Yesha (mythology)

Yesha (Polish: Jesza, Latin: Jessa) lub Yasha (Polish: Jasza, Latin: Yassa) – Polish or Lechitic god whose exact functions are unknown. Yesha was first mentioned in around 1410 in the postil of Łukasz of Wielki Koźmin in which he was warning about the worship of Yesha and other gods such as Niya, Lada and Kij during spring rituals and folk performances. According to Jan Długosz, he was the highest of the Lechitic gods and the equivalent to Roman god Jupiter.

For the moshav (Israeli communal town), see Yesha, Israel. For the Filipino child actress, see Yesha Camile. For for Israeli settlement, see Yesha.
Yesha
the highest of the gods
Other namesYasha
RegionPoland
Equivalents
Greek equivalentZeus
Roman equivalentJupiter

The name of the god most likely took the form of "Jesza". In the 15th century, the Polish voiceless retroflex fricative sound (today written as sz), was written as a double s. The word jesza, as noted by Aleksander Brückner, also appears in the Old Church Slavonic language as a wish particle "may!".[1][2]

Study

From the beginning of the Renaissance, church documents regarding the prohibition and combating of the worship of the god Yesha in Poland were gradually forgotten or even lost. On the other hand, messages from Jan Długosz and Maciej of Miechów remained known and available. In the following centuries, the information about Yesha was accepted without reservations, all the more so because Maciej of Miechów, in a fragment devoted to the god Jesse, repeated Długosz's information without reservations.

Then, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the entire message of Długosz and earlier church sources were subjected to too harsh, as is often believed, criticism in the research of Alexander Brückner.[3] This researcher, not taking into account or not knowing the oldest message about the god Yesha - Postil of Koźminczyk - noticed that the very word jesza in the church language meant 'may' additionally hypothesizing that it could not, as in his opinion accidentally heard in folk songs, be the name old god. This position, despite being seriously questioned already at the beginning of the 20th century by, among others, Karol Potkański,[4] managed to find continuators in the form of researchers such as Henryk Łowmiański or Stanisław Urbańczyk, which in effect led to the objection in the academic discourse.

Nowadays, after the rejection of Alexander Brückner's hypercritical attitude, Jan Długosz's report is increasingly recognized as valuable, and on a comparative basis worthy of further research. Religious expert and archaeologist prof. Włodzimierz Szafrański[5][6] even notes that Brückner's findings can hardly be considered consistent with the scientific method, in part simply describing them as libel against the person of the chronicler Jan Długosz. Currently, analogous remarks on the work style of Alexander Brückner, including excessive preference for digression, are made by religious expert Andrzej Szyjewski. In addition, information about the remaining deities from Old Polish reports, depending on the publication, is considered valuable by such researchers as the above-mentioned Włodzimierz Szafrański and Andrzej Szyjewski as well as Marek Cetwiński, Marek Derwich,[7] Leszek Kolankiewicz[8] and Aleksander Gieysztor,[9] among others.

Esus (sculpture from the Galician altar found in Paris)

Interpretation of Włodzimierz Szafrański

According to Szafrański, Yesha could have been a Panslavic or even Indo-European god. He also believed that Yesha was associated with the Celtic Esus,[6] who on the altar discovered under the Notre Dame Cathedral is depicted as a god cutting down a tree, and in which in the tripartite division of Georges Dumézil he is compared to Jupiter and Odin. This speaks for the truthfulness of comparing Yesha to Jupiter[6][1].

The etymology of the name of god is under discussion. Szafrański emphasizes that the name of the Yesha has a clear etymological relationship with Esus, whose name is derived, as in the case of the Nordic Æsir (in Old Norse áss, óss meant "god"), from the same Indo-European root *ansu- (master, ruler, god).[10] Also derived from this root is the Avestan word ahura meaning "master, lord" which later became the nickname of Zoroaster god Ahura Mazda as "Lord of Wisdom",[11] to whom yasna ritual is dedicated, Sanskrit word ásura meaning "divine, powerful"[12] or Hittite ḫaššuš meaning "king".[12]

In the case of the second form of the name of the deity - "Yasha" - Szafrański notes that additional influence on its shape (apart from Celtic Esus) could have been exerted by the Sarmatian / Alanian tribe of Jasz people, which at some point was in parts of today's Poland.[13]

Interpretation of Leszek Kolankiewicz

According to Kolankiewicz, Jesza was the Polish equivalent of Dadzbog (or Svarog assuming that Dadzbóg is the local equivalent of Svarog) stating that the names of both gods actually mean the same.[14] This is argued by the fact that in the East Slavic languages the word jesza was a wish particle and the equivalent of the Latin word utinam and quotes examples of citations collected in various dictionaries, e.g. ješa i nie sьbrali sьbora, ješa i sicie nie biesĕdowali is tranlated as "may they not assemble the council, may they not say so". He also gives specific translations of the word jesza according to various dictionaries, e.g. the Słowar' russkiego jazyka defines the word jesza as "in order to, if" and Handwörterbuch zu den altkirchenslavischen Texten reports that the word jesza was originally a third person singular form in the optative mood of the word jesmь ("I am"), and that word come from the Proto-Indo-European *esiēt, hence the proto-Slavic *ša (Polish sza) to which the current e- from the present tense passed, and so the meaning "that there could be" could easly evolve to "may". The second wishful particle is the word is bodaj and quotes the 15th century wish Bogdaj mu zaległ usta wrzod ("God, let the ulcer shut his mouth") with a clear structure "God, let it be!, God, let it happen!, please, God!" and this brings associations with Dadzbog, whose name is translated in two ways: as dać-bóg (dać means "to give") – "God-giver", or as dag-bóg, where the first term comes from the proto-Indo-European core *dag meaning "to burn, incinerate" – "God-burner".[15] So Yesha, like Dadzbog, would be a god of sun and fire, a giver, a punishing and burning god. At the same time, he states that since Lada is always mentioned in the sources first, she (or he) could be the most important god.[14]

Sources

One should pay attention to those who say ungodly things today in dances or elsewhere in performances, consider unclean things in their hearts, shout out and mention the names of idols, and consider whether conversion to God the Father is possible. Certainly not. For it is forbidden to hear freely these holidays, which unfortunately celebrate according to what was left of the rites of the accursed pagans of our ancestors, unless for punishment, as once the shout of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah rose. For at this festival indecent exposure and other abominations, which the Apostle says should not even be named because of God the Father. However, due to the fact that preachers have arrived, such things cease, and in many places they have already ceased [...] There is no other name under heaven in which we can be saved. For a man is not saved in the name of Lado, Jassa, !Quia, Nija, but in the name of Jesus Christ ... Not Lada, not Jassa, not Nija, which are the names of idols worshiped here in Poland, as some chronicles of Poles testify ...

— Łukasz z Wielkiego Koźmina, kazania gnieźnieńskie, 1405-1412.[16]

Also forbid clapping and singing which calls the names of the gods Lado, Yleli, Yassa, and Tya, which were used to celebrate during Green week

— Statua provincialia breviter ,1420.[17]

Unfortunately, our old men, old women and girls do not pay much attention to prayers that they are worthy to receive the Holy Spirit, but unfortunately on these three days, which would have to be spent thinking, old men, women and girls come not to church, not to pray, but for dancing, not calling God, but the devil, namely Ysaya, Lado, Ylely, Yaya [...] Such ... if they do not repent, they will go from Yassa, Lado to eternal damnation.

— Sermones per circulum anni Cunradi, 1423.[17]

Poles are still worshiping the gods of Alado, Gardzyna, Yesse around Green Holidays ...

— Postilla Husitae anonymi.[17]

deities [Latin: Idola] of Poles were also: Ałado, Ajesze [łac. Alado, Agyeʃsze]

— S. Adalberti vita gloss, 1450.[18]

They [Lechites] called Jupiter in their language Jesza [Latin. Jessa], believing that from him as the highest of gods they received all temporal goods and events both unsuccessful and happy. So they worshiped him more than other deities and more often worshiped them with sacrifices.

— Jan Długosz, Annals or Chronicles of the Famous Kingdom of Poland, 1455.[19]

They called Jupiter in their language Jessa [łac. Iessam].

— Maciej of Miechów, Chronica Polonorum[20]

Yesha was also mentioned by Marcin Bielski and his son Joachim and priest Jakub Wujek[21].

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References
  1. Kolankiewicz 1999, p. 436.
  2. Brückner 1985, p. 40.
  3. Brückner, Aleksander (1980). Mitologia słowiańska i polska. Warszawa: PWN. ISBN 8301062452.
  4. Potkański, Karol (2004). Pisma pośmiertne. Poznań: Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk. ISBN 8370634117.
  5. Szafrański 1987.
  6. Szafrański 1979.
  7. Cetwiński, Marek (1989). Herby, legendy, dawne mity. KAW. ISBN 83-03-01809-4.
  8. Kolankiewicz 1999.
  9. Gieysztor 2006, p. 196.
  10. Kempiński, Andrzej (1993). Słownik mitologii ludów indoeuropejskich. Poznań: Kantor Wydawniczy SAWW. p. 131. ISBN 83-85066-91-8.
  11. "Old Iranian Online". lrc.la.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
  12. Alwin Kloekhorst (2007). Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon. 5. Lejda: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16092-7.
  13. Szafrański 1987, p. 343.
  14. Kolankiewicz 1999, p. 439.
  15. Kolankiewicz 1999, p. 436-438.
  16. Kolankiewicz 1999, p. 416–417.
  17. Kolankiewicz 1999, p. 418.
  18. Kolankiewicz 1999, p. 420.
  19. Kolankiewicz 1999, p. 421–422.
  20. Kolankiewicz 1999, p. 426–427.
  21. Kolankiewicz 1999, p. 432.

Bibliography
  • Kolankiewicz, Leszek (1999). Dziady. Teatr święta zmarłych. Gdańsk: Słowo/Obraz Terytoria. ISBN 8387316393.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Brückner, Aleksander (1985). Mitologia słowiańska. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. ISBN 8301062452.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Szczepanik, Paweł (2018). Słowiańskie Zaświaty. Wierzenia, wizje i mity. Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Triglav. ISBN 978-83-62586-73-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gieysztor, Aleksander (2006). Mitologia Słowian. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. ISBN 978-83-235-0234-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Szyjewski, Andrzej (2003). Religia Słowian. Kraków: Wydawnictwo WAM. ISBN 83-7318-205-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Strzelczyk, Jerzy (1998). Mity, podania i wierzenia dawnych Słowian. Poznań: Dom Wydawniczy Rebis. ISBN 83-7120-688-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Szafrański, Włodzimierz (1987). Prahistoria religii na ziemiach polskich. Wrocław: Ossolineum. ISBN 83-04-02624-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Szafrański, Włodzimierz (1979). Pradzieje religii w Polsce. Warszawa: Iskry. ISBN 83-207-0035-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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