Russian Utopia: a depository

Moscow Parthenon
Ovchinnikov N. Moscow Parthenon 1997

Private collection
THE BIRCH is a sacred tree according to eastern Slavonic mythology. The birch was honoured as a feminine symbol at the time of the spring feast of Semik, when a blossoming tree was carried into the village and girls wore wreaths of foliage on their heads, bearing witness to traces of mythological comparisons of girls to the world tree. (The birch as a symbol of ritual innocence is found in Germanic, Baltic and Central Asian traditions as well.) The birch as a world tree with upturned roots appears in Russian spells. “In the Sea, In the Ocean, On the Island of Kurgan, stands the white birch with its branches below and its roots above.” The Eastern Slavonic name ‘Beryoza’ can be viewed also as a trace of the ancient Birch cult. The employment of the birch in the manufacturing of ritual symbols (as practiced by the “Byerezovshiki”, Old Believers in the Perm region) dates back to antiquity. In the second half of the Nineteenth century requests were composed to dryads on pieces of birch bark and were nailed to tree trunks. A comparable ritual role of runes carrying the meaning of ‘Birch’ is known to have existed among the ancient Germanic tribes, whose chief god Odin once nailed himself to the world tree in order to ascertain the meaning of the runes. Also of note is the probable existence among the Eastern Slavs in ancient times of the living spirit of the birch, akin to the Prussian Brusilius.
(Myths of the Peoples of the World. Encyclopedia. Volume 1. Moscow, 1987)

Utopia Foundation, Moscow




		`Ovchinnikov N. Moscow Parthenon 1997` Private collection THE BIRCH is a sacred tree according to eastern Slavonic mythology. The birch was honoured as a feminine symbol at the time of the spring feast of Semik, when a blossoming tree was carried into the village and girls wore wreaths of foliage on their heads, bearing witness to traces of mythological comparisons of girls to the world tree. (The birch as a symbol of ritual innocence is found in Germanic, Baltic and Central Asian traditions as well.) The birch as a world tree with upturned roots appears in Russian spells. “In the Sea, In the Ocean, On the Island of Kurgan, stands the white birch with its branches below and its roots above.” The Eastern Slavonic name ‘Beryoza’ can be viewed also as a trace of the ancient Birch cult. The employment of the birch in the manufacturing of ritual symbols (as practiced by the “Byerezovshiki”, Old Believers in the Perm region) dates back to antiquity. In the second half of the Nineteenth century requests were composed to dryads on pieces of birch bark and were nailed to tree trunks. A comparable ritual role of runes carrying the meaning of ‘Birch’ is known to have existed among the ancient Germanic tribes, whose chief god Odin once nailed himself to the world tree in order to ascertain the meaning of the runes. Also of note is the probable existence among the Eastern Slavs in ancient times of the living spirit of the birch, akin to the Prussian Brusilius. (Myths of the Peoples of the World. Encyclopedia. Volume 1. Moscow, 1987)