Teach Me about Czech Mythology

Discussion in 'Culture' started by ultraspunk, Mar 21, 2006.

  1. ultraspunk

    ultraspunk Member

    Creation stories of the geographical area....

    Anyone?
     
  2. Jeff

    Jeff Well-Known Member

  3. GlennInFlorida

    GlennInFlorida Well-Known Member

    laconic...
    aren't we :wink:
     
  4. Rommie

    Rommie Well-Known Member

    enough...
    isn´t it? :lol:
     
  5. ultraspunk

    ultraspunk Member

    thank you
     
  6. Eva2

    Eva2 Well-Known Member

    Don't mention it.
     
  7. eso

    eso Well-Known Member

    Czech specific look on Hell is interesting too.

    Čerti (devils) in Hell are'nt evil, they are something like judges and they carrying off only bad people to hell.
     
  8. eso

    eso Well-Known Member

  9. Jeff

    Jeff Well-Known Member

  10. BlackBox

    BlackBox Active Member

    Information on this website is very basic.
    If you can read german then I recommend:
    http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/musaeus/vmd/vmd06.htm#Zur1

    However when you say "mythology" I am not sure if you want legendary history or gods, panteons, creation myths etc.

    There is very little left of actual Slavic panteon and there are no creation myths etc.
     
  11. nebe_je_zde

    nebe_je_zde Member

  12. MK

    MK Well-Known Member

    I do not think so:

    Old ones
    The legend about Cech, Lech and Rus is shared with other slavic nations, but legends about Premysl and Libuse, Bivoj, foundation of Prague and (I guess) Divci valka/Maiden war are of Czech origin.

    Newer ones
    I was said that old moravian legend about Svatopluk were written in Byzantium and old christian legend about St.Wencleslav has German origin but Blanicti rytiri/Knights of Blanik Hill , Bila pani/White lady, Dalibor etc. have its Czech roots.
     
  13. BlackBox

    BlackBox Active Member

    Cech, Lech and Rus is actually a polish legend and Bivoj was probably invented by Václav Hájek z Libočan.

    Also, Svatopluk and Václav are historical personages and in case of Svatopluk quite important.

    Of course there are many legends in the Czech Republic but I think it is necessary to distinguish between:

    1)Gods, pantheons etc. of which we know nothing (except maybe Cosmas remark about worship of oreads, hamadryads and dryads and worship of idol elsewere).

    2)Legendary history:Libuse, Premysl, King Arthur etc.

    3)Legendary deeds of real personages like Svatopluk.
    Generaly a person is considered "historical", if it is mentioned by larger number of sources, which Svatopluk and Wenceslav definitely are.
     
  14. vannina

    vannina Member

    When I read about pre-christian religious beliefs in the Czech Republic, and particularly in the area of Bohemia where my father and his family were from, I seem to get only 'stories'. Is there a mythology?

    Please let me know.

    Searching-for-my-roots
     
  15. wer

    wer Well-Known Member

    I guess you have no idea what you ask for. There is a little of written sources on this issue. It is very difficult to get the information on religious beliefs of pre-christian Czechs and practically impossible to get the information for one particular area of Bohemia. We can only guess based on the interpolation of the fragmentary information on Slavs.

    What do you mean by “mythology”? Gods, cosmology, philosophy and so on?

    You can read something on Slavic mythology in general.

    Most of the myths are specific for one Slavic region, only small part of them are omnipresent in all Slavic areas.

    Two of the omnipresent conceptions:

    1) According to the old Slavic understanding of the universe (and you can find similar concepts by other Indo-Europeans), there was a predestined order of the universe. Both the universe and its order were called “mir” (modern Czech: mír = peace; modern Russian: mir = peace, world).

    The mir was not absolute, but rather hierarchical. Every mir could consist of more different mirs, every with its own order.

    Any act of establishing (of the house, of the village/town…) was started by establishing a new mir, typically by ploughing up a circle (compare with Romulus and Remus, and Přemysl the Ploughman).

    Any action in line with the mir’s order was called “pravda” (from pravý = (st)right; modern: pravda = truth), any action against the order was called “křivda” (from křivý = curved/crooked; modern křivda = damage, wrong, injury). Any krivda could make the mir to collapse, thus everybody had to live in pravda.

    2) The idols of ancestors aka dědci (dědek in singular; modern děd(ek) = grand father). Practically all Slavs considered the dead ancestors to be family gods and were scared of their possible disgrace. They carved wooden figures of their ancestors and served them. Any important action of the old Slavs was made primarily with respect to the dědci. The wooden figures were always the first thing brought by the Slavs during moving, the figures were always the first thing to set up in a newly established house etc.
    The Slavs never considered themselves to be the owners of their property, they were only custodians of the ancestors’ community property called “dědina” (compare with modern Moravian dědina = village). The chief in care of the “dědina” was called “dědic” (modern dědic = heir).
     
  16. vannina

    vannina Member

    I guess you have no idea what you ask for. There is a little of written sources on this issue. It is very difficult to get the information on religious beliefs of pre-christian Czechs and practically impossible to get the information for one particular area of Bohemia. We can only guess based on the interpolation of the fragmentary information on Slavs.

    What do you mean by “mythology”? Gods, cosmology, philosophy and so on?^
    +++

    Thank you very much for your message and your statement is correct. I do not know what to expect about the area so my question is unfocused.

    I studied the Greek mythology when I was very young and on-and-off I have been reading about the Viking mythology. In it I find interest concepts, such as the Tree of Life but also an incredible variety of characters from gods to semi-gods all who represent the individual political sophistication of living in close confinement, under extreme weather conditions and long periods of darkness. The Viking mythology reflects indeed the needs and desires of the Nordic peoples and I can very much related to this.

    By a set of circumnstances I was baptized an Anglican in Brazil, grew as a Methodist in Uruguay, and confirmed as a Lutheran in Canada but my strong love for nature has led me to seek farther back into religious beliefs that took nature into consideration.

    Furthermore, I am also interested in reconnecting with my father's family (I have had no connection with him or anyone in that side of the family since I was 2 years old - I am now 55). In a way, I am looking to honour my ancestors and trying to find the ways that would have been understood by them.

    Once again, thank you for your initial help.
     
  17. BMoody

    BMoody Well-Known Member

    Knowing Czechs... if you want to honor you ancestors, then eat a duck with dumplings and cabbage whilst gulping down gobs of Pilzner or Budvar.

    Believe me when I say that the Czechs probably didn't take the afterlife seriously at all, since they really try to avoid taking this life too seriously today. Maybe that is a post 20th century and 30 years war thinking though.

    So which are you myczechrepublic friends? Be you for eating the flesh of Christ or drinking his blood?
     
  18. vannina

    vannina Member

    I will probably eat bread (unleavened, Swedish style, since I have the Swedish myth deeply engraved in my heart and in my psyche), drinking red wine (since I am partly Italian), saying the Lord's prayer but in Swedish, of course! since I learned it while attending the Church of Sweden in Småland, while taking all the rune stones and shaking them together to come up with a random one which I will then use to interpret what the heck I am going to do about my need for Slavic pre-Christian beliefs.

    I don't think I can be accused of not being open minded or being parochial! :oops:
     

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