The snake is a symbol of the years: 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025. The Year of the Snake 2013 will come into its own from 02/10/2013 and will last until 01/30/2014.
The snake is an important symbol in almost all cultures in the world. On the one hand, the image of a snake is associated with death (the venomousness of snakes), on the other, it symbolizes rebirth, wisdom and power (shedding the skin, healing properties of poison).
Myths, tales and legends about the Snake
Snake symbol in various countries
The Snake symbol is a traditional symbol of wisdom and power. In the myths and legends of the countries of the Ancient East, echoes of the cult of snakes, often associated with the water element, are reflected.
An ancient Egyptian tale tells of a sailor who was shipwrecked and thrown by a wave onto a wonderful island. Soon he heard a loud noise: “the trees trembled, the earth shook. I opened my face and realized that it was a snake that was approaching. His length is 30 cubits, his beard is more than 2 cubits, his limbs are gilded, his eyebrows are made of real lapis lazuli. He was moving forward. " The serpent is called in this tale "the prince of Punta" - the legendary land of incense, the "land of the gods."
Another, later Egyptian tale tells of an immortal snake guarding a wonderful book at the bottom of the sea.
In Eastern mythology, the lines between snakes and dragons are often blurred. If the snake acts as an independent symbol, it can personify a negative beginning.
At the same time, in Chinese fairy tales, snakes sometimes give pearls to their saviors. The Chinese believed that snake skin brings wealth, and a dreaming snake hints at sexual energy.
In Japanese mythology, the image of a snake is associated with female deities, in particular with the figure of the "Eternal Mother". However, in Japan, the snake is an attribute of the god of thunder and thunder. In the modern world, the snake as an ancient zoomorphic symbol is considered a symbol of longevity and wisdom.
In ancient times, the Hindus believed that, together with the elephant and the turtle, the snake could serve as the support of the world. The thousand-headed serpent ruler Ananta, whose rings twine around the axis of the world, in Hinduism personifies boundless fertility.
That is why in modern India a snake, a cobra is a symbol of happiness in marriage.
The legends of Babylon and Assyria, Jewish and Abyssinian legends connect prehistoric times with the kingdom of the serpent. Here is what the Abyssinian legend says about it: “There is a great serpent; he is the king of the land of Ethiopia; all the rulers bow to him and bring him a beautiful maiden as a gift. Having decorated it, they bring a serpent before this and leave it alone, and this serpent devours it ... The length of this serpent is 170 cubits, and its thickness is 4; his teeth are one cubit long, and his eyes are like a flame of fire, his eyebrows are black like a raven, and his whole appearance is like tin and copper ... He has a horn three cubits long. When he moves, the noise is heard for seven days' journey.
The legends about the islands inhabited by snakes have been preserved in the Greek chronicles. Herodotus and Theophrastus mentioned snakes guarding jewels on the wonderful islands, Diodorus of Siculus talks about a "snake island" filled with jewels, and describes a hunt for a snake 30 cubits long, in whose mouth one of the hunters died.
So another Greek myth tells about a miraculous remedy that Zeus gave to people. It could restore youth to a person. However, people did not want to carry this priceless gift themselves and put it on a donkey, which gave it to the snake. Since then, people have borne the heavy burden of old age, and snakes enjoy eternal youth.
African tales and legends tell of the first people who, like snakes, could change old skin to new and live forever.
In the Sumerian myth, Gilgamesh finds a flower of eternal youth in the depths of the waters, however, while he was bathing, the snake stole the flower and immediately rejuvenated, shedding its skin. Since then, tradition teaches, snakes gained immortality, and people have remained mortal beings.
The legends of Ancient China call the huge serpent - the dragon the ancestor of the first emperors, endow it with claws, teeth, saliva and horns with healing properties. On the back of the dragon one could reach the land of the immortals.
In the ancient world, the snake played the role of the keeper of the hearth. During the excavations of Pompeii, an image of a snake was found on the walls and home altars of many houses, which symbolized the peace and health of the inhabitants of the house.
Ancient Roman chronicles have preserved evidence that during the plague epidemic Asclepius was symbolically transported from Epidaurus to Rome in the form of a snake. According to one of their hypotheses about the origin of the name of the god of medical art Asclepius, it came from the name of a special kind of snakes - "askalabos". Later, these snakes, harmless to humans, began to be called "Asclepian snakes". The snake was depicted on the first aid kit of a Roman military doctor.
Snakes were often associated with rains. So, for example, this connection is reflected in the ancient rites of worshiping the serpent, as sacrifices during the rainy season or waiting for rains during a drought. These rites correspond to the myths about the victory of the serpent fighter over the serpent, followed by a thunderstorm, rain or flood.
We find a similar myth in the ancient Peruvian myth of a snake that spewed water that flooded the whole world after it was killed by the three sons of the first man.
And the myth of one of the Brazilian tribes says that once a woman held a snake, which was in a cage immersed in water. Every day the woman fed the snake with meat. But one day she did not bring food to the snake, and then the snake ate the unfortunate woman on the same day. After the tribesmen killed the snake, it started to rain heavily - "At the same time it rained, the winning wind blew, the winner of the big snake-anaconda."
The symbol of the Snake in Slavic mythology
Snakes (as symbols) had several meanings and purposes.
1. In the calendar of the Slavs there are two holidays on which the snakes are honored (more often these are harmless snakes).
March 25 is the time when cattle are driven out to the "St. George's dew" and the snakes crawl out of the ground, that is, the earth becomes warm, agricultural work can begin. And on September 14 - the departure of the snakes.
The agricultural cycle is largely over. T. about. snakes, as it were, symbolized the cyclical nature of rural field work, were a kind of natural and climatic clock. It was believed that they also help to beg for rain (heavenly milk; breast falling from the sky), since snakes love not only warmth, but also moisture, hence, in fairy tales, snakes often suck milk from cows (clouds). The image of snakes, snakes adorned ancient vessels with water.
2. Snakes from the Perunova suite. Heavenly thunderclouds symbolized, a powerful revelry of the elements. These snakes are multi-headed. You cut off one head - the other grows and lets out tongues of fire (lightning). Serpent-Gorynych is the son of the heavenly mountain (clouds). These snakes kidnap beauties (the moon, stars and even the sun). The snake can quickly turn into a boy or a girl. This is due to the rejuvenation of nature after rain; rejuvenating nature after each winter.
3. Snakes - keepers of untold treasures, medicinal herbs, living and dead water. Hence the snake-doctors and symbols of healing.
4. Snakes from the retinue of the gods of the underworld - Viy, Death, Mary, Chernobog, Kashchei and others. Death (Koshey, Nedolya) mows, collects an ominous cat, the harvest of the dead, and the serpent guards the underworld.
5. Variant of the serpent-ruler of the underworld - Lizard (less often Fish). The lizard is often found in folk songs, sometimes, having lost the ancient meanings of symbolism, it is called Yasha.
In religions, the symbol of the Snake
The staff of the legendary doctor Asclepius is wrapped around a snake. The prototype of the famous biblical tempter serpent is to be found in ancient Sumerian myths. One of them tells how the hero Gilgamesh once returned from the divine halls with a plant of life. One of the gods, not wanting people to receive immortality, turned into a snake and plucked this plant from Gilgamesh as he swam across the river.
In Buddhism, the image of a snake in the Wheel of Samsara personifies malice and symbolizes cosmic power in its negative manifestations. At the same time, the multi-headed cobra protected Buddha Shakyamuni during his meditation. Cobra in India is often associated with the Buddha himself, who could transform into a Naga snake to heal people.
The snake was also a symbol of eternal youth: the annual skin change symbolized rejuvenation. This idea found an interesting embodiment in the religion of the Egyptians. The change of day and night was associated with the fact that at midnight the sun god Ra leaves with his retinue from the solar boat and enters the body of a huge serpent, from which in the morning everyone emerges as "children", again sit down in the boat and continue their journey across the sky.
Yoga likens a person's spiritual energy to a snake - kundalini (means “rolled up in a ring”, “rolled up in the form of a snake”).
Snake symbol - symbol description
The Serpent is eminently complex and universal. The snake symbolized death and immortality, good and evil. They were personified by her forked tongue, and the venomousness of her bites along with the healing effect of the poison, and the mysterious ability to hypnotize small animals and birds. This apparent contradiction, the combination in one image of two different, often opposite principles, is characteristic of symbols that have come to us from ancient times. The snake can be both male and female, as well as self-reproducing. As a killing being, it means death and annihilation; as a creature that periodically changes skin - life and resurrection.
The snake coiled up in rings is identified with the cycle of phenomena. This is the solar principle and the lunar, life and death, light and darkness, good and evil, wisdom and blind passion, healing and poison, guardian and destroyer, spiritual and physical rebirth.
The phallic symbol, the fertilizing male force, the “husband of all women,” the presence of the snake is almost always associated with pregnancy. The snake accompanies all female deities, including the Great Mother, and is often depicted in their arms or twisted around them. At the same time, the snake acquires feminine qualities, such as mystery, mystery and intuition, and symbolizes unpredictability, as it suddenly appears and suddenly disappears.
The snake was considered bisexual and was the emblem of all self-generating deities, also symbolizing the power of the fertility of the earth. It is a solar, chthonic, sexual, funeral and personifying the manifestation of power at any level, the source of all potential, both in the material sphere and in the spiritual, closely related to the concept of both life and death.
Since the snake lives underground, it is in contact with the underworld and has access to the powers, omniscience and magic of the dead. The chthonic snake is a manifestation of the aggressive power of the gods of the underworld and darkness. She is universally considered the source of initiation and rejuvenation and the "mistress of the bowels". In its chthonic hypostasis, the snake is hostile to the Sun and all solar and spiritual forces, symbolizing the dark forces in man. At the same time, the positive and negative beginnings are in conflict, as in the case of Zeus and Typhon, Apollo and Python, Osiris and Set, the eagle and the snake, etc.
It also symbolizes the original instinctive nature, the surge of vitality, uncontrolled and undifferentiated, potential energy, inspiring spirit. It is a mediator between Heaven and Earth, between the earth and the underworld.
The snake is associated with heaven, earth, water, and especially with the Cosmic Tree.
In addition, it is a cloud dragon of darkness and guardian of treasures. The snake can symbolically depict the rays of the sun, the path of the Sun in the sky, lightning and the power of water, being an attribute of all river deities.
The serpent is knowledge, strength, cunning, refinement, cunning, darkness, evil and corruption, as well as the Tempter.
mythical snake
Alternative descriptionsLernean (Greek hydra water snake) in ancient Greek mythology - a monstrous nine-headed snake that lived in the Lernaean swamp in the Peloponnese
In ancient Greek mythology - a many-headed serpent that was killed by Hercules
Space monster
The offspring of Echidna and Typhon, the many-headed dragon or water snake, killed by the hero Hercules during his service with Eurystheus (mythical)
Freshwater intestinal animal
Freshwater polyp with tentacles around the mouth
The simplest lower multicellular
Constellation, most of which is located in the southern hemisphere of the sky
Constellation of the southern hemisphere
What mythical monster devastated the surroundings of the city of Lern?
The largest constellation of 68 stars
In what constellation is the Alphard star?
Head regeneration monster
Lernais ...
Multi-headed snake
Lernaean monster defeated by Hercules
Small animal, polyp
The simplest
Constellation South ...
Freshwater polyp
Multi-headed snake (myth.)
Constellation monster
The Serpent Turned into a Constellation
The largest constellation
One of the victims of the 12 labors of Hercules
Serpent Gorynych in Ancient Greece
Mythic. snake with nine heads
Monster with growing heads
What was the name of the multi-caste animal?
Multi-headed reptile
The mythical snake of nine heads
Head regeneration monster
Victim of the second feat of Hercules
Lernaean monster
The mythical snake of imperialism
Constellation of the southern hemisphere
Mythological nine-headed snake
In Greek mythology, the nine-headed snake
Small animal, freshwater polyp
Southern constellation
In which constellation is the Alphard star
Nine-headed Lernaean snake
J. Greek fabulous, watery many-headed serpent; * evil, against which there are no means, growing, like a hydra, instead of each cut off head, a new one has grown; the Hydrus snake; rather small animal plant, Hydra crumb polyp. Hydraulics applied hydrodynamics; -lichny, related to hydraulics. Hydraulic lime, cement, lubricant, water hardening compound used for underwater masonry; waterproof or water-resistant lime. Hydraulic bending, pulp, machine for very strong pressure. Hydraulics architect, builder dealing with structures for lifting, conducting and saving or diverting water; builder of water machines; plumber, water builder, waterworks. Hydrate is a substance containing water in its chemical composition, in dry or strong form; water worker, ice worker. Hydrography description of waters, shores, water communications; water description: hydrographic, related to this; hydrograph m. a science or business, water writer. Hydraulic engineering hydraulic architecture. Hydrodynamics part of mechanics, the science of the laws of motion of liquid bodies; hydrostatics, the science of their equilibrium. Hydrodynamic and hydrostatic, related to the first or to the second. Hydrostatic scales, a device for weighing bodies in water, which determines their specific gravity. Hydrology teaching about the composition of various waters, water systems. Hydromancy, divination by (on) water. Hydrometer or hydroscope m. Water meter, a projectile for measuring the height of waters, ebb and flow; or a projectile for measuring the gravity, density, force of liquids; in the last meaning a top. Hydropathy, hydrotherapy; hydropath, water doctor. Hydrofan m. Oko-mira, a stone of opal rock, which comes through only after being saturated with water. Hydroce (ke) phal m. Head, cerebral dropsy; hydrothorax m. chest water. Hydrophobia g. hydrophobia, seizure of rabies disease, esp. from being bitten by a rabid animal
What was the name of the multi-bole animal
What mythical monster devastated the surroundings of the city of Lern
Edited by: R.A. Mandrik Especially for the site: Brief dictionaries (http://slovo.yaxy.ru/)
ALKONOST (alkonos) - in Russian medieval legends, a bird of paradise with a human face (often referred to together with another bird of paradise - the Sirin). The image of the Alkonost goes back to the Greek myth of Alcyone, turned by the gods into a kingfisher. Alkonost lays eggs on the seashore and, plunging them into the depths of the sea, makes it calm for six days. Alkonost's singing is so beautiful that he who hears him forgets about everything in the world. “Olekha's butcher is a forest miracle, / Eyes are two geese, ore above the lip, / He raised a bird with a girl’s face, / Mouths are cursed with a secret cry. / The cheeks of the tree began to swell / And the voice was weak, like the splash of sedge, / The carver smelled: "I am Al-konost, / I will drink tears from the eyes of the goose!" (NA Klyuev. "Pogorelschina"). “The Sirin bird grins to me with joy, / Cheers, calls out from its nests, / And on the contrary, it yearns and grieves / Poisons the soul of the wonderful Alkonost” (VS Vysotsky. “Domes”).
BASSILISK is the serpent king, whose gaze strikes at death like lightning, and whose breath makes the grass wither and the trees to die. It is born from an egg laid by a black seven-year-old rooster and buried in hot dung. The black rooster is a dark cloud; in the springtime, after seven winter months, called years in folk legends, an egg-sun emerges from it, and at the same time a thunderstorm serpent is generated by the action of solar heat. Coming from a rooster, the Basilisk dies from it: as soon as he hears the cry of a rooster, he immediately dies, i.e. the demonic serpent-cloud dies in a thunderstorm when the heavenly rooster starts its thunderous song.
THE GREAT FIRING Whale (the serpent Eleapham) - the whale on which the earth is based; thunders of fiery fire emanate from his mouth, as if the case had been shot; a spirit emanates from his nostrils, like a stormy wind that raises the fire of hell. In the last times, he moves, hesitates - and a river of fire will flow, and death will come to light. The movement and turns of the fabulous whales shake the earth.
VESCHITSA - a prophetic bird (magpie): whether it chirps in the yard or on the house roof, or gallops at the threshold of the hut, there will be guests soon; in which direction she waves her tail - from there wait for the guests; on her tail she brings all sorts of news. Witches mostly love to be forty.
VIRI-BIRDS are spring birds. Vyrey, Irey is a fabulous country where there is no winter. Ir - spring. In the Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh it is said: "And to this we are watching, as birds of heaven come from Irya." “Outside the Lukerye sea, there are well-fed rivers, there are jelly banks, sugar springs, and the vyri-birds do not stop all year round” (AM Remizov. “To the Sea-Ocean”).
GAGANA is a mythical bird that gives bird's milk, eider. "The bird of Gagan will meet you, say hello to the bird: Gagana will give you bird's milk" (AM Remizov. "Tales").
HAMAYUN is a prophetic bird. She flies to the blissful Macarius island. Lives in the sea. She was usually depicted with a woman's face and breasts. According to legend, when the prophetic bird Gamayun cries, she prophesies happiness. “I love crimson hollow, / The leaf fall is burning and combustible, / That's why my verses are like clouds / With a distant thunder of warm strings. / So Gamayun sobs in a dream - / That a mighty bard forgotten by the tour ”(IA Klyuev). "Like seven rich moons / On my way there is - / Then the bird Gamayun / gives me Hope!" (V.S. Vysotsky. "Domes").
GORGONIA - in the Slavic book legends, a maiden with hair in the form of snakes, a modification of the antique Medusa-Gorgon. The face of the Gorgonia is deadly. The sorcerer who manages to decapitate her receives miraculous power. Another transformation of the image of Medusa-Gorgon in the Slavic apocrypha is the beast of the Gorgonia, guarding paradise from people after the Fall. The iconography of the Gorgonian head is a characteristic feature of popular Byzantine and Old Russian amulets - "serpentines".
GRIF-BIRD is a fabulous bird, with the help of which fairy-tale heroes make their air flights. In folk monuments, she appears in different images. In the fairy tale "Mink the Beast" is like a bird that is so huge that like clouds covering the sky, it darkens the sunlight. In another fairy tale, a storm rises from the flap of the wings of a lioness or a vulture bird, which will be as large as a mountain and fly faster than a bullet from a gun. The Greeks imagined a vulture with the head and wings of an eagle, with the body, legs and claws of a lion, which is also a representation in the Russian fairy tale. The vulture-bird grabs the carrion and together with it carries the young man across the wide sea.
GRIFON is a mighty bird-dog.
The FIRE-BIRD is the embodiment of the god of thunder, in Slavic tales a wonderful bird that flies from another (thirtieth) kingdom. This kingdom is fabulously rich lands, which were dreamed of in ancient times, for the color of the Firebird is golden, golden cage, beak, feathers. She feeds on golden apples, which give eternal youth, beauty and immortality, and by their meaning are completely identical with living water. When the Firebird sings, pearls fall from its open beak, i.e. along with the solemn sounds of thunder, brilliant sparks of lightning scatter. Sometimes in fairy tales, the Firebird acts as a kidnapper. “At midnight at times / Light spilled over the mountain. / As if noon was coming: / Firebirds are flying in…” (PP Ershov. “The Little Humpbacked Horse”).
BEAST-INDR (Indrik, Vyndrik, Unicorn) is a mythical beast about which the verse about the Pigeon Book tells how about the ruler of the dungeon and underground keys, as well as about the savior of the universe during a global drought, when he dug up the keys with his horn and let water through rivers and lakes. Indrik threatens to shake the whole earth with his turn, he, moving under the earth, digs openings and misses streams and depressions, rivers and freezing wells: "Where the animal goes - there the key boils." In some versions of the verse, the legend about the beast Indra is associated with the sacred mountains: “That beast lives in the Zion mountains in Tabor or Mount Athos, he drinks and eats in the holy mountain (option: from the blue sea), and brings children to the holy mountain ; when the beast turns, all the holy mountains shake. " This testimony makes the beast Indra related to the Serpent Gorynych. Tearing the cloudy mountains and dungeons open with its lightning horn and making the earth tremble, the monstrous beast gives rise to rain springs and rivers.
SERPENT GORYNYCH (Gorynchishche) - a mountain demon, a representative of the clouds, which from ancient times were likened to mountains and rocks. Hacking and spitting out, he creates cloudy mountains and rain abysses, in which, later, when the meaning of ancient metaphors was obscured, ordinary earthly heights and swamps were recognized. The mythical serpent in folk tales is mixed with Satan. Like the thunder god, Satan also creates companions for himself, calling them with strong blows to the stone, i.e. carving deadly lightning from the cloud-stone. Cast down by divine power, these thunderous demons fall from the sky with bright lights along with the pouring rain. The world-wide, boundless sea, where mythical rivals meet, is the boundless sky. In fairy tales, he is depicted as a dragon with three, six, nine or twelve heads. Connected with fire and water, flies across the sky, but at the same time correlates with the bottom - with a river, a burrow, a cave, where he has hidden treasures, a kidnapped princess, "the Russians are full"; there are also numerous offspring. He appears accompanied by a formidable noise: "rain is raining", "thunder is thundering." The main weapon of the Snake is fire. “Dobrynya raised his head and saw that the Serpent Gorynych was flying towards him, a terrible snake with three heads, seven tails, flames from nostrils, smoke was pouring out of his ears, copper claws on his paws shone” (Russian epic).
SNAKE FIRE WOLF (Vuk Firezmiy) is a hero in Slavic mythology. He is born from the Fiery Serpent, is born in human form, "in a shirt" or with "wolf's hair" - a sign of miraculous origin. It can turn into a wolf and other animals, incl. bird; performs feats, using the ability to transform (himself and his squad) into animals.
ZMIULAN is a character of East Slavic mythology, one of the continuation of the image of the Fiery Serpent. In Belarusian and Russian fairy tales, Tsar Fire and Tsarina Molrnya burn the herds of Tsar Zmiulan, who is hiding from them in the hollow of an old tree (a clear parallel with one of the main myths of Slavic mythology, in which the adversary of Perun is a snake, the owner of a herd that hides in the hollow of a tree ). The name Zmiulan is used in folk spells-love spells. “... The princess sees an imminent disaster, sends Zilant Zmeulanovich away. Zilant thundered, coming out of the iron nest, and it hung on twelve oak trees, on twelve chains. Zilant rushes like an arrow on an eagle ... ”(“ The Tale of the Hero Gol Voyansky. ”Russian fairy tale, retelling by B. Bronnitsin).
KAGAN is a prophetic bird that brings happiness. In folk songs, it is very common to refer to the winds, which ancient man recognized as divine beings. Since the winds were personified in the form of birds, similar appeals began to be sent to them. The image of the Kagan bird has not survived. According to beliefs, the one who saw her should be silent about it, or he should not see happiness. “… I had to support myself, prove that he really is a bird, and show what kind of bird. With inexpressible contempt, he squinted his eyes at his opponent, trying, for greater insult, to look at him somehow over his shoulder, from top to bottom, as if he was looking at him like an insect, and slowly and distinctly said: "Kagan!" That is, he is a kagan bird "(FM Dostoevsky." Notes from a dead house ").
KOSCHEY IMMORTAL - as a demonic creature, the serpent in Russian folk legends appears under this name. The meaning of both is completely identical: Koschey plays the same role as a stingy guardian of treasures and a dangerous kidnapper of beauties as a snake; both of them are equally hostile to fairytale heroes and freely replace each other, so that in one and the same fairy tale, in one version, the protagonist displays a snake, and in the other - Koschey. The word "kosh" is also associated with the word "kosht" (bone). Many heroes of fairy tales turn for some time into stone, wood, ice and other states - they ossify. The old Russian "blasphemy to create" means to perform actions that are decent for sorcerers and the devil (to blaspheme). Somehow connected with this concept "vazen" - "Uzen". A prisoner is an enemy taken prisoner. It is in this sense that the word "koschey" is used in "The Lay of Igor's Host" and in many Russian fairy tales. The legends about the death that comprehend Koshchei, apparently, contradicts the epithet "Immortal" that is constantly attached to him; but this is precisely what testifies to its spontaneous character. Melt by the spring rays of the sun, broken by the arrows of Perun, the clouds gather again from the vapors rising to the sky, and the demon of darkness, struck to death, seems to be revived again and summons its winner to battle; also the demon of winter fogs, cold and blizzards, dying at the beginning of spring, comes to life again at the end of the summer half of the year and takes over the world. That is why Koschey was ranked among the immortal beings.
LAMYA (llama) - a fabulous snake, among the South Slavs a monster with the body of a snake and a dog's head; it descends like a dark cloud onto fields and orchards, devours the fruits of agricultural labor. It was also associated with a nightmare - Mara. The image goes back to the Greek Lamia, a monster, daughter of Poseidon.
THE FOREST-BIRD is a mythical bird that lives in the forest where it builds a nest, and if it starts to sing, it sings without waking up. The conspiracy from a toothache "from a tooth of the day" says: "The forest bird is silent, silence your servant's teeth at night, midnight, day, noon ..." The forest bird is a forest bird, like a forest prey is forest prey. “… There in the blue forest… there, in the dead swamp in the red willow forest, The forest-bird is making a nest” (AM Remizov. “Tales”).
MAGUR is a bird of Indra. Mentioned in the Veles book.
MOTHER SVA - the sacred bird, the patroness of Russia, combines the images of many folklore birds, first of all - the bird Gamayun.
SWORD-KLADENETS (samosek) - in Russian folklore and medieval book traditions, a wonderful weapon that ensures victory over enemies. In the legend about Babylon-city, the sword-kladenets is called "Aspid-serpent" and is endowed with the features of a werewolf (turns into a snake). There is a widespread motive for searching for a sword hidden in the ground, walled up in a wall, etc., associated with the idea of \u200b\u200ba treasure (kladenets) or burial (a sword under the head of a dead hero).
MOGOL is a mighty bird.
LEG (noguy, inog, natai, nogai) is the old Russian name for a griffin (in ancient manuscripts the word "legs" is translated as "vulture"). In medieval bookishness, the motive of the flight of heroes through the air is associated with the image of the leg (Alexander the Great, the prophet Avvakum). Like the Nightingale the Thief of Legs, he builds a nest on twelve oak trees. Bird Nogai is identical to Stratim or Strafil-bird. The Greeks imagined a vulture with an eagle's head and wings and the body of a lion. “... Ivan Tsarevich shot geese and swans on the seaside, laid them in two vats, put one vat for the Nagai-bird on his right shoulder, and another vat on his left, he sat down on her ridge. He began to feed the bird Nagai, it rose and flies high "(AN Tolstoy." The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water ").
OFFENSE is a swan, a bird of sorrow, resentment.
FIRE (Tsar Fire) is one of the names of the personified thunder in the Russian and Belarusian fairy tales. Fire is the husband of Queen Molonia; this married couple pursues the Serpent and burns its flocks in the same sequence as in the ancient ritual of burning various types of domestic animals as a sacrifice to the god of the storm.
EAGLE - bird of Perun. The Thunderer can turn into an Eagle, can fly on an Eagle, send him to carry out various assignments.
BIRD OF SVYATOVIT - Western Slavs honored the rooster as the bird of Svyatovit; subsequently, according to the consonance of the name of the Old God with Saint Vitus, pagan memories were transferred to this latter. As a representative of daytime dawn, fire and lightning, the rooster is depicted in mythical legends as a brilliant red bird. The blazing fire is still called the "red rooster". In the Voronezh province, there was such a custom: if a child cried for a long time at night, then the mother put him in the hem and went to the chicken coop to treat him for crying; there she bathed him under the perch, saying: “Zorya-Zorenka, red maiden! Take your kriksa, give us a dream. " On the old icons of St. Vitus meets an image of a rooster, and until the last century on the day of this saint, the custom of carrying roosters to the church of St. Feith.
BIRD'S NEST (Duck's Nest) - the constellation of the Pleiades; the name, obviously, arose from the fact that in the bright stars of the Pleiades they saw golden eggs, which are carried by a wonderful chicken or duck.
RAROG (rarig, rarashek) is a fiery spirit associated with the cult of the hearth. According to the beliefs of the South Slavs, rarashek could be born from an egg, which a person incubated on a stove for nine days and nights. Raroga was represented in the form of a bird of prey or a dragon with a sparkling body, flaming hair and radiance escaping from the mouth (beak), as well as in the form of a fiery whirlwind. Perhaps he is genetically related to the ancient Russian Svarog and the Russian Rakh (the incarnation of dry wind).
RIPEAN MOUNTAINS - mythological mountains where the garden of Iria is located.
FISH is a variant of the serpent-ruler of the underworld.
SIRIN is a bird of paradise-maiden. The image goes back to the ancient Greek sirens. In Greek mythology, these are half-birds, half-women, who inherited wild spontaneity from their father, and a divine voice from their mother-muse. In Russian spiritual poetry of Syria, descending from heaven to earth, enchants people with his singing. There is an idea that only a happy person can hear the singing of this bird. In Russian art, sirin and alkonost are a traditional pictorial subject. "The verb bird sirines is humanoid, it exists near the holy paradise ... and it is the bird of paradise that I deny sweetness for the sake of its songs" (Old Russian alphabet books. XVII century). “The Sirin bird grins to me with joy, / Veselit, beckons from its nests, / On the contrary, it yearns and grieves / Poisons the soul of the wonderful Alkonost” (VS Vysotsky, “Domes”).
SKIPER-BEAST - The king of the overground hell. The main enemy of Perun.
Nightingale-robber - in the epic epic the monstrous enemy of the hero, striking enemies with a terrible whistle. It is related to the Serpent - the horned Falcon (Nightingale) in the Belarusian epic. Sitting in his nest (on twelve oak trees, etc.), the Robber Nightingale blocks the road (to Kiev), the hero (Ilya Muromets in Russian epics) strikes him in the right eye, the duel ends with cutting the Robber Nightingale into part and burning it, which recalls the myth of the duel between the thunderer Perun and his serpentine opponent.
STREFIL (Strafil-bird, Stratim-bird) - in Russian spiritual verses about the Pigeon Book - “mother to all birds”: “Stratim-bird to mother birds to all birds. / Stratim-bird lives on the ocean-sea / And produces children on the ocean-sea, / By God's command. / The stratim bird will flare up - / The ocean-sea will flare up; / She sinks the living room ships / With precious goods. " From the blows of her mighty wings, winds are born and a storm rises. “And the Strafil-bird flew away somewhere. The strafil-bird - mother to birds - forgot the light. And once she loved her light: when she found a formidable force, and the world shuddered, the Strafil-bird defeated the power, buried her light under her right wing "(AM Remizov." To the Sea-Ocean ").
TUGARIN (Serpent Tugarin, Serpent Tugaretin, Tugarin Zmeevich) - in Russian epics and fairy tales the image of an evil, harmful creature of a serpentine nature. This is a character of the ancient serpent-fighting myth, akin to the Serpent Gorynych, the Fire Serpent, etc. In Kievan Rus during the era of the struggle against nomads, it became a symbol of the wild steppe, the danger emanating from it, paganism. The name Tugarin itself corresponds to the Polovets khan Tugorkan (XI century) mentioned in the chronicle. “... The evil enemy Tugarin, the Serpent's son, became a camp there. He is as tall as. a tall oak, between the shoulders an oblique fathom, between the eyes you can put an arrow. He has a winged horse - like a fierce beast: from the nostrils the flame blazes, the smoke comes out of the ears "(Russian epic).
The DUCK is the bird that gave birth to the world. Sometimes it bifurcates and appears in the form of a white gogol (which is God) and a black gogol - Satan.
FINIST YASNY FALCON - warrior bird; a character of a Russian fairy tale, a wonderful spouse in the guise of a falcon, who secretly visited his beloved. He appears in a fairy tale plot, which is a variation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. The name Finist is a distorted Greek "phoenix". In Russian wedding folklore, the image of a falcon-groom is often found. During the day, Finist turns into a feather, and at night into a beautiful prince. The envy and intrigues of the relatives of his beloved lead to the fact that Finist flies off to the distant kingdom, where, after long wanderings and difficult trials of the bride, the lovers meet.
HALA - among the southern Slavs, a dragon or a huge snake (sometimes many-headed) five to six steps long, thick as a human thigh, with wings under the knees and horse eyes, or a snake with a huge head in clouds and a tail descending to the ground. Sometimes it takes the form of an eagle. Possesses tremendous strength and insatiability, leads by black clouds, hail clouds, leads storms and hurricanes and destroys crops and orchards. Challah also fight for a magic wand and try to hit each other with ice bullets, and then lightning flashes or hail strikes. An early challah can fall to the ground, and then it should be soldered with milk from a milk bin or bucket. “Challahs can attack the sun and the moon, trap them with their wings (then eclipses occur) or try to devour them (then the sun, bleeding from the bite of Hala, turns red, and when Hala is defeated, it turns pale and shines). Challahs can, most often on the eve of major holidays, lead a round dance ("kolo"), and then a whirlwind rises. A person trapped in such a whirlwind can go crazy "(NI Tolstoy). Challahs sometimes turn into people and animals, while only a six-fingered person can see them.
KING-SNAKE - the old metaphorical language likened the sun not only to gold, but also to a precious stone and a shiny crown. The serpent-cloak of the sun wears a golden crown on its head, and during a spring thunderstorm and rain, which illuminate the face of the sun, it throws off this crown. Over time, this myth was transferred to earth, to earthly serpents, which, according to legend, have a king adorned with a wonderful crown, which he takes off only when he bathes.
BLACK SEA SNAKES (Chernomor) - the king of the underwater world and the dark kingdom, the husband of Tsaritsa Belorybitsa.
BLACK SNAKE is the embodiment of all dark forces. In the Western Slavic tradition, he is Chernobog.
Lizard (Yusha) - the serpent-ruler of the underworld. The lizard is often found in folk songs, sometimes, having lost the ancient meaning of symbolism, in these songs he is called Yasha.