“The Slavs, too, have a strange conviction: At their feasts and carousals they pass about
a libation bowl over which they utter words
— I should not say of consecration but of execration — in the name of the gods.
Of the good one, as well as of the bad one, they
profess that all propitious fortune is arranged by the good god, and all adverse by the bad
god.
Hence, also, in their language they call the bad god Diabolous or Zcerneboch, that is,
the "Black God".
Helmond of Bosau, Chronica Slavorum It’s time to talk about a mysterious Slavic
deity that is relatively unknown for many, yet
you will hear the little that is known about it next.
Chernabog is a god from the Slavic mythology whose name means “black god”,
and from which there is little reference.
Among the few sources is a Christian chronicle from the twelfth century and an Icelandic
legend from the tenth century, which describes it as a dark and wretched deity.
Many primitive practices of the polytheist religion from Eastern Europe were based on
the principle that the natural world was inhabited
and ruled by spirits of good and evil.
These mysterious forces adopted anthropomorphic
traits and would turn into deities with special powers and roles.
As in many other European mythologies, the Slavic believed in two holy
beings that took control of their lives; and the belief in this god was particularly strong
in places like Russia, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia
and the ancient Transylvania.
The post-christian remnants of the original Slavic myths about the creation of the world
indicate the presence of a divine dualism responsible of creating it, which is traced
to the god brothers Belobog and Chernobog, who would
be part of the cosmogonic myth taking the earth from the bottom of the original
sea, and would represent the original antithesis of
light-darkness and good-evil.
However, it’s been proposed that this notable duality would
be an influence of christianism, which would afterwards turn Chernobog in an image of the
devil.
Among the first sources that mention him is “Chronica Slavorum” written by Helmond
of Bosau between 1168 and 1169, from which the
small quote you read at the beginning of this video was taken.
In it, Chernabog is described after talking about a Slavic religious
ritual where people would toast for the good god, whose name isn’t mentioned, and the
evil one, who is identified as the devil and they
called Chernabog.
He is a deity of evil and pure darkness, known as Chernobog, Chernabog, Chornobo,
or Zernebog.
It can be written and pronounced in different forms, depending on
the Slavic tribe or town where he was mentioned, but his meaning, symbolism and
prerogatives were the same, which means they were definitely referring to the same deity;
the black god of evil, darkness and disgrace.
Some centuries after Chronica, Albert Krantz, in his historic “Vandalia, sive Historia
de Vandalorum jerq origine, etc.”, from 1519,
coincides with Helmond at pointing out Chernobog as the evil black god of the Slavic,
along with a good god whose name, once again, isn’t mentioned.
The name of the good god, who opposed and complemented
Chernobog, is later established by Mauro Olbini in his work “Il Regno Degli Slavi” from
the late 16th century, who called him Belboch or Byelobog, possibly taken from Sebastian
Münster’s “Cosmographia” from 1554, therefore establishing the Belbog-Chernobog
duality.
These two gods represented opposite strengths, as part of the cosmos’ dual nature.
When Christianity arrived, the big Slavic deities disappeared as such, and only some
traditions were kept in society as part of approved ceremonies.
Another tradition that involves Chernobog is that of the Two-Headed God, since in some
places, idols that represent this god as a bicephalus have been discovered.
This is perhaps because many people considered Chernobog and
Byelobog as the same being.
In some places in Eastern Europe, it is said that,
during spring and summer, this being was Byelobog, the White God; a benevolent character
dressed in a white coat and carrying a staff.
When autumn arrived, Byelobog dressed in black and turned in the evil Chernobog.
Ironically, this deity became more popular in the west thanks to Disney, Who showed him
for the first and last time in a portion of the 1940 film Fantasia called “Night on
the bald mountain”.
In this movie, which in this portion of it could have been quite scary for
children back then, Chernabog is an enormous terrifying demon of unknown origins who
controls a legion of minor demons who serve them; all of this was shown in a children’s
film.
This dark being is the main antagonist of the story, and despite only appearing in one
scene, he proved to be a very powerful demon.
Clearly, Disney based on the Slavic descriptions of the god of darkness to create
this character.
While its time on screen was extremely short, compared to other great Disney
villains, Chernabog has been catalogued by mane as one of the most insidious and frightening,
if not the most, among all Disney villains, given that the concept behind it
encompasses a very dark symbology.
It is worth noting that this god is still venerated in some way, and worshiping this
deity is still part of the folklore from many Slavic
regions.
Even though the time of Chernobog’s covens is past its zenith, this god linked
to darkness and evil is still feared and even summoned in dark ceremonies performed by some
cults from Eastern Europe.
In some southern Slavic vernacular languages, there
is a phrase that goes “do zla boga” which means “to the evil god”, which may be
used to express something that is excessively negative, and with reason, for Chernobog,
just like Satan, has been and still is, for those
who believe in his existence, responsible for all the tragedies and the source of all
the evil and darkness in our world.