The Ancient Ones, Pt. III: Rugievit
Rugievit was a local deity of a Slavic tribe, named the Rani. They settled from the 9th until the 12th century between the rivers Elbe (Germany) and Vistula (Poland), especially on the island of Rügen. As one might expect, Rugievit is the eponymous deity of the island and it’s sentinel. The Rani built his sanctuary in a fortress named Charenza. Archaeologists hypothesized for a long time, that the stronghold was located near the small town Garz, where you can find remnants of a hill fort. But new researches have shown that it’s more likely to have beeen situated between the villages Trent and Kuckelwitz. Hopefully, I can manage to do a bike trip in summer to that place and take some photos for this blog!
The Sanctuary
The sanctuary itself might have been designed like that of Svantevit (read my blog here), but in a simpler style. There was no enclosing fence with sacred carvings, just an approximately three meters high wooden statue dulled with drapery hanging from four poles. Rugievit was depicted with seven heads and eight swords – one was pulled out and held up in it’s hand, the other ones were stuck in sheaths. It’s unknown, why Rugievit was depicted with one sword up in his hand. Maybe it was meant to intimidate enemies, express Rugievit’s aspect of being the island’s guardian or both at the same time.
An illustration of the statues of Rugievit and Porevit, based on descriptions by Saxo Grammaticus (1140 - 1220), done by slavicist Zdeněk Váňa (1924 - 1994). Source: Schmidt, Ingrid: Götter, Mythen und Bräuche von der Insel Rügen. Rostock, 2002. p. 50.
Along with many other pagan deities, Rugievit was depicted as a multi-headed god. It might have been no coincidence that he had seven heads, as the number seven always was related to spirituality and/or magic. It was often used in fairy tales, the medieval idea of the ‘seven ages of man’, the seven days of the week, seven phases of the moon… You see, you meet the number seven in countless different contexts. If you think deeper, you’ll find more connections!
Due to not having surrounding walls, the nearby living swallows built their nests under the drapery. When Rügen was conquered by Danish troops in the middle of the 12th century, the bishop Absalon mocked the statue because it was polluted with excrements of birds. After that, his soldiers destroyed the sanctuary and the Rani people had to watch his act of violence…
But as always with the obstinate mentality of Pomeranian people, Christian chronists reported up until the 15th century (long time after the region was evangelized!) on secret meetings of the people of Rügen in the forests and village’s outskirts to celebrate their old pagan rites!
Rugievit
You cannot find that much facts about Rugievit. He was a god of war and local guardian of the island Rügen. It is thinkable that the swallows bred under the sanctuary’s drapery not because of the Rani being careless or the deity itself being too unimportant to protect its statue from being polluted. Maybe swallows were regarded as sacred birds dedicated to Rugievit and thus have not been driven out of the sanctuary. They are considered as birds of spring up until today – so it’s possible that Rugievit was a god of spring, fertility and lifeforce, too. Another clue for this theory is that the 1st of March was the sacred day of Rugievit. But in the end, all theories will remain unproven…