Slavic mythology, unlike Greece, which is already in the 7th century BC, was the object of literature remained undescribed.Like other Indo-European peoples, the Slavs have risen from the lowest to the highest stage of the development of religion.But how it happened, very little is known.What is now known historians - is a rich world of magic and various spirits that surrounded the Slav.This world was the basis of ideology of the Slavic people from ancient times up to the end of paganism.
Medieval Russian writers preferred to follow the traditions of the ancient church fathers, who ridiculed Paganism ancient times.But they did not describe it for what it was.They appealed to the students who performed pagan acts were full of relevant thoughts and magical spells that are willing to participate in pagan merrymaking and avoided service in the church.For this reason, medieval writers largely blamed Slavs.However, in the 15-17 centuries, historians have ceased to be treated with disdain to the myths of ancestors and started to collect ethnographic and written information about the gods and the cult of the Slavs.
Unfortunately, these works of Slavic mythology was compared and compared with the Greco-Roman.Therefore, these sources said significantly only the names of Slavic gods and goddesses.The chronicles tell of gods such as Stribog, Perun, Hors, Dazhdbog, Semargl, Makosh, Svarog, Velez, Rod and Rozhanitsy.Later, there were Lel and Lada.It saves the little details, especially about the mythology of the Western Slavs.
Developing and culture of Eastern Slavs and Western has gone through several stages.They believed in the gods of the heavenly bodies, life and death (Maron and alive), the war and the sky, the vegetable kingdom and fertility.Deify not only water and sun, but also numerous spirits.In ancient times the word as an expression of rituals and traditions understood in close connection with the fact that it expressed.Event or beliefs imprinted name.Thus was born Slavic mythology, language and traditions became an indispensable tool.
method, which was originally connected with the comparison of languages, Russian science was first transferred to the folklore Buslaev, who used it to explore the mythological traditions of the Slavic people.He said: "People used to be a poet. And the individuals were considered narrators or singers. The rites of ancient Slavic traditions completely dominated the storyteller, not allowing it to stand out. That's when developing the epos. Subsequently from it stood out a fairy tale. In this people preservetheir traditions not only in fairy tales and legends, but also in the sayings, proverbs, riddles, proverbs, short plots, signs, oaths and superstitions. "Gradually mythological theory Buslaeva develops the school of the theory of borrowing and comparative mythology.At the center of its attention on the problem of the creation myth.According to the theory, Slavic mythology was created arias.
There is a comparative method of Afanasiev.He believed that the particular importance for a proper understanding of Slavic mythology has tales and epics (the term "epic" was introduced Sakharov, before all the epic songs called vintage).Powerful epic Russia can be put on a par with the heroic myths of some other systems mythology.The difference lies in the fact that more are historical epics as narrate different events that occurred in the 11-16 centuries.The most famous of heroes - a Selyaninovich Mikula, Ilya Muromets, Vasily Buslaev, Volga.At the same time they are perceived not only as individuals, relevant to a particular era in history, but also as the founders and defenders of epic heroes.It is from here - their unity with nature and the magic power of invincibility.
