Nav ( Croatian,

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

, Slovak: ''Nav'', , , , , , '' Mavka'' or , ) is a phrase used to denote the

souls The soul is the purported immaterial aspect or essence of a living being. It is typically believed to be immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that describe the relationship between the soul and the bod ...

of the dead in

Slavic mythology Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, or Slavic religion refer to the Religion, religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation of the Slavs, Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and ...

. The singular form (''Nav'' or ''Nawia'') is also used as a name for an

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

, over which Veles exercises custody—it is often interpreted as another name for the underground variant of the '' Vyraj'' (

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

Etymology

The words ''nawia'', ''nav'' and its other variants are most likely derived from the

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...

, meaning "corpse", "deceased". Cognates in other

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

include Latvian ("death"), Lithuanian ("death"),

Old Prussian Old Prussian is an extinct West Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to av ...

("body, flesh"),

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian language, Russian and Ruthenian language ...

() ("corpse, dead body") and Gothic (, "dead body, corpse").Razauskas, Dainius (2011). “Ryba – mifologičeskij Proobraz lodki" he Fish As a Mythological Prototype of the Boat In: '' Studia Mythologica Slavica'' 14 (October). Ljubljana, Slovenija, 296, 303. https://doi.org/10.3986/sms.v14i0.1614.

As souls or spirits

The ''nawie'', ''nawki'', sometimes also referred to as ''lalki'' (Polish language; all plural forms) were used as names for the souls of the dead. According to some scholars (namely

Stanisław Urbańczyk Stanisław Urbańczyk (27 July 1909 – 23 October 2001) was a Polish linguist and academic, a professor at the universities of Toruń, Poznań and Kraków. He was the head of the Institute of the Polish Language at the Polish Academy of Sciences ...

, among others), this word was a general name for demons arising out of the souls of tragic and premature deaths, killers, warlocks, the murdered and the Drowned Dead. They were said to be hostile and unfavourable towards humans, being jealous of life. In

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n folklore there exists the character of 12 that sucked the blood out of women giving birth, whereas in the Ruthenian

Primary Chronicle The ''Primary Chronicle'', shortened from the common ''Russian Primary Chronicle'' (, commonly transcribed ''Povest' vremennykh let'' (PVL), ), is a Rus' chronicle, chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been or ...

the are presented as a demonic personification of the 1092 plague in

Polotsk Polotsk () or Polatsk () is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the Dvina River and serves as the administrative center of Polotsk District. Polotsk is served by Polotsk Airport and Borovitsy air base. As of 2025, it has a pop ...

. According to folk tales, the ''nawie'' usually took the form of birds.

As an underworld

The phrase ''Nawia'' (Polish) or ''Nav'' (used across Slavic tongues) was also utilised as a name for the Slavonic underworld, ruled by the god Veles, enclosed away from the world either by a living sea or river, according to some beliefs located deep underground. According to Ruthenian folklore, Veles lived on a swamp in the centre of Nav, where he sat on a golden throne at the base of the Cosmic Tree, wielding a sword. Symbolically, the Nav has also been described as a huge green plain—pasture, onto which Veles guides

. The entrance to ''Nav'' was guarded by a Zmey. It was believed the souls would later be reborn on earth.Nikolay Shevchenko
''Where did ancient Slavs go after death?''

Russia Beyond the Headlines ''Russia Beyond'' (formerly ''Russia Beyond The Headlines'') is a Russian multilingual project operated by RT (formerly ''Russia Today'') parent ANO TV-Novosti, founded by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. History ''Russia Beyond Th ...

, 9 March 2018. It is highly likely that these folk beliefs were the inspiration behind the neopagan idea of

Jav, Prav and Nav Prav (Правь), Yav (Явь) and Nav (Навь) are the three dimensions or qualities of the cosmos as described in the first chapter of the Book of Light and in the ''Book of Veles'' (probably a fabrication from the 19-20 century) of Slavic Na ...

in the literary forgery known as the

Book of Veles The Book of Veles (also called the Veles Book, Vles book, Vlesbook or Isenbeck's Planks; ) is a literary forgery purporting to be a text of ancient Slavic religion and history supposedly written on wooden planks. It contains what purport to be ...

Etymology

As souls or spirits

As an underworld

See also

Footnotes

References

Further reading