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by Kateryna Kovalenko (Author)
Ukrainian Mythology: Ancient Slavic Gods, Goddesses, Nature Spirits, Myths and Legends from Ukraine
A Complete Guide to Slavic Folklore
By Kateryna Kovalenko
Before the Christian church rose above the Dnipro, the ancient Ukrainians lived in a world that breathed. The oak tree carried the fury of Perun, god of thunder. The river hid the rusalky - beautiful, dangerous spirits of women who died too soon. The house had a heartbeat: a small, watchful presence behind the oven that moved with the family, protected the cattle, and warned of danger in the night. These were not superstitions. They were the living religion of a people shaped by steppe and forest, by flood and fire, by five thousand years of extraordinary survival.
In this richly told guide, folklorist Kateryna Kovalenko brings the mythological world of Ukraine vividly to life - not as a museum exhibit but as something still breathing in the embroidery on a wedding shirt, in the decorated eggs of Easter, in the bonfires lit every midsummer on the river's edge. From the thunder god Perun and the deep, shape-shifting Veles, to the fate-spinning goddess Mokosh, the forest spirit Lisovyk, and the irresistible witch Baba Yaha, each deity and spirit is given back their story, their landscape, and their meaning.
Drawing on centuries of Ukrainian ethnography, medieval chronicles, and the living folk tradition, this is a book for anyone who wants to understand a culture that has never stopped fighting to exist - and the ancient, indestructible stories at its heart.
