Identifier: mythologyofallra03gray (find matches)
Title: The Mythology of all races ..
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Gray, Louis H. (Louis Herbert), 1875-1955 Moore, George Foot, 1851-1931 MacCulloch, J. A. (John Arnott), 1868-1950
Subjects: Mythology
Publisher: Boston, Marshall Jones Company
Contributing Library: Wellesley College Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Wellesley College Library

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ard of Veles or leaving a handful of ears for Velessbeard; and in some districts a piece of bread is put amongsuch ears, probably as a reminiscence of the sacrifices offeredto Veles. Veles was well known among the ancient Bohemians like-wise, and his name frequently occurs in old Bohemian texts,although its original meaning has so utterly disappeared thatthe word now signifies simply the devil. ^^ After the introduction of Christianity the worship of Veleswas transferred to St. Blasius, a shepherd and martyr ofCaesarea in Cappadocia, whom the Byzantines called the guar-dian of flocks.^^ In this capacity the saint is still venerated inRussia, Bulgaria, and even in Bohemia; and the shepherds, PLATE XXXy Veles This deity of flocks corresponds to the Ganyklos(Devas), or (God) of Pasture, of the paganLithuanians. This representation, from a pictureby N. Ales, is highly idealized (cf. his conceptionof Svantovit, Plate XXXIV, i, as contrasted withthe ancient statue reproduced in Plate XXXI).
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VELES, VOLOS, AND STRIBOG 301 when driving their flocks to pasture, recite ancient prayerswhich are expected to secure his protection.^ Stribog, whose idol stood on the hill in Kiev beside that ofPerun,^^ was most probably the god of cold and frost; and inthe Slovo 0 pluku Igoreve ^^ the winds are called the grandsonsof Stribog. The conception of the winds as the result of coldand frost is easily understood. The chronicler Cosmas testifies ^^ that the Bohemians wor-shipped deities similar to Jupiter, Mars, Bellona, Ceres, etc.,and that they made idols of them; but the names of thesegods have not been preserved, and nothing positive is knownconcerning their worship. Numerous names of divinities wor-shipped by the pagan Poles are recorded by the chroniclerDlugosz,^^ but his report, belonging to a later period, seems tobe influenced by Classical and Christian thought. PART IVCULT AND FESTIVALS PLATE XXXVI Ancient Slavic Sacrifice Idealized representation of a Slavic priest in-voking a di

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