Although information about Jaryło, under that name, comes from rather late sources – 18th and 19th centuries – the feasts of the East Suav Jarilo (Polish Jaryło though that specific name is not attested in Poland – rather we have Jasza or Jesza or Jasień) are easily recognizable in earlier recorded festivities. Perhaps the best Western source on the topic is Felix Haase and his Volksglaube und Brauchtum der Ostslawen. I’ve already previewed here – when discussing Svarozic – a passage from a Jaryło story told by Old Believers that Haase put in that book. Now let’s include more of Haase’s musings on the subject and the rest of the story. Also included are the cites of Haase’s to the Russian authors who actually collected the stories of these customs and beliefs.
Haase’s Jarilo Interpretation
“…Originally, there stood Jarilo in Kupalos place. While he is first mentioned first in the year 1763 in the instruction (poucene) of Saint Tichon Zadonskyi. He had suppressed the old celebration which he labeled idolatrous and devilish and declared it illegal. There had once been an old statue that people had called Jarilo and he [Tichon] had heard from old people that one had called this celebration igrisce (Polish igrzyska) [and] it began on Wednesday or Friday after the Green Holidays and ended on a Sunday. The name is probably derived from jar meaning spring or jaryi meaning bright, strong, tempestuous, young. And also the grains were called jarovyi or jare [compare this with the Polish jarzyny meaning “greens” as in “vegetables”]. In the Cernigov department one speaks of a Jariloviga. In Kostroma there is a Jarilovo pole (Jarilo’s field); in the department Orenburg, a Jarilo annual market [Jahrmarkt or jarmark with a double meaning]. In certain regions of Russia, there were two holidays involving Jarilo, at the end of April and on the last day of the year. Young people played the role of Jarilo. There is the Ivasko Jarilo, the Moscow marksman, known from a 1605 document and Ivasko Jarilo who lived in Astrakhan (mentioned in 1672).”
“In Voronez one celebrated the games of Jarilo till 1673 [lasting] from the last day before the Great Fast/Lent, before Peter’s Fast till the Monday of the Fast [?]. A man was adorned with flowers, ribbons and little bells, and on his head there was a flower decorated hat. His face was painted red and white and in his hand he held bells. Using the name Jarilo he went majestically through the city, followed by youth who laughed at him but also kept him fed with sweets. The feast ended with fistfights, drunkenness and frequently with killings.”
“In Kostroma, where the celebrations were held till 1771, an old man would toss a doll – featuring male genitals – into a grave. Drunk wailing women would accompany him and then the doll was buried. In governorate Tver the celebrations took place on the first day of the Apostles’ Feast on the River Lazur until the year 1805. The youth danced a blanza – a round dance in pairs of eight). In the governorate Penza and Simbirsk, they buried the gorjuna during the Green Holidays; and in Murom on the first Saturday after the Green Holidays. A straw doll was carried out of the village with singing and finally thrown into a river. The custom degenerated into a game: in such children’s games an old woman called Kostroma was declared dead and then suddenly she jumped up and frightened the children. In the governorates Ryazan and Tambov this celebration is called: the burying of the prince. This is portrayed by a young boy who is wrapped in a towel and his sickness is wept over. When the prince has ‘died’ he is laid down in a cornfield and people sing their lamentations. In central Russia the holiday was celebrated with the first or last sheaf collected. In Vladimir on the Kljazma, in Suzdal, Penza, Simbirsk it was celebrated on the Green Holidays or on the eve of the Green Holidays as the funeral of Kostroma or Kostrobowka; in Murom it was celebrated on the first Sunday after the Green Holidays; at Nizniy Novogorod and Vjatka on Saint Peter’s Day [June 29 which in the Gregorian calendar of today is July 12]; in the governorates Novgorod and Kazan, prayers we held during the Green Holidays on collecting rye or summer cereals and there were dances to honor Jarilo. The fields and the livestock were sprinkled with holy water. In Nizniy Novogorod and Tver there it was common to hold a bridal show on this day and young people were permitted to kiss and hug.”
“From the fact that the holidays were celebrations on different days and in different ways, one can deduct that the meaning of the holiday had changed. In the governorates Penza and Simbirsk a girl was chosen to play the part of Kostroma. The other girls bowed before her, placed her on a plank, tossed her singing into a river and washed her. Then all jumped into the water and bathed. Then one went back to the village and concluded the day with games and dances. In the region of Murom the Kostroma was portrayed using a straw puppet; people danced around her, threw her in water and lamented her death.”
“The Jarilo week held a special potency for love spells. The following spell was especially used: ‘I, God’s servant, stand up and go into the clean sea. There come towards me fire, polynja? [these days this means something like a watery polana, that is a clearing, amongst ice (as opposed to trees)] and a stormy wind. I bow down before them deeply and say: hail [Haase uses Heisa] fire and polynja.'”
“Since this spell was used precisely during the Jarilo week, we can infer from this that Jarilo was a God of Love. Yet this that this was a love spell can only be shown by connecting this data with other information. From the Old Believers we learn that: ‘the Jar goes by during the nights that are called chmelevyja.’ In certain areas Jarilo is called Ur Chmel’ and the chmelevicy nights are treated by village youth as the merriest. The Jar goes through the nights wearing a white silk fabric with gold and silver patterns, on His head a wreath with red poppies, in His hand ripe ears of corn of all different kinds of grains; where the God Jar steps on the chmel‘, there grains grow high unseeded. He touches with the golden ear a young man in his sleep and ignites his blood; Jar chmel’ touches the sleeping girl with the red flowers and sleep escapes her, resting becomes difficult and she dreams of her beloved.”
“Thus, here we have the proof that Jarilo stood for Eros. Other customs also remind us of this. As already mentioned, there was the custom of putting a puppet in a grave, a man with his member which was often portrayed as a giant phallus. The accompanying women sang during this procession ‘obscene’ songs. Allegedly, during these celebrations ‘male seed’ was released into a bucket [of water?] which was then drunk. And when we have already heard the complaints of the Christian preachers about the shameless practices that were connected with the festivities, these may refer precisely to the Jarilo celebrations. Jarilo is here without a doubt portrayed as a God of love and fertility. But that is still not the original [function of his]. Jarilo is not originally simply the God who gives people love and fertility, he is the Sun God who celebrates his wedding with Mother Earth, embraces her with love and through this embrace creates fertility for the Earth, even produces man therefrom. We have proof of this here from an old tradition of the Old Believers by whom the old customs have been preserved more purely since they did not concern themselves with the prohibitions that came from church and government places, and since they retained the old customs and ideas consciously in opposition [to the established religious and state order].
A legend of the Old Believers tells of how Jarilo loved the wet Mother Earth:
“Mother Earth lay in cold and darkness. And the always young, always happy Jar of the light spoke so: ‘let us look at the wet Mother Earth, [to see] whether she is pretty, whether appeals to us.’ And the flaming look of the light Jar in one moment cut through the unending layers of darkness which lay over the sleeping Earth. And there where Jarilo’s glance filled the darkness, there the red Sun began to shine. And the hot waves of Jarilo’s light poured out by means of the Sun. The wet Mother Earth awoke from sleep and in her youthful beauty she stretched herself out like a bride on the marriage bed. Eagerly she drank the golden rays of the invigorating light and from this light there spilled out hot life and the bliss of craving into her limbs. And the Sun rays conveyed the sweet words of the God of Love, of the ever young God Jarilo: ‘Oh you wet Mother Earth! Love me, the God of light, as my beloved I shall decorate you with blue seas, with yellow sand, with green grass, with red and blue flowers. By my you shall give birth to an unending number of dear children.'”
“And Mother Earth liked the speech of the God Jarilo, she loved the happy God and thanks to his hot kisses she became pretty and decorated herself with grasses and flowers, with dark woods and blue seas, with light blue rivers and silver lakes. She drank the hot kisses and from her bosom there flew birds, from the caves there there ran out forest and field animals, and in the streams and seas there swam fish, in the air there whirred about the little flies and mosquitoes… and lived, all loved, all sang praise hymns to the father Jarilo and to the wet Mother Earth.”
“And once again there sounded from the light Sun the love words of Jarilo’s: ‘oh, hey you wet Mother Earth! I have adorned you with beauty, you have given birth to many dear children. love me some more and you will give birth to your love children. Mother Earth liked these words. Eagerly did she drink the life-giving rays and she gave birth to Man… and as he rose from the Earth’s bosom, the God Jarilo hit him on the head with his golden leash, his lightning. And from this blow, there arose reason inside of Man… And the God Jarilo greeted his dear Earthborn son with heavenly thunder, with rays of lightning; and these thunder rumbles shook all living things on the Earth… little birds fled into the heavens and wild animals hid in the holes, only Man raised his head towards the sky and answered the speech of the thunder God with eternal words. And as they heard this word and saw their king and ruler, so bowed before him all the trees, all flowers, all grasses, all animals, all birds, all of living creation and they became his servants.”
“And Mother Earth exulted in luck and happiness. She felt that Jarilo’s lover was no mere fortune and that there was no limit to it. But after short time, the Sun began to lower itself, the long days became shorter, the cold winds were blowing, the singers, the little birds fell silent, the wild animals howled and there shuttered from the cold the kong and the ruler of the entire living and inanimate Creation… And the countenance of Mother Earth changed and from grief and worry she washed her face with bitter tears… and so cried Mother Earth: ‘o wind, o wind, why do you blow so ice cold on me? You, eye of Jarilo, you light Sun, why do you not warm me and shine on me as before? Does the God Jarilo not love me anymore? Shall I lose my beauty? Shall my babes go into the ground? Shall I again lie in darkness and cold? Why have I then gotten to know the light? Why have I experienced life and love? Why have I gotten to know the bright rays, the hot kisses of the God Jarilo?’ Jarilo was silent. ‘I do not cry for me,’ complained Mother Earth shuddering from the cold, ‘my heart mourns my dear children.’ Then spoke Jarilo: ‘Cry not, mourn not, wet Mother Earth, I left you not for long. Had I not left you then you would have burned down under my kisses. To protect you and our children, I lessen the warmth and light for a while. The leaves will fall from the trees. The flowers and grasses will wilt. You will dress yourself in a snow garment. You will sleep till my return… And when the time comes, I will send you a messenger, the happy spring and right after spring, I will come myself.'”
“But Mother Erath 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.”
“Here Jarilo is clearly referred to as a Sun God, who brings love and fertility by means of his domain over fire, which causes nature to grow and bloom and gives magical powers to plants which [in turn] benefit people. For this reason is the fern to be explained as the mysterious fire plant, which only flowers on the day of Kupalo; out of this we have explanations for the fire worship associated with Kupalo-Jarilo, for the jumping through fire, for the wheel as symbol of the Sun wheel. The water in the sea and the lake and the streams owes its existence only to Jarilo; it is a element given to the moist Mother Earth that increases fertility. The constantly repeated expression ‘moist Mother Earth’ indicates a natural connection of the Earth with water so as to preserve fertility. We find the above description the idea of the dying of the Sun and of Nature. And so are explained the customs of burying of the originally majestic, possessing the full strength of youth, Jarilo, of that fertility God and love God, [customs] that morphed into obscene pleasures and mocking games, when people had forgotten the original meaning of the festivities. Now it becomes clear why the man who stood in for Jarilo in Voronez was all made up in white and red. Red is the color of the glowing Sun and of the fire. When girls playing the role of Jarilo were bathed or buried by the river, it may still have been the memory of Mother Earth as Jarilo’s beloved.”
Lathander may be the gaming world’s version of Yarilo – at least in concept
Interestingly, Man is the son of Yarilo but can be analogized here also to the fruit of the land, the bounty, the harvest, that is to say, the birth/rebirth has a human but also agricultural aspect. This is further described below when the same cognates/concepts appear in connection with agriculture and growth – ultimately, “wealth” we ought to remember is what is associated with Plutus, the wealth of the soil and the son of Iasion and Demeter. As discussed below, it seems that Iasion/Jasień/Jasion/Jason (?) and Yarilo are the same Deities.
Some Cites for Jarilo
Note that the earliest mention of Iarilo appears to be from 1765 when the Russian Orthodox Church forbade the Iarilo holiday in Voronezh. In Kostroma (see above discussion by Haase) a straw effigy with an enormous phallus was being burned as late as 1771. Since actual mentions of Jarilo are somewhat difficult to find in primary sources here are some cites to secondary sources given by Haase:
- Golubinsky, Yevgeny Yevsigneyevich (or Evgenij E. Golubinskij, Голубинский Е.) История Русской Церкви or Golubinskij, E. Istorija russkoi cerkvi I 1. 2 1902 II 1 1900; I 2; 2. 855
- Sobolevsky, A. (or Sobolevskij): Velikorusskija narodnyja pesni 7 Bde 1985-1902; 267, 269
- Zabylin, M. Russkij narod, ego obycai, obrjady, predanija, sueverija i poezija 1880; 83
- Zabelin, I Istorija russkoi zizni s drevneiscich vremen 1879
- Trudy 24, 1 (1883) Nr.10, 292
- Zapiski: Zapiski russkogo geograf. obsc Etnografija I (1871) ff.; II 85, 87/88
Other cites relating to Jarilo:
- Melnikov, The Complete Collection of Works (or Collected Works) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii (Полное собраніе сочиненій) by Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov (alias Andrey Pechersky, Russian: Па́вел Ива́нович Ме́льников (Андре́й Пече́рский); hence Melnikov-Pechersky) volume 4, pages 202-203.
- Anickov, Evgenij Vasilevic, Vesennaja obrjadovaja pesnja na Zapade i u slavjan.
- Shpilevskiy, Pavel Mikhailovich (Павал Шпілеўскі or Павел Михайлович Шпилевский or Paweł Szpilewski (1827-1861) was a Belarussian ethnographer who wrote a study of Belarussian folklore – Belarussian Folk Traditions (Белорусские народные предания). The first two volumes were written under a pseudonym – Pavel Drevlyanskiy (П. Древлянский). The first volume saw print in 1846 as part of the Supplements to the Journal of the Ministry of Education (Прибавления к Журналу Министерства народного просвещения).
- Pogodin, Mythologische Spuren in russischen Dorfnamen.
- Kulisic, Petrovic & Pantelic, Srpski Mitoloski Recnik; 156-157.
- Ivanov, V. V. & Toporov, V. N. Issledovanija v oblasti slavjanskih drevnostej, 1974; 215.
Other Related East Suavic Sources
Although Jarilo/Iarilo only appears in the above cited sources, similar names pop up in various other places.
- In the Laurentian Codex, we have a mention in the Chronicle of Novgorod, under the year 1216 of a commander by the name of Yarun/Jarun/Iarun (compare with Peron/Perun; compare this pairing too with Jason/Paron or Iasion/Pareantus): “And Yarun had shut himself up in the town with a hundred men and beat them off. And Mstislav [Mstislavich the Daring] went and took Zubchev and they were on the Vozuga; and thither came Volodimir Rurikovitch with men of Smolensk. They were coming along the Volga, making war, and said to him: “Knyaz, go to Torzhok.” Mstislav and Volodimir said: “But Mstislav and Volodimir said: “Let us go to Pereyaslavl; we have a third friend.” And there was no news where Yaroslav was, whether at Torzhok or in Tver. And Yaroslav’s guards attacked Yarun behind Tver, and God helped Yarun and they killed many, others they captured, and others escaped to Tver.” [from the Mitchell/Forbes translation]. Jarun is also a neighborhood of Zagreb in Croatia as well as the ancient Greek name of the Iranian island of Hormuz (yes, from the Straight of Hormuz).
Note that though the above name as used in the Chronicle may not have overtly religious connotations, such connotations can be inferred from other sources described here. Indeed, Oskar Kolberg, in his ethnographic description of Chełm area (in eastern Poland, east of Lublin – it seems in Ukrainian villages) says that “the oldest devil is called Jarynec and he lives on a tall mountain and from their he issues orders to his subordinates, the lesser devils who dwell in the hills and bogs.”Jarynec” is a diminutive form of Jarun/Yarun.
- In the Chudov codex (16th century) we have the Saint Gregory’s Sermon, where it is said that the ancient pagans worshipped a Yadrey: “…and other pray to the God of the Household, to the Goddess Vela, to Yadrey…” [the below is from Mansikka’s Die Religion der Ostslawen]
Incidentally, the “d” is not problematic here. Note that there are many similar words in Suavic languages that have approximately the same meaning and are cognates with the yar and yas forms:
- jędrny (firm, youthful)
- jądro (kernel)
- Jędrzej (form of Andrew)
Incidentally, the nasal “ę“ is clearly cognate with the “en” form and hence jędrny is also cognate with jendry which is clearly cognate with Indra.
Likewise the consonants that follow the y sound are aplenty, again though, with similar meanings. Compare, for example, the above “a” and “e” with the “u” sound in: jurzyć się (to be lustful) or jurność (virility). Check out Aleksandr Nikolaevich Afanasyev’s Поэтические воззрения славян на природу [typically, though awkwardly translated as “The Poetic Outlook on Nature by the Slavs”].
Musings on “Jar” the Green
What else can we say here? Well, apparently, Jarilovo appears four times as a village and there is also a Jarilovic near Great Novgorod. In the Laurentian Codex we hear of a Jarun (compare this form with Perun).
We note that Shpilevsky portrays Jarilo as a man on a white horse or as a woman wearing a white cloak. Apparently, if he was a man, he would appear naked. His head was covered by a wreath of spring flowers and in his hands were cereal ears/spikes. Jarilo was shown as young, with light eyes and curly, blonde hair. Wherever he walked by the harvest would be good. Whoever he glances at, that person falls in love (though not necessarily with Jarilo!). In many folk songs, people would ask him for a hot summer and a great harvest. Haase weaves this into his theory as shown above.
The Belarussian description is interesting in that the Jarilo songs would be sang by groups of walking women, one of whom was sitting astride a horse that was tied to a pole. Obviously, the a horse tied to a pole cannot get far so how could these women be walking anywhere? A solution would present itself if the horse were walking around the pole, perhaps simulating the revolving Sun. The women apparently sang the following song:
Jarilo wandered / The world whole / Birthed rye in the field /
Sired people’s children / And wherever he took a step / There came rye aplenty /
And wherever he’s on the seeds / There a rye ear blossoms
We have this summary from Jerzy Strzelczyk‘s dictionary-like list entitled “Myths, Legends and Beliefs of Ancient Suavs” (Mity, podania i wierzenia dawnych Słowian):
And Max Vasmer says the following regarding the Suavic word jar:
Obviously the word is the same as the English year or German Jahr and refers to vegetation. As shown in the Vasmer dictionary above, jar also means a “canyon” but not just any canyon; instead, referring to a vegetation covered canyon that had been carved out by a stream.
A jar
In Polish the various yar/jar cognates also include jary – meaning “rushing” or “swift” as in “a rushing river” and jarki – meaning “fast moving”; (compare this with the English verb “to jerk”). Apparently, jarowanie may refer to preparing seeds or prepping a horse for a race.
Along the same line of reasoning, it is important to note also that there was a Thracian Divinity, that these days is commonly referred to as the Thracian Horseman. He was known simply as “hero”. Now, the Thracian language expert Dimiter Detschew speculated (in Die thrakischen Sprachreste, Vienna, 1957) that the Thracian for hero was *ierus or *iarus... (of course you have to be careful some of the stuff in CIL that he cites to support that proposition may actually say IFRU not IERU). This nicely ties into words such as horse or Horsa (Hengist and Horsa) or, for that matter, hero and Chors. For more on the Horseman see here and here.
If you want to get an even bigger kick out of this, note too that the related Dacian Riders were apparently derived from the Thracian Rider. Now, these Dacian horsemen are sometimes shown with a Goddess holding a fish. There is a stone sculpture of such a figure at Ślęża Mountain (see here).
There also a ridiculous number of agricultural connections. For example, you have the Polish (and other Suavic) jarzyny for “vegetables.” A young wheat is in some places called jarkisz and the hordium grain, jarzec.
Finally, an interesting piece of trivia is that in Hebrew the word for “green” is ya-rokh (יָרֹוק) which (interestingly too, “white” is pronounced, lah-vahn). That rok means “year” in Polish/Czech (Ukrainian, rik and in Russian… god) seems a rather interesting coincidence (?). Of course, we could go further. Take the name Jerusalem – Yerushalayim. Though this is far from clear (and is claimed to be a later development), the ending -ayim indicates the dual form in Hebrew. Since the city has two hills some have suggested that the name may refers to those two hills (rather than a local god Shalem). If so the city name could mean something like “Green Hills”… (For that matter, the Greek ἱερός (hieros) means “holy”).
More Than a Sun Deity or Pure Lunacy?
As already mentioned here, ya-ra-ti (jarać) refers to “burning.” We are a step away from the “Burning Bush”… BTW This is the same concept as the Russian yarkiy (яркий) meaning “flamboyant” or “bright.”
That Jarilo had solar connections Haase proved in sufficient detail above. The lunar connections of the deity are interesting as well, however. Let’s turn to that.
An interesting connection may be drawn from Egypt and the Levant. The Egyptian Moon was referred to as Yah which name later also came to signify a Moon Deity. Of course, we all know that Ra was the Egyptian Deity of the Sun. So, put together, what we already alluded to before, we mention again because the Y-r form of Jarilo or Yarilo practically invites drawing this connection.
Focusing on Moon Gods, with similar names to Jarilo we have the Moon Deity Yarikh in Canaan (mentioned in the Ebla texts before 2000 BC and another – Yarhibol – at Palmyra.
And then there are these Hittite texts (Johan de Roos translation/edition).
Of course, Osiris too was as much or perhaps more a Moon Deity as a Sun Divinity. The person who noted this earliest in modern times was James Frazer when he wrote the following:
“There are far more plausible grounds for identifying Osiris with the moon than with the sun:
1. He was said to have lived or reigned twenty-eight years; Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, cc. 13, 42. This might be taken as a mythical expression for a lunar month.
2. His body was rent into fourteen pieces (ib. cc. 18, 42). This might be interpreted of the moon on the wane, losing a piece of itself on each of the fourteen days which make up the second half of a lunation. It is expressly mentioned that Typhon found the body of Osiris at the full moon (ib. 8); thus the dismemberment of the god would begin with the waning of the moon.
3. In a hymn supposed to be addressed by Isis to Osiris, it is said that Thoth
“Placeth thy soul in the bark Ma-at,
In that name which is thine, of God Moon.”
And again,
“Thou who comest to us as a child each month,
We do not cease to contemplate thee,
Thine emanation heightens the brilliancy
Of the stars of Orion in the firmament,” etc.
Records of the Past, i. 121 sq.; Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie der alten Aegypter, p. 629 sq. Here then Osiris is identified with the moon in set terms. If in the same hymn he is said to “illuminate us like Ra” (the sun), this, as we have already seen, is no reason for identifying him with the sun, but quite the contrary.
4. At the new moon of the month Phanemoth, being the beginning of spring, the Egyptians celebrated what they called “the entry of Osiris into the moon.” Plutarch, Is. et Os. 43.
5. The bull Apis, which was regarded as an image of the soul of Osiris (Is. et Os. cc. 20, 29), was born of a cow which was believed to have been impregnated by the moon (ib. 43).
6. Once a year, at the full moon, pigs were sacrificed simultaneously to the moon and Osiris. Herodotus, ii. 47; Plutarch, Is. et Os. 8. The relation of the pig to Osiris will be examined later on.
Without attempting to explain in detail why a god of vegetation, as I take Osiris to have been, should have been brought into such close connection with the moon, I may refer to the intimate relation which is vulgarly believed to subsist between the growth of vegetation and the phases of the moon .See e.g. Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 221, xvi. 190, xvii. 108, 215, xviii. 200, 228, 308, 314; Plutarch, Quaest. Conviv. iii. 10, 3; Aulus Gellius, xx. 8, 7; Macrobius, Saturn. vii. 16, 29 sq. Many examples are furnished by the ancient writers on agriculture, e.g. Cato, 37, 4; Varro, i. 37; Geoponica, i. 6.”
Importantly, as seen above, Frazer saw Osiris not as the Sun and not just closer to being a lunar Deity but as the God of Vegetation. He goes on:
“In the course of our inquiry, it has, I trust, been made clear that there is another natural phenomenon to which the conception of death and resurrection is as applicable as to sunset and sunrise, and which, as a matter of fact has been conceived and represented in folk custom. This phenomenon is the annual growth and decay of vegetation. A strong reason for interpreting the death of Osiris as the decay of vegetation rather than as the sunset is to be found in the general (though not unanimous) voice of antiquity, which classed together the worship and myths of Osiris, Adonis, Attis, Dionysus, and Demeter, as religions of essentially the same type…”
Now the connection of Jaryło to vegetation is obvious from the above and is further discussed below. In the meantime it remains to show the connection to the Moon.
Here we can be helped by one of the best webpages on Polish pre-Christian beliefs (unfortunately, thus far, only in Polish), appropriately named Polish Gods: Bogowie Polscy.* According to an essay on this page by Kazimierz Perkowski:
“The most direct and popular (other than biblical) in the pool of connotations that appears around the name Jaś are those connotations, we stress that come from rituals, connected with brightness and with a person that is widely respected and, we can say, luminescent. For Jaś as well as Jasień are the names given to the bright moon, the maker of storms and rain, a flying persona of a brave warrior, a wanderer, unmarried, a suitor, a groom as well as of a Polish folk name of a devil and a partner of the Goddess Marzanna, which we will write about more extensively in subsequent parts of this piece. Finally, we note that the name Jaś is not any diminutive [of John] but rather a folk name in and of itself. If that were not enough, in one of the traditional Christmas carols from the region of Greater Poland, the name Jaś appears in place of… Jesus and the other way around…”
*note: the site bogowiepolscy.net has been subsumed into something called Weneda which seems an inferior project; many of the essays and posts have been removed.
It may also be relevant to note here that, aside from Dionysos or Osiris, another deity that may have something to do with the Thracian/Phrygian Sabazios (Ancient Greek: Σαβάζιος) whose name may be pronounced Savázios (Sovi?) or Sabadios (Boda?) who is also referred to as the Thracian Rider and who was also associated with Father Liber and with Dionysos. Not to mention that the Sabazios hand possesses obvious phallic connotations. Sabazios may also have given the name to sobótki, the fires lit by the Suavs in their celebrations of the arrival of summer. Of course Sabazios also has lunar connections (compare the sabattu or sabpattu which has been dated to 2,000 BC and means full day, that is full moon day; note too the similarities between pattu “day” with pater or father).
Jaś – the Master of the Moon’s Power
“In Coats of Arms, legends and old myths” [Herby, Legendy i dawne mity], one of the most important publication dealing with the topic of Polish mythology, its authors, the professors Marek Cetwiński and Marek Derwich observe that the primary Gods of the Western Suavs were most likely Gods with lunar connections. The most telling example here remains the Rugian Svantevit, which according to the sources, was a God on a white horse who constantly travelled at night (like the Moon) fighting the enemies of the Rugians. Attention can be drawn too to the most important attribute of Svantevit, the horn of plenty filled with mead, an object with an obvious lunar symbolism. And among many Polish family legends a main motif features the battle of a hero – aided by the light of the moon – with an enemy possessing chthonic attributes. At the same time, as noted by professor Aleksander Gieysztor, the persons of Svantevit, Jarovit, and Jarilo appear as thunder Gods, the hypostases of the God Piorun. So are all of these research positions presented here inconsistent and the thunder and lunar characteristics mutually exclusive? Absolutely not. The Moon as much as thunder deities were connected after all with rain and the sky water [Wodan] – and these ensured (or took away) fertility and prosperity. We could also point out the East Slavic report about a lunar (as per a common hypothesis) deity Chors, called in some notes “the thunder angel” as well as, most importantly for this essay, Polish folk beliefs. These last ones treat the lunar and thunder ideas interchangeably. Our Jaś appears connected with the Moon:
“Ponad lasejkiem czarna chmurejka,
ponad to chmurejko jasny miesiączejko.
Nie jest to miesiączek, Jasio wojowniczek,
wywojował sobie sto złotych jabłuszek.”
[A carol from the Lublin region, Słownik stereotypów i symboli ludowych, vol. I, part 3, 2012, p. 111]
“Jasna nieba, jasna słońca, jasień miesiąc
i jasne gwiazdy, i święta Trójca, i Matka Boża,
stań do pomocy, jak we dnie, tak i w nocy.”
[a charm asking help from a rose, Słownik stereotypów i symboli ludowych, vol. I, part 1, 1996, p. 171]
„A u miesiąca dwa rogi,
a u Jasieńka dwa braci”
[Słownik stereotypów i symboli ludowych, vol. I, part 1, 1996, p. 162]
“Jedzie Jasieńko do dziewki,
Jako miesiączek do Zorzy […]
Herny (pyszny) Jasieńku kozacze,
Gdzie się mi bierzesz przeciw nocy?”
[Wisła, vol. VII, part 4, 1893, p. 691]
“We see here a solid connection between the folk-preserved persona of Jaś and the Moon. I would warn, however, against assuming the first is the literal personification of a heavenly body. For the Moon [księżyc], frequently called miesiąc or miesiączek [today meaning a “month”], in old Polish folk beliefs was filled with a number of male and female characters. He is a kind of a transporter or a steed allowing travel to and from the netherworld. The Polsh name for the Earth’s natural satellite – księżyc – is curious. This name, as noted by professor Mikołaj Rudnicki, could have originally been connected with a Lechitic [West Suavic] lunar Deity, only later coming to mean the actual Moon. We should add that the Polish association of the Moon [with a male prince] are rather unique in the European context. Hans Biedermann in his “Symbols Lexicon” notes that the Moon is typically associated with female characteristics, just as “the names of the Moon in European languages are female, the exceptions being the German der Mond and the Polish Księżyc.” It is possible that the rural Jaś, described in tens of Polish songs as “serving the lord”, could have been that księżyc – the son of książę [the former is either a diminutive of the latter or the “son” of the latter – much as Svarozic – Svarog]. Another element connecting the image of Jaś with the Moon is the attribute of the golden crown… “
“Jedzie Jasiek z Torunia,
Złota na nim koruna;
Konie z góry stąpają,
Srebrem, złotem brząkają.”
[Wisła, vol. III, part 4, 1889, p. 750]
“Miesiącowi złota korona,
A mnie szczęście i fortona;
Miesiącowi cześć i chwała,
A mnie zdrowie!”
[Wisła, vol. XIV , part 4, 1900, p. 468]
“We will now move on to the mentioned interchangeability of the thunder and lunar portfolio. In Polish myths the Moon battles, similar to a thunder deity, with chthonic beings, and even uses for this purpose the typical weapon of a thunder god – the stone. In a number of variations of this tale, there is an attack that takes place during a full moon and it is against a villain, perhaps a thief in the fields, but most often a water spirit or drowned person (a memory of a chthonic deity) or against smaller female water divinities…”
“…In the syncretic folk traditionalism, the bright and warm season, originally connected with a thunder deity who opens and closes vegetation, begins in the spring on Saint George’s day [April 23] and ends in the fall on Saint Martin’s day [November 11] (in the Catholic tradition) or Saint George’s day (in Orthodoxy). On Saint Martin’s day, the original manifestation day of the thunder deity – we find preserved to this day an important element of lunar symbolism: the famous Saint Martin croissants. Baked to this day in Greater Poland, they represent, it is believed a memory of a vicarious offering in place of the earlier ox sacrifice. The context is completed by a whole series of Polish riddles wherein the roar of an ox – an animal associated with the Moon (for example the folk bald ox) as well as the animal of the thunder divinity – is identified as a far off sound of thunder…”
“…If Jaś the suitor was perceived as the cause of a storm, was he also, in light of the above, connected to the Moon? Such beliefs have been preserved particularly in Eastern Poland, where in songs and tales, the Moon remains associated with the young groom, a single man. He marries or seduces the bride – the Sun, or rather the “solar sister” – the Zorza/Jutrzenka, the morning Venus (in old Polish tales Lela/Dziedzilela). This motif is visible in a number of wedding songs:
“Jedzie Jasieńko do dziewki,
Jako miesiączek do Zorzy”
[Wisła, vol. VII, part 4, 1893, p. 691]
„A gdzie słoneczko wschodzi,
Młody Jasieńko chodzi…”
[Lud, year 9, 1903, p. 226]
…In the above part of this essay, we took a look at a number of supernatural attributes in the folk image of Jaś. He turns out to be the ritualistic causer of the storm and bringer of rain, as well as the eternal wanderer and sky warrior. Simultaneously, Jaś like the Moon “runs against the night” and illuminates its darkness. Finally, Jaś is a suitor seducing Jutrzenka-Zorza…”
[the authors cite another interesting tale:]
“Jasio chodzi po drobnej leszczynie,
Orzechy szczypie, w kieszonkę sypie
Nadobnej Marysi, swojej dziewczynie.”
[Polish folk song]”
This obviously suggests a connection between Jaś and Marzanna, potentially the frozen Earth. Also note the nuts are again a motif connected with Jarilo/Iarilo in Rybakov’s listing of songs mentioned below. Some of the above is not necessarily entirely convincing but the essay does contain a number of interesting suggstisons/clues.
The author, of course, notes the similarity of Polish Jaś with the East Suavic Jarilo/Iarilo (particularly, in the attribute of the horn – cornucopia) so let’s bring this back to Iarilo.
Back To Jaryło/Jarilo/Iarilo
The first step is to recognize that Jarilo, as indicated by the above, is either the same Deity or a closely related Deity to the pagan Gods found among other Suavic tribes and Balts.
Take for example, this Ukrainian book, written much like Strzelczyk’s listings, includes entries for:
- Jarilo,
- Jarowit, that is Gerovit and
- Jasion/Jasień
Further, Jasza/Jaszer is the form promoted among others by Boris Rybakov who provides these creations:
So there sits, sits Yasha under a nut bush (there is that bush again):
Сиди-сиди, Яша, под ореховым кустом,
Грызи–грызи, Яша, орешки каленые, миломю дареные.
Чок–чок, пяточок, вставай Яша, дурачок,
Где твоя невеста, в чем она одета?
Как ее зовут? И откуда привезут?
In another version we have Yasha sitting on a golden chair: (this version from Perkowski is a little different than Rybakov’s above):
Сидит наш Яша
На золотом стуле,
Ладу, ладу, ладоньки,
На золотом стуле.
Щелкат наш Яшенька
Калены орешки…
Калены-калены,
Девушкам дарены…
Бабам посулены…
Roughly speaking the geographic attestation, therefore, is as follows:
- Western Lechitic tribes (Veleti) – Gerovit (pronounce Yerovit or, if you will, Yarovit)
- Eastern Lechitic tribes (Poles) – Jasień or Jasion (ash) or Jasza/Jesza (pronounce Yasien or Iasion orYasha/Yesha)
- Belorussians – Jarilo (pronounce Yarilo)
- Ilmen Suavs/North-Eastern Russians – Jasza or Jaszer (pronounce Yasha or Yasher)
Of course, one group of northern Suavs is not clearly reflected in the above list: the Ukrainians. And here we have another hint regarding the nature of this Divinity. Among the Kievan Polans, that is Ukrainians, the most obvious candidate for the portfolio of the Sun God and Moon God and, therefore, maybe also Vegetation God, is, it seems, Dadzbog Chors (though, it is also possible that Chors is the son of Jasień – certainly the Osiris-Horus similarities is of interest).
The God of Vegetation and Fertility, Life, Light and Motion
So Haase is not wrong that Jarilo was a Sun God. In fact, Haase was right that Jarilo is, in fact, more than that – in that he is also a God of Love (or at least lust!) and, therefore, vegetation. But beyond that Jarilo is a Lunar Deity. This is the hypothesis of the “one rider” – perhaps akin to the Latvian Ūsiņš. Most generally, perhaps, Yarilo is a God of Life, Virility and, ultimately, Motion.
It is, of course, possible to view this slightly differently. For example, looking to Lithuanian mythology, we can ask whether there were in fact two Deities: the Sky Twins or Ašvieniai. Perhaps their names were Yas and Yar? If you want to spin this out further, a connection can be drawn to the Vandalic Assi and Ambri though this is obviously a major leap.
And another thought, were these “twins” always both men or, to bring this back to “Mother Earth/Father Jarilo/Iarilo” or “Sun/Moon”, was one of the twins perhaps a woman?
Interestingly, also Mars (though seemingly not Ares) had an agricultural beginning before becoming a god of war. If so, the suggestion that Gerovit may have been the same as Mars may actually have been more accurate than the writer of the Life of Otto of Bamberg may have suspected.
To view some other posts on Jaryło you can take a look here as well as here and here.
Copyright ©2020 jassa.org All Rights Reserved
