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RE: Volos drawing
Interesting, I must spent some time reading up a little on them. I see Volos, is also written up as Veles, but that's how it goes with many of these old gods, names and spelling vary.
Many years a go, I did a painting of Woden / Wotun / Wodenaz / Odin.
The name sometimes differs because of different dialect of the Slavic nations. Try to search Svetovid (the main guy with four heads, looking at four sides of the world), Perun( god of lightning), Jarilo ( protector of the plant world and spring announcer), Morana ( the goddess of death), Triglav, Mokos, Dazbog and many others. Each of them represents some aspect of life or natural phenomenon. Also, the name Slavs originates from the word "Slava", which means CELEBRATING NATURE. Old Slavs often carved wooden (oak) figures and sculptures with godlike image (idol) and kept them as amulet. Unfortunately the Christian church did not like them, so they were burned down by force...but they were not killed, because some Christian missionaries (ironic) wrote down everything they saw, and thanks to them there is a memory of the old culture....I 'd love to see your painting of Odin (I think it's old Norwegian god), if you saved it...
I was reading that old Slavic Pagan beliefs and practices continued for a long time out in the country away from the towns and cities. Some of the Gods and Goddesses even became "Saints".
Here is my Woden painting. This is over 25 years old.
Wow, this is a really great painting, and frame too...thank you for sharing :-)
Yes, many gods have become "Saints", Christian missionaries used all possible tricks to turn people into Christianity ( they were converting people from 6. to 10. century). They also burned old oak trees that were sacred for Slavs, but some of the oaks older than 1000 years have survived. My grandmother told me that as a girl she was playing around old oak near village where she was born (southern Serbia) .That oak was called "The Record" ( Zapis ). She told me that there was an old custom of burning dead people and spreading ash around the oak so that the tree absorbed the dust in itself so that the person (spirit) continues to live in a tree. And when someone got sick they took a branch from the tree and burned it in the house so that the smoke filled the house and pushed the evil ghosts out of the house. Also when they hear a bad news or need help, they have been knocking on wood ( tree) to wake up sleepy ancestors who live in the tree (wood) and ask for help...
I'm always fascinated to hear such stories and traditions. There are many projects all over the world where people are going to the elders to ask them about the old stories and knowledge to record it before it is lost. I think and feel that it is important to keep these things alive, because they keep us connect to the natural world. Without the natural world, we are not alive.
True, we are all in the mission...If you did not watch movie "Paradise Found" I can recommend to you. It's about Paul Gauguin and his fight to preserve old culture in Tahiti island. Thanks to him, the Tahitians preserved their heritage.
Haven't seen that one.