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Slavic mythology Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the B ...

, Ognyena Maria (literally "Fiery Mary") is a fire goddess who is the sister and assistant of the thunder god,

Perun In Slavic mythology, Perun (Cyrillic: Перýн) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, iris, eagle, firmam ...

. Ognyena Maria originates as a conflation of the figures of

Margaret the Virgin Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr ( grc-gre, Ἁγία Μαρίνα) in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in the Western Rite Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic Church and Anglicanism, o ...

and the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

, both regarded as sisters of Saint Elias. This divinity also appears with southern Slavs, and is usually considered to be the sister of the thunder god/saint.Petrovitch, Woislav M.; Karadzhic, Vuk Stefanovic.
Hero tales and legends of the Serbians
'. New York: Frederick A. Stokes company. 915p. 15. She was also associated with rain or the sea, or with Lazarus (Марина Лазоревая) and azure flashes of lightning. Ognyena Maria’s feast in the folk calendar of the Slavs is on July 17, on the Julian calendar (around 30 July).

Belarus

In Belarus, she is prayed towards for healing from ailments: "Добры вечар, цёмна ноч! На табе, вада, маю бяду, а мне маё здароўе назад аддай" ("Good evening, dark night! I leave my troubles to you, water, and give me my health in return.")

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, she is celebrated on July 22, as the day she prevents fires. A strict ban is observed on housework to prevent any disastrous fires on that day, as the summer at July was hot enough to start such outbreaks. They believe that anyone who breaks the ban will suffer destructive fires that will break out against them and their households. Her festival culminates a celebration on 15–22 July, related to the Goreshtnitsi Festival at the 28–30 July. As the mistress of snakes, people were also forbidden from using ropes and threads on her feast days. During those days, snakes were said to hide in the underworld. The first day of Goreshtnitsi was when all fires were extinguished, and no new fires will be lit until the third day, when the Bulgarians celebrate the fires of the Holy Spirit. Some do it to celebrate Ognyena Maria's power over fire. Some Bulgarians believe that as she is the sister of

Saint Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books o ...

, she hides from him on St. Elias' Day, to ensure that he would not be so delighted, that his lightning and thunder would destroy everything.

Russia

In Russia, she is considered as the daughter of a king from the sea. As she felt bored of life in his palace, she fled to land. Her father got angry from this, and so he rained down darts of lightning on her birthday, that anyone who saw the lightning will be blind. Her birthday falls around Trinity Week (also known as Русальная неделя, or Rusalka Week), or St. Elias' Day. People were advised not to swim or bathe on the days leading to Trinity Week, as it is believed that

mermaids In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

would drown anyone who does so on any water. If anyone has to, crosses, garlic, magic charms, and wormwood were used to stave the mermaids off.

Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

and parts of

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

with

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

population, including

Republic of Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located ...

, Ognjena Marija is usually associated with

and along with

, is considered as one of the fiery saints ( sr, огњевити свеци, ognjeviti sveci). According to the traditional views, the people are usually forbidden to do any kind of work on Ognjena Marija's day, as it won't bring them any good. This even includes simple tasks such as putting thread into needle or even washing ones clothes with washing machine. It is believed that the disobedient people will be punished with extensive fires, which will burn their crops, haystacks and homes. The similar beliefs exist for the Saint Elijahs day, where instead of fires, the disobedient people and their property will be stricken with thunder, ultimately resulting in either decimation of their food supplies and shelter or even in death. In contrast to that, the families that celebrate Ognjena Marija as their

Slava Slava may refer to: Ships * ''Slava'' class cruiser, a modern Russian warship ** Soviet cruiser Slava (1979), now Russian cruiser ''Moskva'', a ''Slava'' class guided missile cruiser sunk during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine * Russian ba ...

, are allowed to do some work which is required to hold celebrations on that day. It is said that whichever family has Ognjena Marija as their Slava is always certain that they'll always have the fullest

crop yield In agriculture, the yield is a measurement of the amount of a crop grown, or product such as wool, meat or milk produced, per unit area of land. The seed ratio is another way of calculating yields. Innovations, such as the use of fertilizer, the c ...

Ukraine

In Ukraine, villagers would pay attention to the lightning in the sky, hoping that on Ognyena Maria's day, this will indicate that God will send rain for their crops.

References

Sources

* Rouček, Joseph Slabey. ''Slavonic Encyclopaedia''. Philosophical Library, 1949. * Zhuravlyov, Anatoly Fedorovich (2005)
"Язык и миф. Лингвистический комментарий к труду А. Н. Афанасьева «Поэтические воззрения славян на природу»"
''Традиционная духовная культура славян'', Индрик, Института славяноведения РАН (

Institute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Institute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russian: Институт славяноведения РАН) is an integral part of the Historical and Philological Studies Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It ...