Lipnitian Native Faith

From Atlas

Lipnitian Native Faith (Lipnitian: Липнитско родноверство, Lipnitsko rodnovierstvo), also known as Lipnitian Rodnovery and Pamiatism (Lipnitian: памятность, pamiatnostj), is the ethnic religion of the Lipnitians. It is based on the traditional spiritual and ritual practices and mythologies of the Lipnitian people.

Lipnitian Rodnovery is a polytheistic religion with a large pantheon of gods, the chief god being Svarog, the god of the sky, sun, fire and blacksmiths, and other gods including Pierun, Sviatovit, Mokoš, Veles, Lada, Dodola, Viesna, Daždbog and Morana. Lipnitian Rodnover religious doctrines include the worship of Gods, but also ancestor worship. Another tenet of Lipnitian Rodnovery is the worship of nature and its perception in relation to Lipnitian culture, in which it is a key element. This aspect of Lipnitian Rodnovery arose from the animist practices of Proto-Slavic peoples.

Lipnitian Rodnovery has over 50 million adherents worldwide, with the majority of 45.5 million living in Lipnitia and about 4.5 million living in neighbouring areas of Zemlya, mainly Kadolha. The Lipnitian government declared Lipnitian Rodnovery as the official state religion of the country in 2000 after decades of socialist oppression of the faith.

Etymology[edit]

Similarly to the majority of ethnic religions of the Slavic peoples in Zemlya, Lipnitian Native Faith bears the name "Rodnovery" (родноверство, rodnoviestvo), which has origins in the contraction of the name rodna viera meaning "native faith" or "ancestral faith", with the Proto-Slavic suffix *-ьstvo. The calque "Lipnitian Native Faith" is also used for this reason. Rather than being a name specifically taken upon by the faith, it was simply assigned to it by its believers, who knew it as their native faith.

An alternative term for the faith, "Pamiatism", is derived from the Lipnitian "памятность" (pamiatnostj), literally meaning "rememberance" and originating from the Proto-Slavic root *pamętь, in like manner derived from the roots *pa- and *mętь, meaning "after" and "mind". The term "Pamiatism" is largely antiquated when it comes to encompassing the Lipnitian Rodnover faith as a whole, but is still used in some Zemlyan countries to refer to Lipnitian Rodnover religious minorities.

Beliefs[edit]

Core tenets[edit]

A central point of Lipnitian Rodnover beliefs is the cosmogonic myth, explaining in what circumstances, how, and why the universe was created. According to ancient Lipnitian cosmogonic myths, the earth was initially covered by sea in which a god drifted alone in a boat, when he met a demon (бес, bies), whom he sent to the bottom of the sea to pick up soil, with which the god made land. The god initially works together with the demon, but then sends him back to the sea. The depths of the sea are characteristic of Lipnitian Rodnover descriptions of the underworld, Veles (god) being the god of the underworld and the waters.