Yarilo is the god of the sun, spring, strength and the flourishing of life. His father is Veles, and his mother is Dodol, who is the wife of Perun. Such a betrayal caused a struggle between the two gods to the death. The Slavs considered Yarilo a symbol of renewal. Only good and bright concepts are associated with it, for example, sincerity, purity, tenderness, etc.
Who is the god Yarilo?
He was portrayed as a shirtless young man. He attracted many with his blue eyes. He had blond hair with a slight reddish tinge. A large red cloak developed behind Yarilo's shoulders. He moved on a white horse or on foot. Where his bare feet trod, plants rose and flowers bloomed. By the way, according to some beliefs, Yarilo was portrayed as a woman, but only in men's clothing. She had her own attributes, so in her right hand she held a stuffed human head, and in the other spikelets of rye. On his head was a wreath of the first wildflowers. In some myths, the Western Slavs say that Yarilo had another attribute - a shield on which the sun was depicted. Many considered him to be the god of youth and carnal pleasure. According to existing legends, Yarilo was quite loving. Since this god was also considered the patron of physical love, in some images there is a tense phallus - a symbol of fertility. In principle, we can conclude that Yarilo is a Slavic god not only of the sun, but also. People believed that all wild animals, nature spirits and lower deities also obey him. In winter, he became Frost and killed everything he created in the spring.
The main myth involving this god has to do with the creation of life on earth. When Mother Earth was sleeping under the veil of Chaos, Yarilo appeared. He kissed her passionately, which caused the Earth to wake up. In the place where the sun god left his kiss, flowers, fields, forests, rivers, seas, etc. appeared. The warmth of the Slavic god Yarilo inflamed the Earth so much that she gave birth to animals, birds, fish and other living creatures. That is why often living beings are called "children of Yarilo." Special and passionate kisses led to the birth of man.
The Slavs have many different rituals associated with the god Yarilo, in which dolls and stuffed animals personifying him were used. For example, at the beginning of spring, they sang various songs and held celebrations in honor of the sun god, where they chose Yarila and Yarilikha. At the end of the celebration, a scarecrow dedicated to Yarilo was buried and buried in an open field. A similar ritual symbolized the arrival of spring. Every year the sun god died and was born again.
The symbol of the sun god Yarilo among the Slavs
The swastika played a big role in the life of the Slavs. Various symbols were applied to buildings and embroidered on clothes. The images were used to create various amulets and bracelets. Interestingly, neo-paganism constantly ascribes new solar signs to Yarilo, and today there are about 150 of them. In general, there are several symbols whose belonging to this god still managed to 
prove:
- Kolovrat - the rising sun, and he also points to the eternity of life and the victory of evil over good.
- Salting is a symbol of the setting sun, and it indicates the end of creative productive activity.
- Kolard is a symbol of fertility and prosperity.
- Inglia is a symbol of the primary fire from which the universe emerged.
- Svaor-Solntsevrat is a symbol of Yarilo's movement across the sky.
They honor the pagan god Yarilo on March 21, the day of the first month of the pagan year. By the way, other gods who awaken life were also revered at that time: Zhiva, Dazhdbog and Svarog. They also remember Yarilo on Yuri Zimny - December 9th.
IV. System of Slavic mythology. 3. Personifications of the sun among the Eastern Slavs. Yarilo - the god of the spring sun.
The cycle of solar deities should also include a deity, according to the general opinion, not attested by the annals of Nestor and other ancient monuments, but deeply rooted in the religious consciousness of the Russian people - a deity, both in name and in meaning, representing a close similarity with Yarovit and Radegast of the Baltic Slavs, - Russian YARIL. « Like a Sanskrit root ar, - notes Efimenko, - the Slavic root yar also retained the meaning of swiftness, speed, ardor, strength, light, spring or rising sun ... Spring and morning sunlight excites in all nature the regenerating power; therefore, the root yar is used in the meaning of the fruitful power of spring and morning sunlight. What exactly is under the root yar it is necessary to understand the light of the spring or the rising sun, it can be seen from the names of spring: Czech Garo, Little Russian yar - “Yar is our father and mother: whoever does not sow, will not take”, - say the Galician Rusyns. [Z.R. Geogr. O. (ethn.) II. 362].
From here the name of the bread sown in spring: little Russian. yarynya, Great Russian yaritsa , Czech gar, Slovenian Garice , Polish jarzyna , and adjectives: spring, jary, ardent .. . Spring and morning are the time when the light and warmth of the sun appear, stimulating lust in man and animals and the desire for fertilization in plants. Hence the new the meaning of the root yap is animal lust, carnal love and fertilizing power. Rage - to have lust. In addition to lust, spring light excites strength, courage; That's why root yar in our country, as in Sanskrit, it means strength, courage, ardent - strong, courageous, Czech jarost - freshness, youthful strength. Based on the wording above,- adds Efimenko, - the word Yarilo will denote a rapidly spreading spring light or morning sunlight, which excites vegetable power in herbs and trees, and carnal love in people and animals, then youthful freshness, strength and courage in a person. Hence it follows that Yarilo, as a deity, should be the god of the rising or spring sun, the god of lust and love, god growing and patron saint of animals, plant grower, god of strength and courage. In this sense, our Yarilo is identical with Yarovit gavolyan ". In the Arkhangelsk province. vehemently means: strongly, helluva lot, soon. [Reg. c.-rus. words.] – The Czech name comes from another form of the same root yar - yas.[Efimenko. About Yaril. 80-81. Sreznevsky. Oh goddamnit. sun. 46.].
Yarilo or Yarylo, in the sense of the god of the spring sun, still lives in the minds of Belarusians, who generally retained many very ancient features and motives in their rituals and beliefs. Belarusians imagine "Yaryla" young, handsome, riding a white horse, in a white robe, with a wreath of flowers on his head; in with his right hand he holds human head and on the left - small sheaf of rye ears. In honor of him Belarusian girls arrange a holiday around the time of the first spring crops - April 27, that is, approximately at the same time as it was sent celebration in honor of Yarovit in Havelberg. Having dressed one of her friends with "Yaryl", in a white robe, and having decorated it with a wreath of wild flowers, they put her on a white horse tied to a post . Around Yaryl, girls, also decorated with wreaths, lead a round dance, dance and sing. In case of favorable weather, this ceremony is performed on sown fields. During the dance, the girls sing in honor Yaril song, in which he is depicted as walking on the earth and bringing with him the fertility of fields and fields. This song starts like this:
And where is the ion naked -
There is life in capo,
And where is the ion no zirne (i.e., he will look),
There is a ring of zatsvitse.
According to Drevlyansky, it is very long, but only this stanza is given to him [Drevlyansky. Belarusian folk legends 20-21].
All signs of Belarusian Yarila require it to be included sun deities, as a representative spring sun: 1) he is given White horse- a common characteristic attribute of the sun god, 2) a holiday in honor of him takes place at the beginning of spring, 3) he, both in name and in his properties, is similar with Yarovit Baltic Slavs, who, however, have, in addition to a peaceful character revitalization of nature and the fruit-bearer, what properties exhaust the nature of the Belarusian Yaril, more character southern scorching sun, a representative of the god of war, identified in this respect with Ares and Mars. AT military In relation to the name Yarovit of the Baltic Slavs, it also takes on the well-known meaning of the root in Russian yap in the sense of anger, temper, militancy: yaryu is called in the folk language, for example, snake bite. In a conspiracy from a snake bite, they say: "Reptile (snake) underground, reptile underground, take your yar (bite)". [Maikov. Great Russian Spells 73]. An ardent person is called an angry, quick-tempered, strong, inflamed with anger, cruel. " Don't be you yar be merciful,- is sung in a song about the wedding of Ivan the Terrible. [Vostokov. Experience of the Regional Great Russian Dictionary See this word. - Buslaev. East Pts. I, 428] rage, according to Berynda's explanation - , according to L. Zizania's interpretation = anger, vehemence.[Sakharov. Tales of the Russian people. II. V, 111, 134].
AT Great Russia name and cult of Yaril, undoubtedly, they were very common, especially in the middle and eastern provinces, leaving indelible marks in the names of localities, fairs, games and festivities. But here Yarilo although he is a representative spring sun, as in Belarus, however has a completely different character.: it is honored mainly hot, and, moreover, fruitful, usefully warming, "baking", lustful, phallic side of a deity similar to the Greek Priapus, with the South Slavic Bronton-Anksur, with the Baltic-Slavic pripekalom. Thereby, Yarilin's games and festivities happening, n not at the beginning, but at the end of spring, or even in summer, i.e at the end of the outgoing spring, exactly at the end of May or in June, immediately before the start and on the first day of the Petrov fast, in more rare cases - even immediately after the fast. The game itself is now in places, and in the old days, perhaps everywhere, is the rite of burial of the obsolete god, along with the spring.
Serving exclusively as the personification of the "baking" side of the sun, causing lust (yar) in nature, a combination of sexes and abundant fertility,
Great Russian, decrepit by the end of spring, Yarilo was portrayed as an old man or a doll with an exorbitantly large phallus
: the beloved god was honored, carried in procession, sung in praise of his songs and in conclusion, with lamentations, weeping and wailing, buried
.
In Yarilin's games reproduced in a dramatic, although in a more primitive-rustic form than in ancient Greece, the same idea of the death of a representative of spring fertility, who returned all nature to a new life after winter sleep, and then, with the onset of the highest solstice, receding, dying, giving way to the returning winter.
Let's remember myths about Persephone, Adonis, Attis, Dionysus, dying in the prime of life with the end of spring.
And according to the Russian folk idea, mother sun, on the holiday of Kolyada (Christmas), directing her horses for the summer, on Ivanov's day turns them back to the winter. The reason that Yarilin funeral feast departs not at the very time of the highest solstice, as one might expect, it serves, no doubt, the Petrovsky post that prevents such a game. From this Yarilina games are usually sent at Holy Week, just before Petrovsky Lent, and end on the first day of Lent, if they leave later, then immediately after Peter's Day, at the end of the fasting time, which is inconvenient for the game.
Yarilo, as a myth, known, except for Belarus, in Tver, Kostroma, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tambov and Voronezh provinces. On behalf of Yaril numerous geographical names localities and in other provinces: Yarilovichi in Tikhvin and Valdai districts, also in Chernigov province, Yarilovo field in Kostroma, Yarilov grove near Kineshma, Erilovo in Dorogobuzh district, Erilovy ravine in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky district, Yarilov valley near Vladimir. In the Yarilova Valley, according to Mr. Buslaev, every year, on the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit, a common folk festival, which, according to Snegirev, bears the name “ on Yarilova "with round dances,
in which, especially on this day, a pagan song is sung: “And we sowed millet, sowed - Oh, Did Lado! Sowed, sowed! .. "
Fairs in the Orenburg and Penza provinces are known as Yaril or Eril, Yarilin day accompanied by auctions and fairs in the provinces of Tambov, Ryazan and Moscow (Mozhaisk district); these auctions are known under the name to Yarilina.[Snegirev. Russian folk holidays and superstitious rites. IV, 52, 60-61. - Sakharov. Tales of the Russian people. II. VII, 91 et seq. - Shepping. Glory myths. 60. - Khodakovsky. Comp. words. 187. - Buslaev. Local skaz. 8. - East. The experience of the regional Great Russian dictionary See the words: "Erila", "Yarilo"].
Deep roots, which, apparently, took root in different places in Russia Yaril's name and the memory of his honoring, undoubtedly testify in favor of his great fame and popularity in pagan Russia.
Even in quite recent times, in some places it took place annually the burial rite of Yaril. In Kostroma, on this day, people gathered in the square after mass. From the midst of the crowd an old man was elected, they dressed him in rags
and handed him a coffin with a scarecrow - Yarila,
representing a man with his natural accessories. After that, the procession from the city to the field began. Women
at this time with howls and lamentations expressed grief and despair; men sang songs and danced
; the children ran back and forth. In the field, they dug out a grave with sticks and the coffin, containing Yaril, was buried in the ground, with crying and wailing. The game ended with dances and games. all-holy incantation,
festivities and after the destruction of the described rite retained the name Yarilo. A similar rite was performed at the beginning of this century in the Kalyazinsky district (Tver province.) under the old pine
where and later, when the rite had already disappeared, the people gathered out of habit, for festivities. In Galicia
(Kostroma province.) at the beginning of this century they got some old man drunk, joked with him and amused themselves, as if they were a representative of Yaril.
The old man was taken to the meadow, where round dances and games were held. Each young woman or girl who took part in the round dance bowed to “Yarila” in advance from the waist. According to an old legend, near the city of Galich, on bow mountain, stood Yaril's idol, where the Galicians continued to gather annually on the week of All Saints, to send three day celebration. The same game took place in Kineshma.
"In Voronezh,- we read in the biography of His Grace Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh, - from ancient times and, probably, following some ancient pagan Slavic festival, there was a certain holiday called Yarilo and departing annually before the prayer of Petrov Lent until Tuesday of Lent itself. In these days, the entire city, as well as the surrounding rural people, gathered on the square that used to be behind the old Moscow gates in Voronezh, formed a clan trade fairs, and in the houses around the city preparations were made for these days, as if for some famous festival. At this gathering, a man was elected, who was tied with all sorts of flowers, different ribbons and bells; a high cap was put on the head, made of paper, painted and also untied with ribbons; his face was smeared with rouge; hands were given vertebrae. In such an outfit he walked dancing around the square, accompanied by crowds of people of both sexes, and was called Yaril. were also visible everywhere. games, dances, delicacy and drunkenness and terrible fist fights, from which this holiday is often marked by murders and mutilations of people. The Rev. Tikhon, who destroyed this holiday in Voronezh, in his “exhortation” to the inhabitants of the city, presents a picture of the rampant, rampant fun of the people during the celebration of Yaril and adds: “ From all the circumstances of this feast it is clear that an ancient one was idol, called named Yarilo, who in these countries was revered as a god, as long as there was no Christian piety. And others call this holiday, as I hear from the people here, playfulness. And how long ago did this holiday begin, I asked the same old people? They announced to me that he had been there for a long time; and then they said that it multiplies from year to year, and so de people expect it, like an annual celebration, and when it arrives, those celebrating it are removed in the best dress, and little by little in it start to get angry where even small children with great effort ask their fathers and mothers. He starts how do you tell me people on Wednesday or Thursday after the descent of the Holy Spirit and multiplied by next days. And on Monday, the first day of this (Peter's) post, and he will die; only with great outrage and an increase in wickedness, as I myself noted with regret«.
Both authors are silent about final act of this holiday, namely about the act of burial of Yaril. However, it may be that at that time the custom of burying Yaril had already disappeared, just as in many other places even the very figure of Yaril disappeared from the festival, although the festivities sent to this day, on the appropriate days, are still called by his name: Yarilo, to Yarilina. On these later festivities, often lasting all night, sometimes the custom persisted dance and sing songs in honor of Yaril, as, for example, in the Chistopol district (Kazan province.). In Tver, the ancient festival of Yarile or Yarule, destroyed in the 19th century, began from the first Sunday after St. Peter's Day - July 12. Subsequently, in this so-called "Yarilin Day" young people from the townspeople and villagers gathered in the evening to dance and have fun. Local townspeople sent their daughters to this fun "get mad". [Snegirev. Russian folk holidays and superstitious rites. IV, 55, 57, 58. - Sakharov. Tale. R. nar. P. VII, 91, 92. - Encycl. lex. XIII, 177. - Description. life and Tikh Ave. 22-23. - Etc. Tikhon. Rest. op. 55].
In the Tula province at the same time sent "seeing off spring"
in the face of a man who put on a birch wreath on the head, they sewed ribbons on the caftan, gave tree branches and flowers into their hands; his treated and escorted with songs and dances.[Sakharov. Tale. R. and. P. VII, 93]. This guy probably served here too. representative of Yaril, this is indicated, regardless of its similarity with the old people just described - the main participants in the Yarilin festival in Kostroma, Galich and Kalyazinsky district, - a folk song recorded in the Tula province, showing that Yarilino's game is not unknown in the Tula province:
What was the young man's name?
Called the darling
Look at the game
Look at Yarila…
[Shane. Russian folk songs. I, 186.]
A version of the same song was recorded at the beginning of this century by Makarov in the Ryazan province. [O old. R. holidays 115] In the villages of the Ryazan and Tambov provinces. in Yarilin's games, according to Sakharov, always excelled the world's chosen man, like in Voronezh.
effigy burial, dressed, like Yarila, in a man's dress, is also known in Little Russia. After the all-holy incantation, according to Tereshchenko, who was an eyewitness to the rite described below, converged in the afternoon women and Cossacks to take a walk at the tire There sang and danced until the evening, at sunset they took out into the street male straw man, with all its natural parts and put in a coffin. Drunk women came up to him and sobbed: "Vin died, died!" The men lifted and shook the doll, as if trying to wake the deceased Yaril. The women continued to grieve and lament: “Yakiy vin buv is good! Don't get up more wine! Oh, how can we part with you? And what a life, if there is nothing for you! Get up for a moment! But don’t get up and don’t get up!” After lengthy and varied lamentations, they carried away the effigy and buried it. The burial was snack and drink. Maksimovich calls the straw man this kostrubonkom and adds that his funeral took place in the old days in Ukraine while singing a song in which a mournful tune was interspersed with a cheerful one. This song started like this:
Died, died Kostrubonko,
Grey, dear dove![Tereshchenko. Life of the Russian people. V, 100-101. - Maksimovich. Days and months III, 105]
Semargl. St. George's Cathedral - 1234, Yuryev Polsky, Vladimir Region
of the above demigod Yaril
, a representative of the spring solar heat, causing lust and fertility in nature, Nestor undoubtedly meant when, next to Perun, Khors Dazhbog and Stribog, he called Simargla.
This strange-sounding name is no doubt from two words, merged into one chronicle scribe. Lover of Christ, repeating his message in the "Word" Nestor on the pagan gods, divided the mentioned name as follows: " believe he writes, in perun ... and in sima, and roared "
(according to the list of the XIV century).
Let us compare the name of this god, over which so many people have been racking their brains in vain for so long and so much, in the forms in which it is found in chronicles and other ancient monuments. At the same time, one should not lose sight of the accusative case, in which this name is given in most cases. We meet the following forms: Simargla, Semargla, Sima Rgla, Sima Regla, Simaerglya, Simaergla
etc. Misunderstood, incorrectly written in the oldest lists of chronicles that have come down to us, this name, among later scribes, was subjected to natural further distortions.
I believe that the most correct of all readings of this mysterious name would be Sima Ergla (or Sema Ergla). Replacing bj letter s - and substitution, in correspondence, letters s two letters zr, obviously, it could very easily happen - we get Sima Yeryla or Sema Yeryla, i.e. accusative from Sim or Sem Yeryl or Yerylo.
Name Yerylo, Yerilo, Yarylo, Yarilo
still lives in the mouths of the people and sounds, as shown above, in numerous names of localities, games, festivals, fairs in Russia. The word is Shem or Sem, can be explained Semo, which meant genius or demigod what really is priapo-o Brazny (from Priapus) Yarilo in the above-described, preserved until recently, his cults in the middle and eastern Great Russian provinces.
–Sim, according to the interpretation of Pavel Berynda, means "glory, dignity
". An old alphabet book translates Sim word: " committed«.
[Compare Preller. Rom. Myth. I, 90 et seq. Sakharov. Tale. R. nar. II. V, 92, 183.] The use here of the ancient Italic term should not surprise us, if we take into account the close relationship I have repeatedly indicated above Slavic mythology in general with, which will be confirmed below by a number of striking analogies; for now, it suffices to recall the cases of similar similarities encountered above: Svyatovit = Semo Sanсus, Jupiter Sancus, Hercules sanctus, Dyi (Diy) = Diespiter, Svarozhich = Apollo Soranus = Sauranus, Yarovig = Garanus, Khors = Horso, just like Sim (Sem) = Semo.
So, unjustly suspected, denied, radical Russian god Yarilo saved for Slavic mythology!
But what will the deniers of it say when they remember that Yaril's name literally in the form that Nestor calls it, namely Herilus or Etilus
, many centuries before Christianity, it was known in Italy, and in Sicily Hercules
called Greek. again literally like Nestorov Eryl
? I spoke about the priapic nature of the Great Russian Yaril, coinciding with the nature of the Baltic-Slavic baked, which in the district epistles of the Polabian bishops of the 12th century is compared with priapus.
But who was Priapus(Other Greek Πρίαπος, Latin Priapus) ? - Son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, he served as a representative animal lust and fertility, and therefore belonged to Bacchic cult, and, like Yarilo, portrayed necessarily with outstanding genitals. In ancient Italy it was known Herilus = Herilus or Erilus = Erilus, son of Feronia -goddesses of spring , like Aphrodite, in turn combined either with Apollo of Soran, or with the sun god - Jupiter Anksur ; hence italian Herilus = Herilus , in its origin, corresponded to the Greek Priapus, identical with our Yaril. But there are even fewer definite memories of him in Italy than of Feronia herself and her spouses named above. It is mentioned Herilus = Herilus « tsar ", who received from his mother, Feronia, "three souls" , in Virgil, who retained some vague recollection of this Slavic knight.. In Virgil, despite the genealogy similar to Priapus, he has a completely different character and dies at the hands of Evander.
But who was Feronia herself? Varro directly calls Feronia the Sabine goddess.. The name "Feroniya" can be derived from the same root with Here, Hersilia, Herentas, like Feronia, are identified with Venus, and the letters f and h often mutually replace (for example, fircus and hircus, foedus and hoedus). About all these deities or demigods in Roman mythology, only the darkest, vague concepts have been preserved, as about something ancient, rooted in deep antiquity, but having lost its precise, clear meaning. . In this case, the Sabine goddess Feronia would be called Heronia , speaks in favor of this the name of her son is Herilus. . If we recognize this form of the name of the goddess, then on Mount Sorakte (Svarakte) and in connection with it there will be a whole colony of gods identical with the Slavic ones: Apollo Soransky = Svarozhich, Jupiter Anksur = Prypekala, Feronia (Heronia) = Gerunya or Yarunya (cf. Herovit or Yarovit: goddesses Yarunya we do not know in Slavic mythology, but by name Jarun is called in the Pereyaslav Chronicle a god, undoubtedly identical with Yarila , and finally son of Feronia - Herilus = Yarilo. I have already noted above that the name Ἡρακλῆς —Hercules = Eryl called in Sicily Hercules , which, according to a very common legend throughout the ancient world, as representative of solar heat and light, is a victorious champion of monsters that bring darkness and cold, which are Gerion and Alcyone, in a word, Hercules - The sun conquering winter.
According to Mommsen(Unterital. Dial. 262), Herius and Herennius belonged to the most beloved names of the most important people sabine tribe, Samnites. Roots Kher -
Her
and Khar
— Har
the Slavs find an analogy in Ger
and Gar
, and identical with them Jer
(Yer) and Jar
(Yar), also very often heard in Slavic proper and common nouns: Gero — Gero(Compare Herius - Herius) - a name often found among the Lusatian Serbs (Scr. Geg. Lusat .: Jndex. See this name); garo, jaro(Czech), yar - spring, Yarovit also called Gerovit(through G or H), Yarilo, also called Yerilo, Yarun- this name was called in the XIII century governors Rzhevsky and Polotsk. (Karamzin. East. State. Ros. III, 144 and etc. 164. Compare above Herenius); Erunovo, Erishchi, Erinya, Erinevo etc. etc. geographical names in different places in Russia (Khodakovsky. Compar. words. 186-187); Garany in Hungary, Garassen in the Czech Republic Garaszewo in Poznań Jarushe or Jeruse in Croatia, Jaruge and many. others; personal names: Yaroslav, Yaropolk, Jaromir etc. It is interesting that the name of the goddess of the bright sky, Hera(Greek Ήρα, Hera - Yar, in the sense of brilliance, brightness, whiteness [Dal. Explanatory Dictionary: "Ardent"]) is already recognized Herodotus for the name of Pelasgian origin(II, 50). name Hercules(Greek Ήρακλής), usually brought into correlation with the name Hera, also closely related to Slavic names in "Yar" and can even be equated Yaroslav: Ήρα - yar, κλίω - glorify, τό κλές - glory, rumor.
Hence we conclude that the identity of the Sicilian name of Hercules: Ήρυλλος, with the Slavic Yerylom- not random. On the contrary, it throws new light on the close relationship between ancient Italian and Slavic peoples. 
In ancient Italy, Hercules Hercules - Hercules
, in the original, rural representation, was revered as a good genius, bringing contentment and prosperity,
and therefore compared with Ceres and Sylvanus.
. Of course, honored most of all, his solar nature of Hercules was glorified. So, Old Italic Garanus Hercules
and the ancient Sicilian identical with it - Hercules in its main meaning, both in name and in essence, coincide with Slavic Eryl - Pripekal. Now it is even more plausible to assume that Vladimir brought the idols of the gods, erected by him in Kyiv, from the Baltic-Slavic Pomorie. Mentioned by Nestor Sim Eryl, notorious Simargl was none other than one of the Slavic Hercules, one of the sun-like deified knights: Svyatovit, Svarozhich (Radegast), Ruivit, Yarovit, probably the last, or, and this is even more likely - Radegast of the Bodrichians, whose name, if understood in the sense military or zealous, ,
even matches with the name Yarovita. However, another explanation of this name will be proposed below (See “Kupalo”). 
Let's remember that Svyatovit corresponded, both in name and in meaning, Sabine Semo Sancus = Shem is Holy; by analogy and Yarovit, or Gerovit = Sim Yar, Sim Ger or Sim Ep. When transferring Yarovit or Sim Yar, Sim Era to Kyiv, Vladimir involuntarily had to turn up and even ask for the form of this name: Sim Yaryl or Eryl, identical with the names: ancient Italian - Herilus or Erilus and Old Sicilian - which, in turn, sound so familiar to Russian ears. In Russia, brought from afar by Vladimir, Sim Eryl, respectively the peaceful disposition of the Russian people, his exclusively agricultural way of life, correspondingly inherent in general to the peoples of the middle and northern latitudes look at the sun not like a bloodthirsty warrior, but as a kind, beneficent god, guardian and guardian of the people's welfare, - in Russia Sim Eryl retained only the significance of the good genius of the rural population; he naturally, naturally merged with the popular idea of \u200b\u200ba warming, baking and defiant in all nature lust and fertility in the spring sun, which is personified by the people in white Russia, as a recently reborn, coming into its own luminary, in the form Yarila - girls on a white (solar) horse, in a feast at the beginning of spring. And in the Great Russia Yarila appears in the guise of one who has fulfilled his purpose, is becoming obsolete, decrepit old man , ready to retire again, participates in a folk festival in the image brightly decorated and decorated, equipped with a large phallus old man - Yarila, honored at the end of spring.
Priapus
It is interesting to compare the appearance of our old man - Yarila with a very similar image of Priapus among the Greeks: Priapus was presented as a pampered (weichlich), dressed in Asian old man, with a sparse beard, with a scarf on his head, in a colorful caftan; in the caftan raised in front, the fruits of the earth were visible, and from under them - a characteristic sign Priapus, exorbitant phallus. .
However, perhaps the name of Yaril was known in Russia and before Vladimir; in this case, this god could naturally have been erected by Vladimir in Kyiv an idol, built on the model of one of the closest Baltic-Slavic gods to him, and these were: Yarovit, Radegast, Prepekalo.
Departure time celebration in honor of Yaril in Belaya Rus -April 27) almost coincides with the holiday of Yarovit of Havelberg, who was honored around April 15. Yarilin the same celebrations timed in Great Russia to the time immediately preceding the Petrovsky fast or following it, with amazing accuracy coincide with the holidays in honor of Hercules according to the Roman calendar. For clarity, I will present a comparative table of holidays in honor of Hercules and the corresponding festivals of the Slavic peoples.
June 4 was honored by Hercules Gustos
(Hercules is the guard). In the Nizhny Novgorod province. On June 4, the celebration of Yaril took place, connected with the fair. [Snegirev. Russian folk holidays and superstitious rites. IV, 57].
June 4 in 1121 AD a Baltic Pomorie, near Piritsa, where up to 4000 people gathered: intoxicated with drinks and festive fun, they celebrated the holiday "plays, voluptuous gestures, songs and loud cries." In view of the wild nature of this festival and the exact coincidence of the day of its departure happy holiday of Hercules in Italy and Yaril in Nizhny Novgorod lips., it is impossible not to recognize in it a holiday Baltic Hercules - Yarila, that is, Prypekala, which contemporary Christian writers have compared to "Priapus and the shameless Baal of Fegor"
. - Perhaps, the celebration in the Pomeranian Volhynia was the same celebration in honor, which, according to Ebon, “the people used to celebrate at the beginning of summer in honor of some deity”; for this holiday "A lot of people came together for games and dances."
June 30 was celebrated Hercules Musarum = Hercules is the leader of the Muses. In the villages of the Ryazan and Tambov provinces. Yarilin holiday was sent either on the day of All Saints, or on another day after Peter's Lent, namely, June 30.
Around the same time, namely June 24 there is a celebration almost everywhere Svyatoyanskoe
or Ivana Kupala, connected in places with the beginning of the harvest, called in Russia "zippers".
August 12 honored Hercules Invictus = Hekrules - invincible.
Around the same time, the famous after-harvest celebration at the temple.
On August 10, Czechs celebrate the memory of St. Lawrence,
highly respected by the people. St. Lawrence in the old days was considered the patron of the workshop "masters and chefs of all three cities of Prague"
(mistruv a kucharu vsech tri mest Prazskych) or “the brotherhood of St. Lawrence” (bratrstv Sv. Lavrince). . In this peculiar veneration, the memory of about Hercules - Eryl, to whose cult, as mentioned above, necessarily belonged feasts with ceremonial, so to speak, overeating. Let's remember the epithet of Hercules - "eating a bull", remember the proverbial Lucullus feasts in honor of Hercules, let us remember, finally, after the sacrificial feasts at the sanctuary of the Arkonian Hercules - Svyatovit, in which, according to Saxo Grammar, "Intemperance was a virtue, and temperance was a shame."
The chefs could not have chosen a better patron. Between Christian saints whose memory is celebrated around On August 12, the most popular was St. Lawrence,
which was taken over by the Prague "craftsmen and cooks"
choosing him as his patron.
On December 21, there were sacrifices in honor of Hercules and Ceres.
Bulgarians December 20 slaughter pigs cooked for the Christmas meal.[Karavelov. Memory Bulgarian 276]. – The same thing happens in Montenegro December 23; this day is called "Tuchin Dan"
. . - In Belaya Rus (Vilna province), every wealthy owner slaughters a fattened man for Christmas boar,
What does it mean in the local dialect? "beat the carol".
[Afanasiev. Poetic views of the Slavs on nature. I, 780]. - The Slovaks slaughtering pigs - "svinske kary"
takes place during the time from the last days of November to Christmas, and from 21 December they begin to prepare ritual cookies for the Christmas holiday: kolaches, guardians, etc. This table, in view of everything previously stated, undoubtedly proves that, basically, Svyatovit, Great Russian Yaril (Nestorov Sim Eryl) and Sicilian Eryl
– the same mythological face
, which, under the influence of various local conditions, has received various peculiar development and character, and it cannot be overlooked, however, that Svyatovit draws closer to Hercules - a warlike hero,
famous all over the world, and Yarilo with Garan - Hercules, a peaceful, kind genius of the rural population.
While in the face of Svyatovit folk hero in its apotheosis is elevated to the dignity of the highest, heavenly god, in Yaril Belarusian and Great Russian
we only see demigod
representative spring fertility, like Priapus,
which is even fully confirmed by the words of Nestor, who calls Yeryla "Sim" - a genius, a demigod
. With the onset of the moment of the highest solstice, Yarilo naturally dies until next spring.
Famintsyn Alexander Sergeevich. IV. System of Slavic mythology. 3. Personifications of the sun among the Eastern Slavs.
Yarilo, Yarovit and Ruevit are different incarnations of the same deity of fertility ("yar", "spring"), the ardent god of awakening matter ("fury"), strength and youth ("yarka" - a young strong sheep, "pereyarok" - a wolf cub) and spring light ("bright") (Eastern Slav. Yarilo; Western Slav - Yarovit, Western Slav. - Jaromir (a common Slavic name with the same root) according to the unrecognized for the authentic "Kraledvorskaya manuscript" by Vaclav Ganka 1). Yarilo or Yarila (from yar - "ardent, brave, strong" and the magnifying suffix -il) - in Slavic mythology, the god of awakening nature and fertility, a symbol of sexual power and a patron flora. He is also known as Yarun (the chronicler Ananiy Fedorov in 1754 reported on the veneration of the god Yarun in the city of Suzdal), in Belarus he is Yarila, in Ukraine - Dzhurilo (Zhurilo). Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats, Slovenes also praised Yarila (under various names). After the Christianization of Russia, Yarila began to be called St. George \ Yuri \ Egor the Brave.
Yarilo promotes earthly fertility, love and childbearing (in Serbia, girls prayed to St. Yuri for suitors). He is also a shepherd god who protects cattle from predatory animals, diseases and sorcerers.
Like other words with the root yar (jar), the name of God is associated with ideas about spring fertility (cf. Russian "spring," ardent "," spring, sown in spring, "Ukrainian yar -" spring "," yarets "- May) bread (spring bread, yarin - barley, oats; yar, yaritsa and other designations of bread), animals (spring goby, bright, etc.); it is also comparable with the Russian "ardent" in the meaning of "angry, hot, fiery", Ukrainian yarnsh, yariy - "spring, young, full of strength, passionate", and the same meanings of words with the root yar among the southern and western Slavs.
Yarila's name
The name of Yarila is preserved in the names of many Slavic villages. These are Yashiovichi, Yarylovaya Grove and the Yaryn River in Belarus, Yarilovo Field in the Kostroma Region, Yarilov Valley in the Vladimir Region. On behalf of this God, such common in Ancient Russia names: Yaropolk, Jaromir, Yaroslav and Yaroslav (spread to this day), Yarina, Yarosvet, Yarilina and others with the same root.
Mentioned as Yarovit (according to Ebbon 2) or Gerovit, and in Serbia and Croatia as Lero. In Latin medieval writings, it is identified with the Roman god of war Mars3. It seems interesting that this god has its analogues among a number of peoples. And, although a number of researchers hastily write down Yarila in late medieval fiction, this cannot be because the root "yar" is the oldest common Slavic and even Indo-Aryan root. Etymologically and functionally, Slavic Yarila corresponds to: Roman Eryl, who has several lives, like Mars, the god of bright power and the rebirth of nature, the Hittite-Hurrian god of war Yarri, the Akkadian god of war Erra, the Greek god of war Ares-Arey.
Yarovit (Gerovit)- the god of war among the Baltic Slavs, whose temple was in Volegasta 4 (Volegoshcha). It is possible that Yarovit and Ruevit - Yariy and Zealous - are two names of a single deity among the Western Slavs. Rugevit or Ruevit - among Rugs-Ruyans 5 ("Acts of the Danes" and "Knitlingasaga") the seven-faced god of war, his idol stood in the city of Karenze (Kornitsa) on Rügen. Saxo says this about him:
"(The city) is famous for the temples of three glorious temples. The main temple was in the middle of the front part of the temple, which, like the temple, having no walls, was hung with a purple cloth, so that the roof lay on the same columns. When both covers were torn off, then oak Ruevita's idol opened up ugly on all sides."
Ruevita's idol was exterminated by Bishop Absalon in 1168 after the temple of Svyatovit (Svetovit) in Arkon6 was destroyed. He had eight swords and seven heads and was of gigantic (heroic) growth. Four heads were male and female, the seventh animal was on the chest. Is it only the paraphernalia that says it's different gods in the understanding of the Roogs and Stettinians.
The attributes of Yarovit were a golden helmet and a huge shield with golden plaques on the wall of the sanctuary in Wolgast, most likely personified the Sun, since holidays were held in honor of him before the start of summer (like Yarila, calling fertility to the fields); it could not be moved from its place in peacetime; during the days of the war, the shield was carried in front of the army.
Among the poor, he was revered as a protector of the disadvantaged and the weak. He had no pity for his enemies, and the warriors believed that the best victim for Yarovit would be a defeated enemy.
Yarovit was associated with the cult of spring fertility. Yarovit was also dedicated to the spring festival of fertility; in one of the sources, the speech of the priest Yarovit is given, according to which this god rules over the greenery and the fruits of the earth: "I am your god, I am the one who dresses the fields with ants and forests with leaves; in my power are the fruits of cornfields and trees, the offspring of herds and everything that serves for the benefit of man. All this I give to those who honor me and take away from those who turn away from me." The peasants believed that this god guards the crops, the color on the trees. If Yarovit is kind and accepts the sacrifice, hears the appeal of people, the harvest will be good in the fall.
The "Book of Kolyada" tells about the battle of Yarila with the snake - Severe Lamia, which the god Siva sent to the inhabitants of Tsargrad7, who stopped revering him properly: "the temples are again empty, and again they donate to him not surya, but plain water". Lamia began to ruin the city, trample the fields and eat all the cattle that people brought her. When the cattle ran out, she began to demand to eat people. People cast lots and it fell on the daughter of the king of Constantinople - the young princess Yarina, who was chained for city near the sea and left there. "And Yarina prayed to the Almighty, and then to Veles and his son Yarila. And the gods heard the prayer. And Yarila jumped on a white-maned horse, and arrived under the walls of Constantinople, and saw the beautiful Yarina near the shore. Meanwhile, Lamia was flying over Constantinople and shouting: - Today I will destroy the city! Before Siwa you were guilty! Lamia flew to the seashore and saw the chained Yarina, and next to the god Yarila. And then Yarila fought the Serpent and defeated her.
The same book says about the retinue of Yarila and Veles: “Foresters, mermaids and brownies obey the god Yarila and his father Veles. These creatures are the descendants of the ancient peoples who once inhabited the earth. They were born together with animals and people in ancient times, they - related to people. So many ancient genera of mermaids (royal family) are the grandchildren of Lina Svyatogorovna and Ilmar (Ilm of the Sea). Ilma Svarozhich). Then some descendants of Bogumir entered the genera of mermaids and foresters. They were born from his daughters and the spirits of the constellation Ursa Major, the children of Veles. So, the descendants of the sage Anta (Ont) Velesich and Priya turned into tree spirits (mermaids and druds) Bogumirovny.Kukers, patrons of livestock and animals from the Yarila retinue, also forest people from the kind of foresters.To the retinue of Yarila and Veles also belong werewolf warriors (half-humans-half-wolves), as well as berendei (oborach berom-bear). According to the ancient Vedic tradition, the Wends (as well as the Svans, Vainakhs, Lithuanians) revered the wolf-ducks as their ancestors, and the Russian Cossack Berendey clans (as well as the Polovtsian and a number of other Turkic clans) revered half-bear warriors as their ancestors.
Some researchers consider Yarila as a dying and resurrecting son or a reality hypostasis of Veles, who in winter acts as Frost and destroys everything that he gave birth to in the spring, and in the spring is reborn again by Yarila. According to the assumptions of some researchers: Yarila's mother was Diva-Dodola. Yarilo was born from the fact that Diva sniffed the wonderful lily of the valley into which Veles turned.
His symbol- spear, arrow, pancake, as well as solar (swastika) symbols. His day is Tuesday or Sunday. Its month is March, named after the Roman god Mars, and June; its metal is iron or gold; stones - amber, ruby, garnet, hematite.
The following are interpretations of some solar (swastika) symbols of the deity:
The solar cross is a symbol of the Spiritual Power of the Yarila-Sun and the prosperity of the KIND. It was used as a body amulet. As a rule, the Solar Cross endowed with the greatest power: the priests of the forest, gridneys (combatants) and kmets (warriors), who depicted him on clothes, weapons and religious accessories.
Kolovrat- a symbol of the rising Yarila-Sun; a symbol of the eternal victory of Light over darkness and a symbol of eternal life over death. The color of Kolovrat is also important: fiery symbolizes rebirth; heavenly - renewal; black - change.
Colard- a symbol of the Greatness of the Fertility of the Mother of the Raw Earth, receiving Light, Warmth and Love from the Yarila-Sun; a symbol of the prosperity of the land of the Ancestors. The symbol of fire, giving prosperity and prosperity to the ROD, creating for their descendants, to the Glory of the Light Gods and the Many Wise Ancestors.
Salting- a symbol of the setting, that is, the retiring Yarila-Sun; a symbol of the completion of creative work for the benefit of the KIND; a symbol of the spiritual stamina of man and the peace of Mother Nature.
Svaor-Solntsevrat- symbolizes the constant movement of the Yarila-Sun across the Firmament. For a person, the use of this symbol meant: purity of thoughts and deeds, goodness and light of spiritual illumination.
England- symbolizes the primary life giving birth to the divine fire of creation, from which all the Universes and our Yarila-Sun system appeared. In amulets, Inglia is a symbol of primordial divine purity, protecting the world from darkness.
Celebration of Yarila
The celebration of Yarila, firstly, falls on March 21 (the day of the vernal equinox, the pagan "Pancake week" is celebrated on the same day), from this day its time begins until the summer solstice - June 21-22 (the longest day, the shortest night ). The beginning of the first month of the pagan year is due to the fact that "the cattle god8 raises Winter on its horns." Perhaps on the same day the gods awakening life were honored - Zhiva, Dazhdbog and Svarog. They honor Yarila and Yuri Zimny - December 9, together with Dazhbog.
Every year, April among the Slavs began with the spring holidays of the rebirth of life. April 15 was considered Yarila's day. In the villages of the Slavs, a young red-haired rider on a white horse appeared. He was dressed in a white robe, with a wreath of spring flowers on his head, he held ears of rye in his left hand, urged his horse with his bare feet. Yarila was imagined as a man, an ardent, loving groom. He himself is young, light-eyed and with blond (or red) curly hair. In his hands, according to different ideas or in different forms of this God were: a spear (the most common idea), lightning and a solar shield (the cult of Yarovit); in the right is a sword, and in the left is a sunbeam; in the right hand is a human skull or a severed head, in the left - rye ears.
Rites of Yarila
At the celebration, a bride was chosen for Yarila and named her Yarilikha, in some places, wanting to emphasize his youth and beauty, they dressed up the girl with "Yarila". They put her on a white horse, put on a wreath of wildflowers, gave her left hand ears, and to the right ... the symbol of death is the image of a human head. The horse with "Yarila" was led through the fields, saying:
"Wherever you step, there is a live shock, and wherever you look, there the ear blooms!"
"Yarilo dragged around the world, He gave birth to the field, He gave birth to children, Where he steps, There is a wall of life, And where he looks, There the ear will bloom."
"Zhitom" in different localities was called the main cereal crop: in the south - wheat, in the north - rye and even barley. For "zhito" is from the word "live": that on which life depended. And the image of the head, which "Yarila" held in his right hand, is probably due to the fact that he, like the Egyptian Osiris9, belongs to the annually dying and resurrecting gods of fertility. A holiday was also dedicated to the farewell, "funeral" of the bald, aged Yarila. People knew: the winter would pass - and Yarila would return, rise. Just like a grain buried in the ground is resurrected as a stalk, an ear, and as a result, a new grain. It is no coincidence that grain crops sown in spring (unlike winter crops) are called "spring crops"...
All participants in the ceremony were wearing wreaths of flowers, and around the "Yarila" a round dance twisted in a long line.
Where Yarilo will pass - will be good harvest whoever he looks at, love flares up in his heart. Yarilo was identified with the Sun. In many Russian folk songs, sayings, people turn to this deity with a request for a warm summer and a good harvest.
It is quite characteristic that Yarilo participates in Belarusian holidays either in the form of Yara-Yarilikha, or in the form of a man with a huge phallus. Meanwhile, the root "yar" is present in such specifically "female" words: spring sheep - bright, yoke, spring wheat, spring bread, but the use of this root in the feminine: rage, milkmaid, yar, yarina (sheep's wool), yara (Spring).
The outstanding researcher of religions Eliade Mircea writes: "Bisexuality appears among the attributes of deities precisely as a paradigmatic expression of creative power. (...) Most of the deities of vegetation and fertility are bisexual or bear traces of androgyny"; apparently, the performance of the role of Yarila by a girl is connected with this.
April 23 (bloom) was also considered the Day of Yarila ("Yarilo Spring"). On this day, an important ceremony is held - "Unlocking the Earth", or in another way - ZaROD. On this day, Yarila "unlocks" (fertilizes) Mother Cheese-Earth and releases dew, from which the rapid growth of herbs begins.
If the weather was favorable, on this day a solemn pasture of cattle to the pasture was made - to Yarilina dew until dawn. Before pasturing the cattle, the owners stroked the animals along the ridge with a red or yellow-green egg, which they then presented to the shepherd. After that, the cattle was driven out with a willow branch into the yard and fed with "byashki" - special bread. Before being driven out of the yard, a belt was laid out under the feet of the cattle so that she stepped over it. This was done so that the cattle knew the way home. They graze cattle until the dew subsides.
They asked Yarila - the patron saint of shepherds, the guardian of livestock and the Wolf Shepherd - to protect the cattle from any predatory beast.
Early in the morning, young people went around all the yards with a sentence:
"You save the cattle, Our orphan, The whole animal, In the field, and beyond the field, In the forest, and beyond the forest, In the forest beyond the mountains, Beyond the wide dales, Give the cattle grass to the water, And the stump and the log to the evil bear!"
The shepherd honks his horn, notifying the people of the beginning of the rite of "bypass", after which, taking a sieve in his hands, he goes around the herd three times salting10 (for life) and three times anti-salting (for death).
After a correctly performed ceremony, an invisible magic fence was built around the herd, which protected "from a creeping snake, from a mighty bear, from a running wolf." After that, the magic circle was closed with an iron lock.
They plowed arable land on Yarila Veshny, they said: "A lazy plow also leaves for Yarila."
From this day spring weddings begin. Men and women ride through the fields, hoping to become strong and healthy with the help of miraculous dew. The evening ended with a general festivity.
In Belarus, this ancient holiday was called the meeting of Yarila (April 27), which, according to Drevlyansky, was preserved even in the 19th century.
The same holiday in many other places was celebrated in a slightly Christianized form - as the day of St. George or Yuri (April 23). In Russia, the beginning of agricultural work and the first pasture of livestock were timed to coincide with it. Croats and Slovenes on April 23 met "Green Yuri": mummers, covered with greenery, accompanied by a retinue, walked, jumped and handed out green branches.
In Slovenia, they sang:
"We drive the green Yuri, We ask for butter and eggs, we drive the Hedgehog Baba away, we scatter the Spring!"
At the end of the ceremony, the mummers were dipped into the river. According to some researchers, this is a relic of human sacrifice: in many European countries, characters like the Slovenian Green Yuri (King, Savage, Pfingstl) were symbolically killed in various ways on the holidays of spring. Yarilo - the god of vegetation; as our ancestors believed, like her, he dies every year, giving his strength to nature, and rises again.
As A.N. Afanasiev in "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature":
"In some places in Russia, they choose a handsome guy for St. George's Day, dress him in greenery and put a large round cake decorated with flowers on his head; with a lit torch in his hand, he carries this cake into the field, and the crowd of girls following him sings in honor of Yuri ritual songs. So they go around the sown fields three times; after that, they make a fire like a circle, leaving an empty place in the middle of it, where they put the brought cake. Everyone sits down near the fire, feasts and divides the cake among themselves - so that everyone gets a piece " . The same author reports that on April 23 "(...) throughout Russia, prayer services are served on arable land and sprinkled with holy water; in the Tula province, prayer services are performed at wells (...) early in the morning, peasants ride on the fields in the dew to "to be strong and healthy, like St. George's dew," and the next day they begin to sow spring crops.
Rites associated with the shepherd functions of Yarila were also widespread. On St. George's Day, cattle were driven out into the field with a consecrated willow and prayed to Egoriy: "Egoriy, you are our Brave! You save our cattle, In the field and beyond the field, In the forest and beyond the forest, From a predatory wolf, From a fierce bear, From evil beast" [Christian equivalent of a pagan sentence].
Bulgarians and Serbs sacrificed lambs on this holiday. According to A.N. Afanasyeva, "In some places in Russia and in the Carpathians, on the occasion of the spring pasture of cattle to pasture, the villagers prepare a pie in the form of a ram, which is slaughtered by the hand of the chief shepherd, as a symbolic sacrifice to the patron god of the flocks, and then preserved as a healing medicine for sheep" .
Even in the last century, in some places in Russia, the Yarilki holiday was celebrated, timed to coincide with April 27, to the very peak of the spring riot of nature. The whole night, bonfires burned on elevated places, and young people walked, sang songs, and danced. According to Orthodox priests, these festivities, in which everyone considered each other brides and grooms, were of an "unbridled" character. The pagans, on the contrary, believed that the universal spring flowering should awaken tenderness and passion in people. And human love, in turn, is to increase the fertility of the fields, to promote the harvest. After all, the pagans did not oppose themselves to nature and did not reject its laws. And these beliefs, close to the soul of the farmer, were very staunchly held in the peasant environment until the inexorable movement of history destroyed the traditional way of life in the village.
May 22 marked "Yarilin Srecha". The Slavs traditionally revered this day as the time of the triumph of Life and Light. Nature pleases the eye with its riot and variety of colors. The sun brightens (illumines) the Earth, giving the possibility of a new crop. Yarilo opens the sky, and green herbs are pouring magic power. Spring is leaving, summer is coming. Before sunrise, they wash themselves with healing dew, go around the fields with bread, illuminate houses and gates.
holiday decoration
Decoration of the holiday - "pisanki" - multi-colored eggs. Painted with protective patterns and consecrated by the Sun, they become powerful amulets for home and family.
The people also know proverbs and sayings dedicated to this deity:
"Yarilo would come, but it would be warm."
"Be strong before Yarila, at least loosen up, do not grieve with Yarila."
"Average sowing of spring - from Yarila".
After the conception, the rite "Venue" was performed. Then a feast was arranged in the field, where they ate ritual dishes: sweets, fried eggs (fried for the glory of the Sun) and ate pies. On this holiday, trebs were also brought to the gods and a fairy tale or an ancient legend was played out, after which games and dances began.
The all-Slavic Yarilin Day - June 4 (Sunday) celebrated nationwide throughout Russia until the 19th century, causing fury in the Christian Orthodox Church. Bishop Tikhon of Zadonsky wrote in his "Word": "From all the circumstances of this holiday, it is clear that there was some ancient idol, called the name of Yarila, which in these countries was revered as a god." And again: "This holiday, as I heard from old people, is called a game, which has long begun and multiplies from year to year, so that people expect it as an annual celebration." In 1771 Tikhon banned the festival.
On this day, birch trees are developed among the people, wreaths are thrown into the water; if a wreath sinks - unfortunately, it floats - for good. Day-blue, cornflower blue lord. All spring flowers are in bloom. They didn’t sow, didn’t plow - they waited out this day so that the fields would not become clogged, cornflowers would not be born. It was believed that the mass appearance of gadflies - for the harvest of cucumbers, and strong dew for a good harvest.
The second time Yarila was honored closer to the middle of summer. The youth gathered outside the village, in a special place - "Yarylin's pleshka". Here, the festivities were noisy all day long, the people ate, sang, danced and honored the young man and girl in white clothes, decorated with bells and bright ribbons - Yarila and Yarilikha.
On Yarilin's week (probably from June 14 to June 21), all kinds of love conspiracies have a particularly irresistible power - for dry and dry (i.e. love spell), for sweetheart and in full swing. Dashing people, plotting malice against their neighbor, "take out a trace" from him these days, and, according to popular legend, this is a particularly effective means.
The Slavs had a widespread rite of seeing off (funeral) Yarila, symbolizing the annual death of a deity. With the onset of darkness, numerous "Yarilin fires" were lit. The ritual of the "funeral of Yarila" and his bride ended with the fact that straw effigies with clay masks were taken out into the field and left there or thrown into the water. With this, people seemed to say: "We celebrated and that's enough, it's time and honor to know." Yes, and there was no time to have fun and dance anymore - every day more and more work was added in the field.
A. Tereshchenko in his book “The Life of the Russian People” describes the “funeral of Yarila” in this way: “In Kostroma, they sent another burial in honor of Yarila to the All-Holy Conspiracy. There, an old man, dressed in a torn dress, carried in the coffin a Yarila doll, which depicted a man with everyone her natural parts. Drunk women saw her off with sobs and then buried her in the ground."
In Russia, the "funeral of Yarila" took place in different places at different times, but the most likely date is June 21-22 - the summer solstice holiday, which probably intersects with the holiday of Ivan Kupala, which was usually celebrated on the same days, or June 23-24 . According to other sources, the date of the "funeral" ritual is June 29th.
The holiday in honor of Kupala and Yaril was at the same time the holiday of the completion of the love of the Sun for the Mother Earth. On these holidays, there was a free rapprochement of both sexes, as an echo of ancient relationships in the era of matriarchy. Bathing was the main rite consecrating marriage.
Ivan Kirchuk in his work "Yarila-Kupala" writes: "Yarilin day coped almost at the same time as Kupala, most often in Peter's charms (about June 27). The name Yarilin Day, or Yarilki, was preserved where Kupala did not celebrated." THEM. Snegirev noted that "Ivan Kupala ... between the mob was called Yarilov Day in the Yaroslavl, Tver and Kazan provinces."
B.A. Rybakov suggested that the original date of this action is "Yarilin Day" - June 4th. His assumption is based on a 4th-century calendar jug found near the Ros River with a tree sign on the product corresponding to June 4th. On this day, Yarila was seen off in Nizhny Novgorod, curling a birch tree and rolling a fiery wheel down the mountain; on the same date, according to Otto Bambersky, the Western Slavs had a major holiday.
Every year, the Slavs met Yarila, honored him and saw him off (buried). It should be noted that the meeting and seeing off of Yarila could take place at different times or, conversely, be celebrated as part of the same holiday. The Slovenes, as already mentioned, met the "Green Yuri" on April 23 and on the same day dipped a mummer, depicting a god, into the river. In Kineshma ( Ivanovo region) Yarila's holiday lasted two days: on the first day, Yarila was met, on the second, they were buried. The rite of "burial" could reflect not only the death of God, but also his subsequent resurrection - J. J. Fraser in the "Golden Bough" gives the following information: "(...) in Ukraine there was a custom to celebrate the funeral of the deity of spring on Easter week, according to around the girl, who was lying on the ground, pretending to be dead, a round dance was slowly moving with the song: “Our Kostrubonko has died, our Kostrubonko has died! He died, our dear one died!" Suddenly the girl jumped to her feet, and the choir joyfully exclaimed: "Our Kostrubonko came to life, came to life! He came to life, our dear came to life!
Honoring Yarila was accompanied by revelry and fun: a feast, dances, fisticuffs, love games: as A. Tereshchenko writes, "Mothers willingly let their daughters go to Yarilino festivities, as they said," to be married. , kisses performed under deciduous trees, which covered the mysterious sensations. However, it must be said that in Russia the orgiastic character was summer holiday wires Yarila; the meeting of God in the spring proceeded quite decently.
The question of Yarila's connection with the Sun should also be touched upon. Many researchers of the Tradition deny the existence of such, for example, L.R. Prozorov claims: "Yarilo is one of the most famous Slavic Gods; but one of the most famous misconceptions in the field of Slavic mythology, fixed in popular and fiction literature, and now also in other works of "Slavic fantasy," is also associated with him. I'm talking, of course, about identification of Yarila with the Sun". The opinion of Lev Nikolaevich is erroneous, because Yarilo is indeed the god of the Sun and light. Below are some arguments "for" (mostly taken from the book by M.D. Dudko - "Mother Lada"):
1) In Serbian songs, the Sun rides a white horse. According to the ideas of the Belarusians, Yarila's horse was white (there are other variants of its color - the Belarusians also considered the horse of St. George to be golden, and, according to the Croats, the horse of Green Yuri was green). In many ancient traditions, the horse is an animal associated with the Sun.
2) In Russian conspiracies, St. George has a white horse and a white beard, he walks in white clothes and a golden crown, descends from heaven along a golden staircase, carrying three hundred golden arrows and bows, strikes evil spirits with arrows and a fiery spear. On ancient Russian icons, he was depicted, again, on a white horse, and on one icon of the 15th century, he was depicted with the Sun on the shield.
3) In Russian spiritual verses, Yegoriy the Brave has hands up to the elbow in gold, legs - knee-deep in silver, in the forehead - the sun, on the back of the head - a month, in braids - stars. In the Bulgarian song, his cloak is the month, the ring is the star, and the cap is the sun.
4) During the wires of Yarila in Nizhny Novgorod (as well as during the celebration of Kupala in a number of places), a burning wheel was rolled down from the mountain - a symbol of the Sun. Apparently, it also symbolized Yarila.
5) In the temple of Yarovit (according to the life of Otto of Bamber) there hung a golden shield dedicated to this god.
6) Melnikov-Pechersky in the book "In the Forests" cites "The legend of our forefathers about how the god Yarila loved Mother Earth Cheese, and how she gave birth to all earthly people", according to him, preserved by the Old Believers. In it, Yarila is the god of light, and the Sun is Yarilino's eye.
It is not known for certain whether Yarila and Khors are the same deity, but it is still premature to identify them. AT Ancient Greece, for example, there were three solar deities - Helios, Apollo and the god of the underground Sun Dionysus (in many ways similar to the Slavic Yarila).
In his article "Astronomical foundations of the cult of nature" interesting information gives us O.P. Well, here's an excerpt from it:
The number 7 became the mathematical symbol of the periodic law of nature, and was given a magical meaning.
(1. The celestial equator is a large circle on the celestial sphere, the plane of which is perpendicular to the axis of the world. 2. The ecliptic is a large circle of the celestial sphere along which the visible movement of the Sun occurs; intersects with the celestial equator at the points of the spring and autumn equinoxes).
This great law of rotation and rebirth of life in nature was well known in Russia. His personification was the Sun, marked by the seven signs of the Zodiac. The sun changed the image and content in each of the 7 signs of the Zodiac. This gave rise to the gods of the equinox and solstice. The sun of the spring equinox in Russia is the god Yarilo (youth, courage). Among the proto-Hellenes and Hellenes, these were Hercules and Prometheus, in Rome - Jupiter. The fiery Sun of the summer solstice is the god Semiyarilo (annalistic Simargla). About him in the ancient world they said: "seven horses of the Sun", "seven purgatories - seven gates of the Eye of Mitra", "seven flocks of Helios" and the like. The celebration of the marriage of Semiyril with the goddess of water Dana took place on the night of Kupala - June 23. It was a celebration of the periodic rebirth of nature.
The god of the "seven Yarils", the crushing Sun, was depicted by the Polabian Slavs as a giant with seven chairmen under one skull and seven swords - the attributes of war. The eighth sword he held drawn in his hand. This is a rather late image (I century AD), and Semiyarilo here had the name Ruevit (probably from the epithet destroying - "destructive fiery sun").
The well-known Slavic philologist G. Dyachenko exhaustively researched all chronicle sources and gave an impeccable semantics and etymology of the name Simargl. He took the least damaged, the oldest of all: Simairgla, Simaergla, Semaergla. The name consists of two parts: Sima (Sema) and irgla (ergla). Sima - seven (Ukrainian), Sema - seven (Russian). The second part of the word: Simairgla (Semaergla) - irgla (ergla) means "Yarilo". In the Russian regions also "Erilo". With "Erilo", with the help of the inhaled "g", Eriglo, Yerglo, Yerglo - Irgla - Yergla were formed. In the "Word of the Christ-lover ..." there is Yergla. [approx. Nevertheless, this is only one of the versions; we do not have sufficient grounds for identifying Yarila with Simargl.]
Semiyarylo - just like the names: Semislav, Semikrasa, Semirozum. Semiyarilo - Svarozhich, Sun with zodiacal characteristic, shown as a seven-element symbol. This is the Sun, which passes through 7 zodiac constellations during the working half of the year (spring-autumn half-year) in the calendars of primitive peoples. Annual observations of the main constellation (great deity) in connection with the definition of the vernal equinox led to the emergence of other sciences: astrology, magic, bondage. The "magic" sacred number 7 is the first part of the name of the great deity Semiyril and, as our special studies have shown, is a mathematical symbol of the periodic law also in its modern scientific understanding (for example, the periodic law of D.I. Mendeleev).
List of used literature:
1) V.V. Toporov, V.N. Toporov - Research in the field of Slavic antiquities, M .: "Nauka", 1974.
2) Gavrilov D.A., Nagovitsyn A.E. - Gods of the Slavs. Paganism. Tradition., M.: Refl-book, 2002.
3) A.N. Afanasiev - Poetic views of the Slavs on nature (3 volumes), M .: "Modern Writer", 1995.
4) B.A. Rybakov - Paganism of Ancient Russia, M.: "Science", 1987.
5) A. Tereshchenko - Life of the Russian people, M .: "Russian Book", 1999.
6) V.N. Demin - Riddles of the Russian North, M.: "Veche, 1999.
7) Slavic-Aryan Vedas - Book Three. Ynglism., Omsk: "Arkor", 2000.
8) Myths of the peoples of the world. Encyclopedia. 2 volumes, M.: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1992.
9) O.P. Znoyko - Astronomical foundations of the cult of nature, Kyiv: "Youth", 1989.
10) Lev Prozorov (Ozar) - Gods and Castes of Pagan Russia. Secrets of the Kyiv Pentatheism, M .: "Eksmo", 2006.
11) Holy Russian Vedas. Kolyada book. M.: "FAIR-Press", 2007.
12) Dmitry Dudko - Mother Lada, M .: "Eksmo", 2003.
13) Kirchuk I.I. - Yarila-Kupala (guidelines for the reconstruction and holding of the summer Slavic holiday), Minsk, 2005.
14) Mircea Eliade - Mephistopheles and Androgyne or the mystery of wholeness.
15) Fraser J. J. - Golden Branch (study of magic and religion), M .: Politizdat, 1980.
16) P.I. Melnikov (Andrey Pechersky) - "In the forests" (2 books), M .: "State Publishing House fiction", 1955.
17) Slavic mythology. Encyclopedic Dictionary, M .: "Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences", 2002.
18) Saxo Grammatik - Acts of the Danes. pp. 826, 830-831, 842-843.
19) Kraledvorskaya manuscript (translated by N.V. Berg).
Footnotes:
1 Vaclav Ganka (1791-1861) - Czech philologist and poet, national revivalist, famous as a writer and manufacturer of fake (according to official science) the Kraledvorskaya and Zelenogorskaya manuscripts (known collectively as simply the "manuscripts", or RKZ).
2 Ebbon (778-851) - French writer.
3 Mars is the god of fertility in Roman mythology, one of ancient gods Italy and Rome; it was believed that he could either send the death of the crop or the loss of livestock, or avert them. In his honor, the first month of the Roman year, in which the rite of expulsion of winter was performed, was named March. Mars was later identified with the Greek Ares and became the god of war.
4 Wolgast (German: Wolgast) is a port city in Germany, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
5 Rugi-Ruyans, according to a number of medieval sources, were also called Russ, and this was, apparently, their “main”, generic name ... Here it is, the “island of the Rus” (Ruyan).
6 Arkona (Jaromarsburg) - the city and religious center of the Baltic Slavs of the 10th-12th centuries. on about. Rügen (Germany). Destroyed by the Danes in 1169. The temple of Svyatovit was also located there, which was also destroyed.
7 Tsargrad - Constantinople.
8 "Cattle god" - meaning Veles.
9 Osiris - god of rebirth, king afterlife in ancient Egyptian mythology.
10 Salting - means moving along the Sun from east to west, or, clockwise (to the right).
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Yarilo - this is the Slavic god of the spring sun, youthful strength, passion, unbridled thirst for life. This god is distinguished by purity, sincerity and fury. Yarilo let the sun's rays hit the ground, which in some cases are interpreted as love arrows. The Slavs imagined God as the life-giving force of the spring sun, which fills the earth with life and joy after a long winter, awakens from hibernation. Slavic god Yarilo is considered the patron of people with kind, pure, bright and cordial thoughts. He was contacted for help in conceiving children. He also answered for fertility and was considered the embodiment of rage in the most sublime sense.
Yarilo - God of the Spring Sun, son of Veles, God of the Three Worlds, and Divas-Dodols, Goddess of Heavenly Moisture. Slavic myths they say that the God of young passion was born precisely from unexpected strong feelings. Once Veles liked the beautiful Diva Dodola, but the wayward Goddess preferred Perun the Thunderer to him. Then Veles turned into a magical lily of the valley, which the Goddess Diva Dodola saw and could not resist, sniffed the magic flower. And so the young God of the Spring Sun appeared.
From his father Veles, Yarilo adopted masculine strength and the ability to be a werewolf. Therefore, Yarilo became the patron of wolves, the Wolf Shepherd. From the mother of Diva Dodola, he adopted the attractiveness and lively character, because Yarilo is revered as the God of Passion.
People believed that all wild animals, nature spirits and lower deities also obey him. In winter, he became Frost and killed everything he created in the spring.
Main myth with the participation of this god is related to the creation of life on earth. When Mother Earth was sleeping under the veil of Chaos, Yarilo appeared. He kissed her passionately, which caused the Earth to wake up. In the place where the sun god left his kiss, flowers, fields, forests, rivers, seas, etc. appeared. The warmth of the Slavic god Yarilo inflamed the Earth so much that she gave birth to animals, birds, fish and other living creatures. That is why often living beings are called "children of Yarilo." Special and passionate kisses led to the birth of man.
Appearance.
Yarilo, the god of the sun, seemed to be a young attractive young man. His hair was blond or reddish, his eyes were light blue, clear, a red cloak fluttered behind his broad, powerful shoulders. Yarilo sat on a fiery horse-sun. Many girls fell in love with a beautiful young man. And God is ready to reciprocate each. Being the god of fertility and childbearing, Yarilo also acts as a deity of the bodily love of a man and a woman. This explains the fact that the Yarila doll was often made with a large phallus, which is the oldest symbol of fertility.
Symbols of Yarilo.
Yarilo, like the sun god, had solar signs and symbols.
One of them is - "Sun Cross" . It was usually worn by priests, warriors of princes and warriors. The solar cross was used as a pectoral amulet. He personified all the spiritual power and purity of Yarilo.
The next symbol of this god was - Salting. He served as the personification of the setting and falling asleep luminary Yarilo. So the end of the day was marked, when the work for the glorification of one's kind ended and twilight came. But this darkness was blessed for the workers, since it was righteous for the labors of the day and served as peace.
"Englia"- this is a deifying fire, from which both gods and worlds were born. This is the victory of righteous light over false darkness. Inglia burns in Yarilo, an eternal fire that spills onto the ground.
Svaor-Solntsevrat was a symbol of the movement. Yarilo, the god on his horse, moved across the sky from dawn to dusk. So Svaor-Solntsevrat personified the movement of the human soul from darkness to light, from doubt to the purity of their thoughts.
The rise of Yarilo of the sun at dawn was personified "Kolovrat" . It was a symbol of the victory of life over death.
"Colard" was a sign of fertility that Yarilo God gave the earth damp. It was a sign of filling with God's grace and blessing, purity and light, uniting the wisdom of the Kind of everything and giving prosperity.
Yarovik is a swastika, solar, symbol with four rays. The sign looks like an oblique cross ending in four crescent-shaped rays. Previously, the Yarovik symbol was not only worn as a personal amulet, but it was drawn on barns with grain and on the gates of the yard where there are livestock. So Yarilo was asked to protect grain and livestock from wild animals that obey this Slavic God.
As a personal amulet, the symbol of God Yarilo they are worn for confidence, courage, obtaining vitality, vivacity, for joy and happiness, for the birth of new love. 
Equilateral five-pointed star or rune Oud , which is an allegory of male creative (or creative) energy.
Attributes of the god Yarilo
The sun god was endowed with such attributes as arrow, spear, ear, wreath, golden shield or circle representing the sun.
God's stone is considered amber,
Metal - gold and iron,
Day - Sunday.
Animal - wolf, hare.
Treba (offering)- pancakes, grain, porridge, pies, eggs, honey.
Also, all solar symbols can be identified with Yarila.
Holidays Yarila
Yarilo, the god of the sun, was revered, starting from March 21, spring equinox day, which also coincided with the pagan holiday Shrovetide. From this day began the time of the spring god of the sun. And it went on until June 21-22 when the moment came long day and the shortest night of the year. Another day of Yarila - April 15. For God, a bride was chosen at the celebration - the most beautiful girl in the settlement. They called her Yarilikha or Yarila.
Slavic culture identified natural phenomena with a certain deity, where each god was a patron in a certain area or cycle of life. The attitude to various phenomena and plants of the surrounding world as a living entity helped our ancestors to live in harmony with nature and themselves.
According to the legends of the Slavs, the sun god had 4 hypostases corresponding to the time of year (life cycle).
metal - used to create male amulets (gold and iron);
the day of the week is Sunday.
In addition to the listed attributes of the spring sun, there are all solar symbols, as well as a white horse, ears of ripe wheat, a human skull. The Yarilo amulet is created using any of the attributes and is designed to enhance fertility, including being done for childless couples who want to conceive and give birth to a child.
Yarovit was depicted on a white horse in one hand with wheat ears, in the other with a skull. So he traveled around the spring fields, bestowing fertility. This image was created on the basis of a description of the celebration of Yaril's Day, and is found in many literary and historical sources.
Symbols
Symbols Slavic patrons have great power and are used in the manufacture of amulets and amulets. Each god is the patron of certain gifts. God Yarilo is no exception.
The symbols of the Slavic spring sun and love also have great power. The most common signs that have found evidence in mythology, legends and tales. 
There are many other signs of Yarilo personifying the sun and fertility, but not all of them have been confirmed in historical works available to modern archaeologists and historians.
The power of the amulet
Talisman Yarilo (an amulet with the image of the sun) refers to a strong amulet that positively affects the disclosure of a person’s inner potential, enhances creativity and the desire to create something new, enhances the energy of the owner.
The image of the sun is also a symbol of male fertility.
Making a “sun” amulet from threads protects the home and family from the influence of negative energy, enhances positive thinking, relieves depression and unkind thoughts.
The image of the sun can be used to decorate clothes or interiors in the form of a pano, painting, embroidered or knitted item.
Everyone can wear a solar amulet (children, women, men). At the same time, amulets made of gold or iron are more suitable for men, and knotted (made of thread) or embroidered ones are well suited for women and children.
Yarila in Orthodox cal endare (personification of the vernal equinox)
After the introduction of Christianity, the image of Ruevit underwent changes and was partially transferred to St. George (Egoriy, Yuri).
The main day is the spring equinox on March 21-22. In modern times, the holiday is called Maslenitsa and is held with the ritual burning of an effigy. This rite has ancient Slavic roots when, saying goodbye to winter, they burned a ritual doll, saying goodbye to winter, they welcomed the awakening of nature with fun and valiant games. The meeting of spring was called the Yarilov festivities.
After that, the ceremony of burning Yarilo and the greeting of Kupala (Ivan-Kupala Day) was held, was celebrated on June 3 and marked the end of spring - the beginning of summer.
Deities associated with Yarila
The image of the sun god changes with the seasons from the newborn Kolyada to the elderly Svyantovit.
The god of spring and fertility is associated with Yarovit (Baltic god of fertility). Ruevit is also associated with Yarila, which is translated from the Slavic “rvati” as tearing apart ice sheets.
They were also compared with Kostroma, where, according to some legends, she was the wife of Yaril - Yarilikha. According to other sources, the female hypostasis of the sun god (this assumption is not confirmed).
There was a ceremony of honoring Yarila and Yarilikha, which indicates that these are different deities and Kostroma (Kostrobunka) still refers to his wife.
This rite was performed on the bath, at the end of Rusal week (April 15). The role of Yarila and Yarilikha was played by the chosen guy and girl or dressed up dolls. Dressed in white elegant clothes and honored with games and fun. At the end of the ceremony, the effigy was buried in the ground. The ceremony was dedicated to the main event of the Slavic family - the beginning of the sowing season.
Conclusion
Yarilo, the son of Veles, is the guardian of life and the patron of awakening. fertility and passion. The sun god favors people similar to him in character (cheerful, amorous and bright). Amulet Yarilo has many options from a simple image of a heavenly body, to the image of the god himself and his attributes.
The power of the “sun” symbol is aimed at creating, developing talents and balancing character. suitable for home decoration and wearing as a wearable talisman. Refers to universal protective signs suitable for children and adults. However, metal options are still more masculine.
