Information AboutPerun |
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In and the god of Thunder and Lightning . His other attributes were the Mountain , Oak , Eagle , Firmament (in Indo-European Languages this was joined with the notion of the ''sky of stone''), Horse s and Cart s, Weapon s (the Hammer , Axe and Arrow ), War , and Fire . He was first associated with weapons made of Stone and later with those of Metal . .]] SOURCES Of all historic records describing Slavic gods, those mentioning Perun are the most numerous. As early as 6th Century ,he was mentioned in De Bellum Gothicum , a historical source written by Byzantine historian Procopius . A short note describing beliefs of a certain South Slavic tribe states they ''acknowledge that one god, creator of lightning, is the only lord of all: to him do they sacrifice an ox and all sacrifical animals.'' While the name of the god is not mentioned here explicitly, the fact that word ''Perun'' in a number of Slavic languages today simply means "thunder" or "lightning bolt" is proof enough this was a reference of him. The first source that definitely mentions a god named Perun is Rus' Primary Chronicle , a history of early Kievan Rus . Together with a god named Volos he is sworn upon in peace agreements between Slavic overlords and Byzantine emperors. Here he is mentioned as a god of war and nobility, who punishes oathbreakers by death in battle. In 980 , when prince Vladimir The Great came to throne of Kiev , he erected statues of six or seven pagan gods in front of his palace, and Perun was chief among these, represented with a silver head and a golden moustache. Vladimir's uncle Dobrinja also had a shrine of Perun established in his city of Novgorod . After Christianization of Kievan Rus , this place would become a monastery, which, quite remarkably, would still bear the name of Perun. Perun is not mentioned directly in any of the records of Western Slavic paganism, but a reference to him is perhaps made in a short note in Helmod 's Chronica Slavorum , written in latter half of the 12th Century , which states (quite similary to Procopius some six centuries earlier) that Slavic tribes, even though they worship many various gods, all agree there is a supreme god in heaven which rules over all other on earth. This could be a reference to Perun, but since his name or any of his attributes (thunder or lightning) are not mentioned, we cannot be certain. That he was known among all branches of Slavs is evidenced by a vast number of , Percunust, Prohn, Pronstorf in East Germany , which originates from West Slavic Sorbian and Palbian form Peron. These names today mostly represent mountain tops, but in medieval times, large oaks, sacred groves and even entire villages or citadels were named Perun. Also, as mentioned already, in Ukrainian ''perun'' and in Polish ''piorun'' means "thunderbolt". Among South Slavs, a mountain plant '' Iris Germanica '' is known in folklore as ''perunika'' ("perun's plant") and sometimes also as ''bogisha'', ("god's plant"), and was believed to grow from ground struck by lightning. ETYMOLOGY See Also: Perkwunos
MYTH In Slavic mythology, the world was represented by a and Devil following Christianization. WEAPONS In the Classification scheme of Georges Dumézil , Perun was the god of the second function (physical and military power), god of war, and as such, he was armed with several fantastic weapons. Perun's lightning bolts were believed to be Stone s and stone Arrow s. According to folk beliefs, Fulgurite s and Belemnite s and sometimes even remains of prehistoric stone Tool s found in the ground are remains of these weapons. Various Slavic countries also call these deposits "Perun's stones", "thunderbolt stones", "thunderbolt wedges" and "Perun's arrow"; other unrelated names for these include "devil's finger", "God's finger", and "Mother of God finger", and in Lithuania , " Berkun 's finger". These thunderbolt stones were sometimes said to be transferred back to the sky by the Wind after being under earth for a period of seven years. The weapons of Perun protected against bad Luck , evil Magic , Disease , and - naturally enough - lightning itself. Perun also had another type of weapon in his arsenal, as destructive as his firestone arrows, but even more unusual: mythical golden apples. While this may not seem as much of a weapon, in many Slavic folk accounts, golden apple appears as an artifact of ultimate destruction. An example from a Croatian folk song with strong mythical elements: ''... Te izvadi tri jabuke zlatne'' ''I baci ih nebu u visine...'' ''...Tri munje od neba pukose'' ''Jedna gadja dva djevera mlada,'' ''Druga gadja pashu na dorinu,'' ''Treca gadja svata sest stotina,'' ''Ne utece oka za svjedoka,'' ''Ni da kaze, kako pogibose.'' "...Then he took out three apples of gold And threw them high into the sky... ...Three lightning bolts burst from the sky, One strikes at two young brothers-in-law, Other strikes at pasha on a horse, Third strikes six hundreds wedding guests, Not an eye for a witness fled Not even to say, how they ended dead." It is conjectured that mythical golden apples of Perun were symbols of a rare but notorious form of atmospheric discharge, Ball Lightning . The same is probably true for thunder marks of East Slavic folklore, shown above. CHARACTERISTICS Similarly to Perkunas of Baltic Mythology , Perun was also considered to have multiple aspects. In one Baltic song, it is said there are in fact nine Perkunas. Remains of ancient Perun shrine discovered beneath medival Peryn Skete in Novgorod consisted of a wide circular platform centred around a statue, encircled by a trench with eight apses, which contained sacrificial altars and possibly additional statues. The overall plan of the shrine shows clear symbolism of number nine. This is sometimes interpreted that Perun, in fact, had nine sons (or eight sons, with himself, the father, being the ninth Perun). It should also be noted that in some Slavic folk songs, unnamed nine brothers are mentioned. From comparison to Baltic mythology, and also from additional sources in Slavic folklore, it can alo be shown that Perun was married to the Sun. He, however, shared his wife with his enemy Veles, as each night the Sun was seen as diving behind the horizon and into the underworld, realm of the dead over which Veles ruled. This was probably the main reason of enemity of two gods. Like many other Indo-European thunder-gods, Perun's vegetative Hypostasis was the Oak , especially a particularly distinctive or prominent one. In Southern Slavic traditions, marked oaks stood on Country Border s; communities at these positions were visited during village Holiday s in the late Spring and during the Summer . Shrines of Perun were located either on top of mountains or hills, or in sacred groves underneath ancient oaks. These were a general place of worship and holding of sacrifices (with a Bull , an Ox , a Ram , and Egg s). It seems humans were also sacrificed to Perun. According to Primary Chronicle , prisoners of war were sacrificed to him, probably one each year, during the nine days of his holy festival, which were held in mid-summer. POST-CHRISTIAN PERUN With the arrival of Christianity, various churches had a difficult time trying to overcome the worship of old supreme deities of the Slavs. In the East, Orthodox Church gradualy managed to pass much of Perun's characteristics to a new Christian saint, Elias The Thunderer , based upon the Old Testament prophet Elijah , whom the Scriptures state was carried of in heaven in a flaming chariot; this seemed a good enough aproximation of the old thunder god with his fiery bolts. In the west, Catholic Church offered St. Michael the Archangel, who, as a commander of heavenly armies and vanquisher of the Devil , was also a fitting replacement for Perun. It is also possible that on a local level Perun was replaced with St. Vitus , if this was not, due to similarities in names, a replacement of another important Slavic god, Svantevit ; however, it is also possible that already in pagan times, the worship of Perun was challenged by growing cult of Svantevit. On a level of folklore and popular Christianity, some of Perun's characteristic were passed onto Christian God . SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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