Pomeranian pre-Christian religion according to the Lives of Saint Otto of Bamberg
The next source of information on Slavic religion is the Lives of Saint Otto of Bamberg, a German bishop who converted Western Pomerania to Christianity in 1124-8 (Rosik 2010). His three Lives (Life of Prüfening, Herbord and Ebo) describe Pomeranian temples built of wood and situated in Szczecin, Wolin, Wolgast and Gützkow.
In the most important Pomeranian merchant town, Szczecin, there were “four continae”,5 of which the author states that the reliefs of the principal one were painted and that the whole “had been built with amazing reverence and skill. Its exterior and interior were decorated with sculptures protruding from the walls; there were effigies of people, birds and wild animals, pictured with all their features so accurately that they seemed to live and breathe” (Herbord 2.32). From the detailed descriptions that follow, however, it appears that only the principal shrine of the god Triglav was a temple properly speaking, that is, a sacred building housing the tri-cephalic image of the god, the treasury and the horse oracle, whereas the other three buildings rather served as halls used for feasting. Herbord states: “The three other continae were less honoured and less adorned. Inside, seats and tables were placed along the walls, and they used to hold theirNear the image of the god, the god’s saddle, bridle and other attributes could be seen. “Their admiration was increased by the conspicuous size of [the god’s] sword, whose sheath and hilt attracted attention with its glint of silver and magnificent carved decorations.”
The main ritual was celebrated once a year, after the harvest. All the inhabitants of Arcona gathered in front of the temple on this occasion. On the eve of the celebration, the priest (who contrary to the common people had long hair and a beard) “meticulously cleaned the chapel, to which only he himself had access, with a brush.
He was careful not to breathe inside the temple....” In order to breathe, he had to run to the entrance! The reason for this was, as Saxo explicitly said, that he tried not to offend the deity by polluting the air with human breath (cf. Gieysztor 1984). Saxo describes how the ritual continued:On the next day, when the people camped in the open air before the door, the priest took the vessel out of the god’s hand and carefully examined whether the level of liquid had decreased, which would be a sign of a bad harvest for the following year.... If he concluded that the usual level had not decreased, he prophesied an abundant harvest. Following the annual divination he advised people to conserve - or to use freely - their stock of food. Then he poured the old pure wine in libation at the feet of the statue, filled the vessel with fresh liquid, worshipped the statue as if toasting to it, asked in solemn words for prosperity for himself and the fatherland, for new riches and victories for citizens. Having finished, he hastily gulped down all the wine, refilled the vessel and put it back in the statue’s right hand. Another offering was a round honey-flavoured bread, whose height nearly equalled the height of a human. The priest placed it between himself and the people and asked them if they could see him. If they said that they did, he wished that they would not be able to see him the following year. In that way he asked... for ample harvest in the future. Then, on behalf of the deity, he saluted the people and reminded them to keep worshipping the majesty of the god with oblations. And he promised them victory on land and sea as a reward for their worship. Having finished [the ritual] in this way, they spent the rest of the day with luxurious banquets, used the offerings for feasts and gluttony and satisfied their greed with the animals offered to the god. To break abstinence in that feast was considered pious, to follow it impious.
A description of a similar ritual by William of Malmesbury, mentioned above, allows us to assume that these rituals were widely performed by the Western Slavs. According to Saxo Grammaticus, the temple of Sventovit, supported financially by all pagan Western Slavs, received gifts even from Christian kings.
The temple had an oracle and the medium of the god was a white horse. “On this horse, as was commonly believed in Rügen, Sventovit, as they called the deity, fought against the enemies of his divinity” (Saxo 14.39.9). Lot-casting was also used.
Unfortunately the ruins of the temple, situated in the middle of the stronghold,
(Primary Chronicle, sub anno 980). It seems also that the principal Russian sanctuary in Kiev was built in a fashion similar to that of the sanctuaries of the Scandinavian merchants on the Volga described by ibn Fadlan.