When the world was created

O stvarjenju sveta

In Slovenian folk tradition there are also creation myths. Jakob Kelemina in his collection Bajke in pripovedke slovenskega ljudstva has recorded several versions of the way Slovenian people explained the earth and mankind and how the world used to be. Later Zmago Šmitek added to the collection of myhs.


In the beginning
I. Long ago when Slovenes were still ajdi, they believed that God had slept from the beginning and this sleep had lasted for ever and ever. When the time came for him to wake up, he began to look around and his first glance created our beautiful earth, his second glance our dearest sun, his third glance our friendly moon, each following glance a glittering star. God was amazed at the beautiful things that he had created and was looking them over, but the further he went, more stars there were, since they kept growing in number from moment to moment. God grew tired of  travelling and returned to our earth. From his brow a drop of sweat fell to the ground and from this drop the first man was created. He was created from God's sweat as a lasting reminder, that he must earn his bread from the sweat of his brow.

II. Ajdi used to say, that the earth was from the beginning barren and nothing but rock. It bore nothing, and it did not need to produce food to live. Among men lived God himself in spirit and body, and fed them with heavenly manna. Yet people were unhappy, since they feared godly magnificence and radiance. From ceaseless trembling they did not enjoy eating or drinking, or have a good time. God felt pity for mankind. He split from his body and moved to the heaven. The body left on the earth disappeared and changed  into fertile soil. In godly soil men sought their own food and no longer had any need of godly manna. Only now they began to enjoy life and were happy.


Početek sveta
I. Dokler so bili Slovenci še ajdi, so mislili, da je Bog od konca spal in da je trajal ta spanec od vekov. Ko pa je prišel čas, da se je zbudil, se je začel ozirati krog sebe in njegov prvi pogled je ustvaril našo lepo zemljo, njegov drugi pogled naše preljubo sonce, njegov tretji pogled našo prijazno luno, vsak poznejši pogled bleščečo zvezdo. Bog se je začudil prelepim rečem, ki so jih ustvarile njegove oči, in jih je hotel razgledati, ali čim dalje je prišel, tem več je bilo zvezd, ker so se vsak trenutek za eno pomnoževale. Bog se je naveličal potovanja in se je vrnil nazaj na našo zemljo. Z obličja mu kane na zemljo kaplja potu in iz te kaplje se je rodil prvi človek. Ustvarjen je bil iz božjega potu v večni opomin, da si mora v potu svojega obličja služiti svoj kruh.

II. Ajdi so si tudi pripovedovali, da je bila zemlja od konca pusta, vse sama skala. Rodila ni nič, saj tudi ni trebalo, da bi rodila kaj za živež. Med ljudmi je stanoval Bog sam z duhom in truplom in jih hranil z nebeško mano. Ali ljudje so bili nesrečni, ker so se bali božje mogočnosti in bleščobe. Od vednega trepeta niso mogli v slast ne jesti ne piti, niti se po svoji volji kratkočasiti. Bogu so se ljudje zasmilili. Ločil se je od svojega trupla in se preselil v nebesa. Truplo pa mu je na zemlji zginilo in se spremenilo v rodovitno prst. V božji prsti so si iskali ljudje sami svojega živeža in niso več potrebovali božje mane. Zdaj šele so se začeli veseliti svojega življenja in so bili srečni.


Kurent saves man from the great flood
Ancient Slovenes believed, that in the beginning there was the happiest age, when bread grew on trees and the wheat ears were half a fathom long. In the beginning the happy people were good, but soon they became corrupt and evil. So the gods decided to make an end of the world. It started to rain heavily and the water rose high covering the earth. All the people drowned, only four were saved, so that they did not perish in the dreadful flood.

The tale is silent on the fate of the three; how the fourth was saved from the dreadful flood, is known. There was on a high hill a vine, which reached the sky. The fourth man grasped the vine and began to climb. Kurent, a god, highly revered by the ancient Slavs, saw him and was most pleased, that the man is seeking help by the tree sacred to himself, and so took pity on the poor fellow. The water began to recede quickly and the earth became drier by the minute. The rescued man had to make a promise to Kurent, his rescuer, for himself and his descendants, that he will always value the two plants, sacred to himself and pleased to eat their produce. These were the vine and the buckwheat. The rescued man took in one hand the vine, in the other the buckwheat stalk and goes on the way to looking for a place to settle. On the banks of the Adriatic Sea he stops. From the vine that he carries, he cuts a switch and puts it into the ground with all his strength. And in truth, to this day they have very good wine in Prosek. He also sowed the buckwheat. His sons spread throughout Kranjska and to this day Kranjci for the greater part live on buckwheat and value wine, and with gratitutude remember Kurent, their old benefactor. The four people rescued from the flood went into the four parts of the world, and again filled the earth.
Kurent was greatly revered by ancient Slavs; today's carnival/pust is a remembrance day of the ancient Kurent. Shrove Tuesday was dedicated to him.


Kurent reši človeka iz vesoljnega potopa
Stari Slovenci so mislili, da je bil v začetku sveta presrečni vek, da je rasel kruh na drevju in da je bilo klasje pšenično pol sežnja dolgo. Srečni ljudje so bili sprva dobri, pa kmalu so se pokvarili in postali hudobni. Tedaj so sklenili bogovi svet pokončati. Silno je začelo deževati in zemljo je visoko zalila voda. Vsi ljudje so poginili, samo štirje so se rešili, da niso bili pokončani v strašni povodnji.

O treh povest molči; kako se je pa četrti rešil strašni povodnji, se ve. Bila je namreč na visokem hribu vinska trta, ki se je z vršičem dotikala neba. Prijel se je četrti te trte in začel plezati v višino. Kurent, pri starih Slovanih jako spoštovani bog, to vidi in se močno razveseli, da mož išče ponoči na drevesu, njemu posvečenemu, in se usmili ubogega človeka. Brzo je jela voda odtekati, zemlja pa se je vse bolj sušila. Rešeni človek je moral Kurentu, svojemu rešitelju, obljubiti zase in svoje potomce, da bo vedno ljubil dve njemu sveti zelišči in rad užival njun sad. To sta bili vinska trta in pa ajda. Rešeni človek vzame v eno roko trto, v drugo pa ajdino steblo in se poda po širokem svetu iskat stanovanja. Na bregovih Jadranskega morja se ustavi. Od vinske trte, ki jo je nosil v roki, odseče šibo in jo vtakne z vso močjo v zemljo. In res je še dandanašnji v Proseku zelo dobro vino. Tudi ajdo je vsejal. Njegovi sinovi so se razširili po Kranjskem in še zdaj živijo Kranjci večidel od ajde in čislajo vino in se s hvaležnostjo spominjajo Kurenta, starega dobrotnika. Štirje, povodnji oteti ljudje, so se razdelili v štiri dele sveta in zopet napolnili zemljo.

Kurent je bil v veliki časti pri starih Slovenih; sedanji pust je spomniski dan starega Kurenta. Posvečen mu je bil torek.


Ajdi in Mežiška Valley
In the old days there lived giants, Ajdi. They looked like humans, and were huge. The first generation of giants lived on Golden Mountain, from there they moved, I don’t know why, to our highest mountains and high lands. They settled singly, never several families on one mountain. When they wanted to talk to each other, they did not, as we do, visit, but spoke from one mountain to the next; if one of them wanted to borrow something, he only called out, and the neighbor threw the iron tool from the next mountain. Even water they did not fetch as we do with buckets, but bent from the mountain and scooped the water with their hands from the river. The giants were indeed very, very strong, but they were not so very clever; they were not able to fashion tools. Trees they pulled with their roots from the ground. Only a later generation could make wooden axes for themselves. That generation was clever enough, to make itself wild fire: they rubbed one tree against the other till wood caught fire.


Ajdi v Mežiški dolini
V starih časih so živeli velikani, Ajdi. Imeli so človeško podobo, bili so strašno veliki. Prvi rod velikanov je živel na Zlati gori, od tam so se pa preselili, ne vem zakaj, na naše najvišje gore in planine. Naselili so se posamezno, nikdar ni bilo več družin na eni gori. Če so se hoteli med seboj pogovoriti, niso hodili kakor mi, drug k drugemu v vas, temveč so se menili od gore do gore; če si je kateri moral od drugega kaj izposoditi, je samo zaklical, pa mu je sosed vrgel železno stvar z druge gore. Tudi po vodo niso hodili kakor mi s posodami, temveč so se samo nagibali z gore in zajemali s periščem iz reke. Velikani so bili sicer zelo, zelo močni, a pametni niso bili preveč, niti orodja si niso znali napraviti. Drevje so ruvali kar s koreninami vred iz zemlje. Šele poznejši rod si je napravil lesene sekire. Ta rod je bil tudi že toliko pameten, da si je znal narediti divji ogenj: drgnili so namreč drevo ob drevo tako dolgo, da se je vnel les.later generation could make wooden axes for themselves. That generation was clever enough, to make itself wild fire: they rubbed one tree against the other till wood caught fire.

Jakob Kelemina, Bajke in pripovedke slovenskega ljudstva, 1930, reprinted Humar 1997 (first recorded Trdina, Neven 1858)


How the earth was created
There was nothing (only) God, sun and sea. The sun was scorching hot. God felt hot and immersed himself in the sea to bathe and cool down.  When he rose from the water, a grain of sand was caught in his nail. The grain then fell off and remained on the surface (in the beginning everything remained wherever it fell). That grain is our earth, sea bottom is its home.

Kako je nastala zemlja
Ničesar ni bilo kot (samo) Bog, sonce in morje. Sonce je pripekalo. Bog se je ogrel in se potopil, da se v morju skoplje. Ko se je spet vzdignil, mu je ostalo za nohtom zrno peska. Zrno je izpadlo in ostalo na površini (kajti v začetku je vse tam ostalo kamor je padlo). To zrno je naša zemlja - morsko dno njena domovina
Zmago Šmitek, Odkod je ta naš svet. Slovenske pripovedi o poreklu stvarstva (Didakta, 2000)

How the earth became fertile
Ajdi (giants) thought that the Earth had been barren in the beginning, nothing but rock everywhere. It grew nothing, however it was not necessary for it to grow food. Among the mankind lived God himself, in spirit and body, and fed them with heavenly manna. Yet men were unhappy, because they feared divine might and splendor. From constant trembling they could neither eat or drink with enjoyment, and or even have fun as they wished.
God felt sorry for the mankind. So he separated from his body and moved to heaven. His body rotted on earth and became fertile soil. In divine soil the mankind began to search for their food themselves and had no longer the need for heavenly manna. Only now they began to enjoy life, and were happy.

Nastanek plodne zemlje
Ajdje so si tudi pripovedovali, da je bila Zemlja spočetka pusta, vse sama skala. Rodila ni nič, pa tudi ni bilo treba, da bi rodila kaj za živež. Med ljudmi je stanoval Bog sam z duhom in telesom in jih hranil z nebesko mano. Toda ljudje so bili nesrečni, ker so se bali božje mogočnosti in blišča. Od nenehnega trepetanja niso mogli z užitkom jesti in piti, kaj šele, da bi se po svoji volji kratkočasili.
Bogu so se ljudje smilili. Ločil se je od svojega telesa in se preselil v nebesa.
Telo pa mu je na Zemlji zgnilo in se spremenilo v rodovitno prst. V božji prsti so si iskali ljudje sami svojega živeža in niso več potrebovali nebeške mane. In šele zdaj so se začeli veseliti svojega živjenja in so bili srečni.

Zmago Šmitek, Odkod je ta naš svet. Slovenske pripovedi o poreklu stvarstva (Didakta, 2000)

Translated into English by Aleksandra Ceferin