Rowley Reading: Slavic Folklore, Animism, and Pre-Christian Ideologies

Vocabulary flashcards covering animism, totemism, mythic defamation, Perun, material culture, and ethnographic methods from the Rowley reading on Slavic pre-Christian beliefs.

Animism

The belief that everything—storms, animals, objects—has a soul or inner life and can act with intention.

Totemism

Belief in a totem, a symbolic emblem or spirit of a clan or people that reflects identity and social rules; bears appear as totems in some Slavic tales.

Bear as totem (Slavic folklore)

In certain tales, the bear functions as a clan totem or guardian, enforcing rules and embodying ancestral power.

Mythic defamation

A strategy of belittling or ridiculing old beliefs during transitions to new religious or cultural systems (e.g., pagan to Christian) to encourage assent to the new system.

Perun

The Slavic god of thunder; a major pre-Christian deity whose prominence helps frame discussions of changing belief systems.

Four-faced god (tetracephaly)

A deity depicted with four faces or directions, suggesting multiple aspects; discussed in relation to the Bruich idol.

Bruich idol (brooch idol)

A four-sided pagan artifact from Krakow with layered figures and a phallic top; used as material evidence for pre-Christian Slavic religion.

Phallic imagery in pagan artifacts

Fertility symbolism, exemplified by erect, phallic features on idols, linking fertility and ancestral power in pagan contexts.

Yggdrasil

The Norse tree of life; a cosmological framework used to compare world-structure and the role of ancestors across cultures.

Afanasiev

19th-century collector who documented Slavic folktales, preserving oral narratives and revealing variant names and motifs.

Ibn Rusta

10th–century eyewitness who described Slavic peoples, rituals, cannibalism taboos, and daily life, though with biases and gaps.

Zabanya (bathhouse)

Russian or Slavic bathhouse culture described by travelers like Ibn Rusta; illustrates communal ritual space and social life.

Slash-and-burn agriculture

Forests are cleared by girdling and burning to create fertile fields; shows sedentary grain farming in woodland regions without plows.

Banya

A traditional Russian public bathhouse; a social and ritual space that reflects wider cultural practices around cleanliness and community.

Initiation rite

Rituals marking the transition to adulthood; bear figures in tales act as enforcers and testers of appropriate behavior and gender roles.

Cannibalism taboo

In totemic belief, there is a taboo against consuming the totem or kin; transgressions are explained as moral or ritual violations.

Cinderella etymology

Cinderella is often a nickname or function-based label (the ash girl); names in folktales can reflect social roles rather than fixed identities.

Proto-Indo-European motifs

Common tale elements across Europe (e.g., Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella) suggesting shared Indo-European roots or diffusion.

Oral tradition vs written record

Folk narratives began as oral stories and were later written down; records reveal translator choices, inconsistencies, and biases.

Rowley (text)

The core scholarly source used in class for Slavic myth and archaeology; emphasizes engaging with original documents.

Christianization filter

Interpretations of pre-Christian beliefs are shaped by centuries of Christian influence, prompting methods like mythic defamation to explain transitions.

Indo-European connections in folklore

Folktales from Slavic and other European traditions share motifs that point to deep Proto-Indo-European roots or diffusion.

Ethnography and source criticism

Analyzing historical sources with awareness of bias, corroborating with linguistics, archaeology, and other evidence; recognizing limits of a single source.