MORANA -The Goddess of Winter and Death

Morana is the Slavic Goddess of winter and death.

As the goddess of winter she had never been loved by Slavic peoples, because she brought death, hunger, cold and unbearable diseases. Therefore, her coming was always awaited with fear, while her going was celebrated with joy. Slavs honoured her always though.
A legend tells that Dazbog, a sun god, went to the underworld Nav to seek his wife Zlatna Maja (Maja gold). In Nav he met Morana who seduced him.

After a bit of time Morena got bored of Dazbog and found another lover - Crnobog Jula. To get rid of Dazbog Morana tried to poison him. Saved by Ziva or Siva, Dazbog burned Morana and sent her to the underworld. This explains the process of the evolution of the sun. According to the belief of the pagan people, during the winter the sun is in the underworld. But his lover Morana that during the winter did not let him go out of the underworld gave him a drink of forgetfulness. Despite all Morana was unable to extend her kingdom forever, because at the end of the story Dazbog got rid of her and destroyed it.
Morana is described as a woman with dark hair and scary look, associated with witches and other demonic creatures. However, we cannot say that Morana was only a negative divinity. At the bottom of the heart the Slavic people worshiped the goddess Morana despite she was not good, scared and terrified them.

Morana is the goddess of night, winter and death. She is most frequently portrayed as a beautiful woman with long black hair, pale white face and wolf like fang and claws. All Slavs know Morana. She is also known as Morena, Marena, Marana, Marzhana and Marzhena.

Vesna is Morana’s opposite. Humans consider it completely good and fond of all people. Even though both goddesses as such are beautiful, Morana is pale and in a way represents beauty in decay while Vesna’s rose cheeks and luscious looks represent spring. People fear Morana and adore Vesna.

They don’t even exist in the same place at the same time. Only when Morana and her winter leave, Stribog brings Vesna on “wind’s wings”. In this context, Stribog was called “that who take one to bring another”. Vesna represents the coming of life after winter hibernation and the return of light after a period of darkness.

Snow, gale, hail and all of winter things come from Morana, the goddess of death of human, animal and plant life. Her three main attributes are winter death and darkness.

A widespread ritual of burning Morana existed. At the end of winter many of the Slav tribes made a rag and straw doll that symbolized Morana and burned her to help Vesna, the spring, to come faster.