The Goddess Marzanna

Since we're at the height of winter, with spring only a few months away, I chose to highlight the Slavic deity Marzanna today, instead of Mokosh. Come the end of March, her likeness will be burned and/or drowned in ritualistic custom, marking the death of winter and the welcoming of spring to those who keep this tradition alive today.

For all those curious about Slavic myth and tradition, read on. And for those unfamiliar, here is a breakdown: Slavic peoples (Slavs) can be divided into three subgroups based upon their geographic and linguistic distribution: West Slavs (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia) - East Slavs (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine) - and South Slavs (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia).

I give to you,

THE GODDESS MARZANNA

Marzanna (Polish)

Marena (in Russian)

Mara (in Ukrainian)

Morana (in Czech, Slovene, Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian)

Morena (in Slovak and Macedonian)

Mora (in Bulgarian)

Some scholars believe that the etymology of her name derives from the Proto-Indo-European name for death “mor” or “mar,” or the Latin word for death “mors.” However, it is unclear if this is the true origin of her name.

While most traditions point back to her role as the goddess of death, another tradition states that she was not always the embodiment of death. Some say, that she was once a goddess of fertility and life but had withered into a deadly old crone. It is this story that gives some doubt to her name originating from the word for death in many languages.

She has been likened to the Greek Goddess Hecate with regards to sorcery, the Roman Goddess Ceres in regards to agriculture, and both The Cailleach and Baba Yaga as winter season crones.

Marzanna is known in Slavic mythology because of her rule over the winter months. Especially in the northern regions, winter could be a brutal time for the early Slavic tribes. Though Veles/Weles was sometimes considered the ruler of winter in parts of Russia, Marzanna was feared as the bringer of its chill in most areas (Noble B., 2022).

Marzanna is a Slavic Goddess associated with winter and the rebirth of nature come springtime. She is sometimes associated to the primal concept of Mother Earth. She is a personification of the repetitive cycles regulating life on Earth, the changing of the seasons, and a master of both life and death.

She is commonly interpreted as a goddess of winter and death only. However, many historical sources and traces of her followers (particularly in the West Slavic beliefs) show clearly that the cold winter is only one of the faces of this Goddess. In addition to the burning or drowning ritual of Marzanna’s effigy, another similar ritual procession occurs around the villages and fields as a symbol of spring, the same goddess being reborn after the winter phase and waking up nature’s vibrant strength for the upcoming growing season.

The most dominant ritual in her honor, the drowning, is interpreted as a symbolic descent of this goddess into the underworld with the hope to be reborn again. The sacrificial aspect of the ritual is associated with the attempt to appease winter, avoid harsh conditions, and invite a bountiful harvest upon spring’s arrival.

In Poland, followers of her remain today, not only directly (like in the rituals of drowning and burning Marzanna before spring) but also indirectly – observed in the worship of the different aspects of the Christian Holy Mother, and some places where medieval churches bearing the name of the Holy Mother are located that were also known for being places of worship for Marzanna in the distant past.

APPEARANCE

She is most often depicted as a woman of terrifying appearance, with pale skin and long dark hair. Often, she is portrayed wielding a sickle or scythe and can either be beautiful or a wolf-like creature with claws and fangs. In the latter example, she represents the fear of the winter as an almost demonic figure. She is sometimes likened to the Germanic demon “Mare” who would come in the night to sit on victims’ chests until they suffocated. In other traditions, she is a young maiden dressed in white. To most she appeared as a withered old woman with an ugly face, however, it is said that to those who were not afraid of her she would appear as the beautiful maiden.

SOME MARZANNA MYTHOLOGY

Stories about the cycle of the seasons vary (and primary sources are basically non-existent), but a prominent tale is that of her marriage with Jaryło/Yarilo/Gerovit – her twin brother and a spring, war, and agriculture god.

It was said that Marzanna was a daughter of Perun, God of thunder, and Mokosz/Mokosh, the Great Mother. In this story, she was once a nature goddess. When she was young, Jaryło was stolen by the god Weles and taken to the underworld of Nawia/Nav. When he returned, the twins did not know they were related, so they fell in love and were married.

This marriage between Marzanna’s nature and Jaryło’s agriculture brought balance in nature and also peace (temporarily) between Perun and Weles. But then Jaryło committed adultery. Marzanna killed him for his betrayal, turning her bitter and making her the winter deity we understand today. This split is the reason for the seasons, as Marzanna kills Jaryło in autumn, and he along with a spring goddess (usually either Dziewanna or Żywia/Vesna) kills her in the spring. The cycle continues annually, and neither can exist for long while the other survives.

While Marzanna is feared, she has a human element of desiring revenge and having her heart broken. Marzanna was feared for the death and disease she wrought, but she was also a crucial part of the world’s cycle. Though the goddess was definitely not the most praised, she was recognized because of both this fear and her important role.

This story of retaliation coincides with the movement of the sun throughout the year; it was the belief of the ancient Slavs that the sun descended into the underworld in the winter. In this sense, Marzanna is quite literally winter.

In some tales, Marzanna appears as Mara or Mora, a destroying fate-goddess who rides the night winds. She is the mare in the word nightmare, described as a "monstrous hag squatting upon the breast, mute, motionless, and malignant, an incarnation of the evil spirit whose intolerable weight crushes the breath out of the body" (Macnish 1831). She is similar in this respect to the Hindu goddess Kali the Destroyer, whose death aspect means "passive weight and darkness."

In this guise, Marzanna (or Mora) is a personal tormenter, who sometimes turns herself into a horse, or into a tuft of hair. One tale is of a man who was so tormented by her that he left his home, took his white horse and rode away on it. But wherever he roamed the Mora followed. At last, he passed the night at an inn, and the master of the house heard him groaning in a nightmare, and found him being suffocated by a long tuft of white hair. The host cut the hair in two pieces with a pair of scissors, and in the morning the white horse was found dead: the hair, the nightmare, and the white horse were all Marzanna.

Other stories, specifically among Russians, tell of Morana living in “the mirror palace,” which can only be reached through the Kalinov bridge. The palace is protected by snakes and represents the place that the Slavs associate with funerals, once again showing her role as the goddess of death and the underworld.

TRADITIONS

The Drowning of Marzanna

On the territory of Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic, there was a traditional ritual of drowning and burning the effigy of Marzanna at the end of the winter. This ritual is present even today.

The tradition of drowning or burning an effigy of Marzanna to celebrate the end of winter is a folk custom that survives in the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, and Slovakia. In the past, the festival was held on the fourth Sunday of Lent. In the 20th century the date March 21 was fixed (March 20–21). The rite involves preparing an effigy in female clothing, and either setting it on fire or drowning in a river, or both. This is often performed during a field trip by children in kindergarten and primary schools. The effigy, often made by the children themselves, can range in size from a puppet to a life-size dummy. This ritual represents the end of the dark days of winter, the victory over death, and the welcoming of the spring rebirth and with it, spring goddesses Vesna or Kostroma (Russian).

Vesna represents all that Marzanna is not. She is the goddess of spring that is born from the death of winter as well as the death of Marzanna. Marzanna and Vesna cannot exist in the same place at the same time.

In the “Warsaw Voice”, (the English language paper in Poland and Central Europe), the writer and reporter Tom Galvin describes his experience of the folk ritual:

According to Galvin, the locals created a large figure of a woman made of rags and bits of clothing. She is then thrown in the river on the first day of the spring calendar. Marzanna is often burned together with herbs right before the drowning. Also, a twin custom is mentioned where the local girls would decorate a pine tree with flowers and colored baubles and then carry it through the village.

The locals would also share numerous superstitions about the drowning of Marzanna, for example, that you mustn’t touch the effigy once it’s in the water nor you should look at her on your way home. It was considered bad luck if one would stumble or fall.

The anthropological analysis of drowning and burning effigies suggests that these practices were derived from sacrificial rites aiming to ensure a fruitful harvest.

The oldest surviving chronicles mentioning her name and the customs of drowning come from 15th century.

INTERESTING FACTS:

A Virginian brewery, Devils Backbone, brews a 14° Czech style dark lager named in honor of Marzanna, using her Czech name Morana.

The drowning of Marzanna was considered a pagan custom by the Catholic Church. Because of that, there were multiple attempts to forbid it. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Church unsuccessfully tried to replace this custom with a Christian custom of throwing an effigy down from a church tower (effigy symbolized Judas). Sorry Christians, this is one pagan tradition strong enough to withstand you.