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The Smeldingi were a small group of Polabian Slavs living on the border of the Old Saxony in the 9th century, probably between the Elbe and the Havel. They were a sub-group of the Hevelli. Their name is etymologically related that of the South Slavic Smolyani and the East Slavic city of Smolensk.
A zhrets is a priest in the Slavic religion whose name literally means "one who makes sacrifices". The name appears mainly in the East and South Slavic vocabulary, while in the West Slavs it is attested only in Polish. Most information about the Slavic priesthood comes from Latin texts about the paganism of the Polabian Slavs. The descriptions show that they were engaged in offering sacrifices to the gods, divination and determining the dates of festivals. They possessed cosmological knowledge and were a major source of resistance against Christianity.
References
- ↑ Kazimierz Wachowski, Gerard Labuda: Słowiańszczyzna zachodnia. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciól Nauk, 2000, p. 67. ISBN 9788370632717. (in Polish)
- 1 2 "Slawenfürsten" (in German).
- ↑ Schenker, Alexander M. (1901). An Introduction to Slavic Philology (PDF). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 46. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-12. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
- ↑ Riché, Pierre (1993). The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 110. ISBN 0812213424.
- ↑ Oman, Sir Charles William Chadwick (1901). Dark Ages, 476-918 (Fourth ed.). London: Rivingtons. p. 360.
- ↑ "Dragowit: Fürst der Wilzen" (in German). Archived from the original on 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
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