East Slavic Paganism: Makosh

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East Slavic Paganism is a religion of East Slavs. It is practically identical to Slavic Paganism which evolved over more than 3 000 years. Some things of East Slavic Paganism are unique, for example the name of the god Svarog is found only in this religion.

Valuable references to East Slavic paganism come from the witness of foreigners who had visited the Slavic lands in The Ancient and The Medieval Ages. A lot of information about East Slavic paganism is given by the important Slavic written sources: The Primary Chronicle, The Tale of Igor's Campaign, The Lectures against paganism. However, historical records have shown that there are not enough first-hand written ancient records of Slavic paganism, so it is also studied by the analisys of medieval and later records of oral folklore. Such records contain original religious beliefs which were passed down orally over generations.

East Slavic paganism is studied also by the analysis of ancient and medieval archeology. Many important artifacts have been found, including various pagan shrines and statues of gods. Among the most important archeological finds however is the Zbruch idol.

So nowadays we have a bright picture of East Slavic paganism.

All information on this site is based on officially documented historical texts. All the articles have referances to historical researches.

Still it is important to remember that any text about Slavic paganism (in any historical book!) is a historical hypothesis.

Makosh (Mokosh, Makusha)

Makosh is a goddess of destiny. But it was not a destiny in a modern understanding of the word. The historian of 6 centuries named Procopius wrote about Slavs: "They do not know destiny and do not recognise that the destiny influences people”. The destiny for Slavs was something like good luck, a fortune and a chain of casual events. Slavic destiny never turned to fate.

Slavs thought that Makosh spins destiny, and therefore represented her as the antropomorphic being behind a weaving loom. There were horns on her head, so to honour her, women wore a headdress that represented horns.

One of the most important gifts of destiny for the ancient people was being provided with enough foodstuffs. Therefore Makosh as the goddess of destiny is the goddess of fertility as well. Fertility provided a good harvest which could support people. As the goddess of fertility Makosh was represented with a horn of plenty in a hand.

Some scientists believe that the the link between Makosh and fertility was shown also in the identification of her with the Earth. According to this version the name Makosh occurred from mokr- (wet) which is the characteristic of the fertile earth. However according to the other version the word Makosh has occurred from two words: ma- (Mother), and kosh (lot, fate). According to this theory it turns out that the name Makosh is translated as Mother Destiny.

Makosh was especially esteemed by married women. Giving rise to children, they showed their natural quality – fertility, so they likened to Makosh. Sitting by a weaving loom decorated with solar symbolics, women with the help of Makosh weaved such things which could help to bring good luck and gifts of destiny to those who carried them.

B. Rybakov. The Ancient Slavic Paganism. 1984.
L. Niederle. Slavic antiquities. 1934.
A. Afanasyev. About the Meaning of Rod and Rojanicy. 1869.

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