Divine Lineage of Europe Part 2
by KalinIn my first article I discussed the more relevant myths of divine progenitors and their bloodlines. In this installment I will go over some of the more obscure myths that may have been glossed over previously. I stated previously that it could only be inferred Slavs had a story of divine descendants. I was ignorant in saying that, as I will illustrate below.
In the Kievan era story The Tale of Igor's Campaign there is a character by the name of Boyan who is said to be the grandson of Veles. He is a respected wizard in Yaroslav the Wise's court who accompanies Igor in his raid against the Cumans. His name is also heavily associated with bards and it's thought that Boyan could actually be the Rus name for Skald.
"Oh, Boyan, the nightingale of yore! If you were to sing the glory of the (Russian) campaign, like a nightingale would you soar over the tree (of wisdom), soaring in your mind up under the clouds and singing the glory of both these ages. You would race along the trail of Trojan, over the prairies and the mountains. And the god Veles' grandson would sing Igor's song" - The Tale of Igor's campaign
Another example of divine ancestry and possibly lineage for Slavs would be the Slavic God Rod. Rod's name could mean "Family" or "Genus" which would lend credit to the God being a representation of the ancestors.
In Finnish folklore and mythology there is a tale of a mythical king and giant named Kaleva. In Finnish stories He has twelve sons, three of them being Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and Hiisi. They are often described as giants in Finnish myth and are said to have left Finland to an island due to Christianization. The name of the Finnish national epic, Kalevala, also means "Land of Kaleva" and in that epic, Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen are referred to as ancestors while they were worshipped as Gods as well.
"Already while reading the previously collected poems, especially those collected by Ganander, I wondered if not poems about Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen, and other ancestors of ours who are still remembered could be found in a sufficient amount for a lengthier compilation, such as the Greeks, Icelanders, and others have done about their ancestors."
- Elias Lönnrot in the Foreword of the Kalevala, 1835.
The Irish God Donn is the God of the underworld and thought to be the progenitor of the Irish people. In Irish myth Donn tells his descendants to gather at Tech Duinn (the House of Donn) when they die. To go to the House of Donn means to die in Irish tradition. Christian writers eventually made the myth of Donn into Èber Donn who is a son of Míl Espáine (a descendant of Noah) and a legendary ancestor to the Irish people. Donn and Èber Donn share similarities in name and it should be noted that Èber is said to have died on his way to Ireland and was buried on an island. Tech Duinn is also thought to be a rock off the southwest coast of Ireland, the same place where Èber Donn crashed.
Another example I did not include previously is Seaxnēat the national god of the Saxons who is very similar to Yngvi-Freyr. The Saxon Genealogy of Kings originally listed him as the first. He is mentioned alongside Woden and Thunaer in the Old Saxon Batismal Vow.
"And I forsake all the Devil's works and promises,Thunaer and Woden and Seaxnot and all those devils who are their followers." - Old Saxon Baptismal Vow
There is evidence to suggest he is the same as Yngvi-Freyr, the progenitor of the Yngling Dynasty. One similarity is both of them being the first recorded king and spawning a dynasty, but this is mostly speculation.
My first essay focused more on the most complete and relevant myths such as those mentioning Tuisto and the Ynglings. In this article it was more focused on obscure and in some cases incomplete myths of divine lineage. They all have the same implications, that we are the descendants of the Gods in the most literal sense. A note on Tale of Igor's Campaign, it was written when paganism was still very strong in the Kievan Rus but still had some very Christian elements which is to be taken into account when reading.
Thank you for reading