Slavic faith – part 3 – the sacrifices worthy of Slavic Gods
In the previous parts of “Slavic faith” we talked about the ritual sacrifices our ancestors made to their Gods and we came to a conclusion that those sacrifices were much more valuable than the (very, very symbolic) sacrifices made by modern followers of Slavic Native Faith. We also noted that most of the sacrifices offered to Gods by pre-Christian Slavs were at least partially consumed during a feast, which was an integral part of the worshipping ritual.
Today we are going to discuss what sacrifices we can offer to the Slavic Gods in modern times, to make sure that the value of our sacrifices is comparable to the sacrifices made by our ancestors.
The symbolic value
For over hundreds of years of forced Christianisation, we were taught, that religious sacrifices should be either:
- symbolic and of no real value (like, for example, rosary prayer);
- or very valuable and given to the Church (like money given to church collection plates or boxes);
- or related to our suffering (like promoted by the mother Theresa dying in pain for no reason whatsoever).
In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, which for many of us is the only religion known from our own experience, such worthless sacrifices are sufficient, therefore we assume they will also please the Slavic Gods. No wonder then that modern Rodnovers throw some cheap beef into the fire and think such a “sacrifice” will satisfy the Gods of our ancestors.
But now we know it won’t.
What sacrifice should we then make/promise to the old Gods? Firstly, our sacrifice, as the sacrifices made by pre-Christian Slavs, has to cost us, has to have a real value – as the previously mentioned ox was valuable to our ancestors. Secondly the sacrificial ritual has to “use up” the potential of our gift to the Gods. As the ox cold not pull a plough after being sacrificed, so our sacrifice cannot be useful to us in any material or financial way, after it is given to the Gods. And thirdly the ritual of making the sacrifice has to benefit and strengthen the community, as the ritual feast fed and strengthen our ancestors.
Considering the above it’s not difficult to come up with proper sacrifices to the old Gods (although it might be more tricky to prepare – but it’s all about putting in some effort here). In some of the comments under the first part of “Slavic faith” our readers went in the right direction, giving examples of the offering they make: homemade sausages, made from meat purchased locally, or home made cakes, made with locally sourced fruits. Such sacrifices don’t seem like much, but they cost us much more that the mentioned earlier steak from Tesco – more money, more time, more skills and effort. But in some cases, our effort might not be enough. Will Gods, who help us in, for example, getting new qualifications, necessary to get a new job, will They be satisfied with a ring or two of a homemade sausage? If those qualifications require a simple, one- or two-day course – most probably yes. But if we have to go to the uni for a year or more, and study highly specialised knowledge/skills, suddenly the sausage does not seem to be enough.
Besides there is another problem with the offerings of a sausage type. In modern times we are so, let’s call it spoiled, that we can afford to be picky with our food. Auto restrictive diet (like vegan, vegetarian, or so popular now gluten or lactose free) was not known to our ancestors (who considered themselves lucky if they had something to eat, and were not particularly bothered if this something was gluten-free or fair trade), but nowadays more and more of us start to self-restrict food intake, considering different types of food more or less “worthy” basing on ingredients, origin, taste or even preparation method. But the food sacrifice made to the Gods has to be consumed by the community. So, those who decide to offer homemade food to the Gods, have to make sure that there will be enough people gathered during a ritual, to consume the sacrifice.
Pre-Christian Christianization
But let’s go back to the value of the sacrifice and the question: how to decide if the value of the offering is high enough to catch the Gods attention? In the early medieval in Jaromarsburg (Cape Arkona) our ancestors gave one third of their raids’ loot to the temple of Svantevit. That was the “standard” value of an individual offering, given after an individual’s prayer were listened to and fulfilled by the Gods. So one can draw a conclusion that those of us who live off “looting” (aka stealing, coercion, fraud etc) others (which, is worth mentioning, Slavic Native Faith does not forbid), should give to the Gods one third of the profits of the fraudulent operation, or make an offering of a similar value.
But is that correct?
The temple in Arkona, although most certainly very well-known and impressive, was an exception among Slavic temples. Some scholars suggest that the construction of the temple was an reaction to the growing influence of the Christian religions in early medieval Europe, that it was an attempt to give the Slavic faith a material value, an image matching the one that the Christian religions had in those days. One could say then that the construction of the Arkona temple could be inspired by Judeo-Christian culture, could be considered as an early stage of Christianization of pre-Christian Slavs.
There isn’t much confusion among historians studying pre-Christian Slavic temples. It’s pretty much certain that most of those temples were not buildings, but open spaces, which could be enclosed with a fence or certain plants. The central element of those spaces was a tree, a rock or other natural structure, which was the object of the worship. The vast majority of pre-Christian Slavs did not have to support their temples (as those living in Jaromarsburg had to), because their temples did not require costly maintenance (they did not have walls or roofs), and there wasn’t many (or not at all) specialized priests, living exclusively off providing spiritual service. In a way one can say that the religious “infrastructure” amongst pre-Christian Slavs was similar to what we, modern Rodnovers have (or rather – don’t have) – a forest or a little clearing was quite sufficient for our ancestors, as it is for most of us.
Whether the Jaromarsburg temple was a result of early Christianisation, or a natural stage of the evolution of Slavic religion, does not really matter to us. In the XXI century the network of Slavic temples is not developed enough to allow majority of modern Rodnovers to go to a local temple for the purpose of worship. Of course, if somebody wishes and is willing to, he or she can consider a donation to a Rodnovery temple – whether already existing or under construction/planning – as a sacrifice made to the Slavic Gods. However I would strongly encourage anybody who wishes to donate, to firstly make sure that donation will actually go towards supporting the temple (particularly one which is under construction/planning), and not towards supporting the people who are involved in the fundraising. After all, let’s not forget that dishonesty is not forbidden by the religion of our ancestors.
Volkhv (Slavic priests) by Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov) - for our ancestors, like for us, the forest was a temple.
If not sausage, then what?
So, let’s go back to the original question: what sacrifices and of what value should we offer to our Gods in situation when a homemade sausage or a cake simply does not feel like enough, or when we are sure there won’t be enough people to help in consumption of our offerings.
So far in our considerations we came to a conclusion that Rodnovers should only ask their Gods for help in the most important problems, important enough to be worth Gods’ attention and a valuable sacrifice. We also concluded that the sacrifice made to the Slavic Gods should be:
- of an appropriate value;
- able to feed or benefit the community;
- used up completely during the sacrificial ritual.
What is not required of a Slavic sacrifice is making this sacrifice in exactly the same moment when the prayer for the intention, in which the sacrifice is made, is said. Sound a bit convoluted? Let me explain. The value of an ox in the medieval ages was not only a result of the oxen’s ability to pull a cart or a plough, but also a consequence of how difficult it was to obtain those animals. It was a similar story with all other sacrificial animals or foods. It took a long time and effort to grow and harvest grains, to make bread, brew beer or collect honey. The work, time and effort were put into a (future) sacrifice long before the sacrificial ritual. One can say the sacrifices made by our ancestors had a value, which was a result of work and effort put into preparing it. So, the sacrifices made by our ancestors were, in a way, symbols of the work, time, effort or skills offered to the Gods.
The value of a symbol
There is no doubt that our ancestors knew and understood the value of a symbol (not to be confused with a symbolic value). The best proof of that was the fact, that they wouldn’t rescue drowning people or put out fires caused by a lightning. For pre-Christian Slavs the loss of life or material goods/possessions was a sacrifice. A sacrifice requested by the Gods to maintain Their strength. Our ancestors believed that rescuing a drowning person caused weakening of the water, through denying the water the very thing it requested. In the same way they saw fires caused by a strike of a lightning – they believed that the losses caused by the fire were necessary to please the Gods and maintain Their powers.
Considering the above, there is no reason for us, the modern Rodnovers, to continue making “sacrifices” of symbolic value (like cheap, supermarket meat). Instead we should start sacrificing offerings which have a value of a symbol – the symbol of our effort, work and commitment to our Gods. Following our ancestors we can prepare the offering long before the sacrificial ritual and during the actual ritual, give the offerings to our Gods in a form of a symbol of the work, time, effort or even money spent for our sacrifice.
Let’s go back to the example of the unemployed Rodnover, whose situation we analysed in the previous post. Let’s assume, that our Rodnover concluded, that in order to find a job he/she has to gain new qualifications, which require attending a university. Our Rodnover seeks help for Veles, the Slavic God and keeper of the secret knowledge. While asking Veles for help he/she might of course promise an offering of homemade sausage, but the sausage does not seem valuable enough, considering the magnitude of help Veles is asked to provide. To increase his/her chances of succeeding, instead of the sausage, our Rodnover can promise Veles something of much higher value, something that is more likely to get the attention of the God, something that requires a real sacrifice – like for example his/her own blood.
While studying for a year or two our Rodnover can, every few months, visit a Blood Donation facility and donate his/her blood, keeping a little token as a symbol of this donation. After graduation and finding a new job those tokens can be used as an offering, sort of a thanksgiving given to Veles for His help, provided while studying for the new qualifications.
Donating blood to honour the Slavic Gods fulfils all the requirements of a pre-Christian Slavic sacrifice. Blood is priceless, has a value so high that its monetary value can’t even be defined. Donated blood is used for the benefit of the community, is saving lives and giving strength to the sick, so they can overcome their disease. And, after the blood is donated, it cannot benefit the person who donated it. Of course it’s not impossible that the blood donated by us will be transfused back to our bloodstream, but a situation like that is so extremely unlikely, that we can easily assume that the blood we donate, will not benefit us in any way in the future.
Being a blood donor is not the only way we can prepare a sacrifice for the Slavic Gods. We can also offer our life, our time, effort or our skills to perform acts, which in no way benefit us, but are of huge value and strengthen our communities. We can clean forests or rivers, we can volunteer and honour the Gods with our time and skills, we can create art or music and make our work available to the community for free. We can contribute to no-profit projects – from Wikipedia, through open licence software, to free font databases. We can organise various events to promote the culture of our ancestors. The possibilities are basically endless here, as long as we stick to the three rules of Slavic sacrifice (appropriate value, benefitting the community and no benefit to us). And it does not matter that the sacrifice is not made at the time of the ritual. Our ancestors did not make beer, mead or bread in the temples, during sacrificial rituals. During the rituals they only gave their offering to the Gods and shared the blessing with the community. I see no reason why we shouldn’t be doing it in the same way – prepare the offerings in advance and during the ritual sacrifice a symbol of our work and effort we put into the offering. Besides, in my opinion, everything is better than what most of us is offering to the Gods in modern times.
To summarise: the modern Rodnover willing to practice the religion of his/her ancestors (and not historical re-enactment) should:
- pray for things that he/she really needs and towards gaining he/she can actively contribute;
- be precise in his/her prayers and always direct his/her prayers only to a God/Goddess, capable of helping in fulfilling those prayers;
- make sacrifices, which have a real value, benefit the community, but do not benefit him/her.
Finally, with the pandemic spreading around our planet, I would like to address the issues of prayers, requests for prayers as well as other esoteric advice, which are becoming more and more popular among pagan communities, including, unfortunately, Rodnovers.
COVID-19 is a virus, not a bad spirit. Neither a red ribbon, nor fumes of burnt herbs are going to protect you from getting infected. Because COVID-19 is a virus and, as it was confirmed by scientist, it has developed in a natural way, it should be seen as a part of the natural ecosystem of the Earth. This means that praying to the Slavic Gods which are, after all, the Gods of the Earth, not of the people, is like asking a mother to kill her own child. The Slavic religion does not see people as superior to the rest of the Nature, and the Slavic Gods do not care about people more than they care about other elements of the ecosystem. Although from a perspective of the Slavic religion there is a point in praying for health (supported by real efforts to stay healthy), praying for protection from the disease makes as much sense, as praying for annihilation of mosquitos or ants. It makes zero sense.
Wanting to remain respectful towards our Slavic heritage, we should first and foremost remain sensible and follow common sense, which means following the recommendation of qualified and experienced physicians, and not advice given by shamans, witch doctors or other “alternative therapist”.
Slava!