and even its name itself indicates this: for it it appears to be called Pochwiściel from the manner of its blowing (for it whistles as it blows)  or from the lifting of things it comes upon [chwytać – to grasp, grab, lift]. But I will leave this to the judgment of the reader. I think though that also Ruthenia and not just the Mazurs worshipped this Pochwiściel (if he is a wind) for this reason: even today in Ukrainian Ruthenia, whenever a this gale appears in front of their eyes, they bow their silver heads to it in various ways.“

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January 5, 2020

Chmielowski’s Nowe Ateny

PublishedJanuary 2, 2020 Post authortorino

We have, thus far, only been through the oldest sources on Polish religion. The latter works are generally more prone to repetition and suspected of elaboration leading to fancy. Nevertheless, caution given, a relatively late work may be worth mentioning here.

This is a work by a priest Benedykt Joachim Chmielowski (Nowe Ateny albo Akademia wszelkiej scjencji pełna) from 1745-1746 (dedicated “to the wise as a mnemonic, to the idiots so as to educate them and to the politicians for entertainment”!). This work was so popular that, in a kind of technological regression, extra copies had to be handwritten (!) when the print runs ran out (or at least when the printed editions were halted). Here is what he has to say about Polish but also Czech, Baltic and East Suav paganism:

“Thus, the Poles worshipped with great aplomb, pomp and celebration, singing, dancing, burning of offerings, the idols, Jasen, Lada or Niwa Manzena, Zyzylia, Ziewana or Ziewie, the Goddess of breath and yawning. Nia the idol, supposedly had its temple in Gniezno as Długosz attests. They venerated too Pogoda, Pochwist, that is the air weather. Lelum polelum, supposedly, the stars of Castor and Pollux and in life inseparable friends and for that reason did the Poles call upon them when in happy company [n their role] as the preservers [conservatores] of friendship. These too idols did the Czechs also call upon and in addition to these also others, as I had read in Republica Bohemica, that is Chwot Zielon, Pohoda, Moskasla, Pochwist or Nehoda, Nerod, Radmasz (supposedly Rhadamanthus); Niwa, Wieles, Tasawi, Sudice, Wili, Tzybek, Lel, Pelel, Ssetek or Skrzytek, Diblik. Among these Czechs the first name was Prun or Peron, the second Swantowit (was this not Saint Vitus, the patron of the Czechs?).”

“It is these Deities’ names that the historians in Poland and in Czechia generally understand all the powers of superstition, that is Jove, Mars, Pluto, Cerera, Diana, Sol, Venera, Mercury, Rhadamanthus, the Furies, the Parcae (the Moirai), Castor, Pollux, etc.”

“The Prussians, remaining in paganism, venerated as God: the moon, fire, water, snakes, groves, especially honoring oaks. The priest of their superstitions went by the name Krywody. As Kromer says when discussing Bolesuav the First Polish monarch: And this Bolesuav desiring not to leave the smallest vestige of pagan superstition ordered the cutting down of an oak, six elbows wide, strangely grown from the earth to the boughs and taken as a God by the inhabitants of the Prussian town of Romowe. There was there another oak in a town Oppen [?] which was supposedly also used for divinations [and] long preserved, such that it came to reach  such width that in [the inside emptiness of] its rot Albert the Prussian Duke could safely turn his horse around which was easily achieved when its width reached 27 elbows as Henneberger [Kaspar] testifies in his Prussian Chronicle. This [oak] succumbed thereafter to cuts of different names [inscribed in it] of those who were there making offerings in accordance with the ancient rite to this idol [Deaster – supposedly a pseudo-Latin invention of Sebastian Castellio’s]. Also the Livonians or Inflantians venerated true idols [as in statues as opposed to trees] as Peter of Duisburg attests.”

“It is a great wonder that in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania many were [living] in the errors of idolatry. They bowed to the golden Baba, that is to a statue that was raised by the roadsides; and those that carried or transported something would toss small bits as offerings, hair or flakes in place of other things they would toss from their clothes [?]. Those who did not do this were immediately punished with sickness or poverty, according to Olao [?]. She was supposedly taken for one of the ancient Goddesses, either as Ceres or as Tellus or as that Roman Abeona, or Abeona the Goddess of Travelers. This golden Baba was venerated in Muscovy in the Obdoria Province with the following statue: she held a child in her hand and another stood by her side. This idol was worshipped by nearby nations by the killing of elk and the smearing of their blood on its eyes and lips as also through offering of sable furs. There they also venerated thunder and fire as in all of Ruthenia and Muscovy, whose church in Vilnius Wladyslaw Jagiello the Polish King and Lithuanian Duke – having first extinguished with the water of Holy Baptism the sparkles of superstition in his own person – cast down and put out the perpetual fire [burning there previously]; for this reason, supposedly, in Lithuania and Polesia they call fire Bagacz from the altered name of God. They held in esteem the smith’s hammer, as I read in Aenae Sylvio [Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini], the later Pius II, the Supreme Pontiff.* They supposedly wanted to use this hammer to forge gold forever.** They also venerated Lucos, that is groves and trees the cutting down of which was a monstrous crime and a sacrilege. Similarly, to kill at home or on the road, the Snake, a House God, was deadly for the entire family. Lakes, caves were divine places as well as rivers, which is even shown in the very name of the Podolian river Boh, which river, according to Sarnicki, the Podolians held to be a God, a superstition they were taught by Lithuania.”

[* note: perhaps he means the future Pope’s “Tale of Two Lovers”; incidentally, also relevant to Suavs, that Pope’s letters too contain a mention of the one of the best known descriptions of the enthronement ceremony of the Carinthian dukes.]

[** note: it is also “striking” that the Latin “cudo” means to strike, beat, originally perhaps also “forge”. Despite the fact that the “c” was pronounced as a “k” whereas the Suavic “c” is pronounced as a “ts”, it is tempting to note that “cud” in Suavic means “miracle.”]

“In Samogitia or Żmudź [Žemaitija], before the Holy Faith lit up that country, that is around the year 1413, the Samogitians venerated, in addition to trees, the following Gods: Auxtejas Wissagistis, who was powerful among them; Zemolaci, that is Gods of the Earth; Perun, whom the tillers would offer bacon during thunderstrikes and when he stopped, they themselves partook of this offering with oatmeal [kasza] or noodles; Audres, the God of the sea and water; Algis, supposedly an Angel; Ausea, the Goddess of the rays; Bezlea, the Goddess of the Evening; Bregsua, the Goddess of darkness; Ligez the God of alliance or of consensus; Datan, supposedly the giver God; Kirnis, the God of cherries and blueberries;* Lizyusz, the God of young men; Gondu, the God of maidens and girls; Modeyina, Ragaina, Kierkiez, Silimicz, forest idols; Kurwayczyn and Erayczyn, who preside over sheep and lambs; Prigerstitis, the God who listens to murmurs and whispers, for this reason they observed a great quiet and modesty when talking; Dereintos, the God of peace who caused agreements: Laupatim was honored by the tillers; Ratainicz was called upon by the horse owners; Kristosi they asked to maintain crosses and stones on graves; Tawols, the God of wealth and poverty; Ulanicza, the Goddess of all house gear and she who wakes those that are asleep; Krukis the God of Swine;  Alabathis, the God of linen and yarn; as also, the Goddess Wasganthos for the same purpose was venerated by maidens and girls; and to the God called Ziemiannik, having on November the 2nd filled the tables with [various] courses they celebrated sacrileges, offering hay, bread, beer, calf, pig, rooster and goose, thanking for all the earthly blessings and asking for new ones in the future. Smik, Smik, Perlewenu, the God of tillers to whom, when beginning to till [in the year] they always offered the first sliver of the field, throughout the year then wary, as if it were a great sin, to cross it. Aitweros, the God of fences. Latawiec was venerated in Samogitia. Kaukie they called the night terrors and ghosts; they worshipped snakes too, taking them as House Gods and calling them by the name Givoytos; Orthus or Ezeonim, the God of Fishing Lakes was there also venerated, so writes Jan Łaski.”

[* note: strangely, a cherry is Kirsche in German which may suggest a solution as to who the mysterious Curche was]

“In Ruthenia – before the Holy Faith illuminated it through Olga or Helena, a Russian Lady and through Anna, the sister of Basil and Constantine, Greek emperors around the year 971 – the Ruthenians venerated Perun, Strib, Hors and Mokosl, as Kromer testifies. To this idol Perun, a human form was erected with a silver head, a golden nose and in the hand a thunderbolt. They worshipped him in Great Novgorod, burning  fires to him from oakwood only. In this place there now stands a monatery called the Perunian.”

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January 2, 2020

On Homiliarium quod dicitur de Opatoviz (Part I)

PublishedDecember 29, 2019 Post authortorino

The famous Homiliarium quod dicitur de Opatoviz serves as a fascinating listing of Czech, Moravian & Slovak pagan practices and superstitions and found its way into Karl Meyer’s list of Latin & Greek sources on Suavic paganism. The translation (in this case Czech) of this document was most recently published by Jiří Dynda. The Homiliarium is a long document so here is just the initial part.

I, 5 Alia [In natali] (fol. 6r–6v)

Other Matters [On the birth of the Lord]

“All the generations of man have been tarnished by him [that is the first man Adam] with countless sins and especially the worship of idols. For they had forgotten their Lord Creator. Some worshipped the Sun, the Moon and the stars, and others rivers and fire, yet others mountains and rivers, even as so many pagans do till this day. And many still in this land of ours  worship demons and they are only called Christians [in name] and are worse than pagans. But because God wished to end and destroy all these errors and delusions in this land, he established law, sent prophets to turn the people away from these sins, created wonders and signs in the heavens and on Earth and he punished them [the people] with countless scourges, hunger and pestilence.”

Omne statim genus humanum ab illo [primo hominum Adam] innumerabilibus iniquitatibus inquinatum est et maxime in idolorum cultura, quia obliviscentes domini sui creatoris, alii solem et lunam et sidera colebant, alii flumina et ignes alii montes et arbores, sicut et adhuc pagani multi faciunt et plurimi et iam in hac terra nostra adorant demonia et tantummodo christianum nomen habentes, peiores sunt quam pagani. Volens autem deus hoc peccatum et hos omnes errores terminare ac delere de terra, primo costituti hominibus legem, prophetas misit, qui eos averterent ab iniquitatibus suis, fecit signa et miracula de celo et terra et innumerabilibus flagellis eos castigavit, fame et pestilencia.

I, 30 Sancti Wencezlai (fol. 41v-42r)

On the Day of Saint Wenzeslaus

“We admonish all Christians… to keep their priests in reverence, to faithfully serve their princes and lords, and not to place trust in [drawing] lots and [drawing] characters, but to put all their hope in the Lord.”

Omnes simul christianos ammoneamus, ut […] sacerdotibus suis honorem impendant, suis principibus et suis dominis fideliter serviant, sortes et caracteres pro nichilo ducant, sed omnem spem suam in domino ponant.

I, 31 De sacerdotibus (fol. 45r)

On the Priests

“Forbid the signing and female dancing in the vicinity of the church. Do not permit the devil’s songs that the folk used to sing in the hours of the night over the dead and the laughter that such folk [utter] in challenge to the Almighty God.”

Cantus et mulierum choros in atrio ecclesie prohibete. Carmina diabolica, que super mortuos nocturnis horis vulgus facere solet, et cahinnos, quos exercet in contestacione dei omnipotentis, vetate.

I, 52 [Religio Christiana] (fol. 83v–84r)

[On the Christian Religion]

“And as each of you knows, everyone should celebrate the year’s holy days with due reverence for the glory of God and his Saints and should go to church more often. And when he goes there [to the church], he should humbly pray to God and [should] not make jokes and empty [gesture] chants. Let no one dare to cover up the incantations, witchcraft and all these strange things and those who you discover doing such things, you should report either to us or to your priest. Let these people be set right for the law says of them: ‘you will not leave the witches alive for they not only hurt themselves but also many others. If it becomes known to you that unclean marriages had taken place [where you live], do not let these be covered up but tell of them so that we can correct those [and so that] others do not fall into them. And those women who collect poisons or kill their unborn children or of whom it is said that they can cause hail, expose them by all means, bring them into the open and let them do penance. Whatever the people who had been lured and deceived by the devil worship as God, they do this towards their own destruction for they do not understand that what they do is neither good nor useful nor beneficial for them nor can it help them. Therefore, let them be punished by torments not only those whom the devil teaches with all their companions but all who are capable of of evil and little faith and who deceive through evil deeds.”

Dies quoque festos in anno propter reverenciam dei et sanctorum eius noverit se unus quisque cum honore debito celebrare debere et ad ecclesias frequencius venire et cum ibi veniet, oret deum suppliciter et ioca et cantaciones inanes ibi nullo modo quis faciat, incantaciones et maleficia omnes omni novitate et eos, quos talia nostis colere, nullus ex vobis celare audeat, sed aut nobis eos dicat, aut presbitero suo, ut ad emendacionem provocentur, quia lex dicit de eis: Maleficos non paciaris vivere, qui non solum sibi, sed et multis aliis nocent. Incestas nupcias, ubicunque scitis inter vos fieri, nolite illas celare, sed dicite eas, ut tales corrigantur, ne multis sint in ruinam delicti. Illas vero feminas, que venenum congerunt sive partus suos necant, vel que dicuntur grandinem excitare posse, modis omnibus manifestate, ut publice arguantur, et aliquando possint pervenire ad satisfactionem. Quemcunque vero pro deo homines colunt falente et seducente diabolo, ad suam quippe perniciem faciunt, quia non perpendunt, quod ipsi, quos colunt, nihil eis boni neque utilitatis prestare valent nec tollere. Ideo eos diabolus credere docet, ne solus cum suis sociis puniatur in supplicio, sed omnes, quos valet malis artibus, incredulitate et in malo opere studet decipere.

I, 79 Omelia de diversis tribulationibus (fol. 129v)

A Sermon About Various Tribulations

“It is especially through the lack of faith, the source of all evil, that the devil tries to tempt us towards [our] fall, so much so that many Christians, we are not happy to admit this, [he] persuades [to act] as soothsayers and enchanters and to deny the Christian faith. And because he knows that all Christians are born again through baptism into an eternal life, he convinces some bad women, but also men, to refuse baptism so that they should not receive the life and glory which he himself is denied so that they, like him are sent towards eternal death and eternal suffering.”

Nos maxime in infidelitate, unde omne malum in nos diabolus potissimum conatur iniere, in tantum, ut multos etiam christianos, auguria et incantationes, multa etiam, quod coacte [invite] dicimus, fidem christianam negare persuadet. Et unde omnis scit cristianos ad vitam renasci perpetuam per baptismum, quasdam feminas iniquas seu etiam viros denegate suadet, non ut vitam aut gloriam, unde ipse exors est, tribuet, sed ut ad eternam mortem ad eternaque supplicia in talibus sibi consentientes pertrahat.

[…]

(fol. 129r–130v)

“Indeed, it is necessary to maintain the true faith against faithlessness not only with words but also with demonstrate the faith through deeds. Threrefore, [people who engage in] witchcraft of all sorts, chants, sacrilege and refusal of the faith and baptism may – by the grace of the Almighty God and the prayers of the saintly and righteous people – earn forgiveness, mercy and proper remediation through unwavering repentance, through constant confession to God and priests and through good works.”

Nam contra infidelitatem tenere necesse est veram fidem, non solum verbis, sed etiam factis signa fidei demonstrare. Maleficie autem genera omnia et incantaciones et sacrilegia vel denegatio fidei atque baptismi cum misericordia dei omnipotentis et sanctorum atque iustorum hominum oracione cum poenitencia perseverante et confessione incessante deo et sacerdotibus et indulgenciam ac veniam cum instancia bonorum operum et emendacionem condignam possunt promereri.

For the continuation see here.

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December 29, 2019

Martin’s De Correctione Rusticorum

PublishedDecember 26, 2019 Post authortorino

Martin of Braga (circa 520 – circa 580 AD), in addition to mentioning the early Suavs, also made contributions to discussing the religion of the pagans of Hispania. His De correctione rusticorum (“On the correction of rural people”) contains useful hints about the nature of the religious beliefs of those “rustics” who, in addition to the Hispano-Romans, would by then have included the Vandals, Suevi and Alans – all those  who flooded the peninsula in the beginning of the fifth century. Because this work was written in Gallaecia – the northwest part of the peninsula – it may be also especially reflective of the religion of the Suevi who then occupied the area.

The below are portions of the missive that relate to the pagan practices of Spain. The translation is that of Hélio Pires.

Part 7

“Then the Devil or his ministers, the demons, which had been brought down from Heaven, seeing men’s ignorance, forgotten of their creator, wondering through the creatures, began manifesting to them in different ways, speaking and influecing them, making them offer them sacrifices in the high hills and in the leafy woods and considered them as gods, calling themsleves names of bandit men, which spent their lives in crimes and evilness. Thus, one called himself Jupiter, which was a magician and had tarnish himself with so many adultery, daring to have as wife his own sister, named Juno, corrupting his daughters Minerva and Venus and vilely dishonouring his grandchildren and all his family. Other demon called himself Mars, which was the instigator of the litigation and of discord. Another named himself Mercury, the inventor of all the theft and all the deceit to which greedy men offer sacrifices, as if he was the god of profit, forming piles of rocks when passing through the crossroads. Another also called himself Saturn, which, living in all his cruelty, devoured even his own children, as soon as they were born. Other pretended to be Venus, which was a woman of ill life.”

Tunc diabolus vel ministri ipsius, daemones, qui de caelo deiecti sunt, videntes ignaros homines dimisso Deo creatore suo, per creaturas errare, coeperunt se illis in diversas formas ostendere et loqui cum eis et expetere ab eis, ut in excelsis montibus et in silvis frondosis sacrificia sibi offerrent et ipsos colerent pro deo, imponentes sibi vocabula sceleratorum hominum, qui in omnibus criminibus et sceleribus suam egerant vitam, ut alius Iovem se esse diceret, qui fuerat magus et in tantis adulteriis incestus ut sororem suam haberet uxorem, quae dicta est Iuno, Minervam et Venerem filias suas corruperit, neptes quoque et omnem parentelam suam turpiter incestaverit. Alius autem daemon Martem se nominavit, qui fuit litigiorum et discordiae commissor. Alius deinde daemon Mercurium se appellare voluit, qui fuit omnis furti et fraudis dolosus inventor; cui homines cupidi quasi deo lucri, in quadriviis transeuntes, iactatis lapidibus acervos petrarum pro sacrificio reddunt. Alius quoque daemon Saturni sibi nomen adscripsit, qui, in omni crudelitate vivens, etiam nascentes suos filios devorabat. Alius etiam daemon Venerem se esse confinxit, quae fuit mulier meretrix. Non solum cum innumerabilibus adulteris, sed etiam cum patre suo Iove et cum fratre suo Marte meretricata est.

Part 8

“Here is what were, in those days, these lost men, whom the ignorant rustic honored for their terrible inventions and whose names were used by demons so that they would worship them as gods, would offer them sacrifices and imitate the actions of those whose names they invoked. Equally, those demons were also capable that temples were built to them, that in them images or statues of bandit men were set and altars erected, in which they would sacrifice them blood, not only of animals, but of humans as well. Besides this, many demons among those that were expelled from Heaven preside to the rivers, the fountains and to the forests and to them in the same way do men, ignorant of God, worship them as they were gods and offer them sacrifices. And in the sea they call them Neptune, in the rivers Lames, in the fountains Nymphs, in the forests Dianes, which are no more than demons and evil spirits damaging and tormenting the infidel men which no not to defend themselves with the sign of the cross. However, they cannot harm without the permission of God, for they have angered God. They [men] do not believe with all their heart in the faith of Christ, but carry their doubts to such a point that they give the name of the demons to each one of the days, saying the day of Mars, of Mercury, of Jupiter, of Venus and of Saturn, whom didn’t make any day, but were terrible and criminal men among the Greeks.”

Ecce quales fuerunt illo tempore isti perditi homines, quos ignorantes rustici per adinventiones suas pessime honorabant, quorum vocabula ideo sibi daemones adposuerunt, ut ipsos quasi deos colerent et sacrificia illis offerrent et ipsorum facta imitarentur, quorum nomina invocabant. Suaserunt etiam illis daemones ut templa illis facerent et imagines vel statuas sceleratorum hominum ibi ponerent et aras illis constituerent, in quibus non solum animalium sed etiam hominum sanguinem illis funderent. Praeter haec autem multi daemones ex illis qui de caelo expulsi sunt aut in mare aut in fluminibus aut in fontibus aut in silvis praesident, quos similiter homines ignorantes deum quasi deos colunt et sacrificant illis. Et in mare quidem Neptunum appellant, in fluminibus Lamias, in fontibus Nymphas, in silvis Dianas, quae omnia maligni daemones et spiritus nequam sunt, qui homines infideles, qui signaculo crucis nesciunt se munire, nocent et vexant. Non tamen sine permissione dei nocent, quia deum habent iratum et non ex toto corde in fide Christi credunt, sed sunt dubii in tantum ut nomina ipsa daemoniorum in singulos dies nominent, et appellent diem Martis et Mercurii et Iovis et Veneris et Saturni, qui nullum diem fecerunt, sed fuerunt homines pessimi et scelerati in gente Graecorum.

Part 9

“When He made Heaven and the Earth, omnipotent God created also the light that, by the distinction of the works of God, manifested it self in seven days. Because, in the first day God made light itself, which as called day. In the second, the firmament of the sky was made. In the third the earth was separated from the sea. In the fourth the Sun, the Moon and the stars were made. In the fifth, the quadrupeds, the birds and the fishes. In the sixth, man was made. To the seventh day, completing all the world and its ornament, God called rest. Indeed light, which was the first among the works of God, manifested seven times by the distinction of the same works, was called week. What alienation isn’t then that men, baptised in the faith of Christ, honours not the day of Sunday in which Christ resurrected and says to honour the day of Jupiter, of Mercury, of Venus and of Saturn, which have no day, but were rather adulterous and iniquos, and died ignominiously in their land! But, as we’ve saying, under the appearance of these names is the worship and honour given by the foolish to the demons.”

Deus autem omnipotens, quando caelum et terram fecit, ipse tunc creavit lucem, quae per distinctionem operum dei septies revoluta est. Nam primo deus lucem fecit, quae appellata est dies; secundo firmamentum caeli factum est; tertio terra a mare divisa est; quarto sol et luna et stellae factae sunt; quinto quadrupedia et volatilia et natatilia; sexto homo plasmatus est; septimo autem die, completo omni mundo et ornamento ipsius, requiem deus appellavit. Una ergo lux, quae prima in operibus dei facta est, per distinctionem operum dei septies revoluta, septimana est appellata. Qualis ergo amentia est ut homo baptizatus in fide Christi diem dominicum, in quo Christus resurrexit, non colat et dicat se diem Iovis colere et Mercurii et Veneris et Saturni, qui nullum diem habent, sed fuerunt adulteri et magi et iniqui et male mortui in provincia sua! Sed, sicut diximus, sub specie nominum istorum ab hominibus stultis veneratio et honor daemonibus exhibetur.

Part 10

“In the same way it was introduced among the ignorant and the rustic that mistake of thinking that the year has its beginning at the Calends of January, which is entirely fake. For, as the Holy Scripture says, the first year of the year was at the equinox of the 25th of March. In fact, this is what one may read: And God divided light from the darkness. As in all strait division there is equalness, so at the 25th of March as many hours has the day, so has the night. And that is why it is false that the beginning of the year is at the Calends of January.”

Similiter et ille error ignorantibus et rusticis subrepit, ut Kalendas Ianuarias putent anni esse initium, quod omnino falsissimum est. Nam, sicut scriptura sancta dicit, VIII Kal. Aprilis in ipso aequinoctio initium primi anni est factum. Nam sic legitur: et divisit deus inter lucem et tenebras. Omnis autem recta divisio aequalitatem habet, sicut et in VIII Kal. Aprilis tantum spatium horarum dies habet quantum et nox. Et ideo falsum est ut Ianuariae Kalendae initium anni sint.

Part 11

“And with what grief must we refer to that foolish error of honoring the day of the clothes moths and of the mice? And is it allowed to say that a Christian worships the mice and the clothes moths instead of God? If they close to these animals the locker or the chest, if they hide from them the bread and the clothes they will spear nothing of what they find. The miserable man believes in these mistakes without any basis, just as he believes that, if he is fed up and joyful in the first day of January, thus he shall kept himself throughout the year. All these observations are from the heathens and inspired by inventions of the demons. But beware he who has not God propitious and sees not in Him the cause of the abundance of bread or the safety of life! Thus you observe the vain superstitions, hidden or in public, and never put an end to these evil sacrifices! And why do they not protect you so that you will be always fed up, safe and joyful? Why, when God is angered, the vain sacrifices do not defend you from the locust, the mice and of many other plagues, which, when He is angered, God sends you?”

Iam quid de illo stultissimo errore cum dolore dicendum est, quia dies tinearum et murium observant et, si dici fas est, homo Christianus pro deo mures et tineas veneratur? Quibus si per tutelam cupelli aut arculae non subducatur aut panis aut pannus, nullo modo pro feriis sibi exhibitis, quod invenerint, parcent. Sine causa autem sibi miser homo istas praefigurationes ipse facit, ut, quasi sicut in introitu anni satur est et laetus ex omnibus, ita illi et in toto anno contingat. Observationes istae omnes paganorum sunt per adinventiones daemonum exquisitae. Sed vae illi homini qui deum non habuerit propitium et ab ipso saturitatem panis et securitatem vitae non habuerit datam! Ecce istas superstitiones vanas aut occulte aut palam facitis, et numquam cessatis ab istis sacrificiis daemonum. Et quare vobis non praestant ut semper saturi sitis et securi et laeti? Quare, quando deus iratus fuerit, non vos defendunt sacrificia vana de locusta, de mure, et de multis aliis tribulationibus, quas vobis deus iratus immittit?

Part 12

“Don’t you clearly understand that the demons lie to you with these practices that you in vain follow, and that they delude you frequently in the auguries to which answer? Indeed, just like the most wise Solomon: Vain are the auguries and the foretellings. And the more men will fear them, the more their heart will weaken. Give them not your heart for many they lead astray. This says the Holly Scripture and thus, in truth, it is, for so many times do the demons persuade the unfortunate men to be aware to the singing of the birds that they end up losing their faith in Christ by these frivolous and vain things and risk themselves to an unfortunate death. God did not allowed men to know the future but, instead, that he would live in fear of Him and of Him expected the government and help for his life. It is exclusive of God to know things before they happen. However, the demons delude the vain men with several arguments until they lead them to offend God and drag with them their souls to hell, like they did in the beginning, for envy, so that man would not enter in the Kingdom of Heaven, from which they, the demons, were expelled.”

Non intellegitis aperte quia mentiuntur vobis daemones in istis observationibus vestris quas vane tenetis, et in auguriis quae adtenditis frequentius vos inludunt? Nam sicut dicit sapientissimus Salomon: divinationes et auguria vana sunt; et quantum timuerit homo in illis, tantum magis fallitur cor eius. Ne dederis in illis cor tuum, quoniam multos scandalizaverunt. Ecce hoc scriptura sancta dicit, et certissime sic est, quia tamdiu infelices homines per avium voces daemonia suadunt, donec per res frivolas et vanas et fidem Christi perdant, et ipsi in interitum mortis suae de improviso incurrant. Non iussit deus hominem futura cognoscere, sed ut, semper in timore illius vivens, ab ipso gubernationem et auxilium vitae suae expeteret. Solius dei est antequam aliquid fiat scire, homines autem vanos daemones diversis argumentis inludunt, donec illos in offensam dei perducant et animas illorum secum pertrahant in infernum, sicut ab initio fecerunt per invidiam suam, ne homo regnum caelorum intraret, de quo illi deiecti sunt.

Part 16

“Here is your bail and confession by God! And why do some of you, that renounced to the Devil and to his angels, his worship and his bad doings, now return again to that evil worshipping? Indeed, to light candles by the rocks, the trees, the fountains and in the crossroads of the paths, what is this if not evil worshipping? To take notice of the fortellings, auguries and of the days of the idols, what is this if not evil worshipping? To take notice of the Volcanes and of the Calends, to garnish to tables, to lay laurel, to enter with the right foot, to shed in the fire place, over the burning timber, food and wine and to throw bread into the fountains, what is this if not Devil worship? The fact that women invoke Minerva at there looms and chose as wedding day the day of Venus [Friday] and to remark in what day one should travel, what is this if not evil worshipping? To make enchantments with herbs to damage and to invoke the names of demons when you do it, what is this if not evil worship? And many other things that that would take time to tell. Here is that you do all these things after Baptism and the renouncing of Satan! Returning to demon worship and to the bad doings of the idols, you have spoken to your word and broke the pact you have made with God. You have abandoned the sign of the cross that you received at Baptism and consider sings of the Devil the little birds, the sneeze and many other things. What’s the reason that to me or to any other sincere Christian the augury doesn’t harm? Because, where the sign of the cross stands, nothing is the sign of the Devil. And why does it harm you? Because you have despised the sign of the cross and fear what you have taken as a sign to you. In the same way, you have forgotten the sacred enchantment, the symbol you received at Baptism, which is I believe in God Omnipotent Father, the dominical prayer, which is our Father thou are in Heaven, and practice evil enchantments and verses. He who, therefore, disdaining the sign of the cross of Christ, takes for him other signs, has lost the sign of the cross he received at Baptism. In the same way, he who practices other enchantments invented by magicians and other evil ones, lost the enchantment of the holy symbol and of the dominical prayer, which he had received in the faith of Christ, trampled at his feet that same faith, because one cannot serve God and the Devil at the same time.”

Ecce qualis cautio et confessio vestra apud deum tenetur! Et quomodo aliqui ex vobis, qui abrenuntiaverunt diabolo et angelis eius et culturis eius et operibus eius malis, modo iterum ad culturas diaboli revertuntur? Nam ad petras et ad arbores et ad fontes et per trivia cereolos incendere, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Divinationes et auguria et dies idolorum observare, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Vulcanalia et Kalendas observare, mensas ornare, et lauros ponere, et pedem observare, et fundere in foco super truncum frugem et vinum, et panem in fontem mittere, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Mulieres in tela sua Minervam nominare et Veneris diem in nuptias observare et quo die in via exeatur adtendere, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Incantare herbas ad maleficia et invocare nomina daemonum incantando, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Et alia multa quae longum est dicere. Ecce ista omnia post abrenuntiationem diaboli, post baptismum facitis et, ad culturam daemonum et ad mala idolorum opera redeuntes, fidem vestram transistis et pactum quod fecistis cum deo disrupistis. Dimisistis signum crucis, quod in baptismum accepistis, et alia diaboli signa per avicellos et sternutos et per alia multa adtenditis. Quare mihi aut cuilibet recto Christiano non nocet augurium? Quia, ubi signum crucis praecesserit, nihil est signum diaboli. Quare vobis nocet? Quia signum crucis contemnitis, et illud timetis quod vobis ipsi in signum configitis. Similiter dimisistis incantationem sanctam, id est symbolum quod in baptismum accepistis, quod est Credo in deum patrem omnipotentem, et orationem dominicam, id est Pater noster qui es in caelis, et tenetis diabolicas incantationes et carmina. Quicumque ergo, contempto signo crucis Christi, alia signa aspicit, signum crucis, quod in baptismum accepit, perdidit. Similiter et qui alias incantationes tenet a magis et maleficis adinventas, incantationem sancti symboli et orationis dominicae, quae in fide Christi accepit, amisit et fidem Christi inculcavit, quia non potest et deus simul et diabolus coli.

Part 18

“Therefore we praise you, brothers and dearest sons, that you keep in your mind these precepts, which God has deign to transmit it to you trough us, quite humble and small, and think on how you should save your souls, so that you will not only take care of this present life and of the passing utility of this world, but remember what you promised to believe in the Creed, that is, the resurrection of the flesh and eternal life. If, indeed, you have believed and believe in the resurrection of the flesh and the eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven among God’s angels, just like we have told you, think truly on that and less in the unhappiness of the world. Prepare your life with good doings. Go to the church or to holy places to pray to God. Do not despise but keep with respect the Dominic day [Day of the Lord], by which it’s called Sunday, because the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, resurrected from the dead in that day. Do not work at Sunday, in the field, in the meadow, in the vine or in other labours considered heavy, unless to satisfy the feeding necessities of the body as it is to prepare food or a long journey. You may travel to nearby places at Sunday, not with evil purposes but with good ones, that is, to got to the holy places, to visit a brother or a friend, to comfort he who is ill, to take an advice to the troubled ones or help to a good cause. This is how the Christian man must honour Sunday. How innocuous and shameful it is that those who are heathens and ignore the faith in Christ, worshipping their evil idols, keep the day of Jupiter or of any other demon and abstain themselves from working when the demons haven’t created nor have any day and we, who worship the true God and believe that the Son of God resurrected from the dead, now keep the badly the day of Resurrection, that is, Sunday! Do not insult the Resurrection of the Lord, but honour it and respect it with reverence, in the name of the hope that we in it keep. For, just like our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, which is our head, resurrected from the dead at the third day, so we, that are his limbs, hope to resurrect in our flesh at the end of the centuries, so that each one will receive the eternal rest or doom, according to the acting it had, with his body, in the present life.”

Rogamus ergo vos, fratres et filii karissimi, ut ista praecepta, quae vobis deus per nos humillimos et exiguos dare dignatur, in memoria teneatis et cogitetis quomodo salvetis animas vestras, ut non solum de praesenti ista vita et de transitoria mundi istius utilitate tractetis, sed illud magis recordetis quod in symbolo vos credere promisistis, id est carnis resurrectionem et vitam aeternam. Si ergo credidistis et creditis quia carnis resurrectio erit et vita aeterna in regno caelorum inter angelos dei, sicut vobis supra iam diximus, inde quam maxime cogitate, et non semper de istius mundi miseria. Praeparate viam vestram in operibus bonis. Frequentate ad deprecandum deum in ecclesia vel per loca sanctorum. Diem dominicum, qui propterea dominicus dicitur, quia filius dei, dominus noster Iesus Christus, in ipso resurrexit a mortuis, nolite contemnere, sed cum reverentia colite. Opus servile, id est agrum, pratum, vineam, vel si qua gravia sunt, non faciatis in die dominico, praeter tantum quod ad necessitatem reficiendi corpusculi pro exquoquendo pertinet cibo et necessitate longinqui itineris. Et in locis proximis licet viam die dominico facere, non tamen pro occasionibus malis, sed magis pro bonis, id est aut ad loca sancta ambulare, aut fratrem vel amicum visitare, vel infirmum consolare, aut tribulanti consilium vel adiutorium pro bona causa portare. Sic ergo decet Christianum hominem diem dominicum venerare. Nam satis iniquum et turpe est ut illi qui pagani sunt et ignorant fidem Christianum, idola daemonum colentes, diem Iovis aut cuiuslibet daemonis colant et ab opere se abstineant, cum certe nullum diem daemonia nec creassent nec habeant. Et nos, qui verum deum adoramus et credimus filium dei resurrexisse a mortuis, diem resurrectionis eius, id est dominicum, minime veneramus! Nolite ergo iniuriam facere resurrectioni dominicae, sed honorate et cum reverentia colite propter spem nostram quam habemus in illam. Nam sicut ille dominus noster Iesus Christus, filius dei, qui est caput nostrum, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ita et nos, qui sumus membra ipsius, resurrecturos nos in carne nostra in fine saeculi speramus, ut unusquisque sive requiem aeternam sive poenam aeternam, sicut in corpore suo in saeculo isto egit, ita recipiat.

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December 26, 2019