Vesna (Cyrillic: Весна) was amythological female character associated with youth and springtime in later[1]Slavic mythology, particularly in theSouth Slavs. Along with her male companion Vesnik, she was associated with rituals conducted in rural areas during springtime.[1]
According toSlovene mythology, beautiful women called "vesnas" lived in palaces atop mountains where they discussed the fate of crops and of human inhabitants. A magical circle around their palaces kept them from leaving the mountain top except during February, when they would travel in wooden carts down to the valley below. Only certain people were capable of hearing them singing. People who snuck up to their mountain palaces might learn their fates, but risked an unpleasant end if they were caught by the vesnas.[1]
It has been suggested[citation needed] that Vesna was originally a goddess representing the earth during the spring, making her an alternate form ofMokosh.
The character was documented inCroatia,[2][better source needed]Serbia,North Macedonia[3] andSlovenia.
According to English authorG. F. Abbott, Russian peasants from the 19th century celebrated the return of spring on March 1 by going out to the fields, carrying a clay figure of alark on a pivot which had been decorated with flowers and singing songs about springtime ("the vernal season"), orvesna,[3] a word for 'spring' inherited in Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian fromProto-Slavic*vesna.[4]
Today it is the poetic word for 'spring' inSlovene (where February is occasionally known asvesnar),[1] Croatian,[5] Czech and Slovak. InSerbo-Croatian variants, the wordv(j)esnik (ultimately derived from Proto-Slavic*věstь, "message")[6] is used to denote someone or something that heralds an upcoming event, commonly used in the collocationv(j)esnici proljeća ("heralds of spring")[6] denoting early-blooming flowers such assnowdrops,crocuses andprimulas.[7]
The term is also used in thefeminine name Vesna.
Media related toVesna at Wikimedia Commons