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.
Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales. New York: Dutton, 1963. 65-71. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary'.
Further exploration of the myth teaches more about Northern Europeans who believed it as their creation myth and reveals their emphasis on structure and order as well as a belief in supernatural
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,
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.
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.
Over the recent centuries, the definition of myth has decayed into a word synonymous with falsehoods and lies. This idea of myths being completely false and therefore useless is a fairly modern one. To combat the rise of empirical science in the 1900s, theologians brought the idea of wholly literal, fundamental religion into being to combat ideas that did not perfectly align with the tenants of the religion (May 24). This was the final death blow to the idea of the metaphysical myth that was already wounded from thousands of years of being denounced as pagan or barbaric. The rise of empirical science also lent to the decay of the meaning of myth. Science was able to explain the natural world far better than a myth ever could; however, it lacked the metaphysical aspect. Due to these rising ideologies, myths hav...
Myths relate to events, conditions, and deeds of gods or superhuman beings that are outside ordinary human life and yet basics to it” ("Myth," 2012). Mythology is said to have two particular meanings, “the corpus of myths, and the study of the myths, of a particular area: Amerindian mythology, Egyptian mythology, and so on as well as the study of myth itself” ("Mythology," 1993). In contrast, while the term myth can be used in a variety of academic settings, its main purpose is to analyze different cultures and their ways of thinking. Within the academic setting, a myth is known as a fact and over time has been changed through the many different views within a society as an effort to answer the questions of human existence. The word myth in an academic context is used as “ancient narratives that attempt to answer the enduring and fundamental human questions: How did the universe and the world come to be? How did we come to be here? Who are we? What are our proper, necessary, or inescapable roles as we relate to one another and to the world at large? What should our values be? How should we behave? How should we not behave? What are the consequences of behaving and not behaving in such ways” (Leonard, 2004 p.1)? My definition of a myth is a collection of false ideas put together to create
At some point in every Pagans life, we are questioned about the beliefs and practices of these religions due to a wide spread belief that Pagan religion is that of a Cult, or Sa...
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.
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.
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.