Sit with me here, near the fire, and listen to one of the most beautiful Slavic fairytales about Vasilisa the beautiful.

Hosted by Karmen

What is it about werewolves that makes them so captivating? Is it their transformation from human to beast? The idea of being out of control and murderous when the moon is full? Or is it something more primal and basic, something to do with our fear of the wild and the unknown?

 Hosted by Karmen

Music: Efter Storm by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Imagine divine, steep and white cliffs standing defiantly over majestic waves. Its tops are made of rich green carpet and low vegetation is the only thing that has managed to resist strong gusts of wind for years. In the middle, like a magical fortress, stands a wooden temple surrounded by palisades. 

The walls of the temple were decorated with paintings and there was only one entrance. There were two rooms in the building, one of which consisted of several pillars and beautiful curtains, contained the temple's most revered idol - Svetovid and his full combat equipment: the sword, as well as the bridle and saddle of his horse, which was kept here in the temple.

This was Jaromarsburg famously know as Arkona – the majestic Slavic temple that stood defiantly against Christians, just as the cliffs it was built on stood over waves.

Hosted by Karmen



Music: Fantasy Ambience Music by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sources:
https://www.spottinghistory.com/
https://6region.ru/

Enjoy beautiful Slavic fairytale Bridesman Sun and Bride Bridekins by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić

Music by Jonathan Segev

They are beauties from fairytales, almost always in long white dresses, with long golden yellow combed hair, with blue or green eyes, with a floral garland on the head, a sweet voice, swift and slender. They're the epitome of beauty.  It is said that they seduced young men by contacting them in their sleep. It is also narrated that someone would fall in love with them and spend their whole life looking for them.

 They are fairies, or in our case – Vile.

Music by Darren Curtis

We've all heard stories of vampires, werewolves and witches, but there is a breed that remains virtually unknown and often misunderstood. Krsnici are not what you think them to be.

Far from being spell casters or creatures of the night, they are actually the opposite — a powerful race chosen by birth to battle the demons of the world. They have exceptional spiritual and physical strength, heightened senses, and an innate ability to control and often times manipulate the forces of nature.

She is the patron saint of women and women's affairs, the steward of our destinies and the goddess of fertility. They imagined her as a woman with a big head and long arms who visits houses and oversees everything, rewarding those who are valuable, and punishing those who are not. The great mother earth— the goddess Mokosh.

Music by Darren Curtis

Hundreds of years ago, Slavic peoples lived in scattered villages far from the light and warmth of the big cities. In that time, myths, traditions and folk tales were passed down from generation to generation.

The Slavs believed that mysterious creatures inhabited the forests, mountains, field and lakes around them. As centuries went by, enchanting fairytales were born, creating a still-living mythology full of magical tales.

This is one of them.

The Laughing Prince
Jugoslav Folk and Fairy Tales

Notes: Contains 14 folktales of the Slavic people. As the author of this book states in the preface, these folk and fairy tales do not relate only to the people inhabiting the lands of ex-Yugoslavia, but rather to all Slavic people (Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Ukraine).

Author: Parker Fillmore
Published: 1921
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace And Company, USA

The forest is mysterious, yet enchanting. For thousands of years, ancient civilizations have looked upon the evergreen woodlands as a magical place for healing, foraging, and revere as sacred ground. 

Throughout our history, since ancient times, it has been a magical place that awakens the imagination and hides the world of amazing, magical beings. Nature has always been an ally of men, satisfying our different needs. 

Starting from spiritual ones such as peace, tranquility and silence to material ones such as firewood, food source, tools and weapon materials, or simply – shelter. 

Myths and superstitions of the ancient Slavs represented nature in a different way from that of the modern world in which we live. Today, the forest still hides an amazing world in which plants, animals, trees and numerous mystical creatures continue to play an essential role, which, at least in Slavic oral traditions, have been especially important and influential since ancient times evoking both fear and respect.

We are the last ones who can still remember these times. We spread the knowledge acquired over hundreds of years, developing skills and being a link between the past and present. Once upon a time, the world of forests was no less mysterious than that of the oceans, thick and impenetrable, as stories of strange encounters made their way around the campfire.

 This is one of these stories. A story about magical creatures of Croatia’s forests and fields.

 
Host: Karmen Fodrek
Music: Darren Curtis

Among the ancient Slavs there was a general conviction that in the sky heights, above the clouds, there was an almighty deity who governed lightning and thunder, rain and storms, but also ruled the earthly world.  Very early on, the myth of the thundering god, the lord of lightning, was born in the heavenly vault, creating noise while riding in his magical carriage.

Talking about the supreme Slavic pantheon, we can't escape the power and fame of this god. His reign is both heavenly and ethereal, dark and bright, rainy and sunny. He's the god who left the richest legacy in our lore. In personal names, poems, stories, in the names of villages, mountains and plants, as well as on people themselves. He is a representative of stormy skies followed with magnificent thunders – the almighty Perun.

Music by Darren Curtis