Mokosh

Mokoš

Slavic

Earth Fertility Crafts Home

The Idols of the Old Russians by Georg Andreas Schleusing
The Idols of the Old Russians Georg Andreas Schleusing, 1698 From La religion ancienne et moderne des Moscovites A 17th-century European engraving of the Kyiv idols, Mokosh among them, drawn centuries later and largely from imagination. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Slavic goddess of moist earth, spinning and women's work.

Mokosh was the only goddess among the idols Prince Vladimir set up in Kyiv in 980. She watched over spinning, weaving, childbirth and the fertile, rain-soaked earth. Some scholars think her customs passed to Saint Paraskeva 'Friday', on whose day women avoided spinning.

Symbols

Spindle Wool and flax

In the ancient sources
Medieval chronicles and sermons
  • Primary Chronicle, year 980 Prince Vladimir sets up idols on the hill outside his hall in Kyiv: Perun with a silver head and golden moustache, Khors, Dazhbog, Stribog, Simargl and Mokosh.
  • Medieval Russian sermons against paganism Church writers of the 12th–14th centuries still scold Christians for praying to Perun, Khors and Mokosh.

Mokosh is the only goddess in the Kyiv list, and the chronicle says nothing about what she did. Her links to spinning, moist earth and Friday come from later folklore and from customs that passed to St Paraskeva Pyatnitsa.

Cross-checked against these texts and records, in public-domain or freely available versions where they exist. Line, section and chapter numbers follow the standard editions, so a particular translation may differ slightly.

Correspondences Explore all
Day
Friday
Element
Earth and water
Plants
Flax
Animals
Sheep

These mix ancient attributes with modern associations from contemporary pagan and magical practice; the modern ones weren't part of her original worship.

Learn more