Here are some interesting connections between the name of the supreme Deity and various numeral systems.

odin/odyn/jeden – Suavic numeral one
Odin – head of the Icelandic pantheon

diš, aš – Sumerian numeral one
Dyḗus – reconstructed form of the head of the Indo-European pantheon
Jasień/Yassa/Yessa – head of Polish pantheon

išten – Akkadian numeral one
Isten – God in Hungarian
istnieć – to exist in Polish

In fact, in some cases we seem to have astral bodies/Deities or physical phenomena (another example: day <> dzień <> dan <> lord > Daniel <> Danuvius <> Adonis <> Odin) almost explicitly used as numerals. All this probably indicates that religions spread much earlier than we had thought and that cross-civilizational religious proselytization happened relatively frequently. Here are some interesting potential connections (of course, all of this, while interesting, is highly speculative).

Then there are the similarities between the Polish/Ukrainian Divinities, the Greek and some version of the “Scandinavian” pantheons. Here we have three types of names:

• As/Es – Jasień (also As, Esus)
• Ad/Od – Łado (also Wodan, Wadon, Gotan, Odin)
• Tor/Tar/Tur/Ar? – Turoń, Taran (also Thor, Taranis, Piorun?, Iarilo?)

Further, the As and the Tor seem related and may comprise a single Divinity (compare with Asa-Thor/Ása-Þórr).

These Names reflect the following portfolios:

• sky
• thunder
• vegetation/fertility

but also and separately:

• war (Łado)

They seem to have evolved into different directions. The Thunder God sometimes seems separate from the Sky God.

At other  times the Thunder God is the Sky God and then there is a separate Being – His Son or maybe Avatar that is responsible for the earthly activity such as war or fertility vegetation. The Polish Jasień is the Sky God but Łado is also a Jasieńczyk (son of Jasień?, emissary?, avatar?) responsible for war or vegetation/fertility.

Although Odin is the head of the Scandinavian pantheon, this is really the late Icelandic version. Odin may have usurped the throne of Thor (Tyr?). Specifically, in Adam of Bremen’s Uppsala temple description, it is Thor who is responsible for thunder but also vegetation (which makes sense) whereas Wodan sits at Thor’s side responsible only for war. Thus, it would be Asa-Thor/Ása-Þórr that is responsible for crops/harvest. And, we have asans that is Gothic for “harvest.” This, in turn, is cognate with the Suavic jesień (fall) or wiosna (spring).

Eventually, during some downgrade the same name began to be associated with weakness, stupidity, however. Thus, we have an “ass” and “idiot” and “donkey” and so forth. I assume (at the risk of looking like an ass) that the Nynorsk aden meaning “angry”, “noisy,” “nasty” (?) goes back to the Latin name for a donkey.

Even here the Tar- and As- connection may remain perhaps > Luwian tarkasna and Sumerian anšu (“weak” compare with dannu “strong” – compare this with latter word with Odin/Adonis).

It is interesting that Wodan was spelled Wadon on occasion. It is also interesting that this is pronounced Vadon whereas the Polish Łado is pronounced Wado. Similarly we have the German word for water – pronounced Vasser – which in English is, of course, water.

Although Wodan/Wadon is supposedly translated as the “furious” (Wut meaning anger, fury), it is curious that the Suavic offers multiple possible explanations/etymologies of the name:

• odin/odyn/jeden – number one; compare also with odyniec – the lone boar
• Wado/Lado/Łado – the lover/beloved (compare that with the lada – in Lycian meaning the same for a female and preserved in East Suavic (translated as Gattin into German; compare this with the male Gatte – in each case meaning “spouse”; compare further with Godan or gody/godzić – the latter meaning to work towards an agreement/reconcile or the Russian god meaning “year”)
• Wodan – lord of water – woda – pronounced voda (szczoby nas oczystyw – “so that he should cleanse us”)
• wódz or wojewoda (pronounced voyevoda – the Heerzeer > Herzog – księżyc but not König) or wodzin – leader – compare this with the reconstruction of *Wōdanaz – a man leading along the waters/rivers?

Thus, we have two functions but perhaps the same Deity. Is this because of trying to reconcile multiple tribal pantheons or Divinities?

We know in the East Perun/Piorun was worshipped – was Perun a Thunder God? It seems yes but also a Sky God and a Vegetation/Fertility God. There is a not too ancient song that was collected by the folklorist Oleksiy Ivanovych Dey (Олексій Іванович Дей) in his 1963 volume “[Ukrainian] Games and Songs: Spring-Summer Poetry of the Work Year” (Ігри та пісні: весняно-літня поезія трудового року). In that book he notes the following words:

Гей, око Лада,
Леле Ладове,
Гей, око Ладове,
Ніч пропадає,
Бо око Лада 
З води виходить,
Ладове свято
Нам приносить.
Гей, Ладо!

А ти, Перуне,
Отче над Ладом. 
Гей, Перуне,
Дай дочекати
Ладе купала.
Гей, купала!
А кум і кума
— У нашу хату.
Гей, кум і кума!

Солод ситити,
Медок хмелити.
Гей, кум і кумо,
Щоби і внукам
То пам’ятати
Гей, кум і кумо!

Interestingly, here we have Perun called the “Father of Lado” (also Lado is the Sun or, rather, the Sun is the eye of Lado). But if Perun is Thor and if Thor was the supreme Divinity in Sweden (the home of the Varangians) and Odin was the War Divinity on the side of Thor, then here is another reason as to why Łado/Lado may be Odin (aside from the Lado/Wado linguistic similarities). Of course, whether this represents any actual remnant of ancient beliefs is, given the late recording of the same, at the very least uncertain. Nevertheless, the words are curious and may express the belief of a certain Duality.

That Thor/thunder is Piorun/Perun is obvious and confirmed in other ways. In Polabian Perĕndan refers to Thursday which is direct translation of the same. Curiously, Thursday was labeled the “fifth” day in Gothic (as reconstructed *pintadags or *paintedags – compare this with the Polish piątek – meaning “Friday”; presumably because Sunday was the first day) BUT the Gothic “Friday” is reconstructed as *pareinsdags which suggests a curious similarity to Piorun/Perun (though recorded as paraskaiwe – from the Greek “preparation” [for the Sabbath/Sunday]) .

Anyway, we also have this song (also relatively recently recorded though the recording is older than the above):

Oj, Łado, Łado, oj dana dana,
idem do pana, do pana Wodana,
szczoby nas oczystyw i nas błohosławyw

Whether the “dana” – the obviously female person being “given away” to Łado has anything to do with the Irish Mother Goddess Danu – the mother of the Tuatha Dé Danann is another intriguing question. (Éire may have been the name giver to Ireland and a Goddess but do not forget that the Name of the emerald, shall we say green, isle also suggests a connection to the Suavic Jaryło/Iarilo).

We can subdivide this to say that the Sky and Thunder/Lightning and perhaps Fertility/ Vegetation is the domain of a Sky God that is separate and supreme from the other God that visits the Earth. That other “local” Divinity that watches us through His Great Eye (the Sun). That Deity may be a relation or just a local caretaker. He is responsible for the actual fertilization of the Earth (but only after the Supreme Deity pounds the Earth with thunder and lightning?) as well as, perhaps, for water. In some cultures He may have been relegated to a pure “war” role (Wodan but also compare Iarilo/Gerovit (fertility but also war) with Mars/Ares (war but earlier perhaps fertility). What about the Other Eye – the Moon? Well, remember Odin had one Eye… The other was not working so well.

Alternatively, the Polish Jasień is the curious case of, perhaps, both of these functions embedded in one Being as He seems to appear both as the supreme Deity (Długosz) but also as the Visiting Deity. It’s not clear from the Polish songs whether Łado is the Father, the Son or, in fact, Both – like an avatar. Perhaps the best way to say this is that Odin is the first Ass.

Is the Polish version, therefore, the simpler (“original”?) myth where the Sky God descends from the Sky to fertilize the Earth (being both Jasień and Łado – meaning beloved – of the Earth Goddess? Is the Earth Goddess Jasień’s Łada? Is She the Goddess of Earth but also of War as well as Decay/Death called Marha or, later, Marzanna? Does She then combine the functions of the later Athena and Demeter? For this interpretation, see also the discussion of Jason below. But for another interpretation read further down.

Perhaps the most interesting Greek myth from the perspective of Polish mythology is the Iasion/Demeter myth which also introduces Zeus as the jealous overlord (in the myth Zeus is Iasion’s father) who strikes down Iasion (but then maybe Iasion survives).

Indeed, we also have an Armenian legend of Gisenke and Demetr where Zeus is nowhere to be found. Was then Zeus a new Divinity that struck down the prior Sky God? Perhaps a new Divinity introduced by new invaders? Indo-Europeans or a particular type of Indo-Europeans?

Iasion has a sister whose name is Harmonia (which, of course, is easily connected with harmony – order – or, in Polish ład – the marital harmony of the marriage contract?). Iasion also has a brother Dardanus (the names Darda and Derda are present at high numbers and frequencies in Poland, to a lesser extent Greece and, the first, in high numbers though not frequency in India). There is also an interesting connection to Jason and Athena (remember Minerva the Roman Athena Lada may have been called Lada). For that see also here.

What this suggests is that Lado was not originally a separate Deity from Jasień. What it also suggests is that Jasień-type Divinity may have at some point been downgraded.

The anšu was replaced by the dannu or Jasien (also recall Janus) by Lado.

There seems to exist another myth overlapping here, a myth that involves Jason and Athena (Minerva/Lada?) and Jason’s trip to the underworld (the Sun’s going beyond the horizon and the rebirth of the same but necessarily different (I mean how can it be the same if it came from the opposite direction!) Sun from the East). This myth involves a dragon in the bowels of the Earth. That dragon is, in Greek myth, referred to as… Ladon. Ladon in that version of the myth is slain but not by Jason whose party arrives after Ladon had already been mortally wounded but by Hercules (Thor?).

And yet, there is that Vatican vase on which Athena is seen watching (?) Jason be in effect disgorged by a dragon. No one else is in the picture…

I leave aside the fact that Athena would correspond to the Suavic genitive of Odina (“of Odin” or Odin’s) and that Athena is the daughter of Zeus and that in many Polish folk songs, Jasien steals his Lady from her father.

I too leave aside the “dragon’s teeth” myth which also touches Jason, of course.

Perhaps it is the case that, at some ancient point in time, an Od/Ad replaced the As as the head of a pantheon. In some cases that Od/Ad became the head of the pantheon and the As was downgraded to a minor role. In other cases, Odin/Lado was taken into the pantheon but remained secondary warrior deity like Mars (Polish or Swedish).

Perhaps, in the alternative, an Odin-like person functioning as a Divine King, claimed to be the Jasień (something like a Second Coming) on Earth. 

That the As has an interesting history, we can also guess from the obvious connections of Iasion’s with Jesus (the greatest “story” ever told? – by the brilliant Saul of Tarsus).

However, another way of looking at this is to say that the Son of God – Łado – is the local Caretaker/Overseer for the Earth. Perhaps, He is the Lord of the Sun (and Moon?) but not much further? A Prometheus-like figure that brings fire and knowledge to humans (whether permitted or not?). Perhaps He also copulates with “Mother Earth” – the truly local Divinity – something that the Jasień in the Sky Further Out does not approve of. Of course, this also brings up the myth of Oedipus (Oed- prefix as suggestive?). Further, it is curious that Ladas of Argios was such a fast runner as was the later Ladas of Aegium – kind of like the Sun in the Sky. And the Argios Ladas died from exhaustion after the race – again, kind of like the Sun at the end of the day. This also brings up the race (in chariots?) against Chors (the Moon?) in The Tale of Igor’s Campaign. Were the Sun and the Moon (or their drivers) perceived by the ancients as participating in some type of a relay race across the Sky?

Here are some interesting connections between the different Sky Gods/Demi-Gods:

Of course, there are other connections. Ugaritic Dgn and Dagon may have been fertility gods. Indeed, there is the Hebrew word for grain dāgōn. That, of course, brings to mind the Giving God – Dadźbóg – that is also, of course, associated with the Sun. In fact, Dag and Bog (bhagga) may mean the same thing that was stitched together in some cross-cultural setting. It is also cognate with day and dzien and so too with Odin/Lado.

Note too that the Russian lake Ladoga – if read as a Suavic genitive/possessive – could be interpreted as Ladog’s (Svarog and Ladog?). Of course, no one reads it that way but who knows, maybe scholars ought to think about that possibility.

There is another possibility here. The Marzanna may well be just the personification of death and decay – mara – the lifeless Earth. In other words, have we been beguiled and led astray by the “Mother Earth” or “Goddess” idea? Iasion has a sister – Harmonia. Is Athena that Harmonia? In this version the Divine Twins are Male and Female – Jasień and Łada. In some Polish legends there is talk of the Moon and His Morning Star. (Or maybe Jasień cheated on the Sun – Łada – with the Morning Star (Zorza?) akin to Jason cheating on Medea?). To be fair, the Iasion-Harmonia <> Jasień-Łada comparison raises the question of who here is Dardanus?

Almost forgot to mention that Oleksiy Ivanovych Dey collected the above song from the Ukrainian town of Yasen (perhaps near today’s Ivano-Frankivsk):

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You can view some theories on the nature of the Polish Pantheon here and here. I confess we are unlikely to have more answers without further review of all that is available on the topic. However, I believe that the three most likely versions of the myth go something like this…

Father & Mother
Children

Jasień the Sky God is the Didis Łado of His Łada (but maybe Didis Lela), that is, the Female Goddess (Mother Earth?). She is the protector of Jasień’s while He is with Her. The other Deities are the Leli, their offspring (from the Jasień-Łada/Lela union):

• Pogoda (covering good weather and happiness)
• Dziewanna (responsible for the hunt and the wilderness),
• Marzanna (covering the sea, death and the cold generally), and
• Żywie (the God of Life)
• potentially Lela (covering fertility unless that Divinity is the same as Łada)

Perhaps the first Three are the Three Zorze, Zarzyce that is the Zarze Zarycze Trzy Szyestrycze Polonice (see here).

The Nothingness out there is Nya which can prevail if Jasień is not periodically rekindled over and over again.

Father Star Tree
Son & Daughter
Children

Another version is a little bit different. Jasień is the Eternal Tree-Star (gwiazda being just another name for a tree – gwozd, gozd – see here). Jasień is also the Sky God, of course.

The female Goddess Didis Lela (potentially, though not necessarily, also aka Łada) and the male Didis Łado (the Jasieńczyk or Son of Jasień) are the Children of Jasień’s and the guardians (both) of Jasień’s who rekindle Jasień with every cyclical pairing.

The Children (the Leli) of the now Lela-Łado union are the same as above.

The Nothingness out there is Nya which can prevail if Jasień is not periodically rekindled over and over again.

Father & Mother
Son & Other Children

The other version is yet different. Here we have Jasień the Sky God Himself as the consort of the female Goddess (perhaps Lela; potentially, though not necessarily, also aka Łada).

Łado is the Hero of Jasień’s that guards Jasień’s descent to Earth to rekindle Mother Earth. He is the First of the Children (Leli of the slightly different Jasień-Łada/Lela union) with the Others being the same as above. He is the protector of Jasień’s and God of War.

Nya, once again is the nothingness.

Note that in each case the absolute key are the fertility rites that preserve the Jasień Family.

At least that’s my current take.

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It is an interesting fact that there are so many mentions of Polish Deities throughout the 15th century. I discussed some of these potential mentions here but there are many more. They appear in many sermons and this makes sense as the 1300s and 1400s were when the “Baptism” of Poland was really taking place as the church organization expanded (after years of wars and the resulting poor penetration) into the countryside. Homegrown priests began to actively preach in many villages that had previously heard little of the Gospel.  A the beginning of the 15th century Lucas of Great Kozmin was one of thfe first preachers to take notice of the beliefs of the people in his sermons. Towards the end of the 1400s when Długosz wrote his chronicle he was basing his description of the Polish Pantheon on edicts from various synods and the knowledge collected and sermons written by a umber of priests some of whom were his contemporaries and friends.

There were many such preachers who dared to mention the Names of pagan Deities. To the shame of Polish medievalists and anthropologists and religious studies student, the writings of these churchmen remain mostly unexplored.

Outside of Lucas and Długosz, few have been even noticed. In fact, the only article focused on the issue that discusses some of these other sermons, even if briefly, is Krzysztof Bracha‘s “Tria ydola Polonorum for the Green Holidays in Church Critique of the Late Middle Ages” (Tria ydola Polonorum na Zielone Świątki w krytyce kaznodziejskiej późnego średniowiecza) in “Pagan Holies – Christian Holies. The Continuation of Cultic Sites in Early Medieval Central Europe” (Sacrum pogańskie – sacrum chrześcijańskie. Kontynuacja miejsc kultu we wczesnośredniowiecznej Europie Środkowej) from 2010, edited by Krzysztof Bracha and Czesław Hadamik (this is a collection of talks presented in 2007 at a conference at Holy Cross Abbey on Holy Cross Mountain aka Bald Mountain).

In that article Bracha puts together a narrative about three principal Polish Gods using the sources we already discussed but also a few lesser known ones. One of those had been identified earlier by Agnieszka Jabłonka and two by Elżbieta Belcarzowa. However, other than noticing them these authors did not explore them further (Jabłonka was focused on the sermon and Belcarzowa was just collecting Polish glosses in Latin language sermons; neither was focused on the topic of late medieval paganism).

I thought we should include each of them here. Bracha also noticed the fact that Belcarzowa found two other examples in two separate sermons by Jan of Dąbrówka (Jan z Dąbrówki). Those mentions are included here as well.

Regarding the “tres” this too is uncertain. Długosz gives more Names. Even the below manuscripts, assuming the Names refer all to different Deities, mention Yleli/Leli, in addition to Jasza/Jesza, Łado/Łada, Nya.

Note too the mention of “Blada” below. We may be dealing with some “pale” Deity as per this writer (or perhaps with a reference to Bleda the Hun) or it could just be an error. It is interesting  though that all the above Deities may have a lunar connection (covering different phases of the perhaps). Another curious thing is that, in Latin, blada refers to “corn,” “cereal,” “grains” (zboże).

A separate topic for discussion is the fact that some of these Names may be Hungarian or at least Pannonian. Thus, Yassa appears similar to the name of the Sarmatian Jaziges. It is also the case that the Jasz people settled in Hungary in the 13th century and may have influenced Polish paganism somehow. On the other hand, the name Jesza is similar to Jesse the name of the “first Christian” (from the Hungarian Chronicle of the 12th century). Now, that is really a reference to Géza I but the Hungarian connection persists with imre Pozsonyi  being referred to as Jesza Poszony (a manager of Poland national team and later of FC Barcelona). Interestingly too, we have an intriguing potential correspondence between Ylely and the Hungarian lélek meaning “soul” (from the Proto-Finno-Ugric *lewle meaning “breath” or “soul” (also lélegzet or lehelet meaning respiration/breath) – an interesting potential overlap with the Polish Żywie or “life” and, potentially, a cognate of Dzidzileyla, Dzidzilejla, Dzidzilela or Didis Lela – the Polish Venus).  Lél or Lehel was a Hungarian chieftain whose (alleged) horn is now located in  “Lehel’s Horn” on display at Jászberény.  Of course, lelek is also the Polish name for the European nighjar – a bird who curiously was thought to suck on goat’s milk (suggesting that Lel & Polel were the children of (?) Dzidzilela)…

Finally, the Hungarian word for God is Isten, which is, of course, very similar to istny, istotny, istota, the Latvian Usins and, likewise, Eostre (not to mention the Anatolian Istanu though also similar to the Egyptian baboon creature Astennu which was a baboon form of Thoth the Moon Deity) but we, as is often the case here, digress.

As a side note, while the members of the Polish Catholic clergy who mentioned these Names, generally did so seemingly in the context of trying to stamp out the vestiges of the Old Faith in villages and towns, I have a gnawing feeling that the sheer number of such references may well indicate a certain patriotic desire to preserve in their homilies, that is in the only way possible, some remembrance of the old ways. Given the large quantity of medieval manuscripts now being made available online, we can hope that amateurs, though perhaps too academic researchers, will feel enabled and be encouraged to more actively pursue the quest to unearth the Suavic past.

Sermo: De s. Stephano

Polish codex from mid-15th century
sermon author unknown – likely Polish

“Nam demones vndique colebantur pro deo et adhuc signum est inter christianos, quia tunc mulieres canunt Alado, yesse, ylely etc., qui erant dyaboli hic, qui colebantur.”

“In fact the demons were everywhere worshipped as God and behold it is a [warning?] sign for Christians, because [when this happens] women are singing Alado, yesse, ylely etc., who had been the devils that were worshipped here.”

There is also the interesting mention of swadzba which suggests that this is a combination of swa as in “coming together” and dwa as in “two.”

This is from the Słownik staropolski (that is, the “Old Polish Dictionary” which contains most if not all of the Polish words appearing in manuscripts prior to 1500):

[Elżbieta Belcarzowa, “Polish Glosses in Medieval Latin Sermons” (Glosy polskie w łacińskich kazaniach średniowiecznych), part 4; above Bracha version slightly different from that]

About the Author: author unknown, likely Polish.

Sermo de Sancto Adalberto

sermon written into the codex about 1460
sermon author unknown

“Postea sanctus per Moravam convertens venit Cracoviam, post hoc ivit Gneznam et ibi duos fratres duces in fide confirmavit, quia iam fidem habuerant, sed dubiam, et ibi omnes erroneos convertit et daemonem, videlicet Niam, eiecit, cui duae partes servierunt, videlicet Cracovia et Slesia. Postea venit Sandomiriam et Mazoviam, et ibi alium demonem eieicit, vidielicet Iiassam [or Yassam]. Postea de Magna Polonia et Slesia et de provinciis circumstantibus eiecit Ladam demonem.”

“Afterwards, the Saint passed through Moravia in order to convert the land of Cracow,    and then he went to Gniezno and there confirmed in faith two brothers who were dukes and were of the faith but had fallen into doubt; and there all those that had fallen into error he converted and he cast out the demon, namely Nia, whom two lands, namely Cracow land and Silesia served. Thereafter, he went to the Sandomierz land and Mazovia and there he cast out another demon, namely Iiassa. Thereafter, he drove out the demon Lada from Great Poland and Silesia and the surrounding provinces.”

[Agnieszka Jabłonka, “The Sermon about Saint Adalbert from the Pauline [Order] manuscript from Beszowa” (Kazanie o św. Wojciechu z rękopisu paulinów w Beszowej), in “Biuletyn Biblioteki Jagiellonskiej”]

About the Author: author unknown.

Sermo: de Sancto Adalberto

codex from second half of the 15th century
sermon by Piotr of Miłosław?

From the sermon: Hodie mater ecclesia sancta recolect festum sancti Adalberti…et agitur dies eius festus per totum orben, multo magis hic in nostra Polonia.

“Et ego Deus tuus in persona vnus in essencia praeposuit hic nostris partibus Polonie sanctum martyrum Adalbertum patronum, vt eiceret tria demonia, videlicet Blada vnum, quod colebatur pro Deo in terra Cracoviensi et Yassa, quod colebatur Polonie et Nya tercium, quod colebatur in alijs terris Vngarie, Bohemie.”

“And I your God in one person [He?] placed here on our side the presence of the patron of Poland, the martyr Saint Adalbert [Vojtěch/Wojciech] to drive out three demons, namely one Blada, who was worshipped instead of God in the land of Cracow and Yassa, who was worshipped by the Poles and Nya the third, who was worshipped in other countries Hungary [and] Bohemia.”