Deities and fairies of fate in Slavic mythology

Rozhanitsy, narecnitsy, and sudzhenitsy are invisible spirits or deities of fate in the pre-Christian religion of the Slavs.

[2] Among the Eastern Slavs, the personification of good fortune was also known as Dolya, whose name means "division", "participation", and bad luck as Nedolya.

[13] In The Catalogue Of Rudolph's Magic, written by Edward Karvot, who wrote the information collected by Brother Rudolf about the customs of pagan Western Slavs, we read that the Slavs "make sacrifices to their three sisters, which the pagans call Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos to lend them wealth."

[13] The 11th-century Word of St. Gregory the Theologian about how pagans bowed to idols is the first source mentioning rozhanitsy:[15] The Russian Word of a certain Christ-lover:[16] The cult of rozhanitsy was still popular in 16th-century Rus', as evidenced by penance given during confession by Orthodox priests described in the penitentiaries of Saint Sabbas of Storozhi:[17] Izmail Sreznevsky collected the following sources in his Materials for the Old Russian dictionary:[12] Narecnitsy often appear in various South Slavic legends and epics.

They were said to be tall and transparent, their cheeks pale, their eyes apt to sparkle and charm people and their hair decorated with precious stones.

[25] According to Procopius, Slavs did not believe in destiny:[26] For they believe that one god, the maker of lightning, is alone lord of all things, and they sacrifice to him cattle and all other victims; but as for fate, they neither know it nor do they in any wise admit that it has any power among men, but whenever death stands close before them, either stricken with sickness or beginning a war, they make a promise that, if they escape, they will straightway make a sacrifice to the god in return for their life; and if they escape, they sacrifice just what they have promised, and consider that their safety has been bought with this same sacrifice.According to sources, a trapezoidal table with bread, honey, cheese and groat (kutia) was prepared in honor of the rozhanitsy,[27][24] sometimes the meal was left in the shrines.

[10][24] Slovenes and Croats used to put candles, wine, bread and salt in the room where the woman lies the day after delivery.

[2] One of Rod and the rozhanitsy's holidays was said to be December 26, which after Christianization was replaced by the Orthodox Church with the Feast of the Mother of God.

[10] In many European religions, there are three female figures foretelling the child's future, which indicates the Indo-European origin of the rozhanitsy: Old Russian sources also mention Rozhanitsa as a single person, usually in the pair of Rod and Rodzanica.

[24] An example of such a source is the 12th-century chronicle Gesta regum Anglorum, which describes the cult of Svetovid among the Slavs of the Elbe, comparing him to the Roman Fortuna and Greek Týchē.