Long before people set out to build heaven on earth with their own hands, their ancestors believed that such a promised land already existed. From Kitezh to Buyan - 6 promised countries in the Russian tradition.
Kitezh
Perhaps the most famous promised place. The secret city, which was located in the northern part of the Nizhny Novgorod region on the shores of Lake Svetloyar. According to legend, when the Mongol Khan Batu learned about Kitezh and ordered to capture it, one of the Russian captives told the Mongols about the secret paths to Lake Svetloyar. The horde pursued Prince Yuri and soon reached the walls of the city. To the surprise of the Mongols, the city had no fortifications at all. Its inhabitants were not even going to defend themselves and only prayed. Suddenly water gushed from the ground, engulfing the city and drowning the invaders. The enemies could only powerlessly watch as the city plunged into the lake. The last thing they saw was a cross on the dome of the cathedral. The cross also disappeared - and only a surface of water remained in the place of Kitezh. Since then, according to legend, it is believedthat only the pure in heart and soul can find the way to Kitezh. It is also said that in calm weather one can sometimes hear bells ringing and the singing of people heard from under the waters of Lake Svetloyara, which is sometimes called the “Russian Atlantis”. The legend of Kitezh has been repeatedly addressed, including by the composer Rimsky-Korsakov, who created the "Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia."
Belovodye
The legendary land of freedom in Russian folk legends, the image of Belovodye is partially associated with the image of the invisible city of Kitezh. The origin of the legend is attributed to the end of the 18th century, and its spread is associated with the activities of runners, one of the Old Believer communities. At that time, there were numerous “guidebooks” describing the way to Belovodye in an encrypted allegorical form. In the 18th-19th centuries, Belovodye acquired a real image among the Old Believers - the valleys of the Bukhtarma and Katun rivers in Altai, where various fugitives from government duties settled arbitrarily, forming an ethnographic group of Bukhtarma masons. Some groups of Old Believers, in search of Belovodye, went much further into the depths of Chinese territory, and even crossed over to the New World.
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Lukomorye
Lukomorye is a reserved place on the outskirts of the universe in the "bend" of the sea, where there is a world tree - the axis of the world, along which you can get to other worlds, since its top rests on the heavens, and the roots reach the underworld. Sometimes the ancient Northern Kingdom was called Lukomorye, where people fall into hibernation in order to wake up to the return of the spring Sun - this interpretation was recorded in the studies of N. M. Karamzin, A. N. Afanasyev and A. A. Korinth.
Islands of the Blessed
This promised land was described by Euphrosynus in the "Word about the Rahmanechs and about their wonderful life." The same Isles of the Blessed are described in detail in the apocrypha known as "Zosima's Walking to the Rahmans." The island is inhabited by "rahmans" (brahmans?), Christian sages, who were allegedly visited by Alexander the Great during his campaign in India. Rahmans stay in prayer day and night, feed on the fruits of the earth and drink sweet water flowing from the root of one tree. They have neither grapes, nor iron vessels, nor iron knives, nor houses, nor fire, nor gold and silver, nor clothes. Having taken root with their wife two children, the Rahmans get divorced and live chastely. Angels inform the Rahmans about the righteous and sinful people on earth, how many years of life are assigned to whom, and the Rahmans pray for the people, because, as they told Zosima, "we are from your kind of Esma."In fasting, Rahmans instead of tree fruits feed on manna falling from the sky, and only for this reason they judge the change in time. Rahmans live from 100 to 860 and even up to 1800 years. They know the time of their death and die without illness and without fear.
Buyan
A fabulous island city in Russian folklore. It is well known for the tale of Alexander Pushkin "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". Buyan Island is endowed with miraculous power, magical things are stored on it that help fairytale heroes fight evil (a mystical oak grows on the island, in the branches of which the death of Koshchei is hidden). There is also a sacred stone alatyr on the island, which marks the center of the world. Whoever manages to find this stone - all desires come true. The foreign islands of Rugen and Bornholm (having, however, not one, but several cities and settlements each), as well as the island-city of Sviyazhsk and the island of Berezan are named as presumptive real prototypes of the island-town of Buyan.
Iriy (viry, vyri)
In Slavic mythology, the southern lands, where birds fly away in winter, are a fabulous country. In accordance with ancient Slavic myths, the ancestors of all birds and animals live on this island (before the name of the beast that lived on this island, they said “elder” or “old”, this spoke of their maturity and bodily power). This island of the seventh heaven, roofed by the eighth and ninth heavens, was also called "Iriy" or "Viry". In the Belarusian and Ukrainian languages, there are also expressions about migratory birds: “lyatsyats at vyray” (Belorussian) and “fly at virii” (read: letity at vyri) (Ukrainian), which are not used in another context.