Velchanos, has been called by Arthur Cook a Cretan god of nature and the nether world. Gérard Capdeville thinks Velchanos was a Cretan/Minoan “youthful deity, “master of fire” and “companion” of the Great Goddess. He connects Velchanos with the Etruscan Velchans. It is from the Etruscans that the Romans may have gotten their Vulcanus, that is Vulcan – which is also a version of the Greek Hephaistos who, of course, is much later identified by the notes to Malalas’ Chronicle manuscript with the Suavic Svarog. The Etruscan Velchans (aka Sethians) gets to own an axe as well as have a forge and be a “fire” deity. The Pillar of the Boatmen has both Esus an Vulcanus on it but it is Esus who is chopping down tree branches with what appears to be an axe.
So what’s the point of all of this?
Well, it is just possible that the God of Rebirth later split into that Spring Deity (obviously connected with fire) as well as into a more explicitly “Fire” God aka the “Smith” (much like the Thunder God seems to have been given “birth” from an aspect of the Sky God – on that, see here) who retained his role as a teacher of humanity via transformations into figures such as Prometheus.
But let’s put that aside,
What is interesting is the Polish name of Easter – Wielkanoc. Literally, it means “Great Night”. The explanation is seemingly trivial in that, of course, it is the night before Easter Sunday which is the day of Jesus’ resurrection.
Is it possible that the Suavs got the name of Wielkanoc from the earlier celebrations of the rebirth of the Minoan Deity, “master of fire” and consort of the Earth itself? This, of course, brings up stories of Gisanke and Demeter or, in the Greek world of Iasion and Demeter.
Perhaps, even more provocatively, we can ask what is the etymology of the Minoan name?
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