I will attempt to demonstrate that the ‘sacred triangles based on the solar angle’ hypothesis cannot be regarded as a serious scientific proposition because it seems uncorroborated by any solid evidence. It is more an example of circular reasoning, which entails supporting the idea that the ancient Slavs knew about the obliquity of the ecliptic by pointing to the purported existence of ‘sacred triangles’, while also proving the existence of these ‘sacred triangles’ by demonstrating the ancient Slavs were familiar with the value for the obliquity. Certain structures portrayed as gnomons in ancient Slavic contexts are shown to have been overzealously interpreted by modern scholars. This is revealed in a detailed analysis of several of these ‘gnomons’. Finally, it is observed that the ‘sacred triangles’ scholarship engages with neither the modern history of science nor modern studies of myth, the very disciplines that could provide the scholars involved with a better perspective on the subjects to which they are so passionately committed.
{"title":"How do We Know the Ancient Slavs also Knew Gnomons?","authors":"Tomislav Bilić","doi":"10.3986/sms20222513","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20222513","url":null,"abstract":"I will attempt to demonstrate that the ‘sacred triangles based on the solar angle’ hypothesis cannot be regarded as a serious scientific proposition because it seems uncorroborated by any solid evidence. It is more an example of circular reasoning, which entails supporting the idea that the ancient Slavs knew about the obliquity of the ecliptic by pointing to the purported existence of ‘sacred triangles’, while also proving the existence of these ‘sacred triangles’ by demonstrating the ancient Slavs were familiar with the value for the obliquity. Certain structures portrayed as gnomons in ancient Slavic contexts are shown to have been overzealously interpreted by modern scholars. This is revealed in a detailed analysis of several of these ‘gnomons’. Finally, it is observed that the ‘sacred triangles’ scholarship engages with neither the modern history of science nor modern studies of myth, the very disciplines that could provide the scholars involved with a better perspective on the subjects to which they are so passionately committed.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42898196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The article considers changes in drinking rituals and how they are reflected in folklore. Belarusian and Lithuanian songs sharing several similarities are selected for a more detailed discussion. The song motifs analysed in the article show clear links between drinking rituals and folklore (wedding songs and betrothal drinking customs), along with a certain implicit cultural link between the old ritual attitudes and festivities in subsequent times (motifs of feast songs paraphrased in drinking traditions). The theoretical framework of the paper is supported by research from the fields of folklore, ritual communication, and the history of traditional beverages that examines the cultural continuity of community life phenomena. The experiences of ritual attitudes passed down from generation to generation may encourage the existence of archaic cultural forms, even when specific ritual practices have long died out and become irrelevant as people’s life circumstances have changed significantly.
{"title":"From Ritual Communication to Convivial Entertainment: Reflections of Old Drinking Rituals in Folk Songs","authors":"Vita Ivanauskaitė-Šeibutienė","doi":"10.3986/sms20222505","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20222505","url":null,"abstract":"The article considers changes in drinking rituals and how they are reflected in folklore. Belarusian and Lithuanian songs sharing several similarities are selected for a more detailed discussion. The song motifs analysed in the article show clear links between drinking rituals and folklore (wedding songs and betrothal drinking customs), along with a certain implicit cultural link between the old ritual attitudes and festivities in subsequent times (motifs of feast songs paraphrased in drinking traditions). The theoretical framework of the paper is supported by research from the fields of folklore, ritual communication, and the history of traditional beverages that examines the cultural continuity of community life phenomena. The experiences of ritual attitudes passed down from generation to generation may encourage the existence of archaic cultural forms, even when specific ritual practices have long died out and become irrelevant as people’s life circumstances have changed significantly.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45503848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Članek obravnava razumevanje »nečistih« mrtvih na podlagi gradiva belorusko-ruskega (Polock-Pskov in Vitebsk-Smolensk) obmejnega območja. Posebna pozornost je namenjena analizi takšnih kategorij »nečistih« mrtvih, kot so nekrščeni otroci, samomori in čarovniki. Študija je tudi na podlagi sodobnih materialov pokazala prisotnost številnih arhaizmov v teh predstavah. Prispevek spremlja razvoj pogrebnih obredov »nečistih« mrtvih, pa tudi verovanja, povezana z njimi. Študija temelji na objavljenem in arhivskem gradivu ter avtorjevih zapiskih. Pomembno mesto v razpravi ima gradivo folklornih in etnografskih odprav, ki so bile izvedene v regiji ob koncu XX – začetku XXI stoletja. Velik del teh gradiv je objavljen prvič.
{"title":"«Нечистые» покойники в представлениях населения белорусско-русского (Полоцко-Псковского и Витебско-Смоленского) пограничья","authors":"Auseichyk Uladzimir","doi":"10.3986/sms20222507","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20222507","url":null,"abstract":"Članek obravnava razumevanje »nečistih« mrtvih na podlagi gradiva belorusko-ruskega (Polock-Pskov in Vitebsk-Smolensk) obmejnega območja. Posebna pozornost je namenjena analizi takšnih kategorij »nečistih« mrtvih, kot so nekrščeni otroci, samomori in čarovniki. Študija je tudi na podlagi sodobnih materialov pokazala prisotnost številnih arhaizmov v teh predstavah. Prispevek spremlja razvoj pogrebnih obredov »nečistih« mrtvih, pa tudi verovanja, povezana z njimi. Študija temelji na objavljenem in arhivskem gradivu ter avtorjevih zapiskih. Pomembno mesto v razpravi ima gradivo folklornih in etnografskih odprav, ki so bile izvedene v regiji ob koncu XX – začetku XXI stoletja. Velik del teh gradiv je objavljen prvič.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46787286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This is the second part of the paper (for introduction and the first part which addresses Medieval Rus in Peter Morwood’s and Katherine Arden’s trilogies see Studia Mythologica Slavica 24 (2021): 13–32). Alternative Slavic fantasy is defined as fantastika (speculative fiction) created by English-language writers on the basis of real or assumed Slavic folklore, separate from Slavic fantasy per se. The focus of the current part is the logic of interaction between Slavic and/or quasi-Slavic folk plots and characters with Russian and Ukrainian history of the 19th–20th centuries in Evelin Skye’s dilogy and Catherynne Valente’s and Orson Scott Card’s novels.
{"title":"Rus, Russia and Ukraine between Fairy Tales and History: Alternative Slavic Fantasy by English-Language Writers","authors":"L. Fialkova","doi":"10.3986/sms20222508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20222508","url":null,"abstract":"This is the second part of the paper (for introduction and the first part which addresses Medieval Rus in Peter Morwood’s and Katherine Arden’s trilogies see Studia Mythologica Slavica 24 (2021): 13–32). Alternative Slavic fantasy is defined as fantastika (speculative fiction) created by English-language writers on the basis of real or assumed Slavic folklore, separate from Slavic fantasy per se. The focus of the current part is the logic of interaction between Slavic and/or quasi-Slavic folk plots and characters with Russian and Ukrainian history of the 19th–20th centuries in Evelin Skye’s dilogy and Catherynne Valente’s and Orson Scott Card’s novels.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43087512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
V prispevku je predstavljeno, katere bajne like oz. bajna bitja in elemente ljudske medicine ter krščanstva je v sodobnem slovenskem romanu Óštrigéca (1991) uporabil Marjan Tomšič. Roman se uvršča v pisateljev istrski opus, s katerim je slovensko Istro postavil na slovenski literarni zemljevid, v sodobno slovensko književnost pa vnesel narečne in folklorne prvine. Avtorica se Óštrigéce loteva interdisciplinarno, z metodama literarnovedne in folkloristične analize.
{"title":"Folklorne prvine v romanu Marjana Tomšiča Óštrigéca","authors":"Vladka Tucovič Sturman","doi":"10.3986/sms20222510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20222510","url":null,"abstract":"V prispevku je predstavljeno, katere bajne like oz. bajna bitja in elemente ljudske medicine ter krščanstva je v sodobnem slovenskem romanu Óštrigéca (1991) uporabil Marjan Tomšič. Roman se uvršča v pisateljev istrski opus, s katerim je slovensko Istro postavil na slovenski literarni zemljevid, v sodobno slovensko književnost pa vnesel narečne in folklorne prvine. Avtorica se Óštrigéce loteva interdisciplinarno, z metodama literarnovedne in folkloristične analize.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46373523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There are two interesting cases of the worship of Roman period deities in the north-eastern Italian and Pannonian regions, which in one way or another seem to have survived through the early medieval to modern times. The first is the cult of Belenus, the well-known Celtic and most notably Norican and Aquileian god. The second case is that of Cybele and Attis, the so-called eastern deities, whose cult became highly influential in the mentioned areas – as well as elsewhere – in the second and third centuries AD. Interestingly, a deity called “holy Belin” was documented in the second half of the 19th century in the area of Tolmin in Slovenia (the hinterland of Aquileia), as a traditional folk belief. In Pannonia, traces of the cult of Cybele and Attis seem to have survived from antiquity in Prekmurje and Porabje (Slovenia, Hungary), reflected in the unusual and still existing custom of the “wedding with a pine-tree”.
{"title":"Belenus, Cybele, and Attis: Echoes of their Cults through the Centuries","authors":"Marjeta Šašel Kos","doi":"10.3986/sms20222511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20222511","url":null,"abstract":"There are two interesting cases of the worship of Roman period deities in the north-eastern Italian and Pannonian regions, which in one way or another seem to have survived through the early medieval to modern times. The first is the cult of Belenus, the well-known Celtic and most notably Norican and Aquileian god. The second case is that of Cybele and Attis, the so-called eastern deities, whose cult became highly influential in the mentioned areas – as well as elsewhere – in the second and third centuries AD. Interestingly, a deity called “holy Belin” was documented in the second half of the 19th century in the area of Tolmin in Slovenia (the hinterland of Aquileia), as a traditional folk belief. In Pannonia, traces of the cult of Cybele and Attis seem to have survived from antiquity in Prekmurje and Porabje (Slovenia, Hungary), reflected in the unusual and still existing custom of the “wedding with a pine-tree”.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43094840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Članek preučuje folklorna demonološka verovanja, razširjena na ozemlju Polesja, regije na meji Ukrajine, Belorusije in Rusije. Tradicionalna kultura te regije je zelo zanimiva za etnologe in jezikoslovce najširšega profila, saj ohranja številne arhaične elemente občeslovanskega pomena. V prvem delu naše raziskave sta bila obravnavana dva bloka mitoloških verovanj: duhovi domačih in naravnih lokusov ter demoni-pokojniki, ki se vračajo z drugega sveta. (Prvi del članka je objavljen v Studii Mythologici Slavici 24 (2021).)V drugem delu članka so analizirana verovanja o likih, ki pripadajo drugima dvema mitološkima skupinama: skupini določenih nelokaliziranih duhov (hudič, personifikacija vihra, personifikacija smrti, duhovi bolezni, liki zastraševanja) in različnim kategorijam živih ljudi, obdarjenih s posebnim znanjem (čarovnice, čarovniki, zdravilci, volkodlaki, ljudje ozkih poklicev). Raziskava poteka na podlagi podatkov vzhodnoslovanskega mitološkega sistema.
{"title":"Народная демонология Полесья в контексте восточнославянских традиционных верований","authors":"L. N. Vinogradova","doi":"10.3986/sms20222506","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20222506","url":null,"abstract":"Članek preučuje folklorna demonološka verovanja, razširjena na ozemlju Polesja, regije na meji Ukrajine, Belorusije in Rusije. Tradicionalna kultura te regije je zelo zanimiva za etnologe in jezikoslovce najširšega profila, saj ohranja številne arhaične elemente občeslovanskega pomena. V prvem delu naše raziskave sta bila obravnavana dva bloka mitoloških verovanj: duhovi domačih in naravnih lokusov ter demoni-pokojniki, ki se vračajo z drugega sveta. (Prvi del članka je objavljen v Studii Mythologici Slavici 24 (2021).)V drugem delu članka so analizirana verovanja o likih, ki pripadajo drugima dvema mitološkima skupinama: skupini določenih nelokaliziranih duhov (hudič, personifikacija vihra, personifikacija smrti, duhovi bolezni, liki zastraševanja) in različnim kategorijam živih ljudi, obdarjenih s posebnim znanjem (čarovnice, čarovniki, zdravilci, volkodlaki, ljudje ozkih poklicev). Raziskava poteka na podlagi podatkov vzhodnoslovanskega mitološkega sistema.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47133749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Narratives about the plague and other pandemics essentially induce fear and predict death and hunger, triggering a variety of emotions among people, particularly anxiety. The paper discusses how the motifs of plague narratives – despite being ancient, traditional and old – resurface from the collective memory and the subconscious as people now have experiences comparable to those endured by humanity centuries ago. Although the COVID-19 pandemic that confronted the planet from 2019 to 2022 is not as deadly as the plague, it is still an ongoing existential threat. A discussion is also presented of the ways that old traditions and social constructs re-emerge in contemporary narratives and discourses about COVID-19, and how the atmosphere of fear affects the emotional and social lives of the people, along with their narratives, jokes, fake news, and the conspiracy theories that have been circulating online.
{"title":"Emotions of Fear in Narratives about the Plague and the Contemporary Pandemic","authors":"Monika Kropej Telban","doi":"10.3986/sms20222501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20222501","url":null,"abstract":"Narratives about the plague and other pandemics essentially induce fear and predict death and hunger, triggering a variety of emotions among people, particularly anxiety. The paper discusses how the motifs of plague narratives – despite being ancient, traditional and old – resurface from the collective memory and the subconscious as people now have experiences comparable to those endured by humanity centuries ago. Although the COVID-19 pandemic that confronted the planet from 2019 to 2022 is not as deadly as the plague, it is still an ongoing existential threat. A discussion is also presented of the ways that old traditions and social constructs re-emerge in contemporary narratives and discourses about COVID-19, and how the atmosphere of fear affects the emotional and social lives of the people, along with their narratives, jokes, fake news, and the conspiracy theories that have been circulating online.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46477801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article presents an insight into archaeological disputes around female Neolithic figurines, starting with a historical overview of main academic interpretations of the figurines. Furthermore, it introduces feminist approaches in archaeology related to figurines, showing how androcentric bias has undermined theories and methodologies. Çatalhöyük case-study serves as an example of contrasting narratives. The article argues that academic devaluation of Marija Gimbutas’ work within contemporary archaeology can be considered a litmus test which show the pervasiveness of gender bias in this disciplinary field. Among peculiar arguments against Gimbutas’ theories, there are: menopause syndrome, gynocentric agenda, and reverse sexism, all of which show how the archaeologists have focused on personal attacks rather than on serious academic discussion. In the end, all those rhetoric strategies have shifted scholars’ attention from the main issue which is rarely addressed: why is it that the Neolithic period is dominated by female figurines?
{"title":"Who’s Afraid of the Goddess? Leopard’s Tails, Menopausal Syndrome: Terms of Debate within Archaeology","authors":"Arianna Carta","doi":"10.3986/sms20222512","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20222512","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents an insight into archaeological disputes around female Neolithic figurines, starting with a historical overview of main academic interpretations of the figurines. Furthermore, it introduces feminist approaches in archaeology related to figurines, showing how androcentric bias has undermined theories and methodologies. Çatalhöyük case-study serves as an example of contrasting narratives. The article argues that academic devaluation of Marija Gimbutas’ work within contemporary archaeology can be considered a litmus test which show the pervasiveness of gender bias in this disciplinary field. Among peculiar arguments against Gimbutas’ theories, there are: menopause syndrome, gynocentric agenda, and reverse sexism, all of which show how the archaeologists have focused on personal attacks rather than on serious academic discussion. In the end, all those rhetoric strategies have shifted scholars’ attention from the main issue which is rarely addressed: why is it that the Neolithic period is dominated by female figurines?","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42125923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The paper is concerned with a detailed consideration of one of the most well-known and frequently mentioned Slavic pagan deities: Dazhbog (or Daž(d)bog). Historiographic stereotypes full of contradictions and problems have been fixed in research concerned with the deity, for example, defining Dazhbog as the deity of the sun; its proximity to another solar deity (Chors) and vagueness, why are there two solar deities; Dazhbog’s relation to the deity Svarog/Svarozhich; Dazhbog’s belonging only to the East Slavic area; the etymology of his name as a “giving deity”. An alternative view on Dazhbog (overlooked rather than new) that can solve these problems is given in this paper.
{"title":"Dazhbog: The Ancient Slavic Pagan Deity of the Shining Sky","authors":"Oleg Vladislavovich Kutarev","doi":"10.3986/sms20212411","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212411","url":null,"abstract":"The paper is concerned with a detailed consideration of one of the most well-known and frequently mentioned Slavic pagan deities: Dazhbog (or Daž(d)bog). Historiographic stereotypes full of contradictions and problems have been fixed in research concerned with the deity, for example, defining Dazhbog as the deity of the sun; its proximity to another solar deity (Chors) and vagueness, why are there two solar deities; Dazhbog’s relation to the deity Svarog/Svarozhich; Dazhbog’s belonging only to the East Slavic area; the etymology of his name as a “giving deity”. An alternative view on Dazhbog (overlooked rather than new) that can solve these problems is given in this paper.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49164398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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