The bear cult

Bears in folklore are oftentimes anthropomorphic. They are very much like humans: think, for example, of the famous folk tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears (or Masha and the Three Bears in the Russian version). In it, the bears not only talk, but also have a fully furnished house and cooked meals. Why so?

In the case of bears, researchers like archeologist and historian Boris Rybakov believe that the explanation lies with an ancient cult of the bear. It started before the Neolithic Revolution. Back then, hunting was the primary human activity. And bears were among the few animals whose bodies could be more or less compared to those of humans. 

In the book Paganism of the Ancient Slavs (Язычество древних славян), Rybakov states that ancients used to wear bear skins: to hunt these animals by mimicking them and to perform rituals as part of the cult. Presumably, that’s one of the reasons for the establishment of the association between humans and bears.

We can’t know for sure what was going on thousands of years ago, but given how significant bears remained in folklore, it’s safe to assume their cult was once very widespread.

What is the bear’s real name?

The modern Russian name of bear – medved’ – is often mistakenly believed to mean “he who knows honey,” as in, “someone who knows where to get honey.” But it’s actually more probable that it’s derived simply from Old Slavic “he who eats honey.”

Another surprising fact? Medved’ is only an allegorical name that replaced the initial one. The real name was holy, so it was taboo to pronounce it. Today, no one even knows what it was. It could’ve possibly sounded something like ursus (“bear” in Latin) – vors or yers.

Bear-like bogatyr

There’s also a lot of folk stories about an immensely strong Russian folk character, the bogatyr Medvezhye Ushko (“Bear’s Ear”). His might came from his ancestry: he was born half-human, half-bear. In some versions, he has a human face, but a bear’s body or vice versa. And in others, the only thing that hinted towards his nature was his ear – that of a bear.

What other fantastic beasts other than bears are popular in Russian folklore? Find out here.