Lel and Polel


Lel and Polel are Polish divine twins, first mentioned by Maciej Miechowita in the 16th century where he presents them as equivalents of Castor and Pollux and the sons of the goddess Łada, the equivalent of Leda. There is no complete agreement about the authenticity of the cult of Lel and Polel, but in recent years there has been an increase in confidence in its authenticity.

The state of research

Initially, the authenticity of the gods Lel and Polel was not denied, as evidenced by their popularity among many great Polish writers such as Ignacy Krasicki, Juliusz Słowacki and Stanisław Wyspiański.
Alexander Brückner, who was one of the first researchers to tackle the topic of the Polish pantheon, categorically rejected the authenticity of Lel and Polel. He believed that the cry Łada, Łada, Ilela and Leli Poleli cited by Miechowita was in fact only a drinking song, an exclamation similar to tere-fere or fistum-pofistum, and the alleged names were derived from the word lelać "to sway". Despite Brückner's significant achievements, many modern researchers accuse him of a hypercritical or even pseudoscientific approach to the subject of the Polish pantheon.

Archaeological discovery

The attitude towards the cult of Lel and Polel changed in 1969 when two cult figures of oak tree dating from the 11th or 12th century were discovered on the island of Fischerinsel on the Tollensesee in Mecklenburg. One of them is 178 cm high and presents two male figures with a mustache, in headgear, which are fused with heads and torsos. The second, primitive figure, 157 cm high, shows a female figure with clearly outlined breasts. For many researchers, these idols depict Lel and Polel and their mother Łada.

Further research

After rejecting Brückner's hypercritical attitude and discovering the figures on the island of Fischerinsel, modern researchers are more confident about the cult of twins. Against the origin of names from drinking songs are testified by Karol Potkański the own names Lel and Lal and the Russian song Lelij, Lelij, Lelij zelenyj and my Lado! where the first word may be associated with the dialectal Russian word lelek, which meant a "strong, healthy youth". Voditь leli is a women's pageant to honor young married women - which shows the ritual and mythical connotations, which after several centuries could have become drunken chants. From the 17th century, the term lelum polelum in the sense of "slow, sluggish" was recorded, which could have been the result of desacralization. According to Andrzej Szyjewski, Lelum and Polelum could have been zodiacal twins, and according to Alexander Gieysztor they brought happiness, which may be reflected in faith in the magical power of a double ear . However, according to Grzegorz Niedzielski, Lel and Polel are the invention of Miechowita and the Slavic twin brothers were to be Łada and Leli, where Łada was the fire god and the remains of the divine twins is the legend of Waligóra and Wyrwidąb.
An argument for the truthfulness of the cult of Lel and Polel may also be the fact that the Slavs certainly knew the archetype of divine twins and their functions were adapted by saints. In the folklore of St. Florus and Laurus and St. Boris and Gleb were attacked by a fire viper and they had to hide in a forge. When the viper put his tongue in through the crack, they grabbed him with pliers and forced him to obey, then harnessed him and forced him to plow a huge space. This is how Serpent's Wall was created, which from now on protect Ukraine from dragons. Another pair of saints may be St. Nicholas and St. Gregory, who sometimes performed in the triad with St. Elijah, Michael Archangel or with the Holy Mother. They were also associated with the goddess of dawn, Zorya.

Lel and Polel in culture

Literature