  jarilo (cyrillic: Ð¯ÑÐ¸Ð»Ð¾ or Ð¯ÑÐ¸Ð»Ð°; ; ; ; slavic: jarovit), alternatively yarilo, iarilo, or gerovit, is a slavic god of vegetation, fertility and springtime. the slavic root jar or yar means spring or summer. ==sources== the only historic source that mentions this deity is a 12th-century biography of proselytizing german bishop otto of bamberg, who, during his expeditions to convert the pagan tribes of wendish and polabian slavs, encountered festivals in honor of the war-god gerovit in cities of wolgast and havelberg. gerovit is most likely a german corruption of original slavic name jarovit. up until the 19th century in russia, belarus and serbia, folk festivals called jarilo were celebrated in late spring or early summer. early researchers of slavic mythology recognised in them relics of pagan ceremonies in honor of an eponymous spring deity. in northern croatia and southern slovenia, specially bela krajina, similar spring festivals were called jurjevo or zeleni juraj or zeleni jurij (green george), nominally dedicated to st. george, and fairly similar to jarilo festivals of other slavic nations. all of these spring festivals were basically alike: processions of villagers would go around for a walk in the country or through villages on this day. something or someone was identified to be jarilo or juraj: a doll made of straw, a man or a child adorned with green branches, or a girl dressed like a man, riding on a horse. certain songs were sung which alluded to juraj/jarilo's return from a distant land across the sea, the return of spring into the world, blessings, fertility and abundance to come. ==myth== radoslav katiÄiÄ and vitomir belaj attempted to reconstruct the mythology surrounding jarilo. according to these authors, he was a fairly typical life-death-rebirth deity, believed to be (re)born and killed every year. his mythical life cycle followed the yearly life of various wheat plants, from seeding through vegetation to harvest. jarilo was a son of the supreme slavic god of thunder, perun, his lost, missing, tenth son, born on the last night of february, the festival of velja noÄ (great night), the pagan slavic celebration of the new year. on the same night, however, jarilo was stolen from his father and taken to the world of the dead, where he was adopted and raised by veles, perun's enemy, slavic god of the underworld and cattle. the slavs believed the underworld to be an ever-green world of eternal spring and wet, grassy plains, where jarilo grew up guarding the cattle of his stepfather. in the mythical geography of ancient sl
Agricultural_gods Fertility_gods Life-death-rebirth_gods Nature_gods Slavic_gods Slovene_mythology