Devana

Polish: dziwizna,[1] Czech and Slovak: divizna, Serbo-Croatian: дивѝзма, divìzma), with secondary form as *divina (cf.

[3][4] This etymology can be supported by fact, that Diana (and Artemis – her greek equivalent) is usually depicted in myths as a virgin and has never had any offspring or a consort.

[5] Slavic folklore includes demons with a similar name, e.g. Polish and Czech dziwożona, Russian div, Bulgarian and Croatian samodiva ("rusalka, boginka, the magical creature"), etc.

[10] However, Mater Verborum was discovered in the 19th century by Václav Hanka, who was proved to have falsified texts on Czech history, making this source unreliable.

In the Polish Chronicle a similar custom is described by Marcin Bielski: It was still in my memory that on White Sunday they drowned an idol, one, having dressed a sheaf of hemp or straw in human clothing, which was shown around the whole village, at the nearest lake or puddle, after removing his clothes, they threw it into the water, singing mournfully: Death twists at the fence, let us seek trouble; then they would run home from that place as soon as possible, whoever fell then had this prophecy that he would die that year.

The only potential, non-Western Slavic source is Sermon by Saint Gregory, which lists the figure of Diva alongside other gods such as Mokosh and Perun.

According to local legends, before the monastery was built there, on Łysa Góra in pre-Christian times stood a gord (Wielkopolska Chronicle) or a castle (Długosz).

[20][21] Later on, Devana is mentioned by the Scottish folklorist James G. Frazer in his The Golden Bough, who describes a Silesian custom where the figure of Death (Marzanna) is melted or destroyed.

Then, the young people go to the forest, cut down a small fir, strip away the bark and then decorate it with festoons, paper roses, pisanki, etc.

[22] A similar practice is described by Marcin Kromer in De origine et rebus gestis Polonorum libri XXX.

[23] In Podlasie region, the Princess, a beautiful girl dressed in colorful robes, flowers and red beads was shown around, which may be related to the Silesian custom.

After rejecting the hypercritical approach to "pantheon of Długosz" many researchers, such as Aleksander Gieysztor, Andrzej Szyjewski, Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov,[4] have been inclined to acknowledge the authenticity of at least some "Polish gods", including Devana.

In Greek mythology, Artemis' helpers are nymphs, whose closest Slavic equivalents are boginki, which are found in Western Slavs, mainly in Poland.

[27] In the Ruthenian legends, the number of vilas (similar to boginki) which are sisters, is 27 ("three times nine") or, in another version, 30, and this may be related to the ecliptic division into 27 zodiacs (eg Nakshatra in Hinduism) and lunation.

[24] According to Kolankiewicz, double goddess may be indicated by alleged connection of Devana with Proto-Slavic *diva ("female spirit, boginka") and Iranian deva ("demon").

The iconography depicts her with the wolf (or wolves) she protected from death from the peasants, and whom she made her servant, with a basket or a nest of larks at her feet, whose squeal was to herald the imminent coming of spring.