VESNA - The Goddess of Spring and Youth

Vesna was the goddess of spring, and was associated with youth.

Vesna was a very popular goddess among people because she replaced winter and death that is Morena. Morena, however, was the goddess of winter, and this time for the Slavs (mainly northern) was associated with death. In past times winter was characterized by a scarcity of food from various diseases caused by the cold, and then associated with death. Vesna wore the green fields, the meadows, nice weather, favorable to life and work.
With these changes in the nature Vesna brought joy into the homes of the Slavs. The Slavs celebrated spring because it won winter and announced the summer season. As spring symbolized the beginning of a beautiful season, when it bloomed, the nature awoke, all was reborn and renewed life, Vesna had her role as a goddess of youth.

Vesna was one of the sunnier goddesses and was loved by people very much. Vesna represented spring in Slovene mythology and is still the poetic word for spring in the Slovene and Slovak languages.

It is precisely for this reason in particular the Serbs, had the custom of giving the name Vesna to a female.  People, who gave the name Vesna to a daughter, believed that their daughter would be happy and cheerful just like the goddess Vesna, or, as spring. Her name comes from an Indian word vas that means solar, illuminated and shiny. The word vas is located in the root of the name Vesna. This also shows that the deity Vesna was present in the Slavic people even when they were in India, and before they moved to Europe. In particular, Vesna was a model for women. She was beautiful and powerful and around her the wonderful scent spread. In addition to beauty, she is also attributed to the power of the Sun, without which she could not get spring.

Vesna was never alone. She was always accompanied by Gerovit, who watched her constantly, and Stribog, the god of wind and air.

Vesna was also the goddess of victory. She could overcome death and winter, and governed nature. This victory was celebrated by the people according to their customs. According to legend, every spring Stibog carried Vesna on the wings of light and nice breeze. In the duel between Morena and Vesna, the Slavs had always opted for Vesna. The Slavs had the custom to bring the doll Vesna on branches and to burn the doll Morena. This practice symbolically marked the victory of Vesna over Morena. Of course, the victory of Vesna was not definitive, as all cycles were repeated every year. The fight between Morena showed that Vesna had features that were common among mortals, intolerance towards other women, jealousy and the struggle for power.

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.

Polish Slavs called Vesna Devana with the added “title” of the goddess of fertility and sometimes even the goddess of the hunt. Apart from Vesna and Devana, the same goddess was also known as: Zhivana, Zhiva, Siva, Diva, Deva, Devica, Danica etc. The name Lada is a lot more mysterious than the ones mentioned just now. After Slavs converted to Christianity, Vesna’s domain was split between St. Petka and Virgin Mary.

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.