Religious beliefs and ritual calendar of pre-Christian Russia (Based on archeological finds from Chernaya Mogila)

Abstract

The calendar represents a signifi cant element of any culture refl ecting the condition of society and its beliefs, as the calendar is an expression of cycles that connect the celestial bodies, and the dimensions of time and space within one integral system. A calendar also mirrors holidays and other events signifi cant either for society as a whole or for the individual. Almost nothing however, is known of the calendar system of pre-Christian Russia. This may in part be due to the lack of written sources before the introduction of the Cyrillic and Glagolic alphabets. The religious beliefs of pre-Christian Old Slavic tribal unions inhabiting the territories between the Dnepr and the Volga, and between Lake Ladoga and the Black Sea have not yet been studied in detail. Slavic “calendar vessels” (4th century AD) with “cherty i rezy” (incised lines) have been found with Roman coins of the same period. Certain calendar reconstructions based on these clay vessels suggest that the year began in January, according to Roman tradition. However, because the Slavic New Year is thought to have coincided with the autumnal or vernal equinox, issues surrounding the Old Slavic calendar remain unresolved. At the present time, the period between AD 400 and 1000 remains undocumented by any material evidence to support the calendar system used by Slavic tribes, despite the fact that Slavic society at that time was already quite advanced. The study of this theme is further complicated by migrations and changes in religious belief. Changes in burial practice serve as one such example. According to B.A. Rybakov (1988: 111), the shift from cremation to inhumation in burial rites occurred three times: around the 5th century AD, in AD 100 – 400, and in AD 800 – 1000. Rybakov however, draws no parallel between the last episode and the adoption of Christianity marked at AD 988, and notes that Christian symbols such as baptismal crosses and small copper icons appear in Russian countryside mounds only in the late 1100s. It would be erroneous to suggest that the Christian calendar was introduced on a large-scale before that time. Consequently, the notion of “pre-Christian Russia’” may in fact extend to ca 1200. This is supported by the fact that the construction of mounds attests to a non-Christian ideology. Such mounds are commonly related to beliefs connected with “the great Mount Mera,” and the abode of the Gods, symbolized by the mound itself. This article is leveled against the views of B.A. Rybakov, the author of the most signifi cant studies concerning the burial in Chernaya Mogila (Black Grave) mound. As concerns methodology, Rybakov made extensive use of local folklore recorded in the 1800s and pagan festivals. While the present author employs folklore as a source, it seems that recent Chernigov tales have no relevant connection to the Chernaya Mogila burial. In deciphering the calendar meaning of the engravings on the silver setting of the aurochs’s horn found at the burial, Rybakov referred to data on seasonal, Russian holidays. In the view of this author, the frieze on the horn represents a lunar calendar and includes elements of Indo-Iranial mythology.