It’s finally starting to feel like spring here in Illinois as I work on my Slavic fantasy book series, so on this Slavic Saturday, I thought it would be a great time to talk about another Slavic spring god: Jaryło.
(June 2021 Updated) Note: If you enjoy Slavic mythology, check out A Dagger in the Winds, the first book in my Slavic fantasy series called The Frostmarked Chronicles. You can also join my monthly newsletter for updates and free novellas (such as the prequel, The Rider in the Night) set in the world of the series.
Jaryło’s name varies widely by region (Jarilo, Yarilo, Gerovit), which shows just how popular of a god he was. As a son of Perun, the god of thunder and often considered the supreme god, and Mokosz (Mokosh), the Great Mother and protector of women, Jaryło is another part of the central family of Slavic deities. His sisters are also very well known as well: Marzanna (Morana), goddess of winter and death (and his ex-wife), Živa (Vesna), goddess of spring and summer, fire, fertility, and flowers, and Dziewanna (Devana), goddess of the wilds and the hunt.
While Perun was Jaryło’s father, he didn’t raise his son. Instead, Perun’s rival Weles (Veles), god of cattle, the lowlands, and the underworld, kidnapped Jaryło shortly after his birth. He brought Jaryło to the underworld of Nawia and raised him, which caused Jaryło to take on some of the trickster traits of Weles. When he grew up, Jaryło was often considered similar to Loki in Norse mythology in some ways because of this. The kidnapping is also thought to be a major reason for the massive war that is always occurring between Perun and Weles.
Depending on the story, Jaryło can seem similar to a variety of gods from other myths, but he is classically seen as a young blond man with a golden shield, eight swords (seven representing each of the months he ruled over and one more probably to fight with), and a white horse. The horse typically symbolized a young groom, which relates to Jaryło’s role as a fertility god.
As a god of so many things, Jaryło was an important part of spring traditions. The Slavs would pray to him in the spring, especially around the Topienie Marzanny (Drowning of Marzanna) festival, when Jaryło and Živa would kill off the winter goddess until autumn. Typically during this springtime, there would be festivals in his name as well, where there’d be food, songs, dancing, and plenty of courting among the young unmarried boys and girls. They would also pray to him for the growth of their crops, which he had dominion over. Combined with his role as a war god, he in himself is a unique mix of both the domestic (love and agriculture) and the violent, which paints him as yet again an important character for balance, despite the fact he’s the reason balance was destroyed between the seasons.
Why was Jaryło’s role so crucial to especially Topienie Marzanny? Because he was the reason that Marzanna became a winter goddess at all. You can read more about her in the post about her history, but the story goes that Jaryło fell in love with her when he returned from Nawia, not knowing she was his sister. She was a nature goddess at the time and considered positive. When he found out they were related, they got married anyway, but eventually, he cheated on her. This enraged her, and she killed him, becoming a winter goddess in the process and starting the cycle of the seasons.
With all of this, Jaryło is still seen very positively, but he shows the imperfection of the Slavic gods. Like humans, they can be selfish, manipulative, etc., and as an author, it is a lot of fun to use those imperfections. Jaryło especially will play a large role in my book series as a a secondary character. His conflict with Marzanna leaves much unsolved in the world, and what’s more fun than writing about how a lovers’ quarrel causes so much death and destruction?
That’s all for this week’s Slavic Saturday. Be sure to keep a lookout for more posts next week, and if you haven’t seen the full series of posts, be sure to check them out.
*As always just a quick disclaimer. Slavic mythology is broad and not written in many if any primary sources, so there’s a variety of interpretations. The interpretations I’m using here are from the sources I’ve found to be reliable and as well as some creative freedom for my book series.
I don’t know much at all about Slavic mythology…this was great!