Slavic gods stribog. Russian Gods

Stribog is the god of the wind in East Slavic mythology. The name Stribog goes back to the ancient root “streg”, which means “elder”, “paternal uncle”. A similar meaning is found in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” where the winds are called “Stribozh’s grandchildren.” Stribog was born from the breath of Rod.

He can summon and tame a storm and can turn into his assistant, the mythical bird Stratim. In general, the wind was usually represented in the form of a gray-haired old man who lives at the end of the world, in a dense forest or on an island in the middle of the ocean.

The idol of Stribog was installed in Kyiv among the seven most important Slavic deities.

It is unknown whether there was a permanent holiday in honor of Stribog, but he was mentioned and revered along with Dazhbog. Probably the wind, like rain and sun, was considered the most important for the farmer.

The sailors also prayed to Stribog to give “wind to the sail.” The ancient Rus revered the god of the winds - Stribog, no less than other Svarozhichi. The Rus in ancient times conquered the sea elements. The Russians came up with a boat, a rudder, an anchor and a sail. Being sailors, the Rus, of course, revered Stribog, who, having turned into the Stratim bird, could cause or tame a storm.

The wind has many grandchildren and sons, small breezes:
Whistling is the elder wind, considered the god of the storm;
Podaga is a hot, drying wind, lives in the desert in the South;
Weather - warm, light breeze, God of pleasant weather;
South wind - has a hot, southern disposition, carries with it the warmth and smell of the South;
The west wind is a little dry, sometimes angry, but mostly kind;
Siverko (North wind) - carries cold from the Arctic Ocean, is very harsh and only gets a little kinder in summer;
The East Wind - like an Asian, has an unexpected, mysterious and insidious character;
Midday and Midnighter frolic day and night.

The main temples of Stribog were located on sea islands, near the mouths of rivers, where merchant ships often stopped (for example, on the island of Berezan near the mouth of the Dnieper). Before going out to the open sea, Rus ships approached him, and the merchants brought rich gifts to Stribog.

According to legend, Stribog raged across the earth with winds, and also, together with Perun, commanded thunder and lightning. He, together with Svarog and the Svarozhichs, defeated the Black Snake. He helped Perun in his fight against the Skipper-beast, and Khorsu in his fight against the Month.

Worship of Stribog (drawing by Schleising from the book “Ancient and Modern Religion of the Muscovites”, 1698)

And we glorified... Perun and Stribog, who command thunder and lightning. And Stribog also rages across the earth with the winds.
“Book of Veles”, Rod 1, 2:7

The stribs whistle in the steppes, and the storms roar until midnight.
“The Book of Veles”, Trill IV, 5:3

Behold the winds, Stribozhi in the air, blow arrows from the sea onto Igor’s brave plaks.
"The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

Stratim the bird lives on the Ocean Sea,
Stratim-bird will perk up,
The ocean-sea will swell,
She sinks saloon ships with precious goods.
"Pigeon Book"

“In the east, not on the eastern side, there is the Ocean-Sea, on that Ocean-Sea there lies an oak deck, on that deck, on that oak deck, sits Fear-Rakh. I will submit to that Fear-Rakh and pray: “Create for me, Fear-Rakh, seventy-seven winds, seventy-seven whirlwinds; the midday wind, the midnight wind, the dry wind, which dried out the forests, crumbled dark forests, green grasses, fast rivers; So (the name of the rivers) the slave would dry up and crumble about me...”
From Russian conspiracies

Back in the 19th century, millers on the Don called upon Stribog, whom they called Stryb. The children helped the old people with the following prayer song:
Blow, Stryba, to us from the sky,
We need bread for tomorrow!
Very little time passed - the wind blew, the wings of the windmill began to rotate, and after them the millstones, grinding the grains into flour.

Stribog's horses.

One of Stribog's messengers is the swift. The pagan celebration of Stribog itself probably took place on the first day of the last summer month. According to the new style, this is August 21. The folk calendar these days is replete with proverbs regarding the winds - the grandchildren of Stribog: “the windrunners drove dust across the wide world, they wept over the red summer.” “The carminative myrons are driving dust around the world, moaning about the red summer.”

Hotel "Stribog" in Sochi.

Stribog belonged to the top of the pantheon of divine beings worshiped by the ancient Slavs. The powerful god of the winds (and, perhaps, the god of the atmosphere in general) distinguished himself by military victories over his enemies. He was worshiped by farmers and merchants, who established as many as four holidays a year in honor of the deity.

Origin story

The supreme deity of Slavic mythology was born, like his brother (the god of primordial fire and fertility), from the sparks that appeared from under the hammer of Svarog when he struck the eternal stone Alatyr. However, in the legends there was room for another version of the origin - Stribog was born from the breath of Rod. His brother is also sunny.

Stribog is mentioned in a number of ancient Russian chronicles. In The Tale of Bygone Years, the prince allegedly installed an idol for him in Kyiv. He appears as the grandfather of the winds in The Tale of Igor's Campaign. Stribog can also be found in teachings aimed at combating paganism.

Researchers get into heated debates about the meaning of the name. Some see in it the root “strega”, which means “paternal uncle”, but if so, then Dazhdbog Stribog is not a brother at all, but a nephew.

Linguist and orientalist Tamaz Gamkrelidze suggests that the name of God is a derivative of the Indo-European word “dievas-pater”, which translates as “sky-father”. And colleague Oleg Trubachev sees the word “sterti” - “to spread” - as the basis of the name. However, all theories do not conflict with the functions of the deity and have the right to life.

Farmers prayed to Stribog, firmly believing that clouds with life-giving rain would appear only at the request of this god, who drove thunderclouds with his own breath. The sailors especially revered the ruler of the air force, making requests to grant “wind in the sails.” Therefore, on the initiative of sailors, temples of Stribog grew on the banks of rivers and seas. The regulars of the sanctuaries were merchants who sent trade ships on their way - the merchants brought generous gifts to God. The most famous building, where hundreds of beggars flocked, adorned the island of Berezan, which is located at the mouth of the Dnieper River.

Stribog in mythology

In Slavic legends, Stribog lives at the edge of the world and hardly communicates with his relatives. However, he never ignores calls for help in battles with dark forces. Thus, in company with Semargl and Svarog, the warlike and brave wind blower was seen in the battles of the Primordial War. Then the brothers won. Stribog stood together in battle against the terrible Skipper, fought shoulder to shoulder with the Horse against the Month. Not a single Yasunai military campaign aimed at fighting opponents could have happened without the god of the winds.

Stribog has an army of children and grandchildren. Eldest son Whistle, a cold wind, commands storms. Gout, living in the desert on the southern side of the earth, protects arid regions and brings drought to areas with a normal climate. And we thanked the weather for the pleasant comfortable warmth and light breeze.

Grandchildren come from four corners of the world. A hot-tempered southern breeze brings warmth. Western is an angry, “dry” comrade, but very kind. The harsh Siverko burns with the cold of the Arctic Ocean. But the insidious East wind appears suddenly, and it is impossible to predict in what mood it will rush in - good or bad.

Interesting grandchildren - Poludennik and Midnighter. The brothers play pranks, replacing each other, at the height of the day and at midnight. The Slavs also singled out their grandchildren, who appeared in February; this company bore the general name “Stribog winter”. The purpose of the winter breezes was to bring people joyful news about the approaching spring.

Of course, the ancestors painted the image of Stribog in their own imagination. The Lord of the Winds appeared as a powerful old man with a gray head and a long beard, dressed in an azure-colored dress. The attributes of the deity are a golden bow in his hands and streams of air that invariably accompany his person. The Stratim petrel bird was considered the physical embodiment of the god, although this bird is also called a symbol.

In the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky (Yaroslavl region), the tourist complex “Far Far Away” awaits little guests, on the territory of which the “Birth of a Fairy Tale” museum has opened its doors. Among the exhibits there is also an image of Stribog - in the form of a sculpture by the artist.
The power of the god of the winds is exploited with might and main by modern manufacturers of souvenirs. The stores sell Stribog-vetroduy amulets. The explanatory instructions say that these gizmos are endowed with double power that can support you on the way to your goal - protect you from obstacles (headwind) and drive you to what you want (tailwind).

According to the Slavic horoscope, Stribog patronizes people born from January 21 to February 20 (zodiac sign - Aquarius). Such a person is overly religious, quick-tempered, emotional, which is why he easily acquires enemies. But he is able to grasp the essence of complex things and comprehend mysteries.
Each deity had his own day. As for Stribog, the information varies in this regard. In some sources, the celebrations of the deity fell on August 21 or June 15. To win him over, people brought him colored ribbons and rags, bags of flour, grains, and boiled porridge. Gifts were waved over the field.
In some regions, the days of the Lord of the Winds were celebrated four times a year. In the middle of spring, Spring Stribogov Day arrived, when the first warm breeze appeared. At the end of summer they celebrated Carminative, which precedes autumn. September was seen off by Leafkiller - at this time the winter winds began to seize power. And in February, Spring came - people rejoiced, watching the “struggle” of the northern wind with the southern currents.

Stribog is one of the supreme Slavic gods. The meaning of this god remains a mystery to modern researchers. Despite the fact that Stribog was clearly very revered in Ancient Rus', it has not yet been reliably determined what this god patronized or was in charge of. For a long time Stribog was considered the god of the winds, however, recently this version is gradually becoming a thing of the past. Stribog was considered the god of the winds because of his mention in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, which says: “Behold the winds, Stribozhi vnutsi, blow arrows from the sea on Igor’s brave regiments.” In fact, this phrase does not indicate that Stribog is the god of the winds, but only that the winds are his grandchildren. Most likely, and most modern researchers are inclined to believe this, Stribog was the god of the sky, the elder god.

In addition to the fact that Stribog may be the god of the sky, some Slavic historians are also inclined to the version that Stribog is not a separate god, but only an epithet of the god of the sky, which indicates the old age and seniority of the supreme deity (other words. stry - old). One can only guess which god the name “Stribog” is an epithet of. Quite possibly it could be or. It is worth noting that the idol of Stribog was placed by Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko among the most revered, but neither Rod nor Svarog was among them: “Vladimir began to reign in Kyiv alone. And he placed idols on a hill outside the courtyard of the tower: Perun is wooden, and his head is silver, and his mustache is gold, and Khorsa, and Dazhbog, and Stribog, and Semargl, and Mokosh. And they made sacrifices to them, calling them gods, and brought their sons and daughters, and prayed.” It is quite possible to assume that Stribog was Svarog or Rod, and it simply did not make sense to place separate idols for them. The famous scientist and Slavic historian Boris Rybakov also identified Stribog with Rod and Svarog.

What other facts speak in favor of this version? According to the Indo-European scientist Tamaz Valerianovich Gamkrelidze, as well as the linguist Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov, the etymology of the name of this god goes back to the Indo-European “dievas-pater”, which means “Sky-Father”. At first it may seem that dievas-pater and Stribog are completely different and dissimilar words, but researchers have studied the entire chronology of the transformation (presumable). According to this theory, dievas (sky) was replaced by the Iranian "baga" or "god", and pater (father) was replaced by the Old Slavonic "stry", that is, "old". There are also suggestions that the name of this deity came from the word “streg” - “elder on the father’s side” or simply “elder”, and the addition of “god” occurred much later and only to show the higher significance of this god. Without the addition, in ancient times it could have been called simply “Stry”. Thus, it turns out that Stribog is Father Sky, Old God, Elder God, God the Father.

The first part of the name “stri” speaks in favor of the fact that Stribog could still be the god of the winds. “Stri” in Old Church Slavonic means air, wind, fast, swift, fast flow of water. From this word came such words as: strive, headlong, shear, goad, let go, jet, shear (river rapids) and others. From what word the name of this deity came - “stry” (old) or stri (wind) - remains a mystery.

Due to the fact that for a long time Stribog was considered the god of the winds, most images with this deity still represent him performing precisely these functions, although, I repeat, most likely he had nothing to do with the wind, but was precisely the god of Heaven, the supreme A deity, perhaps even the second name of Svarog or Rod. The real gods of the winds were considered Posvist, the patron saint of strong, cold winds, storms and hurricanes; Podaga - hot wind; Weather: moderate, pleasant wind.

How to tie the Stribog knot “Tailwind” (Northern fairy tale)

Holiday "Stribog Summer"

Don't know how to decorate a holiday or party? You can find a large selection of balloons. Gel and glow balls, foil balls, figures and bouquets.

Stribog is the god of the wind in East Slavic mythology. The name Stribog goes back to the ancient root “strega”, which means “elder”, “paternal uncle”. A similar meaning is found in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” where the winds are called “Stribozh’s grandchildren.” Stribog was born from the breath of Rod. He can summon and tame a storm and can turn into his assistant, the mythical bird Stratim. In general, the wind was usually represented in the form of a gray-haired old man living at the edge of the world, in a dense forest or on an island in the middle of the ocean.

The idol of Stribog was installed in Kyiv among the seven most important Slavic deities. It is unknown whether there was a permanent holiday in honor of Stribog, but he was mentioned and revered along with Dazhbog. Probably the wind, like rain and sun, was considered the most important for the farmer. The sailors also prayed to Stribog to give “wind to the sail.” The wind has many grandchildren and sons, small breezes:

Whistling is the elder wind, considered the god of the storm;

Podaga is a hot, drying wind, lives in the desert in the South;

Weather - warm, light breeze, God of pleasant weather;

South wind - has a hot, southern disposition, carries with it the warmth and smell of the South;

The west wind is a little dry, sometimes angry, but mostly kind; Siverko (North wind) - carries cold from the Arctic Ocean, is very harsh and only gets a little kinder in summer;

The East Wind - like an Asian, has an unexpected, mysterious and insidious character; Midday and Midnighter frolic day and night.

The ancient Rus revered the god of the winds - Stribog, no less than other Svarozhichi. The Rus in ancient times conquered the sea elements. The Russians came up with a boat, a rudder, an anchor and a sail. Being sailors, the Rus, of course, revered Stribog, who, having turned into the Stratim bird, could cause or tame a storm.

And we glorified... Perun and Stribog, who command thunder and lightning. And Stribog also rages across the earth with the winds.

“Book of Veles”, Rod 1, 2:7

The stribs whistle in the steppes, and the storms roar until midnight.

“The Book of Veles”, Trill IV, 5:3

Behold the winds, Stribozhi in the air, blow arrows from the sea onto Igor’s brave plaks.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

Stratim the bird lives on the Ocean Sea,

Stratim-bird will perk up,

The ocean-sea will swell,

She sinks saloon ships with precious goods.

“Pigeon Book” “In the east, not on the eastern side, there is the Ocean-Sea, on that Ocean-Sea lies an oak deck, on that deck, on that oak deck, sits Fear-Rakh. I will submit to that Fear-Rakh and pray: “Create for me, Fear-Rakh, seventy-seven winds, seventy-seven whirlwinds; the midday wind, the midnight wind, the dry wind, which dried out the forests, crumbled dark forests, green grasses, fast rivers; So (the name of the rivers) the slave would dry up and crumble about me...”

In the ancient mythology of our ancestors, the ancient Russian god of the winds bore the name Stribog (sometimes he was also called Stryi and Vetryla). Stribog is one of the tops of the Slavic pantheon, as well as one of the very first gods who were born from the sparks that flared up when Stribog hit the sacred stone Alatyr with his mighty hammer. There is also another version, where Stribog is born from the breath of the god Rod, the creator of being and non-being. But this version is just a guess. The god of the winds Stribog is the brother of Dazhbog and Semargl.

The meaning of Stribog in the Slavic pantheon

Stribog also fought side by side with Svarog and Semargl in the Primordial War, when they defeated Chernobog. He fought against Skipper along with Perun, and helped Horse in the fight against the Month. Thus, we can conclude that Stribog is a rather warlike deity who participated in many important battles for our world, and always emerged victorious from the battle.

God Stribog was a highly revered deity in the Slavic pantheon, and the Slavs sometimes called him the Disperser of Wealth, as he had a rather tough temper. Stribog is the only god of the wind and the ruler of all airspace, and under his command were all types of birds, as well as ethereal wind spirits.

Etymology of the name "Stribog"

As for the etymology of the name of the wind god Stribog, some researchers believe that it goes back to the ancient Slavic root “strega”, which also translates as “uncle to father”. Based on this statement, plus we add to this the fact that Stribog is most often mentioned together with Dazhbog, the conclusion arises that Stribog is not Dazhbog’s brother, but his nephew. Such a version cannot be definitively confirmed or refuted, since the genealogy of all Slavic Yasuns has not yet been fully systematized.

But despite this, thanks to the etymology of the name “Stribog”, another theory about its origin suggests itself, namely the theory of the rather famous linguist and orientalist Tamaz Gamkrelidze. T. Gamkrelidze argued that the very name of the Slavic god of the wind is derived from the Indo-European phrase “devas-pater”, which translates as “sky-father”. On the other hand, Russian linguist Oleg Trubachev proposed a theory, the essence of which was that the theonym Stribog is based on the Proto-Slavic word stret, which translates as “to spread.” Unfortunately, theories remain theories, and the only currently accepted version about the origin of the patron of the winds, Stribog, continues to claim that Stribog is one of the first gods of the ancient Slavs, as well as the brother of Semargl and Dazhbog.

Images of Stribog

Stribog, the god of winds among the Slavs, had all the airspace under his command, and in addition, like Perun, he could also control weather phenomena, and on a much larger scale. In the human world, Stribog had his own physical body - the bird Stratim the Stormfly (although according to some sources it was the physical embodiment of the god Veles).

In human form, the ancient Slavs represented the god of the winds in the form of a gray-haired old man who was dressed in azure clothes and held a golden bow and arrows in his strong hands. He lived on the very edge of the earth, so he rarely communicated with other gods, only occasionally coming to the rescue during the next fateful battle between evil and good.

Temples of the god of the winds, as well as mentions of him in chronicles

The power of the wind is truly a powerful force, both in good and bad ways. For example, Stribog was greatly revered by farmers, since he could bring up clouds to irrigate the lands in order to bring a rich harvest, as well as call on a storm and strong wind, which were capable of completely destroying crops and breaking tree branches. In addition to the villagers, the sailors were no less reverent towards the great deity. For sailors, a fair wind was a sign of a successful voyage, so most often temples and idols were erected on islands and the coasts of rivers and seas. The most famous temple of Stribog is located at the mouth of the Dnieper on the island of Berezan. So that a fair wind would accompany their ships, the merchants, after each voyage, brought generous gifts to this temple, due to which it flourished.

The god of the winds in ancient Russian paganism is also mentioned in the famous “Tale of Bygone Years” by Nestor the chronicler, who described the wind as “Stribozh’s grandson.” It is obvious that Stribog was revered in many cities of Ancient Rus'. One of his idols was also located in Kyiv, but now there is no information about him.

The power of Stribog and his assistants

Stribog contains many contradictions. For example, he has the power of rain, which gives life to the earth and allows it to develop. This power is called conscious and conscious, but the messengers of chaos, the uncontrollable force of storm and hail, on the contrary, can completely destroy it and cause irreparable harm. It is obvious that the ancient Slavs saw in the image of Stribog a certain metaphor that talks about the unity of mind and feelings.