Poetic views of the Slavs on nature. Elements, pagan gods and animals. Afanasyev A.

The fundamental study of Slavic mythology of Alexander Afanasyev, first published in 1865-1869.

The book “Elements, Pagan Gods and Animals” reproduces the first volume of “The poetic views of the Slavs into nature”. The author turns to the history of the language in order to show how spontaneously and inevitably, naturally, myths are created as a result of linguistic losses, the transformation of sounds and the renewal of concepts underlying folk names. In the context of the theoretical foundations of the folk mythopoetic tradition, folk signs, riddles, conspiracies and songs, fairy tales and legends about light and darkness, sky and earth, winds and rainbows are considered. The main gods of the Slavic pantheon, the fedules of fertility and the birth of a new beginning, Perun, Yarilo and Stribog, coexist in the representation of our ancestors with animals and birds, personifying their forces: a hawk like lightning, a dog like a whirlwind, clouds like v tramas.

The publication is adapted to modern spelling with some preservation of the characteristics of the old spelling in order to let the reader feel the taste and aroma of verbal turns of the bygone era.