After last week’s post about the three-headed god Triglav/Trzygłów, this Slavic Saturday it felt natural to add another head. Today, we’ll be talking about Svetovid/Świętowit, but like his three-headed counterpart, we’ll find that Świętowit’s story is a complex one. (Other names for the god include Sventovit, Svantovit, Svantevit, Svyentovit, Svantovit, Swietowit, Svevid, Святовит, and Световид)
(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.
The God with Many Heads
Like with Trzygłów, worship of Świętowit was documented by the Christian priest Helmold in the Chronica Slavorum, and worship of Świętowit was also referenced by Saxo Grammaticus in the Gesta Danorum. These two references alone give more primary evidence for Świętowit’s worship than we have for most other Slavic gods combined. Jaromarsburg, a village controlled by the Slavic Rani tribe at the northern tip of the island of Rügen in modern-day eastern Germany, was the site mentioned in both accounts.
In Jaromarsburg, these writers described a wooden four-headed statue to Świętowit (whose name can be translated from its roots as “Sacred Ruler” or “Holy Hero”), with each head facing a cardinal direction. The god was said to hold a horn in one hand, a bow in another, and had a silver sword sheathed at his side. The horn was used by priests to judge the times ahead, based on the remaining amount of liquid within it.
The temple around this statue was a place many people traveled to to make sacrifices during the harvest. These offerings of livestock and various other agricultural goods were common among Slavic tribes in all regions, so this isn’t surprising. And considering Świętowit’s perceived role in divining the future, bringing the right offering could be important for a fruitful following year.
The horn was not the only divination ritual done at Świętowit’s temple. Like divination rituals done for Trzygłów with a black horse, similar ones were done with Świętowit’s white horse ahead of battle. Instead of ensuring the horse stepped cleanly over laid out poles or spears though (as was the case with Trzygłów), the importance was which leg it stepped with first over the poles. If it was with the right, then the battle would go well, but if it was the left, then it was an ill-omen for what lay ahead.
God or Combination of Gods?
Again, like Trzygłów, there still isn’t a lot of information about what Świętowit represented. His worship seems to make him out to be a supreme deity, all-seeing of the world and the future with his many heads. The rituals around him also portray his as a god of war. But do all of these things represent Świętowit as a single deity or a mini-pantheon of them, similar to what some claim Trzygłów to be?
There is a debate about that question. Świętowit’s different faces and roles could easily represent a combination of gods. People have suggested Perun (god of thunder and war), Svarog/Swaróg (god of celestial fire and creation), Lada/Łada (goddess of love), and Mokosh/Mokosz (goddess of women and divination), but especially based on regional worship of certain deities, that combination doesn’t make much sense to me. Others have suggested Jaryło/Gerovit as a possible option, who Świętowit could have simply been a newer version of.
Regardless of the debate, Świętowit is an interesting figure to discuss. He represents yet another regional figure among the Slavic deities, and the documented worship of him allows us some insight into rituals done for the Slavic gods. In the end, though, his temple was destroyed by the Christian Danes in 1168 upon their conquest of Rügen.
In The Frostmarked Chronicles
Świętowit’s presence in my book series is unlikely, at least among the main tribes. Like Trzygłów, it is hard to represent a deity I’m not sure about, so if he appears, it will be later in the series or in the side novellas. I do like the concept of a four-headed god, though, so that is tempting.
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.