View source for Yarilo

{{Short description|Slavic god of fertility and spring}}
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[[File:Donetsk step 04 kudlaenko.jpg|thumb|Modern statue of Jarilo in the Ukrainian Steppe park, [[Donetsk]]]]
'''Jarylo''' ({{Cyrl|Ярило, Ярила}}; {{lang-sh-Latn-Cyrl|Jarilo|Јарило}}; {{langx|be|Ярыла}}), alternatively '''Yaryla''', '''Yarilo''', '''Iarilo''', '''Juraj''', '''Jurij''', or '''Gerovit''', is an alleged [[Slavic mythology|East and South Slavic god]] of [[vegetation deity|vegetation]], [[fertility]] and [[spring (season)|spring]]time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Johnson|first=Kenneth|title=Slavic Sorcery : shamanic journey of initiation|publisher=Llewellyn Publications|year=1998|isbn=1-56718-374-3|location=St. Paul, MN|pages=89|oclc=37725456}}</ref><ref>Leeming, David.''From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology''. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2003. p. 129.</ref>

==Etymology==
The [[Proto-Slavic]] root ''*jarъ'' (''jar'', ''yar''), from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ''*yōr-'', ''*yeh₁ro-'', from ''*yeh₁r-'', means "spring" or "summer", "strong", "furious", "imbued with youthful life-force". This youthful life-force was considered sacred in the Slavic pre-Christian religion and the god personifying this sacred force was thus called Jarovit, or [[Hypocorism|hypocoristically]] Jarilo.

==Sources==
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2025}}
The only historic source that mentions this deity is a 12th-century biography of the proselytizing German bishop [[Otto of Bamberg]], who, during his expeditions to convert the pagan tribes of [[Wends|Wendish]] and [[Polabian Slavs]], encountered festivals in honor of the war-god Gerovit in the cities of [[Wolgast]] and [[Havelberg]]. Gerovit is most likely a German derivation of the Slavic name ''Jarovit''.

Up until the 19th century in [[Ukraine]], [[Russia]], [[Belarus]] and [[Serbia]], folk festivals called ''Jarilo'' were celebrated in late spring or early summer. Early researchers of [[Slavic mythology]]  recognised in them relics of pagan ceremonies in honor of an eponymous spring deity. 
In northern [[Croatia]] and southern [[Slovenia]], especially [[White Carniola]], similar spring festivals were called ''Jurjevo'' or ''Zeleni Juraj'' or ''Zeleni Jurij'' ([[Green Man|Green George]]), nominally dedicated to [[St. George]], and fairly similar to the Jarilo festivals of other Slavic nations.

==See also==
*[[2273 Yarilo]]
*[[Yarovit]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Yarilo}}

== Bibliography ==
* V. Belaj. "Hod kroz godinu: mitska pozadina hrvatskih narodnih običaja i vjerovanja" [Walk through year, mythical background of Croatian folk beliefs and customs], Golden Marketing, Zagreb 1998.

{{Slavic mythology}}

[[Category:Slavic gods]]
[[Category:Life-death-rebirth gods]]
[[Category:Agricultural gods]]
[[Category:Fertility gods]]
[[Category:Nature gods]]
[[Category:Slovene mythology]]
[[Category:Spring deities]]
[[Category:Saint George (martyr)]]
[[Category:Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints]]
[[Category:Lunar gods]]