Sacralization of landscape – mechanisms and processes of sacral organization of space
Scholars of mythology have recently observed that pre-Christian Slavs dedicated to their main gods, Perun, Veles and Mokoš, specially selected places in the landscape. Such “mythological tripartite structures”, as a copy of orderly holy heavenly world on Earth, were discovered in several Slavic countires, including a number of places in Croatia. We distinguish several categories: princely, tribal, rural and proto-urban “sacred triangles”.
In which Slavic countries can we expect to find similar vestiges in landscapes? Had the “Sun angle”, present in such triangles, been inherited from earlier times? Is it possible to discover material remains of rituals associated with the three sacred points by employing archaeological methods? What other traces of pre-Christian Slavic religion we might read from the landscape or the already collected finds and samples? These are some of the questions we shall try to answer.
Sites:
- Gora – Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Ivanec – Castle
- Prozorje (Martin-Breg) – St. Martin's Church
Bibliography:
- Belaj, V., Belaj, J. 2014, Sveti trokuti. Topografija hrvatske mitologije, Ibis grafika, Institut za arheologiju, Matica Hrvatska, Zagreb.
- Belaj, J., Belaj, V. 2013, Tragovi obrednoga organiziranja novoosvojenoga hrvatskog prostora u ranosrednjovjekovnoj hrvatskoj Dalmaciji, u: Kultovi, mitovi i vjerovanja u Zagori. Zbornik radova sa znanstvenog skupa održanoga 14. prosinca 2012. u Unešiću, Kapitanović, V. (ur.), Split, 89 – 107.
- Belaj, V., Belaj, J. 2012, Crkvina i svete trokutne strukture. Iščitavanje mitskoga konteksta petih crikav na Kosovi. Ethnologica Dalmatica 19 (= Kult Velike Majke i štovanje Majke Božje), 153 – 170.
- Belaj, J. 2009, Martin-Breg između poganstva i kršćanstva. Studia ethnologica Croatica, vol. 21, 79-99.