September 22-23, days of the autumnal equinox. These days around the world, people celebrate the harvest festival. In our tradition, this is the Tausen or Radogosh holiday – the end of all seasonal work of the outgoing year, the harvest festival and the autumn equinox, Closing of Svarga and the Day of the old sun, Svetovita.
It was believed that these days begins the New Year. Who is the
Svetovit? In Slavic culture, the sun lives its whole life for a year – it is born in the Winter Solstice as a little Kolyada, in the spring it becomes a wonderful guy – Yarila, collects the power and becomes Kupailo in the Summer Solstice and turns into an old man Svetovita by autumn. It seems to me that we are changing along with the sun and every year we live a lifetime. An annual circle in which, through the gods and their transformations, we know ourselves as well. In general, we are very lucky that we can experience all these cycles with nature from birth to dying. Since I began to study the traditions of the annual circle, live in harmony with the annual cycle and learn the power of the gods, my life has become much more interesting and eventful. I think the Sun is the most powerful symbol of the time. Kupaylo summer sun has grown old and transformed into Svetovita. His rays no longer warm, he saw a lot in this world, so his eyes shine with some kind of cold transcendental light and the whole world is reflected in them with joys and sorrows. A little more and he will leave forever for distant lands in Svarga to be reborn again in December by the cheerful child Kolyada. It is interesting that Svetovit is one of the most powerful gods of the Slavic pantheon, its strength is so powerful that it manifests itself to people only in this autumn time, in the face of the sun.