[expand]When Christianity arrived, it attempted to erase these glyphs, condemning them as pagan idolatry. Sacred posts were burned. Marked stones were buried or recarved with crosses. The glyphs were driven underground.
But they survived in folk decoration—carved into furniture, embroidered into cloth, scratched into pottery. What had been sacred symbols became “traditional patterns,” their meanings obscured but their forms preserved.
A wooden chest carved with “decorative” spirals and diamonds was still carrying the ancient glyphs. A rushnyk embroidered with “pretty crosses and wheels” was still encoding solar protection. The glyphs lost their names but retained their power, traveling forward through generations of artisans who knew the patterns were important without remembering exactly why.
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