SVETOVID - God of the visible world and festivities in his honor

Slovenian god of the visible world

The worship of Svetovid or Svantevid has been established among the Baltic Slavs, Rugians and Pomeranians, and the Carantanians in the Alpine region. We encounter him in Middle Europe, and nowhere else.
He was worshipped as Svantevid by the Baltic Slavs - the Rugians and Pomeranians, from the region that was christianized only in the 12th century. He was their highest god, the lord of the visible world. In Slovenian the word means all-seeing one, the root word vid meaning sight.

 His temples among the Rugians were preserved long enough to be recorded by the chroniclers, who report on deities of Pomeranians, or Pomaranian Rugians. The chronicler Hemold (c. *1120 - + 1170) mentions Svetovid in his Chronica Slavorum (I, 52) as Zuantevith, and says about him: "Among many deities of ancient Slavs, Svetovit stands out. He is god of the land of Rugians, effective in fulfilling requests, while other deities are seen as no more than demigods."

The chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, also describes him as the highest god of Rugians. He was god of good harvest, especially the grain harvest. With a good harvest he ensured prosperity for the people. This was represented by the horn of  plenty held in his left hand. His sword indicates, that he was also the god of justice, indicating punishment and protection. The bow held in his right hand indicates that he is also the god of love. The bow does signify war, but is a sign of the god of love when placed in hand of deities, just like the arrow in the hands of Apollo, Artemis and several other deities.

He was a four faced deity, the defender from the forces of evil. One view has it, that four faces represent four seasons. This claim is however contradictory since the god is connected with the summer harvest.
There is less evidence of his worship by Carantanians, the Slavs of the Alpine region. and what there is, is indirect, since the Christianization process began much earlier in this region,  but the pointers are compelling.
There are general indications that among Carantanians pagan gods were adapted and absorbed into the christian system of beliefs, and so remained close to the way the local people experienced life and nature that gave them sustenance.
There are signs that worship of Svetovid, the all-seeing god and god of harvest, was preserved among Carantanians in the figure of  St. Vid or Št. Vid / St. Vitus, an exceptionally popular saint in Slovenian lands. There is first of all the evidence of the name. It would be reasonable to assume that the old pagan Svetovid merged with the saint Vid. This is supported by the popularity of the saint in Slovenian territories. Many churches are dedicated to him, and many place names as well. In addition,  the prevailing opinion among Slovenian ethnologists is that churches tended to be built in places where pagan temples had stood.
Further evidence is provided by the festivities around the time of the saint’s name day, particularly festivities connected to celebration of harvest. There are also links to Svetovid worship in many surviving customs and traditions.The folk tradition of healing, particularly of sight, was connected to the saint and points to the strength of this worship. 

It is a characteristic of Slovenes and Croatians that they pray to Sveti Vid  in cases of eye disease. The explanation might lie in the meaning of the word – “vid”, which means sight in Slovenian. Thus the word vid and the name of the saint - Vid are identical. Further, the word vid is also part of the name Svetovid. So it is reasonable to suppose that prayers for good sight were also directed to the pagan predecessor of St. Vid. In some places, particularly Bela Krajina in south-eastern Slovenia, the custom was to gather dew before sunrise. It was collected with a piece of cloth, the moisture was then squeezed out and used as eye medicine. 

Niko Kuret, eminent Slovenian ethnologist believes that christian missionaries had successfully replaced the old Svetovid with the Christian Saint Vid. According to the old Julian calendar they celebrated his name day on the day of summer solstice, the 24th June, when the bonfires are lit. From 1582 onwards, in accordance to the new Gregorian calendar, it is celebrated a few days earlier, on the 15th June. Just how remarkable must have been the so-called Vidovo or St. Vid Day festival testify, says the ethnologist, the remnants of old customs, still maintaining their hold on the great feast days.

Double Kolovrat Stickers and Canvas Prints

Stickers and Canvas Prints

A canvas print is the result of an image printed onto canvas which is stretched, or gallery-wrapped, onto a frame and displayed. 

Canvas prints are often used in interior design, with stock images, or customised with personal photographs.

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Ceramic tea or coffee mugs with unique design

Ceramic Tea mugs

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Svetovid's Kolovrat pendants set

Svetovid's Kolovrat pendants set

Double Kolovrat (double spinning Sun wheel) reflects the eternal connection of Jav - the physical world we live in, and Nav - the spiritual world .
Constant turning and interaction of these two worlds demonstrates their strong spiritual connection. Together they form Prav - heavenly law that was left to us to follow by the pride and glory of our ancestors and the Gods.

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GODS OF SLAVS

... Wherever you now live,

Pray to God no matter whom,

You are the picture of the Gods of old.

In your soul is sorrowful Morana

and Perun's impetuous temperament.

You rejoice to the Sun as Vesna ,

you're indestructible like a goddess Ziva .

When you fight, you dream of peace

as Volos - benevolent God of pastors ...

 English translation of Desanka Maksimovic poem

GENUS - The Creator

The GREAT (MEN) and The SMALL (WOMEN) TRINITY

MATI SYRA ZEMYA (MOTHER EARTH)

SVAROG

PERUN

SVETOVID

MOKOSA - The Goddess of woman ferility and magic rituals

ZIVA - The Goddes of Life

DAJBOG

VELES - The God of Shepherds, Magic and Wild Animals

VESNA - The Goddess of Spring and Youth

MORANA - The Goddess of Winter and Death

STRIBOG - The God of Wind

LADA - The Goddes of Love and Beauty

JARILO - The God of Spring,Harvest and Defender of the people

DANU (DANA) - The Goddess of Rivers, Water, Wells, Magick

SEMARGL

BELOBOG - The God od Daylight and the Order

CRNOBOG - The God of the Dark, Chaos and Evil

The FATES - (SUDJAJE)

SVETOVID -God of Light ,Sun and Protector of the realm

God Svetovid is also known under other names, depending on the particular Slavic tribe: Svyentovit, Svantovit, Swietowit, Svevid or simply Vid. Svetovid was main deity of Baltic Slavs and his cult is highly connected with fortress Arkona, located at Ruyan (Rugen) Island, which was once considered Holy land of the Slavs. The bulk of data about Svetovid comes from this ancient Slavic sanctuary.

Svetovid was protector of the arable lands and the God of the sun and light for those who believed in him. And for all others he was a god of war, destruction and defeat.
The last known temple of Svetovid was on Ruyan Island.

In the center of Arkona was temple of god Svetovid surrounded by two wooden fences. The temple was also made of wood, like all other Slavic temples, so today we have almost no remnants of these buildings. It was highly decorated with carvings and paintings. The size of temple was 20x20m and in inner part of building was statue of god, 8m height, also made of wood. Svetovid had four necks and four heads, which represented small pantheon of main Slavic deities: Perun, Svarog, Lada and Mokos.
In his right hand he held horn made of different kinds of metals. This horn was filled with wine or nectar and according to the quantity of liquid in it, the priest predicted future of the land. In the left arm he held a bow. In possession of Svetovid was also a massive sword made of silver. The body of statue was with carvings divided in three parts. The upper part symbolized the spiritual world, middle was material and the lower part symbolized hell.

The sanctuary of Svetovid in Arkona was destroyed in the year 1168 by Danish king Valdemar.

Once per year, during the harvest period, in front of a temple, people sacrificed parts of animals, mostly heads of domestic animals. This was also a great religious feast in which many people took a part. The priest would then predict abundance or scarcity in the upcoming year and pray to Svetovid for fortune and prosperity for the whole land.

The day before the feast, the priest would clean the temple with the broom taking care not to breath inside the temple. When he needed air he would simply run to the door to take a breath since he could not allow the human breath to desecrate the sacred.

On the day of the celebration, priest would take the horn from the statue. If the quantity of liquid decreased, the following year would be poor, and if it is the same it promised abundance. The rest of the day people would eat, drink and dance which also was the part of the ritual and celebration of Svetovid.

Svetovid’s temple was also a well-known oracle, where Slavs came to learn their future. In the temple, a white horse was kept, which belonged to Svetovid. No one may touch it except the priest who would take care of the temple. It was believed that God rode on white horse and lead his people in combats against enemies. The white horse was used in prediction of outcome of the approaching battles. Before going to war, in front of the temple priests would set the triple row of spears and horse was taken to cross over them. In case the horse started with the right leg then it was considered that outcome would be favourable. And if he started with left then war would be postponed. The temple possessed a great treasure. Slavs were obligated to give the part of their harvest to the temple as well as prey they seized by robbery.

There are a lot of theories about the exact meaning of Svetovid’s name. Some think that name is combination of words “svet” which means saint and word “vit” which means hero, knight. This way Svetovid’s name would mean St. Hero or St. Knight.

Others think that word “vid” means light, so the name can be translated as Saint or Holy light. But the closest is the theory where word “vid” is translated as world, and “sve” as all, everything, entire. According to this, Svetovid is God who sees everything and knows everything. As a confirmation of this is a fact that Svetovid is presented as God with four heads turned on the four directions of the world. So he was the one who observed the universe, saw and heard everything.

Horses of the Slavic gods

Every Slav God was to some extent a warrior God and as such, most of them had horses. Horses often attributed with supernatural powers. These mythical horses had a strong connection with the Moon and the moon cult. They often had two very different “faces” one regular, like a completely normal horse and a second, divine, powerful and miraculous which they mostly used at night.

Svetovid’s white horse

At nightfall,the mighty Svetovid saddles his winged horse and pursues the enemies of the Slavs. Many things suggest that he had two horses, white one for day time and a black one for night time but those are probably two “faces” of the same magical animal. That’s backed up by ancient writings about priest guardians of his white horse in his temple of destiny. That white horse just looks like a regular horse but nobody except for the priests is allowed to touch him and it’s a sin to pluck a single hair from his mane or tail. Only the high priest can use that horse and only to predict the future in Svetovid’s name. Even though this horse is carefully guarded, there are records of him being exhausted, sweaty and muddy in the morning and it’s believed that Svetovid rode him that night.

This white horse was also used in predicting the outcome of upcoming wars. Priest would put three rows of spears on the ground outside of the temple and then bring the saddled white horse. If he crosses the spears right leg first, the outcome will be good but if he crosses left leg first, that was bad luck and the war had to be postponed. The horse was saddled and the high priest himself took him empty saddled across the spears which means that it was believed that Svetovid himself is riding him at that moment and that he is communicating with them through horse’s movement.

Magical horses in folk songs

Similar unusual horses are often found in folk tales and songs of the Slavs. Even though their owners are humans now they are usually great heroes or of strange origin. In the Serbian folk song Zenidba Kralja Vukasina (King Vukasin’s Wedding) we find out that his rival Momchil has a winged horse Jabuchilo. Jabuchilo’s wings can be only seen at the break of dawn or when his master orders him to show them. That horse is very similar to horses of the Slav gods, which he probably was in earlier version of the song.

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.

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