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Katherine Arden
So, Morozko is the name of the Russian Jack Frost, a winter demon who is sometimes benevolent and sometimes cruel. He features in multiple fairy tales. What I found interesting about this character though is he has his mythical roots in slavic paganism, as a dark god of winter and death called Chernobog. He evolved over the years from a pretty powerful deity to sort of a wicked fairy-tale creature, and finally (after some European influence) to Ded Moroz, the Russian Father Christmas. I found this journey (from wicked pagan god to giver of treats to children) absolutely fascinating, and I wondered what would go through such a character's mind as he was making that transition over the centuries. Anyway. Um, do Russians know of their pagan past? I certainly can't speak for the country as a whole. I know there are historians and casual enthusiasts who know a great deal about it, and there are definitely practicing pagans in Russia today. I would venture to say that the average Russian knows more fairy tales and fairy tale characters than they do Slavic deities and practices. If that helps :)
Marina
Morozko for me was a childhood fairytale story and it was fairly popular one. I had a picture book, and there was a cartoon, and a movie (very old though, one of Soviet era classics- you can actually find it on YouTube with subtitles). It was the same with other "mythical" characters, like Baba Yaga, Kochei Bestmertniy, Leshi, Domovoi, Seriy Volk, etc ... to me they're all fairytale characters.
Russians aren't pagan, nor do many of them care about it much, personally I didn't know about many Slavic Pagan gods until I researched it when I was older.. I didn't know Morozko was one. But there is quite a bit of mysticism and superstition in Russian culture. You won't find anyone leaving bowls of milk in the corner, but they will take a sit for a moment for luck before a trip. But it's the same as believing in fairies and ghosts in English/American cultures or knocking on wood. Some people take it seriously, some don't.
Russians aren't pagan, nor do many of them care about it much, personally I didn't know about many Slavic Pagan gods until I researched it when I was older.. I didn't know Morozko was one. But there is quite a bit of mysticism and superstition in Russian culture. You won't find anyone leaving bowls of milk in the corner, but they will take a sit for a moment for luck before a trip. But it's the same as believing in fairies and ghosts in English/American cultures or knocking on wood. Some people take it seriously, some don't.
Elizabeth Fernandez
Morov is not part of the Russian pagan pantheon; it's just an alteration of a Russian fairy tale character. We don't know much about Russia's pagan past since their written language is a direct result of Christian missionaries. We do know some of their main gods (Perun, for example) thanks to the Primary Chronicles, but that is the only source I know of that tells us about Slavic mythology. I don't know how much the average Russian knows about their pantheon; there's really not a lot to go on.
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