Slavic Mythology Part II: The myth of creation of the world

Some believe in God, some believe in Trimurti, some believe in the mother nature, some believe in aliens, some believe in the big bang theory. No matter what one believes, all of us can agree on one thing: The universe and the planet Earth are the most incredible mass of all time. Everything that we ever loved is here.

Slavs also had their beliefs on creation of the world and although a lot of their beliefs had been lost, many stories have been kept alive through verbal folklore stories, rituals, beliefs of the people, and notes made by ancient chroniclers. There are a few survived myths which talk about the creation of the world, yet I chose the one which is the closest to the modern religions - probably due to Christianisation. It is called "the creation from the cosmic egg".

First there was nothing but chaos and everything was one. There was no darkness and there was no light. There was no beauty and there was no ugly. There was no pure and there was no immoral. There was no balance. All was silent.

One day, the ancient god, Rod, descended to Earth in a lustrous golden egg. No one knows where he came from. He set himself along a great feat straightaway.

First, he divided the light and the darkness and that was the first balance. Out of the golden egg, soared the sun illuminating everything in its sight. Then came around the night and out of the golden egg, moon flew out and settled into the sky. Then, he created the boundless waters and after that, the vast land arose. That was the second balance. From the never ending land, trees started to grow, animals stepped out of the forests and birds started to sing. He drew a rainbow to divide the land and the sea; the land represented the truth and the sea represented the falsehood. That was the third balance.

Rod stopped for a moment and looked at all his creation. He was satisfied with the fruition of his labour however something was still amiss. The world still seemed incomplete. It still seems imbalanced. So, he decided to divide the world into three kingdoms: Irij(heaven), Earth, and Nav(underworld). That was the fourth balance. Once the creation of the three kingdoms finalised, a gigantic tree started to grow through them. The Axis Mundi (three of life) was grown from a small seed which was thrown on the ground by Rod. Its roots are hidden in Nav, bore passes through the earthly kingdom and the crown supporting Irij.

It still seemed incomplete so the god breathed on the ground - and the wind stroked the leaves of the trees and caressed the grass. Out of his breath, the one and only, goddess of love was born. She was named Lada.

Yet the land still seemed disordered so he created his children, the other gods who must keep the order of the Earth. The humans followed and lastly, a haven for all the dead, for, what once was born must one day die. That was the fifth balance.

He populated the kingdom of heaven by Gods. Then he together with Lada created a mighty god of the sun, Dazhbog. Breathing life into him, Dazhbog who paved the path of the sun across the sky. They created another goddess Zorya, who paved the path of the moon across the night sky. That was the sixth balance.

Yet, even after all the work, he still had one decision to make. He needed to choose a king of the gods. So he nominated Perun who received the crown. That was the seventh, and last balance.

Then, once Rod was done with all his creations, he felt unexplainable happiness and simply, with a smile, disappeared.

All was finally balanced.