Veles

WHO IS VELES?
Veles, also known as Volos, is a major god of earth, waters, livestock, and the underworld in Slavic paganism. Veles is associated with a wide variety of powers and protectors: he is associated with poetry and wisdom, the lord of the waters (oceans, seas, ships, and whirlpools). He is both the hunter and protector of cattle and the lord of the underworld

Slavs had respect for Veles because they saw in him a god from whom they sought survival. He was in charge of the crops, the fields, and the animals, both wild and domestic. The whole community depended on Veles.

Veles is the son of a cow Zemun and Rod. He is presented as a horned, strong young man, but also as a gray-haired old man with a white beard and a shepherd’s staff (here he represents the patron of shepherds and wisdom).
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The sign "Bull's Head", similar to a bull's head, reminds that the God of the Slavs Veles is the patron saint of livestock.

The shape of the Serpentine is associated with the ideas of Veles, the sorcerer and patron of snakes. According to legends, snakes gather in the possession of this God every year in the fall and give an account of their affairs.

MYTH ABOUT OF VELES
The best-known myth of Veles is found in several versions, or fragments of versions, from the various cultures claiming descent from the Kievan Rus'. The tale is a creation myth, in which Veles abducts Mokosh (the Goddess of Summer and consort of Perun, God of Thunder). Perun and his enemy battle for the universe under a huge oak, Perun's holy tree. The battle is won by Perun, and afterward, the waters of the world are set free.

MYTH ABOUT OF VELES
A second creation myth associated with Veles is the formation of the boundary between the underworld and the human world, a result of a treaty forged between Veles and a shepherd/magician.
In the treaty, the unnamed shepherd pledges to sacrifice his best cow to Veles and keep many prohibitions. Then he divides the human world from the wild underworld led by Veles, which is either a furrow plowed by Veles himself or a groove across the road carved by the shepherd with a knife which the evil powers cannot cross.