Staroverstvo - the Old Religion - the Slovene Pre-Christian Religion

Abstract

The data about staroverstvo, i.e. about the pre-Christian religion in three regions in Slovenia are reviewed. The most archaic of them is the Pososko staroverstvo - the Old Religion around the upper Soca River valley. For it is characteristic the single, female god, the Great Mother, a number of spirits, importance of triangular features, rocks, caves, stone and wood, way of life in peace, reincarnation of souls. The Krasko staroverstvo - the Old Religion in the Karst region is intermediate between it and the East Slavic pre-Christian religion. The influence of the arrival of agriculture about 7,500 years ago is indicated in it. The Dolenjsko staroverstvo - the Old Religion in Western Lower Carniola reflects the Iron Age situation. Characteristic for it is the revering of waters as well as the bird-hills close to hill-forts. The hill-forts started to be erected on the intrusion from east of the Y chromosome haplogroup R1b people about 6,500 years ago. The bird-hills served the birds, which would carry the soul of the deceased into the other world, possibly onto the other side of the moon. All these Old Religions indicate that the ancestors of Slovenes did not arrive in the 6th Century AD from east of the Carpathian Mountains but were aboriginal in Slovenia.