The Story of Russia | Page 5

regions of the north wind,
(p. 025) who were looked upon with awe and pity because it was said
that they lived in a country where snow fell summer and winter. These
were some of the races and tribes supposed to inhabit Russia, which
goes far to prove that the knowledge of that country, in those times,
was neither extensive nor very accurate.

The truth is that we know very little about the early inhabitants of
Russia; nor do they concern us greatly, because grave changes occurred
in the fourth century of our era. At that time several large and warlike
tribes of Central Asia moved westward compelling other tribes on their
route to join them or to move ahead. Thus they gathered strength until
it looked as if Asia was bent upon the conquest of Europe. They poured
in through the gap between the Ural mountains and the Caspian Sea,
and the civilized people of southeastern Europe were unable to cope
with the savage hordes. In the vanguard were the Goths, who made an
effort to settle, in Scythia, but they were forced to move on when Attila,
who is known as the Scourge of God, swooped down upon them with
his Huns. He was followed by a host of Finns, Bulgarians, Magyars,
and Slavs who, however, left his wake, scattered and settled down.
Soon after the Slavs became known to Greek authors and were
described by them. They were divided into a number of tribes, among
them the Russian Slavs who settled about the sources of the Volga and
the Oka, and were the founders of Novgorod, Pskof, and Izborsk.
They must have been a numerous people. We hear of another tribe
settling on the banks of the Vistula, and laying the foundation of
(p. 026) the future kingdom of Poland. They settled on the upper Elbe,
and in the north of Germany. It is believed that the Slavs are ancestors
of the people in Bohemia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Servia, and Dalmatia, and
in Prussia of those living in Pomerania and Brandenburg.
All these Slavs, although widely dispersed, practiced the same heathen
rites, spoke the same language, and nursed the same traditions, until
they fell under different influences. They were, however, not the sole
occupants of northeastern Europe. Other races had followed in Attila's
wake, and among them the Finns were the most numerous and most
warlike. They settled in the basin of the Dwina and the Kama and
named their new home Biarmaland, while the Russians called it Great
Permia. They also occupied what is now known as Finland, but which
was then known as Land of the Suomi. The Finns, more than any other
tribe, bore evidence of their Asiatic origin.
Thus the present European Russia was divided among a host of tribes,

belonging either to the Slav or Finn families, and each kept to a great
extent the superstitions and traditions of his race. Even in our time the
traces of these superstitions are plainly discernible in many parts of
Russia. When Christianity was introduced among these people, the
missionaries found many of the barbaric rites so strongly implanted
among the people that, instead of making vain efforts to uproot them,
they preferred to admit them under a Christian name.
The religion of the Slavs bore a great resemblance to that of the
Norsemen and of the Germanic races; that is, they worshiped nature
(p. 027) and its phenomena. Dagh Bog was the sungod; Perun, the Thor
of northern mythology, was the god of thunder; Stri Bog, the god of the
winds; Voloss, the protector of flocks. They had neither temples nor
regular priests, but worshiped the oak as the symbol of Perun, and
before it the leaders offered sacrifices. These ancient deities are
preserved under the names of St. John, who displaced Perun; Voloss
who became St. Vlaise, etc. When a chief died, the wife often refused
to survive her husband. The men-servants were summoned and asked
which of them would be buried with his master. When one of them
came forward, he was immediately strangled. Then the same question
was put to the women servants, and if one of them consented, she was
feasted until the day when the funeral pyre awaited the corpse. She was
then killed and her body burned with that of her master. There were,
however, some tribes that buried their dead.
The father was absolute master of his family, but his authority did not
descend to the eldest son, but to the oldest of the family, his brothers, if
any were living, according to their age. The Slavs kept several wives,
and were given to consume large quantities of a strong drink called
kvass. They were a people devoted to agriculture; the land under
cultivation was not owned by one person