Myths of the Russian People. Spirits and Demons, Witches and Sorcerers, the Afterlife and Its Inhabitants

Myth is an unscientific way of describing the world and at the same time a system of accumulated knowledge about the surrounding reality. In other words, mythology is a folk equivalent of science. This book tells about the myths of the Russian people, the initial composition of which was formed by the time when the fragmented East Slavic tribes united into a state - Kievan Rus. The myths are presented based on oral traditions collected by ethnographers and folklorists over the last century and a half. Many pre-Christian beliefs are still alive in folk tradition, giving us the opportunity to present what the mythology of the Eastern Slavs was like in ancient times. The book will allow the reader to get acquainted with the religious ideas and beliefs of the past and will help to better understand the present.