Where does God live? Everyone answers this question differently. Yes I believe you! No I do not believe! I doubt. God, of course, exists, but... A doubting person will collect a dozen or even more of these “buts” as evidence that God does not exist.

My father was reluctant to talk about the war, about the concentration camp. And if he started speaking, he chose the episodes very carefully, probably for fear of misunderstanding and condemnation. He ended one such spare and almost emotionless story with the phrase: “In that hour, I heard the name of God as many times as I had never heard before in my entire life. Don’t be surprised: there are no atheists in the trenches.”

My generation is a typical product of the Soviet era. Atheism was then one of the main links in the educational process of the younger generation. This is probably why many people of this age have a “complicated” relationship with God. Both in childhood and in my youth, as they say, I did not cross my forehead. I remembered my dad’s words when I found myself in a dangerous situation in the mountains.

The three of us climbed to the top of the mountain. Rocks, nothing to grab onto, the Peak is a small patch. Three will sit down - the fourth will only have room to stand on one leg. We got caught in a thunderstorm, hung for a long time under a continuous stream of water, then literally crawled to the peak, secured ourselves and sat for six hours, waiting for this hell to end.

That’s when for the first time my lips whispered: “Lord, help me!” Are there no atheists in the trenches? There weren't any on the rock either! This means that when we feel bad, when we are in mortal danger, when there is no hope for help, we turn to God. It's not a question. This statement. We contact you, promising anything, just to save you and protect you.

Where does he live? Where is the address where you can find God? When talking about him, we usually raise our eyes to the sky. Remember the biblical story about trying to climb into the abode of God. Does this mean that people in ancient times knew the road leading to the Lord? Or, on the contrary, did they take the wrong path and were punished for it? Since then, people rarely find a common language. Misunderstanding is a terrible punishment for a wrong choice.

Where can you go to meet God and ask him questions that torment your soul and confuse your mind? The answer of believers is to go to the temple. Church, mosque, synagogue – it doesn’t matter what the name of the temple is. It is important that this is a place where you can communicate with God. But there is a man speaking on behalf of the Lord. With all its inherent weaknesses, doubts and misconceptions. Sometimes a shepherd not only does not follow the path of Righteousness and Faith, but also leads his flock there. This is confirmed by religious extremists who are ready to kill everyone indiscriminately for the “true” faith. Priests of different faiths engage in hand-to-hand combat, dividing churches, allowing themselves to indulge in luxury and not keep the commandments.

This means that God does not live in the temple. This means that you don’t need to look for it there. And where? The greatest sage Leo Tolstoy formulated an idea that became the basis of his life. The bottom line is this: God is not a face on an icon, and there is no need to look for him in the temple. God is those moral standards that humanity has developed over the centuries.

I sinned - I repented. This formula doesn't work here. If you don’t sin, you won’t need to repent. Do not kill - because the internal law will not allow you to take someone else’s life. Don't steal, don't lie, and the list goes on. Conclusion: do no evil. At all! Never! None!

And most importantly, there should not be a single day in a person’s life without doing a good deed. Notice how wise it is: if you didn’t do evil, it doesn’t mean you did good. Not wishing evil, not committing it, is the norm of life.

Living on the side of Evil is very easy. Do you want to scream? Louder! Hit? Hit with all your might! Steal? Kill? No restrictions! Do whatever comes to your mind!

Living on the side of Good, adhering to these rules, is incredibly difficult. Generally accepted statements, which have long become the norm in the 21st century, convince a person that everyone steals, everyone lies, everyone dodges. And without meanness you can’t live at all and you can’t make a career. If you are a boss, then you can do anything: be rude, humiliate, crush your subordinates like small midges. If you are a subordinate, you are obliged to endure and quickly carry out the most idiotic (pardon the word!) orders. Told to snitch on a colleague? Were you able to steal an idea and pass it off as your own? Need to sleep with someone on whom your career growth depends? Easily!

Not every person agrees to live by these wolf laws. And what happens in this case? Society squeezes out the outcast by applying the law of the jungle: he who has the strongest claws and teeth is right. It is difficult not to break under such pressure. Shouldn't you bend to a changing world? What if he doesn’t want to bend under us?!

And again let us remember Tolstoy, who convinced us that there are many roads in life, but only two paths, and each of them is our choice. One path leads to Good, and the other leads to Evil. Where to go, God, who lives inside each of us, helps us choose. He and only he instructs and guides us, explaining how to live in order to remain Human in any situation.

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Shamans go here to perform magical rituals, scientists study the heritage of the ancient world, and travelers enjoy the unique landscapes. DV will talk about seven so-called “places of power” in the Far East - natural objects, visiting which, according to legend, expands consciousness and helps in the fulfillment of desires

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Mount Livadiyskaya, much better known as Pidan, stands in the south of Primorsky Krai, about three hours drive from Vladivostok. You can lift the veil of secrecy surrounding this place when you try to understand its unofficial name. According to the main version, the word “Pidan” is of Chinese origin, where “pi” means great, large, and “dan” means rocks. However, no less popular is the legend that from the language of the medieval Jurchen people, Pidan is translated as “Stones poured by God” - in honor of the stone piles at the top of the mountain.

In fact, almost all the legends and myths about Pidan revolve around the unnatural origin of its relief. When climbing the mountain, tourists are greeted by many amazingly shaped stone blocks. The absolutely flat surface of several stones gave the new settlers the idea that these “blocks” previously formed the walls of an ancient sanctuary.

The national fame of the mystical place came to Pidan at the end of the 20th century. In many ways he owes it to the well-known astrologer in the Far East, Alexander Rempel. It was he who brought to a wide range of readers of his newspaper and forum the legends about this mountain, many of which have references to manuscripts of ancient peoples that have not survived to this day.

According to Rempel, all former inhabitants of the Primorye territory considered Pidan a sacred place. Only priests had the right to climb the mountain: at the top they communicated with higher powers. There was also a huge crystal that controlled the fate of the people. Protecting Pidan from the uninitiated was the mission of the Maori - 27 stones in the shape of human faces. To date, only one of them has survived - a five-meter pillar, nicknamed the “devil's finger” and reminiscent of the figures of Easter Island.

Pidan is also home to the Bohai Stone of Fortune. It is about 800 years old. You need to touch your forehead to it and make a wish to yourself - it will come true. It always comes true,” says Alexander Rempel.

At the same time, archaeologists speak much more restrainedly about the scientific value of the objects of Mount Livadia. Scientists believe that all “ancient artifacts” owe their originality of shapes and lines exclusively to nature.

As a natural monument, this is a very interesting object, but nothing man-made was found on it. Research on Pidan was carried out repeatedly, archaeologists studied stone ramparts, looked for traces of ancient cultures, but to no avail. This is a beautiful place, it’s great to relax here, but there is no need to connect it with the history of the Jurchens, Bohais and other ancient peoples,” says Nadezhda Artemyeva, head of the medieval history sector of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

At the same time, there are many legends around Pidan that do not need references to the ancients. The most popular of them are stories about a winged man, a white woman, and even Rempel’s flying jacket, which, according to impressionable eyewitnesses, can be seen after spending the night on a magical mountain.

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Lena Pillars are one of the most famous sights of Yakutia. Located 200 km from Yakutsk, this place attracts several thousand tourists every year. And if many come to enjoy the fantastic views, then, according to the guides of the Lena Pillars park, most come to gain strength and cleanse the body: the pillars themselves and the area around them have been considered a powerful place of power by local shamans since ancient times.

Hundreds of rock columns about 200-300 meters high stretch along the banks of the Lena River for 80 kilometers. More than 500 years ago there was a sea in this place, and carbonate sediments formed in it. From these, according to the scientific version, vertical pillars were “created” under the influence of the movement of tectonic plates, as well as wind. However, in the old days, the original shape of the rocks gave rise to many other versions of their origin among local peoples.

The most famous legend says: a long time ago, on the site of the Lena Pillars, there lived a huge fire-breathing dragon. He kept all the local residents in terror and collected tribute from them. One day he demanded that a young beauty, the daughter of a shaman, be given to him as his wife. After grieving, people had to agree. The dragon built a large palace for the bride and periodically visited the girl there. But soon a brave young man, in love with the shaman’s daughter, returned from his trip. He fought with the dragon and almost defeated him, but with his last breath the monster turned the young man, as well as the girl and the palace into rocks. You can still see their stone faces today.

Considering the territory of the Lena Pillars a sacred place, local peoples worship gods and nature here. Most often, the Yakuts leave food at the foot, thereby showing that they came in peace. For those who arrived here for the first time, a shamanic cleansing ritual is performed on the shore. Tourists are also invited to make a wish while climbing to the pillars and tie a ribbon to the so-called “shaman tree”.

Many tourists visit our park several times throughout the year, and they say that at different times of the year they experience completely different sensations. Groups of people also come specifically for meditation, they conduct them at the top of the path - the observation deck. On the Lena Pillars there is also a ritual area where the shaman performs a blessing ceremony - Algys, says Elena Koryakina, a specialist in environmental education and tourism at the Lena Pillars natural park.

Lena Pillars are becoming a popular place for holding various seminars on the development of leadership and spiritual qualities. It is believed that the strength and energy of the picturesque rocks helps the projects conceived at this place to come true.

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The limestone outlier Lyagushka is located 20 kilometers from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, on the site of a deep tectonic fault. Frog - a Neogene sediment up to 70 million years old - has always been of interest to geologists. In ancient times, this area was the bottom of the Mesozoic sea - near the amphibian-shaped hill, even today you can find imprints of the shells of prehistoric mollusks.

If in the Soviet years only local residents visited the Frog, then since the early 90s it has gained all-Russian fame among esotericists and ufologists. According to the latter, the presence of a tectonic fault and a special magnetic field indicates that there is a junction of energy lines here. According to legends, the Frog was revered by the local ancient people - the Ainu - as the Temple of Wisdom.

Not only the Frog remnant, but also its surroundings are called places of power. The path to the main peak begins from the village of Vestochka along an ecological trail created in 2008 by the Rodnik center. An equipped path leads to the Sunny Glade - the first iconic object: according to legend, the glade changes its color several times a day. Here tourists get acquainted with the future route and stories about the Frog using information posters.

We made the first path here so that numerous visitors would not wander and get lost. Now in the Frog area there are already several eco-trails to various objects. Most people perceive this place as a good picnic spot, but more and more often those who consider it a place of power come here specifically. Our opinion? Everything is possible. Science says nothing about this, but people who feel something claim that Frog and its surroundings are a special place that changes consciousness, says Mikhail Zatsarinny, head of the Sakhalin eco-center “Rodnik”.

A little closer to the Frog there is another clearing - Lunar, with a couple of unusual objects: “Stone of Wishes” and “Stone of Questions and Answers”. According to the guides, it was no coincidence that they received their names, having “fulfilled” more than one request and “answered” more than one question. There is even an “algorithm” for making a cherished wish: first here, then you need to remember it on the Frog itself, as well as on another stone near it. According to legend, hundreds of years ago a wise Ainu shaman from the Ushta tribe was buried in it - her silhouette can be seen on the boulder.

Guests of the Frog will also get to know many other stories and legends. If you walk a little further than the remnant, you can find yourself in a clearing of Fairies and see a beautiful waterfall. By the way, the water in it, as in the entire local river Komissarovka, otherwise known as Ayichka, is considered healing. Therefore, you should not be surprised if a local guide advises you to swim in the river, or at least rinse your face and hands in it.

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Avachinskaya Sopka is an active volcano located 25 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Avacha, as the residents of Kamchatka call it, is one of the most active volcanoes, constantly emitting smoke and gas from the crater. Avachinsky volcano is the hallmark of the peninsula; thousands of tourists from all over the world flock to it every year. At the same time, many call Avacha a place of power that has a powerful energetic effect on a person.

In ancient times, the Avachinsky volcano was considered sacred by the indigenous inhabitants of Kamchatka - the Koryaks. According to legend, Avacha was the mother of other neighboring volcanoes - Kozelsky, Koryaksky and Vilyuchinsky. Everyone envied the peace in their family, but one day someone fooled the Koryak volcano. He was told that his younger brother, Vilyuchinsky, boasted that he would soon take his place. The elder attacked the younger, and Vilyuchinsky had to settle separately - behind Avacha Bay. Their third brother, Kozelsky volcano, having learned about the dispute, rushed to Koryaksky, and then Avacha’s mother separated them, standing between them. Since then, Avachinskaya Sopka has been in the middle, maintaining peace in the family of volcanoes.

But, despite the peacekeeping glory of Avachi, this hill awed the aborigines. According to another local belief, spirits live on it. They use volcano fire to cook whales caught in the ocean. Therefore, in ancient times, climbing the hill was accessible only to the most courageous shamans, who communicated with the celestials at its peak. Now everyone can climb the sacred hill and admire the almost Martian landscape: from the hill there is a view of the sea, mountains, other volcanoes and, of course, a huge crater, the lava of which still retains the heat of the last eruption of 1991.

According to those who visit the Avachinsky volcano in search of spiritual power, its energy consists of several factors: the pyramidal shape and massiveness of the mountain, the unpredictability of eruptions, as well as centuries-old worship of this place. It is believed that people who engage in various practices here quickly restore strength and strengthen their will.

Kamchatka itself is entirely called a place of power. Powerful energies rage here, and there are a lot of places for spiritual practice, mainly in various hills. Therefore, the Avachinsky volcano, being active and the most accessible, has a special reputation as a place of power,” says Alexandra Ermakovich, representative of the Buddhist Center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

As travelers admit, even in the absence of any rituals or practices, climbing Avacha changes your mood. The view from this hill makes you forget about everyday problems and feel the power of an ancient volcano, which is almost 15 thousand years old.

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Sikachi-Alyan is an ancient Nanai village located 80 kilometers from Khabarovsk. World fame came to it in the 30s of the last century, when Russian archaeologists discovered ancient petroglyphs here. More than 200 images of people, animals, magical patterns, as well as scenes of hunting and fishing are carved on basalt boulders near the bank of the Amur River in the vicinity of the village. Scientists believe that the age of the drawings is about 10 thousand years.

As the most famous Nanai legend says, in time immemorial, images on stones were left by the gods. In that era, three suns shone in the sky, all life on earth perished, the rivers boiled, and the stones along their banks melted from the heat. So the gods easily managed to “write” their messages on the blocks. The world was saved by a hunter who extinguished two of the three suns with arrows, but the stones have since left divine inscriptions on them.

One of the versions of the origin of the name of the village also emphasizes the mystery of this place: the slightly transformed name of the village Sikachi-Alyan can be translated from Nanai as “the place where the souls of ancestors live.” Therefore, it is not surprising that the land near the petroglyphs is still considered sacred by indigenous peoples, and shamans come here from all over the Khabarovsk Territory to perform rituals.

Tourists who come to the boulders are advised to speak in a whisper. It is also considered good to leave some wine or cigarettes as a gift to the spirits - this, according to Nanai guides, will soften their character and help get rid of ailments. Please note, according to admirers of the spiritual energy of Sikachi-Alyan, you should not turn to ancient petroglyphs with a request for wealth and increased material wealth.

If you make a wish here based on ego development, then the local power may not like it. It would be more accurate to show intention - first of all, about changing your life. This is a specific place that does not allow those who just want to “gawk” here. You need to be collected and tuned in to experience new experiences and frequencies. At the same time, the petroglyphs themselves are what people brought here. This place initially had special power,” says Marina Kolbina, a yoga trainer from Khabarovsk.

But, despite the “selectivity” of the place of power near Sikachi-Alyan, thousands of people visit it every year. This is successfully used by local residents who talk about the legends of their shrine and offer to take part in simple rituals. Among them: a visit to the so-called Cave of Death, its walls must not be touched to avoid failure, as well as the ceremony of presenting gifts to the owner of the water, Podu. For successful fishing, the spirit is poured vodka into a ritual cup - kochi, after which a prayer is said over it.

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Petrov Island - in the northern part of the Sea of ​​Japan - is considered one of the most mystical places in the Primorsky Territory. Being part of the Lazovsky Nature Reserve, it is under constant protection, and you can only get here a few months a year as part of an organized group. In order not to harm the pristine nature of the island, only 4 thousand lucky people are allowed here. This is not much at all, taking into account the wide fame of Petrov’s main object - a unique yew grove, whose age is about a thousand years.

Hundreds of beautiful trees, intertwining trunks, form a dark vault and create an atmosphere of mystery. It is believed that the ancient people who inhabited the island used the grove as a sanctuary to communicate with spirits. According to one legend, hundreds of years ago the grove was planted specifically for this purpose by the inhabitants of the Bohai state. Scientists deny the man-made origin of the yew forest, but admit that in ancient times Petrov Island was inhabited by people.

Archaeological work was carried out on Petrov Island; settlements of the Krounovsky culture of the Iron Age (8th century BC - 3rd century AD) were found - dwellings with canals (steam heating system - ed.) inside. So ancient people were here, but we are talking about earlier eras than the times of the Bohais,” clarifies Nadezhda Artemyeva, head of the medieval history sector of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Almost every meter of the island is surrounded by legends and special beliefs. The reserve's guides suggest making a wish by touching one of the oldest yew trees that grew on the ramparts of an ancient settlement. Foreigners are told about Leshy - the Slavic analogue of the mysterious forest forces, which must be bowed at the entrance to the natural temple of the grove.

On Petrov Island there is a freshwater spring and ancient wells. The water in them is considered healing and rejuvenating. There are many stories of how, after drinking from these sources, women were able to recover from infertility, and men were able to quit drinking and smoking. On the island there is a magical hollow that fulfills wishes whispered into it, and a wonderful tree with the face of the spirit of these places - an ancient shaman.

There are many legends around Petrov Island, which can be treated differently. But it has been clearly noted that the pristine nature of a place where trees have never been cut down and there have been no fires for more than 100 years changes a person. There comes peace in the soul, people’s eyes and moods become different after a walk along the trail, says Galina Dikalyuk, head of the environmental department of the Lazovsky State Nature Reserve.

The Kisilyakh Mountains are located on the watershed of the northern rivers of Yakutia - the Yana and Adycha. Translated from Yakut, “Kisilyakh” means “stone people” - it is they who, from afar, resemble the majestic granite rocks crowning the mountain range. According to one of the Yakut legends, in ancient times, to escape the permafrost, the inhabitants of the mountains decided to go south, but in this place evil spirits turned them into stone sculptures.

The stone blocks, about 30 kilometers high, fascinate with their monumentality. Scientists estimate their age to be 60 million years. The similarity of the rocks with the figures of people and animals has given rise to many hypotheses about their supernatural or alien origin. But admirers of Kisilyakh are more interested not in the past, but in the present.

In 2002, a group of Yakut psychics went to the Kisilyakh mountains for research, conducted them and concluded about the amazing “extraterrestrial energy” of these mountains. Clairvoyants stated that the power of the place is so great that it threatens the earth with natural disasters, but mountains can eliminate this excess by sharing their energy with people. It is believed that after visiting the mountains, sick people recover, and healthy people often change their outlook on life.

So dozens of pilgrims from all over the world flocked to the Kisilyakh Mountains. In 2006, near the mountains, near the Tuostakh River, the first tourist complex was built, its management organized a route to the so-called Northern Shambhala. According to the creator of the complex, geologist Vladimir Chirikov, in recent years, 150-200 people have visited the route during the short season from June to September. Getting acquainted with the amazing landscapes, they learn no less amazing stories about these places, which the locals believe in, just like hundreds of years ago.

I don't believe in legends. I believe my ancestors, and they said that this is the Holy Mountain, the Upper Deities of the Yakuts - Aar Aiyy - descend on it, and their great powers are concentrated in the rocks, that this is a place of power. In the old days, only shamans were allowed to go here to draw the energies of Kuyaar - the Cosmos. This is the land of my ancestors, they told us that the day would come when the mountain would call and accept everyone, it would be a golden age, a happy generation, then the mountain would again close its gates of happiness,” says Vladimir Chirikov.

In addition to pilgrims who want to gain special energy and improve their health, lovers of exotic tourism are increasingly coming to the Kisilyakh Mountains. In 2016, the route “Tuostaakh-Kisileeh” took second place in the all-Russian competition “Wonders of Russia”, where more than 300 popular tourist sites in Russia took part. The disadvantage of the route remains its relative high cost: not counting the ticket to Yakutsk and accommodation, for a flight to a local village, as well as escort, you need to pay at least 25 thousand rubles.

Maria Okulova

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Where did the gods and spirits live?

At first, gods and spirits lived in the same place where man lived. It was a centuries-old branchy oak tree, a stone by the road, a quiet creek near the settlement, and the sun giving warm, life-giving rays. Our ancestor felt his connection with the outside world as blood, family. He perceived many plants and animals not just as relatives, but even as his ancestors.
Why did the ancient Slavs have a ban on hunting bears, eating bear meat, and wearing clothes made from bear skins? Yes, because, standing on its hind legs, the bear resembled a man. People felt not just fear of the clubfoot, but also respect for him. They admired his strength and dexterity, considered him their patron, and called him, as they still do in fairy tales, father, grandfather, and sometimes master.
Our ancestors also revered plants. They had entire sacred groves. And individual trees, most often old, mighty oaks, evoked their worship. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, talking about the difficult and dangerous crossing of the Dnieper rapids, did not bypass the huge oak tree on the island of Khortitsa. Live roosters, pieces of meat, and bread were sacrificed to him. The warriors at the roots of the tree stuck arrows - their gifts.
Places of worship of the gods could be mountains, hills, rivers, stones on which images were carved, and even their fragments, which became amulets-amulets.
No one knows how many centuries passed before pan-Slavic idols appeared that required bloody sacrifices. These idols were called “kap”, and their habitats, the first religious buildings, were called temples. Priests-magi, sorcerers, fortune-tellers who predicted the future served there.
When, with the advent of Christianity, the temples and idols were defeated, the good pagan deities remained to live in ritual songs, games, fortune telling, fairy tales, and epics. And they have survived to our time.

From the life of luminaries

The ancient Slavs imagined Dazhbog as a beautiful young man with long golden rays of hair. He lives in the east, in the land of eternal summer, in a golden palace. Every morning, God’s sister, the beautiful maiden Morning Dawn, brings his chariot drawn by fire-breathing white horses into the sky and sees him off on a long day’s journey across the sky. At the end of the day, another sister, Evening Dawn, meets God, receives the horses and takes them to the stall.
The Sun God has a wife - Luna (Dazhba). And the stars are their children. According to popular belief, from the first days of winter the spouses separate and meet only at the beginning of spring, telling each other how they lived and did, what they did all this time. Sometimes they have quarrels - then earthquakes and spring thunderstorms occur on the earth.
The domain of the Sun God is great and vast. There are twelve kingdoms under his control, Russian folk tales say, hinting, obviously, at the twelve months or twelve signs of the zodiac. Seven planets serve as judges and seven tailed comets serve as messengers.
And they also live in the palace “sun maidens” who wash their bright face with rain, preserving its clarity from fogs and clouds, combing its golden curls - rays.
But besides friends, Dazhbog has enemies: devils, demons and all sorts of evil spirits gather every time before the sunrise, dreaming of catching him, still a little sleepy, twisting him and killing him. So far they have not succeeded.
Our ancestors believed that Dazhbog dies in the fall, and on December 24 he is reborn new, young and strong.

Father of light

The main deity of the Slavic pantheon was considered GOD, also known as DYY, SVAROG - all these three names belong to one character - the creator of the entire Universe. The name Svarog means “sun,” Dyy means “day, day,” God means “endowing wealth.”

The chronicle says: “Once upon a time Svarog reigned on earth, the highest being, the father of light, who taught man the art of forging and marriage.”
The name of this deity, revered by the Slavs, comes from the ancient Indian word “svarga” - sky. And its majestic appearance itself was changeable, like the vault of heaven at different times. Either it is illuminated by the sun's rays, or it is frowned by thunderclouds, illuminating the darkness with flashes of lightning. His clear face, when with the rising of the great luminary the earth is reborn and blossoms, and all living things on it rejoice, people personify with the lighting of the lamp of life. It is no coincidence that the most beloved and powerful son of Svarog was the Sun God Dazhbog. When Svarog needed to observe how things were going on earth, he took the Sun out of his bosom and released his son into the sky.
But no less than heavenly fire, people needed earthly fire. According to ancient legends, Svarog himself sent down to earth a priceless divine gift in the form of lightning. From that time on, the Slavs worshiped fire as the son of Svarog.

Skysmith

Svarog was the highest heavenly deity for the Slavs. And he served as a mediator between heaven and earth.
The omnipotent felt sorry for the weak, helpless, inept people created by Perun from the ashes and living on earth, not knowing the count of days, not knowing any laws. They fought off their enemies with stones and clubs. They didn’t know the families, they didn’t respect family ties. Wild animals were stronger and more adaptable than humans.
Like Prometheus among the ancient Greeks, Svarog decided to give people power and knowledge. He appeared among them in a working leather apron, with a large hammer in his hands. Showed where and how to look for iron ore. And he himself forged the first plow weighing forty pounds in a homemade forge.
With this plow he made furrows in the field. Having become “the first orator on earth,” Svarog taught people to plow and sow the land. “It is not the earth that will give birth, but the sky,” said the ancient Slavs, emphasizing that only with the help of their fiery and solar patron Svarog could they receive a rich harvest and provide themselves with food.
And in order to protect their arable lands and settlements from enemies, the good god taught people to forge weapons - arrows and swords. After the adoption of Christianity, the blacksmith Svarog was replaced in the popular consciousness by the holy brothers Kozma and Demyan (in Byzantium they were called Cosmas and Damian). Moreover, they seemed to merge into one person, called Kozmodemyan, who nevertheless embodied only one direction of activity of the pagan god Svarog.
It was Svarog who established laws and courts on earth. And he also divided people into families. After all, before this, the wife did not know her husband, and the son did not know his father. Many admirers of Russian mythology believed that words with the root “sva” - matchmaker, matchmaker, matchmaking - originated in the Russian language from the name of the god Svarog.

Rider on a red horse

Svarog was not just the supreme god, but also the “birther of deities.” Sometimes all Slavic gods are called “Svarozhichs”.
But there was one among them for whom this word was a proper name. This Svarozhich personified the earthly fire given by his father to people. Sometimes he was revered as the god of war and victories.
An ancient Russian church teaching against paganism said: “And they pray to the fire, they call him Svarozhich.” The ancient Slavs always revered fire. It was believed that it had cleansing and healing properties. For many centuries, on Kupala night, young men and girls jumped over bonfires, not only to show their prowess, but also in an effort to free themselves from evil spirits. For the same purpose, cattle were led between the fires. It was believed that the smoke could ward off evil spirits. They threw used clothes, shoes, and the belongings of the sick into the fire.
But all sorts of unclean things were not supposed to be thrown into the fire. It was forbidden to spit on the fire or trample the fire with your feet. It was believed that he might be offended and then take revenge. The fire from the old one was usually ceremoniously transferred to the new house. Many families had techniques for producing “living fire” - they were passed down from generation to generation.
But the god of fire Svarozhich also had his own special celebration - the name day of the barn. Having heated the barn (a room for drying grain), they made a sacrifice - they threw an unthreshed sheaf into the fire. And they immediately sat down at a generously laid table, ate, drank and praised Svarozhich the barn-grower. Only after this holiday did they begin to thresh grain and crush hemp.
Ancient people believed that the god of fire Svarozhich gallops across the sky on a red horse with a spear in his hands.

The Greeks endowed their numerous deities with the most diverse traits that were not alien to representatives of humanity. And if the Greek gods were so similar to people, then the question of where they lived suggests one answer - among the population of this sunny country. And partly this is correct.

Gods of Olympus of Ancient Greece

According to surviving myths, the most important gods of Ancient Greece lived on Mount Olympus, which rose almost 3 kilometers above sea level. The Greeks considered Zeus and Hera, their sons Hephaestus and Ares, as well as Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hestia, Hermes and Dionysus, to be the Olympian gods. The assistants of the gods, Iris, Hebe and Themis, also lived nearby. These gods and goddesses watched people from a great height and very often interfered in the lives of mere mortals.

They were forever young thanks to the ambrosia that doves brought them from the Garden of the Hesperides. Having lived for hundreds of years, they constantly sought to find new entertainment for themselves. The result of these searches is interference in the lives and destinies of people, numerous love affairs and a huge number of illegitimate children. There were also complex relationships between the gods themselves - they were friends, quarreled, plotted against each other, and made peace.

Mount Olympus is one of the most picturesque places in Greece. Luxurious forests with coniferous and deciduous trees, thickets of eric and myrtle rich in essential oils, numerous animals and birds - all this pleased the Olympian gods and granted them immortality. And the death of the gods of Ancient Greece caused gross interference in nature and their people’s lives.

Where did the other gods of Ancient Greece live?

Not all significant gods of Ancient Greece lived on Olympus. Poseidon's home was the ocean, at the bottom of which a beautiful palace was built, and the ruler of the underworld lived in his underground kingdom. And, despite the fact that some myths “prescribe” these brothers of Zeus on Olympus, it is still more logical to assume that they lived in the elements that they controlled.