Also known as White God, Ruler of the Living World, Overseer of Right and Order or Highest God of the Pantheon. Perun is the god of sky, thunder, lighting, storms, rain, law, justice, war, fertility, order, balance, protector of warriors. He tends to be depicted with a crown made of lighting, a thunder hatchet in his left hand and a fire bow in his right hand, riding in his chariot pulled by two horses or goats across the sky.
His symbols are fire, mountains, iris, eagle, hammer, horses, carts, weapons (especially mace or axe). His attributes are dry, light, strong. He’s one of the gods to be known to have bigger sacrifices – a ram, a bull or an ox, a wild goat or a rooster. Eggs, baked goods, any meat except horse meat and crops are good offerings. His temples tend to be circular, standing high on top of a hill or a mountain, with an eternal fire that can never be put out.
Festivals/holidays
??? – his marriage with Mokosh is celebrated
1st of May – (first) Perun day, the light half of the year starts
21st of June – Perundan, day of sacrifices
2nd of August – Great Perun festivities, his followers make bonfires to jump over, make flower wreaths, have a feast and search for mythical fern flower, it is a tradition to stay awake until sunrise of August the 3rd
3rd-10th of August – the Eagle festivities
1st November – (second) Perun day, the dark half of the year starts
Trivia
A storm was taken as an omen. It can represent Perun fighting with Veles, but mostly it is taken as a communication from Perun, warning the community to stay on the correct path and not to disrupt the law of nature.
Perun is associated with Thursday, when his priests and priestess would consecrate oak trees and light fires, share blessings with his believers.
Perun is said to punish those, who break law and bring unbalance to the world, by striking them with lighting.
Those sentenced to death would often pray to him for forgiveness.
If an oak tree is hit with lighting, the tree is then sacred. It is usually used to make Perun’s idols.
His followers would hang arrows and bolts from their houses to protect themselves from storms, to ease labor during pregnancy, grant well-beings to newborns and newlyweds and to restore milk to cows.
An axe head can be worn on necklaces to offer protection.
Myth of Perun
“…Three lightning bolts burst from the sky,
One strikes at two young brothers-in-law,
Another strikes at pasha on a horse,
The third strikes six hundred wedding guests,
Not an eye for a witness fled.
Not even to say, how they ended dead.”