Lada or Lado is a fictional Slavic pagan diety of harmony, merriment, youth, love and beauty which almost certainly never existed in the ancient Slavic pantheon. It is perhaps the finest example of misconception, confusion or pure invention caused by romanticised or neopagan attempts at reconstruction of old Slavic mythology through unskilled or uncritical interpretations of Slavic folklore. Slav, Slavic or Slavonic can refer to: Slavic peoples Slavic languages Slavic mythology Church Slavonic language Old Church Slavonic language Slav, a former Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. ... This article is about deities or gods from a non-monotheistic perspective. ... Popular use of the word youth refers to a person who is neither an adult nor a child, but somewhere in between, scientifically referred to as an adolescent and, in the United States, commonly referred to as a teen or teenager. ... Eros God and symbol of love since antiquity Love has several different meanings in English, from something that gives a little pleasure (I loved that meal) to something one would die for (patriotism, pairbonding). ... Many see natural beauty in the folded petals of a rose. ... Pantheon may refer to: Buildings: Pantheon, Rome, a temple built in 27 BC to all Roman gods, now a Christian church. ... Baba Yaga, by Ivan Bilibin. ... Slavic mythology and Slavic religion evolved over more than 3,000 years. ...

Origin

The deity Lada was mostly an invention of the Renaissance, when many Slavic humanists and historians, following the trend started by their Italian, French and English colleagues, became increasingly interested in ancient mythologies. Many of them, most notably Polish and Croatian writers, even attempted to reconstruct the forgotten Slavic pantheon. Even though their basic idea - to look for forgotten pre-Christian elements in folk songs and customs - did have some merit, most of their results were simply disastrous. For instance, both the early medieval Czech historian Cosmas of Prague and the 15th century Polish historian Jan Długosz came to the conclusion that the pagan Slavs worshipped Jupiter, Mars and a number of other obviously Latin gods. In some cases, when nothing outstandingly non-Christian could be found in surviving folklore, old Slavic gods were invented to fill the gaps. This practice of Slavic mytho-plagiarism continued well into the 20th century. By region Italian Renaissance Spanish Renaissance Northern Renaissance French Renaissance German Renaissance English Renaissance The Renaissance, also known as Il Rinascimento (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... Pantheon may refer to: Buildings: Pantheon, Rome, a temple built in 27 BC to all Roman gods, now a Christian church. ... Cosmas Cosmas of Prague (c. ... Jan DÅ‚ugosz Jan DÅ‚ugosz, also known as Joannes Longinus or Joannes Dlugossius (1415-1480) was a Polish historian (a chronicler) and a secretary of Bishop Zbigniew OleÅ›nicki of Kraków. ... Adjective Jovian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Amongst the findings from the Opportunity rover is the presence of hematite on Mars in the form of small spheres on the Meridiani Planum. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Confusion

In the early 15th century, the Statute of Krakow forbid the singing of certain "pagan songs", which were heard at folk summer festivities, because they mentioned the name of an idol Lado. By the end of the century, previously mentioned Jan Długosz, a cannon of Krakow, concluded that this Lado must be the Roman god Mars. Maciej Miechowski in his "Chronica Polonorum", written in 1521, identified Lada (which he derived as a feminine form of neutral Lado) with Leda, mother of Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology. This assumption was pushed further in 1582 by Maciej Stryjkowski, another Polish historian. This article needs cleanup. ... Jan DÅ‚ugosz Jan DÅ‚ugosz, also known as Joannes Longinus or Joannes Dlugossius (1415-1480) was a Polish historian (a chronicler) and a secretary of Bishop Zbigniew OleÅ›nicki of Kraków. ... Amongst the findings from the Opportunity rover is the presence of hematite on Mars in the form of small spheres on the Meridiani Planum. ... Events January 3 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem. ... Leda, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. ... In Greek mythology, Castor (or Kastor) and Pollux (sometimes called Polydeuces) were the twin sons of Leda and the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. ... Greek mythology comprises the collected narratives of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ... Events January 15 - Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to Poland February 24 - Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. ...

In 17th century, the idea of Lado spread to other Slavic countries. No-one even doubted that such a deity was truly worshipped by pagan Slavs: the question only remained whether it was a god (as Dlugsoz concluded) or a goddess (as Miechowski and Stryjkowski proposed). In 18th century, Russian historian Vasily Tatischev, wrote about Lado as a kind of Slavic Cupid, generating the idea that it was a deity of love. Croatian humanists Pavao Ritter Vitezovic, and later Matija Petar Katancic, both "found" Lado in contemporary 18th century Croatian folk songs, sung during mid-summer night festivals. An 18th century Croatian monk, Josip Bedekovic, recorded perhaps the most famous Lado song, which was sung, he stated, by an "assembly of folk girls [dancing] in a circle around a bonfire" during the summer solstice: Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev (1686-1750) was a prominent Russian statesman, historian and ethnographer. ... Cupidon (French for Cupid), by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1875 This article is about the Roman god, for other meanings see Cupid (disambiguation). ...

Lepi Ive trga roze,
Tebi Lado sveti Boze:
Lado slusaj nas Lado.

which translates as:

Pretty John picks flowers
To you Lado holy God:
Lado, listen to us, Lado.

In 1981, Soviet archeologist Boris Rybakov used this as the crowning evidence for the existence of the summer and love goddess Lada. In his zeal to prove such a goddess existed, Rybakov, deliberately or by accident, misinterpreted Bedekovic's text when translating it into Russian. The original Croatian Boze (God) Rybakov translated into Russian as bozhestvo (deity), thus altering the meaning of the verses in favour of his hypothesis about the existence of the feminine deity Lada. Thus, to this day, there persists a belief that the ancient Slavs worshipped some deity of love. This idea is given credit not only by Slavic neo-pagans and romantics with limited knowledge of Slavic mythology, but by some scholars as well: even though the name itself wasn't recorded until 15th century. 1981 (MCMLXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov (1908-2001) was an orthodox Soviet historian who personified the anti-Normanist vision of Russian history. ...

Explanation

The word 'Lado' does indeed appear in many Slavic and Baltic wedding and folk songs, particulary those sung during Ivan Kupala and other summer festivals. Its meaning, if indeed it has any, is unclear; it appears to be a mere exclamation. While many of the folk songs containing such an exclamation actually do have some elements from the pre-Christian celebrations of summer solstice, they are not adressed to any god or goddess Lado. Ivan Kupala Day (Івана Купала, Ivana Kupala) is celebrated in Russia and Ukraine on 7 July. ... Illumination of Earth by the sun on the northern hemisphere summer solstice The summer solstice is an astronomical term regarding the position of the sun in relation to the celestial equator. ...

This was explained in detail by Croatian ethnologist Vitomir Belaj, who studied a great number of songs of summer festivities from various Slavic nations. While not all of them contain Lado-exclamations, all of them do conclude a central character named Ivan or Ivo, meaning John, which is loosely associated with St. John the Baptist, whose feast day occurs in summer. However, the Ivan of these songs has almost no resemblance to the Christian saint: he is described as a young and handsome man, courting with young girls, and in one particular song he even explicitly refuses to baptise a young child presented before him, explaining he cannot do so because he himself is not a Christian. Belaj concluded that in these songs the name of Ivan stands in place of the name of an older Slavic god who was venerated at summer festival which later, after the arrival of Christianity, became the festival of St. John the Baptist. Belaj identified this lost god as Jarilo, a major Slavic deity of vegetation, harvest and fertility. Thus, in the above Bedekovic's record of Lado-song, the "holy god" mentioned in the verses is not Lado, but Ive or Ivan, who would then actually be Jarilo. The Baptism of Christ, by Piero della Francesca, 1449 John the Baptist (also called John the Baptizer or Yahya the Baptizer) is regarded as a prophet by at least three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Mandaeanism. ... Jarilo (Yarilo, Jarovit, Gerovit, Cyrillic Ярило, in Serbian and Croatian Mediterranean culture: Lero) is a scarecrow made of straw which the East Slavs burn on the Ivan Kupala night. ...

The same can be said for the following Serbian Lado-song recorded in Nikola Begović's Srpske narodne pjesme iz Like i Banije, which was likewise sung by young girls standing in circles.

Lado! Vid slept in a meadow

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! fair elf-maids were waking him

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! Stand up young Vid!

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! your house is on sale;

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! your mother is dying;

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! your lover serves another.

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! Then answers young Vid

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! you are lying fair elf-maids;

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! neither is my mother dying;

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! neither is my house on sale;

Lado is beautiful!

Lado! but my lover serves another.

Lado is beautiful!

Here it is perhaps most obvious that Lado is not the name of any deity, but merely an exclamation. However, the main character of this song does not bear the name Ivan, but rather Vid, in which one can easily recognise the name of Svetovid, a major Slavic god of war, prophecies and harvest. According to the contemporary sources of Christian missionaries of the early middle ages, particulary of Saxo Grammaticus who gave a detailed account of Svetovid's great temple on the island of Rügen, the pagan Slavs held a great festival each summer in honor of Svetovid. Some customs or songs from such pagan ceremonies survived well into Christian times under the guise of folklore, but their original meaning was completly forgotten over the centuries. The names of old gods were mixed with names of new Christian saints, the verses were corrupted, parts were lost, and a lot of nonsense or meaningless words entered the texts, Lado apparently being one of them. Svetovid statue in Kraków, Poland Sventevith, Svetovid, Suvid, Svantevit, Svantovit, Sventovit, Zvantevith, ÅšwiÄ™towit, Sutvid, Vid. ... A small forest elf (älva) rescuing an egg, from Solägget (1932), by Elsa Beskow An elf is a mythical creature of Germanic mythology which survived in northern European folklore. ... Svetovid statue in Kraków, Poland Sventevith, Svetovid, Suvid, Svantevit, Svantovit, Sventovit, Zvantevith, ÅšwiÄ™towit, Sutvid, Vid. ... Saxo, etching by the Danish-Norwegian illustrator Louis Moe (1857 – 1945) Saxo Grammaticus (estimated. ... Svetovid statue in Kraków, Poland Sventevith, Svetovid, Suvid, Svantevit, Svantovit, Sventovit, Zvantevith, ÅšwiÄ™towit, Sutvid, Vid. ... Rügen is the largest German island. ...

References

• V. Belaj "Hod kroz godinu, mitska pozadina hrvatskih narodnih vjerovanja i obicaja", Golden Marketing, Zagreb 1998., ISBN 953-6168-43-X