Monthly Archives: December 2019
God of fertility
The God of fertility associated with Navya (the lower world) was Veles (Volos, Vlas). The name Veles goes back to the ancient root “vel” with the meaning “dead”. But since the world of the dead was associated with the idea of magic power, the owner of which subdues people, the same root means power and is found in the words “power”, “command”, “possess”, “great”. Descent into the other world brings the hero omniscience, special wisdom, often associated with poetic features, so Veles is simultaneously the God of wisdom and poetry (the prophetic singer Boyan in” the Word about Igor’s regiment “is called the grandson of “Veles’s grandson”). Continue reading
Ancient Russian shrines
Externally, the sanctuary looked like a real fortress on the high Bank of the Desna: a deep moat, a high horseshoe-shaped rampart and wooden walls (fence?) on the upper edge of the platform. The diameter of the rounded (now triangular) site was about 60 m, i.e. it was equal to the diameter of medium-sized marsh settlements.
The inner structure of the courtyard of the sanctuary-fortress was as follows: along the entire rampart, close to it was built in the Western part of the site a long, curved structure with a width of 6 m. its Length (including the collapsed part) should have been about 60 m. Continue reading
