Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/22

N RECENT years much interest has been shown in ancient Slovak history. Altho the Slovaks do not as yet possess a complete history of their race, due to a thousand year bondage under the Magyars, still, we hope that in the near future the archives in Hungary, Germany and Bohemia will illumine many of the dark periods.

An interesting point in Slovak life of the pre-christian era is their belief in gods. Some proof is forthcoming from old runes which have been found in and around Slovakia, for it must be remembered that at that time Slovakia extended south of the Danube and probably west of the Morava, for even to-day the people living there speak a Slovak dialect.

Acording to tradition the Slovaks inhabiting this territory had several kinds of pagan gods. We now divide them into major gods and minor gods. Of the major gods there were four; Parom, Veles, Vesna and Morena. The minor ones were more numerous: Vily, Rusalky, Zmok, Skriatok, Svetlonos, Mora, Dedko, Rarasek, Jezibaba, Hoja Dunda, and many others.

Parom was the chief of all the gods, Like Jupiter he was the god of thunder, which is not suprising, for even to-day, thunder, of all nature’s wonders, bewilders one the most. The present Slovaks still use the name of this god, mostly as a curse word. Such as: “Would that Parom take you”, “Would that Parom visit you”, “A man of Parom”, etc., are even at present very common.

Another major god was Veles, who was the god of all the shepherds.

The third was a female goddess named Vesna, the goddess of spring and crops.

The fourth and very interesting goddess was Morena, the goddess of death. Her feast is celebrated in many places even to-day. The young ladies of a town, dressed in their Sunday best, elect one of the group, pin a cap to her hair, then in a sort of funeral procession walk thru the town with Morena, as they then call the young lady, holding her high above their heads. After that she is undressed and thrown into the stream. All this pictures the coming of spring. Morena, death, or winter, is done away with; and Vesna, spring, now takes her place banishing sorrow and bringing hope.

The minor gods were more numerous, as has already been mentioned, and are widely known among the Slovak common folk even today.

Vily, the best known, were of a feminine nature, of a bewitching and beautiful form, and were believed to be the souls of those who had loved and died before they were married.

Rusalky, also well known even now, were the souls of dead forefathers.

Zmok was a fiery dragon who