New year brings us to the topic of dates and dating systems. As we know Ancients had a lot of different dating systems. Each tribe had their own sacred history which does make it hard to count the dates, but is an example of folkish perspective.
For example, one of Roman systems was AUC (Ab urbe condita) according to which now is 2777 (2024+753)

In theory it is entirely possible to construct a chronological history of a tribe. This task would be accomplished by knowing the sacred places within the tribe’s geography and all of the stories that are related to these places. By identifying the before and after of the stories and then arranging them on a time scale, one could project a chronology.

V.Deloria

A.Cirulis Laima

A.Cīrulis Saules pagalmos

New year, new hardship and happiness await.
May the Gods guide us on the path of fate.

Iðunn and Thjazi by Rim Baudey

Why Vladimir betrayed the Gods?
A matter of ego

It’s well known that the (in)famous Vladimir was the first christian ruler on the lands of Rus (modern Ukraine). This is not entirely correct since his grandmother Helga was both a prolific ruler and an open christian. Still the bastard was the first to go down in history as a christian king. He was also the first of not fully Germanic Rurikids. Still, he was loved and received his share of power, but wanted more likely as a result of an inferiority complex which also showed itself when he raped princess Ragnhild.

After the murder of his brothers Vladimir got the throne and with it seemingly the desired power. Yet he wanted to be greater than Sviatoslav, but lacked the strength to conquer like his father did. So Vladimir chose to suck up to Byzantium and convert. The deal must have seemed like an absolute win to both sides. Byzantium was a crumbling empire and wanted an infusion of strong barbaric blood to save them just like Rome did (ironically doomed itself). Meanwhile Vladimir could use the prestige of aligning with a proper empire to legitimize his own.

Even though one can argue that Vladimir wasn’t an ideal christian history books depict him as, what remains undisputed is his role in spreading the disease of judeo-christianity in Europe. Or rather among European royalty as the reform failed to change the belief and practices of the common people. The latter stayed pretty much Pagan. This fact is confirmed by years of priests lamenting the sad state of religious affairs as well as ethnographic data showing, to put it mildly, less than stellar understanding of core christian principles among the folk. You can read my old translations if you want to know more on the topic.

Tomorrow I will write about the often forgotten (or ignored) aspect of Vladimir. How the people depicted him in folklore.

Vladimir in bylinas

While many are eager to see bylina poems as Pagan, and there is some truth to that since it’s folklore i.e. peoples’ perspective, I can’t say that christianity can be omitted from the the ones where it is featured.
The ruler of bylinas is always Vladimir, the first christian lord. What is ignored is that in most poems he is in not depicted as a noble, charismatic, king Arthur type. Quite the opposite. Poetic Vladimir is a schemer whose attitude ends up compromising the nation when invaders attack and all heroes are in jail and going to help the one who imprisoned them. Yet Vladimir needs them to save the day since he’s not a warrior himself. Again, compare to Arthur who treats his knights as equals and is in power by merit.

Scythian family