Rod in Slavonic mythology were worshipped in two dimensions. One of them is the incarnation of various posteriors of an ancestor. These different incarnations were unified in three periods of time- in the past (i.e. the dead), the present (i.e. those living now), and in the future (i.e. the unborn). This unity is called “rod” in Serbian which was the derivative of many nations important for the Slavs- for example “rozhat” (to give birth), “rodnoy” (dear), “urozhay” (harvest), “vroda” (beauty), “Rodina” (motherland), “narod” (people), “rodnik”(source), “roditelj” (parents), etc. It was believed that “Rod”, as a deity, controlled the unity of kin and patronises kin who observe the ancient kinsfolk traditions and the solid unity of kinsmen. “Rod” safeguarded harmony and order both in the kin, which was a kind of “micro-universe” for each Slave, and at the same time in the whole Universe. It controlled relations both within the kin and between them, between people and deities and between deities. Naturally, these functions could be performed only by the god who had created the Universe, i.e. the God-Creator. And this is so in other Indo-European mythologies. “Rod” was the creator of the Universe and this was also the second dimension of his worshipping. The restored version of the myth about Rod`s cration of the Universe is as follows. Before the birth of daylight, the world was shrouded in absolute darkness. There existed nothing in the darkness except Rod-Forefather, the source of the Universe and the father of the gods. Initialy “Rod” was held inside an egg, similar to ungerminated grain or an immature bud. When “Rod” gave birth to Love names “Lada”, the great Mother, the egg shell was broken. Using the power of love, “Rod” broke through the isolation and darkness and the whole world become infused with love. “Rod” gave birth to the celestial and, later, the sub-celestial kingdoms. He created a rainbow and by cutting himself from the navel-string he thus separated the ocean from the celestial waters and bordered one from the other with hard soil. In the heavens “Rod” erected three vaults. He separated Light from Darkness and Truth from Lie. After this “Rod” gave birth to “Majka Zemlja” ( Mother Earth) and Zemlja went down into a dark abyss and concealed herself in the Ocean. Out of himself (presumably by way of self-sacrifice) “Rod” created celestial bodies and natural phenomena- the Sun appeared from his face, the Moon from his breast, the stars from his eyes , sunsets and sunrises from his brows, severe winds from his thoughts, severe winds from his breath, rain, snow and hail from his tears, and thunder and lighting from his voice. “Rod” was both father and mother of the gods, he was and will be born by himself. “Rod” personifies all gods and the sub-celestial world. “Rod” is what has been and what is and what will be. “Rod” is life and death, every living , non-living and death thing. He is Demiurge and Forefather. He is also the creator of destiny having given birth to the goddess of destini Makosh.

Actual Slavonic mythological texts or other written relics from later times depicting the Slavonic mythological system during paganism have not survived, since the religious and mythological entity of paganism was destroyed during Orthodoxation. Christianity, which was born in different environment from Slavonic, treated the Paganism of the Slavs as a hostile religion and the latter was severely prosecuted by both the clergy and the authorities in power. The majority of the pepole opposed this for many centuries (from the X-th to the XIV-th) and in many ways introduced elements of Paganism into Christianity. Finally the pagan ethics and outlook merged into a unique blend of religious attitudes - the Russian Ortodox Churgh. As a result, it has been difficult to restore Slavonic mythology. The sources were numerous unwritten folklore relics passed down through many centuries - namely Russian epics, songs, tales, proverbs and preachings. Another very important source are the works by ancient and medieval authors from neighbourning nations (Byzantians, Romans, Greeks, Europians, Causcasians, Arabs and even some Slavonic) including various annals and chronicles, geographic descriptions, anti-pagan works of Christian writers, ethnographic, linguistic and archeological materials, as well ascomparative works in history and mythology of Northern European and Baltic tribes. The most unique research sources are the pearls of ancient Russian literature “The Tale of Igor`s Regiments” (“Slovo o polku Igorevom”) and “The Book of Veles” (“Velesova knjiga”). The study of numerous sources across a vast are from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Antarctic to indian Oceans has revealed the cultural entity called Slavonic mythology. The views of the Slavs about the structure of the Universe are similar to those of other Indo-European nations in that they contemplated the Universe in two projections-horiyontally and vertically. The vertically projection is structured on the principle of triplicity. They axis of the medium world was the Birch Mountain (“Brezina planina”) - in the other sources the Belaya Mountain - located in the impossible (possibly Rippean) mountain chain. At the top of Birch Mountain grew a birch and at its base lay the “burning stone Alatyr” bearing the inscription of Svarog`s law. Two sacred birds sat on the branches of the birch - Alkonost (or Stratim), the incarnation of Hors, the good of the Sun, and Sirin, the incarnation of Veles, the god of the underworld. Alkonost sat facing the East, and Sirin facing the west. At the roots of the birch, supporting the Earth, lay the great serpent Yusha (Shesha to the Indians, and Yormungand to the Scandinavians). The trunk of the tree is protected by the giant Svyatogor. In other versions, a pillar instead of the trunk supports the sky. Near the crown of the birch are two deer which feed on the leaves of the tree. Evidence of the deer has survived only as pictures on Easter eggs and there are no written relics. This world is named “Yav”(reality) and is inhabited by living beings: people, animals, birds, etc... In the upper world, named “Prav” (something that controls), the celestial mountain continued the terrestial axsis. On this mountain grew the sunny oak, a mirror image of the birch, with its roots growing upwards. Prav is the world of the gods - the heavens. A stream of milk , fed from the bosom of the celestial cow Zemun, flowed upwards out of the base of the oak. The underworld - “Nav” - also has an axis - the tree of sorrow (either a cypress or fir tree). Thus the Universe is divided into three sub-worlds - Prav, Yav and Nav, each of which is also subdivided into three layers (the tree root, trunk and crown). Horizontally, the Universe (Yav) is divided into four parts, which is evidenced by the presence of four winds described in myths and the so called “Zbrutch Idol” a stone figure discovered in western Ukraine with four facets each bearing a face with signs and pictures. The centre of Yav was “Vyriy” (paradise) the area around Birch Mountain where there was no death and sorrow-the resting place for people who had lived a bemevolent life on earth. The central point of Vyriy was the Alatair Srone which fell from the sky after Svarog had carved laws for the people onto it.

In the Slavs mythology the name of Perun is associated with stories that parallel with other Indo-Eurpean myths. Perun, the son of Svarog and Lada appeared following a particularly painful birth which was accompanied by thunderbolts and lighting flashes and the whole Earth shook with earthquakes. When he was 3, Svarog and Semargl hardened his body in fire making him invuknerable ,and provided him with a steed and weapons a club and an exe .As a child, Perun fought the monstrous messenger of Chaos, Skiper Beast`s who had stolen Perun`s sisters Vesna ,Lelja i Morena. He suffered defeat in the first battle and was imprisoned in Skiper`s dungeon from which he was rescued by his brothers- Hors, Stribog and Veles. In the second battle the more adult and stronger Perun defeated Skiper and in spite of his pleadings for mercy killed and precipitated the beast into the underworld. Then, Perun freed his sisters and restored order in the Universe. Besides this exploit. Perun performed numerous other deeds. In particular, he freed Zarya, the fife of Hors ,who had been stolen by Mesec (Moon). During this battle Perun cut Moon into two halves which he has done regularly since then (the ancient explanation for the phases of the Moon). Perun also defeated the sea king the Black Sea Serpent, who had tried to steal Perun`s girlfriend, the daughter of Semargl Diva-Dodola. The central plot of the mythological cycle about Perun is the legend about Veles` rape of Diva-Dodola and the battle between Perun and his former friend and rescuer Veles, the son of Zemun

The god of thunder and the main myth about him is central to Indo-European mythology. The nucleus of the myth is the battle between Perun and Veles .The myths tells how the god of thunder is always positioned somewhere high up in heaven, on a mountain or up a tree.And his rival is always below at the base of the mountain, the tree or near water. The thunder-god`s rival is the master of cattle which was one of the main sorce of welth in ancient times- and the underworld- which in Indo-European tradition was kind of pasture for the souls of the dead. The usual reason for the conflict between the thunder-god and his rival is that the latter steals the celestial cow. In Slavs mythology the cows of the heavens had transformed into mother of Veles- Zemun. And the cause of the conflict was that Veles stole Perun`s wife . During the wedding ceremony of Perun and Diva-Dodola, the doughter of Semargl, Veles performed the function of the bride`s court. He fell in love with Diva-Dodola and tried to steal her away from Perun en route from her father to the bridegroom. Veles told her about his feelings but Diva-Dodola rejected his advances and cried for help. Perun arrived on horseback and did battle with Veles, Finally throwing him down from heaven to the earth. The humiliated and defeated Veles wandered for a long time around the Earth and finally reached the enterance to the underworld near the river Smorodina. There he defeated and subdued three guardians of the enterance - the sons of Viy, the king of darkness-Gorinja, Dubinja and Usipa. He then defeated and married the hostess of the world of the dead Baba-Jaga, the doughter of Viy .And this completes story how the celestial god yasun Veles, the grandson of Svarog ,resettled in the underworld.

The celestial king Svarog had many children and all of them were light Yasun-gods and they were named Svaroziches after their father. Svarog`s first child was Semargl-Svarozich, the god of terrestrial fire. The myths tells how :”Svarog was the smith in the heavens and when he struck his hammer on the burning stone Alatyr the tini sparks fell down onto the Earth Mother and the sparks recived strength from the Earth and turned into a mighty flame. And the giant fiery knight Semargl-Svarozich appeared”. He was similar to the hurricane of fire. After Semargl, Stribog was born by the Earth who was like an air storm. Using all their power and cunning Semargl, Stribog and Svarog fought the first battle of Good against Evil, and Truth against Lie and defeated the Black Serpent who embodied the dark evil forces. They yoked the serpent with a heavy forged plough and ploughed a number of furrows which turned into rivers-the quiet Don, the glorious Danube and the mighty Dnieper. Then they cut a border around the whole world, separating it into two kingdoms- one of light and the other of dark. They then cut a deep crack in the Earth and threw the Black Serpent, the Master of Darkness down into the underworld along with his son Viy ,the king of the underworld and the father of the giants Goryn Viyevich and Svyatogor, the monstrous Griphon and all black powers. After the battle Svarog created Iriy (Paradise) and with Lada gave birth to Hors, the Red Sun and the celestial cow Zemun, so that the former could give light to the gods and the latter could suplly them with milk. The milk stream flowed from Zemun to the Iriy and thus the Milk Way appeared in the sky. Some time later Lada had a dream that she ate a pike with gold fins and become pregnant. Svarog heard about the dream and understood that the dream was a sort of prophecy. He finished the pike and cooked it. Lada ate the pike and threw its remnants onto the Earth swallowed bones. All three goddesses conceived: Zemun gave birth to Vales, the Earth gave birth to Yarila and Lada gave birth to three daughters- the eternally young goddess of love Lelja, the goddess of spring and life Vesna ,and the goddess of winter and the maiden of death Morena. Later ,in much pain, Lada gave life to their brother, the mighty god of thunder Perun.

Svarog was regarded as the god of the heavens. His name originates from the acient Indo-European wor “svarga” retained in the old Indian language (Sanskrit) and meaning “sky” or “enterance to the sky”. Terresterial fire was considered to be the son of Svarog and was named Svarozich. It is therefore possible to consider Svarog not only as the father of terrestrial but also of celestial fire, i.e. of light. Svarog is the son of “Rod” in the sense of incarnation of the ordered Universe. His spouses were the goddess of love and beauty Lada or - alternately- “Sira Zemlja” (the raw and fertile earth), the goddess of soil and fertility. These two goddesses were mother-goddesses and were additionally affixed as “mothers” or “mummies” : Lada-Matushka or Mjaka Sira Zemlja . So, Svarog is the father of all light gods named Svarozic or Yasuns who oposed the dark gods and demons Dasuns.Taking account of the fact that each Yasun-deity is the personification of a natural phenomenon or craft that is useful to the people, Svarog, as the parent of these gods and goddesses, could be regarded as God-creator alongside “Rod”, since he created the Universe and harmony in giving birth to the gods.The main creative act of Svarog was to raise the earth from the ocean bottom. The earth was personified in the goddess Majka Sira Zemlja. According to the restored myth, after the creation of the world “Rod” gave birth to Svarog and inhaled him with his might .”Rod” suplied Svarog with four heads so that he could observe the whole word and would notice everything that happened. Svarog inspected all his lands and discovered that nature had almost everything it needed- sun, moon, stars and ocean- but there was no earth. One day he noticed a grey duckling that appeared from the sea foam. The duckling told Svarog that the Earth rested on the very bottom of the ocean. On behalf of “Rod”, Svarog instructed the duckling to fetch some soil from the depths of the sea. The duckling made two attemps and on third managed to bring up some soil in herbeak. With the assistance of “Rod” and Lada, Svarog started to knead the soil. Some moments later the wind blew the soil out of Svarog`s hand and into the sea. As the sun heated up the piece of soil it become covered with a crust. The moon then cooled it down and thus Majka Sira Zemlja was born. Svarog created three undreground vaults in the Earth- Peklo (hell, underworld), with the natural landscape with the global tree in the centre. He placed the Great Serpent Yusha - born by “Rod” - beneath the tree to hold on to the Earth so that it could not sink back into the waters. Svarog was instructed by “Rod” to create all living beings on earth (both Flora and Fauna) and he allocated them appropriate habitats. And, finally, Svarog and Lada procreated. Traditionally, the Slaves considered themselves to be the posteriors of Dazhdbog, the grandson of Svarog, and called themselves Dazhdbog`s grandchildren , who later died during the Flood. The children of Svarog and Lada were Perun , Lelja , Vesna , Morena , Zemun and Hors. Zemlja Majka and Svarog gave birth to Semargl ,Svarozich and Stribog. “Rods” child was Yarila.