Love rituals and customs of the Slavs – reflections after reading

liberte.pl 10 months ago

Instead of uncritically replicating certain behaviors, it is worth enriching ourselves with another perspectives, giving them their own judgement first. This may save us from ridicule and confusion, as an example may be flooding the social media with images of the last supper in consequence to the presentation of Dionysian at the beginning of the 2024 summertime Olympics.

One cannot aid but announcement that the interest in Slavic culture and customs is growing. More and more material can be found in social media that translates the sources of many current customs, the names of Slavic gods becoming increasingly recognizable. Slavic Beast explains the phenomena of whiny children and unfaithful partners, and shelves in bookstores fill with beletrysticism with an action in which man is the play of Weles, Perun or Światowid. On the can of this interest there are besides book items aimed at systematizing the remains of knowledge, conjecturing and comparing many works to bring out from them something that brings the authors and their readers closer to this distant (but, as it were, our) past.

One specified proposal is the book by Cornelia Kwajzer Love rituals and Slavic customs. What's in there? Of course, as you can expect, there is simply quite a few information about sex and sexuality as such. But it is shown not as taboo, something to be ashamed and controlled. Sexuality is shown as part of life—natural and well, a literal origin of life. A reader will besides find many descriptions of Slavic customs. However, this inscription is far from technological language and dictionary style. This is more like the description of the participating observation. The book contains many footnotes that mention curious persons to further sources. The author takes the reader(s) to a village where she shows the everyday life of the inhabitants. It is adapted to seasons and days, after all there were no present calendars and facilities.

The community was highly crucial to the Slavs. Of course, the primary group was the family, but with almost equal care the inhabitants of the settlement were approached. improvement crises (birth, puberty, marriage, death) were mitigated by rites of passage. For example, the boys were going through a post-sacrifice ceremony at the age of about seven, the girls had mites at the time of their first menstruation. Both holidays had their rituals, prayers, and traditions covering, among another things, spending time with people (family and non-family) who had already had that minute behind them. As a result, young men and women knew how their bodies were changing and how it would affect their lives. Women giving birth, young spouses, and families burying the dead received akin support. This made everyone feel like an crucial associate of the community where they belong.

Of course, it would be hard to talk about Slavs in isolation from their spirituality and religion. The model is no different from another mythology. It's a way to explain the world. Success is considered God's blessing, misfortune – the expression of God's wrath or indulgence. In honor of the gods, many holidays are celebrated. To this day, any traditions have survived, specified as water pouring in the Jare Gody (smigus-dyngus on Easter) or leaving food and coverings for ancestral spirits or hikers where their soul may have been incarnated, in the Gentry Gody (today's celebrated empty space at the Christmas table).

Yes, the Slavs believed in reincarnation. The soul of the ancestor may have been reborn in the infant, but erstwhile individual was wicked or died under suspicious circumstances or failed to guarantee appropriate burial, his destiny would be poor. alternatively of being reborn or visiting his loved ones during his grandfathers, he could have become a drowning, a ompire or with 2 souls a strigoi (this list is not closed, but there is no request to uncover all the flavors of the book here). due to these convictions, there were sometimes gruesome scenes when, at the incorrect death, the unfortunate man got out of the coffin (and they were not like today) and dirty, exhausted to the village. After all, the phantom could not be allowed to endanger humans.

As far as medicine is concerned, herbal medicine and rituals were utilized mainly. The book contains descriptions of many plants that can inactive be found in Polish homes – freshly harvested, in the form of spices or... in tablets as supplements. Slavs as fewer as knew that the content of 1 inconspicuous Polish meadow or forest can be helped or harmed or even killed.

Is it worth reading? Well, it's surely not a position where life won't be the same and without which it won't be happy and full. However, it is simply a look at our backyard from a completely different perspective, full of charm, amazingly acquainted elements and any kind of magic. It is besides worthwhile to enrich ourselves with another perspectives, so that, alternatively of uncritically replicating certain behaviors, they can be judged first. This may save us from ridicule and confusion, as an example may be flooding the social media with images of the last supper in consequence to the presentation of Dionysian at the beginning of the 2024 summertime Olympics. Sometimes it takes 1 minute to hesitate to turn fear of strangers into enriching knowledge. The book of Cornelia Kwajzer will supply many moments like this.