Where is the fantastic river Smorodina

If you look at the history of the creation of myths, legends and epics, then many of them are based on real facts. Over the years and centuries they have been embellished, modified and endowed with new details, but the outline of the narrative has always remained the same. Sometimes it concerned heroes, and sometimes places where these events occurred.

So the Smorodina River, often mentioned in ancient Russian epics and fairy tales, could really flow between Chernigov and the capital city of Kiev. Scientists have not yet accurately determined the reality of its existence.

What does the Old Russian word "currant"

Many readers of the feats heroes of Kievan Rus do not cause doubts, since the names of princes and other heroes mentioned in the epics of the cities, are a historical fact. So, the most respected hero among the people was Ilya Muromets, born in the village of Karacharova near Murom, a real place. According to legend, his relics rest in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev.

Detailed descriptions of the way of life of people of those years, the appearance of heroes and historical events indicate that in every epic there is a share of truth. So did the collectors of the ancient Russian epic who, from the 19th century on, tried to find out where the Smorodin River was located, which means its name.

It has nothing to do with delicious berries, although it causes a picture of the banks of currant bushes overgrown with bushes. In its root, the ancient Russian word "smorod", used from the 11th century, which means a strong smell. Even the bushes were so named because of the fragrance of their leaves.

Much later the word began to be applied exclusively to unpleasant smells, and its such meaning as "stench" appeared. The river Smorodina in the bylinas meant an unpleasant rotten place where people expected a possible death. It is often referred to as the Puchai River, which further confuses the researchers, who certainly want to find it on the map.

The etymology of the word "kalins"

Another mistaken association is formed by mentioning the words "Kalinov Bridge". Through the River Smorodinu "threw" his ancient compilers of epic, referring to no red viburnum. The etymology of the word originates in the root of "red-hot", that is, red-hot.

In all sources with the mention of the Kalinov Bridge, it is connected with the passage through the fiery river, which is why it is given such a name. The red hot or made of copper, so it is described in fairy tales and bylinas.

The River Smorodina, the Kalinov Bridge are symbols of a barrier that a real hero must overcome. Usually at this place the brave monkey was waiting for the monster: Snake Gorynych with the number of heads equal to three. In some tales he is three-headed, in others - about six or nine heads.

Was this place really real and so difficult to access that he was given such a terrible guardian in fairy tales, but in the past the Smorodin River is a pond near which a great battle took place, since it is often mentioned that its banks are strewn with bones and skulls. Perhaps, it was from here that the name of the river came about, because the smog that came from the battlefield formed the basis of its name.

Another thing is the Kalinov Bridge. He appears everywhere as a means of crossing from the world of Yavi into the world of Navi, the guardian of which was Mara (Marena). Veles translated the souls of the dead into the realm of death, which is consonant with the myths of other nations of the world, for example, with Hades and ferryman Charon from the Greeks or Pluto and Hades from the Romans.

The Old Slavic epic united the place of the fiercest battle with faith in the existence of the afterlife. Many historians and ethnologists believe that the real place was the Smorodina River, the Kalinov Bridge. Where is this pond - this is the only thing in which they still do not have agreement.

The location of the River Smorodiny

If the basis for taking a description of the area indicated in the epic, this river flowed between Chernigov and Kiev. This is how Ilya Muromets went the way, who asked the men of Chernigov how to drive to the capital city. The people answered him: "Yes, whether the one has a birch beside the crocodile, and at the one at the river of the Currant, at the cross of Levanidov there sits the Nightingale the robber, Odikhmantiev's son."

According to some scientists, this could be the Smorodin River, which flows not far from Karachev in the Bryansk region, but then why in the byliny are the streets of Ilya Muromets pointing to the Chernigov peasants? A reservoir with a similar name is in the Elbrus region, and the river Sister in translation from Finnish (Sjestar-yoki) means "currant".

This river appears in many legends, for example, Vasilisa Nikulishna crossed it, Dobrynya Nikitich was killed near her, Leviki, the nephews of the King of Pospolitnaya, stayed on its banks, Prince Roman Dmitrievich overcame him, turning into a wolf.

Each of these rivers could be the one mentioned in the epics, but its description puts the reasoning of the scientists into doubt.

The river Smorodina on the map

On the territory of modern Russia there are several rivers that could become a prototype of the epic spring:

• The river Smorodinka flows in the Troparevsky forest near Moscow, in the Kursk, Tver and Vladimir regions.
• Currant is in the Nizhny Novgorod, Smolensk and Leningrad regions.
• The river with the same name flows in Transbaikalia.

Each of these rivers could become a symbol of the division of two worlds, in which the ancient Slavs believed. Judging by the description, the qualities that the performers of epics gave it are similar to the description of rivers leading to the underworld, in the myths of other peoples.

Description of the river in the epic

In the people the Smorodina River, where the ferry from the world of Yavi to the Navi world is located, aroused a holy awe. According to one version, its waters were black, a stench came from them, and on the other - it was fiery.

"A fierce river, itself angry," - so people talked about it. Apparently, the currant flow was so strong, and the water cold, that it "burned" everyone who entered it. Because of the spray above it, there was always a drizzle, which people called smoke.

Thus, the river in their minds became fiery, and since it was difficult to cross it, they made it the place from where the dead go to the Navi world. Since in the times of Kievan Rus all performers of epics knew which bridge was on the Smorodin River, then the writers of fairy tales did not lag behind them. They "put" on the Kalinov Bridge at the entrance to the world of Mary guard - Snake Gorynycha, so that he would not let the living into the afterlife. In all national epics of different countries there are such guards, for example, Cerberus in the Greek myths.

The connection of ancient Russian epic poems with the myths of other peoples

If you believe the ancient tales, the Smorodin River was a serious obstacle for those whose path lay from Murom through Chernigov to Kiev. Apparently, a lot of people died there, and not only on the battlefield, that it became the symbol of the river of death.

Some scientists believe that this river was one of the tributaries of the Dnieper, which is more logical if you go from Chernigov to Kiev, but wherever it is, in folk tales as described by Smorodin is similar to the river Styx, which the ancient Greeks left under the ground in Hades.

In times of pagan Russia people believed in the afterlife, and if it existed, then the way into it had to be. The storytellers gave the Smokinov River this function, but instead of the boatman, they "installed" the Kalinov Bridge, through which the souls of the deceased passed.

The afterlife of the ancient Slavs

The kingdom of Mary, the goddess of winter and death, lay beyond the river Smarodina. Not only the red-hot bridge was an obstacle on the way of the living to the edge of the dead, but also guarded by its monster. In some fairy tales, it is Serpent Gorynych, in others - Miracle Yudo.

Sometimes bogatyrs had to fight with Koshchei the Immortal himself , the husband of Mary, to cross the bridge. Using the example of Old Russian legends, one can see how a real river, which was deadly dangerous when crossing it, became a legendary place dividing the worlds.

Puchai River

In the ancient Russian epic use different names, but most often there are Currants and Puchai River (Pochayna). The second means that it has water, swollen from the rapid current.

In those days, the so-called duct, which flowed between Vyshgorod and Desna. Its length was only 8 km, and she ran along Obolon through Podil, after which she ran into the Dnieper. The lower part of the river was separated from the Dnieper by a narrow slant, and the mouth of Pochayna was a well-known Kiev harbor, where the ships of merchants stopped. If you believe in legends, it was in it that the baptism of Kievan Rus passed in 988.

In 1712 the scythe was blurred by constructing a canal, so it became part of the Dnieper.