Slavic mythology is characterized by the fact that it is a comprehensive creation story. It represents not a separate branch of the national representations of the world like a fantasy, or religion; but is embodied even in the home – whether it is rites, rituals, worship or agricultural calendar or demonology. Therefore, practically destroyed in past, it continues to live in images, symbols, rituals and in the language itself.
Paganism covers the entire field of spiritual culture and much of the material culture of ancient peoples, but most of all human's relations with nature. The main focus for ancient humans was the relationship with nature. Therefore, the worship of nature can be considered as one of pagan’s most important properties. The nature’s objects such as the sun, the moon, stars, air, fire, water, animals, plants, stones, etc are recognized as deities.
Every mythology is the flesh and blood of people it has created. It is a mirror that reflects the character of the nation, its values and anti-values. The myth is in direct contact with the environment of the people-creators. It is very interesting to compare the mythological systems of different nations, displaying the correspondences and contrasts. “The farther you go from the Mediterranean Sea to the North the sterner spirit of mythology becomes, and the crueler gods, bloody battles, tragic conflicts and hopeless fates become. The ‘increasing drama’ reaches its height in the extreme Northern European mythology, the mythology of Scandinavians.” (Gritsanov 1312) In general, Scandinavian mythology produces severe and sublime experience. It is obvious that it belonged to the stern and courageous people who did not fear to face death. The whole course of the...
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...ch our souls with a new understanding of the nature that surrounds us. After all, our ancestors were more sensitive to the entire universe. The echoes of both creation myths still live in their societies. The twentieth century was the era of genuine revival of Norse mythology - both cultural and practical. The new paganism literally afflicted Europe and North America, restoring the rights of the ancient faith, giving it the official status. In the literature, an entire area, known as "Nordic fantasy”, is based on mythological Scandinavian stories. In other words, the Scandinavian myths regained its “flesh and blood” and deserve the favorable attention.
Religion of our ancestors, which some consider as forgotten, to this day continues to live in people’s everyday life. Some pagan Slavs’ holidays like Maslenitsa, Lele’s Holiday or Svarog’s day are still celebrated.
In history the pagans have been viewed as godless infidels. Many who practice paganism live in fear related to the judgment of others that hold differing views on religion. Much of the persecution of the Pagan has been related to their practice of magic. What is amazing is that much of the magic once practiced by pagans was similar to that of modern medicine (Some Basic Pagan, n.d.). Despite their apprehension and fear of persecution, it has been reported that Paganism has been described as one of the most rapidly growing religious movements in the world today (Eilers, p.
The adoption of Eastern Orthodoxy by the Slavs marked a new era for the culture of Russia. In the Primary Chronicle we come across many tales that illustrate the transformation from staunch paganism to strict Orthodox Christianity that was adopted by the state. The tale “Vladimir Christianizes Russia” is one such story that glorifies Vladimir’s great triumph in choosing Eastern Orthodoxy and delivering the Slavs to salvation. Through justifying the adoption of Christianity, emphasizing the importance of aestheticism in ceremony, and illustrating the overwhelming Slavic transition from paganism to Christianity we are able to glean the importance of Vladimir’s success in transitioning the Slavs to Eastern Orthodoxy.
In discussing the Jewish sentiment about paganism, Plaskow reveals that hatred of other religions, reinforced by religious texts and aspects of culture can cause Jews to not know how other traditions have shaped their own. Plaskow argues that by hating paganism, the Jewish community misses out on parts of their own history. By pushing away paganism, Jews disguise “the important role that concrete artifacts played in ancient Jewish practice” (Plaskow, [Jewish Anti-Paganism], 1999, 111-112). By ignoring this fact, Jews prevent themselves from seeing the entire picture and the history of their tradition’s beginnings. Additionally, by being uneducated on how women played roles such as “dancers and diviners, musicians and priestesses” in the early days of their religions, Jews have allowed their tradition to exclude “women from religious leaderships” (Plaskow, [Jewish Anti-Paganism], 1999, 112). While Plaskow does not believe that paganism be directly incorporated into the Jewish tradition, only that the paganism should be attended more “closely and critically” in order for the tradition to not suppress “real human beings and distort our understanding of ourselves” (Plaskow, [Jewish Anti-Paganism], 1999,
These aspects of their culture have made a significant contribution to their quality of life. Moreover, these topics will be examined in relation to the twelve Olympian gods and their associates. The ancient Greeks practiced a religion that was, in effect, a building block to many ensuing pagan religions. This religion revolved around their reverence for the gods. Essentially, the Greeks worshipped numerous gods, making their religion polytheistic.
The first vignette, A.D. 813, illustrates the establishment of gods in the new world. Norsemen sail to North America, calling on the All-Father to keep them safe. Once established, their bard sings of Odin around the campfire. The Norsemen then meet a native, a “scraeling… dressed in furs” with “small bones braided into his long hair” (68). They entertain and feed him before sacrificing him to their god: “…they carried him at the head of a procession to an ash tree…where they put a rope around his neck and hung him high in tribute to the All-Father…” (68). While their singing to Odin drew the Grimner’s attention, it was the sacrifice that brought him to the new land. The day after the homage, “two huge ravens landed upon the scraeling’s corpse…[and] the men knew their sacrifice had been accepted” (68-69). The blood and sacrifice strengthened Odin’s tie to the land. Though the Norsemen all die in an attack by natives, the religion, though abandoned, is not entirely forgotten. When Leif the Fortunate arrives later, his gods await him.
Paganism is a religion of nature, in other words Pagans feel deep respect for Nature. Pagans see the divine as existence in life and the universe; in every living thing, every animal, plant, earth and man and woman, in the dark side of life as much as in the light. Pagans live their lives in tune with the cycles of nature; the seasons, life and death.
Paganism is the oldest religion in human history, originating with Vikings and Celts. Monotheism is widely rejected in the followers of Paganism and while the use of magic is a stigma usually tied to Paganism and various other occult religions, not every pagan practices ritualistic magic. Through the various topics and examples, Pagan culture, different deities, and practices were shown and explained. Common misconceptions, deities, rituals, traditions, and influences on Christianity/modern America have all formed into one and brought the true nature of Paganism to light.
Norse, Japanese, and Greek mythologies, too, agree on a lot of ideals. They each contain a clash of gods and the death of certain gods in order to form life. The list of creation myths, and myths in general, that relate to each other could stretch out for miles. With these parallels, humanity can better understand earlier cultures and document the method to how mythologies change over time. Works Cited Browning, W. R. F. Dictionary of the Bible.
Hatch, Jane M. The American Book of Days. 3rd ed. Ed. George William Douglas. New York: Wilson, 1978. Mercatante, Anthony S. "Freyja." The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend. 1988.
The writer acquaints the reader with the idea of myth. While recognizing that researchers contrast enormously on the exact definition, Oswalt demands that this should not discourage the single person from looking for a decent meaning of the saying. While trying to help characterize the saying, he records four essential qualities of a myth. These qualities conclude that people have practically zero natural worth, they are relatively absence of enthusiasm toward history, they are fascinated with magic and the occult, and they refuse to acknowledge obligation regarding individual
There are a few basic concepts of the pagan religion that really help illistarte it for people uninformed about it. Pagans respect nature and they live attuned to it, infact this is a religion based off nature. In addition, there are Goddesses as well as Gods and they symbolize aspects of nature and are within people and immanent of people. Im sure you have heard of the term "Mother Nature', becasue nature is seen as female, mother nature in pagan religion is thaought to be the mother of everyone and plants and creatures are in turn our siblings. Goddesses represent all that is female and gods represent all that is male, but, becasue of mother nature the goddesses ha...
In this essay, I am going to look at the Norsemen of Scandinavia. I will speculate on the way people may have lived in the three countries which spawned the distinctive Viking culture – Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I will focus on social hierarchy, social games, arms and armour, paganism, settlements, craftsmanship and burials. I will attempt to look at the Norse way of life in more detail than what is usually given, and leave the reader to decide whether they think the conventional views of the Norsemen are justified.
Russian culture dates back INSERT YEAR ,at this time Russia was the geologically shapeless country because of the lack of natural borders, and it’s history began with the formation of northern warrior-trader cities.(Billington, The Icon and the Axe, 3). At this time Russians were pagans of the gens religion, the gens religion was about viewing the individual as a transient moment in the life of the clan. Seeing oneself as part of a whole family and not as an individual shows the start of Russians view on se...
http://www.pentheon.com/articles/o/odin.html 1 page, accessed April 7, 2004. Created on March 3 1997, Modified Feb. 12, 2004. Encyclopedia Mythica 1995-2004
Throughout studying many myths, I came up with many new observations. Many questions came into my mind about these myths. Greek mythology takes us back to a time when people had a connection with nature and when nature played a major role in people’s lives. The religious beliefs of the people who wrote the myths are found in the background of these myths; however, they are not to be read like religious texts. The myths try to offer explanations of “how”, which makes us think deeply about the purpose of these myths and the questions they draw to our minds. According to the myths we studied in class, the world created the gods, not the other way around. The gods were always created in the image of man, which shows how much men were important in their society. Furthermore, many of these Greek myths show us the difference between the views of the Greek then and our view towards many aspects of the society, including nature. Monsters appear in Greek myths and have different representations and roles. Greek mythology reflects a view of the Greeks towards the world and how certain aspects of their lives are similar and different to modern society.