When it comes to specifically the Slavic branch of European polytheism, very little of the polytheistic tradition, or our history as polytheistic tribes and states, was physically recorded. The Slavs did not use their runic writing system (runica) much, nor were they in contact with Roman historians to do the recording for them. The Slavic tradition was oral - passed down in spoken word form as stories, songs, proverbs/sayings, or other folk wisdom. It is important to note that a lot of ritualic practice has been appropriated by Christians and thus survived in a way, but this is a subject for another time. Some of this wisdom was preserved completely untampered with, such as the story of the Drekavac (screecher, screamer) – the Banshee of South Slavic myth – but cases like this are present everywhere.
Most of the oral works in which motifs from South Slavic polytheistic tradition can be witnessed are epics, which contain clear traces of South Slavic mythos, ritual songs as well (dodolanje, đurđevske songs) and the cults of certain Christian saints. Very important to this subject is the Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić, who compiled and wrote down a lot of the works that I will mention that would otherwise be forgotten. One of the most obvious mythological motives for a South Slavic epic is the fairy.
Oton Iveković – Death of King Peter Svačić
In the pre-Kosovo cycle (epics written before the Battle of Kosovo in 1389), we have the epic “Zidanje Skadra“ (Building Skadar – now Shkoder in Albania). In this epic, three brothers from the Serbian Mrnjavčević dynasty are building the city, but an angry fairy destroys everything they make after a year. A human sacrifice was required to continue the building. In another epic “Marko Kraljević and the fairy” Marko, a hero, sets out on a quest to kill a fairy that prevented Marko’s brother from singing atop a mountain because his voice was better than hers. Marko himself has a horse, Šarac that has mythological powers such as extreme strength and the ability to speak and see the future. This is a motif seen in other polytheist myth, like the Germanic eight-legged Sleipnir.
Pairs of ravens appear as omens to bad luck in cases like the epic “Sluga Milutin” (Milutin the servant), where they signal to the duchess Milica the bloody outcome of the Battle of Kosovo. In South Slavic epics, along with the personification of natural elements as messages from gods or gods themselves, some depictions of the ancestral life and mindset are also visible, such as the warrior asceticism of Marko Kraljević. Marko is also present in Bulgarian and Northern Macedonian epics, under the name Крали/Крале Марко. In these folk legends, his horse is winged as well.
The European mythological dragon and serpent motives are present. Dragons are extremely powerful beings who are sentient and able to reason and speak, and bear children with human females – bearing a son who would be dragonlike. Dragons are usually revered and seen as good omens, and them dying is seen as the end of an empire. Both of these scenarios are seen in the Serbian epic “Miloš Obilić zmajski sin” (Miloš Obilić the son of a dragon), where the latter is referenced within the epic saying the Serbs will not be emperors anymore when the dragons from the sky die. The serpent motive in South Slavic myth aligns with other European myths, as the serpent motive in South Slavic myths is usually a being similar in magnitude and physical appearance to a dragon but is instead very malicious (attacks people and children, keeps people away from water sources and food, etc). The serpent usually has a different physical appearance in every European myth, the dragon-like appearance mentioned above for the South Slavs, the Hellenic Gorgons who are anthropomorphic snakes, or the Germanic Jörmungandr which is a colossal sea snake, but the malicious intent is present with all of these. The serpent is usually slain by a god, by Thor in Germanic myth, or Perun who kills Veles in serpent form. This is done seasonally. This myth is present in South Slavic art and folklore in Christianized form, where St. George slays the serpent (often mistranslated as dragon!)
St. George slays the serpent, Dragan Jovanović
Old South Slavic lyric poetry is overwhelmingly polytheist in origin, although the names and epithets were in some cases Christianized. Ritual songs are songs sang to gods that have been adapted to Christianity. There are still some examples that survive to this day.
Koledanje is a the practice of singing a seasonal song for the gods to celebrate a new season, and a newly born god. These are now adapted as Christmas songs in South Slavic lands. One of the most performed of these is the song “Šta ćemo darovati koledu” (What will we offer to koledo). Dodolanje is a practice of singing ritual songs during droughts to ask the gods for rain. This practice has mostly died out. It is named after the girl who would cover her entire body in leaves and flowers. Some lyric poems reference parts of a creation myth, such as the poem “Sunce se devojkom ženi” (The sun marries a girl) in which a girl teases the sun that she is more beautiful than it. The sun is also personified, it can understand this tease and decides to marry the girl, after which she becomes the brightest visible star Danica (the planet Venus).
To continue on the lyric poem subject, it is worth noting that a large fraction of Slavic polytheistic folk wisdom survives through sayings and other forms related to traits of Christian saints, who have been fitted with traits of gods to make accepting Christianity easier to the Slavs. Saint George, the serpent slayer mentioned earlier, is said to have been an appropriated version of Jarilo – the Slavic god of fertility, spring, and a protector of nature.
On George’s Day (6th of may) girls go singing songs to nature while collecting healing and magical herbs to make a wreath, to which another song is then given.
These songs are about nature, spring, gathering flowers, and other relevant themes. Around Easter, similar songs are also performed by young girls, who this time go from house to house to sing them. These are called “Lazarice” named after Lazar’s Saturday (Holy Saturday, Great Saturday) There are not many songs for Saint Elias – the Christian appropriation of the god Perun. Saint Elias has, in South Slavic areas, the epithets “The Thunderer” and “The Charioteer”, which are both references to Perun’s roles in Slavic polytheism. Folk wisdoms regarding Saint Elias include beliefs that he goes across the skies with his chariot, eating the moon and smiting evil people and gods with thunder, similar to Zeus.
Pieter Symonsz Potter – Elijah Taken Up Into Heaven In The Chariot Of Fire
Slavic polytheism may not have many written sources, and thus is riddled with speculation and outright false ideas from reconstructionists, but South Slavic ancestral tradition is fairly well preserved in epic folk tales and songs still taught in schools, and performed by artists to this day.
Sources:
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić – Srpske narodne pjesme
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić – Srpske narodne pripovjetke
Prose Edda
Gigantomachia