LET US BURN OUR MORENA
LET US BURN OUR MORENA
Morena (in Slovak and Macedonian) or Mora (in Bulgarian) is a pagan Slavic female deity, the daughter of the great Goddess Lada and her husband God Svarog, connected with recurrent rites based on the idea of death and rejuvenescence of Mother Nature. She is a primeval goddess associated with winter's death, rebirth, and dreams. In ancient Slavic rites, the death of the Goddess Marzanna at the end of winter heralds the rebirth of Spring of the Goddess Kostroma (Russian), Lada, or Vesna representing the coming of Spring. ( Morana is known by many other names: Mara, Mor, Morena, Marzanna). She is the all-powerful mistress of Winter, which covers the ground in icy cerement so that she could rest and gain strength.
Morana’s essence and symbols are spring, weather, safeguarding, winter, death, rebirth, cycles, change, and germination. Her hieroglyphs are figurines (puppets) and water (including ice and snow). This Slavic Goddess constitutes an odd amalgamation of winter, death, and the fruit field's growth and fecundity.
Morana –has grown up to become what prehistoric Slavs perceived as the benefactor of the winter, the underworld, and symbol of the end of physical life as we mortals know it. The Slavic ancestors would perform a yearly solemnity of bidding au revoir to winter. They would create a straw effigy, the size of a girl child and it would be adorned in beautiful garments with a lot of spangles. They would place it under the tree interlaced with ribbons and flowers.
Villagers would start the ritual by jumping over the colossal fire and after the festivity, they would set fire to the effigy of Morena and then drown her in the river. This was the act of purification of land and people because by killing and drowning Morena they chased away the maladies, troubles, winter, and everything that made problems for a medieval Slavic villager.
Folk tales and fairy tales globally are solicitous with the concepts of resilience, self -realization and convey deep connotations and moral lessons. So let us burn the effigies of our Morena’s –let the bygones be bygones. Let us forget the past and make a new beginning. It is only when Morena is drowned that our winters, our past, our negative thoughts, and our fear will end and that will usher in the Spring—new beginnings, new vibes, and positivity.