Dajbog, also known as Daybog or Dazhbog, is one of the more important deities in the Rodnovery pantheon. It’s a deity connected to Wolves and they have their place in the celebration.
Animals, as a crucial part of nature, also have a significant place in Rodnovery. Their impact on all aspects of our lives throughout the ages can’t go without notice, and in Rodnovery they receive special praise!
In this article, we will go deeper into Rodnovery pagan's connection to nature, as the core of the religion and tradition is mostly naturalistic.
Days of Wolves
According to the Rodnovery calendar I follow, Days of Wolves are celebrated for one week, starting on November 5th and ending on November 11th with the Day of Dajbog. Like most Days of Animals festivals, they end with a deity celebration.
Days of Wolves are a celebration of the Cult of the Ancestors. It’s believed that souls of our ancestors, or souls of the dead, briefly come to visit Yav in the form of wolves.
During this period wolves are praised more than anything, up to the point that our ancestors even made sacrifices to them. Sacrifices were mostly in the form of mutton or bread, sometimes even animal sacrifices. In this way, you invite the wolf into your home to eat with you and try to earn its favor not to come again during winter to kill your livestock.
With this kind of sacrifice, it’s believed that you are also feeding the souls of your ancestors and earning their favor in Prav. This was a recurring event during the festival until the last day called Rasturnyak (Dispersion), the last time you let wolves eat with you before winter.
According to the Rodnovery beliefs, Dajbog gathers the wolves on Dispersion and leads them in one final hunt. In the old days, if this tradition wasn’t honored, people believed that wolf attacks on livestock during winter would be worse.
How Are Days of Wolves Celebrated Today?
Modern times are very much different, and also wolf populations are far less in numbers than a thousand years ago, so people do not give animal sacrifices.
In recent tradition, women would hold off on wool knitting, and you would not wear any wool clothes at this festival. Wool symbolizes sheep, and sheep were the sacrificial animals traditionally, so you do not want to offer yourself as a hypothetical sacrifice to wolves.
In some parts during this festival men would stuff a wolf pelt stuffed with straws or dry grass and parade it through a village, singing songs in honor of wolves and our ancestors.
During the last day of the festival, at night, the head of the house would bake a sacred bread and stand on the doorstep of the home and offer the bread to wolves and Dajbog, and then share the blessed bread with the family.
Photo by Catherine Stockinger
Significance Of The Wolf In Rodnovery
Cult of the Wolf has a really special place in my Slavic culture. In Rodnovery mythology it is believed that certain groups of Slavic people were descendants of certain mythical animals.
The most known connection between a Slavic people and an animal is of course the famous Bears and Russians. In the same way, my people in the South were believed to be descendants of Wolves. They are our mythical relatives or the mythical representatives of my people.
The deity connected to wolves is, of course, Dajbog. He is believed to be the main deity and protector of my people and has a special place in my culture.
Who Is Dajbog?
Dajbog, also known as Daybog or Dazhbog, is a Rodnovery deity who gives life to the Earth. He is the solar deity, the God of the Sun, and the deity of rain. Both of these are among the necessary conditions for life itself. Also, he is connected to the Underworld as well, which is his more dominant characteristic among South Slavic people, where I belong as well.
Though familial relations in the Rodnovery Pantheon aren't clear, it’s believed that Dajbog is the son of Svarog, the Allfather of Rodnovery, and the first creation of the primordial God Rod.
Read about another Sun God, Helios
Why Is Dajbog More Significant Amongst Southern Slavs?
Dajbog is considered to be the first ancestor of one of the South Slav people, but in recent times he is believed to be the first ancestor of all the Slavic people in the world.
He is imagined to be an old man, wearing animal hide, with a walking stick. His description resembles the one of a druid. He is always in the company of an old lone wolf.
The Wolf and Dajbog are an unbreakable connection. That is the reason that both wolves and Dajbog are considered the first ancestors of my people.
How Was Dajbog Celebrated?
Dajbog is one of the deities in Rodnovery culture celebrated with animal sacrifice. Usually, a roster was sacrificed in honor of Dajbog on his day. The sacrifice was performed by a Volhv, or a head of a family, on the doorsteps of the house.
If you’re not familiar with what a Volhv is, you can find the answers in our article Introduction to Rodnovery.
The blood of the roster was used to draw the symbol of Dajbog on the ground, and the dead animal was hung on the roof.
How Do I Celebrate Days of Wolves?
During Days of Wolves, I tend to go on hikes in the mountainside near my town. In these mountains and forests, we can find the Eurasian Wolf, so I hope to glimpse some of them in their natural habitat, at a safe distance. So far, in my 8 years of practice, I believe that I’ve seen them once or twice.
If it’s accessible to me, I would bring some raw mutton with me and leave it at places where wolves are seen during the previous months. Though I don’t know what happens with the meat, I believe I’ve fed the wolves and that I gained their favor and favor of my ancestors in Prav.
Is the wolf your spirit animal? Watch my video to learn more!
How Do I Celebrate Dajbog?
In modern times, animal sacrifices are not a common thing, so that is not an option in my practice. So, on this special day for me and my people, I take the day off work and solely focus my day on Dajbog.
Waking up very early, before the sunrise, is a key part of connecting with our deity. As Dajbog is the deity of the Sun, absorbing the first rays of sunshine is the first step of the connection. The second step is, of course, the prayers during the days directed to the deity.
The third, and final step during this day that I take is baking the sacrificial bread and hosting a feast (dinner) for close family members and friends! Breaking the sacrificial bread is a key part of it, and though I do it alone because I’m the only Rodnovery around, it makes me fully connected to Dajbog and makes the day successful!
As a sacrifice, I leave a piece of bread on a stone plate outside, for Dajbog, and never have I found it untouched in the morning. Most probably it was disturbed by some critters or birds, but they, as a part of nature, are a part of Dajbog as well.
Days of Animals
Days of Animals are multi-day festivals in Rodnovery where we celebrate various animals, their role in human lives, their impact on our culture, and of course their inexorable connection to us.
Cult of the Ancestors is the second most important thing, alongside nature, in Rodnovery practice. In a broad sense, it comprises a variety of religious beliefs and practices related to the spirits of dead ancestors.
Practices of the Cult of the Ancestors vary from simple rites to complex multiple-day festivals, celebrating ancestors such as family, head of a clan, chief of a tribe, or important historical figures as the head of states.
Combining the two core aspects of Rodnovery, we get the festivals of Days of Animals, which celebrate both ancestors in the form of animals, animals themselves as a core aspect of our lives, and nature itself.
What Animals Does Rodnovery Celebrate?
A very important concept in Rodnovery is that pagans should honor everything, both good and bad things, deities, as you need a favor from both aspects to prosper in life.
Guided by that philosophy, all animals are honored, from small critters to domestic animals, from companions to wild dangerous predators.
Though all animals are honored, not all of them have their festivals. Over the years only a certain number of animals got their festivals. Usually, they are either connected to deities or ancestors.
Take Away
Rodnovery is all about the community, so take a festival and holiday such as these to connect yourself with your loved ones, whoever they are!
Guest Author, Marko, is a young pagan from Southeastern Europe, specializing his pagan path in his Native Faith called Rodnovery and dwelling into Wiccan solitary practices. Years of research and practice, from a very young age when curiosity blooms, gave Marko a good level of expertise on the topic of the Rodnovery religion.