Slavic creation myths
These myths, in their Christianized form, survived until the nineteenth and twentieth century in various parts of the Slavdom in chronicles or folklore.
In the Slavic mythology several creation myths are recorded: the first version is the so-called earth-diver myth, which intertwines two main motifs: the dualistic motif – the cooperation of God and the Devil (that is, the "good god" and the "bad god") is required to create the world, and the oceanic motif – the pre-existence water, where the seed of the Earth comes from; the second version speaks about the origin of the universe and the world from the Cosmic Egg and the World Tree; the third one about creation from a dismemberment of a primordial being.
Both creators started a dispute that ended up with God going to heaven and knocking down the devil, who also went there, by lightning into the abyss.In the Russian and Ukrainian variants, the devil retains some of the sand created under the tongue, and when the Earth begins to grow, the sand bursts out his mouth.
[1] The Moldavian variant also ends with the expansion of the Earth and the Transylvanian Romani extended the dualistic motif by punishing the devil by the bull and the Tree of Life, from which the people were formed.
Annoyed by this fact, the Devil awakens God and tells him that it is time to bless the Earth, since it has grown so big.
God suits him: "Once you carried me four ways to the water to throw me into it, you drew a cross with me, and this is how I blessed the earth myself."
[4] Seemingly, the consecration of the earth seems to be a Christian motif, but this motif is used in myths to set directions and exists in other mythologies: according to the Maidu, the Earth Maker descended into the cosmic center of the world and there he met a Coyote (a trickster figure), who after the creation of the world went to sleep.
In Ruthenian chronicles, he is presented as gray-haired, which would distinguish him from the Celtic Taranis, Germanic Thor or Hindu Indra as war gods, and made him resemble Roman Jupiter and Greek Zeus as rulers.
This myth could also be perpetuated under the influence of the Persian antithetical couple Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, who left their mark in various syncretic religions.
[1] Bogomil's influence was also suggested: the followers of this religion claimed that the main drama of creation was the conflict between two brothers: the older Satanael (the suffix -el adds the divine element to Devil) and the younger Jesus (Savaof – the Word = Logos-Christ) – Satanael created the world and man, and God sent him the Word in the form of Jesus to save them.
The relationship of this prayer with the World Egg is indicated by the "fine sand" from which the "black earth" and the "blue stones" from which the heaven and the celestial objects are made.
[9] Also, the triple of egg-kingdoms is not accidental – it corresponds to the tripartite division of the world in Indo-European mythologies into Heaven (Vyraj), Earth and the Underworld (Nav).
[9][10] In Dobrzyń Land, it was directly believed that the world was created from an egg lying on a giant tree[5] and the story of the princess from the egg, which the prince was to marry, was preserved: she was tricked by a witch into a duck that was killed, whose blood then grew into an apple tree.
Rivers filled the landscape with water, and soon everything was green and the earth gave flowers and fruit.There were also riddles in Poland that pointed to the egg: "There is a world.
Polish scholar Stanislaw Schayer recalled the text from the Dove Book, which was a collection of oral stories of the clergy, the following story: a great book fell from heaven, in which the history of being was written; kings ask tsar David to read it, but the book is too big, but David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, will answer three questions; the first one concerns the creation of the world:[1] In four variants, the last three lines replace the text:[1] This myth is most likely not a Christian influence, but Slavic phraseology has been Christianized, probably under the influence of the apocryphal Book of Enoch, in which the same was done with the Iranian myth, which in turn could have been the source of the Russian myth.
A similar motif is present in other Indo-European myths: in Hindu mythology a society was formed from the body of Purusha – the first man: Brahmins from the mouth, warriors from the shoulders, peasants from the hips, shudras from the feet; in Scandinavia this being was Ymir and in Iran Gayōmart.
