|
German (mythology)
German (GER-man, ) is a South Slavic mythological being, recorded in the folklore of eastern Serbia and northern Bulgaria. He is a male spirit associated with bringing rain and hail. His influence on these precipitations can be positive, resulting in the amount of rain beneficial for agriculture, or negative, with a drought, downpours, or hail. Rituals connected with German included making a doll intended to represent this personage. This effigy of German, made of rags, fired clay, or dried fruits, was rather large, usually with a distinct representation of the male genitals. It was produced and used in rituals exclusively by girls or young women. Janićijević, pages 184-186.Pešikan-Ljuštanović In Eastern Serbia, when a drought developed, girls would make such a doll, and bring it to a river bank. Depending on the regional custom, they would either bury it by the river, or put it in a little coffin and let it float down the river. Two of the girls would then start lamenting fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Slavs
South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hungary, Romania, and the Black Sea, the South Slavs today include Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, and Slovenes, respectively the main populations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. In the 20th century, the country of Yugoslavia (from Serbo-Croatian, literally meaning "South Slavia" or "South Slavdom") united majority of South Slavic peoples and lands—with the exception of Bulgarians and Bulgaria—into a single state. The Pan-Slavic concept of ''Yugoslavia'' emerged in the late 17th century Croatia, at the time party of Habsburg Monarchy, and gained prominence through the 19th-century Illyrian movement. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Niš
The University of Niš ( sr, Универзитет у Нишу, Univerzitet u Nišu) is a public university in Serbia. It was founded in 1965 and consists of 13 faculties with 1,492 academic staff and around 20,500 students (as of 2018–19 school year). Since its founding, the university diploma has been acquired by more than 50,000 students, including 1,300 foreigners. It has a university library "Nikola Tesla"; the Faculty of Technology is located in Leskovac, Pedagogy Faculty in Vranje and Agriculture Faculty in Kruševac. History The University of Niš was incorporated as an independent degree-granting institution on 15 June 1965. In 1960 the first undergraduate programs commenced in Niš under the academic patronage of the University of Belgrade. They were institutionalized as the faculties of Law & Economics, Medicine, and Engineering. The university started its independent life with 234 full-time teaching staff and 6,800 students. Timeline *1968: the Department of E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dodola And Perperuna
Dodola (also spelled ''Dodole'', ''Dudola'', ''Dudula'' etc.) and Perperuna (also spelled ''Peperuda'', ''Preperuda'', ''Preperuša'', ''Prporuša'', ''Papaluga'' etc.), are Balkan rainmaking pagan customs practiced until the 20th century. The tradition is found in South Slavic countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia), as well as in near Albania, Greece, Hungary, Moldavia and Romania. It is a ceremonial ritual of singing and dancing done by young boys and girls in times of droughts. According to some interpretations it was related to Slavic god Perun, and Perperuna could have been a Slavic goddess of rain, and the wife of the supreme deity Perun (god of thunder and weather in the Slavic pantheon). Names The custom's Slavic prototype name is ''*Perperuna'' (with variations ''Preperuna'', ''Peperuna'', ''Preperuda/Peperuda'', ''Pepereda'', ''Preperuga/Peperuga'', ''Peperunga'', ''Pemperuga'' in Bulgaria and North Macedonia: ''Prporuša'', ''Parpar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caloian
''Caloian'' (also ''Calian(i)'', ''Caloiță'', ''Scaloian'', ''Gherman'', or ''Iene'') was a rainmaking and fertility rite in Romania, similar in some ways to ''Dodola''. Its namesake is a clay effigy, whose sculpting, funeral, exhumation, and eventual destruction are centerpieces of the display. The source of this ritual, as is the case with those of many other local popular beliefs and practices, precedes the introduction of Christianity, although it came in time to be associated with Orthodox Easter or with the Feast of the Ascension. In some variants it was performed on a precisely calculated day two to three weeks after Easter, though local communities could also revive it at other times of the year, specifically during drought. The figurine was generally made from clay and most often by girls, though sometimes also by boys or married women; the ceremony itself would draw in the whole village community as spectators, and, in isolated cases, also had active participation fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elijah
Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a thaumaturgy, miracle worker who lived in the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BCE). In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worship of the Yahweh, Hebrew God over that of the Canaanite deity Baal. God also performed many miracles through Elijah, including resurrection, bringing fire down from the sky, and entering heaven alive "by fire".2 Kings 2:11 He is also portrayed as leading a school of prophets known as "the sons of the prophets". Following his ascension, Elisha, his disciple and most devoted assistant, took over his role as leader of this school. The Book of Malachi prophesies Elijah's return "before ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christianized Myths And Imagery
The term Christianized calendar refers to feast days which are Christianized reformulations of feasts from pre-Christian times. Christianization of saints Historian Peter Brown, in his ''The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity'', argued that one cannot equate the ancient cults of pagan gods with the later cults of the saints. However, Caesarius of Arles and other churchmen deplored certain customs that from time to time seem to develop around the saints, such as the prolonged drinking of toasts, ostensibly in honor of the saint. The historicity of some Christian saints has been treated skeptically by a number of academics, either because there is a paucity of historical evidence for their origins, or due to resemblances to pre-Christian deities and festivals. Some such local saints, especially those dating to when regions were being Christianized have been removed from the Calendar of Saints and effectively desanctified by the Catholic Church after i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marzanna
Marzanna (in Polish), Morė (in Lithuanian), Marena (in Russian), Mara (in Ukrainian), Morana (in Czech, Slovene and Serbo-Croatian), Morena (in Slovak and Macedonian) or Mora (in Bulgarian) is a pagan Slavic goddess associated with seasonal rites based on the idea of death and rebirth of nature. She is an ancient goddess associated with winter's death, rebirth and dreams. In ancient Slavic rites, the death of the Goddess Marzanna at the end of winter becomes the rebirth of Spring of the Goddess Kostroma (Russian), Lada or Vesna representing the coming of Spring. Some medieval Christian sources such as the Czech 13th century Mater Verborum compare her to the Greek goddess Hecate, associating her with sorcery. 15th century Polish chronicler Jan Długosz likened her in his ''Annales'' to Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture (together with another Slavic goddess Dziewanna). Lithuanian, Latvian and some Estonian sources, dated between the 13th and 14th century, note the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kostroma (tradition)
The pagan Slavs were polytheistic, which means that they worshipped many gods and goddesses. The gods of the Slavs are known primarily from a small number of chronicles and letopises, or not very accurate Christian sermons against paganism. Additional, more numerous sources in which Slavic theonyms are preserved include names, proper names, place names, folk holidays, and language, including sayings. Information about Slavic paganism, including the gods, is scarce because Christian missionaries were not very interested in the spiritual life of the Slavs. Also, no accounts written down directly by the pagan Slavs exist. During the Christianization missions, the deities, on the one hand, were demonized to deter from worshipping them, on the other hand, their characteristics and functions were assumed by the saints, which was supposed to make the new religion less alien. Common Slavic deities Because of the small number of sources, there is no consensus among scholars of Slavic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jarilo
Jarylo (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jarilo, Јарило; be, Ярыла), alternatively Yaryla, Iarilo, Juraj, Jurij, or Gerovit, is a East and South Slavic god of vegetation, fertility and springtime. Etymology The Proto-Slavic root ''*jarъ'' (jar), from Proto-Indo-European ''*yōr-'', ''*yeh₁ro-'', from ''*yeh₁r-'', means "spring" or "summer", "strong", "furious", "imbued with youthful life-force". This youthful life-force was considered sacred in the Slavic pre-Christian religion and the god personifying this sacred force was thus called Jarovit, or hypocoristically Jarilo. Sources The only historic source that mentions this deity is a 12th-century biography of the proselytizing German bishop Otto of Bamberg, who, during his expeditions to convert the pagan tribes of Wendish and Polabian Slavs, encountered festivals in honor of the war-god Gerovit in the cities of Wolgast and Havelberg. Gerovit is most likely a German derivation of the Slavic name ''Jarovit''. Up until the 19th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly existed before that. Evidence of ritual human sacrifice can also be found back to at least pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica as well as in European civilizations. Varieties of ritual non-human sacrifices are practiced by numerous religions today. Terminology The Latin term ''sacrificium'' (a sacrifice) derived from Latin ''sacrificus'' (performing priestly functions or sacrifices), which combined the concepts ''sacra'' (sacred things) and ''facere'' (to do or perform). The Latin word ''sacrificium'' came to apply to the Christian eucharist in particular, sometimes named a "bloodless sacrifice" to distinguish it from blood sacrifices. In individual non-Christian ethnic religions, terms translated as "sacrifice" include the Indic '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, mainly inhabiting Central and Eastern Europe, and the Balkans to the west; and Siberia to the east. A large Slavic minority is also scattered across the Baltic states and Central Asia, while a substantial Slavic diaspora is found throughout the Americas, as a result of immigration. Present-day Slavs are classified into East Slavs (chiefly Belarusians, Russians, Rusyns, and Ukrainians), West Slavs (chiefly Czechs, Kashubians, Poles, Slovaks and Sorbs) and South Slavs (chiefly Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes). The vast majority of Slavs are traditionally Christians. However, modern Slavic nations and ethnic groups are considerably diverse both genetically and culturally, and relations between the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein a monarch's servants are killed in order for them to continue to serve their master in the next life. Closely related practices found in some tribal societies are cannibalism and headhunting. Human sacrifice was practiced in many human societies beginning in prehistoric times. By the Iron Age with the associated developments in religion (the Axial Age), human sacrifice was becoming less common throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia, and came to be looked down upon as barbaric during classical antiquity. In the Americas, however, human sacrifice continued to be practiced, by some, to varying degrees until the European colonization of the Americas. Today, human sacrifice has become extremely rare. Modern secular laws treat human sacrifices ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Caloian")
_-_Ciudad_de_México.jpg "Click for more on -> Human Sacrifice")