artfreyparis: russianfolklore:‘Yarilo’ by Maksim Kuleshov. Jarylo, Jaryla, alternatively Yarylo, I
artfreyparis: russianfolklore: ‘Yarilo’ by Maksim Kuleshov. Jarylo, Jaryla, alternatively Yarylo, Iarilo, or Gerovit, is a Slavic deity of vegetation, fertility and springtime. The Slavic root jar or yar means spring or summer or strong. The only historic source that mentions this deity is a 12th-century biography of the proselytizing German bishop Otto of Bamberg, who, during his expeditions to convert the pagan tribes of Wendish and Polabian Slavs, encountered festivals in honor of the war-god Gerovit in the cities of Wolgast and Havelberg. Gerovit is most likely a German corruption of the original Slavic name Jarovit. Up until the 19th century in Russia, Belarus and Serbia, folk festivals called Jarilo were celebrated in late spring or early summer. Early researchers of Slavic mythology recognised in them relics of pagan ceremonies in honor of an eponymous spring deity. In Northern Croatia and Southern Slovenia, especially Bela krajina, similar spring festivals were called Jurjevo or Zeleni Juraj or Zeleni Jurij (Green George), nominally dedicated to St. George, and fairly similar to the Jarilo festivals of other Slavic nations. All of these spring festivals were basically alike: processions of villagers would go around for a walk in the country or through villages on this day. Something or someone was identified to be Jarilo or Juraj: a doll made of straw, a man or a child adorned with green branches, or a girl dressed like a man, riding on a horse. Certain songs were sung which alluded to Juraj/Jarilo’s return from a distant land across the sea, the return of spring into the world, blessings, fertility and abundance to come. my love for folklore -- source link