LADA The Goddess of love, beauty, marriage spring

The Slavic goddess of love, beauty, marriage spring and is also known as the “Lady of the Flowers“ She is linked to the planetary power of Venus who is, besides love and beauty, associated with fertility. Lada is represented as a young girl with long golden hair sometimes with a wreath of ears of grain braided into her hair, which symbolises her function of fertility deity.

A symbol of Sun, a mark of lifegiving power was sometimes on her breasts. As a fertility goddess, Lada has her annual cycles, which can be shown by the belief that she resides in the dwelling place of the dead until the vernal equinox comes. This world of the dead is called Irij, and here, besides Lada, dwells Veles, the horned god of cattle. At the moment when Lada is supposed to come out into the world and bring spring, Jarilo/Gerovit opens the door of Irij letting the fertility goddess bless the earth.

At the end of summer, Lada returns to Irij (there is a similar myth in German mythology in which Freya spends a part of the year underground among the elves, whereas Greek Persefona dwells in Had during the winter period). Although her reign begins on the 21st of March, Lada is primarily the goddess of summer. She follows Vesna, the Slavic spring goddess. However, both of these goddesses are associated with fertility so sometimes it can sometimes be difficult to separate their functions. As we can see, Lada's reign begins in spring, the proof of which is ladenj, another name for April, given after this goddess. Apart from the Sun, Lada is also associated with rain and hot summer nights, the ideal time for paying respect to the love goddess.

Lada's animals are a cock, a deer, an ant and an eagle, whereas her plants are a cherry, a dandelion, a linden and a peony.

THE WHITE GOD - The God of Daylight and Everything Good

Belobog is a deity whose historical existence was, and still is, a subject of numerous debates. Belobog, which, translated into English, means White god, is imagined as a counterpart to Crnobog, or Černobog (Black god) and as such represents the light deity of good essentially opposed to the deity of evil.

According to the theory of Peter Kotka, the Slavs accepted Belobog in the period when they lived in the Persian neighborhood (8th – 2nd c. BC). As we know, the Persian religion was dualist in its nature, thus two opposed forces – Ormuzd and Ahriman ruled the Persian universe. The Slavic Belobog would thus correspond Ormuzd, though he was never on such a high place with the Slavs. Furthermore, Kotka presented a Slavic myth in which two opposed forces, just like those mentioned above, were responsible for the creation of the Slavic world, and the forces, of course, were Belobog and Crnobog. Both of these forces were necessary for the creation of the universe, which is, indeed, a principle that could have been taken from the Persians. However, this myth should not be taken for granted since there is a quite different myth about the creation of the universe, and the myth is about a god Rod who created the cosmos from a huge egg.

             However you look at it, the impression that Belobog is more of an abstract principle than a typical anthropomorphic deity stays, which can be seen in the way it was represented by the Slavs. Well, how was this deity represented? The Slavs imagined Belobog as an old man with a long white beard, dressed exclusively in white. As such, he would appear only during the daylight, doing good deeds as he went and bringing people success and happiness. Belobog helped many peasants to finish hard work in the field and he showed many strayed travelers the way out of a thick forest. The general impression of whiteness, light and positively made him an abstract deity, completely different from other gods. This is why he is more likely the very principle of light and goodness wrapped in the form of an anthropomorphic deity, than a god pagans would otherwise bow to.

Whether it is an abstract principle, or a manifestation of the supreme god (Ormuzd or Christian Yahweh), the appearance of Belobog in the Slavic mythology should by no means be ignored. Certain data about the notion of him with the Slavs can be found through the analysis of the name of this deity. Belobog's name reminds us a lot of the names of gods of other pantheons: Baldur, Belunos, Baal etc. All these deities are also of a light and solar nature since their names contain the same root (bal means something light and bright). The very occurrence of Baldur in the Nordic mythology is parallel to the occurrence of Belobog in the Slavic – both seem a bit of a foreign body in their systems, by being different in every possible way from other gods and by making their appearance seem extremely mysterious.  The same rules were applied both to Baldur and Belobog, Baldur was considered to be a Christian creation, wherefore he was even named Hvit Christ, i.e. White Christ. As far as the Serbs are concerned, Belobog's name has, up to now, remained with the people who use it to denote a deity, which can be seen in an old saying “he ate the white god”, used to show that somebody ate very much, i.e. that he ate everything there was to be eaten.

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.