A – Alkonost

The alkonost is a creature half-woman and half-bird. It is beautiful and has a voice that makes the listener forget everything they hear. Usually they are portrayed in art with the sirin, another woman-bird hybrid. They live in the underworld. The part that I always find most fascinating is that when the eggs are about to hatch, the alkonost rolls the eggs into the ocean. When they actually hatch, thunderstorms herald the event. The sea is unable to be traveled during this time.

I’m always fascinated with the sea and thunderstorms, they’re of particular interest to me. I enjoy thunderstorms. They make me feel alive. I think it has something to do with the upheaval that they cause. It’s something to it that I’ve always enjoyed. They have the same kind of delight to me that wind storms hold. It’s all a lot of upheaval and change, renewal and something rather new.

But alkonost themselves, they’re unique. I find them rather unbelievable in that they have the connection to the sea and the thunderstorms.

Christmas Gifts

I just finished my final Christmas of the year (my family has minimum 3 a year, due to all the divorces). Usually Christmas takes minimum 2 weeks, sometimes a month to get through. It’s always at least 2.5 weeks of Christmas meetings between various groups within my family though. I only had 2 Christmas’ this year, which is shocking, because I’ve always had minimum 3 since I was 11 years old. So it’s a bit bizarre to have so few to deal with, and then, just 4 days between the two events. So it’s an unusually quick Christmas season for me. I’m not used to this at all, honestly. It’s bizarre to be done with Christmas before Christmas Day in my family, if I’m completely telling the truth.

I got 6 books on Russian and Slavic mythology and paganism. I got Ivanits text, another text by another author titled Land of the Firebird,  and other texts that I’m not sure of the titles because I don’t have them in front of me at the moment. One is a book of folk tales with illustrations, like a children’s book of sorts that my mom bought for me at a Russian store-stand at a Christmas Market in the Tacoma/Seattle area. The women there are probably quite glad with my family’s patronage, because my grandma and mom buy me a fortune’s worth of goods from this shop. But the folk tales are very amazing too, I love the illustrations. And the mythology books are very interesting from the scans I’ve done so far, I’m excited to read more of them all this January.

I’ve gotten an English translation of the Russian Primary Chronicle that I can’t wait to read either, because I’m very excited to get into that. I’ve been looking for a good translation of it, and I just haven’t had the money to buy one. The version I have right now that I just got is from the 1950′s, and a very good version I’m sure. In any case, it’s excellent social/cultural knowledge for the time period. I love historical knowledge that I can glean, so the Chronicle is a very good gift for me as well.

I adore new books, and getting so many in 1 year Christmas is the perfect thing for me. So now I have quite a few new books to get into over the next few months to read from and dig into for information. It’s actually inspiring to have new books to read again. I always feel a bit stagnated without books around to read.

Christmas usually is awful for me, what with how long it takes, and how much drama there is within my family. However, this year it’s seeming to be okay so far. I’m hoping this continues tomorrow. Because this influx of wonderful books is an excellent sign of what I’m getting in terms of familial relations at the moment. I’m hoping it keeps up the good mood through the rest of my visit to this side of the state.

 

2 Chapters In

“The Bathhouse at Midnight” by W. F. Ryan – here.

I love this book so far. It’s got all the historical facts, the research…everything a history geek like myself would love. And it’s fascinating to read as well. I’ve only read 2.5 chapters (I’m halfway through Chapter 3 at the moment), and it’s excellent. I’ll have to write more concise reviews on the book when I’ve finished reading it.

However, in the meantime, do accept my “fangirling” over this book.

It’s detailed, the sources are well cited. It’s got dozens of references contemporary to the times as well as modern scholarship (modern to writing of the book, which this version was published in 1999). Not to mention, it tells you which Chronicles to read, if you want to read the primary sources. And the citations are wonderful.

I’m reading on the different types of magicians (Chapter 3), at the moment, and it’s fascinating. Not to mention, the use of the Russian words, and explaining the nuances of their meanings and the difficulties in explaining Russian divination and magic in English is fascinating. Also, the comparisons of how the Russian translators translated the texts from other peoples to put them into Russian centuries ago is fascinating. And there is discussion on how the words fitting context of the “learned” or “unlearned” Russians of the time.

All in all, I’m already in love with this book. I’m going to write an actual review when I’ve finished the book. My markings and notations are already quite numerous. This is a book though that I’m going to keep on the shelf.

And Quick Fixes

Following annoyance with my last post.

I went on a JSTOR raid and found numerous things to read. Not that I think they’ll all be perfect, oh no. And I expect some inaccuracies. Less disappointment if I’m expecting them. However, lots of very interesting stuff to read about. Things from symbolism to folklore, Christianization of early Slavs in Russia to studying the hysteria in the early modern period of the witch hunts and the question of whether Russia was affected the same as the rest of Europe. Even an article on Caucasus-region practices that I think (from article synopsis) date from the 18th Century. So not all exactly on topic…but still useful and fascinating to read. And, a few on the different pagan beliefs, and the Church in different times, which should at least give a hint as to what the Church was trying to suppress in any given time.

All in all – JSTOR-raid = my friend. It at least gives me some things to look into in general. And, quite interesting article names too. I’ll write more on my learning of various Slavic paganism-related articles when I have some more time. I’m in a far better mood now.

Always Learning

So a huge thing for me is research. I enjoy reading a lot more than actually doing. Perhaps that’s a flaw. I’m told it’s definitely a flaw at times, since I do spend a lot of time in digging for old resources. It does do me quite a bit of good as a history major however, so I suppose there’s at least some good in my predilection for researching things. Not to mention, lots of times you need to research for the mythologies and folklore. Because a lot of stuff in the “New Age” section of bookstores is sometimes a bit iffy. And, I like academic articles with sources listed.

So being a college kid is great. I have access to JSTOR, ProQuest, EBSCO, etc, and while I’m in Germany, access to several German databases as well. I’m taking advantage of this to get articles on spiritual things, mythologies, folklore, traditions…all with wonderful sources listed. Yes, academic research isn’t the end-all-be-all of this, but it helps. And I’ll admit I’m a bit of a sucker for it. I like having sources. And for mythologies, the studies are very helpful. Not to mention, if I’m uncertain of something, I can see what other people have to say about it. Example, if I want to know about medieval religious practices, I can search for those kinds of things in the databases.

In the last 2 weeks I’ve found 3 or 4 articles on medieval views of magic and witchcraft, by looking up information on my paper on the University of Cologne in the Middle Ages. So by accident I’ve found these. Deliberate searches would lead to more information. And, it’s interesting to see what the analysis on medieval beliefs of religion and spirituality are. So that’s just one little path I’m going to work on going down once I’ve finished the bulk of my homework for my program classes this week. After all, not too many people write well-sourced books on medieval views of magic and witchcraft. At least, I’ve yet to find some good books in the “New Age” section of my local bookstores. And libraries are probably bad too, for the most part. They stock what people will check out. Most people don’t really look for the kinds of things I like to read.

The other thing I’m excited about doing is researching Slavic mythology and folklore. I’ve yet to find books about it in bookstores, and even broad overviews of mythology almost never have anything. So that’s a brick wall. However, JSTOR and my other databases look promising. I might not find a lot, but I have found a few articles that look to be possibly helpful. And from there I can then check out the sources used, to get more information. So my college article database access is going to be excellent. I always like new information.

Then I’m also thinking, once I’m back at home and a bit settled after readjusting to time abroad, I should work on my whole form of practice. I probably research too much. I do a lot of reading, which isn’t necessarily bad, but I do so much that I tend to neglect actual physical practice. I need to find a bit more of a balance so that I’m not working on one to the total exclusion of the other. I suspect I’ll always be a more research, book-bound pagan than a “go out and practice” kind of type. But I can at least work on finding a better balance than the one I have right now. After all, there’s only so much book learning can actually do for one before some action must be taken.

Gamayun

Gamayun: The Prophet Bird. Victor Vasnetsov.

So that’s the Gamayun. It’s a creature, a bird actually, from Russian folklore. It’s prophetic, symbolizes wisdom and knowledge. Now, for a history major, wisdom and knowledge are goals. As a very interested person of Russian descent, this is a fascinating creature. I have “Gamayun” as my name because wisdom and knowledge are two things I strive for. Being prophetic, well that’s a bonus. – I kid there. I’m not so sure outright prophecy is something I’d like. In any case, I like the name, I like what it symbolizes and I like the artwork.

Of course, I’m not certain as to what role (if any) they play in mythology, I’m guessing not much since I can’t find a lot of mentions of the Gamayun before the 19th Century, and Slavic mythology was pretty well submersed within Orthodoxy centuries earlier. But even folklore is worth learning, and this creature is a fun one. More interesting than a harpy, at least to me. It’s a bird with a woman’s head most usually. Two other folklore bird-women are the Sirin and Alkonost. Both of them are quite interesting as well. I’ll have to do a post on them later, because they’re fascinating as well.

Firebird

The firebird or zhar-ptitsa is from Russian (Slavic) mythology. I first learned about the real creature itself from listening to Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite. The best known of the firebird stories, at least to English-speakers is “Tsarevitch Ivan, the Firebird and the Grey Wolf”. Another interesting one is “The Firebird, The Horse of Power and the Princess Vasilisa”.

Prince Ivan and the Firebird

In the folklore the firebird is a large bird with glowing plumage of red, orange, yellow. When plucked, the feathers don’t stop glowing, and one is enough to light up a room if not covered up. Usually the quest for catching the firebird starts when the firebird comes at night and eats golden apples from the Tsar’s garden. So he sets his two eldest sons to catching the bird, but they both fall asleep. The youngest son, Ivan, manages to stay awake and almost catches the bird, retaining just a feather. From there, he goes out to retrieve the firebird.

This bird came to mind for me though because it’s a bit of a conundrum. To possess the firebird is good, considering the beauty of it, and the glowing plumage. But it also leads to quite a lot of misfortune, i.e. Ivan’s travails in retrieving the bird, or how his brothers end up after stealing the bird from him. A bit of a confusing way to look at things, but it makes sense also. After all, magic birds as a quest aren’t too surprising. Also, it eventually ends up that the hardships and troubles suffered by the seeker are far outweighed by the good things that happen. Or at least, that’s how the Tsarevitch Ivan story goes. In any case, the firebird does make for interesting story-telling. It causes problems but is a great reward.

Phoenix

The firebird is similar to the phoenix. Phoenixes are scarlet and gold in plumage, with a 1000 year life cycle, before it burns to ash, to be reborn. They looked a bit like peacocks, or were seen that way by the Greeks, though I believe also occasionally they were seen as eagle-formed. It’s a symbol of renewal and immortality. So it seems that the firebird acquired a far different set of meanings than the phoenix.

Now, how this relates to me personally. My family comes from Russia, so this fascinates me. The sheer fact that I’ve rarely found anything at all about Slavic mythology, folklore or beliefs in libraries or bookstores is another reason I’ve always been interested. Sadly that means I’ve had to rely on internet resources alone for stories about the firebird, but cross-referencing is at least a way to partially ensure that the information is correct.

Just a little bit of information on a fascinating creature.

Sources:

“Storming the Castles” – idea for post

SurLaLune Fairy Tales – “Tsarevitch Ivan, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf”

Firebird (Slavic folklore) – checked for spelling of zhar-ptitsa