"CHERNOBOG is the black god of death and darkness in Slavic Mythology and is the opposite of Bylebog (Bielebog). Slavic mythology is regarded as a pre-Christian, pagan, dualist belief system in which there were two main deities in the universe, one benevolent and another malevolent. Like many European mythologies, Slavs believed in two main divine beings that had control of their lives. The Slavic people are the ethnic group who reside in the modern day areas of Eastern Europe such as Russia, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania (former Transylvania).

In Slavonic myth the earliest rites and practices were based on the principle that the natural world is inhabited and directed by beneficial and harmful spirits of nature. Later, these mysterious forces were anthropomorphized into divinities with special powers and functions. The supreme god of the East and South Slavs was Perun, god of lightning and thunder, who controlled the elements of nature. Svarog, known to most Slavs, was regarded as the father of the deities: Byelobog (the White God, good) and Chernobog (the Black God, evil and death). These gods represented the forces of good or evil and reflected the Slavic belief in the dualistic nature of the universe. The Baltic Slavs had a particularly rich tradition and many cults, including the powerful Radogost-Svarazic. With the coming of Christianity, the great divinities of the Slavs vanished in name, but many elements of pagan belief survived in popular tradition and in many Christian Slavic religious ceremonies.

According to legends and myths of the Slavic pantheon, Bylebog, the force of orderly creation fought with Chernobog which caused the world to come into being. The gods and goddesses of this belief were believed to be of an adopted or assimilated Iranian belief system. Because of his negative aspects, Chernobog is often associated with other deities like the Black Serpent and Koschei.

The infamous city and nuclear reactor Chernobyl in Ukraine where a nuclear reactor disaster occurred in 1986, released radiation killing and injuring thousands; is derived from the words Chernobog (Chernabog) and Byelo-bog, and in a way is symbolic of the tragedy. The Russian Cherno is derived from the Sanskrit Krishna, meaning the "black one" and the adjective cherny means "black". This name is in turn derived from the Ancient Egyptian, kemet, meaning the Black Land. And the word -bog is Slavic for ÔgodÕ. The 1983 book on "Fantasia" by John Culhane refers to Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology: "Ukranians still say, 'May the black god exterminate you.' "