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Short History of Russia from Perun to Vladimir the Red Sun

 

In Pagan times Rugen was a Place of Slavic Pilgrimage

Buyan, island, Russian, conception, adjectival form, Russian ballad-writers, Isle, moist earth, fish, meaning, hero, head, buiny, corn, root, folklore, Temples, Wendish worship, corresponds, rough, Old-Russian Ruyan, opinion, derivation, Filuyan, Fairy City, folk tales, dealt, Dove, Lying, drown. Dunjo Moja

Sacred Island of Buyan

The Isle of Buyan as manipulated by the Russian ballad-writers, becomes something like the mysterious Isle of Youth or the Isle of St. Brandan, Tir n'an Og of the Celtic stories.

The word Buyan is clearly of Russian origin.

The root, means to blow, and as applied to a forest's movement, signifies vigorous forest: as applied to corn, thick corn.

In the adjectival form buiny is used as an additional epithet for the head of almost every single hero and hero and heroine, who all of them have "unruly heads"; another adjectival form buyany meaning much the same as buiny.

In the Government of Tula there is a word buidazh which means an open space on the top of a hill.

In the early Russian ballads the invariable formula is Na ostrove na Buyane ("on the island of Buyan,") but it is highly probable that Buyan became a substantive only later, and at first was adjectival and meant "on the windy island."

Lovers of nature-myth have at once seen in this phrase a symbolization of the passing cloud; this may be party true, and such a metaphorical use is feasible.

At the same time the conception of some mystic island of happiness set in the middle of the ocean is a universal conception, and the two ideas may have blended.

On this island of Buyan (according to the ballads contained in the Wandering Friars) there are very many mystic things to be seen.

There is the stone Alatyr, the mysterious bird Strafil, Indrikh " The king of beasts," always undescribed; and above all the mighty fish Kit, the Whale, which is the mother of all fishes, and on whom the whole of the moist earth is founded; when this fish shall drown, all the moist earth will fall to pieces.

Lying on this island is the Book of the Dove, which is dealt with above.

In the folk tales the Fairy City of Filuyan is found similar in form and conception.

In my opinion there is little doubt but that Buyan is the Island of Rügen (Rugen) [in Old-Russian Ruyan].

Rugen is derived from the Teutonic root seen in " rough ", and so corresponds in meaning with Buyan.

It was the principal center of the Slavonic and Wendish worship, and contained the great Temples of Yarovit and the deities, who were finally destroyed by Valdemar of Denmark between 1171 and 1175.

In Pagan times Rugen was a place of pilgrimage: it was close by the commercial centers of the Baltic, and the recollections would have survived in folklore.

It is pertinent to add that it is quite probable that the Wends were Celts; if so, this would account for the strong tincture of Celtic in Russian folklore.

 

 

 

 

Sacred Sign of Perun

Slavic Gods Glossary - Old Slavic Gods Reference

Short History of Russia from Perun to Vladimir the Red Sun
From its darkest roots to the Christian takeover

ADVENTURE TRAVEL to Russia. Flights to Kazan, Samara, Novgorod

 

Is Ruegen Island same as Buyan Island? Slavic Gods Temple

Prince Vladimir the Red Sun Accepts Jesus as his Saviour

Slavic Gods - Dazhdbog

Slavic Gods - Slavic Domovoi Spirit of Home

The Founding of the City of Kiev

Religion of Russia Before Christianity. Major Concepts of Slavic Religion

Prince Igor Goes to War

Prince Oleg Attacks the Greeks

Prince Yaroslav Wrestles a Bear and Wins Respect of Finn Tribesmen

Viking Rurik Invades Russia. Norman Rule in Russia

Who Were Those Vikings, Anyway?