The Bielobog/Chernobog struggle is an
invention of 17th-century (and later) erudites. Its classic version
(disseminated uncritically by various popular publications and Internet sources)
was created and popularised by Wilhelm Boguslawski, a 19th-century Polish
historian whose myth-making talents anticipate _Silmarillion_.
Manichaean elements in Slavic myths have
been read into them by modern authors. "Chernobog" occurs in a single early
source -- Helmold of Bosau's _Chronica Slavorum_ (12th c.). Helmold mentions a
hostile deity of the Polabian Slavs, "Diabol sive Zcerneboch, id est niger
deus", the bringer of misfortune. Helmold's information on "Zcerneboch" is
not confirmed by other sources, and in his list of Polabian gods there are quite
a few highly suspect items, so *c^IrnobogU ('Blackgod') is at best a
might-have-been entity (if not a figment of Helmold's interpretatio christiana).
"Bielobog" ('Whitegod') is not mentioned at all by any early authors. His name
was coined for the sake of Manichaean symmetry some 600 years after
Helmold.
The native Slavic words used to translate
"devil" (diavolos/diabolus, itself borrowed as *dIjavolU or *dUjabUlU) were
*c^IrtU and *be^sU -- but their exact pre-Christian content is difficult to
reconstruct (mischievous spirits, anyway, rather than Slavic
Ahrimans).
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 5:09 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Nostradamus and Dumezil
PS: The Bielbog and Chernobog struggle, IMO, also
reflects the struggle between Ormazd and Ahriman. There is even a creation myth
between them that recalls elements of the Zoroastrian version. It is a struggle
between the forces of light/summer and darkness/winter. It is played out in many
IE myths, such as Balder and Hodur in Norse myth, and various Celtic gods. The
Norse and Slavic annual struggles are on the solstices, but for some reason the
Celts have their on Beltane and Samhain.