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Slavic Paganism(s): Past and Present
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Slavic Paganism(s): Past and Present

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2023) | Viewed by 13907

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Aleksey (Oleksiy) Yudin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Interests: ethnolinguistics; studies of folklore, mythology, religion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The main focus of the proposed Special Issue is Slavic pagan mythology as a system of pre-Christian beliefs about gods, as well as about various characters of different mythological levels which have been documented by primary sources. In the first instance, the Special Issue discusses the spiritual and symbolic aspects of Slavic paganism: personal names, systems of characters, texts, symbols, and spiritual rituals.

The scope of the Special Issue is rooted in the general field of Slavic pagan religion(s). Primarily, this project will study mythological subjects and characters; we will zoom in on the history of the names, motifs, and narratives, while being preoccupied with all the texts that feature symbolic objects, terms, and actions. Neo-pagan beliefs, writings, and practices of the 20th–21st centuries—which essentially constitute the revival of paganism—are also included in the discussion.

The main purpose of the present Special Issue is to describe and analyse the historical development and current state of research in Slavic pagan mythology and religion, with special attention on its functioning in modern culture.

Specific topics which are invited for submission to this Special Issue include (but are not limited to): (1) Slavic pagan mythology; (2) the influence of Slavic paganism on folk Christianity; (3) the historiography of the reconstruction of Slavic mythology from an epistemological point of view; (4) contemporary neo-paganism and some related conceptions, such as monotheistic ”native faith”; (5) Slavic paganism in the literature, and in the visual and performative arts (including music, theatre, etc.)

There exists a plethora of classical and contemporary studies of Slavic paganism, including an important recently published monograph (Łuczyński 2022). Most of these are serious scholarly endeavours; however, they are simultaneously—and inevitably—products of their specific time. There remains a major problem, which is related to a certain number of methodologically unfounded, semi-fictitious scholarly works, a large number of compiled "popular" lexicons, and all sorts of neo-pagan writings. The complicated task of publishing critical (re)interpretations of the main textual corpus of Slavic paganism, as well as writing histories of its study, has largely been solved. However, there remains an urgent need to offer more publications of Western conventional scholarship which summarises the studies of many important topics; additionally, the task of engaging in critical epistemological analysis of existing works on Slavic mythology has not yet been completed. It is also important to try to study the influence of scholarly and pseudo/non-scholarly literature, discussing the multitude of subjects of Slavic paganism on adherents of neo-paganism and on modern culture. Our special volume is aimed at contributing new, meaningful research in this area.  

Tentative completion schedule:

  • Abstract submission deadline: February 10th, 2023
  • Notification of abstract acceptance: March 10th, 2023
  • Full manuscript deadline: August 10th, 2023

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400-600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editor ([email protected]) or to the Religions editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-anonymised peer-review.

References

Łuczyński, Michał, 2022, Mity słowian. Śladami świętych opowieści przodków. Szczecin, Triglav.

Dr. Aleksey (Oleksiy) Yudin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Slavic paganism
  • Slavic mythology
  • Slavic folk (popular) religion
  • Slavic neo-paganism
 

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 348 KiB  
Article
Pre-Christian Eschatological Motifs in the Ukrainian Dumas and Spiritual Verses and Their Germanic Parallels
by Mykhailo Rakhno
Religions 2024, 15(7), 846; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070846 - 14 Jul 2024
Viewed by 712
Abstract
The Ukrainian folklore genres least studied in a mythological context are the epic songs: dumas and spiritual verses. In particular, it is possible to find concepts of the beginning and the end of the world in these works. In many aspects, they are [...] Read more.
The Ukrainian folklore genres least studied in a mythological context are the epic songs: dumas and spiritual verses. In particular, it is possible to find concepts of the beginning and the end of the world in these works. In many aspects, they are close to the Old Germanic ones, especially concerning the mythological connection between natural cataclysms and the breaking of family ties, as shown by several archaic examples. This article deals with these cosmogonic and eschatological notions in Ukrainian and Scandinavian epics. The author points to a similar outlook in both epic traditions and a similarity in emotional and evaluative identifications of events. These parallels must be owed to Germano-Slavic contacts in the early Middle Ages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Slavic Paganism(s): Past and Present)
90 pages, 78589 KiB  
Article
Griby i Mukhi: A Historical Contextualization of the Esoteric Mushroom Religion of Moscow Conceptualism: Fungal Erotic Imagery of Entheogens and Insects
by Dennis Ioffe
Religions 2024, 15(7), 777; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070777 - 27 Jun 2024
Viewed by 2869
Abstract
This paper aims to observe, contextualize, and analyze the multifaceted religious fungal foundations of Moscow Conceptualism within the context of Slavic and European esoteric mythological praxis. By unveiling the thematic basis of their transgressive spiritual endeavors, this study seeks to enhance our comprehension [...] Read more.
This paper aims to observe, contextualize, and analyze the multifaceted religious fungal foundations of Moscow Conceptualism within the context of Slavic and European esoteric mythological praxis. By unveiling the thematic basis of their transgressive spiritual endeavors, this study seeks to enhance our comprehension of this artistic and literary movement in the Western world. Besides exploring the erotic aesthetics associated with mushrooms, significant attention is devoted to various flies, as the biological vitality of the mukhomor (‘fly agaric’ or amanita muscaria) is inconceivable without them. Moscow Conceptualist visionaries, including Andrey Monastyrsky, Ilia Kabakov, Elagina and Makarevich, and the Mukhomor Moscow collectives, along with their no less famous colleague from Leningrad, Sergey Kuriokhin, emerge not only as artists but also as literary innovators. They seamlessly integrate advancements from the realm of art, giving rise to a novel form of religiously symbiotic semiosis. Consequently, the traditional boundaries between diverse art forms become blurred, marking a distinctive characteristic that aligns with international contemporary avant-garde aesthetics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Slavic Paganism(s): Past and Present)
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9 pages, 194 KiB  
Article
Afanas’ev’s Poetic Views of the Slavs’ on Nature and Its Role in Understanding Paganism and Mythology
by Andrei Toporkov
Religions 2024, 15(2), 206; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020206 - 8 Feb 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1472
Abstract
The article analyzes the mythological concept of Slavic paganism developed by Alexander Afanas’ev in his three-volume study Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature: An Attempt at a Comparative Study of Slavic Traditions and Beliefs in Connection with the Mythical Tales of Other [...] Read more.
The article analyzes the mythological concept of Slavic paganism developed by Alexander Afanas’ev in his three-volume study Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature: An Attempt at a Comparative Study of Slavic Traditions and Beliefs in Connection with the Mythical Tales of Other Related Peoples (1865–1869). In this book, Afanas’ev established numerous parallels between the pagan myths of the Slavs and other Indo-European peoples and reconstructed mythological images of the world tree, the tree of life, and the world egg. He also reconstructed myths about the sacred marriage between heaven and earth; the creation of the world from the body of the first man and the creation of man from the natural elements; the dying and resurrected god of vegetation and fertility; and the duel between the god of thunderstorms and his earthly adversary; as well as dualistic myths about the struggle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness and about the creation of the earth. Afanas’ev also explored enduring metaphorical pairs such as death–dream, battle–wedding feast, thunderstorm–battle, and so on. Depending on the readers’ points of view, they can appreciate the book as a grandiose compendium of folklore and historical-ethnographic materials; as a scholarly work devoted to Slavic mythology; as a symbolarium of folk culture; and as a beautiful fairy tale about the pagan past. Although Afanas’ev’s book has all the attributes of a scholarly publication, it can also be read as a work of fiction in which the author does not so much analyze mythology as he tries to present the point of view of a primitive poet–artist. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Slavic Paganism(s): Past and Present)
11 pages, 260 KiB  
Article
Mythological Notions of the Deceased among the Slavic Peoples
by Dragana Djurić
Religions 2024, 15(2), 194; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020194 - 5 Feb 2024
Viewed by 3169
Abstract
Many taboos and a high resistance to change are the hallmark of posthumous rituals and customs among all Slavic peoples, which has helped maintain their archaic nature. According to Slavic beliefs, in the otherworld, the souls of the deceased who were kind-hearted during [...] Read more.
Many taboos and a high resistance to change are the hallmark of posthumous rituals and customs among all Slavic peoples, which has helped maintain their archaic nature. According to Slavic beliefs, in the otherworld, the souls of the deceased who were kind-hearted during their lifetime join the group of their ancestors who guard the living, providing them with prosperity and fertility. In return, living descendants had an obligation to periodically organize commemorations for the deceased, invoke memories of them, and make (food) offerings meant for the salvation of their souls. On the other hand, Slavs believed that the deceased who died prematurely or violently, or those who were dishonourable throughout their lives, became “the revenant deceased” or “the impure deceased” and could bring harm, sickness, and death to the living. For these reasons, people tended to prepare all of the dead—particularly the ones whose souls could potentially become members of the “impure” group—adequately for the funeral and to see their souls off from this world following traditional rites. This research is based on the presupposition that, among folk beliefs, customs, and rituals regarding the deceased (and their souls), there is a substratum whose archaic nature reaches back to the period when Slavic peoples lived together. These are folk beliefs and customs which appear in all three groups of Slavic peoples but are not related to any of the predominant religions, primarily Christianity, nor did they emerge under the influences of those religions. The sources used in the research include a published ethnographic corpus of data and scientific papers on posthumous rites among the Slavs. Also taken into account were archaeological, historical, and linguistic sources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Slavic Paganism(s): Past and Present)
13 pages, 279 KiB  
Article
Viy in Nikolai Gogol’s Novella and Related Mythological Creatures in Ukrainian Folklore
by Kostyantyn Rakhno
Religions 2024, 15(1), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010033 - 25 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1890
Abstract
This article examines Ukrainian folkloric parallels to Viy, a character in the horror novella of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. It is a formidable chthonic, demonic creature whose eyelids cover the eyes and need to be lifted, and the gaze sees what [...] Read more.
This article examines Ukrainian folkloric parallels to Viy, a character in the horror novella of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. It is a formidable chthonic, demonic creature whose eyelids cover the eyes and need to be lifted, and the gaze sees what is hidden from others. Although the writer claimed that this character, like the entire plot of the story, was taken from Ukrainian folklore, some modern researchers claim that Viy is the author’s own invention. This is contradicted by folkloric data, primarily Ukrainian lore. Demonic characters with different names but with the same appearance and very similar functions as Viy appear in Ukrainian folk tales, legends and beliefs recorded in the 19th and 20th centuries. The plots have various degrees of closeness to the plot of Gogol’s story, showing that Viy is an authentic figure from Ukrainian folklore. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Slavic Paganism(s): Past and Present)
12 pages, 1353 KiB  
Article
From Name to Myth (Based on Russian Cultural and Literary Tradition)
by Olesia D. Surikova and Elena L. Berezovich
Religions 2023, 14(11), 1412; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111412 - 10 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1286
Abstract
This paper analyzes the cases wherein a previously unknown and unique mythological character (with his/her specific behavior, “personal” traits, appearance, origin, etc.) is generated by a cultural linguistic sign or a fragment of text. This research is based on the Russian cultural and [...] Read more.
This paper analyzes the cases wherein a previously unknown and unique mythological character (with his/her specific behavior, “personal” traits, appearance, origin, etc.) is generated by a cultural linguistic sign or a fragment of text. This research is based on the Russian cultural and linguistic tradition, mainly in its dialectal version (the language of Russian peasants). Its sources include data published in the late 19th–early 21st century in dictionaries of Russian dialects and, primarily, the unpublished field materials of the Ural Federal University Toponymic Expedition, covering data from the Russian North, the Urals, and the Volga region. According to their nature or origin, the names of characters studied in this paper derive from two types of linguistic signs: (1) Names based on usual forms of standard vocabulary that can be both proper and common nouns; the former may refer to various categories, such as toponyms (names of geographical objects), chrononyms (names of calendar dates), hagionyms (names of saints), names of icons, etc. (2) Names originating from a text, usually folkloric; these are word combinations or phrases that only act as a single unit within their “parent” text. Sometimes, but less often, these consist of one word that is of key importance in the source text. Such a phrase or word can migrate outside the “parent” text or genre, expanding their lexical combinability and changing their syntactic regime to become a name of a mythological character. It takes two sources of motivation for a new character to emerge—a linguistic (a word that seeks a new context) and a cultural one (a semiotically intense context, such as a situation associated with danger, prohibition, omens, aggression, or magical practices). The combination of these incentives is not uncommon, so the stock of mythology used for names is being constantly renewed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Slavic Paganism(s): Past and Present)
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