a mythical place in
Slavic mythology where "birds fly for the winter and
souls go after death" that is sometimes identified with
paradise.
[1] In the mythological lore,
spring is believed to have arrived on Earth from Vyraj.
Initially, the
Early Slavs believed in only one Vyraj, connected to the deity known as
Rod—it was apparently located far away beyond the sea, at the end of the
Milky Way.
[3] It was often imagined as a garden beyond an iron gate that barred the living from entering, located in the crown of the
cosmic tree. Whereas the branches were said to be nested by the birds, who were usually identified as human souls.
[2] According to folkloristic fables, the gates of Vyraj were guarded by
Veles, who sometimes took the animal form of a
raróg, grasping in its claws the keys to the
otherworlds.
