Myths about paganism

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Sometimes we, without noticing it ourselves, prove that we are under the influence of centuries-old pagan beliefs: we believe in omens, tell fairy tales to children, bake pancakes for Shrovetide, guess at Christmas time, although at the same time we consider ourselves atheists or believing Christians and go to church, we read prayers. The clergy themselves say the same: Archbishop Makariy (Bulgakov), author of the multivolume History of the Russian Church, wrote that “many of the Christians practically remained pagans: they performed the external rites of the holy church, but retained the customs and superstitions of their fathers”. Academician Viktor Nikolaevich Lazarev also said that: "The Byzantine contribution lay on a powerful layer of pagan culture."

Did our ancestors agree with the baptism of Rus? More likely no than yes. After all, we ourselves know a bunch of funny and interesting things about paganism in our modern life: we break plates at weddings for good luck, we believe that we cannot say hello or pass something across the threshold, we often let the cat into the new house first, tie a red thread on the wrist, we spit to the left and to the right and at every opportunity we sprinkle with proverbs….

The ritual side of many twelve Christian holidays, a reverent attitude towards nature, belief in talismans, amulets, omens - all this and much more testifies to the amazing vitality of our pagan cultural traditions even today, in the third millennium. In fact, today we are two believers: both Christians and pagans at the same time, and pagans to a greater extent, since paganism got used to our everyday life and our way of life.

In fact, all twelve Christian holidays celebrated in Holy Russia are essentially Christian, but on the ritual side, many of them are firmly connected with pagan traditions: Christmas (Who's Christmas?, and not "christovka" or "isusovki"), Meeting, Maslenitsa, Annunciation, Krasnaya Gorka, Trinity, Pokrov, etc. It is significant that all these holidays have long been associated among the people with this or that time of the year, a natural phenomenon. Where does this reverent attitude towards nature come from, if not from paganism, from his worship of natural phenomena? Is it not from paganism - the multi-domed temples in Kievan Rus (Kievan Sophia - about 13 chapters, the Tithe Church - as much as about 25), the animal style in architecture, the vegetative relief in the design of religious buildings, the tent style of Russian architecture of later times ?

It was established that at the very beginning of the construction of the city of Novgorod, where the Volkhov flows from Lake Ilmen, there was a pagan sanctuary of the ancient Slavic Gods - Perun and Veles, who were worshiped by Russian pagan warriors. In the tract of Peryn, there was a special sanctuary under the open sky, round in plan, with a sacrificial place and an idol in the center. Eight bonfires blazed around him in isolated recesses. Adam Olearius, who visited Novgorod in 1635, describes the legends about the eternal fire of oak wood around the idol of Perun. Thus, back in 1635 (and according to the official version, six hundred years after the baptism of Rus) there were still pagan sanctuaries in which a sacred fire burned.

Here are the official archaeological data from the Novgorod excavations.

Small wooden figures of bearded people were associated with the domestic cult. In them, you can see images of brownies, ancestors or forefathers. Figures of brownies were more common in the layers of the X-XI centuries, however, they are also in the layers of the XII-XIII centuries.

Wands can be called an important indicator of the mixing of traditions. The oldest wands, an attribute of Perun, of the pagan era, ended with the head of a person. With the introduction of Christianity, heads of eagles, ducks, dogs, elks appeared in their place. At the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. there is a final change in shape: the wands end only with a large ball with a geometric cut. And in the XVI century. bearded human heads reappear. In addition, at the same time, manifestations of anticlerical views and even a return to pagan ideas are observed. This is the XVI century.

At the same time, the Russian village was pagan for a long, long time after that. There are very few items related to Christianity in the materials of rural mounds of this time. But there are numerous decorations due to pagan symbols.

Pendant-amulets are of particular interest. They are associated with spell magic. Pendants in the form of stylized birds and animals. The image of the teeth and claws of predators served to ward off evil. Amulets-crests were amulets against diseases and were often worn on the chest along with a consecrated cross.

The ritual folklore of the Slavs was closely associated with calendar and non-calendar holidays. Celebrated the meeting of winter - Kolyada and farewell - Maslenitsa. The holiday of Krasnaya Gorka and Radunitsa meant the meeting of spring, which was seen off at seven o'clock. There were summer holidays - Rusalia and Kupala. Among the spring and summer holidays, three were especially revered among the people - Semik, Trinity and Ivan Kupala. Trinity is celebrated to this day on the 50th day after Easter, and Semik was celebrated the day before - on Thursday. Since it was the seventh post-Easter week, the holiday was also called "seven". He was associated with the cult of nature. Houses, courtyards, temples these days were decorated with flowers and branches of trees, mainly birch. Trinity week in Russia was called "green". Girls these days, putting on their best outfits, went to a birch grove, found a young beautiful birch tree, curled its branches, decorated them with ribbons and flowers, danced in circles, sang songs praising the birch.

There are certain myths about paganism in general, and Slavic paganism in particular, let us consider them in more detail.

Myth: Paganism as an integral concept does not exist

On the one hand, paganism really does not have a single center or leader, like the Pope among Catholics, and there is no generally recognized code of sacred texts, like the Bible or the Koran. However, such polymorphism can be perceived not as weakness, but as flexibility and strength. Indeed, to any even the most difficult question of a changing world, some of the currents of paganism will certainly find a worthy answer. Unified ideological currents with an unshakable structure are good for periods of stability that are in the past.

Myth: Paganism is a rejection of the possibilities of a developed civilization, a slide into the Stone Age and towards its values

Certain conservative and ecological trends in paganism are indeed wary of progress. But this view can be understood - society is ruining nature and the planet. But these people advocate the preservation of ecology at least in its modern form and the return of a person to the tried and tested way of life. In general, paganism does not deny the achievements of science, on the contrary, this system of values may turn out to be ideal for the cosmic future of mankind.

Do not think that conservatives are dominant among the pagans. But their point of view is important, because on the way of progress it will be possible to assess possible difficulties. And as a supporter of progress, it cannot be denied that we use many of its achievements extremely ineffectively. What would be better for a student - to kill his time at the computer or to live the old-fashioned way in a hut in the fresh air?

In modern paganism, the position of progressors is quite strong. They understand that once the construction of a wooden house together with the forging of iron were high advanced technologies.

Pagan reenactors try to recreate those samples of ancient material culture, while progressives accept reality. They are trying in the conditions of the modern world to nurture the spirit and philosophy of life, which was present in our ancient ancestors. Thus, we pay our predecessors, continuing the baton they started. It is worth noting the fact that there are many specialists in paganism who, by virtue of their profession, move science forward. These are programmers, physicists and engineers.

Myth: Paganism is stupidity, who in our time worships Perun and prostrates himself before wooden idols?

The modern pagans themselves will not argue with a part of this statement. Worshiping Perun is really stupid, but no more stupid than worshiping pop idols and stars of show business, cinema, modern religious systems.

Pagans have a widespread point of view that their gods should not be worshiped, but simply honored. Yes, and strong, courageous gods would be unpleasant to see people humiliated for their sake. After all, we are their continuation, students, not slaves. The pagans see in each of their gods not a tyrant, who must be teased and prostrated before him, but an ancient relative and ancestor.

Gods are our ancestors

In this regard, the faith of the pagans is in perfect harmony with the materialistic point of view of the emergence of religions from the worship of real people who lived at one time or another on the planet.

So what's wrong with honoring the ancestors, of whom not even a trace in the form of graves remained, but an ancient culture has survived?

The main thing for paganism is the understanding that there is no insurmountable and fundamental difference between man and gods. This belief calls not so much to fulfill the will of higher beings, but to realize oneself, cultivating the qualities that the gods possess.

So if someone falls down in front of wooden idols, then this has to do with the personal psyche of a person. There are individuals who just need someone to worship in this way, but what does paganism have to do with it? It is customary here to praise the gods with creativity, knowledge, friendship, love, raising children and merry games.

Myth - Foreigners who could not speak our native language were called pagans

For such people, there was a completely different word "German" (mute, unable to speak). The word "Lingual" itself can be disassembled into the components "I" and the adjective "Zychny" (loud, sonorous, sharp).

How are people different from animals? A person walks, eats, sleeps and reproduces in the same way as it happens in the animal kingdom, people also have a sense and instinct, and this is also similar to animals. But besides all this, people have the Language of Reason, consisting of letters, words and sentences.

How does language affect the world around us from the point of view of physics? Consider not the "written language", but the "spoken" language that comes out of our mouths and turns into sound. Sound is a physical phenomenon, which is the propagation of mechanical vibrations in the form of elastic waves in a solid, liquid or gaseous medium. In the narrow sense, sound means these vibrations, considered in relation to how they are perceived by the senses of animals and humans. Sound waves are an example of an oscillatory process. Any oscillation is associated with a violation of the equilibrium state of the system and is expressed in the deviation of its characteristics from equilibrium values with a subsequent return to the initial value.

Paganism, as an integral concept, does not exist, since we are talking about individual perceptions. On the one hand, paganism really does not have a single center or leader, like the Pope among Catholics, and there is no generally recognized code of sacred texts, like the Bible or the Koran. However, such polymorphism can be perceived not as weakness, but as flexibility and strength. Indeed, to any even the most difficult question of a changing world, some of the currents of paganism will certainly find a worthy answer. Unified ideological currents with an unshakable structure are good for periods of stability that are in the past. And for a polymorphic world, there is nothing better than a polymorphic ideology.

Paganism is a rejection of the possibilities of a developed civilization, a slide into the Stone Age and towards its values. Certain conservative and ecological trends in paganism are indeed wary of progress. But this view can be understood - society is ruining nature and the planet. But these people advocate the preservation of ecology at least in its modern form and the return of a person to the tried and tested way of life. In general, paganism does not deny the achievements of science, on the contrary, this system of values may turn out to be ideal for the cosmic future of mankind.

Do not think that conservatives are dominant among the pagans. But their point of view is important, because on the way of progress it will be possible to assess possible difficulties. And as a supporter of progress, it cannot be denied that we use many of its achievements extremely ineffectively. What would be better for a student - to kill his time at the computer or to live the old-fashioned way in a hut in the fresh air? In modern paganism, the position of progressors is quite strong. They understand that once the construction of a wooden house together with the forging of iron were high advanced technologies. If the Vikings survived to this day, they would go on their campaigns on powerful submarines.

Pagan reenactors try to recreate those samples of ancient material culture, while progressives accept reality. They are trying in the conditions of the modern world to nurture the spirit and philosophy of life, which was present in our ancient ancestors. Thus, we pay our predecessors, continuing the baton they started. It is worth noting the fact that there are many specialists in paganism who, by virtue of their profession, move science forward. These are programmers, physicists and engineers.

Paganism is stupidity, who in our time worships Perun and prostrates himself before wooden idols?The modern pagans themselves will not argue with a part of this statement. Worshiping Perun is really stupid, but no less stupid than worshiping pop idols and stars of show business, cinema. Pagans have a widespread point of view that their gods should not be worshiped, but simply honored. Yes, and strong, courageous gods would be unpleasant to see people humiliated for their sake. After all, we are their continuation, students, not slaves. The pagans see in each of their gods not a tyrant, who must be teased and prostrated before him, but an ancient relative and ancestor. In this regard, the faith of the pagans is in perfect harmony with the materialistic point of view of the emergence of religions from the worship of real people who lived at one time or another on the planet. So what's wrong with honoring the ancestors, of whom not even a trace in the form of graves remained, but an ancient culture has survived?

The main thing for paganism is the understanding that there is no insurmountable and fundamental difference between man and gods. This belief calls not so much to fulfill the will of higher beings, but to realize oneself, cultivating the qualities that the gods possess. So if someone falls down in front of wooden idols, then this has to do with the personal psyche of a person. There are individuals who just need someone to worship in this way, but what does paganism have to do with it? It is customary here to praise the gods with creativity, knowledge, friendship, love, raising children and merry games.

Myth - Foreigners who could not speak our native language were called pagans

For such people, there was a completely different word "German" (mute, unable to speak). The word "Lingual" itself can be disassembled into the components "I" and the adjective "Zychny" (loud, sonorous, sharp).

How are people different from animals? A person walks, eats, sleeps and reproduces in the same way as it happens in the animal kingdom, people also have a sense and instinct, and this is also similar to animals. But besides all this, people have the Language of Reason, consisting of letters, words and sentences.

How does language affect the world around us from the point of view of physics? Consider not the "written language", but the "spoken" language that comes out of our mouths and turns into sound. Sound is a physical phenomenon, which is the propagation of mechanical vibrations in the form of elastic waves in a solid, liquid or gaseous medium. In the narrow sense, sound means these vibrations, considered in relation to how they are perceived by the senses of animals and humans. Sound waves are an example of an oscillatory process. Any oscillation is associated with a violation of the equilibrium state of the system and is expressed in the deviation of its characteristics from equilibrium values with a subsequent return to the initial value.

Most of our bodies are composed of water, and sound greatly affects its structure, science has conducted experiments that have proven that negative words affect water molecules negatively, destroying their structure and shape, and vice versa, positive words have a positive effect. This is very revealing can be seen in the video The impact of the spoken word.

Summing up, we can conclude that Pagans are people who understood and knew the nature of the language, and were in this sense "programmers" and not "users". Language is the code with which we can write the programs of our lives. We are now just "users". The difference between a "user" and a "programmer" is that the former acts unconsciously, repeating after others, while programmers create their own reality because they know and understand the language.

Most of our bodies are composed of water, and sound greatly affects its structure, science has conducted experiments that have proven that negative words affect water molecules negatively, destroying their structure and shape, and vice versa, positive words have a positive effect. This is very revealing can be seen in the video The impact of the spoken word.

Summing up, we can conclude that Pagans are people who understood and knew the nature of the language, and were in this sense "programmers" and not "users". Language is the code with which we can write the programs of our lives. We are now just "users". The difference between a "user" and a "programmer" is that the former acts unconsciously, repeating after others, while programmers create their own reality because they know and understand the language.

Myth: Modern man does not need paganism, since this belief system was formed in a completely different historical era

If this were really so, how would the number of followers of paganism multiply? Recently, young people admired robots and astronauts, and today everyone is interested in elves, gnomes, magicians and hobbits. Tolkien, who stood at the origins of such a culture, did not even suspect how massive the interest in his work would be.

Slavic paganism is especially close to us. We all grew up on the tales of Baba Yaga and the Gray Wolf, as a result, the cultural tradition is close to us from childhood, without requiring additional interpretations or scholarly books for understanding. For a modern Russian person, Slavic myths, in which ideas and the universe are laid, are natural. Paganism was created by ardent lovers of life who liked our world and existence in it. These people appreciate the beauty of nature and are ready to sing it here and now, and not hope for happiness after death. In the images of the gods, truly human traits are personified, albeit brought to a high level in legends. In the pagan world, a person finds examples of how one can behave in life situations, which the modern world is rich in. In addition, there are so many gods in the pantheon of paganism that everyone can choose whoever is personally close to him.

The last century has become very significant for civilization. Humanity survived two world wars, mastered flights in the sky and in space, and reached other planets. The man was taken aback by the surging changes, not understanding how to live in new conditions. That is why it is time to think about who we are and where we are going. It is worth stopping and looking back at the landmarks invented and tested by our ancestors. The times may have been different, but the methodology is worth paying attention to. To master the gifts of science, it is worth becoming philosophers, blooming an idea with colorful images.