According to the Orthodox Eastern Church, the spirit of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin now ought to have embarked in heaven or hell. The religion believes it takes 40 days after death for souls to...
As ambiguous as she is hideous, Baba Yaga is an anomaly. In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is both a maternal, mother nature figure and an evil villain who kidnaps and eats children. Numerous renditions...
In Slavic mythology, there is a type of nymph, which can only be described as somewhere between a ghost and a fairy. Said to float between the living world and the afterlife, the wandering wilas have...
Forever intertwined, Morana, goddess of winter and death, and Vesna, goddess of spring and rebirth, could not exist without each other. However, they could not possibly exist in the same place at the...
Archaeologists in Poland have unearthed a coin hoard from the early Carolingian dynasty in a field in the remote north-east of the country. The coin hoard treasure indicates a connection between the...
Between the 18th and 19th century in Poland, a child was given an unusual burial involving bird skulls within the Tunel Wielki Cave. A ritualistic burial like this surely would have been a spectacle...
The colorful history of the Czech Republic is firmly rooted in its predecessor, the illustrious Kingdom of Bohemia. A powerful kingdom that lasted for more than seven centuries, it was an...
A 1,000-year-old skeleton was unearthed in the bowels of Prague Castle in 1925 and the man’s identity was corrupted by Nazi scientists in 1935. Now, after a DNA study, a 3D artist has reconstructed...
The world of Slavic mythology is of the most mysterious and richest ancient and living traditions in the world. As Slavs are the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe, their beliefs are widespread...
Over the past two centuries, Europe has become increasingly secular. Scholars in fact no longer talk of the Christian West when they speak of Modern Europe and North America, but of the Secular West...
In 2014 a construction project required Swiss anthropologist Amelie Alterauge of the University of Bern Institute of Forensic Medicine to investigate a very unusual burial in a 400-year-old cemetery...
A figure from Slavic folklore , Koschei the Deathless (aka Koschei the Immortal) was known for his titular characteristic: his inability to die. What is most interesting about this figure, however,...
It is no secret that throughout the classical and early medieval period, trade played an immense role in the economy of the world. Trade routes were spread all over Eurasia, and effectively connected...
In Berlin , a historic medieval cemetery has been excavated which reveals that medieval people’s lives were blighted by hunger, disease, and extreme violence. Many of the human remains show signs of...
The history of our world has always been a bloody and difficult affair, full of struggles, wars and conquests. And in the centuries before our own, tribes and chieftains, kingdoms and empires, all...
Today, the Slavic peoples are the largest ethno-linguistic group of Europe, and number over 360 million persons worldwide. Their long and rich history is a crucial part of the very foundation of...
Archaeologists excavating a Viking graveyard in Denmark have discovered the remains of a female buried with a large axe - but she was Slavic - which leads to the question; why on earth was she buried...
The likho is a creature found in Slavic mythology and is believed to be the personification of evil and misfortune. There are various stories about this terrifying creature, usually ending with...
The Domovoi is a supernatural creature found in Slavic mythology. These are household sprites that attach themselves to a family and serve as their guardian. As benevolent spirits, the Domovoi would...
The samodiva (known also as samovila or vila; samodivi or samodivas in plural) is a creature found in Balkan, specifically Bulgarian, folklore. In general, these beings are forest spirits or wood...
In many ways, Eastern Europe owes its cultural and religious shape to the two missionary brothers, Saint Cyril (827-869 AD) and Saint Methodius (826-884 AD). These two brothers were sent as...
The dragon is one of the most well-known creatures in ancient mythology, and many cultures have this creature (or one of its related forms) in their folklore. In East Asian countries, for instance,...
“[…] In the evening the girl laid the table and began waiting for Baba-Yaga. It grew dark. The black horseman swept by and it was night. The skulls’ eyes began to shine. The trees creaked, the dead...
Marko Mrnjavcevic (referred to also as Prince Marko and King Marko) was a Serbian ruler who lived during the 14th century. Although Marko is said to have had the opportunity to inherit the throne of...
