Global Mythologies

[Róisín]

The first part puzzled me. I have very little Russian and most of that is names of plants and words from cookery, but the only Russian name I know for oak is ‘dub’.

[Maglor]

The first part puzzled me. I have very little Russian and most of that is names of plants and words from cookery, but the only Russian name I know for oak is ‘dub’.

Those are ugorian mythologies. They're about uralic languages, not slavic.

[Róisín]

Ah, that makes sense! Thanks for the info.

[Maglor]

Continuing with Russian ugorian mythology excurs. What I write here is but essential minimum of what scientists have on the topic, so it's more like a stimula for you too Google and/or find language similarities.

Oodmoortia republic.
Oodmoort aka Oodmort, Votyaks, Otyaks, Chood' of Otyak.

Spoiler: show

Oodmortian epos is relatively pale, compare to their folk-lyrics, but is still pretty rich. It's main part is so called "Dondinskiye boratyri" - Dondian heroes, or Dondiniada. The main goal of Dondiniada is to explain certain toponims.
As for lyrics - Oodmortian folklore have a plenty of rite and even magical poetry. Though I found none of those that would hit meter of Kalevala, I'm sure they're bound to have their own Lalli
Dondy. The top hero, protagonist.
Eedna (aka Eednat', Eegna), Goorya, Vesya and Zooy. Yonger brothers and/or sons of Dondy.
Aebga. Wife of one of the heroes.
Cheebeen'. Her son.
For more of Dondiniada search for the works of B. G. Gavrilov (1880), N. G. Pervuhin (1886, 1888) and G. Y. Vereschagin (1886).
Eenmar. The Demiurg. In later tradition is associated with YHWH.
Kyldyseen aka Kyldyseen', Moo-Kylcheen'. God of husbandry and infants.
Shytun. Eenmar's nemesis. In later traditions is associated with Satan. Consonance is intended.
Vorshood. Guardian-spirit of a family (each family have one).
Voomoort aka Vookoozö. Spirit of water.
Geedmoort aka Geedkoozö. Barn-keeper.
Nülasmoort aka Nülaskoozö. Forest-keeper.
Tölpery. Spirit of the wind.
Thousands of them.

[Maglor]

How to upload an image from one's PC?

[wavewright62]

How to upload an image from one's PC?

You don't - it must be hosted elsewhere and linked.  Here's a link to the thread that discusses this.

[Maglor]

Thanks to wavewright62 I can now show you a part of my roadmap. Note, that this is an ethnical division, not linguistical.

Spoiler: show

[Maglor]

Now that the roadmap is sorted out I'd like to take a break of ugorians and tell you 'bout the youngest mythology on the list - the one that appeared sometime in Renaisance and came shaped and known to us only in 1936th with "The Malachite casket" by P. P. Bazhov. The mythology of Urals came to be a mix of a well forgotten Russian paganism, ortodoxal christianity, and a folklore of a local Mari and Bashkirs.

Mistress of the mount Copper aka Malachite maiden, Stone maiden, Maiden of Azov.

Spoiler: show

The most known of those characters. A guardian spirit or even a deity of Ural mountains, local mineral deposits, miners and all kinds of local reptiles.
She can take shapes of a beatifull girl with malachite-green eyes and hair of the finest and the thinnest strings of copper/black braids with copper ribbons, a tiny lizard, something in between or an unseen presence.
Mistress is strict but kind, especially to simple hard workers. If she favors someone, she can show that person a copper deposit, share some magical jewerly, or even get him out of troubles. However her favor is much harder to obtain for someone who's in charge of things - Mistress either doesn't like to share her power over the region, or is just a kind of an anarchist. In one of the Tales Mistress turns a bailiff hunting her in a block of malachite.
In another one she tells the protagonist - serf Stepan - to tell his bailiff go get lost from the Krasnogorskiy mine. Stepan did as she asked, and suffered a lot from the bailiffs anger. Then the Mistress appeared and saved him, after wich she gave him a very transperent hint on that she's kinda lonely in those mountains. But Stepan refused, as he wanted to stay loyal to his bride Nastyona. Respecting such loyality and honesty, Mistress gave them both freedomn and a Malachite casket full of jewerly.
Mistress is also said to posess The Stone Flower - an artefact of an unknow power and untold beuty.
Flameleaper. One more local female spirit, a little girl who's dance is said to show the location of a gold deposit. She's a trickster however, and her hints are never true. But she seems to share Mistress'es attitude towards serfs and in one of the tales uses her heatkinesis abilities to save one of them during winter.
Blue hag. A spirit of an unknown nature and purposes. Always wears blue. Can take shape of a hag, a simple girl or a beautifull woman.

[Róisín]

Those sound interesting. I like how mythologies across the world echo one another.

[Maglor]

You heard an echo here?)

[Maglor]

O-o-okey, lookcs like I've been driven by those scheemes. Sorry for the offtopic, but is also may be used for mythdescription.

Spoiler: show

[Maglor]

https://sites.ualberta.ca/~urban/Projects/English/Motif_Index.htm
Basicaly all the mythologies in one place. You're wellcome.

[Maglor]

Yesterday ma showed me an interesting podcast, so now I'm ready to tell you about one of the most known (and one of the two surviving till today) Russian pagan celebrations.
And no, it's not Maslennitsa (it starts today).
The Kupala Night, aka the Night of Ivan the Bather, aka night of John the Baptist.
Initially it have nothing to do with baptism however.
Kupala's night is said to be timed to the summer solstice, but for some reason it's celebrated on 7-8'th July rather then 22'th June. Most of us know it as a celebration of the summer, the apogee of nature's blossoming, with partying hard next the river, round dances, augurings and a hot girls, wearing nothing but a smile. When Kupala's night is actually a Herbalist's day.
Being a herbalist in medival Rus' is dangerous - mostly because being in medival Rus' is allready dangerous by itself, but also - because of poisonous fumes of herbs you collect. So all the traditions of Kupala's night, when herbalists have the biggest amount of job in a year, are actually a ways to protect from poisoning.
Dances are a way to ventilate the air, and also - keep people awake, 'cuz sleeping near a pile of herbs is not the best idea.
Collective nature of a holyday is a way to prevent death of you fellow herbalists by monitoring any symptoms of poisoning.
Snacks, mostly represented by a speck, is a way to cover your stomack with protective layer of fat.
Bathing in a river is an obvious way to uphold the hygene.
Jumping over a big fire is a way to keep your adrenaline high as it helps fighting the possible intoxication.
And if you're a lonely woman and no other mesures helped and you've being intoxicated anyway, your last line of defence is endorphin, obtained via good old sex.
Interesting is a status of children, conceived in this night. Such child woulb become everyone's favorite, as the very fact of his/her existance saved mother's life.
One of the symbols of Kupala's night is a fern flower. Ferns have no flowers. But the thing is that fern only grows on mycorrhiza near the treas, and about this time of year spores of fern and local mushrooms are being accumulated as a little luminiscent blobs under fern's leafs. This blob is called a "Fern flower" and is believed to be an antidote for any toxin local flora have to offer.

[Róisín]

That is interesting, Maglor! In the west of Europe the tradition of collecting fern ‘flowers’ was for their use in spells of protection, concealment and invisibility.

I wonder if the herbs being collected at this time were such things as the leaves of foxglove, henbane or belladonna? That would account for concern about ‘poisonous fumes’. Also perhaps the leaves and unripe seeds of hemp?

[Maglor]

There is wild hemp in Russia (Cannabis ruberalis Janisch), but it's psychodelic properties are so low ancestors probably didn't know it could be use for something but ropes and textile.
There is beladonna in Russia (Atropa belladonna Linnei), known as krasavka, drowsy stupor or wild cherry. So yes, I think they used to collect it.
The only sort of foxglove one can find in central Russia (Digitals grandiflora Milleri) isn't said to be toxic.
While henbane aka belena (Hyoscyamus n-word Linnei) is well known in Russia, it even found it's place in proverbs. "Did you ate a bunch of henbane?" is still a way of saying "are you mad?".
But basically it's about quantity. Even a big concentration of teemyan aka thymus (Thymus vulgaris Linnei) can be harmfull.
It's not only about fumes, but also spores. Unforenately I'm not a botanist can't give you example of any toxic gymnosperm.
They also seemed to collect herbs with minimal or abscent medical effect such as wormod (Artemisia absinthim Linnei) lad's love (Artemisia abrotanum Linnei), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris Linnei) and nettle (Urtica bioica Linnei) as those are said to act like garlic in terms of protection against evil spirits.