Kukeri look as scary as they are to banish evil spirits

Primary Chronicle recorded the following myth:

There were three brothers: one was called Kyi, the other Shchek and the third Khoriv, and their sister was called Lybed. And they founded a stronghold in the name of their eldest brother and named it Kyiv.

First Novgorod Chronicle, contains a further fragment:

They were pagans, they made offerings to lakes, springs and forests, like other pagans.

From the beginning of the Asatru resurgence in America, we have been very open in our practice. We have allowed outsiders to attend, to take photographs, and to take part. I believe that this was a mistake, and I have been guilty of it myself. There is a difficult balance here. On the one hand, we need to give people some idea of what we do. Secrecy builds distrust, and people’s imagination will fill in the gaps with all sorts of fantasies, most of them unpleasant. Nevertheless, it is vital to protect the dignity of what we do and to maintain an awareness that this faith is ours, not something that can be expropriated by passersby.

S.McNallen

Scythian God Papaeus by A.Guselnikov

Odin stood up,
that father of gods,
and he saddled
his horse Sleipnir.

Swarog

Slavic God of Smithing and Fire by M.Suharev

Nice iconography except for the beard which only volkhvs had before Byzantium influence.

Swarog the Smith
by Evgheny Jelezoglo

Stribog
God of War and Wind
by Moccus art
https://www.instagram.com/moccus.art/

my commission

The more I have come to value the unique nature of my own, European-descended people, the more I have come to appreciate other peoples and cultures. While this appreciation comes to some extent from the things we share as part of our common humanity, this is not the whole story. Indeed, it is our differences that I value more than our similarities. Differences are good, and ought to be respected and preserved. Blending human cultures into a mish-mash of "diversity" destroys the flavor, the unique quality of all of them.

S.McNallen

This day, June 8, in 793 Lindisfarne island

Art by Marek Szyszko

Donarkeule and Thor’s hammer pendants

Slavic male (?) headbands

Some will always attack what's popular. Often they’ll throw some short, memorable insults, mostly in meme format. Today we will examine one such case.

Since various decorated headbands are popular among modern Pagans there are those who go against this. Female ones are supposedly fine, but there is an argument against male headbands. They say that hippie movement is the real origin of this accessory.

Ochelie is a term historically used for female headbands. This is clear in the sources. But, modern Pagans call male headbands ochelie too. This is indeed inaccurate.

Nagoloven is a term which was used for male headbands, but those were not decorated and purely utilitarian. It was also worn regularly only by a rare few men who had to move their head a lot while working like wool beaters and coopers.

Superficially it does seem that males of Ancient Rus never wore decorated headbands. But, we know that in Scandinavia it was somewhat common.

Examples from Gisli saga:

king gave him a robe of honour, and golden-seamed gloves, and a fillet with a knot of gold on it

a round buckler, and a silken band round his brow, and his hair was brushed back behind his ears

one man who had a scarlet cloak over his shoulders, and a gold band round his head

So a male headband may not have been as much of a taboo as some claim when it comes to Slavic lands.
Though it is true that by the time Vladimir Dal (a famous lexicographer) was writing his Explanatory Dictionary (19th century) the only ones wearing decorated headbands were women and that was probably the case for 3-5 centuries before that.

I personally find them esthetically pleasing and functional when it comes to long hair.

Wotan and his brothers killing Ymir

Onward to VallHall
by C.S.Hall

Conversion was superficial at best. There were Pagan priests, shrines and rituals all over the countryside (hence the term pagan itself). Ethnography confirms the complete lack of christian belief outside (sometimes even inside) the cities in Europe as late as 19th c.