Slavic Native Faith
Slavic Native Faith is a modern pagan religious movement that revives or reconstructs pre-Christian Slavic traditions, deities, rituals, and customs.
Slavic mythology: The body of traditional stories and beliefs associated with Slavic peoples. Its gods and cosmological motifs supply much of the movement’s reconstructed religious framework.
Kupala Night: A midsummer folk celebration involving fire, water, plants, and courtship customs in parts of Eastern Europe. Some communities adapt its seasonal rites into a contemporary observance of summer solstice.
Christianization of Kievan Rus': The adoption of Byzantine Christianity by the polity of Kievan Rus' beginning in the late tenth century. It marks a major historical transition against which revival narratives frame earlier Slavic religion.
Wicca: A modern pagan religion founded in Britain that commonly centers ritual magic and goddess-and-god worship. Its modern ritual system differs from Rodnovery’s emphasis on Slavic heritage and reconstructed local traditions.
Primary sources on Slavic paganism: Medieval texts and archaeological evidence used to study pre-Christian Slavic religious practices. The surviving record is fragmentary and often written by Christian observers.
Perun: A Slavic thunder god associated with lightning, warfare, and rulership. He is among the most prominent deities venerated in many Slavic Native Faith communities.
Dziady: A Slavic commemorative custom honoring deceased ancestors through offerings and ritual meals. Ancestor remembrance offers a model for rites connecting households with the dead.
Slavic neopaganism: A modern religious revival of Slavic pre-Christian beliefs and practices, often used as a synonym for Slavic Native Faith. The term highlights the movement’s place within broader modern pagan revivalism.
Asatru: A modern pagan religion based on the pre-Christian traditions of Germanic-speaking peoples. It is a parallel ethnic and historical revival tradition, but draws on different cultural sources.
Slavic Native Faith in Russia: The varied Slavic Native Faith communities and organizations active in Russia. Russian groups reveal disagreements over authority, ethnicity, politics, and ritual practice.