In the general cult of nature among the Slavs, tree worship was especially widespread. It remained for a long time even after the adoption of Christianity. According to the Duke Vladimir’s Law, everyone “who prayed under the barn, or in the woods, or by the water” was subjected to church court. But even 600 years later, there was a record of a complaint from the orthodox priests of the Nizhny Novgorod province in 1636 that “… women and girls gather under the trees … and bring pies, porridge and fried eggs as sacrifices…”.
ꏍ
According to written sources, the worship of the oak was especially widespread in the cult of trees among the Slavic tribes. In the treatise «De administrando imperio» (948-952), Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus describes the sacred oak worship by the Rus warriors on the island of Khortitsa: “… they make their sacrifices, because a huge oak tree grows there. They sacrifice live roosters, stick arrows into the ground in a circle… some bring pieces of bread, meat or something else, as their custom requires.”
ꏍ
To be continued…
