KRESNIK, PERUN, AND JARILO
Slavic
KRESNIK
Slovene
Slovene mythology was recorded mostly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and it is an open question to what degree these oral traditions accurately reflect prehistoric traditions and to what degree they have been contaminated by Classical and Christian influences. Some scholars have traced elements of these stories to Proto-Indo-European sources, well before the Bronze Age, while others are less certain.
In the mythology and folklore of Slovenia, the story of Kresnik, son of the Sun, bears a resemblance to that of Jason. As Fanny S, Copeland wrote in 1933, summarizing a Yugoslav compilation of ethnographic research:
Very few true myths have survived among the Slovenes, the most important being that of Kresnik (or Krsnik), whose name [folklorist Dr. Jakob] Kelemina derives from the same root as that of the Slav word meaning "resurrection." This is most probably correct. […] The original Kresnik was of divine origin, son of the Lord of the Universe, and delegated by him to be the special divinity and saviour of the Slovenes. With the advent of Christianity the divinity of Kresnik was explained away. […]
Kresnik has distinctly both a divine and a human aspect. In his divine aspect he was the god of the spring sunshine, of the great annual rebirth of nature. He was the dragon-slayer, who delivered his people and his sister-bride from the monster. […] [H]e dwelt in the Golden Palace on the Crystal Mountain, and the apples of immortality grew in his garden. He cleared the Slovene lands of monsters, slew the dragon (the dragon can still be seen in the arms of the city of Ljubljana) and delivered the Maiden (Deva, Vesina), his sister and fore-ordained spouse, from magic captivity. With her he lived happily and gloriously until he was beguiled into unfaithfulness and fell a victim to the outraged love of his wife.
Kresnik's wife, Vesina (one of several variant names), is a goddess of spring and holds the title of "Snake Princess," daughter of Mara, Dark Queen of Shadows (cf. Hecate, Medea's patroness) or the snake itself. In Slovene myth, Vesina is Kresnik's sister as well as his wife. Sometimes the wife character is separated from the snake's daughter as a separate lover.
Though obviously different in many respects, this story features many of the key elements of the Jason story, arranged in a new order: the son of the Sun, the princess of the distant land, a treasure growing in a grove, a guardian serpent, the hero’s marriage to the princess, adultery, and the spurned wife’s revenge. In the possible etymology of Kresnik's name (there are many others, most plausibly from a word for "fire" or "flame"), we even see the echo of the story of Jason's rejuvenation. Additionally, like Jason, Kresnik is a skilled magician (cf. Jason's original function as master of healing/magical herbs) but one who prefers rural life and even pastures his own herds (cf. Apollodorus 1.9.16: "Jason loved husbandry and therefore abode in the country"). It is no wonder that the Slovenes identified Kresnik with Jason in making the Greek hero the founder of their capital, Ljubljana, an honor formerly held by Kresnik and another dragon-slayer, St. George.
Source: Fanny S. Copeland, "Slovene Myths," The Slavonic and East European Review 11, no. 33 (1933): 634, 637-8.
In the mythology and folklore of Slovenia, the story of Kresnik, son of the Sun, bears a resemblance to that of Jason. As Fanny S, Copeland wrote in 1933, summarizing a Yugoslav compilation of ethnographic research:
Very few true myths have survived among the Slovenes, the most important being that of Kresnik (or Krsnik), whose name [folklorist Dr. Jakob] Kelemina derives from the same root as that of the Slav word meaning "resurrection." This is most probably correct. […] The original Kresnik was of divine origin, son of the Lord of the Universe, and delegated by him to be the special divinity and saviour of the Slovenes. With the advent of Christianity the divinity of Kresnik was explained away. […]
Kresnik has distinctly both a divine and a human aspect. In his divine aspect he was the god of the spring sunshine, of the great annual rebirth of nature. He was the dragon-slayer, who delivered his people and his sister-bride from the monster. […] [H]e dwelt in the Golden Palace on the Crystal Mountain, and the apples of immortality grew in his garden. He cleared the Slovene lands of monsters, slew the dragon (the dragon can still be seen in the arms of the city of Ljubljana) and delivered the Maiden (Deva, Vesina), his sister and fore-ordained spouse, from magic captivity. With her he lived happily and gloriously until he was beguiled into unfaithfulness and fell a victim to the outraged love of his wife.
Kresnik's wife, Vesina (one of several variant names), is a goddess of spring and holds the title of "Snake Princess," daughter of Mara, Dark Queen of Shadows (cf. Hecate, Medea's patroness) or the snake itself. In Slovene myth, Vesina is Kresnik's sister as well as his wife. Sometimes the wife character is separated from the snake's daughter as a separate lover.
Though obviously different in many respects, this story features many of the key elements of the Jason story, arranged in a new order: the son of the Sun, the princess of the distant land, a treasure growing in a grove, a guardian serpent, the hero’s marriage to the princess, adultery, and the spurned wife’s revenge. In the possible etymology of Kresnik's name (there are many others, most plausibly from a word for "fire" or "flame"), we even see the echo of the story of Jason's rejuvenation. Additionally, like Jason, Kresnik is a skilled magician (cf. Jason's original function as master of healing/magical herbs) but one who prefers rural life and even pastures his own herds (cf. Apollodorus 1.9.16: "Jason loved husbandry and therefore abode in the country"). It is no wonder that the Slovenes identified Kresnik with Jason in making the Greek hero the founder of their capital, Ljubljana, an honor formerly held by Kresnik and another dragon-slayer, St. George.
Source: Fanny S. Copeland, "Slovene Myths," The Slavonic and East European Review 11, no. 33 (1933): 634, 637-8.
PERUN AND JARILO
Russian / Pan-Slavic
Perun was the Slavic god of thunder, cognate with the Baltic Perkunas. He lives in the high heavens and to him is sacred the eagle and the oak, just like his Greek equivalent, Zeus. He is frequently paired with Veles, or Volos, a chthonic deity associated with cattle, serpents and dragons, and the underworld.
The first reference to ancient Slavic beliefs comes in the work of Procopius, a historian working during the reign of Justinian I. In his History of the Wars (VII. 14. 22ff.), he describes the beliefs of the Sclaveni and the Antae, two early Slav peoples. His reference to the god of lightning is taken to be the first reference to Perun in recorded history:
For these nations, the Sclaveni and the Antae, are not ruled by one man, but they have lived from of old under a democracy, and consequently everything which involves their welfare, whether for good or for ill, is referred to the people. It is also true that in all other matters, practically speaking, these two barbarian peoples have had from ancient times the same institutions and customs. For they believe that one god, the maker of lightning, is alone lord of all things, and they sacrifice to him cattle and all other victims; but as for fate, they neither know it nor do they in any wise admit that it has any power among men, but whenever death stands close before them, either stricken with sickness or beginning a war, they make a promise that, if they escape, they will straightway make a sacrifice to the god in return for their life; and if they escape, they sacrifice just what they have promised, and consider that their safety has been bought with this same sacrifice. They reverence, however, both rivers and nymphs and some other spirits, and they sacrifice to all these also, and they make their divinations in connection with these sacrifices.
Source: Procopius in Seven Volumes, with an English translation by H. B. Dewing, vol. 4 (London: William Heinemann, 1924).
Thereafter he is mentioned in the Primary Russian Chronicle of Nestor and again in a very similar passage in the Moldavian chronicle of Costin:
Their great idol, named Peroun, was raised after the likeness of a man. His body was cast of silver, his ears of gold; the legs were of iron, and in the hands he held a stone like a thunderbolt, adorned with rubies and carbuncles, that is, stones like fire. Before him fire was always burning, and if it happened that, through neglect of the priest, the fire became extinguished, then the priest was put to death, as a traitor to the divinity.
Source: Jasper Platt, Notes and Queries, Oct. 26, 1907, 331.
In a scrap of mythology retained in a folk poem, Perun is said to have traveled across the sea to find his bride, as Jason returned with Medea:
Perkons drove across the sea,
In order to marry beyond the sea:
Him the Sun followed with a dowry
Bestowing gifts on all the woods:
To the Oak a golden girdle,
To the Maple motley gloves.
(qtd. in W. R. S. Ralston, The Songs of the Russian People (London: Ellis and Green. 1872), 91.
However, it is the son of Perun, Jarilo, whose mystical marriage most closely resembles that of Jason and Medea.
Jarilo
Scholarly reconstructions of Slavic mythology claim that Perun and Veles engaged in a cosmic battle, whereby Perun descends into the underworld and defeats the cosmic serpent, Veles, who is holding captive either the cattle of Perun or a magical maiden, perhaps the dawn goddess. More importantly, Perun's son Jarilo, a fertility god, made an annual pilgrimage across the waters of death The kingdom of Veles is the underworld, which is located at the roots of the world tree (cf. grove of Mars) which can be reached only by crossing the farthest ocean waters into the realm of the dead. Each spring Jarilo voyages back from Veles' kingdom, crossing the great sea (Slavonic dead were buried in boat shaped coffins for their journeys across the sea of death), to marry his twin sister Morana in a sacred union that causes the vegetables to grow. However, Jarilo is unfaithful to his bride, and she (or someone on her behalf) kills him. Morana becomes violent and cruel, and the world descends into winter until the return of Jarilo, when the cylce begins anew.
For our purposes, it is interesting to note, in Ralston's words, that the realm of the dead "is the home of the sun, lying eastward beyond the ocean, or in an island surrounded by the sea. Thither repairs the sun when his day's toil is finished; thither also fly the souls of little children [provided that they have not died unchristened], and there they play among the trees and gather their golden fruits" (p. 112). The clear reflection of Aea, the land where the sun rests its rays, at the farthest east, is unmistakeable.
This myth, as related here, bears clear similarities both to that of Kresnik and to that of Jason. However, there is no literary source that records this myth. Instead, it is a scholarly reconstruction from scraps of folk songs, comparison with Slovene and Baltic mythology, and, frankly, guesswork. The Croatian scholar Radoslav Katičić suggested that the following line from a folk song reflects the ancient belief that the resurrected Jarilo bring life to the fields:
"...Where Jarilo walks, there your field gives birth..."
While the reconstructed myth is speculative, Jarilo festivals are well attested as late as the nineteenth century, with origins stretching back, as many scholars believe, into Proto-Indo-European antiquity, and therefore likely similar in general outline to beliefs and practices that occurred in ages even before the Jason myth formed.
Scholarly reconstructions of Slavic mythology claim that Perun and Veles engaged in a cosmic battle, whereby Perun descends into the underworld and defeats the cosmic serpent, Veles, who is holding captive either the cattle of Perun or a magical maiden, perhaps the dawn goddess. More importantly, Perun's son Jarilo, a fertility god, made an annual pilgrimage across the waters of death The kingdom of Veles is the underworld, which is located at the roots of the world tree (cf. grove of Mars) which can be reached only by crossing the farthest ocean waters into the realm of the dead. Each spring Jarilo voyages back from Veles' kingdom, crossing the great sea (Slavonic dead were buried in boat shaped coffins for their journeys across the sea of death), to marry his twin sister Morana in a sacred union that causes the vegetables to grow. However, Jarilo is unfaithful to his bride, and she (or someone on her behalf) kills him. Morana becomes violent and cruel, and the world descends into winter until the return of Jarilo, when the cylce begins anew.
For our purposes, it is interesting to note, in Ralston's words, that the realm of the dead "is the home of the sun, lying eastward beyond the ocean, or in an island surrounded by the sea. Thither repairs the sun when his day's toil is finished; thither also fly the souls of little children [provided that they have not died unchristened], and there they play among the trees and gather their golden fruits" (p. 112). The clear reflection of Aea, the land where the sun rests its rays, at the farthest east, is unmistakeable.
This myth, as related here, bears clear similarities both to that of Kresnik and to that of Jason. However, there is no literary source that records this myth. Instead, it is a scholarly reconstruction from scraps of folk songs, comparison with Slovene and Baltic mythology, and, frankly, guesswork. The Croatian scholar Radoslav Katičić suggested that the following line from a folk song reflects the ancient belief that the resurrected Jarilo bring life to the fields:
"...Where Jarilo walks, there your field gives birth..."
While the reconstructed myth is speculative, Jarilo festivals are well attested as late as the nineteenth century, with origins stretching back, as many scholars believe, into Proto-Indo-European antiquity, and therefore likely similar in general outline to beliefs and practices that occurred in ages even before the Jason myth formed.
Description of a Jarilo (Yarilo) Festival
W. R. S. Ralston
[These spring festivals] bear the name of "The Funeral of Kostroma," or of Lada or Yarilo, and they evidently symbolize the decay and temporary suspension of the vivifying powers of nature as winter comes on. In the Governments of Penza and Simbirsk the "funeral" used to be represented in the following manner:—A girl was chosen to act the part of Kostroma. Her companions then saluted her with low obeisances, placed her on a piece of wood, and carried her to the bank of a stream. There they bathed her in the waters, while the oldest member of the party made a basket of lime-tree bark, and beat it like a drum. After that they all returned home, to end the day with games and dances. In the Murom districts Kostroma was represented by a figure made for the most part of straw, and dressed in female attire. This was carried to the water's edge by a crowd which divided into two parts, of which one attacked the figure and the other defended it. At last the assailants gained the day, stripped the figure of its dress and ornaments, trod it under foot, and flung into the stream the straw of which it was made. While this act of destruction was going on, the figure's defenders hid their faces in their hands, and seemed to deplore the death of Kostroma.
A similar custom prevails in the Saratof Government, but the figure which is there escorted to the grave is supposed to represent the Spring. In Voroneje the people used to meet in an open place, and decide who should represent Yarilo. Whoever was chosen for that purpose was fantastically clad, and had small bells fastened to his dress. Then, holding in his hand a mallet—an ancient emblem of the thunderbolt—he paraded around, dancing, singing, gesticulating; and after him followed a noisy crowd, which eventually divided into two bodies, between which a kind of boxing-match took place. In the town of Kostroma the people chose an old man, and gave him a coffin containing a Priapuslike figure representing Yarilo. This he carried outside the town, being attended on the way by women chanting dirges and expressing by their gestures grief and despair. Out in the fields a grave was dug, and in it the figure was buried amid weeping and wailing, after which games and dances were commenced, calling to mind the funeral games celebrated in old times by the pagan Slavonians. A similar custom used to prevail in Little-Russia, where, before the figure was buried, it was shaken, as if with the hope of awaking the dead Yarilo—the Slavonian representative of Adonis.
Some of the Russian archaeologists see in the names Kostroma, Kupalo, and Yarilo, nothing more than the designations of as many summer festivals, and it cannot be denied that those names are of very uncertain derivation--Kostroma, for instance, meaning osier twigs, rods, etc., and Koster being a name for certain weeds, such as tares or darnel [Koster or Kostyor means a pyre]; whence it is supposed that the mythical being may have derived its name, inasmuch as its figure was made of straw mixed with weeds, twigs, etc. The general supposition, however, seems to be that expressed by Afanasief [P. V. S. m. 726], who says that the names conveyed to the popular mind the idea of living beings, similar to mankind, and that they appear to have originated at an exceedingly remote period.
Source: W. R. S. Ralston, The Songs of the Russian People (London: Ellis and Green. 1872), 243-245.
W. R. S. Ralston
[These spring festivals] bear the name of "The Funeral of Kostroma," or of Lada or Yarilo, and they evidently symbolize the decay and temporary suspension of the vivifying powers of nature as winter comes on. In the Governments of Penza and Simbirsk the "funeral" used to be represented in the following manner:—A girl was chosen to act the part of Kostroma. Her companions then saluted her with low obeisances, placed her on a piece of wood, and carried her to the bank of a stream. There they bathed her in the waters, while the oldest member of the party made a basket of lime-tree bark, and beat it like a drum. After that they all returned home, to end the day with games and dances. In the Murom districts Kostroma was represented by a figure made for the most part of straw, and dressed in female attire. This was carried to the water's edge by a crowd which divided into two parts, of which one attacked the figure and the other defended it. At last the assailants gained the day, stripped the figure of its dress and ornaments, trod it under foot, and flung into the stream the straw of which it was made. While this act of destruction was going on, the figure's defenders hid their faces in their hands, and seemed to deplore the death of Kostroma.
A similar custom prevails in the Saratof Government, but the figure which is there escorted to the grave is supposed to represent the Spring. In Voroneje the people used to meet in an open place, and decide who should represent Yarilo. Whoever was chosen for that purpose was fantastically clad, and had small bells fastened to his dress. Then, holding in his hand a mallet—an ancient emblem of the thunderbolt—he paraded around, dancing, singing, gesticulating; and after him followed a noisy crowd, which eventually divided into two bodies, between which a kind of boxing-match took place. In the town of Kostroma the people chose an old man, and gave him a coffin containing a Priapuslike figure representing Yarilo. This he carried outside the town, being attended on the way by women chanting dirges and expressing by their gestures grief and despair. Out in the fields a grave was dug, and in it the figure was buried amid weeping and wailing, after which games and dances were commenced, calling to mind the funeral games celebrated in old times by the pagan Slavonians. A similar custom used to prevail in Little-Russia, where, before the figure was buried, it was shaken, as if with the hope of awaking the dead Yarilo—the Slavonian representative of Adonis.
Some of the Russian archaeologists see in the names Kostroma, Kupalo, and Yarilo, nothing more than the designations of as many summer festivals, and it cannot be denied that those names are of very uncertain derivation--Kostroma, for instance, meaning osier twigs, rods, etc., and Koster being a name for certain weeds, such as tares or darnel [Koster or Kostyor means a pyre]; whence it is supposed that the mythical being may have derived its name, inasmuch as its figure was made of straw mixed with weeds, twigs, etc. The general supposition, however, seems to be that expressed by Afanasief [P. V. S. m. 726], who says that the names conveyed to the popular mind the idea of living beings, similar to mankind, and that they appear to have originated at an exceedingly remote period.
Source: W. R. S. Ralston, The Songs of the Russian People (London: Ellis and Green. 1872), 243-245.
The Bottom Line
Slavic mythology, of uncertain provenance but perhaps as old as the Neolithic, contains the following outline:
The parallels to the Jason story are uncanny. The question, though, is whether the Slavic stories represent a true prehistoric tradition that can be used as evidence for the antiquity of the pre-Greek versions of the Jason story.
- A hero travels across a broad sea to the east.
- This is the land of the sun and of the dead.
- The hero defeats a serpent
- The hero marries a maiden
- The hero commits adultery and is killed
The parallels to the Jason story are uncanny. The question, though, is whether the Slavic stories represent a true prehistoric tradition that can be used as evidence for the antiquity of the pre-Greek versions of the Jason story.