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of cult topography. Radogość was surrounded by a sacred grove, in Szczecin an oak and a nut-tree were worshiped. Wolin had a pole symbolizing the axis of the world and idols standing under the open sky in the centre of the town. Radogość lay on the shore of an oracular lakę. The name of the river Dziwna (probably derived from the root div = sacred, strange, cf. Gieysztor, 1982, p. 34) flowing through Wolin, and the legend about its colourful currents, allow to assume that water had some sacred function.

Effigies of gods are inseparable elements of tempie interiors. Ali the temples which are described in sources in some detail contained a statuę or statues, in the case of RadogoSć texts inform even about a hierarchy of idols. Along with monumental sculptures smali figurines are mentioned, some madę of valuable metals. The divine presence was also expressed by symbols, insignia, swords, shields, spears, banners, saddles, drinking horns and valuable vessels, stored in temples. Aurochs and horse skulls found during excavations might have hung on the walls or over the entrances, like in Saxo Grammaticus’s description of Arcona. Similar artifacts, including statues, might have been kept in cult halls, but they must have contained also benches for the participants of feasts, mentioned by Herbord in connec-tion with the shrines in Szczecin. During excavations in Lubomia some clay benches were found.

Temples differ from other Slavonic sanctuaries because they were strongly connected with main settlement centres. Ali roofed shrines of established location were situated in towns, strongholds and larger settlements or very close to them, forming their integral parts. The same does not apply to cult circles, sacred groves, waters and mountains. Sanctuaries of the latter type were also connected with important centres, but these relations are looser. For instance: the circles in Perynia are situated 4 km from Novgorod, the Prove grove grew near Starigard but according to Helmold, the inhabitants did not notice that its fence was on flre, Glomać was 7 km from Gana the Capital of the Dalemincs. The Kiev Perun with surrounding idols, on the other hand, stood in the close proximity of “Kiy’s stronghold,” while the pole and idols in Wolin occupied the very centre of the town. In both cases it is evident that the statues were located under the open sky. In the case of Triglav from Brandenburg, the idols described in Knytlingasaga, and the statuę from Rostock it is not certain whether they stood in temples or outside.

Among open-air sanctuaries we have distinguished man-made sacred circles and cult yards, as opposed to natural objects adopted to religious purposes, which was usually marked by enclosing them. Almost all cult circles are situated near water. It has been noted above that water occurs to the north-east of temples. The most important open-air sanctuaries, Kiev and Perynia, follow the same principle which, however, is not operative in case of many other shrines. The two sanctuaries connected with burial grounds, Khodosovicbe and Khnyloplat, are surrounded by water from the west. Cult yards and drcles were located on hills and cliffs morę often than temples.

Written sources do not mention fires in temples or open-air sanctuaries, which is surprising in view of the strongly stressed cult of fire practiced by the Balts, the closest neighbours of the Slavs. Remains of fire-places in cult buildings were discovered only in Feldberg, the first tempie in Wolin and the hall in Starigard, whereas in most open-air shrines excavations revealed traces of fires arranged in various ways. The fires lit in Trzebiatów, Perynia and Pskov in ditches, and in Khodosoviche in C-shaped hollows, seem to form magie circles, guarding the sanctity of the enclosed space. The fire--places from Khodosoviche have interesting Indian analogues. According to Vedas, C-shaped fireplaces in Daksinagni were supposed to guard sacrificial places from demons, but they were situated only at the Southern side (Gonda, 1978, p. 138).

Altars, which are never mentioned in connection with temples, may have existed in open-air sanctuaries. The “zhertvennik” from Kiev, the square stone from Gniloy Kut and the heap of stones from stronghold in Gross Raden might have functioned as altars, although the ritual of bringing oblations to an altar was described only in connection with Starigard/Oldenburg.

There are three sanctuaries in which morę than one cult circle was found: Khodosoviche and Trzebiatów had two, Perynia probably also two, as the alleged third circle should be considered only hypothetical. In some cases it is possible to notice the orientation of the fire-places, symmetrically arranged around the centre of the circle, towards the geographical directions. In Perynia even the intermediate directions were marked. The poles in Breclav-Pohansko were orientated in the same way. Other objects orientated towards the four main directions were the fire-places around the circle in Khodosoviche and stone projections of the “zhertvennik” in Kiev. The suggestions conceming the possible archaeo-astronomic orientation of some Slavonic sanctuaries (Kotlarczyk, 1987; 1988; 1993) seem too frail to be considered conclusive.

In Perynia and Trzebiatów the sacred space was enclosed by ditches in which fire was lit. In the alleged sanctuary at Parsteiner Lakę this function was also performed by a ditch. In Khodosoviche the circles were surrounded by palisades, similar to the constructions known from Baltic strongholds--sanctuaries. There was also a smali, open palisadę in Breclav-Pohansko. Thus, we can contrast the sanctuaries with some constructions separating the sacred space from the surroundings and those which lacked fencing.

Other fenced objects were groves. It may be inferred both from etymol-ogy and from the description of two gates and a fence around the grove of Prove. Probably, a similar construction surrounded the grove Boku. Sacred groves were mainly oak forests (e.g. the grove of Prove and the presumed grove in Perynia), but we know also about a beech grove (Boku). The name of Święty Bór - Zutibure (Holy Wood), recorded by Thietmar, allows to suppose that it was a coniferous wood or a wood growing in a damp area.

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