A Call to Morena

Love and Loss with the Goddess of Death

The feelings of love and grief are universal to the human experience, and as is often said, the one thing that unites all humanity is the impending finality of death. In the pre-Christian Slavic (and now reconstructionist pagan Slavic) community, the goddess of winter and death, Morena (Marzanna, Morana), is understood to be a deity who was avoided for fear of her appearance and what came with her. Particularly when one remembers the severity of winters in Eastern and Northern Europe, the implied negativity of Morena is readily visible. So when Eastern Roman or Arab chroniclers travelled to the lands of the Kievan Rus and described the idols worshipped by the pagan Slavs, Morena’s name wasn’t first and foremost. In the case of Vladimir’s pantheon, the deities Perun, Stribog, Mokosh, Dabog, Khors, and Simargl were prominent, having idols placed upon a hill. In addition to these six, Perun’s often cited nemesis Veles has also been mentioned as having an idol in medieval Kiev (Kyiv), although it wasn’t with the idols on the hill but rather in the market. Not among the prince’s worshipped idols is Morena. Which can lead to the belief that she may not have been who some believe, perhaps a later creation in the imagination of ethnographers or historians? Although, thanks largely folkloric traditions held on to by the Polish, ceremonies to Morena have survived to modern times. Initially suppressed by the Catholic Church, an annual ceremony in which an effigy of Morena is drowned to signify the passing of winter for spring seems to have warranted seeing her off on a yearly cycle, to ensure the coming of spring and all the rebirth that it brings.

I’ve wondered in a modern context if Morena needs to be as feared and avoided as she once was in a medieval context. The death aspect of her domain is perhaps best left alone. Although, her bringing of winter doesn’t have to be, nor in a modern context is it, as foreboding. Public skating, snowshoeing, hockey, and more are all available thanks to Morena’s bringing of winter, in a metaphorical or spiritual sense. So with that, spiritually, her worship, veneration, etc. could warrant review in a modern polytheist context. Both aspects of her being and her domain are necessary components to the function of life and the cycle of the planet, and fearing them, or at least fearing both, doesn’t seem to fully fit in a modern world. This isn’t to minimize the extra danger posed by exposure to the elements, although to the majority of people who would venerate a Slavic goddess of winter and death, the harshness and extreme danger that winter brings aren't as ever-present as they once were in centuries past.

A story or myth about Morena and Jarilo (the god of spring) tells of how the two were lovers, and through either his death or betrayal of Morena, her anger or grief led to winter and the death of all vegetation for the duration of the winter. The cycle is resolved through various means, but each year their union brings spring and summer, and their separation, through death or betrayal, brings fall and winter. I can’t verify the authenticity of this story, nor do I feel there is a need to. It provides two important lessons: first, to a medieval audience, it provides a rationale for the changing of the seasons, and second, it highlights the universally strong emotions that are associated with both love and loss.

In "A Call to Morena," the narrator turns to the goddess as a result of both love and loss and an attempt to make a Faustian bargain of sorts. Her function in the poem is recognized as being both a goddess of death and winter, although the narrator’s focus is largely on the death aspect of the goddess. The futility of the bargain isn’t lost on the narrator, nor is the expected result. So in some ways, this is the bargain people may make in general with "Morena" in their own minds. Anyone who has lost something or someone has likely bargained with the taker of their loss to an extent that they may or may not admit to. The bargain may have been futile in its result but not something which can be faulted. It circles back to the universal feelings of love and grief. If you grieve something or someone lost, its seems likely that you loved at the same intensity. So "A Call to Morena" is about the Faustian bargain we all make with life and the losses we face on an all-too-frequent basis. By exposing this face of grief, I hope that you, the reader, can find solace or familiar comfort in the story told through the poem’s narrator.

A Call to Morena

I stand here alone on the shore of life, my past was fabled my future in strife. Together we danced through all life’s events. I always proclaimed her the greatest of presents. She stood no taller than my chin, her hair of raven draped on olive skin. To me she would glide as she walked along, her voice bewitching like the vila’s song. The first day we spoke I stuttered and trembled, I paused and gathered gazing her eyes of emerald. I knew in that moment her sight would be my last, foreshadowing the day which the fates had cast.

The landslide of emotion washed over my soul, together we changed from apart to a whole. I swore her protection I would always bare, in the dark she was my light that none could compare. The blessings from heaven abound and enriched, but it wasn’t long before our destiny switched. We charted our futures and made the gods laugh, my naive sight a joke on their behalf. The spring of our union turned to summer and fall, the dread in her eyes singled I was losing it all. I seek solutions and ideas contrived, but it wasn’t long before winter arrived.

The clock once at noon stood a moment to midnight, in her eyes I could see the fading of daylight. I cursed all the creators the stories once told me, I had to kneel and proclaim that I adore thee. What divine cruelty brought us to this fated moment, written in the stars I am left but to lament. Seconds pass moving like eons through time, from whole to apart entering new paradigm. Fated alone with nothing to bless, I turn to other deities and the darkened goddess.

Winter maiden with face so pale, your place among us neither weak nor frail. Centuries past without speaking your name, for fear of your wrath and death is your blame. Ivory face framed with raven hair, I feel your arrival with the frozen air. Goddess of winter, goddess of death, I’m told to fear you though I seek foreboding breath.

I come now before you in my desperation, I’ve brought you a sacrifice in preparation. My forefathers ignored you for fear what you bring, I offer all I have and our wedding ring. Take these offerings Queen of the cold. I’ll be your servant till’ my last days of old. Can you hear the the words bellowed which I pray, I offer them all on this grim darkened day.

I pray and prostrate before your divinity, you passed me taking her in your vicinity. I am not in illusion of my selfish request, grant me this wish and I’ll be at your behest. Goddess of darkness and cold who men fear, I ask her release or me in your sphere. I’ve cried out my plight here before your reign, don’t force me to continue my life in this pain. Goddess of winter and death and the raven, answer my bellows your silence is craven!

The winter continues unending, unabated, listening for you I remain here frustrated. The cackle of crows the wind through the trees, my singular focus you do not appease. I prayed on your altar I prayed for her spirit, I cannot relent I need you to hear it. Silence your response in the darkness of night, my ardour crumbles under this plight.

Silence your word, your stance and command, your divine decision I now understand. I bargained and haggled my soul to trade, you remain steadfast ending my crusade. Beautiful goddess of death and the frost, you’ll never release those you’ve taken and crossed.

In the realm of the gods I know this your part, ‘though by keeping my love you’ve torn out my heart.