The Eastern Slavs of pre-Christian Russia worshiped many pagan deities. The imprint of these beliefs remained in modern life. A large number of rites and rituals were practiced associated with the spirits of the ancestors and natural forces.
Old Russian traditions have pagan roots. Slavic deities as a whole personified the power of nature. Most often, the most important events are correlated with specific dates. For many generations, a kind of calendar has been compiled.
Subsequently, it began to correspond to the business cycles in which the population lived. Since 988, after baptism, the Old Russian rites began to be forgotten. However, with a new faith, some of them were able to get along and mutate. The Slavs attached great importance to all traditions. Tradition surrounded everyone.
Name and baptism
As soon as they saw the light, the babies passed through the rite of naming. The choice of nickname seemed very important. The name also determined the whole future fate. Therefore, parents had to choose the final version long before the baby appeared.
The maternity ritual had a different meaning. The name determined the connection with the family, the origin and place of settlement of the Slav. The background of the ritual has always been religious. Therefore, the name was not carried out without the Magi. These sorcerers, communicating with the spirits, cemented the parental choice, coordinating it with the Slavic pantheon.
The name designation dedicated the newborn to the Old Slavic faith. There was also a reverse pagan rite, providing a return to the roots, to the family and faith. Historically, he received the name of baptism.
Not accustomed to the new teaching, the Slavs provided for the possibility of a return to the religion of their ancestors. To cleanse themselves from foreign faith, they went to the temples, parts of pagan temples intended for rituals. These places were covered by the most remote forests, steppe stripes or groves.
Far from the settlements, the connection of the sorcerer with the pantheon of the Slavs increased. A person who wanted to part with a foreign faith brought three witnesses with him. The applicant knelt, the sorcerer cast a spell over him, clearing the erring from errors. At the end of the Old Russian rite, it was necessary to swim for completion according to all the rules.
Of great importance to the Slav in pre-Christian religion were spirits, and sacred places, and the pagan faith itself. For this reason, in the tenth and eleventh centuries there were so frequent mockings.
Wedding and housewarming
The ceremony meant in Russia the entry of young people into adulthood. Unmarried or childless relatives were treated with suspicion and even conviction. Some moments of the rite differed in different regions. Everywhere a significant role was given to songs. They were performed under the windows of the newlywed house.
The festive table was filled with refreshments. The loaf was considered the main dish, a symbol of the wealth of the future family. They sang it with a special ritual. They began a long old Russian wedding ceremony with matchmaking. In the end, his father, the bride, necessarily received a ransom from the groom. Young began life in their own hut.
According to wedding traditions, the choice of housing was considered an important ritual. Many evil creatures were able to bring damage to houses. Therefore, with special care they selected a place for the house. Without a housewarming ritual, one cannot imagine a new life in a barely born family. Some moments remained in demand until the century before last.
There were several options for determining whether the site met all requirements. Conducted research using a spider or a cow. At night, a vessel with a spider was left in the selected area. If the arthropod began to weave a web in the vessel, then the place was chosen correctly.
Checked compliance in a different way. A cow was allowed into the spacious area. The place where she went was considered the most optimal for the start of construction.
Caroling
Bypass rituals stood out in a separate group. The most famous calendar ritual was caroling. Spent it every year with the beginning of the annual cycle. Caroling was able to adapt even to the Christianization of Russia. In custom, the features of paganism have been preserved.
The modern ritual is timed to the Orthodox Christmas Eve. The ancient Slavs once at this time went around the settlement in groups, collecting gifts. Only youth took part in such rounds. The festival was held in good-looking costumes. Dressed up and in animal skins, masks. Young people went around all the neighbors, announcing the birth of the Sun. This meant the end of the old cycle.
Kalinov bridge
The burial rite in the Slavic culture was the main. The completion of earthly life was accompanied by the farewell of relatives to the deceased. The essence of the conduct varied by region. Most often buried in a coffin. In addition to the body, personal belongings were packed in the domino to serve the master in the afterlife. Vyatichi and Krivichi burned the deceased at the stake. Such funerals were held on Kalinovy or Star Bridge.
So the Slavs called the path to the world of the dead. Deceivers, villains, could not cross the bridge. The procession went a long way, symbolizing the journey of the soul to the afterlife. The body was then laid on a funeral pyre, filled the whole space with straw with branches. Dressed in white, the deceased was surrounded by gifts, which included funeral foods. They laid the body down to the west. The elder of the clan or the priest made a fire.
Trizna
The second part of the burial was called the trizny. The cult consisted of a memorial feast with competitions. Sacrifices and mass appeals to the spirits of the ancestors were widespread.
They were asked to help all the living to find comfort. Particularly solemn was the trident on the dead protecting the warriors' native lands. During the tris, they glorified their deeds.
Fortunetelling
From ancient times, many types of fortune telling have remained. However, many of them are forgotten. Traditional beliefs were based on the veneration of nature. Another version of the ritual was considered an appeal to the spirits of ancestors in order to find out the future. A Slavic calendar has been formed based on natural cycles. It was used to determine the best time for divination.
According to magical rites, the health of relatives, the offspring of livestock, and the level of affluence were determined. The most popular were fortune-telling about the upcoming betrothed. The most remote places were chosen for the ritual. It was in abandoned huts, forest shelters that spirits inhabited.
