Korochun
Encyclopedia
Korochun is a Slavic
holiday, it is considered the day the Black God and other spirits associated with decay and darkness are most potent.
It was celebrated by pagan Slavs on December 21 the longest night of the year and the night of the winter solstice
. On this night, Hors
, symbolising old sun, becomes smaller as the days become shorter in the Northern Hemisphere
, and dies on December 22, the winter solstice. It is said to be defeated by the dark and evil powers of the Black God. On December 23 Hors is resurrected and becomes the new sun, Koleda
.
Modern scholars tend to associate this holiday with the ancestor worship. On this day Western Slavs lit fires at cemeteries to keep their loved ones warm, and organized feasts to honour the dead and keep them fed. They also lit wooden logs at local crossroads. In some Slavic languages
, the word came to denote unexpected death of a young person and the evil spirit that shortens life.
A Slavic origin for the word is accepted by virtually all scholars. A recently discovered Novgorodian manuscript makes the Slavic origin virtually beyond question. Max Vasmer
derived the word from the Common Slavonic for "to step forward".
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
holiday, it is considered the day the Black God and other spirits associated with decay and darkness are most potent.
It was celebrated by pagan Slavs on December 21 the longest night of the year and the night of the winter solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
. On this night, Hors
Hors
In Slavic mythology, Hors is the Slavic sun god.The name Hors comes from the Iranian languages — see , Middle Persian: xvaršêt, «shining sun»....
, symbolising old sun, becomes smaller as the days become shorter in the Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
, and dies on December 22, the winter solstice. It is said to be defeated by the dark and evil powers of the Black God. On December 23 Hors is resurrected and becomes the new sun, Koleda
Koleda
Kolyada or koleda is an ancient Slavic winter ritual celebrating the Old New Year. It was later incorporated into Christmas. The word is still used in modern Belarusian , Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian and Croatian, Slovak...
.
Modern scholars tend to associate this holiday with the ancestor worship. On this day Western Slavs lit fires at cemeteries to keep their loved ones warm, and organized feasts to honour the dead and keep them fed. They also lit wooden logs at local crossroads. In some Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
, the word came to denote unexpected death of a young person and the evil spirit that shortens life.
A Slavic origin for the word is accepted by virtually all scholars. A recently discovered Novgorodian manuscript makes the Slavic origin virtually beyond question. Max Vasmer
Max Vasmer
Max Vasmer was a Russian-born German linguist who studied problems of etymology of Indo-European, Finno-Ugric and Turkic languages and worked on history of Slavic, Baltic, Iranian, and Finno-Ugric peoples....
derived the word from the Common Slavonic for "to step forward".