Perhaps the most intriguing and central mystery of the Polish Pantheon is the relationship between Jasień, Łado and the various fertility rites practiced in the Polish countryside. According to Długosz, Jasień/Yessa/Yassa is the Supreme God (Jove) while Łado is the God of War (Ares). This neatly but I think rather simplistically describes the functions of these two Deities.

I have instead close to zero doubt that Jasień the Rider is of the same origin as the Greek Iasion. The myth of Iasion and Demeter is the myth of the fertilization of Earth. But in the Polish version there is no vengeful Zeus equivalent. Why is this? It seems that the answer is provided by the Latvian historian of religion Haralds Biezais who notes that the the Latvian equivalent Deity – Ūsiņš – was often referred to as Dieviņš Ūsiņš or just Dieviņš (a diminutive of Diev which in ancient Baltic languages just meant “sky” and whose Suavic equivalent is dziw meaning “strangeness”). However, both Names refer to the same Deity and indeed Dieviņš is also used with Dieviņš Pērkons raising the suspicion that Pērkons and Ūsiņš were the same Deity. In other words, Dieviņš was just a title that the Greeks may have made into another Deity – Deus – or, ultimately, Zeus. As already noted in Polish piorun refers merely to the thunder but a similar word in Greek (piroúni) and Venetian (piron), refers to a “fork.” And, indeed, in Polish piorun may also refer to the “arrow” or a sky “stone.” In other words, piorun (Perun in Ukraine) is simply the tool of Jasień.

With that in mind, is there a room for Łado? Indeed, there is. Here the best guide is James Frazer whose study of the European fertility rites is the best by far to this day. It seems that the Polish agricultural society preserved the myth of the Sky God who came down to Earth and made life out of it. That Earth became impregnated with the “Son of God” Who then was born of the Earth. When? Around Christmastime, of course. At that point the Earth “dies” or falls asleep. That Son, in turn, arrives in strength and impregnates or “wakes up” the same frozen Earth again in the spring. His powers peak, also of course, in mid-summer and it is then that He is referred to as the warrior Łado. This Łado is a Son of Jasień and is, thus, the Jasieńczyk. Note also that the fertility rites start prior to mid-summer. In fact, that happens a little after the “drowning” or really melting of the Earth – the Marzanna. Soon after  the spring storms arrive and the Earth is impregnated. These rites happen to proceed full steam around Easter go through the Green Holidays (aka Pentecost) and culminate on Saint John’s Eve. Whether Łado passes away with the harvest is unclear although Frazer would speak of the Fertility God being sacrificed. If that were to happen, then the winter dziady holiday would seem the proper time for that. In any event, Łado is again, reborn at Christmas.

Łado is akin to Odin (the first – perhaps the first child of Jasień’s) who, after all, is also referred to on the continent as Wodin or Wodan or, even, Wadon.

Musings from Mannhardt

As already discussed, in Adam of Bremen’s description of the Uppsala temple we are reminded that the Top Swedish Deity may have been Thor, aka Asa-Thor whereas Odin was the God of War. Much as Łado, Odin too goes to sleep periodically. He is the first of the Aessir. Here we can compare the Polish word jeden meaning “one” but also pierwy meaning “first” or prawy meaning, physically, “right”.  That is, the right hand, perhaps, of Asa-Thor or perhaps of Yggdrasil (an ash or jesion). A right hand, however, is part of the body and is not a separate thing of itself. This interpretation seems rather appropriate for the Jasień-Łado relationship. (Note also that Asa-Thor seems to be a combination of perhaps an earlier (or only differently sourced?) Ass or Esus with Taranis/Turoń, the Bull (or, in Polish, the auroch).

Thus, in this view, Łado is a continuation of Jasień. In that sense He IS Jasień reborn.The new Jasień/Łado is reborn mid-winter and the cycle repeats itself. Does Łado have a Name other than Łado? It seems Długosz may have been onto something calling Łado the Polish Mars. There is a Suavic Deity with a similar Name and that is the Suavic Ares, that is Iarovit (Gerovit) Whose Eastern Name was Iarilo. In any event, the question about the exact relationship Father and the Son will likely be unanswered much as the question of Horus’ identity with Osiris has always remained  never fully explained.  It may also behooves to note here, as indicated above, that the Germanic Thunar – presumably the same as Thor – may be the same, in origin, as Wodan/Wadon. That woda means “water” in Suavic is also suggestive of the common origin of these Deities. 

In any event, Łado, like the Sun lives and dies and is reborn but Jasień after His first act of creation may be away somewhere else. In that sense Łado is the “local” caretaker, the Prometheus (compare with the Polish/Suavic promień meaning “sun ray”) the Svarozic of that other Svarog, that is of Jasień/Piorun.

Łado’s Earth consort is, of course, Łada. Why, of course? Well, because already in Luwian lada referred to the “beloved” or “consort” or “wife.” Thus, it seems, this too is a title. Note that Leto was impregnated by Zeus and Leto’s Doric Greek name is Lātṓ. Of course, lato means summer in Polish and other Suavic languages. Does Łada have a Name other than Łada? There are at least two possibilities here. The consort of Iarilo/Ares/Mars could be Marzanna. The Name Marha/Marcha is known from Sarmatian war cries. The term “march” refers to borderlands and so on. Another Name, however, may be Nyja. That is the Goddess of Nothing of Decay, the Pluto of the underworld as well as the Goddess of Death and of War. The Amazon  And yet, also the Mother, to whom we all go back to. Note that there were graves of the Przeworsk Culture where the deceased were placed in fetal positions. That would be indicative of going back to the “womb”. 

So was Łado , like Oedipus, sleeping with his Mother? Not necessarily. The relationship may well be that of siblings (certainly also offensive but Deities do not have many consorts to choose from). That is, Jasień may have been thought of like the Hebrew God as creating a local “Man” version of Himself. His Son Łado’s task is then to recreate Himself out of the Earth Who thus becomes His Consort.

What else remains to be said? I suspect that the myth of Iasion is the key here. It is also likely of similar origin to the myth of Jason and his golden fleece (the Sun?). In fact, it is likely that Iasion occasionally referred to as Iasius served as a model for the Christian Church Farhers who could not then resist but note the potential parallels of the story of Jesus of Nazareth to the preexisting myth of Jason/Iasion, a myth that was likely well known to the peasant class of Anatolia and Greece. It is perhaps for this reason that Yehoshua or Yeshua became Jesus and was effectively grafted onto the earlier story. That story, however, seems to be Indo-European or, perhaps, even pre-IE (note the myth of Isis-Osiris-Horus) dating back to the earliest memories of human civilizations.

Of course, this is not the only interpretation and many others have already been discussed here (for example, Łado as the child, but not the consort, of Mara/Marha/Marcha/Marzanna with Jasień being the Father).

Copyright ©2020 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

Here are some interesting connections between the name of the supreme Deity and various numeral systems.

odin/odyn/jeden – Suavic numeral one
Odin – head of the Icelandic pantheon

diš, aš – Sumerian numeral one
Dyḗus – reconstructed form of the head of the Indo-European pantheon
Jasień/Yassa/Yessa – head of Polish pantheon

išten – Akkadian numeral one
Isten – God in Hungarian
istnieć – to exist in Polish

In fact, in some cases we seem to have astral bodies/Deities or physical phenomena (another example: day <> dzień <> dan <> lord > Daniel <> Danuvius <> Adonis <> Odin) almost explicitly used as numerals. All this probably indicates that religions spread much earlier than we had thought and that cross-civilizational religious proselytization happened relatively frequently. Here are some interesting potential connections (of course, all of this, while interesting, is highly speculative).

Then there are the similarities between the Polish/Ukrainian Divinities, the Greek and some version of the “Scandinavian” pantheons. Here we have three types of names:

• As/Es – Jasień (also As, Esus)
• Ad/Od – Łado (also Wodan, Wadon, Gotan, Odin)
• Tor/Tar/Tur/Ar? – Turoń, Taran (also Thor, Taranis, Piorun?, Iarilo?)

Further, the As and the Tor seem related and may comprise a single Divinity (compare with Asa-Thor/Ása-Þórr).

These Names reflect the following portfolios:

• sky
• thunder
• vegetation/fertility

but also and separately:

• war (Łado)

They seem to have evolved into different directions. The Thunder God sometimes seems separate from the Sky God.

At other  times the Thunder God is the Sky God and then there is a separate Being – His Son or maybe Avatar that is responsible for the earthly activity such as war or fertility vegetation. The Polish Jasień is the Sky God but Łado is also a Jasieńczyk (son of Jasień?, emissary?, avatar?) responsible for war or vegetation/fertility.

Although Odin is the head of the Scandinavian pantheon, this is really the late Icelandic version. Odin may have usurped the throne of Thor (Tyr?). Specifically, in Adam of Bremen’s Uppsala temple description, it is Thor who is responsible for thunder but also vegetation (which makes sense) whereas Wodan sits at Thor’s side responsible only for war. Thus, it would be Asa-Thor/Ása-Þórr that is responsible for crops/harvest. And, we have asans that is Gothic for “harvest.” This, in turn, is cognate with the Suavic jesień (fall) or wiosna (spring).

Eventually, during some downgrade the same name began to be associated with weakness, stupidity, however. Thus, we have an “ass” and “idiot” and “donkey” and so forth. I assume (at the risk of looking like an ass) that the Nynorsk aden meaning “angry”, “noisy,” “nasty” (?) goes back to the Latin name for a donkey.

Even here the Tar- and As- connection may remain perhaps > Luwian tarkasna and Sumerian anšu (“weak” compare with dannu “strong” – compare this with latter word with Odin/Adonis).

It is interesting that Wodan was spelled Wadon on occasion. It is also interesting that this is pronounced Vadon whereas the Polish Łado is pronounced Wado. Similarly we have the German word for water – pronounced Vasser – which in English is, of course, water.

Although Wodan/Wadon is supposedly translated as the “furious” (Wut meaning anger, fury), it is curious that the Suavic offers multiple possible explanations/etymologies of the name:

• odin/odyn/jeden – number one; compare also with odyniec – the lone boar
• Wado/Lado/Łado – the lover/beloved (compare that with the lada – in Lycian meaning the same for a female and preserved in East Suavic (translated as Gattin into German; compare this with the male Gatte – in each case meaning “spouse”; compare further with Godan or gody/godzić – the latter meaning to work towards an agreement/reconcile or the Russian god meaning “year”)
• Wodan – lord of water – woda – pronounced voda (szczoby nas oczystyw – “so that he should cleanse us”)
• wódz or wojewoda (pronounced voyevoda – the Heerzeer > Herzog – księżyc but not König) or wodzin – leader – compare this with the reconstruction of *Wōdanaz – a man leading along the waters/rivers?

Thus, we have two functions but perhaps the same Deity. Is this because of trying to reconcile multiple tribal pantheons or Divinities?

We know in the East Perun/Piorun was worshipped – was Perun a Thunder God? It seems yes but also a Sky God and a Vegetation/Fertility God. There is a not too ancient song that was collected by the folklorist Oleksiy Ivanovych Dey (Олексій Іванович Дей) in his 1963 volume “[Ukrainian] Games and Songs: Spring-Summer Poetry of the Work Year” (Ігри та пісні: весняно-літня поезія трудового року). In that book he notes the following words:

Гей, око Лада,
Леле Ладове,
Гей, око Ладове,
Ніч пропадає,
Бо око Лада 
З води виходить,
Ладове свято
Нам приносить.
Гей, Ладо!

А ти, Перуне,
Отче над Ладом. 
Гей, Перуне,
Дай дочекати
Ладе купала.
Гей, купала!
А кум і кума
— У нашу хату.
Гей, кум і кума!

Солод ситити,
Медок хмелити.
Гей, кум і кумо,
Щоби і внукам
То пам’ятати
Гей, кум і кумо!

Interestingly, here we have Perun called the “Father of Lado” (also Lado is the Sun or, rather, the Sun is the eye of Lado). But if Perun is Thor and if Thor was the supreme Divinity in Sweden (the home of the Varangians) and Odin was the War Divinity on the side of Thor, then here is another reason as to why Łado/Lado may be Odin (aside from the Lado/Wado linguistic similarities). Of course, whether this represents any actual remnant of ancient beliefs is, given the late recording of the same, at the very least uncertain. Nevertheless, the words are curious and may express the belief of a certain Duality.

That Thor/thunder is Piorun/Perun is obvious and confirmed in other ways. In Polabian Perĕndan refers to Thursday which is direct translation of the same. Curiously, Thursday was labeled the “fifth” day in Gothic (as reconstructed *pintadags or *paintedags – compare this with the Polish piątek – meaning “Friday”; presumably because Sunday was the first day) BUT the Gothic “Friday” is reconstructed as *pareinsdags which suggests a curious similarity to Piorun/Perun (though recorded as paraskaiwe – from the Greek “preparation” [for the Sabbath/Sunday]) .

Anyway, we also have this song (also relatively recently recorded though the recording is older than the above):

Oj, Łado, Łado, oj dana dana,
idem do pana, do pana Wodana,
szczoby nas oczystyw i nas błohosławyw

Whether the “dana” – the obviously female person being “given away” to Łado has anything to do with the Irish Mother Goddess Danu – the mother of the Tuatha Dé Danann is another intriguing question. (Éire may have been the name giver to Ireland and a Goddess but do not forget that the Name of the emerald, shall we say green, isle also suggests a connection to the Suavic Jaryło/Iarilo).

We can subdivide this to say that the Sky and Thunder/Lightning and perhaps Fertility/ Vegetation is the domain of a Sky God that is separate and supreme from the other God that visits the Earth. That other “local” Divinity that watches us through His Great Eye (the Sun). That Deity may be a relation or just a local caretaker. He is responsible for the actual fertilization of the Earth (but only after the Supreme Deity pounds the Earth with thunder and lightning?) as well as, perhaps, for water. In some cultures He may have been relegated to a pure “war” role (Wodan but also compare Iarilo/Gerovit (fertility but also war) with Mars/Ares (war but earlier perhaps fertility). What about the Other Eye – the Moon? Well, remember Odin had one Eye… The other was not working so well.

Alternatively, the Polish Jasień is the curious case of, perhaps, both of these functions embedded in one Being as He seems to appear both as the supreme Deity (Długosz) but also as the Visiting Deity. It’s not clear from the Polish songs whether Łado is the Father, the Son or, in fact, Both – like an avatar. Perhaps the best way to say this is that Odin is the first Ass.

Is the Polish version, therefore, the simpler (“original”?) myth where the Sky God descends from the Sky to fertilize the Earth (being both Jasień and Łado – meaning beloved – of the Earth Goddess? Is the Earth Goddess Jasień’s Łada? Is She the Goddess of Earth but also of War as well as Decay/Death called Marha or, later, Marzanna? Does She then combine the functions of the later Athena and Demeter? For this interpretation, see also the discussion of Jason below. But for another interpretation read further down.

Perhaps the most interesting Greek myth from the perspective of Polish mythology is the Iasion/Demeter myth which also introduces Zeus as the jealous overlord (in the myth Zeus is Iasion’s father) who strikes down Iasion (but then maybe Iasion survives).

Indeed, we also have an Armenian legend of Gisenke and Demetr where Zeus is nowhere to be found. Was then Zeus a new Divinity that struck down the prior Sky God? Perhaps a new Divinity introduced by new invaders? Indo-Europeans or a particular type of Indo-Europeans?

Iasion has a sister whose name is Harmonia (which, of course, is easily connected with harmony – order – or, in Polish ład – the marital harmony of the marriage contract?). Iasion also has a brother Dardanus (the names Darda and Derda are present at high numbers and frequencies in Poland, to a lesser extent Greece and, the first, in high numbers though not frequency in India). There is also an interesting connection to Jason and Athena (remember Minerva the Roman Athena Lada may have been called Lada). For that see also here.

What this suggests is that Lado was not originally a separate Deity from Jasień. What it also suggests is that Jasień-type Divinity may have at some point been downgraded.

The anšu was replaced by the dannu or Jasien (also recall Janus) by Lado.

There seems to exist another myth overlapping here, a myth that involves Jason and Athena (Minerva/Lada?) and Jason’s trip to the underworld (the Sun’s going beyond the horizon and the rebirth of the same but necessarily different (I mean how can it be the same if it came from the opposite direction!) Sun from the East). This myth involves a dragon in the bowels of the Earth. That dragon is, in Greek myth, referred to as… Ladon. Ladon in that version of the myth is slain but not by Jason whose party arrives after Ladon had already been mortally wounded but by Hercules (Thor?).

And yet, there is that Vatican vase on which Athena is seen watching (?) Jason be in effect disgorged by a dragon. No one else is in the picture…

I leave aside the fact that Athena would correspond to the Suavic genitive of Odina (“of Odin” or Odin’s) and that Athena is the daughter of Zeus and that in many Polish folk songs, Jasien steals his Lady from her father.

I too leave aside the “dragon’s teeth” myth which also touches Jason, of course.

Perhaps it is the case that, at some ancient point in time, an Od/Ad replaced the As as the head of a pantheon. In some cases that Od/Ad became the head of the pantheon and the As was downgraded to a minor role. In other cases, Odin/Lado was taken into the pantheon but remained secondary warrior deity like Mars (Polish or Swedish).

Perhaps, in the alternative, an Odin-like person functioning as a Divine King, claimed to be the Jasień (something like a Second Coming) on Earth. 

That the As has an interesting history, we can also guess from the obvious connections of Iasion’s with Jesus (the greatest “story” ever told? – by the brilliant Saul of Tarsus).

However, another way of looking at this is to say that the Son of God – Łado – is the local Caretaker/Overseer for the Earth. Perhaps, He is the Lord of the Sun (and Moon?) but not much further? A Prometheus-like figure that brings fire and knowledge to humans (whether permitted or not?). Perhaps He also copulates with “Mother Earth” – the truly local Divinity – something that the Jasień in the Sky Further Out does not approve of. Of course, this also brings up the myth of Oedipus (Oed- prefix as suggestive?). Further, it is curious that Ladas of Argios was such a fast runner as was the later Ladas of Aegium – kind of like the Sun in the Sky. And the Argios Ladas died from exhaustion after the race – again, kind of like the Sun at the end of the day. This also brings up the race (in chariots?) against Chors (the Moon?) in The Tale of Igor’s Campaign. Were the Sun and the Moon (or their drivers) perceived by the ancients as participating in some type of a relay race across the Sky?

Here are some interesting connections between the different Sky Gods/Demi-Gods:

Of course, there are other connections. Ugaritic Dgn and Dagon may have been fertility gods. Indeed, there is the Hebrew word for grain dāgōn. That, of course, brings to mind the Giving God – Dadźbóg – that is also, of course, associated with the Sun. In fact, Dag and Bog (bhagga) may mean the same thing that was stitched together in some cross-cultural setting. It is also cognate with day and dzien and so too with Odin/Lado.

Note too that the Russian lake Ladoga – if read as a Suavic genitive/possessive – could be interpreted as Ladog’s (Svarog and Ladog?). Of course, no one reads it that way but who knows, maybe scholars ought to think about that possibility.

There is another possibility here. The Marzanna may well be just the personification of death and decay – mara – the lifeless Earth. In other words, have we been beguiled and led astray by the “Mother Earth” or “Goddess” idea? Iasion has a sister – Harmonia. Is Athena that Harmonia? In this version the Divine Twins are Male and Female – Jasień and Łada. In some Polish legends there is talk of the Moon and His Morning Star. (Or maybe Jasień cheated on the Sun – Łada – with the Morning Star (Zorza?) akin to Jason cheating on Medea?). To be fair, the Iasion-Harmonia <> Jasień-Łada comparison raises the question of who here is Dardanus?

Almost forgot to mention that Oleksiy Ivanovych Dey collected the above song from the Ukrainian town of Yasen (perhaps near today’s Ivano-Frankivsk):

Copyright ©2020 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

You can view some theories on the nature of the Polish Pantheon here and here. I confess we are unlikely to have more answers without further review of all that is available on the topic. However, I believe that the three most likely versions of the myth go something like this…

Father & Mother
Children

Jasień the Sky God is the Didis Łado of His Łada (but maybe Didis Lela), that is, the Female Goddess (Mother Earth?). She is the protector of Jasień’s while He is with Her. The other Deities are the Leli, their offspring (from the Jasień-Łada/Lela union):

• Pogoda (covering good weather and happiness)
• Dziewanna (responsible for the hunt and the wilderness),
• Marzanna (covering the sea, death and the cold generally), and
• Żywie (the God of Life)
• potentially Lela (covering fertility unless that Divinity is the same as Łada)

Perhaps the first Three are the Three Zorze, Zarzyce that is the Zarze Zarycze Trzy Szyestrycze Polonice (see here).

The Nothingness out there is Nya which can prevail if Jasień is not periodically rekindled over and over again.

Father Star Tree
Son & Daughter
Children

Another version is a little bit different. Jasień is the Eternal Tree-Star (gwiazda being just another name for a tree – gwozd, gozd – see here). Jasień is also the Sky God, of course.

The female Goddess Didis Lela (potentially, though not necessarily, also aka Łada) and the male Didis Łado (the Jasieńczyk or Son of Jasień) are the Children of Jasień’s and the guardians (both) of Jasień’s who rekindle Jasień with every cyclical pairing.

The Children (the Leli) of the now Lela-Łado union are the same as above.

The Nothingness out there is Nya which can prevail if Jasień is not periodically rekindled over and over again.

Father & Mother
Son & Other Children

The other version is yet different. Here we have Jasień the Sky God Himself as the consort of the female Goddess (perhaps Lela; potentially, though not necessarily, also aka Łada).

Łado is the Hero of Jasień’s that guards Jasień’s descent to Earth to rekindle Mother Earth. He is the First of the Children (Leli of the slightly different Jasień-Łada/Lela union) with the Others being the same as above. He is the protector of Jasień’s and God of War.

Nya, once again is the nothingness.

Note that in each case the absolute key are the fertility rites that preserve the Jasień Family.

At least that’s my current take.

Copyright ©2020 jassa.org All Rights Reserved