3a-II
š
We were asking Veles, our Father, to take the horses of Suria into the Sky, so that Suria would rise above us and start turning its wheels. Because Suria is the Sun, that lights up our days, brighter than a burning hearth.
And so we said to the Fire God Semargle:
"Show up and rise in the Heavens and shine until the stars burn out!"
šš We call him Ognebozhe(1), and go to work(?). And every day we wake up, and pray, and have breakfast, and then go to the fields to till the soil, just as the Gods told us to do.
šš For we are Dajdbog's grandchildren and Gods favour us above all others. We hold the divine plow(?) in our hands, and praise Suria until the evening comes. And we pray to Gods five times a day, and after every prayer we drink suritza - drink of the Gods, for the Gods also drink it in Svarga in our honour.
šš When we pray to Suria, her golden horse rides accross the Sky. And then we go home after a hard day in the fields, and have supper. And then we thank the Gods for their help during the day, and then go to sleep, for the day has ended and darkness has arrived.
šš And we gave one-tenth of our wealth to our fathers, and one-hundredth to our rulers. And we are righteous people, because we pray to our Gods, pure of mind and body, washed by clear waters(2).
š
10-II
š
ššš Gods gave Bogumir all the things that we needed, for we were a poor nation. We had different customs back then. The oldest and most respected man of the clan was elected our Kniaz, that was also our tribal chief in the times of trouble. We had Kniazes like that for a long time, until the Greeks came and ended this custom. Now we can choose a Kniaz only from the members of a certain family (usually the one from which the previous Kniazes have come).
šš After Bogumir, Orei and his sons became our rulers. And when the Huns have begun their great war, we had to leave our lands and went to Rus'.
šš Now comes the time when we have to saddle our horses again and wander through the lands of our enemies. But no one can say that we just left our lands and took the lands of others, but they'll say that we fought for our suvival.
šš Borusichi(3) did not want to give their lands to the Greeks, so they fought for them. At that time, Ra-river was our border with the stranger's land. And our enemies desired our lands, and we had to fight them, so that our grandchildren will have a land of their own. This is what we had to do, in order to raise the crops and not to burn them, for we had a grassy land where we bred cattle and protected it from our enemies(?).
š
26-III
š
šš At that time there was a man, who quit the nomad's life and settled on the steppe. And he was very wealthy, for the Gods gave him lots of sheep and cattle. And the grass was tall and juicy, and the Gods helped him breed even more animals.
šš And then, one day a stranger came to his house, and told him, that his sons should travel to the lands of wonder, the place where the Sun goes to rest on its golden bed every evening. And when the horseman will get there, he'll tell the Sun:
šš "Go to your blue dales, Sun! You must ride your golden chariot to the East and rise up in the morning."
šš And after that, he'll ride to another place. And when the evening will catch up to him, he'll say:
šš "The Sun went back to his mountains and left his golden chariot unattended. Some evil sorcerers are trying to steal it from him!"
šš And behold: a horseman is getting near, riding to another place. And Zaria is coming, carrying its sparks, and shaking Dajdbog's clothes, so that the sparks are flying up to Heaven.
šš This is what the stranger said.
šš And then, two of the man's sons went to where the Sun goes every night, and they saw many wonders on the way and lots of juice grass. And they returned to their father and told him how beautiful this land really is.
š And many other tribes and clans have decided to go where the man's sons have been, and they came to the settled man.
šš And father Orei ordered his sons to lead the other clans. But they did not want to become separated. And then, the United Kniaz lead his people to the lands of Noon - father Orei lead them to the sea shore. And there was a great desert on their way, very hot and dry. And they moved towards the mountains, and settled there for half a century, and gathered a huge army of horsemen, prior to moving to the enemy's land.
šš And a huge army stood on their way, and they forced them to fight, and were defeated. They moved on and saw beautiful warm lands, but they could not settle there, because the land was populated by a very strong nation. And they moved on.
šš And that's how the Gods led our people. And they got to the great mountain. And fought with enemies again, and moved on.
šš And we must always remember to clean our minds with a prayer, and to clean our bodies with clear water, because that is what Svarog told us to do. And Kupaletz is watching us do it. And we can never forget that! And we always clean our bodies and minds with clear life-bringing water.
šš And we went to work every day, and prayed, and drank suria. We drank it five times a day, and praised the Gods, because suria is our milk and bread, that the Cow gave us. It keeps us alive and healthy. And we boil herbs in her milk and drink it, if the need arises.
šš And then we arrived at the banks of a blue river, fast as time itself, that is not endless for us. And there we saw our mothers and fathers, working in Svarga. They till the soil and breed cattle, and have the same life as we do, except that they have neither the Huns, nor the Greeks, and they are governed by Prav'. And this is real Prav', because in Svarga, Yav' is above the Nav'. That is how Sventovit set it up, and it will always be like that.
šš And Zarebog came to this land and spoke to our fathers, that lived and suffered on their lands. Here, they don't see evil, but only green grass. They listen to the way it moves, and it brings them happiness.
š This is how the steppe in Heaven looks like. It comes from Svarog. Veles herds his cattle in the Sky, walking on gold and life-bringing water, and no one has to pay tribute to their enemies, and there are no slaves in there. And behold: this is something that other nations do not know - we sacrifice only grapes and mead, and grain.
šš And this is how we praised our Gods, who are our fathers, and we are their children. And we are of clean body and of immortal soul. The soul does not die in the moment of our death. Perunitza gives the Water of Life to the fallen warriors. And those who drink it, ride a white horse all the way to Svarga. And Perun'ko greets them and gives them food and shelter. They will live forever in a new body, and will continue to pray for their children from now till eternity.
š
COMMENTS:
(1) Ognebozhe - literally "Fire God", can be a nickname of many Sun gods, including Semargle, Suria-Sun, Dadjbog, Yarilo, etc.
(2) Here is a word play: in Russian, verb "slav" means to praise, but there is also an adjective "slavnii", that means honourable, noble, great, good-looking.
(3) Borusichi were mentioned several times throughout the Book, but who were these people is unclear. Probably, a slavic tribe.
Svarog and Semargl
In the beginning of time, Svarog struck the white-fiery Alatir'-stone. And the sparks from his hammer turned into the Fire God Semargl and the Ratichi Nebesnie (Sky Warriors). The Fire God Semargl appeared in a cloud of flames, that purifies everything it touches. Just like the Sun, he gave light to the Universe. He mounted the golden-maned horse with silvery hide. Smoke became his banner, and Fire became his horse. He leaves the trail of burnt earth wherever he goes.
The Fire in Svarog's smithery became so strong that it created Stribog - the God of Winds. He joined Svarog and Svarozhitch (son of Svarog) Semargl in sustaining the Fire that fuels the Sky Smythery.
Then, the Great Black Serpent, son of the World Duck, decided to imitate Svarog. He crawled up to Alatir' and struck it. Out of the sparks demons-dasunes were born.
And Semargl battled with the Great Black Serpent and his army. But the Serpent was stronger, and the Red Sun grew dim. Darkness spread all around. Svarozhitch went up to Heaven to see his father, Svarog the Smith.
But the Black Serpent also entered Svarga. He licked the hole in the smithery's wall. Then Svarog and Semargl grabbed him by the tongue and made him plow the Earth. They used him to draw a boundary between the kingdoms of Yav' and Nav'. Svarog and Semargl took Yav' and the Serpent took Nav'.
Creation
At the beginning of time, the world was wrapped in darkness. But then, the One Who Is Above Us All created the Golden Egg, where Rod - the creator of all that is - was imprisoned. Then Love - Lada - was born from Rod. And He used Her to destroy His prison, and then He created the Universe - all that there is:
"The Sun came out of His face,
And the Moon appeared out of His chest,
And the stars came out of His eyes,
And the dawn sprang from His eyebrows,
And the dark night was born from His thoughts,
And the strong winds were born from His breath."
Book of Koliada