Description
The Slavic Sun
Inspired by the timeless sun and wheel patterns of the central & northern Slavic lands.
The early Slavs are a people of enduring myth and mystery and their many descendants have inherited a compelling history. They appeared out of the Carpathian Mountains during the dark days of the Roman Empire and, in the years after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, they spread throughout Eastern, Northern and Southern Europe. In a time of darkness they built a brilliant and vibrant culture centered around family, clan and tribe. Fiercely independent, the Slavs dominated much of central Europe and survived the onslaughts of the Gothic, Hunnish, Frankish, Germanic and Lombard kings while rarely crowning kings of their own. In barely three centuries (c. 500 A.D. – 800 A.D.) they spread from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from the coast of Dalmatia to the banks of the Dnieper. Nearly a thousand years later their descendants would settles the steppes and forests of Siberia and the plains and forests and cities of the United States. In the intervening centuries the Slavs would withstand the onslaughts of the Mongols and the Ottomans as well as their neighbors to the west. Through it all they survived and thrived, and their culture and art left its mark on much of Northern, Eastern & Southern Europe.
For nearly fifteen hundred years, Slavic art has found new life wherever the Slavs have settled. But, like the love of family, some things have endured and been reflected and reborn wherever the Slavs have gone. Most prominent among the enduring designs of the Slavs are the sun and moon wheel patterns -or Ôtemple-styleÕ patterns- that once graced everything from the ever-present earrings of the Slavic women, to the sword hilts, belt plaques and spurs of the men, and the crosses of new converts. In the South, on the coast of Dalmatia, the shores of the Mediterranean and the hills of Greece, the Slavic moon and sun became golden palmettes and flowery discs. In the far North, in the land of the Rus and the Viking endless discs and wheels, half moons and circles were carved on the pillars of churches, the prows of ships, the metal rims of drinking cups and the runners of sledges. And, in the center of the Slavic lands, in what was -for a brief time- the heart of the Moravian and Bohemian Empires, the sun and moon and wheel of the Slavs was chased in gold, silver and bronze. It was inlaid with brightly-colored glass and precious gems. It was made into plaques to hang from a womanÕs hair and sew on a manÕs scabbard. And it is those designs that have survived the rise and fall and rise of Empires that have died while the Slavs live on. And it is those enduring designs that inspired us to design a wedding band that would reflect the life, love and spirit of the Slavs. Inspired by the graceful swirls and wheel patterns that are a staple of design in Scandinavia and Northern Europe. This design has a timeless heritage that evokes the styles of the Migration Era peoples who would leave their marks on the cultures that would later be known as Celtic, Germanic, or Slavic. Designs such as this were carved for millennia in Northern Europe by people of whom there is no written record, people who survive only in their descendants, their legends, and their art. This is a true classic -simple, yet stunning.