12/15/2025
Veles’ Night and the Spirits of Winter
For the ancient Slavs, the deep winter was not just a time of cold but also a period when the world of the living and the dead came closest together. In some parts of East Slavic folklore, it was believed that Veles — the lord of the underworld, magic, and animals — was the one who during winter nights “loosened” the boundaries between worlds, allowing the spirits of ancestors to draw near the hearths of people. This was a season for giving gifts, offering food, and invoking all that was invisible, so that one could secure protection from nature’s whims and illness.
Winter rituals connected to Veles were not uniform across all Slavic lands, but the motif of the “winter night of spirits” appears in numerous ethnographic records. In some regions of Belarus and Polesie, traces of food would be left in the corners of rooms — for the ancestors, but also to appease Veles, who could bring both prosperity and misfortune. In Russia, at the end of December, ritual processions of masked people (koledari) took place, which many researchers associated with Veles’ domain of transformation, animals, and chaotic creativity.
Interestingly, later Christian writings often portrayed Veles as “dangerous,” sometimes equating him with the devil — not because he was an evil deity, but because he represented everything wild, underground, and untamable. During the winter period, when nature was on the brink of death, Veles was a force that could either protect or take away life’s vitality.
References:
Ivanov, V. & Toporov, V. (1974). Research in Slavic Mythology.
Rybakov, B. (1987). Paganism of the Ancient Slavs.
Gura, A. V. (2005). Slavic Traditional Beliefs and Rituals.
