Welcome to the magical world of Slavic lore and mythology!
Who were the Slavs?
The Slavs were a diverse group of people whose origins trace back over a thousand years to around the time of the fall of the Roman Empire and the Early Middle Ages. They were not just one tribe but many, each contributing to a complex mosaic of traditions, languages, and stories which can still be felt in Central and Eastern Europe.
Where Did They Live?
Imagine a map of Europe. You are probably most familiar with the Western European countries: Britain, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy. These are the countries you most likely learned about in school. In history class, you colored in many maps of the West.
Now, turn your map slightly to the East so that you are looking at Central and Eastern Europe. This part of the map is usually a big mystery to most folks, with boarders that shift and countries that seem change their names every decade or so. —Here there be dragons, witches, haunted forests, and ghost knights guarding forgotten castles!
Modern-day countries like Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus, Hungary, Romania, and Russia sit on what was once Slavic territory. Imagine coloring in the vast space from the deep forests of Russia, across to the Baltic Sea, along the boarder with Germany, and down to the Carpathian mountains and the sunny beaches of Croatia—that’s where the Slavs called home!
When Did They Live?
While people have been living in this region for thousands of years, most believe the Slavic saga begins in the early Middle Ages, around the fall of the Roman Empire. During this time, Europe was a patchwork of emerging kingdoms and wandering tribes. This era was a time of castles, knights, Viking and Cossack raids, and the birth of Slavic folklore and the spread of early Christianity.
Their Cultural Significance
While Greek, Norse, and Celtic myths might be more familiar, Slavic mythology is a treasure trove of untold stories. Comparable to the pantheon of gods in Olympus, the mystical realms of Asgard, or the trickster fae of the Isles, the Slavic world is brimming with its own unique gods, heroes, and mythical beings. Their legends offer a fresh perspective on bravery, magic, the eternal battle between good and evil, and the ties of love and loyalty that holds us together.
What to Expect From This Series
There is not a lot of consistent scholarship written in English about Slavic mythology. There is no “D’Aulaire’s Book of Slavic Myths,” so this is my attempt to write one.
I tried to do my due diligence by researching these wonderful fairy tales through a combination of English and Polish sources, but a lot of the information I came across was regional and contradictory. Both the Romans and the Christians tried to destroy Slavic culture, so what survived was either passed on through oral tradition, or was absorbed into Catholic tradition. I often found myself connecting the dots and filling in some details in a way that made most sense to me.
Furthermore, as a mother and as a Polish-American woman, I thought it was important to update some of these stories to bring them more in line with our modern sensibilities. This blog series is not intended to be an academic piece of scholarship. I’m a storyteller, and I want to be upfront about the fact that I’ve taken some creative licenses in reimagining these legends through a modern lens. I’ve also used ChatGPT as a research assistant, writing assistant, and as an illustrator to help me bring some of these stories to life.
My intent with this on-going series is to share some of the amazing fairy tales, mystical creatures, myths, urban legends, and local folklore from Central and Eastern Europe. We’ll meet dragons, witches, talking animals, nature spirits, and many other magical creatures that lurk in the shadows of ancient forests and in the periphery of the human awareness. Each story will be like opening a treasure chest, revealing mysteries from an enchanted world that are both familiar and strange.
This page will be a central hub from which we can dive into various aspects of the enduring the Slavic imagination has had on world mythology. Check back often because there will be more entries added every few weeks as I learn about new legends and report back my findings. I will also be providing illustrations to help bring these stories to life.
Prepare to be transported to a realm where the lines between the natural and supernatural blur.
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Licensing and AI Disclosure: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Portions of this content were generated using OpenAI’s and Canva models, with significant curation, editing, and creative input by E. S. O. Martin. AI-generated portions may not be subject to copyright under current laws.
Creation Myths and The Old Gods
Because the Slavs were a collection of tribes, a variety of creation myths arose. Here are some of the main ones.
The Cosmic Egg—The cosmos and everything in it was hatched from an egg.
The World Tree—Also known as the Tree of Life and Axis Mundi. The tree brings order to chaos and is a metaphor for the past, present, and future.
Svarog — The Slavic smith of celestial flames.
Łada — Goddess of love, beauty, and harmony.
Creation by Diving—Perun, god of the sky, and Veles, god of water, create land in the space between.
Mokosh and The Great Storm—The cosmic rivalry between Perun and Veles for the love of Mokosh, goddess of the earth.
The Tragic Love Story of Jarilo and Marzanna—The story of the seasons unfolds a story of forbidden love between two siblings, separated by death and continually reborn.
Perun—The god of the sky, lightning, justice, and of the overworld.
Veles—Shapeshifting god of the earth, livestock, magic, music, and the underworld.
Devana—Goddess of the wilderness, wild animals, and the hunt.
Rod, the Rodzanice, and the Dola — Slavic Guardians of Family, Ancestors, and Fate.
Mythical Creatures
Leshy — Tree-shifters and guardians of the Slavic Forests.
Rusałki — Enchanting river sirens of Slavic waters.
Wodnik — Slavic water demon and guardian.
Slavic Dolls — Children’s toys, effigies, and magical totems of protection.
Slavic Vampires — The truth behind the legends.
Local Legends
The Black Volga — Soviet KGB car which haunted the streets of Warsaw.
Teutonic Knights of the Amber Road — The Northern Crusades of Slavic Europe.
Resources
English-language resources about Slavic and Polish mythology is hard to come by. Here is a list of websites, books, podcasts and articles I’ve used to gather my information.
Resources in English
Best of Polish Fairy Tales by Sergiej Nowikow, 2015.
Brendan-Noble.com—Author of the Slavic Fantasy series, The Frostmarked Chronicles, has an online blog series and YouTube series called “Slavic Saturday,” which highlights Slavic mythology, folklore, and history. (I discovered his blog series after I had started my own blog, “Slavic Spirits.”)
Culture.pl — An excellent online resource about Polish history, culture, and cuisine.
The Dragon of Krakow and Other Polish Stories by Richard Monte, 2008 — This brief children’s book of Polish fairy tales covers some of the most famous and popular local legends, such as the Wawel dragon and the amber palace of the Baltic.
Fairy Tales of the Russians and Other Slavs: Sixty-Eight Stories edited by Ace G. Pilkington and Olga A. Pilkington, 2009. — In my opinion, this is one of the best collections of Slavic fairy tales because it is the best edited, the best written, and it has more stories (400+ pages worth) than most of the other fairy tale collections I’ve found on Amazon. The stories are also organized by category, so you can hone in your research to nature spirit stories, witches and wizards, or stories of the undead.
History of Poland Podcast—A humorous and approachable podcast by Trevor Gilbert, covering the history of Poland during the middle ages between the years 900 CE – 1600 CE.
Meet the Slavs — A good resource about history and mythology from the various cultures in the Slavic region.
Polish Customs, Traditions, & Folklore by Sophie Dodorowicz Knab, 1996. — This valuable resource is organized by month so you can read about what types of holidays and traditions were celebrated throughout the year in pre-communist Poland.
Slavonic Fairy Tales by John T. Naake, 2018.
Slavic Soul Myths and Legends: Illustrated Folklore, Mythology, Short Stories & Fairy Tales, written by J. L. Jaroslavs, illustrated by Maxwell Golabek and Aleksandra Dobrzanska, 2021.
Wikipedia — An in particular, their articles about Slavic creation myths, Slavic deities, Slavic paganism, World Tree/Tree of Life, supernatural beings in Slavic religion.
Resources in Polish
Bestiariusz Słowiański: Część Pierwsza i Druga (Slavic Bestiary: Volume 1 & 2) by Witold Vargas and Paweł Zych, 2022.
Klechdy domowe: Podania i Legendy Polskie by Hanna Kostyrko and Zbigniewa Rychlickiego, 1987.