Rada, the daughter of the Lady of the Sea and the Sun God Ra, lived on Sunny Island. Triton, the son of the Sea King, wooed her, but Rada did not want to marry him. The hermit crab advised her how to ward off her suitor. He gave her a drying herb, which Triton could not tolerate and therefore went home.
Rada was so beautiful that they began to say that she was more beautiful than the bright Sunny. Having learned about this, the sun god Ra arranged a competition with his daughter - who shines brighter? And after the competition, everyone decided that the Sun shines brighter in the sky, and the Rada shines brighter on Earth.
Kryshen also learned about the beauty of Rada, he equipped a flying ship and flew to the island of the Sun Ra. Having arrived, he appeared to the sun god Ra and began to ask to give him the beautiful Rada as his wife. God Ra replied that first Kryshen must pass three tests.
The first test - Kryshen had to show a heroic leap: fly on horseback to the Rada, when she would sit in a high tower reaching to the sky. Having reached the window, it was necessary to take the ring off Rada’s finger and kiss her on her scarlet lips. Roof easily coped with this test, for the winged White-maned horse flew up to the very sky.
To pass the second test, Kryshen had to tame the Golden-horned Tur in one day, harness him to a plow, plow a field, sow rye, grow and harvest crops, brew beer and treat guests to that beer. But Kryshen easily coped with this test.
Then the god Ra tested Kryshny for the third time. Kryshen had to find the key lost by the Rada in an open field. Only this key could open the lock that locked Rada's scythe. Only by unlocking the lock could the braid be unbraided. (Unbraiding your hair meant getting married.)
And Kryshen found this key, which turned out to be a primrose (flower key).
And soon Kryshen and Rada got married and received golden crowns.
A wreath was woven from primrose flowers on the little head of dear Rada, and on the Roof - a wreath of lilies. Rada and Kryshen went out to the steep sea shore, illuminated the whole sky, Like a Rainbow with the Sun. “The Book of Kolyada”, 11 d
Kryshnya and Kolyada are identified by the Book of Veles. The months of Prosinets (January) and Kresen (June) were dedicated to Roof and Kolyada. Kresen is one of the ways to pronounce the name Kryshnya. The name is also associated with the word “cut” - solstice and with the word “cross”.
In some villages of Ukraine, until recently, they commemorated Kolyada - Mlada Kryshnya. South Russian customs, caroling to Mlada Kryshnya are given by Yu.P. Mirolyubov. There are no other sources, because southern Russian folklore, unlike the northern one, has been little studied. But the authenticity of Mirolyubov’s records is confirmed both by the modern existence of these rituals, and by the fact that in more southern lands the Pomak Bulgarians have preserved legends about Kolyada, similar to Indian legends about Krishna.
Thus, in the book “Slavic-Russian Folklore” (Munich, 1984), Yuri Petrovich says that on December 22 at midnight, Zhar-Tsvet (Paport-Tsvet) blooms in the snow, and in it lies the Roof “smaller than a poppy seed.” But from this day on, Kryshny begins to grow. And on the night of Kupala the Heat—The color blooms, the Roof becomes large. And then the Color fades and the Roof decreases along with the light.
In his other work “Rigveda and Paganism” (Munich 1981) YL. Mirolyubov said that in the south of Rus' they remembered the white magicians who walked in white scrolls, belted with a red belt, in their hands they always had a cherry staff (cherry - the Vyshnya and Kryshnya tree); “For some, especially strong ones, it ended with a silver or copper mace (ball). This was their only good, because apart from this and except for a small silver figurine depicting the Little Roof... they had nothing. In the cell of such a magician hung bunches of herbs for various diseases and dried flowers for Kolyadin’s Day, in which they placed a figurine of the Roof, symbolizing the Born Light.” “On Kolyada they announced the Birth of Kryshny, aka the Arriving Light, the Revival of the Day, the Turn to Summer, the Promise of Spring... The Birth of Kryshny, a small silver figurine in the hay, which the eldest in the family was looking for and, having found, triumphantly showed at midnight on December 22... On this night, the cattle were taken out of the barns to show the Star of Veles, leading time to summer.”
When restoring songs about Kryshna in the “Book of Kolyada,” the ancient plots associated with Kryshna were separated from the plots of songs about Kolyada and from similar plots of songs about Veles-Ramp (Incarnation of the Almighty). The main source of texts about the Roof-Kolyada: “Veda of the Slavs. Ritual songs of pagan times, preserved by oral tradition among the Macedonian and Thracian Bolgar-Pomakavs” (SP6., 1881).
South Slavic songs about the Rada should also be considered a source. She is the Indian Radha, beloved of Krishna (and even Rukmuni), the Greek nymph of the island of Rhodes - Roda, beloved of Helios (See: “Songs of the Southern Slavs” (M., 1976)). The legends about Rada, Radha and Rod are topologically similar, in all traditions Rada is the daughter of the Lady of the Sea, the Sea Serpent (Triton) wooed her, but she dares him with the help of Cancer, then Young Yunak, or Vylko (aka Kryshen-Veles) wooed her. I note that only the Slavic tradition does not provide a prosaic retelling of an ancient myth (like Indian or Greek), but the ancient songs themselves.
Also Slavic carols, Shchedrovka, grapes. See collections by A.A. Potebnya, P.V. Sheina, P. Bezsonov, E. R. Romanov, etc. I especially highlight the collection “Song folklore of Mezen” (L., 1967, pp. 232-234). “Round dance game songs of Siberia” (Novosibirsk, 1985, pp. 11, 35, 39, 42, 47, 61). The story about the fight between Kryshny (the Master of the Ice Island Sir-ya-Teta) and the Black Idol is taken from the Sami epic. see book. “Nenets Epic”, L., 1990. Compare with the epic “Ilya Muromets and Idolishche”. Among the Indian texts, I highlight the 10th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, see Swami Prabhupada’s book “The Source of Eternal Delight.” Also 3rd Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Ch. 2-4. Among the Greek texts about Helios and Rod: Pindar, Olympian Odes (VII, 54). Among the Caucasian legends are songs and tales about the Son of the Stone, Sasrykav-Sosurko-Soslan.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru