Who is Lel in Russian mythology? Slavic Goddess Lelya - Goddess of Spring

Lel (Lelya, Lelyo, Lyubich) - Slavic God. He is a son and brother. Judging by some sources, Lel and Polel- this is the name of the same god, according to others, Lel and Polel are two brothers. Lel - god of love and marriages. This god is mentioned by many sources, for example, Innocent Gisel in his Synopsis in the chapter “On Idols”, some Russian mythologists of the 18th century, the poet Derzhavin and even Pushkin in “Ruslan and Lyudmila”. The last work says this: Lyudmila is a delight and Ruslana, and Lelem has made a crown for him...

Lel is a cheerful and frivolous god of love passion among the Slavs. The word "cherish" according to some assumptions, comes from the name of this god and means “undead, love.” Traditionally he was depicted as a golden-haired fellow, often with wings on his back, or as a silver-haired shepherdess who plays the pipe. The symbol of Lelya is the stork, whose name in Old Slavic sounds like Leleka, as well as larks and cranes. You can find similarities between Lel and the Roman Cupid.

Lel was the name of the young God, who was considered the patron saint of those who were inflamed with passion and love. He was also revered as the patron saint of songbirds, among which the stork was especially prominent, but larks and cranes, which were associated with the arrival of spring, were also revered with no less reverence. In the Slavic language, the stork in ancient times had a different name - leleka. Lel was considered a fairly cheerful and even somewhat frivolous deity. Legends say that it was from his name that the synonym “cherish” came from, because since he was the personification of love and passion, this is where the meaning of the word came from. It was not for nothing that he was endowed with the greatest and graceful beauty, because his mother was Lada the Goddess, who was also the patroness of love and beauty, and it is beauty that gives rise to irrepressible passion. This feeling acquired deeper shades during the celebration of the night of Ivan Kupala.

One ancient Slavic legend is associated with the name Lel, which is moderately interesting and instructive.

A long time ago, when this world was not yet so old and harsh, more open and true feelings reigned in it. Joy was joy, and was not confused by anyone with satisfaction. Honesty was sincerity, and friendship was true soul kinship. At that time, there lived a guy and a girl who had strong loving and passionate feelings for each other. When their first child was born, it was decided to name him accordingly. So the little silver-haired boy, who then became a shepherd, received the name Lel, in honor of the god who patronizes passion. He had one wonderful talent - playing the pipes; often, while grazing animals and livestock, he danced around them and played various enchanting melodies for them. One day Lel God, after whom the boy was named, heard his wonderful talents, and decided to help him, gave him a new pipe, which was made of reed and had magical properties.

The young shepherd accepted this gift with great joy. He began to play his new instrument and all nature sang and danced along with him. Flowers and trees swayed, animals came out of the forest to listen to these enchanting sounds, and birds began to pick up and sing his melodies. Silver-haired Lel loved his divine gift very much. One day a girl, Svetana, saw him and was inflamed with tender and ardent love for him, but she was inflamed specifically for the boy, and not at all for his talent and music. And this way and that she tried to attract the boy’s attention to herself, to ignite a reciprocal spark, so that it would then turn into the fire of love, but Lel was carried away only by his pipe and music and nothing else. Time passed, but Svetana’s feelings did not go away and only intensified, and then the shepherdess decided to steal the girl’s pipe. One day Lel dozed off in the midday heat, and a girl in love with him sneaked up unnoticed and took his musical instrument with her. That evening she threw it into the fire, hoping that, having finally forgotten about her pipe, Lel would pay attention to her and love her. When the boy did not find his reed pipe, he changed a lot. He began to walk sad and melancholy, and stopped enjoying the sun and birds.

The further he went, the stronger his sadness became. As soon as autumn came, Lele no longer had any strength left, he withered and died out, like a candle. His relatives decided to bury him on the river bank, and reeds grew around his grave. When the wind circles over the last refuge of the silver-haired shepherd Lelya, the reeds begin to sing their sad song, and the birds soaring in the sky echo it. Since then, according to legend, almost all the shepherds became skilled owners of pipes made from reeds, but few of them were happy in love.

Lel or Lelya, Lelyo, Lyubich, in the mythology of the ancient Slavs, the god of love passion. The word “cherish” still reminds us of Lela, this cheerful, frivolous god of passion, that is, undead, love. He is the son of the goddess of beauty and love Lada, and beauty naturally gives birth to passion. This feeling flared up especially brightly in the spring and on Kupala night. Lel was depicted as a golden-haired, winged baby, like his mother: after all, love is free and elusive. Lel threw sparks from his hands: after all, passion is fiery, hot love! In Slavic mythology, Lel is the same god as the Greek Eros or Roman Cupid. Only the ancient gods hit the hearts of people with arrows, and Lel kindled them with his fierce flame.
The stork was considered his sacred bird. Another name for this bird in some Slavic languages is leleka. In connection with Lelem, both cranes and larks were revered - symbols of spring.
MAGIC PIPE
In time immemorial, there lived a silver-haired shepherd boy. His father and mother loved each other so much that they named their firstborn after the god of love passion - Lel. The boy played the pipe beautifully, and the heavenly Lel, enchanted by this game, gave the namesake a magic reed pipe. Even wild animals danced to the sounds of this pipe, trees and flowers danced in circles, and birds sang along with Lelya’s divine playing.

And then the beautiful shepherdess Svetana fell in love. But no matter how she tried to kindle passion in his heart, it was all in vain: Lel seemed forever carried away by his magical power over nature and did not pay any attention to Svetana. And then the angry beauty lay in wait for the moment when Lel, tired of the midday heat, dozed off in the birch forest, and unnoticed took the magic pipe away from him. She took her away, and in the evening she burned her at the stake - in the hope that the rebellious shepherd boy would now finally love her.
But Svetana was wrong. Not finding his pipe, Lel fell into deep sadness, became melancholy, and in the fall he completely died out, like a candle. They buried him on the river bank, and soon reeds grew around the grave. He sang sadly in the wind, and the birds of the sky sang along with him.
Since then, all the shepherds skillfully play reed pipes, but are rarely happy in love...

Lelya

Lelya or Lyalya, in Slavic mythology, the goddess of spring, the daughter of the goddess of beauty, love and fertility Lada. According to myths, it was inextricably linked with the spring revival of nature and the beginning of field work. The goddess was imagined as a young, beautiful, slender and tall girl. B.A. Rybakov believes that the second goddess depicted on the Zbruch idol and holding a ring in her right bow is Lada. In folklore, Lada is often mentioned next to Lelya. The scientist compares this mother-daughter pair with Latona and Artemis and with Slavic women in labor. Rybakov correlates the two horsewomen on Russian embroideries, behind whose backs a plow is sometimes depicted, located on either side of Mokosh, with Lada and Lelya.
In the spring spell song there are the following words dedicated to Lela-Spring:

Eat Spring, eat.
On a golden horse
In the green sayan
Gray hair on the plow
Soak the earth with aruchi
Right hand soyuchi.

The cycle of spring rituals began on the day the larks arrived - March 9 (March 22, new style). People met birds, went out to the tops of the hills, lit fires, boys and girls danced in circles. There was also a special girl's holiday - Lyalnik - April 22 (May 5). The most beautiful girl, crowned with a wreath, sat on a turf bench and played the role of Lelya. Offerings (bread, milk, cheese, butter, sour cream) were placed on both sides of it. The girls danced around the solemnly seated Lelya.

The existence of the goddess Lelya and the god Lelya is based solely on the chorus of wedding and other folk songs - and modern scholars have erased Lelya from the number of Slavic pagan gods. The chorus, in different forms - lelyu, lelyo, leli, lyuli - is found in Russian songs; in the Serbian "Kralitsky" (Trinity) songs of greatness related to marriage, it is found in the form of leljo, lele, in the Bulgarian velikodnaya and Lazar - in the form of lele. Thus the refrain goes back to ancient times.

Potebnya explains the ancient Polish refrain lelyum (if it really existed in this form with “m”) through the addition of lelyu with “m” from the dative case “mi”, as in the Little Russian “schom” (instead of “scho mi”). In the chorus "polelum" (if it is correctly conveyed by Polish historiographers) "po" can be a preposition; Wed Belarusian choruses: lyuli and o lyulushki" (Shane "Materials for studying the life and language of the Russian population of the North-Western Territory"). Considerations about the etymological meaning of the lelyu chorus were expressed by V. Miller ("Essays on Aryan mythology").

Among the Slavic runes there is also a rune dedicated to the goddess Lele:

This rune is associated with the element of water, and specifically - Living, flowing water in springs and streams. In magic, the Lelya rune is the rune of intuition, Knowledge beyond Reason, as well as spring awakening and fertility, flowering and joy.
http://godsbay.ru/slavs/lel.html
http://godsbay.ru/slavs/lela.html
http://dreamworlds.ru/intersnosti/11864-slavjanskie-runy.html

The Legend of the Magic Flute

There are a great many beautiful legends in Slavic mythology, and as you know, the most beautiful legends are about love. One of these legends was passed down by the Slavs from generation to generation, and this legend is related to the god of passion and love - the golden-haired Lelya. The legend of the Magic Flute is one of the most beloved legends of Slavic mythology.

It says that a long time ago there lived a fair-haired shepherd whose parents loved each other so much that they named their child Lelem, in honor of the god of love and passion. The shepherd played the pipe so charmingly that the god Lel himself was enchanted and amazed by the play. One day Lel went down to the shepherd to bring him a magic reed pipe as a gift. The gift literally made the shepherdess Lelya happy, and he did not let go of the instrument given by God from his hands. The pipe played so wonderfully that even birds and animals in the forests sang and danced to it.

Unfortunately, the beautiful Svetlana fell in love passionately and deeply with that shepherdess. She was so passionate about Lel that she was ready to do almost anything so that he would pay his attention to her. However, Lel never reciprocated Svetlana’s feelings, carried away by playing his miracle pipe. Svetlana accumulated her anger at Lel and at her fate more and more, and one night, when Lel was sleeping peacefully and sweetly under a tree in the field, Svetlana sneaked up to him and stole the pipe. Without thinking for long, the beauty burned Lelya’s only joy at the stake. Svetlana hoped that now Lel would definitely pay attention to her and love her.

However, the exact opposite happened: Lel fell into immense sadness and melancholy, and by autumn he died out of boredom, like a candle in the wind. Lelya was buried on the bank of the river, and reeds grow around his grave to this day. The legend of Lela became the main legend about the shepherd's lot, and since then all the shepherds masterfully play the pipes at work and are almost never happy and successful in love.

Lel - lord of songbirds

Lel (Lelya, Lelyo, Lyubich) - in the mythology of the ancient Slavs, the god of love passion.
The word “cherish” still reminds us of Lela, the cheerful, frivolous god of passion, that is, undead, love. He is the son of the goddess of beauty and love Lada, and beauty gives birth to passion. This feeling flared up especially brightly in the spring and on Kupala night. He was depicted as a golden-haired, winged baby, like his mother: after all, love is free and elusive. Lel threw sparks from his hands: after all, passion is fiery, hot love!
He is the same as the Greek Eros or the Roman Cupid, only they strike the hearts of people with arrows, and Lel kindled them with his fierce flame.

The stork was considered his sacred bird.
Another name for this bird in some Slavic languages is leleka.
In connection with Lelem, both cranes and larks were revered - symbols of spring.

B. Olshansky

Folk legend about Lela

MAGIC PIPE

In time immemorial, there lived a silver-haired shepherd boy.
His father and mother loved each other so much that they named their firstborn after the god of love passion - Lel.
The boy played the pipe beautifully, and the heavenly Lel, enchanted by this game, gave the namesake a magic reed pipe. Even wild animals danced to the sounds of this pipe, trees and flowers danced in circles, and birds sang along with Lelya’s divine playing.
And then the beautiful shepherdess Svetana fell in love. But no matter how she tried to kindle passion in his heart, it was all in vain: Lel seemed forever carried away by his magical power over nature and did not pay any attention to Svetana.
And then the angry beauty lay in wait for the moment when Lel, tired of the midday heat, dozed off in the birch forest, and unnoticed took the magic pipe away from him. She took her away, and in the evening she burned her at the stake - in the hope that the rebellious shepherd boy would now finally love her.

Mikhail Nesterov. Lel. Spring

But Svetana was wrong. Not finding his pipe, Lel fell into deep sadness, became melancholy, and in the fall he completely died out, like a candle.
They buried him on the river bank, and soon reeds grew around the grave. He sang sadly in the wind, and the birds of the sky sang along with him.
Since then, all the shepherds skillfully play reed pipes, but are rarely happy in love...
It’s not for nothing that a perky girl’s song has come to us from ancient times:
The word “cherish” still reminds us of Lela, this little god of passion, that is, undead, to love.
He is the son of the goddess of beauty Lada, and beauty naturally gives birth to passion.
He was depicted as a golden-haired, winged baby, like his mother: after all, love is free and elusive.

Nicholas Roerich Snow Maiden and Lel, 1921

Lel threw sparks from his hands: after all, passion is fiery, hot love!
He is the same as the Greek Eros or the Roman Cupid, only they strike the hearts of people with arrows, and Lel kindled them with his fierce flame.
The stork was considered his sacred bird. Another name for this bird in some Slavic languages is leleka. In connection with Lelem, both cranes and larks were revered - symbols of spring.

Based on materials:
"Russian legends and traditions" Grushko E.A., Medvedev Yu.M.