PERUN - God of Thunder

Perun is the Slavic god of thunder and the sky. He should not be confused with Svarog, who is also a god of the sky because Svarog is the god of the universe, and Perun belongs to the lower sky, which could be interpreted as the atmosphere. 

He is one of the most powerful Slavic gods. He represents the destroyer because he is the god of bad weather and natural disasters. Perun is a member of the biggest and the most powerful Slavic trinity (Triglav) together with Svarog and Svetovid . In many places, Perun is mentioned as Svarog's and Veles's brother.

Perun also represents the punisher of perjury, as well as the punisher of evil in general. Perun punishes the evil and disobedient by closing the heavenly door to them. He punishes for perjury during the life of the perjurer and uses lightnings in the process of punishing. In many written documents from the early Middle Ages (Nestor's Chronicle, Sbornik Paisijev (Paisije's Anthology), Sofyskij Sobor), and even in peace contracts can be seen that the Slavs swore to obey Perun himself and he was supposed to punish and curse any man who would break the contract. Perun was most often mentioned and frequently satanised in the Christian notes from the early middle ages. This shows us that the cult of Perun was deeply implanted in the Slavs. Their dedication to Perun can also be seen in the fact that many geographical places and plants bear his name (Perun's peak, and Perun's coast in Russia, Perunja ves in Slovenia, mountain Perin in Bulgaria, perunika is iris germanica, etc.). Even today there are sayings and curses with Perun's name in some Slavic languages. 'Go to hell' is 'do Paroma' in Slovakian, where Parom represents Perun. The word 'thunder' is 'piorun' in Polish. The Baltic Slavs called 'Thursday' – 'perendan'.

The name Perun is made from the suffix -un, or -unj (-унь) which signifies the doer of an action, and the root 'per' which means to hit, to break, to smash. Thus Perun indicates a hitter, a breaker, a smasher, a thunderer, and also a deity – the destroyer, the demolisher. This was the reason why natural disasters were attributed to him.

Legends tell us that thunders are heard because of the clattering of the wheels while Perun is riding in his coach in the sky. On statues, Perun was portreyed as a strong man with a beard. Parts of his clothes tell us that he is a warrior in his armour. There are some notions of Perun with a stone sledgehammer in his hand, which he throws at people and petrifies them. There are also notions of him with a bow, which used to be identified with a rainbow, and when he used it, the arrows would turn into lightnings.

Perun was also associated with fire and fiery animals. Perun's animal was a fiery rooster, which is a sort of Slavic Fenix. His beings were also dragons. Rites related to fire were connected with Perun. Next to the idol the eternal fire was burning, which should not be extinguished in any case because, otherwise, all the servants in the temple would be hurt. Perun was also a fighter against droughts. According to one theory, he had an influence on the rain.

As far as plants are concerned, the Perun's plant was an Oak tree. Even today, the Serbs call a kind of an oak tree 'grm', which originates in the word 'grmeti', which means 'to thunder'. It is thus obvious that grm was dedicated to thunder, i.e. Perun. Of the other plants there are iris, sage, nettle, apple, and houseleek. The animals which symbolised him are a he-chamois, and a European bison. When they did not have temples, the Slavs prayed to Perun in groves, at sacrificial altars, and under oak trees.

After the arrival of Christianity, the role of Perun was taken over by St. Elijah. Perun, as well as the stories about him remained in the folk tradition, but some of them took the form of St Elijah stories, and the others had to change the name of the main character. The Church satanised Perun, probably because of his strong cult and strong influence on people's lives.

 

How the Slavs worship trees

Worshiping trees is common for many ethnic groups and religions, and Slavs are no exception, since Slavs lived in an area covered with dense forests.

 The cult of sacred trees was widely spread and strong among Slavs. The statue of Gods and temples were made from wood. It was believed that trees have magic power, probably because of its longevity and ability of regeneration. 

The tree is considered as symbol of the universe as well as youth, wisdom, life, fertility, immortality. It was believed that trees are dwelling places for souls.

Slavic tribes had strong connection with nature and they believed in many gods that were patrons of forest, meadows, flowers, earth, sun… They also believed that every plant has a soul. Different sort of trees were subject of worshiping and sometimes forest was used instead of temples.

In front of the tree various rituals and celebrations were performed. Those trees had status of sacred ones and no one was allowed to cut or took any part of them, afraid of revenge of the spirits who lived inside the tree. If anyone broke this rule it was believed that he or some of his family members will die or have an accident. Almost every village had its sacred tree. The rituals that were performed consisted of prayer, adorning tree with flowers, red strings and fruits. The sacred tree was patron of the village and protected its inhabitants from the thunder, drought and flood. Under the tree people organized meetings where important decisions were made. One of the most sacred trees among Slavs was oak tree. It was considered as tree that belongs to God Perun, the main deity of Slavic pantheon. Besides oak, other sorts of trees were worshiped: pear, yew, hornbeam and linden. 

Dendrolatry in Slavic religion

Worshiping of oak tree continued its existence until nowadays in Christmas tradition. Although Slavic tribes are baptized, they could not completely forget their pagan Gods, so they incorporated old religion with Christianity. On the Christmas Eve branches of the oak tree are ritually burned. They represent deity, the God of vegetation that is burned in order to be born again. This is a symbolical presentation of life cycle.

Sometimes instead of oak other sorts can be used like yew tree or beech. Before tree is burned it is treated like deity. The bread and wine are offered as sacrifice. These rituals have a goal to transfer the magic power of the tree to the people. During the burning of the tree people would wish happiness, wealth, health and fertility. It was believed that some trees can captivate the souls of the dead and be their dwelling place. Apple tree sometimes was planted on the graves because of its ability to keep the souls. Since in traditional beliefs trees had divine nature, it was thought that they can protect from illness and misfortunes. 

The pieces of hawthorn wood were used as amulet since it was the most powerful in protecting from demons. On the other hand it was believed that in some trees lived demons, witches and other evil creatures. Nut tree belonged to the underworld and demons, and it was never planted near houses. Linden forests were also cult places among Slavs.

The statues of gods were made from the linden wood, under the tree – weddings were celebrated. Yew tree is, according to legends, “fairy tree” and protects from demons, curses, witches and other evil forces. The pieces of yew tree were used as amulet for protection of people and cattle. Maple tree was also sacred tree associated with cult of the dead and ancestor cult. In the past, people were buried in hollow maple timber in order that tree protects soul from demons in the afterlife. Although Slavic people started being baptized centuries ago, the cult of tree survived until nowadays and is incorporated in Christian tradition.