Marzanna
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Marzanna, Mara, Murava, Morana, Moréna or Morena is a Slavic goddess. Her exact function is unclear. She is most often believed to be a Goddess of harvest and witchcraft. In some medieval Christian sources such as the Mater Verborum she is compared to Hecate. Her relationship to Mara, Goddess of death, is unclear; some sources equate the two. In late medieval Czech sources she becomes a Goddess of winter as well as death. Her name is based on the Slavic root mor, used in words such as "confusion", "peril", "nightmare", "death" and "plague".
Marzanna's rites are believed to survive into Christian times as Maslenitsa, a six- or seven-day feast celebrated in early March. During the first five or six days of Maslenitsa, flat blini are served that are believed to symbolize the Sun. On the last day, straw effigies are made, symbolizing the winter, and burned and sometimes drowned.
The Burning of Morena is a traditional folk festivals still surviving in Slovakia and Czech Republic. The Drowning of Marzanna is a traditional folk fest in Poland, besides in some parts of Poland is quite popular Burning of Marzanna, it depends on choice. The two festivals are to symbolically welcome the spring and bury the winter. The ritual involves burning of a straw mannequin representing Morena. Although nowadays it has no more religious meaning there are apparent Slavic roots of this fest, which makes the tradition attractive. Children in Polish Kindergartens and in incipient years of Primary school are always preparing Marzanna.
Using logic one can deduce that Marzanna is the sun and that Jarylo is the moon. It's pretty simple, they're married in Slavic mythology, hence have a relationship. Marzanna is a feminine name, the sun is referred in the female form in Slavic. Jarylo is a male name, the moon is referred in the male form in Slavic. Besides this, Marzanna becomes a hag when winter hits, she slowly dies off. In winter, the sun's rays are not so strong. The drowning/burning of Marzanna is a representation of the sun's rebirth, how it comes back, it's rays stronger, melting snow and bringing in spring, life.
[edit] Sources
- Marjorie Yovino-Young. Pagan Ritual and Myth in Russian Magic Tales: A Study of Patterns. Edwin Mellen Press, 1993
- D.A. Gavrilov, A.E. Nagovitzhyn. Slavic Gods. Paganism. Tradition (Боги славян. Язычество. Традиция.) Moscow, 2002
- Skvortzov, Konstantin. Mater Verborum, XIIIth century Czech manuscript, with comments. Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, 1853.
[edit] See also
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