The myth of the bright sun read in full. Mother Earth Cheese - Slavic Goddess of the Earth. The cult of Veles - the god of animals and the underworld

Who is affectionately called Mother Earth, the Slavic Goddess of the Earth, Fertility and everything connected with explicit, earthly life. She is attributed to the Gods of the world of Reveal, because everything that surrounds us is somehow connected with Mother Earth, grown thanks to her efforts. The Slavic Goddess of the Earth has great power, therefore epic heroes turn to her, setting off on feats.

Mother Earth Cheese is revered everywhere. More often, women turned to this Goddess, linking the fertility of the earth with the possibility of giving birth to healthy children. The outfits of married women always contained embroidery with earthly motifs - such a charm was supposed to bring the woman the birth of healthy children. Men more often turned to Mother Raw Earth with requests for a generous harvest, and, therefore, prosperity.

Mother Earth Cheese was created by Rod at the beginning of time. Slavic legends say that at first Rod created the Cow Zemun and the Goat Sedun. Their milk has turned into the World Ocean. Then the Creator Rod created Alatyr-stone, lying in the middle of the World Ocean and began to churn the milk of the Cow Zemun and the Goat Sedun. So it turned out a piece of butter, from which the Mother Goddess Cheese Earth was created. All the fertile land that exists in the world of Reveal appeared from her body, therefore the Slavs respect all living things that surround them.

The Slavs believe that the Mother of Raw Earth has a son, Mikula Selyaninovich. In his bag, he carries "all the earthly traction", because other heroes are not able to lift it.

Legends and myths about Mother Goddess Raw Earth

Slavic myths tell that people did not always plow the land and grow bread. For a long time, people did not cultivate the land, fearing to hurt Mother Raw Earth. After all, the whole earth in the world is the body of the Goddess of the Earth. When the God of the Spring Sun Yarilo brought the first grains from overseas countries and gave other Gods a taste of bread, the Gods decided to teach people to grow rye and wheat and make bread.

The gods asked Mikula Selyaninovich, the son of Mother Raw Earth, to plow the first furrow on earth. The hero at first refused to hurt his mother. But the Mother Goddess Cheese Earth herself asked her son to agree with the proposal of other Gods, so she made sure that people had food during the long winter. Since then, on the day when God Yarilo is honored, Mother Earth is also remembered, and this day is called the holiday of the first furrow.

Amulet - a symbol of the Mother Goddess of the Raw Earth

Amulet of the Mother of the Raw Earth is called Field or plowed field. This sign is depicted as a rhombus, broken in the center by an oblique cross. Sometimes just diamond-shaped patterns are attributed to Mother Raw Earth. When fertilized land is depicted, in which grain is already lying, a dot is placed in the middle of the rhombus.

Guardian of the Mother of the Raw Earth helps girls gain attractiveness and meet a betrothed helps women give birth to healthy children, men brings success in work and prosperity.

Attributes of the Mother Goddess of the Raw Earth

Heraldry, items- ears, flowers and fruits.

Treba (offering)- porridge, honey.

Mother Earth Cheese in the northern tradition of divination and magic

The image of the Mother of the Raw Earth is present in the set of Slavic Res Rod. Reza's Earth Goddess number is 13.

When the Reza of the Mother of the Raw Earth appears in the alignment, it means that the questioner has a period associated with earthly, explicit life. Now things can move slowly, just as a grain sown not immediately becomes a ripe ear. You need to be patient, but not lazy at the same time. In matters of health, Reza of the Mother of the Raw Earth can mean the birth of a child, and in other matters, the “birth” of new plans, ideas.

Read more about the meaning of Reza of the Goddess of the Earth in divination in the article "Reza of the Kind Mother of Cheese Earth"

Holidays honoring the Earth Goddess

The Goddess of the Earth is remembered during all the holidays associated with fertility. You can especially identify such days:

April 23- the holiday of the first furrow, Yarilin Day. This is a men's holiday when we remember the Slavic myth about how Yarilo brought bread to people and taught them how to cultivate the land. According to legend, it was on this day that the first furrow was made, and now men spend April 23 in labor on the ground.

May 9- This day the Slavs call the birthday of Mother Raw Earth. Unlike the holiday of the first furrow, on this day it was forbidden to work on the ground.

The myth of Yaril the Sun, many of us have known since school. In many textbooks, you can read the Slavic myth "Yarilo Sun" - about the ancient Slavic god of the spring sun. Yarilo is a young god who appears to people in the form of a young man with a beautiful appearance. Yarila has blond hair that develops in the wind, beautiful blue eyes, a powerful torso and a pleasant smile. No wonder all these "charms" made him a real womanizer, because according to legend, Yarilo loved many goddesses and even earthly women. so the myth of Yaril has the theme of his love with Mother Earth.

The ancient Slavic myth begins with a description of how the Raw Earth lived in the cold and darkness. Darkness enveloped her from head to toe, and on her surface there was nothing alive, bright and pleasant. There was no movement of any kind, no sounds, no warmth or light. So the poor Raw Earth lived. Such and saw her forever young and beautiful, warm and hot Yarilo. The rest of the gods did not share the desire of the young and ardent Yarila to bring light and warmth to Earth. They didn’t care about the Earth, but the zealous Yarilo himself looked at the Raw Earth and pierced the cold and darkness with his bright, warm gaze-arrow. Yar saw the sleeping Earth, and in the place where his gaze pierced the darkness, a red sun appeared. And through the sun, bright light and warmth from Yarila poured onto the Earth.

Mother Raw Earth began to awaken from sleep under the warm sun, shone with her youthful beauty, spread out in a riot of greenery and colors, like a bride on her marriage bed. The life-giving light spilled over all the depths of the Earth, she drank the golden rays of Yarila, but she could not get drunk. Life appeared on Mother Earth, and bliss spread over its entire surface, reaching the very depths. Here Yarilo fell in love with such a beautiful Earth. The god of the sun prayed before the Raw Earth, so that she fell in love with him, reciprocated. And for this, Yarilo promised to spread blue seas, scarlet flowers, yellow sands and green forests with herbs on it. From Yarila, Mother Earth gave birth to many living things - a myriad.

And the Earth fell in love with Yarila. And in the place of hot divine kisses, cereals and flowers, dark forests and bright glades, blue rivers and blue seas began to appear. And the more the Earth drank the kisses of Yarilov, the more animals and birds, fish and insects appeared from its bowels. All of them came to life and began to sing songs of praise to father Yarila and mother Earth. But Yarilo did not let up, offering the Earth to love him more than ever. And she fell in love with Raw Earth, and gave birth to her most beloved offspring from the god of the sun - a man. As soon as a man appeared on Earth, Yarilo hit him with his lightning arrows in the very crown. This is how wisdom, reason, was born in man. This is where the myth of love between Yarila and Mother Earth ends.

Such myths are stories about the origin of life on earth. There are also several similar myths about how every year Yarilo lowers his bright rays to the ground. Under them, the Earth comes to life from its winter sleep-death, again giving birth to a new life. and so it is repeated from year to year, and the tireless young Yarilo continues to make earthly children.

Target: to form an idea of ​​the god Yaril, to introduce the rites of honoring his people through the expressive means of literature and fine arts.

Tasks:

educational:

form:

speech skills, reading, listening skills;

skills of educational, creative cooperation of children in the process of artistic and practical creative activity;

skills in paper-plastic technique, graphics;

developing:

develop:

the ability to fully perceive a work of art, emotionally respond to what is read;

memory, imaginative thinking, creative imagination;

active interest in the origins of Slavic culture;

educators:

bring up:

love for the motherland, interest in its thousands of years of history;

culture of moral and aesthetic perception and the need to preserve

artistic heritage of the Slavic people;

health-saving:

contribute to the preservation of the health of children with different types of mental perception of information by changing activities.

During the classes.

1. Organizational moment.

Literary Reading Teacher:

Guys, today we will plunge into the world of the past of our Motherland. At a time when people lived in harmony with nature, loved and deified it. These words can serve as an epigraph to our lesson ( )

A people that does not know its history, its ancient roots, is doomed to perish. It is fortunate that our ancient legends about the Slavic gods have been at least partially preserved, transmitted to us by unknown storytellers, our distant ancestors. And after reading them, you can proudly say that you are the heirs of the ancient Slavs. You, just like them, will know and love your history, respect the traditions of your people and be proud of its thousands of years of history.

2. Repetition of the studied material .

Legends, legends, how else can you call it? (myths )

But what is a myth? What signs of a myth do you know? (stories about gods, heroes, myths reflect the fantastic ideas of people)

The teacher, summing up what has been said, gives a definition of myth.

A myth is a story (narration) about gods, heroes, spirits, reflecting the fantastic ideas of people about the world, nature and human existence.

With the myths of which peoples did we meet in previous lessons? (Greek, Khakass ) Name them.(“Arion”, “Dedalus and Icarus”, “Moon and Chilbigen”, etc.)

Returning to our words on the slide, tell me, what myth of the people will we get acquainted with today? (Slavic )

If a myth is a story about the gods, and we will get acquainted with the Slavic myth, we cannot but recall the Slavic gods. Let's remember what Slavic gods we met in the lessons of the world around us ( )

On the slides are pictures with images of some Slavic gods, their names and a brief description. Students read this information.

God Svarog - The Supreme Heavenly God, who controls the course of our Life and the entire World Order of the Universe.

God Perun – God is the Patron of all warriors, the protector of the Lands from the Dark Forces.

Mother of God Makosh - The Heavenly Mother of God, the Fair Goddess of a happy lot and Fate, together with her daughters Doley and Nedolya determines the Fates of the Heavenly Gods, as well as the fate of all people.

Dazhdbog - The Guardian God of the ancient Great Wisdom, the giver of all blessings, happiness and prosperity.

Stribog - God who controls lightning, whirlwinds, hurricanes, winds and sea storms.

Yarila - ….?( picture and description is missing on the slide )

What is God Yarila? Let's read the myth, and perhaps there we will find the answer to this question.

3. Learning new material.

A) Primary reading of the text.

The myth “Yarilo - the Sun” is read by four well-read students, according to the logical parts into which the entire text is divided.

What is the myth about? (about the origin of life on Earth, about the origin of man, about God Yaril)

What feelings did this piece evoke?(admiration, pride in a person, joy)

Teacher : Our main goal today in the lesson is to create an image of the god Yarila from individual information in the text, to draw his verbal portrait.

First, let's try to understand why it is so named? Let's pick up single-root words for the word Yarilo(angry, bright, furious). Let's find the meaning of the word "ardent" in the explanatory dictionary of S. Ozhegov and read it.

B) Analysis of the literary image of Yarila

1 group : Read 1 paragraph in a chain one sentence at a time and answer the questions:

What was Mother Earth Cheese before the advent of Yarila? (was dead, no heat, no sounds)

- Is there a description of Yarila in the text? (forever young, forever joyful bright Yarilo )

What did Yarilo do to wake up the Earth?penetrated, cut through the layers of darkness, hot waves of radiant light poured)

2 group : read paragraphs 2 and 3 “to yourself” and answer the questions:

How did the Earth change with the advent of Yarila? (woke up, spread out in beauty, decorated with cereals, flowers, etc. )

How to understand the expression “greedily she drank the golden rays of the life-giving light”? What means of artistic expression is used here? (personification)

- Who appeared on Earth under the influence of Yarilin light? (fish, animals, birds)

3 group : answer questions for paragraphs 4 and 5 by selective reading.

How was the birth of man and how did his mind arise?

How did Yarila welcome the birth of a person?

What did Yarila leave instead of himself when his strength weakened?(the fire)

Literary reading teacher sums up G:

Thus, we can say that Yarila is the god of the Sun, bringing young freshness, flourishing and fertility into the life of nature, awakening life.

Physical education minute

Now stand up quietly
We raised our hands to the sky
Stretched, smiled
“Hello, sunshine!”, - they said,
“Bowed to the right, to the left,” says the art teacher and continues the physical education session
Right left
We sat down together - back to business!

C) Acquaintance with the artistic images of Yarila.

enters

- It would be interesting to know, but how did the people portray God Yarilo? To answer this question, let's collect his image. (Students assemble an illustration depicting Yarila, cut into several parts)

Teacher:

- It looked like Yarila - a spring, young man in a white shirt, barefoot, with a wreath of wild flowers on his head, riding a white horse. ( )

April 23 - Yarila Veshny Day. What happened on this day?

From the first group, three students tell the information that lies on their table:

1st student: On this day, Yarila “unlocks” Mother Cheese-Earth and releases dew, which causes the rapid growth of herbs.

2nd student: The people said: “Yarila unlocks the Earth, releases the spring from under the bushel, drives out the green grass.”

3rd student: On this day, a solemn drive of cattle to pasture took place. According to custom, cattle and children were lightly hit with willow branches and sentenced: “The willow brought health! As the willow grows, so do you!

Teacher:

- ( ) - But the image of Yarila was not unambiguous, it changed during the summer, and many holidays were devoted to this.

And on June 4, Yarilo seemed different to the people . In one hand he held a bunch of rye, and in the other a club. What is this day?

Three students from the second group come out:

1st student: Day of honoring Yarila the Strong, or else he was called Yarila Wet.

2nd student: On this day, the owner always went to the field - “to look at the live”. Why is a specially baked pie placed in the seedlings. Then the owner steps back a few steps and looks to see if the pie is visible in shoots or not. If the cake is not visible, then the harvest will be good.

3rd student: Starting from this day, Yarila's spring power is waning up to Kupala.

Teacher:

July 7 is not only the day of Kupala, but also the day of seeing off Yarila. Which is no longer thought of as young, but as a gray-bearded old man who gave all his life-giving power to the Earth. ( )

1st student: On this day, it was customary to roll burning wheels from the nearest hill.

2nd student: A comic “funeral” of Yarila was held. For this, a straw effigy of the aged Yarila was made, which, according to the Law of Similarity, was buried by the same old man.

3rd student: Another version of Yarila's wires was as follows: around the old man, representing Yarila, they danced.

Fine art teacher:

-We learned a lot about the god Yaril and we can conclude who he is.

( ).

- Yarilo is the image of the Sun-God. God of awakening nature and fertility, symbol of strength and love. The patron saint of the plant world. In honor of him, people began to give names to their children in order to be strong and ardent for them - Yaropolk, Yaromir, Yaroslav.

But we do not know with what words people addressed Yarila. We will recognize them after we transform our Earth in the likeness of Yarila (on the board the image of the unlived Earth ). To do this, we will work in groups.

4. Fixing the material.

Creative work in groups. (during the work, music with birdsong sounds)

Group 1: create images of people in folk costumes;

Group 2: create an image of a blooming Earth (flowers, trees);

Group 3: create an image of the sky (clouds, birds, sun)

5. Creation of team work.

After completing the work in groups, a collective work is created, depicting a holistic image of the world.

Fine art teacher:

Have we changed our Earth? What did she become?beautiful, elegant, blooming)

Thanks to your creative work, words appeared in our work with which people turned to Yarila, honoring him.( )

The student expressively reads the words written on the slide.

Hello, Yarila Trisvetly!
Glorious and Trislaven be!
You bring forth the fruits of our fields
And our valiant strength!
Yes, to the glory of the Heavenly Family
And Mother Earth!
So it was, so it is
And so it will be!

6. The result of the lesson.

Literary Reading Teacher:

Let's sum up the lesson. What new did you learn in the lesson? What have you learned? What did you find most interesting?

7. Homework.

1 group. Find and write out obsolete words, explain their meaning.

2 group. Find and write out from the text a metaphor, comparison and personification.

3rd group. An expressive reading of the excerpt "Earth Awakening".

8. Reflection.

Fine art teacher:

If you liked the lesson, you learned a lot of new and interesting things, let each of you complement our sun(on a board on a sheet of whatman paper the sun without rays) with your ray of knowledge.

You did a great job today, well done! And I want to finish the lesson with the words of the commandment left to us by our Slavic ancestors( )

Each deed you commit leaves its indelible mark on the eternal Path of your life, and therefore, people, do only beautiful and good deeds, but to the Glory of the Gods and your Ancestors, for the edification of your descendants!

Sometimes you really want to find a fairy tale and read Slavic myths! Fabulous times were once upon a time, around the time when everything in the world was beautiful, clean and bright, when people were trusting and cheerful, when people loved and believed in happiness. When it was? Was it a very long time ago or just in our childhood? Read the Slavic myth - a sweet, sincere story from the book "Gods and People", a fairy tale about Yarilo. And why do you want to cry? A fairy tale about Yarilo with a happy ending. Beautiful Slavic mythology about the sun, about God Yarilo and his help in love.

"The Tale of How Yarilo Helped in Love"

In the whole district from our village, both boys and girls were very much appreciated as brides and grooms. Economic guys, hard-working girls. And to sing and dance, and to lead round dances - no one can keep up with them. And the most enviable groom was Pride, Putyatin's son. The guy took everyone: the height was suitable, and the shoulders were with an oblique sazhen, and his face was bright. But he had a worthless temper - cocky, proud, he considered himself above everyone else. They didn't call him Pride for nothing. But in the work, too, he was always the first, everything was on fire in his hands. You can't say a bad word here. Well, the girls all courted him as best they could. He just doesn't look at girls. On a walk, it used to be the first in all games, the pillar blindly always cut down the first, so much so that his opponent's pillar fell down the pillar. But as soon as it comes to round dances, it turns around - and away. Gradually, he drove all the girls away from himself.

Only one, Yasunya, Milovanov's daughter, did not back down. She didn’t even look at other guys, she refused matchmakers. Milovan, for which he loved his daughter and did not captivate, began to scold her: - Look, Yasunya, you will make your way! You will be a century of one cuckoo! She just sighs.

And so, one day the day of the Discovery of Svarga came. Yarila, the God of the bright spring sun, love passion and fertility, was very honored in our village. The whole village participated in the celebration in the morning - both old and young. They were waiting for him to unlock Mother Earth with his key, so that spring waters flowed over it.

They go to Yarilina Gorka, each owner carries bread and salt, puts it in a pile, and a specially selected owner bows three times on three sides and utters an appeal to Yarila:

Goy you, Yarila fiery Force!
Coming from the sky, you take the keys
Unlock you Mother-Cheese Earth,
Let the dew warm and for the whole spring,
For a dry summer and a vigorous life!
Goy! Glory!

And all the people repeat this after him and also bow on three sides. Then they go to the fields, go around them three times and sing:

Dragging Yarilo
All over the wide world
He gave birth to a field of life,
He gave birth to children.
And where is his foot -
There is a lot of life there,
Where does he look?
There is an ear of flowers.

And in the evening they chose the most handsome guy, put a wreath on his head, gave him a bird-cherry branch in his hands and danced around him, singing songs.

And we have Yarilin day,
I'll trample the grass-ant,
I will hold you, young...

Only young boys and girls were allowed to these evening games. After the round dance, they broke up into pairs and dispersed, some in the field, some in the forest. Yarilo approved of love very much. He even checked whether all the guys and girls were participating in the festivities. He walks, looks, asks if something is wrong.

Somehow, on such an evening, he walks through the village past the Proud House. Looks, a young guy, instead of having mercy on a girl, is chopping firewood in the yard. Yarilo was surprised. Thinking, "Something's wrong with this guy." Comes closer. He peered and was horrified: “The guy’s heart is icy! It can be seen Morena, the Goddess of Winter and Death kissed the guy! That's not the point! How did I not see that! Gotta save the guy!" Went on and everyone thinks how to help. And he sees a girl sitting on a bench, as sweet as a forest lily of the valley, but sad. And one is sitting. Also a mess. He sat down next to her and struck up a conversation. She turns away and closes her eyes. But who can stand against God Yarila. I learned that Yasunya's name is. He asked about her unhappy love for Pride. So there is a cure for Pride, - Yarilo was delighted. And he said: “I will help you, but you must do exactly as I say. Agree? - asks, and Yasunya whispers:

- “And Pride will not get any harm from this?”

Yarilo admired himself: “Here it is, true love! He worries about the dear, and does not think about himself!

And he says aloud: “You will do as I say, only good will come. It is necessary to melt his icy heart, otherwise he will not stay here for long, maybe soon he will leave for Nav, the world of shadows and death. And he hands her a branch of bird cherry with flowers. According to this branch, Yasunya recognized Yarila. I wanted to fall at my feet, but he did not allow it. “Listen further,” he says. - Do not let this branch out of your hands for a minute so that the strength remains in it. In the morning, when he goes to drive out the cattle, go up to him, and stand right in front of him and, without delay, so as not to change your mind, give him a branch, look into his eyes and quickly say: - One heart suffers, the other does not know. He will be at a loss, he has already lost the habit of hanging girls around his neck, he will take a branch and look at you. And as soon as it looks, it dries up. But you immediately turn around and walk away.

After that, the most difficult thing for you will begin. Your pride will start following you, asking for love in return. But every time you answer: - With what you came, with that you went, turn around and leave, do not show that you love. If you respond to love, you allow him to kiss, his heart will freeze even more than before, you won’t help in any way, and he will quickly leave for Nav.

And you need to hold out like this until the next Yarilina Stretch. Matchmakers will send, refuse. You can hint to your father that, they say, Yarilo ordered so, but not a word to anyone else. During this year, his heart will completely thaw, Morena will lose power over him. Hold on, in a year I myself will put a wreath on Pride. When you see my bird-cherry wreath on it, bring it to your father to bless. Then have mercy as much as you like."

Yasunya pressed a branch to her chest, breathed in the bird-cherry spirit. She raised her eyes to Yarila to thank him, but he was no longer there, he was just sitting next to him, and the trace was gone. But Yasunya nevertheless said what kind words she wanted to say: "God, he is God - he hears everything, knows everything."

That night, Yasunya never went to bed, pressed the branch to her face and gathered courage as she approached Pride. And in the morning, just before dawn broke, Yasunya was already waiting for Pride. He lived alone, his parents died, so he himself went after the cattle. Pride drives the cattle into the herd, and the girl hurries to cut him off. He glanced at her, wanting to move on. And she stood in front of him, holding out a blossoming bird-cherry branch. Out of surprise, he took a branch and raised his eyes to it. And she looks into his eyes and says: "One heart suffers, the other does not know." As the heat passed through his body, he looks at the girl, and she seems to him the sweetest of all in the world. "What's your name, honey? Whose daughter will you be?

And the beauty turned and walked away. He is behind her. And I forgot about the cattle. Caught up, does not let. And she was so strict to him: “With what you came, with that you went!” Dumbfounded Pride. Pride leaped up in him, he also turned and went, but he did not let go of Yarilin's branch, the branch kept the memory of the girl. And Yasunya ran home, choked with tears and did not know what she was crying about - either that Pride had finally noticed her, or that she had to push him away.

Although Pride was angry, he came to the party in the evening, looks out for Yasunya, asks the guys everything about her. But as soon as he approached her, she told him again: “With what he came, he went with that!”. And so it went day after day. He to her, she away from him.

The whole village was already tired of laughing at them, and they began to condemn Yasunya that his nose turned up from such a guy, sent matchmakers, refused. They began to say that, they say, the girl spoiled the boy. The girl brought dryness to the guy. But Yasunya remembers well that Yarilo punished: "Give in, drive the guy into Nav."

Here again, Yarilin's holidays have come. Pride is standing on the sidelines, watching Yasunya dance round dances. The heart melts with love, remembers how people say: "You can't stay without the sun, you can't live without the sweetheart." I did not notice how an unfamiliar guy approached, watching him, smiling. And then the guy says: “She loves bird cherry. Put on my bird cherry wreath, give her a bird cherry branch, Girls do not refuse such a gift.

Pride did not even have time to refuse, as the wreath was already on his head, and the branch was in his hands, and he himself was walking with a quick step towards Yasuna. And I forgot about the guy. Then Yasunya saw him - a wreath on his head, in the hands of a bird cherry tree, did not deceive Yarilo, did not forget the promise, jumped out of the round dance and, as if by chance, went towards him.

We met, he gave her a branch, hugged her, and so, embracing, they went. And all their lives, embracing, and lived. True love will melt an icy heart.

Such a fairy tale about Yarilo came out with us! Soon the time will come to dance, to meet the spring-red. Then remember the Slavic fairy tale about Yarilo, rejoice together with the whole world that winter has receded, and the hearts of people have thawed, filled with love!

You will find this fairy tale about Yarilo, and other magical stories in the book "Gods and People". Read Slavic myths, let them fill your soul with joy!

Among the Baltic Slavs, this deity is known under the name of Yarovita (Herovita). In Latin medieval writings, he was represented as the god of war and identified with the Roman Mars. Near his idol in one of the sanctuaries hung a shield with gold plaques, which was considered to belong to Yarovit. This shield could not be moved from its place in peacetime. The cult center of Yarovit was surrounded by banners during the celebration in his honor. The Slavs felt such reverence for the golden shield of Yarovit that when the Christians wanted to destroy the idol and kill the priest who served it, he, striking the shield and rushing into the crowd with a terrible cry, aroused such horror in the newly converted Christians that, out of old habit, they saw shield hit the ground. It is also known about the dedication of the spring fertility festival to Yarovi-tu. In one of the sources, the speech of the priest Yarovit is given, according to which power over the greenery and the fruits of the earth is attributed to him. This power and the similarity of names makes it possible to identify him with the East Slavic Yarila

Mother-Cheese-Earth lay in darkness and cold. She was dead - no light, no heat, no sounds, no movement. And the eternally young, eternally joyful bright Yar said: "Let's look through the pitch darkness at Mother-Cheese-Earth, is it good, is it good?" And the flame of the gaze of the bright Yar in an instant pierced the immeasurable layers of darkness that lay over the sleeping Earth, and where Yarilin's gaze cut through the darkness, the red sun shone there. And poured through the sun Hot waves of radiant Yarilin light.

Mother-Cheese-Earth woke up from sleep and spread out in youthful beauty. She greedily drank the golden rays of the Life-Giving Light, and because of the light, scorching Life and languishing bliss spilled over her bowels ... Love the Earth Yarilina's speech, she loved the god of light, and from his hot kisses she was decorated with cereals, flowers, dark forests, blue seas, blue rivers, silvery lakes...

She drank Yarilina's hot kisses, and heavenly birds flew out of her bowels, forest and field animals ran out of dens, fish swam in rivers and seas, small insects, flies and midges crowded in the air.

And everything lived, and everything loved, and everything sang songs of praise to Father Yarila, Mother Raw Earth. Then the Earth gave birth to man. And when he came out of the bowels of the earth, Yarilo hit him on the head with a golden rein-bright lightning, and from that lightning the mind in man was born. Yarilo, beloved earthly son, was healthy with heavenly thunders, streams of lightning, and from those thunders, from that lightning, all Living, creature I was startled in horror - the heavenly birds flew away, oak forest animals hid in caves, one man raised his rational head to the sky and answered his father’s thunderous speech with a prophetic word, a winged speech ... And hearing that word, having seen his king and lord, all the trees, all the flowers and the grasses bowed before him.

Then the strength of Yarila began to weaken, Mother-Cheese-Earth began to yearn, fearing that everything would freeze. Yarilo consoled her, saying that he would return again, but for now he sent Fire to keep the earth warm.

This is how people thought about the change of summer in winter and about the beginning of the Fire. That is why our forefathers burned the dead - Yarilin's son, who fell asleep in a deathly sleep, was given to his father Living in the fire. And then they began to give the dead to their mother - lowering them into her bed, that is, burying them in the Earth. That is why our ancestors celebrated with great holidays the gift of fire to man by Yarila. Holidays were celebrated on long summer days, when the Sun, without shortening its course, begins to part with the Earth ... (P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky "In the Forests").

YARILO

That my soul lit up like a fire,

Whose gaze sparkled in the twilight, whose?

Then the cheerful Yarilo walks in the darkness.

Oh my goodness, it dawned on me

The twinkling of your sparkling eyes!

// blood fermented, and passion boiled,

And the heart languidly and sweetly dies.

No wonder crumbly color boiled

Bird cherry near roads and swamps.

Yarilo, you come to people in the dark,

Hearts, like bonfires, you light them.

In your curls - lush red poppies,

And stars, and animals, and people in the dark

- Everyone is drunk with your fragrant breath.

How wonderfully Yarilina's eyes sparkle!

They go through my soul like swords!

O beautiful God, from the dusk of the night,

Like blue arrows, seething eyes

Strive into my soul, radiate swords!

D. Semenovsky (1915)