Lapwing is a small but memorable bird. It belongs to the plover family, but some people mistakenly confuse it with the passerine or pigeon family. In common parlance, this species is known as a harbinger of spring, as it is the first to return home from wintering. For catchy appearance people nicknamed her the piglet.
The size of the lapwing is similar to a pigeon or jackdaw. Males are slightly larger than females, but this is not their main difference. During their life, individuals can grow up to 30–33 centimeters in length, while males are more massive and weigh 200–250 grams, females weigh 170–200 grams. The body is oval, a small head sits on a short neck. The beak is not massive, short, but looks strong, with a seal at the head, bent slightly downward. The eyes are set clearly to the side, have a round shape, large, shiny, black and burgundy color. The body stands on long legs, which are equipped with four long toes. Legs are red or crimson. The tail is long and very mobile. An expressive feature is the long, sharp black tuft on the back of the head. The wing length of an adult is about 25 - 27 centimeters, which means the wingspan is about 55 centimeters. If you look at a bird during flight, you will notice that some have a wing that is more rounded at the end, flat and wide. These are males. Females have thinner and sharper wings.
Interesting to know! Often, hunters notice the lapwing because of its distinctive color scheme. But catching a bird is not so easy, especially when it rises into the air. Chibis is very fast, has excellent aerodynamics and can break away from any pursuit
Over the course of a year, representatives of the species change color several times. This occurs before mating in the spring and before leaving for the winter in the fall. Winter colors are calmer in both males and females. For mating, the male becomes colorful, attractive, and provocative. The female simply saturates her colors with color.
The attire of males during the mating season is very beautiful. The top of the head, crest, front facial part, crop and breast are black, and appear blue in the sun. The abdomen, up to the undertail, and the wings closer to the body are white. The upper tail feathers and feathers under the belly are red and brown, sometimes copper. The lower tail feathers are white. The underside of the wing feathers is bordered with red and brown colors. On the outermost, long feathers, the edges are white. Scruff and side heads are white. The back and top of the wings are very contrasting, multi-colored, the tones shine in the sun, creating a beautiful play of colors. There are blue tints, green, emerald, gold, black and purple.
During mating, females are distinguished from males by the presence of brown tones in the color scheme. Their colors don’t shimmer as much, they’re duller. The crest is shorter. Golden fluff appears on the white parts of the head, nape and belly. But in winter these differences are practically invisible. Young people look like adults in winter guise. But their wings are duller, and some feathers have ocher stripes. Newly hatched and not yet fledged chicks sport brown, brown and black down on the tops of their bodies. The bottom is dirty white. There is a noticeable white border around the neck.
Singing lapwing bird
Some believe that they named the bird in tune with its song. In normal circumstances, individuals make beautiful sounds, but when danger approaches, they begin to frantically shout out the sounds “chi bi, chi wee.” The volume and tone are such that some predators decide to retreat. The mating song performed by males in flight is similar in sound, but has a different tone. It is accompanied by vibrating and buzzing sounds from the wing feathers.
Range and habitats
The lapwing has populated all of Europe and Asia in the middle and southern latitudes. The length of the range is from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The flocks do not go higher, to the north, preferring a temperate and warm climate. But sometimes representatives of the species can be found in taiga areas or near the Arctic Circle. It occupies almost all of Europe, except the north and Greece; in Russia it prefers southern areas. Migration to wintering begins towards the end of September. Then the individuals gather in flocks of up to 20 pairs, flying in an elongated formation, not high. They prefer to move during daylight hours. Wintering destinations are the southern coasts of Africa, the Mediterranean coast, Persia, Asia Minor, China, India, and the southern parts of Japan.
Interesting to know! If, during the period when the lapwing is in its native places, the weather worsens sharply, a cold cyclone arrives, the flock can take off and spontaneously fly south. Traveling long distances is not a problem for the species. The flock will stay there for several days and return when the weather warms up.
Returning home falls at the end of February - beginning of April. This is a very early date for the rest of the family, so the lapwing is the first harbinger of warmth in this regard. Upon arrival, it colonizes areas with few trees and low vegetation. These can be areas near water bodies or dry, open meadows, lowlands, fields. They can even settle near places where people live, villages or villages, with adjacent pastures. In the northern regions, it chooses peat and marshy areas with an abundance of deciduous and grassy areas for habitat.
What does lapwing eat?
The lapwing's diet consists exclusively of animal food; berries, seeds or plants do not suit it. The menu is based on small invertebrates, insects, and larvae. Individuals hunt and eat:
- Mosquitoes, midges, flies, their larvae.
- Grasshoppers, crickets, locusts.
- Worms, centipedes, snails.
- Beetles and their eggs.
Flocks that settle near people if they are engaged agriculture, very helpful. Birds are excellent at reducing the number of beetles and insects harmful to plants by catching and eating them. Birds hunt in sown and planted meadows and fields, looking for food in the ground, on plants, and catching prey in the air. Thus, the harvest is preserved, because the lapwing not only destroys pests, but also does not harm the plants. Farmers value these birds very much, but it is not safe for them to live near people, since hunters constantly harm them and reduce the population.
Reproduction and offspring
The mating season opens immediately upon arrival home. This can happen at the beginning of spring, or maybe later, it all depends on the weather. First, the male prepares. He chooses a place, a site, a territory in which he prepares holes in advance - nests, several at once. Then he begins to fly actively, making turns, demonstrating his prowess. He accompanies the females who pay attention to him to the nests, offering to choose the one they like. During the viewing, the male continues to actively demonstrate his beauty, straightening his chest and tail. It happens that several females decide to form a pair with him at once, then the birds form a small colony, nesting separately.
[stextbox id=’info’]Interesting to know! Many observers who have witnessed lapwing courtship note that this process looks both beautiful and comical. The feathered suitor, in his attempts to conquer his partner, is ready for any tricks and actions. But this approach brings positive results!
The nesting site is a hole dug in the soil, which is covered with leaves, grass and rags collected nearby. From 2 to 5 eggs are laid in it, but more often 3-4. The eggs are not large, slightly pointed at the top, wide at the bottom. They have a lot of black and brown inclusions. The main background can be varied - opal, brown, blue, greenish. Both individuals engage in incubation, but this happens only at the very beginning. Then the female takes on this role, and the male is engaged in exploring the territory and searching for food. The entire colony is involved in protecting the settlement; in case of danger, everyone begins to chase the troublemaker until he is driven away. Young lapwings hatch after 30 days of incubation.
When five weeks have passed, it is mid-July. By this time, the chicks can already fly tolerably well and, together with the adults, set off to roam. They circle in search of food over nearby swampy areas and meadows. Food is mainly taken from the ground - grasshoppers, locusts, caterpillars, beetles and larvae.
Dangers and enemies of the lapwing bird
Lapwing is able to adapt well. While other families are forced to leave the area, which people are beginning to develop and improve, in order to create sowing areas, the lapwing has learned to get along there and even bring benefits to people. That's why human factor from this side it cannot be called a danger to the population of the species. But the proximity to people threatens the lapwing population because numerous hunters are not averse to shooting at the birds, especially when they know for sure that they live nearby. In addition, many nests, and with them clutches, are destroyed by large harvesting equipment involved in harvesting and other work, and this is also significant damage to the species. In some regions the situation is different. There people abandon their lands, and the fields and meadows are overgrown with wild bushes. The lapwing is forced to leave its favorite places, which also negatively affects its numbers.
Frequent attacks on nests in order to steal eggs or recently hatched chicks are carried out by large predator birds- crows, hawks, seagulls, rooks. Sometimes they succeed, but the lapwing constantly monitors and at the first sign of danger, the flock begins to actively attack the raiders, chasing them, trying to hit them with its beak, creating a lot of noise. After such a raid, the predator usually retreats.
Species status and commercial value
In the ancient times of the Slavs, the lapwing was respected among people. It was believed that widows and mothers who had lost their children were reborn into it. Catching and killing a bird was considered blasphemy. IN modern world such customs and beliefs have long been forgotten. Hunters specifically look for bird habitats and try to take as much prey as possible. There is no industrial breeding of the species, unless individual farms are engaged in its popularization for personal purposes. Therefore, hunters are the only breadwinners and small fishermen.
Regular checks and observations by ornithologists do not indicate a critical reduction in the number of lapwings. Its adaptability and livability allows it to keep its population at the proper level. This has a positive effect long life birds, from 15 to 20 years. During this time, they manage to give birth to many offspring, making a contribution to the survival of the population. Sometimes you can observe such phenomena when flocks number up to several hundred heads, they circle over the area in a chaotic manner, forming an incredible spectacle.
Nutritional value of lapwing
IN European countries Eating dishes prepared from lapwing meat and its eggs is common. Residents note that the meat is very tender, amenable to any type of heat treatment and has an excellent taste. Eggs are even more valuable than the bird itself. During roosting in April and May, they are specially collected and eaten in large quantities. For example, in Poland, delicious omelettes are prepared from lapwing eggs for breakfast, and in Holland, stewed, fried or baked meat is served with all sorts of sauces. In Russia, as in other countries where this species is common, it is also readily used in cooking.
Interesting to know! The meat of adult birds takes on a red tint, which gives dishes made from it or from whole poultry carcasses a special aesthetics and mystery.
The meat is dietary and is recommended for consumption by people who are on a diet and who care about their health. It is full of beneficial vitamins, minerals and other components, which is a big plus. These components have a lot of positive effects on the human body, taking into account that such nutrition is regular. The benefits include improved condition of the skin, hair, teeth, and nails. Dietary meat relieves stress on the stomach and intestinal tract, reduces cholesterol levels and insulin levels. A person gains energy and vitality, feels full faster and needs less food. The positive effect extends to the cardiovascular and nervous systems. Although lapwing cannot be bought at the regular market, it can be obtained from people living in villages and villages. The value of its meat cannot be exaggerated, which means it is worth spending time and money on its purchase.
Bird Mother Swa
The Great Goddess testifies: one of her names is the Bird Mother Swa. I guessed this. Svanur is Icelandic for swan. The root "svan" is included in other words that are associated with the name of the snow-white bird. Sva - swan, swan in the ancient dialect. Icelandic scientist Snorri Sturluson wrote about the country of Great Svitjod, which is located in southeastern Europe. In the 13th-century Old Norse work “What Lands Lie in the World,” Velikaya Svitjod is called the easternmost part of Europe:
“In that part of the world is Europe, and its easternmost part is the Great Svitod. The Apostle Philip came there to baptize. In that state there is a part called Russia, we call it Gardariki. The main cities there are Moramar, Rostov, Surdalar, Holmgard, Surnes, Gadar, Palteschia, Kanugard.”
In this passage, the Scandinavian names of Russian cities sound not entirely familiar to the reader: Murom, Rostov, Suzdal, Novgorod, Polotsk, Kyiv. It is not entirely clear which cities are named Surnes and Gadar. The connection between Great Svitod and Rus' is very important. Rus' is part of the Great Svitod.
Sweden is named in sources of the same circle and time simply as Svitjod. Svitjod-Sweden is one of the lands where some of the Aesir and Vanir moved. But before they lived precisely in Velikaya Svityod, or in its immediate vicinity. To this we only need to add that peoples and tribes were in constant motion. One could recall the settlement of the descendants of Noah, which the Bible talks about, but it does not seem possible to consider this settlement completed at least by the beginning of the era, by the birth of Christ. Divine destiny has been fulfilled for thousands of years. That is why it is impossible to delineate the boundaries of the lands of the Aesir and Vanir at once for a long time. You can depict their routes, their paths - this has already been discussed in Asgard.
Along the way, they created states that are remembered in both Russian and Scandinavian sources. The Ases and Vanirs who came to Svitjod-Sweden collected tribute from the local residents. In the same way, Russian princes collected tribute from the Slavic tribes.
Svitod in its name contains two roots. Svi-tiod. The second of them means “people”, “people”. The first is the name. Translation: people of Swan, Swan. In Asgard, when explaining this, I called the name of the Sun God Shivani (Shivini). And his name was correlated with the name of Svitjod-Sweden. God was depicted in Urartu as a winged solar disk. Sun bird.
It seems to me that the connection between the roots is difficult to deny. But first of all, one should be interested in the closest parallels. This was not done in Asgard: I did not mention the parallel with the name of the great goddess. Then I was not yet sure that Swa was one of her names. Not only because she did not confirm my guess, but also because she did not have time to fully study the source in which this name is often mentioned. What kind of source is this?
Vlesov's book. That's what they call him.
Experts from the USSR Academy of Sciences more than three decades ago declared this book a fake. Reason: Some letters are not written as they should be. There are errors in their spelling. During the Civil War, wooden tablets with text were found. Copies of the text reached the experts' desk.
But the wooden planks could not be original. The records were made much earlier than the initial Russian chronicle. I think that the tablets themselves, unfortunately lost, must be the third or fourth copy from the original that has not reached us. This is the priestly book of the Slavs-Russians. And errors are simply bound to creep into the copies. Now, if the text were error-free, then it is reasonable to assume that a falsifier was trying. He would have worked with the material skillfully and would not have allowed dubious writing of signs.
I studied the text of this ancient Russian book. I can firmly say: it is impossible, unthinkable, to fake it. The Mother Swa bird is the main character of many wooden tablets. Their copies are sacred.
The same mediation of the Vanir (and Aesir) brought faith in the goddess to the Oka, to the Vyatichi, and to the Dnieper. And much further west and north, the swan was considered a sacred bird.
This opens our eyes to the ancient mystery of the land of Velikaya Svitod. The existence of Lebedia is also confirmed by Old Scandinavian sources! Svitjod-Sweden repeats the name of this land and the union of tribes.
And now we must give the floor to the most ancient of Russian authors. No matter how heterogeneous material the pre-chronicle book contains, its unity is felt - a sign of a long tradition, processing of sources that have not reached us in a single key. First of all, let’s listen to discussions about the attitude towards antiquities, towards ancestors, towards their culture (in my translation I tried to be closer to the original):
“In vain we forget the valor of our former days and go to God knows where. And so we look into the past and say! For we were ashamed to know Nav and Rule and to know and understand both sides. It was Dazhdbog who created them for us and this is the same as the light of dawn shining for us. In those ancient days, Dazhdbog commanded our land to be held, and all the souls of our ancestors are the light of dawn from paradise. But the Greeks ran into Rus' and are doing evil in the name of their gods, but we are men who do not know where to go and what to do. For what is in the Rule is invisibly laid down by Dazhdbog, first of all, flowing in Revealing, and that created our bellies, and if it departs, there will be death. Reality is the current of what was previously created in the Rule. Nav is what comes next, and before it is Nav and after it is Nav, and in Prav there is already Reality.
Let us learn from antiquity and turn our souls to it, since it is around us, the power created by the gods, and then we will see in ourselves that which is given as a gift from the gods, and not as a vainly passing need.
It is the souls of our ancestors who look at us from paradise and there Zhalya cries and reprimands us for the fact that we neglect the Rule, Navya and Reality, we neglect to seek the truth and therefore are unworthy to be Dazhdboz’s grandchildren.
We pray to the gods that our soul and body may be pure and that our life will merge with our forefathers who died in God into one truth. So we will be Dazhdboz's grandchildren. See, Rus', how great the divine mind is and how it is one with us and glorify it with the gods together. For our life is transitory and we must work, just like our horses, while living on earth.”
Another fragment is related to the topic.
“...So, we gave birth, because the Greek foxes lied and deprived us of land by cunning and said that the sun was against us.
Our numbers multiplied, but we did not gather together. And one thousand three hundred years after the Carpathian exodus, the evil Askold attacked us and then my people became embittered from the evil that was happening and went under our banners, asking for protection.
Our Svarog is mighty, but not other gods. If there is no outcome other than death, then even that does not frighten us, if we are doomed to it, for if Svarog calls us, we go to him, because we go because Mother Sva sings a war song, and we must listen to her so as not to give our herbs to the Greeks and cattle, and so that they don’t give us stones, here, they say, gnaw, fortunately you have hard and sharp teeth. And they tell us that we are monsters and at night we bring fear to people, that is, to the same Greeks.
Peoples ask us, who are we? And we have to answer them that we are people who do not have land, and we are ruled by the Greeks and Varangians (Vriazis).
What will we answer to our children when they spit in our eyes and are right?
So, squad, let us gather under our banners and say: we have nothing to eat, let us gather in the field and take what we have from the Greeks, and we will not take what we do not eat, for Mother Swa sings over us. Let's let our banners flutter in the wind and let our horses gallop across the steppe, kicking up dust behind us! And let the enemies breathe it in!
That day was our first slaughter and we had two hundred killed for Rus'. Eternal glory to them! And people came to us, but there were no leaders. Let them come!
The fragments we have just read give us the opportunity to appreciate the depth of the views of our ancestors. Three worlds Rule, Reality, Nav. They are well known to the Slavs. Rule this is the subtle world. The same heavenly world from which the gods appear under different names. This is the father of the sky Svarog, Dazhdbog, Perun, and other gods. This is the great goddess Bird Mother Swa. Let me remind you of her other names: Rozhanna, goddess of the Cro-Magnons, Isis, Aphrodite, Bagbartu, Anahita, Mother of God, Virgin Mary, Swan Goddess.
The image of a bird goddess with a sword is found among Novgorod antiquities. We already know that it was the Mother of God who helped win victories over the enemies of the Russian land. Let's make sure of this again:
“So let’s celebrate a glorious funeral feast for our enemies! Let's fly to Korsun with falcons, take food and goods and livestock, but we won't overwhelm the Greeks. They consider us evil, but in Rus' we are good, and the one who takes someone else’s property is not with us, but says that he brings good. Let's not be like them! For there is one who will lead our army, and for him we will try to work and defeat our enemies to the last. We will attack them like falcons and rush into a fierce battle, because Mother Swa sings in the sky about the feats of arms! And we will leave our homes and go against the enemies, so that they will recognize the Russian swords cutting through the army.
Don’t say that we have nothing else but to go forward and back, don’t say that we don’t have a backside, but only a front - but we walk quickly, and whoever walks quickly receives glory, and whoever walks slowly, over the crows croak (lying on not kriashut) and the chickens laugh (kurove klenchut).
We are not a herd, but pure Russians. And this is a lesson to others, so that they know that Rule with us and we are not afraid of Navi, since Navi has no power over us. Therefore, we must pray to the gods for help in our military labors and try, since Mother Swa beats her wings (biiaschet kroidlem) for the military labors and the glory of the warriors who drank the living water from the featherweed in a fierce battle.
And this feather fly flies to us and gives a horn full of living water to our Pride, who struck with a sword and laid down his violent head.
So, for us there is no death, there is only eternal life, and brother always takes care of brother.
And when he dies, he goes to the meadows of Svarog... This is none other than a proud Russian, and not a Greek or a Varangian, this is a Slavic member of the Slavic family, and he goes with the chants of the mother of warriors and the Mother of Sva to your meadows, great Svarog. And Svarog says to him: go, my son, to that eternal beauty and there you will see your grandfathers and mothers, and they will rejoice and be glad when they see you. They have cried a lot until this day, but now they can rejoice in your eternal life until the end.
And in this beauty Nav appears to us and our warriors are different from the Greeks, our glory is different. But we will come to our paradise and see red flowers, and trees, and meadows, and there will be plenty of hay and bread from those fields, and barley and millet we will collect in Svargov’s bins, since there are different riches there, not the same as on the earth, where the dust , and illness, and suffering.
The peaceful days of eternity will flow.
We will stand in his place and take the battle, and when we fall with glory, we will go there, just like him. For Mother Swa beats her wings on her sides, the goddess herself shines with light above us, and each of her feathers is beautiful - red, blue, light blue, yellow, silver, gold and white.
She shines like the sun, and her sons walk beside her, for she shines with unearthly beauty, which was bequeathed to us from our gods. And seeing her, Perun thunders in the clear sky, and this is our honor.
We must give our strength to see this. Let us cut off the old life, just as houses left behind by firemen are dissected and chopped for firewood.
Mother Swa beats her wings, and we walk under our banners, for these are the banners of warriors.”
In the following lines we're talking about about the ancestors of the Rus. This is far from the only such place in the book. It does not fully reflect what happened. Elsewhere in the book one can read differently; Oral traditions, often scattered, are collected bit by bit and united in this amazing monument of Russian writing.
“Perun walks there, shaking his golden head, and sending lightning into the blue sky. And it frowns because of it. And the Mother sings about her military labors. And we must listen to her and wish for hot battles for our Rus' and our shrines (prasvntotse).
Mother Swa shines in the clouds like the sun (sun) and announces victories to us. But we are not afraid of death (zgenbeli), since there is eternal life and we must know that compared to the eternal, earthly things are nothing. We are on earth like sparks, and we will disappear as if we were never here.
The glory of our fathers will remain with Mother Sva until the end of earthly and other life. We are not afraid of death, because we are descendants of Dazhdbog, who gave birth to us, who mixed the blood of the Scythians, Ants, Rus, Borusins and Surozhians - they became the grandfathers of the Rus. Singing we go into the blue sky of Svarogovo...
And the Dulebs were pushed back to Borus. There are few Lirs left, those who are called Ilmerians. They sat down near the lake. Here the Vendians moved on, and the Ilmerians remained there. There were few of them left, and they called themselves polyans (polenshe).
And Mother Swa beats her wings and sings a battle song, and this bird is not the sun itself, but it all began from her.”
Many lines of this book return us to ancient views, to poetry, to a unique worldview. The gods and the great goddess are not the decoration of pages written by mortals, but life itself, main part peace. This, of course, was no longer understood in the time of A.N. Afanasyev and other representatives of the “mythological school,” which reduced the images and role of gods to the level of meteorological phenomena. A tragic feature of recent times is the extreme vulgarization of the main foundations of human knowledge. Let us return again to the roots, to wisdom and poetry.
“And here you need to know that the Russian family is coming together... and this is how we fight our enemies. There is no number of heads of the defeated. And when the enemies are killed, let the beasts of prey, eating them, die.
Great rivers flow through Rus' and many waters murmur ancient songs.
And those boliari who were not afraid to go into the fields of the Goths (until half a year), and for many years cared about Russian freedom - these Slavs did not take care of anything, not even their lives, as Bereginya says about them. And Mother Swa beats her wings and this bird tells about the heroes of Borusinsk, who fell from the Romans near the Danube near the Trojan Wall - they died without a funeral feast. The fast winds dance, weeping for them in the fall, and in the cold winters they wail about them (gurloihaschet o anh). And wild pigeons and birds sing (joke) that they died in glory, but did not leave their land to their enemies. We are their sons and descendants and will not give our land to either the Varangians (Vrenz) or the Greeks.
Now the red dawn comes to us as a good wife and gives us a prince (baby) so that our strength and strength will double. For the dawn is the messenger of the Sun. Let us also listen to the equestrian messenger who gallops towards sunset, whose golden boat heads into the night. And there will be a white cart, drawn by peaceful oxen across the blue steppe, where the sun goes to sleep at night (in the sky). And again, when the day comes to an end, another horse will appear before the evening - and so will tell the sun that the carts and oxen are there waiting for him on the Milky Way (the milky way), that the dawn shed in the steppe, called by Mother Swa to hurry.”
“We walked through the Syrian mountains...” There is such a line in the Book of Vles. I was not surprised that the Slavs or related tribes came from Syria. I think this is the only way the author of this fragment included in the book could have given a general name to the lands south of the Caucasus, where the Vanir tribes actually came from, or more precisely, their eastern branch. Many centuries have passed. The new editor of the book apparently leaves Syria and the Syriac names, but cannot understand the Urartian and Assyrian - earlier ones. After all, the Assyrian cuneiform on the steles of the kings of Urartu is silent, it is no longer understood. History, at the whim of the laws, becomes again - after a long written tradition! - the property of storytellers, priests, she turns to oral sources. The names of lands are inevitably modernized: the old ones are forgotten, not understood, excluded from texts, which, however, continue to live for centuries after they were written down.
With penetration into the secret of the Great Svitod, inhabited not least by the Wend Vanir, the drawing of the ancient book becomes transparent. After some of the Wends left for the west, Great Svitod remained to live in their memory, even when they, in alliance with the Aesir, reached Scandinavia. Another name for this land (Swan) is very well known to the Huns, who were forced to leave it after battles with the Slavs.
The bird Mother Sva, the Swan Goddess gave the name to this land.
I am sure that the ancient book should therefore be called differently. A cursory mention of Vles does not give any basis for the former (conditional) name. I will call it the “Swan Book”, which fully reflects the setting, the main events and the role of the great goddess.
Kiy, Shchek and Horiv are known to us from the chronicle. In The Swan Book they are mentioned without Sister Swan. This is understandable: the book is much older than the chronicle, it clearly remembers and distinguishes the great goddess from mortal princes and tribal leaders and cannot call her their sister. Of course, in the chronicles of the Christian period in Rus', the Swan Goddess could only appear under a different name - a Christian one.
Anyone coming to the city can see the modern monument to the founders of Kyiv Kiy, Shchek, Khoriv and Lybid above the Dnieper. It aroused in me an irresistible desire to rescue the past of Lebedia, personified in the form of a sister, from oblivion.
From a historical point of view, Lybid-Swan in the Russian chronicle embodies in its image the entire ancient land of the Slavs between the Dnieper and Don. The word “sister” emphasizes the affinity of languages, peoples, tribes that participated in the creation and formation of Kievan Rus.
In my works I call Thrace, Asia Minor and some areas of Transcaucasia the Trojan-Thracian region. It roughly corresponds to the states of Proto-Europeans and Slavs during the Hittite rule. Thrace has always been close to the Asia Minor coast with its culture. Many tribes spoke related languages or dialects of the same language. Having founded states here in the second and first millennia BC, the ethnic group gradually shifted north, flowing around the Pontus (Black Sea) on both sides, east and west. There, in the north, new cities were founded, old customs were brought to life, and what was remembered from ancient times was written down. This is how the “Swan Book” was written, dating back to the Trojan-Thracian region; remembering both the Wends and the Thracians, two streams of which met approximately at the borders of the Dniester and Dnieper and founded cities. So sister Lybid entered into an alliance with the thundering chronicle brothers.
Some of the Thracians and Illyrians (close to the Thracians) went north. Near Lake Ilmen you can find traces of Illyrian antiquity. In Thrace there was a state of the Odrysians (Odryuss) - a contemporary of Rome. There were states in Illyria. They fought a hard battle with Rome. The Slavic ethnos moved north from Pontus and founded a new civilization there (Shcherbakov I.I. Century of Troyanov. Collection of Roads of Millennia. M., 1988, pp. 60-116). The fate of the Troyanothrace region after the Slavs left there is known. Persia and Byzantium still held out, but then succumbed to pressure from the southern and eastern hordes.
Opponents who do not recognize the authenticity of the book say that its author’s horizons are limited by the Carpathians in the west and the Volga in the east. Consequently, they say, the language of the monument belongs to the East Slavic languages. And they get down to business from these positions. But then from the Carpathians to the Volga there were many languages and tribal dialects. And in its language the book reflects entire eras. What language is it written in? And why are there, for example, Polonisms (an argument against authenticity!)?
What language is the Avesta written in? I’ll answer: two at once. And why are there Polonisms in Avesta too? I will answer: it is impossible to approach this with relatively recent standards (in relation to the periods of formation of the monument).
Other arguments of opponents: “impossible forms”, “lack of coordination”, different spellings of words. They simply do not know that even in very short Etruscan inscriptions there are a lot of equally different spellings and “impossibilities.” Yes, the writing of the book preserved tribal traditions and the influence of different dialects. If not, opponents will have to include the Goths of the Azov region into the East Slavic massif along with dozens of other tribes. Another argument: the names of the tribes from the book can be found in other sources. Are fantastic tribal names more convincing? And here is how the main opponent writes about the “permanent character”:
“Matyresva is a constant character in the book; it is, apparently, a wonderful bird (or deity) that glorifies the victories of the Russians.” Finger hitting the sky. I will answer him: Bird Mother Sva is the main character of the book, a great goddess, and the root word of her bright name remains even in modern Icelandic, despite the strictly comic instructions regarding the “outlook” from the Carpathians to the Volga - and only, neither here nor there.
Yes, in a collection book there must be dark places, mistakes of old and new copyists, “impossibility”, as in any genuine monument with a very difficult fate.
The images of the “Swan Book” are the property of many tribes that inhabited not only Swan. These images were imprinted on its pages for centuries and millennia; they became a living heritage of the civilization of the Trojan-Thracian region and the northern homeland of the Slavs. The general line of the narrative connects events of enormous length in time, starting with the ancient Vanir, Cimmerians and Thracians, episodes of the struggle with Rome (Romans), with the Greeks for the Black Sea cities, Goths and Huns, and ending with the prelude to Christianization.
Isn’t it true that “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” remembers both the Troyanov path and the time of Busovo? The similarity here is explained by tradition, long-standing and indisputable. An attentive historian and reader will find plenty of evidence of this, especially in The Swan Book. But the differences between the two written monuments are very significant, even striking. This is due to the difference in the depicted eras and from the language itself, images that are incomparably more ancient in the “Swan Book”.
Let me remind you: only a dialogue with the great goddess herself made it possible to understand, comprehend the discovery of the real Swan (Great Svitod) and find the key to the seemingly legendary names, events and customs: Bird Mother Sva - Goddess Swan - Swan - folk dances of the Vyatichi with the maiden - swan
This is an invaluable gift from the Mother of God.
The ideas about the world and its structure in The Swan Book are so deep that without any doubt they reflect the divine truth, the revelation that was given to the Slavs. There is no need to convince that this truth comes from the great goddess herself. People could, by virtue of free will, dispose of the gifts of heaven in one way or another. They chose their path. Different streams and phenomena of life connected and were at war with each other. That's what it is real story. Variants of views were combined or mutually excluded. The flow of time picked up what survived. The laws of life and struggle have not been canceled for our world.
This is what the divine “Swan Book” is about.
We wanted to open a world of ancient beliefs that would organically fit into the mainstream of our days, without dissolving in it and complementing our ideas, preserving its literal, and not figurative or allegorical meaning. It was more like a dream, even a secret dream.
And this dream is fulfilled in The Swan Book.
Above our heads, as before, as thousands of years ago, the enchanting image of the eternally young Swan Goddess shines.
“The Swan Book” directly answers the question about Carpatho-Thracian Rus', about the migration of the Rus to the east, to the Dnieper. It describes battles and clashes with the Goths and Huns, names the ancient names of the gods, talks about the Ants, the princes of immemorial pre-chronicle times, and the people's assembly.
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How the Soul sings from the Heavenly Light...
Irrigated with living dew.
Clean morning... spring morning
Fair-haired children under the cover of Heaven,
Collecting...
How I flew in boundless worlds
The bird Swa - flew in Eternity,
Yes, with a bright light ray I dropped a wondrous feather
In the morning fog to Mother Earth.
Where the feather falls,
A silver spring flows,
Along the earth, like a crystal stream, flowing.
Giver of Life to everyone,
Filling with the light of joy.
The sun is bright, reflective.
Oh my soul asks with jealousy
To Berezen - my Bright Rus'.
Beats with a white wing, the bird Swa from Heaven
Eternal Light above me - Light of the glow.
Call me or punish me
I will give you my true heart.
Divine bird. According to the tablets of Veles, Vyshen or Vyshny (the Most High) transmits Knowledge (Vedas), or the Fire of Faith, to the Russian people through his messenger Bird Mother Sva. Mother Sva sings glory and these words come from the Bird Vyshnya, from Svarga flying over Russia. And its fire is given by Mother Sva, and She brings glory on her wings to our forefathers. And Mother Swa calls to the Almighty, who sends wind through forests and fire to our hearths, then He comes to the rescue.
Bird Sva (Svarog). Gamayun. Sirin. Bird. She says, when fire and death are rushing towards us, turning Golun into a burnt area: “Gods, water and rain! For that land is poor, and ruined, and trampled by horses, since the ides take away her sons, flowing on horses across the earth.” And Sva spoke in our field, and beat her wings, and sang songs for the battle, and that bird is not the Sun, she is the one because of which everything happened. The bird Sva sings about the day when the Slavs united and created Ruskolan near Golun. And we waited for this time, when Svarozh’s wheels turn for us. This time will come after the song of Mother Swa. There is a bird that remembers and sings about the battles and civil strife of the Russians’ exodus from Semirechye. She will sit on a tree and begin to sing, and each of her feathers will be different and shine with different colors. And the night will become like day, and she will sing songs about Russian battles and civil strife. Look around - see that bird on your forehead! That bird will lead you to victories over your enemies, for you are its sons and therefore you will win! She, showing off in front of us, attracted us to her with light. And so it was in other times, when the Russians walked with the Vendians and they wanted to take their gods to the sea.
The name of Mother Swa is also in the Vedas of India. In the Mahabharata, She (Matarisvan) is called a descendant of Garuda, the “glorious, all-validated, long-lasting” Bird, whose race comes from Vishnu, who is the Supreme for Her. She is the messenger of the sun god Vivasvan, in the Russian tradition the sun god Vyshen-Dazhbog, the face of the Almighty for our Solar System . The Mother Bird (Materishvan), as well as Mother Swa, brings fire to the ancestors of the Aryans. In translations from Sanskrit, it is quite possible to write not as Matarisvan now, but simply as Mother Swa (Slavic myths). Mother Sva - Russian Mother. Steppe. Mother of the Sun. Bird, incarnation of the Great Mother - Lada. Patroness of Rus'. In the Veles Book, the image of the bird Swa combines the images of many folklore birds, primarily the Gamayun bird. Mother Swa beats her wings on both sides, as if in fire, all shining with light and rushes at her enemies - the Goths and the Huns. And all Her feathers are different: red, blue, red-brown, yellow, and silver, gold, and white. And she shines just like the Sun is a king, and She walks near Yasuni, and she also shines with the seventh beauty bequeathed by the gods. And Perun, seeing Her, will roar with thunder in that clear sky. And this is our happiness, and we must make every effort to see how they cut off our old life from the new, just as they cut wood in the houses of Ognishchansky. Mother Swa calls us to go for our land and fight for the hearths of our tribe, for we are Russians. Every time the enemy came against us, we ourselves took our swords and won victories. It was announced from Mother Swa that our future is glorious. And we flocked to death as to a holiday. We told Mother Swa when we suffered troubles: “Defend our land well!” Wende, they had shaky faith in Mother Swa, which is why they were often defeated by enemies. We sing songs to Mother Swa near the evening bonfires, where we tell in old words about our glory, about our holy Semirechye, where we had cities, where our fathers fought. And we left this land, going to another land, where we must now stay. Mother Sva predicted that we would take Golun, build cities and villages there, and prayed for us to preserve the glory of our fathers. But although we have been guarding our shrines for one thousand three hundred years, now our wives say that we are blessed, that we have lost our reason and we stand like lambs before our enemies, that we do not dare go into battle and defeat our enemies with a sword. Mother Swa sings glory to us, so that we sing about our campaigns against enemies, and we believe her, since this glory comes from the bird on high, flying across the sky of Russia from us. Mother Sva sings a song of praise. She is a beautiful bird that brought fire to our ancestors’ houses, and also received a lamb. We have been waiting for the time when Svarog’s wheels turn for us. This time will come after the song of Mother Swa. She sings about the labors of her soldiers. And we must listen to her and wish for a harsh battle for our Rus' and our shrines. Mother Swa shines in the clouds like the Sun and announces to us victory and death. But we must care about the eternal, because earthly things are nothing against it. We ourselves are on earth, like a spark, and will disappear in the darkness, as if we had never existed. The glory of our fathers will come to Mother Swa, and will remain in her until the end of the centuries of earthly and other life. And with this we are not afraid of death, for we are the descendants of Dazhbog, who gave birth to us through the cow Zemun. That bird Mother Swa is not the Sun, she is the one because of whom everything became. Mother Swa guards, protects us and spreads her wings in all directions, and our bodies are in the middle, and Yasuni’s head is on her shoulders in a glorious crown, she cannot lose it in the battle. The head of Mother Swa is yasun, and they protected it until this day.
Article from the Internet, my poems.
A long time ago, when oaks and birches whispered among themselves about something in the dense forests, the seas and rivers were filled with countless schools of fish, and the stars shone brighter, our ancestors felt themselves to be an integral part of nature, lived in harmony with it and obeyed its laws. Stones, waters, clouds, stars, grass, trees, animals, birds, people, gods - everything was one and interconnected.
Ancient people knew the answer. The basis of the universe was the will and power of the Great Goddess Mother Swa; once upon a time she was our pagan alpha and omega.
Her father was Chaos, Timelessness, Nothing. Mother - Black Abyss, Mist, Darkness. The goddess Sva herself is triple-faced. Her full name is the Great Goddess Sva, Mother of Time and Eternity, Space and Order, Daughter of Chaos and Mother of Mist. That is, she was born from the Mist and she gives birth to the Mist. She is eternal and endless, she is born, dies and is reborn again, she is unchanging and changeable. She is the essence of harmony. The famous video (loop line) of Andrei Voznesensky “Mothermothermothermother...” was not just the avant-garde indulgence of an aging poet.
The image of Mother Swa goes back to the Proto-Indo-European goddess of love, family and marriage, Matarisvan. In Sanskrit, "sva" ("shva") means "spirit". From this ancient root came the Russian words “one’s own, brother-in-law,” “light,” “holiness,” and the word “wedding,” so beloved by all women.
Over the centuries, Sva has lengthened to Slava, Slavuni. And we, Slavs, are mortal sons and daughters of the goddess Sva. We owe our self-name to the matriarchy that once dominated us. To this day, Rus' is under the invisible protection of women. And who came up with the idea that we should be controlled by a firm male hand?
To the ancient inhabitants of Eastern Europe, Mother Swa was imagined as a huge bird with a woman’s head and golden wings. She gave people heavenly fire, taught them to store it in hearths, plow the land and raise livestock.
At the same time, Sva-Slava is the goddess of victory, a formidable warrior, she is bright and hot, like the sun, she incinerates enemies and bathes the bravest and most courageous defenders of the fatherland in her rays. Her later folklore incarnations are the female birds Gamayun, Alkonst, Sirin, the Phoenix borrowed from the Greeks and, of course, the original Russian Firebird.
The goddess Sva gave birth to numerous other Slavic gods and deities. Having taken a piece of her soul from herself, she gave birth to Svarog, the supreme pagan god of the Russians. This suggests obvious analogies with the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, doesn’t it? When Svarog grew up, he knew his mother - their connection was not criminal, but divine. They had sons Dazhdbog and Perun and daughters Dennitsa and Diva. And then the grandchildren and granddaughters went: Kupava, Kolyada, Lada, Lelya, Kostroma, Veles, Ovsen, Yarilo, Stribog, Mokosh... Each god was “responsible” for one time or another, a natural phenomenon, human occupation and craft. Old Russian women especially revered Mokosh - the goddess of water, rivers, streams, swamps, lakes and seas, the daughter of Perun the Thunderer and the Diva of the Earth. So modern women It is no coincidence that they worship the water element - they often spend several hours in the bathroom, and during the summer holidays they strive to go to the sea and only to the sea.
The current residents of Russia have not believed in pagan gods for a long time. According to school history textbooks, we only remember that a wooden statue of Perun was symbolically floated down the river when Rus' adopted Christianity. A city famous for its shopping arcades, a monumental fire tower and both legendary and anecdotal Ivan Susanin. In honor of Lada - an even more anecdotal “masterpiece” of the domestic automobile industry.
The name of the Goddess Swa has been completely erased from our memory, and we increasingly use the word “glory” not only in relation to the true heroes of the nation, but also to all sorts of dubious persons from the world of show business. Maybe that’s why we are prone to disorder and sloppiness, we have lost touch with nature, we have stopped admiring and being inspired by the clear blue sky and the leisurely flow of majestic rivers, we do not feel the soul of stones and trees, we strive to trample, break, and squander everything. We do not remember our roots and origins, we do not follow age-old customs and traditions, we are insolent and contradict our parents, and we do not always treat women with due care and respect.
But the kind and wise Mother Swa forgives us. With her magical golden wing, she shelters us from troubles and misfortunes, caresses and consoles us, presses us to her chest, wipes away our tears and showers us with kisses.
Her love is unconditional, her generosity is limitless. A mighty and beautiful bird, Sva-Slava flies over the endless expanses of Russia, glorifies the resilience and valor of the people under her control, and illuminates the path to the future for us.
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