Slavic Legends

The legends are built according to the principle that the text of the legend itself is interwoven with historical notes or someone’s retelling of a conversation.
Slavic mythology, especially that of the Eastern (Russian) Slavs, remained little studied until the 19th century. It was as if it didn’t exist. This is connected both with the Christianization of the Slavs, as a result of which myths were consigned to oblivion, and with the consequence of that process—the loss of original mythological texts. Modern times are marked by a surge of interest in folklore, ethnography, and mythology—not only Russian and pan-Slavic, but also proto-Slavic, which, having adapted in many ways to Christianity, continued to exist in a variety of forms of oral folk art.
Ancient pagan cult involved the deification of nature, and man’s first knowledge of it was at the same time his religion. That is why, in a certain sense, pagan mythology also includes beliefs, superstitious signs, ritual songs, folk tales, and legends. Slavic mythology is comprehensive: it covers all aspects of human existence—from belief in leshies and household spirits to an agricultural calendar, from ritual rites to identifying the pagan Perun with the Christian saint Elijah the Prophet. Therefore it continues to live—in images, in symbolism, in rituals, and in the very language.