Thursday 16 January 2014

Snake as the saviour of the world

Why this is, is best explained in the legends about snakes which have the role of a protector, as certain myths implicate, it is not coincidental but it was earned by its efforts to help nature and humans. On all localities where the snake lives (mountain, forest, meadow, water) we notice religious practice of the Illyrians and with that we can undoubtedly conclude that they are largely based on the desire for closeness but also blessing of the supreme deity.
In a cosmological myth of the Illyrians it is said that a long time ago in the sky there were three suns and that's why there was a constant draught and infertility. One day a large snake (dragon) which lived on a large mountain in the east swallowed two suns. Seeing what was going on the swallow, perhaps in correlation with the snake, raised the third sun on its back into the sky giving it in such a manner a new direction. After that event rain started falling from the sky and it woke the fertility in nature.
With the appearance of Christianity, which tried everything to demonise the cult of the snake, the part of the legend about the lethal effect of the three suns was forgotten on purpose in order to hide the merit of the snake for saving nature and all life in it. However, this legend in a very clear and direct way presents the snake as the saviour of entire life on earth which is a mythological idea also evident in the legend from Velika Kladuša. In that legend it is said that on the bottom of Noah's ark a mouse dug a hole through which water started pouring in. The only animal which noticed what was going on was the snake and to punish him she swallowed the mouse and curled up above the hole preventing the water from going in.
These two myths are an ideal example of long continuity of fostering Illyrian inheritance whose dominant symbol was always a snake - holly protector of the house and family. Since writing about the cult of snake is a rewarding job, primarily because of a large number of ethnological data, it can appear to some that more or less everything was written on the topic, but each time one starts researching new information appears which reveal fascinaiting mythological world of our famous ancestors.