How religion was connected to everyday life. Primitive religions. From relative animal to ancestor animal

Fetishism. One of these forms is fetishism - belief in the special power of any objects (from Portuguese fetiso - “amulet”). When fetishism manifests itself in the belief in the special power of amulets, we are talking about magic. If a person creates an idol and uses it as a material object to worship higher powers, we are talking about religion. The idol is needed as a material object to which sacrifices can be made. The idol is a channel for communication with a higher power, endowed with consciousness, a soul (otherwise it is impossible to come into contact with it), and this reveals the connection between fetishism and animism.

Totemism. Primitive people typically believed in special relationship between any group of people (clan, tribe) and a certain natural object (most often an animal, less often a plant, another object), which was considered as a symbol, progenitor and patron of this community. Such an object is called a "totem". The term is borrowed from the language of the American Indian tribe Ojibwa, and literally means "his kind."

The totem is also endowed with consciousness, a soul, and this reveals its connection with animism. If a totem is worshiped and endowed with powerful powers and abilities, then we are dealing with a form of religion. However, often totems were used only to help people separate members of their clan from other people. In such cases, totemism is a form of demographic magic. Totemism is often associated with fetishism. The Indians of North America created colorful totem poles that acted as idols.

Ancestor cult. A study of the traditional beliefs of the peoples of East Asia and West Africa shows the great role of the cult of ancestors, which also has very ancient roots. The cult grew out of the tradition of receiving accumulated experience from the hands of the oldest representatives of the community. In the primitive era, people rarely lived to an old age. But if anyone survived, he knew a lot and was a source of valuable information. People believed that ancestors, at least the most prominent and authoritative ones during life, help their descendants after death. Ancestor cult is also a form of animism, for it is based on the belief in the existence of ancestral spirits. Sometimes, but not often, ancestors were deified, and then ancestor cult became a form of religion. More often, ancestors played the role of intermediaries between living people and higher powers and in this form were part of other religious beliefs.

Shamanism. IN in a broad sense shamans are people who professionally practice magic or send religious cults among a number of backward peoples of the world. In a narrow sense, shamanism is a form of animism in several areas of North Asia and America. This form requires the presence invisible world, with whom a shaman-medium who is in a special state (trance) is able to communicate.

Rituals. As ethnographic material shows, the process of reaching an agreement with the spirits consisted mainly of the ritual of sacrifice. In other words, the basic principle of all early religious systems can be expressed by the phrase: “I give to you so that you can give to me.” Sacrificial rituals could be very simple and complex.

From spirit to God. A very difficult question is when belief in spirits developed into belief in god or gods, which in the era of ancient civilizations were already thought of in a very specific anthropomorphic or zoomorphic form. It can be assumed that as some important natural element received a specific appearance and was endowed with specific functions, the process of transforming the spirit into a god took place. The simultaneous veneration of many spirits, personifying a number of important natural phenomena, laid the roots for polytheism - the belief in many gods. It is possible that in the primitive era there were roots for monotheism. The study of the beliefs of the peoples of Polynesia showed that they have long had an idea of a certain single force that animates all of nature and brings into action everything that is in nature, and which can partially be embodied in individual spirits, animals and humans. However, it is not possible to determine how long such ideas have existed or at what stage of human development they arose.

Introduction 3

1. Primitive community and totemism 4

2. Cult of the Dead 7

3. Magic and religion 10

4 . From relative animal to ancestor animal 14

5. Marriage and food prohibitions 19

6. From animal totem to animal god 22

Conclusion 24

Bibliography

Introduction

There are five main sciences with the help of which we study the religion of primitive society, its emergence and further development:

archeology of prehistoric times, which studies monuments, burial grounds, the area where they are located, and especially the tools of labor of distant eras and those changes in the way of life of people to which the gradual improvement of tools led;

anthropology, dealing with the problem of modification of the biological type of a person in connection with transformations in the structure of society over a number of successive historical eras;

linguistics, allowing us to identify different periods of human history reflected in linguistic forms, written or oral;

folkloristics, exploring legends, myths, customs and traditions, authentic literature of a culturally underdeveloped society;

paleontology And ethnography, the only sciences that are usually resorted to when studying the origins of religion.

Lewis Henry Morgan's work on the history of primitive society, Ancient Society, was the starting point for a whole series of ethnographic research. The conclusions that Marx and Engels drew from Morgan's extensive work, especially the famous work "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State", published by Engels in 1884, were confirmed in the later works of G. Childe, D. Thomson, S. A. Tokarev and other Soviet researchers.

Ethnographic data, if used sufficiently seriously and thoughtfully, are also of great importance for clarifying one of the main properties of religious ideology - the stability of its survivals in successive phases of social development.

1. Primitive community and totemism

Throughout the pre-glacial period, people lived in small groups of ten to twelve members. Modern sociologists called these groups the primitive horde and then identified two main stages of its existence - a state of savagery and a state of barbarism.

In this era, there was no division of labor, promiscuous sexual intercourse reigned, there were no leaders or any social connections between members of the horde. The economy of the horde consisted exclusively of appropriation, and not of production. People collected berries and fruits, shellfish and insects. Only occasionally did they hunt small animals. Man was not yet able to realize his connections with other people and with nature and could not, therefore, reflect these connections in any form of religious ideas, even the most elementary and primitive. “In order for religion to arise, a broader social base, more complex social relations were necessary.”

The essence of religion must be revealed in forms material world, to which each phase of human ideological development corresponds. The ideas of primitive man about sleep and dreaming, about death explain the origin of religious fictions and early ideas about the soul. But in order for these ideas to arise, the formation of a “primitive community” was required, which replaced the original semi-animal state. This transition was characterized by the discovery of a number of tools. To the random collection of food was added an organized, although still primitive, form of hunting and fishing. It was finally necessary for people to move on to a semi-sedentary life in various kinds of shelters and caves, where they could think about the animals and people appearing in dreams as their “doubles” and think about the mysteries of death.

Powerful atmospheric and geological shocks of the Ice Age drove people into caves and contributed to the search for new means of protecting and maintaining life. People learned how to keep a fire going by accident, then learned how to create sparks to light it themselves. Stone processing began to produce hunting tools. They continued to hunt together huge animals - mammoths, giant rhinoceroses, prehistoric deer, which the cold drove to human habitats.

Jointly captured booty was common property. Only when more advanced tools were made, such as an ax with two edges, arrows, spears with the first metal tips, and finally a bronze ax, did hunting begin and the idea of possession also arose, which passes from things to people and marks the transition from primitive communism to a new type of economy based on private property.

About existence religious life in the most ancient periods of history, we are shown only a few external signs, which are sometimes very difficult to interpret.

Numerous rituals that originated in primitive society due to certain economic and social conditions then passed - without changes or with minor innovations - into the religion of subsequent eras.

It is enough to recall the rites of passage, which “have been preserved in the form of Christian sacraments, the sacred spring meal of the Mbanbuuma, or Intichium, of the Grund tribe of Central Australia, which has all the basic signs of the sacrament, the purpose and funeral ceremonies, preserved to this day, although without its former magical, meaning, customs of mourning, etc.

The era of primitive society stretched over many tens of thousands of years, starting from the first period of the Stone Age, or early Paleolithic, when a man lived who received the name Neanderthal, and right up to the Bronze Age, covering the second millennium BC. Traces of primitive society were preserved among peoples still living in a semi-wild state, for example among the Australians. It should, however, be taken into account that the conclusions of our official ethnography, which studies the life of such peoples in modern conditions, cannot be accepted without reservations, since it is too affected by contact with more developed forms of society.

Primitive society does not yet know the division into classes opposing each other and, therefore, does not have any state organization. It is united by consanguineous, sexual, age ties, and these connections arise only due to the dependence caused by the specialization of certain age groups in the manufacture and use of primitive hunting and fishing tools. Naturally, the religion of that ancient era of human collective life is based on ideas about kinship, about differences in gender and age, transferred to the world of non-existent, fictitious relationships, which express man’s powerlessness over nature, his uncertainty about the future.

This mystical family connection by blood and tribe is expressed in the term “totem” or “totam”, which in the ancient Algonquian dialect of one of the Indian tribes of North America means “kinship with a brother” or “with a sister.” This term was first used in 1791 to designate religious ideas characterized by vague and contradictory manifestations social life clan.

Totemism, which binds together members of the most ancient social groups through sacred mythology and a system of rites of atonement, guaranteeing people's existence and unity, is the first form of religion of human society, which arose during the Lower Paleolithic period, and it is this that must be studied. to explain the rituals, myths and customs of primitive society since the Neanderthal era.

2. Cult of the dead

Almost all treatises on the history of religion begin with the presentation of the religious beliefs of primitive people with what is usually called the cult of the dead.

However, although the custom of burying the dead seems to be the most ancient, and perhaps even goes back to the very beginnings of prehistoric times, perhaps to the last interglacial period, that is, to 180-120 thousand years BC. e., nothing gives us reason to assert that from the very beginning it is associated with the belief in the existence of the soul of the deceased and with the duty to honor it to propitiate it through certain rites. The distinction between matter and spirit, and consequently between soul and body, is unfamiliar to primitive society. The idea of this difference arises only when the human family, as Engels put it, “splits” and the organization of society, based on the equal distribution of work, gives way to a communal-tribal system based on different types private accumulation and the first class differences.

Archaeological data about the prehistoric era and ethnographic studies confirm that the custom of burying the dead initially meets only one need to ensure the continuation of the deceased’s material existence. The corpse was laid supine between two stone slabs or placed curled up in a ball, with its legs tucked in, in the position of a sleeping person, dressed in his usual clothes. His weapons and various household items were placed next to him. It is likely that this custom determined the development of primitive stone processing and gave impetus to the primary manifestations of art.

People believed that the deceased continued to live. Therefore, his remains were painted red. Hunting has already given rise to the idea of the connection between life and blood. During the funeral, the body of the deceased was painted with liquid or powdered red ocher. The remains discovered in many burials contain obvious traces of this ritual. However, this custom has survived to this day. U Some nationalities to this day lower the dead into a coffin painted red or covered with material of the same color. Before the ashes of the Great Pontiff are placed in St. Peter's Basilica, they are displayed in a coffin wrapped in red cloth.

The usual sign of mourning in our time is black, sometimes white (for example, among Bantu blacks). This custom has a completely different origin. When the idea of pure and unclean was born and the dead began to be attributed harmful powers, a need arose to mark with a certain color objects, people and places that, as a person feared, bore traces of permanent or accidental touches deceased. Hence the change in clothing and decoration that occurs during the period of mourning. To return to ordinary life, primitive man also had to undergo certain purification rites.

In a prehistoric burial ground discovered in the vicinity of Menton, in the place where the mouth and nose of the buried person should have been, a depression filled with red powder was discovered. Thanks to the vitality attributed to ocher, the deceased could “breathe.” In other cases, the corpse was buried near the fire so that the deceased would not have to suffer from the lack of heat necessary to maintain life. Offerings of food and drink and animal figurines buried with the corpse served the same purpose.

Obviously, animals were killed and buried along with the person, believing that they would still be useful to him. In the Chapelle-aux-Saints grotto, France, animal bones were found near the grave. However, these could be the remains of a funeral feast, which took place right there in the expectation that the deceased would take part in it.

It is clear, in any case, that until the end of the era of primitive society there are no convincing signs of human sacrifice. About this custom, characteristic of all peoples of antiquity without exception, there is scientific literature, richly equipped with facts and details, which, however, are not always interpreted critically enough. Primitive society was already disintegrating, and classes began to form with the division of people into the propertied class and into the enslaved labor force, when people, men and women, began to be buried alive or killed at the burial of their masters (or widows at the funeral of their husbands, and it is interesting to note , that during the period of matriarchy there were no examples of the burial of men killed at the funeral of their wives, since in this era property to the spouse did not yet exist).

In a later era, which is characterized by the emergence of private property and class stratification, human sacrifices known to us were performed, starting with the customs of the Aztecs in Mexico and the Mayan tribe in Yucatan and Guatemala and right up to the Phoenicians, Semitic peoples in general, including the Jewish tribes in Palestine.

True, in earlier periods we find traces of ritual cannibalism, which was widespread among all primitive peoples down to the present day. From the skull of the deceased (as evidenced by the so-called “Circe’s skull”) or the skulls of killed animals, the brain was extracted through a special, sometimes very complex operation; then it was eaten in order to acquire certain qualities. But all this has nothing to do with human sacrifices. The idea of sacrificing one person to another at the moment of his death could not have arisen before some people, while still alive, had not been “sacrificed” to other people on the basis of their subjugation and enslavement. So, in ancient times, the custom of burying the dead did not have a truly religious content. Material life continues, as primitive people believed, even in the grave. The afterlife of the “spirit” does not yet exist in the minds of people.

3. Magic and religion

Before moving on to a detailed description of totemism, it is necessary to determine the real place of another phenomenon. It is usually relied upon when trying to separate religious faith from popular prejudices, presenting it as a higher “moment” of spiritual life, independent of the regional conditions of one or another historical era. It's about connections between magic and religion and the supposed differences between them.

In fact, it is unthinkable to completely separate the concepts of magic and religion. Each cult includes magical practice: all prayers, from primitive to modern religions, are, in essence, a form of naive and illusory influence on the outside world. It is impossible to oppose religion to magic without breaking with science.

The relationship between man and nature that has been established since time immemorial has always had a dual character: the dominance of omnipotent nature over helpless man, on the one hand, and, on the other, the influence on nature that man sought to exercise, even in limited and imperfect forms, characteristic of primitive society - using their tools, their productive forces, their abilities.

The interaction of these two only outwardly incomparable forces determines the development of unique techniques through which primitive man sought to exert his imagined influence on nature. These techniques, in fact, are magical practice.

Imitation of hunting techniques should contribute to the success of the hunt itself. Before going in search of kangaroos, Australians dance rhythmically around a picture depicting the much-coveted prey on which the tribe's existence depends.

If the Caroline Islanders want a newborn to become a good fisherman, they try to tie its newly cut umbilical cord to a pirogue or shuttle.

The Ainu people, the indigenous population of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and the Japanese island of Hokkaido, catch a small bear cub. One of the women of the clan feeds him with her milk. After a few years, the bear is strangled or killed with arrows. The meat is then eaten together during a sacred meal. But before the ritual sacrifice, the bear is prayed to return to earth as soon as possible, allow itself to be caught, and thus continue to feed the group of people who raised it.

Thus, in origin, witchcraft practice is not opposed to religion, but, on the contrary, merges with it. It is true that magic is not yet associated with any privileges of a social nature (in a primitive society everyone can try to “put pressure” on the forces of nature). However, very early on, individual members of the clan begin to emerge, claiming to have special abilities for this. With the advent of the first “sorcerer,” the concept of “priest” also appeared.

All these are undeniable signs of the formation of a religious ideology.

We have already noted that primitive society is characterized by a naive materialistic understanding of life, nature and social relations. The elementary needs of the first people, who owned everything in common and did not know the private appropriation of the means of subsistence, were uniformly satisfied or not satisfied. The history of nature and the history of people merged together: the second seemed to continue the first.

The basic contradiction between man and the forces of nature that underlies primitive society is not in itself sufficient to explain the emergence of the idea of the otherworldly, much less the idea of “evil,” “sin,” and “salvation.” The contradictions rooted in differences in kinship, age and gender do not yet have a class character and have not given rise to any form of truly religious withdrawal from life. It required people to become aware of the limitations that new structure society imposed on their daily life, so that along with the decomposition of society into classes, there also arose a need for a certain “spiritual” element (as is usually expressed in theological and idealistic philosophy), opposed to nature, the bodily, the material.

Strictly speaking, the first forms of religiosity cannot even be recognized as manifestations of ritual practice based on any “supernatural” idea and thereby opposed to normal human everyday customs. The relationship between people and their totem - an animal, a plant or a natural phenomenon - does not go beyond the boundaries of a primitive materialistic worldview with all its characteristic absurdities, which are preserved and maintained in the beliefs of subsequent eras. Magic itself at first appears to be a kind of material pressure from man on nature or society to obtain certain tangible results.

Collective life itself could not “objectively manifest itself in myth and ritual,” as various representatives of the French sociological school from Durkheim to Lévy-Bruhl assert. A society without social contradictions could never give rise to religious “alienation.”

When a primitive community, based on the equal participation of its members in the receipt and appropriation of products, disintegrates and gives way to a regime of private property, for this period the religious ideas of people did not go beyond the imaginary connections of the primitive group with certain animals or plants on which its members ate (such as hare, turtle, porcupine, kangaroo, wild boar, eagle, bear, deer, various types of berries and herbs, trees). But the stratification of the family and the emergence of classes led to a bifurcation of ideology, which was of exceptional importance, and gave rise to different views on nature, on the one hand, and, on the other, on the world of phenomena, which were henceforth recognized as supernatural.

4 . From relative animal to ancestor animal

Totemism-- the most ancient form of religion that we know in the history of mankind before the era of the emergence of classes.

What exactly does "totem" mean? This word, as we have already seen, originally meant a relationship between members of a certain group of people and their supposed or actual ancestor. Later, this kinship relationship was extended to animals and plants that serve a given group for sustenance. This expansion of ideas itself is a certain religious process. From the idea of a totem, over time, the cult of animals, plants and natural phenomena that determine human life will develop.

It is often argued that totemism cannot be considered a religious phenomenon, since the mythical kinsman and patron of the group is not yet recognized as standing above man and is not identified with any deity. Proponents of this point of view, which is supported by theologians and some rationalist scientists, simply do not take into account that the process of establishing the idea of a supreme being, and especially a personified deity, could not begin before privileged groups began to predominate in society, leading layers, social classes.

In a society with a division of labor based on family relations and age differences, kinship relationships naturally become the main type of religious ties. The animal on which the clan depends for its food supply is at the same time regarded as a kin of the group. Members of a given clan do not eat its meat, just as men and women of the same group do not marry each other. This prohibition is expressed in a word of Polynesian origin - “tabu” (“tapu”), which was first heard by the navigator Cook in Tanga (1771). The original meaning of this word is separated, removed away. In a primitive society, a taboo is everything that, according to primitive man, is fraught with danger.

Taboos are imposed on the sick, on corpses, on strangers, on women at certain periods of their physiological life, and in general on all objects that, as it seems to primitive man, have an extraordinary character. Later, tribal leaders, monarchs and priests would fall into the same category. Everything that is taboo, untouchable and carries infection; however, these ideas gave rise to some healing and cleansing prohibitions.

All these beliefs find explanations in various forms. real life And public relations, the effects of which people experienced themselves. It was not religion that gave birth to the idea of pure and impure, holy and profane, permitted and forbidden, but social practice, which created the reflected world of legends and rituals called sacred. But, having been born, these ideas went through a path of independent development. And the conclusion that people’s way of life and mode of production, and not their way of thinking, led to certain ideas does not at all mean neglecting the specific meaning of ideology or the explanation of religious issues by simple economic references.

Which researcher of primitive society can deny the decisive role of social relations of production?

A group of people lives by hunting, which was everywhere an obligatory stage in the development of society. But in order to catch the prey, it is necessary to master the extremely complex art of hunting, the ideological reflection of which can be seen in the so-called initiation rites, to which only men are currently allowed. This is purification, initiation and introduction of the young man into the ranks of hunters (or fishermen).

In ritual celebrations, often lasting weeks, the initiate symbolically dies in order to be reborn into a new life and be able to fulfill his duties to society. We are still far from the ideas of redemption and salvation that arise only in the era of the highest development of slavery, when salvation, impossible on earth, was transferred to the sphere of fiction, to the other world. But the transition of a young man to a more responsible category due to his age or the skills he has acquired does not contain the germ of the idea of \u200b\u200bthose rituals that will later develop into the religion of the “mysteries” and into Christianity itself.

Powerless in the face of nature and the collective, primitive man identifies himself with the animal ancestor, with his totem, through complex and often painful ceremonies, which ultimately increases his dependence on nature and the social environment. From the ritual, from the details of the cult, little by little the desire arises to interpret reality from the point of view of myth and tradition.

When reconstructing the process of development of the first forms of religious ideology, it is always necessary to beware of attributing to a person concerns and beliefs that can arise only in subsequent phases of the development of society.

There is no doubt that when we try to judge the customs and views belonging to an era in which the exploitation of man by man did not yet exist, it is difficult for us to get rid of the burden of old ideas accumulated over thousands of years, which are reflected in the very language in which we speak about everything. these issues. It is as difficult as it is to describe now, even in general terms, the changes that will take place in the character, morals and minds of men with the disappearance of classes and the establishment of a society where freedom and equality will not, as now, be dubious expressions.

When, for example, we talk about a cult , we introduce a concept that could not have made sense at the most ancient stage of the development of human society.

Indeed, etymologically, the idea of cult is connected with the practice of cultivating the land and presupposes a society in which relations of production are already based on a primitive form of agriculture and on a corresponding division of labor between old and young, especially between men and women.

During this period, the tribe entrusted women with field work, growing fruits and plants, in addition to cooking, while men continued to hunt. The advancement of women in society, which characterizes the era of matriarchy, dates back to this period in the history of primitive society.

Traces of this era are preserved not only in religious life, but also in folk traditions both in the language, but also in the customs of many peoples of our time: on the Malacca Peninsula, in India, on Sumatra, in New Guinea, among the Eskimos, among the Nile tribes, in the Congo, Tanganyika, Angola and in South America.

The era of matriarchy explains why the most ancient fertility rites known to us are characterized primarily by the cult of a woman or the attributes of a woman (schematic representations of the details of a woman’s anatomy, magical vulvar cults, etc.).

But before forcing the land to submit to the will of the person cultivating it, society experienced a period of collecting means of subsistence, which everyone was engaged in on an equal basis, a period of hunting, cattle breeding and shepherding. While the division of labor was carried out within the framework of age and kinship relations, the connection between the individual and the totem could not yet acquire the character of a true cult.

Each group of people within a larger community -- the terms clan and tribe presuppose an already fairly developed social organization - it specializes in hunting a specific animal: boar, deer, snakes, bear, kangaroo. But in a society where the individual depends on others for food, this animal eventually ceases to be separated from the group itself - it becomes its symbol, its patron, and finally, its ancestor.

Complex ceremonies gradually transform the idea of a biological connection into an imaginary connection. And little by little, from such ideas, the cult of ancestors arises, which is possible with a much higher degree of social differentiation and has been preserved among the various nationalities of India, China, Africa and Polynesia.

A person of a certain totemic group treats his animal ancestor with special respect. Those, for example, who hunt bears avoid eating its meat, at least during the period of holy fasting, but feed on game caught by hunters of other groups who have a different totem. The community of people formed on the site of the collapsed primitive horde is like a vast cooperative in which everyone must take care of food for others and in turn depends on others for the means of subsistence.

Thus, fundamentally socio-economic factors explain strange customs and prohibitions, for the interpretation of which they often resort to the most fantastic speculations.

5. Marriage and food prohibitions

Let us consider the rules of exogamous marriage, practiced, as the word itself shows, outside the small group to which primitive man belongs.

Perhaps the law of exogamy is Exogamy (from the Greek. exo-- "outside" and gatnos -- "marriage") is a custom that prohibits marriages within a certain group of people. , which strictly prohibits sexual unions within a given group, represents, as many claim, a spontaneous remedy against the dangers of incest? Or is this simply an official sanctification of the oldest form of female abduction? Those who argue in this way clearly attribute to primitive man ideological processes that developed only in times closer to ours.

A person of one totemic group is looking for a spouse in other groups (always within the broader social association in which these groups are included, since exogamy can only be spoken of in relation to a clan; in a tribe there is only endogamy Endogamy (from the Greek. endon -- "inside" and gamos -- "marriage") is a custom that prohibits marriages outside a certain group of people.). This depends primarily on the fact that the expansion of kinship relations in this way leads to a significant improvement in the means of subsistence. Simply put, giving a woman from a clan as a wife to a member of another clan means securing a new type of food for oneself.

This incentive persisted as long as there was a ban on eating the meat of one’s wild relative, the totem.

Through exogamy, a still small and isolated human group becomes more numerous while remaining internally cohesive.

A similar picture emerges when studying various food prohibitions.

Historians of religion are still continuing the debate about the origin of the custom of not eating pork, trying to decide whether it comes from the Arabs or from law-abiding Jews. The prohibition against eating pork stems simply from the fact that at a certain period of their development the Semitic peoples, like all other peoples, experienced an era of totemism and initially considered pigs and boars to be their animal relatives, sacred animals. Accordingly, they were taboo for all hunters. Subsequently, the idea of this ancient phenomenon was lost, but the ban was preserved and was legalized by religion, and fantastic justifications were invented to justify it.

Christian ritual is full of symbolism and traditions concerning a number of different animals, which are included in the foundation of poetry, art and often also in theological teachings. The lamb and the shepherd, the miraculous fishing in the legends of the inhabitants of the catacombs and the first apologists of Christianity, the dove identified with the “holy spirit”, the legend of the tempting serpent - all these are themes that have now become an integral part of Christian doctrine. But they are also found in many other religions and are not just the product of a rich poetic imagination. Art subsequently processed real material from that period in the history of society, when all these animals were in certain relationships with people.

To explain the origin of these symbols we must always refer to the phase of totemism.

In fact, before entering into Christian symbolism, fish was the totem of various Palestinian tribes that lived by fishing. With the transition to more developed forms public life this totem was transformed into a personified god. Fish-headed deities are often found in many other religions of the same era.

In a similar way, one can interpret the Christian motif of the dove - a “sacred” animal in Asia Minor and among a number of Slavic tribes - or the snake, which the Israelites of the desert region revered as a symbol of a mysterious deity, sometimes identified with “ evil force”, as well as mentions of a ram, a lamb and a goat. There is an ancient totemic tradition of the scapegoat, which comes to life again in the history of the Jewish people: an animal burdened with the sins of an entire tribe. To explain the origin of these symbols, we must always refer to the phase of totemism.

In fact, before entering into Christian symbolism, fish was the totem of various Palestinian tribes that lived by fishing. burdened with everything that is considered unclean, the tribe is expelled from the settlement into the desert, where it dies, thereby freeing the tribe from curse or punishment.

And at this stage we already encounter profound changes that have taken place in the structure of society.

6. From animal totem to animal god

It is quite possible that special concerns regarding the totem animal contributed to the domestication and cultivation of individual animals.

In fact, for magical rites, promoting hunting, and for ritual meals, which eventually turned into the collective communion of believers - for all this it was necessary to have “sacred” animals on hand, in cages or special pens. If this explanation is correct, we are faced with one of the typical cases of the reverse influence on the economic structure of the ideology that arose from it, to some extent changing the original relations of production.

There is no doubt, however, that the transition from the first phase of a society based on hunting to cattle breeding and early forms of agriculture is determined not by religious motives, but by the development of new tools and the formation of new economic and social relations between people.

The emergence of agriculture, which followed the discovery of the first crude agricultural tools for cultivating the land, meant the collapse and destruction of cults based on totemism. Magic dances, which were supposed to contribute to successful hunting, were replaced by various fertility rites, vulvar and phallic cults, which did not yet represent anything scandalous or bacchanalian, but were simply considered favorable for the fertility of the fields.

The worship of the animal ancestor is gradually dissolved in the worship of nature. This is a very slow process with distinct stages.

Not all totems were animals. The poverty of the fauna in some areas and the rapid increase in the number of groups of people united among themselves had previously led to the use of individual organs or body parts of animals as surrogates for a totem. These are, for example, the gluteal thickenings of a kangaroo (in Australia) or the tails of a number of animals. In other cases, herbs, vegetables, and plants gradually became a totem through assimilation. When we discover the use of inanimate objects or natural phenomena as totems, this means that significant changes have begun in the depths of society. A new form of division of labor arises between groups of hunters; specialization appears that underlies the craft; the cultivation of the land begins, and the sun, wind, rain, moon, clouds acquire everything higher value in the life of society.

The ancestor animal, still in its characteristic form of a beast, begins to acquire qualities characteristic of natural phenomena. Man, transformed into a shepherd and farmer, feels himself in a new relationship with atmospheric phenomena that constantly influence his work. The totem increasingly moves its location from the ground upward - to the sky, to the mountains, clouds. Personified forces arise, which, as it seems to a person, dominate the development of life and society.

Here we discover another, derivative process. Simultaneously with the emergence of new forms of labor and the organization of society, private property emerges, classes appear, and a regime of exploitation of man by man arises.

The transformation of an animal-totem into an animal-deity, which can also cause evil and therefore must be neutralized and appeased, is a religious reflection of a new social structure based on the discriminatory power of caste, leader, leader layer.

Conclusion

Religion does not appear with man. For hundreds and perhaps thousands of centuries on our earth, which is probably 4 billion years old, groups of people, like animals, fed on herbs, roots, plant juices, snails and insects, wandering in the warm and damp forests of the pre-glacial period .

They did not yet know fire and did not feel the need for housing and clothing.

The first tool of labor, which caused a genuine revolution both in the physical appearance of people and in their society in the course of the increasing separation of man from the animal world, was the hand. The process that anthropologists called the discovery of the hand, which at the same time became a tool and a product of labor, served to form the basic characteristics of man: thinking, language and the vertical position of the body.

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General characteristics of primitive forms of religion

Speaking about the early forms of religion, we rely on indirect evidence from archaeological excavations and observations by ethnographers of modern primitive societies. Thus, the Austrian ethnologist W. Schmidt and his followers put forward the concept of primordial monotheism, according to which all modern religions take their origins from the so-called “primitive monotheism.” But we can only create reconstructions of these religious forms without being able to directly observe them.

Data from modern archeology indicate that about 40 thousand years ago the simplest forms of beliefs arose simultaneously with the completion of the transformation of primitive people (Neanderthals) into modern people (homo sapiens). True, some scientists associate the emergence of primitive beliefs with a later time - with the era of the Cro-Magnon man - a fossil representative of the “ready-made” type. But we prefer the first point of view.

One of the most important problems of that time was the determination of the essential and symbolic meaning of human death. This is evidenced by excavated burials that contain the remains of the ritual: jewelry, weapons, household items, and food remains were placed next to the deceased. In this way the deceased was prepared for “life” after death. This indicates that the people of that era had faith in the soul, in afterlife. Funeral rites acquire special significance as a kind of connection between the existence of the living and the dead. It was believed that if the living failed to fulfill their duties towards the dead, their spirits could destroy the clan or “take” their fellow tribesmen into oblivion.

The existence of early religious ideas is also confirmed by the monuments of the tents of the original painting. The schematic nature of these images gives reason to talk about the existence of beliefs in supernatural connections between humans and certain animals. Sometimes people were depicted wearing animal skins, and sometimes they were half-animal, half-human. The movements reproduced in the drawings indicate the existence of a complex of magical actions, that is, the figure of the sorcerer appears as an intermediary between the world perceived at the sensory level and the supernatural world. Based on these finds, scientists concluded that religion existed during this period of history.

Early historical forms of religion and tribal cults: fetishism, totemism, taboo, magic, animism

Early forms of religion include: magic and fetishism, totemism and animism, agricultural cult and shamanism, which arose during the formation and development of the tribal system (from 100 to 40,000 years ago). This tribal system went through three main phases: early and late (developed) matriarchy and patriarchy. Each phase corresponded to its own form of religious ideas: early matriarchy - totemism, late - agricultural cult, patriarchy - shamanism. But all these forms of belief were accompanied by fetishism and magic, animism and animatism.

It has been established that among primitive people it was very common to honor various objects that warded off danger and brought good luck. This form of religious belief is called fetishism(from Portuguese Feitico - amulet, magical thing, or lat. Factitius - magically skillful) is the belief in the existence of supernatural properties of material objects. Objects of worship were first found by Portuguese sailors in West Africa in the 15th century, and then numerous analogues of fetishism were discovered in the religions of many peoples. The phenomenon of fetishization was first described by the French researcher Charles de Brus (1709-1777) in his work “The Cult of Godfetishes.” He believed that fetishes are objects of inanimate nature that attracted a person’s attention with some special features. An object of worship, or a fetish, could be any object that captured a person’s imagination: a stone of a strange shape, a piece of wood, an animal’s tooth, etc. This object was assigned functions that were not characteristic of it (the ability to heal, protect from enemies, help in hunting). Thus, among the ancient Germans, spruce was considered a powerful fetish. In winter, they came to one of the tallest spruce trees in the forest, asked it for help and protection, sang and danced around it, and hung gifts on it. And members of the Dakota tribe in North America, when they found a stone that looked like a human face, caressed it, painted it and called it grandfather, brought it gifts and asked for protection from danger. The custom of worshiping stones existed in many tribes of North Asia. It does not bypass European countries either. But several centuries ago in England and France there was a ban on worshiping stones, which indicates the long-term preservation of fetishistic beliefs even during the reign of the Christian religion in Europe.

A later manifestation of fetishism was the practice of artificially making fetishes. A new fetish was created by combining natural components (bark, leaves, roots) with objects that were traditionally considered miraculous (pieces of sacred trees, snails, growths on trees, sand from the confluence of two rivers, scorpion tail, etc.). It is clear that people imagined how the mechanical combination of two objects would lead to a manifold increase in the supernatural qualities of the newly created object of worship.

The identification of the so-called “fetish of fetishes” is considered to be a kind of culmination of fetishistic ideas in Africa - a generally accepted sanctuary of large associations of tribes. However, the famous researcher Karl Meingof considers it wrong to call the religion of the peoples of West Africa “fetishism”; in his opinion, it is better to call it “demonism.” Thus, two conclusions can be drawn regarding West African “fetishism” that are not consistent with the usual idea of it: firstly, this is a relatively late, and not the initial form of the religions of the peoples of Africa; secondly, the cult of fetishes in this country is predominantly a cult of personal substitutes.

During the period of European colonization of Africa, fetishistic practice remained perhaps the only opportunity to resist European colonialists and missionaries. It took on various forms - numerous secret societies, which aimed to find means to counter the “fetishes” of whites. Objects taken from Europeans (firearms, money, matches, locks, empty bottles) were introduced into fetishistic circulation. Some of the Africans even tried to secretly christen their own fetishes in order to enhance their power.

In later forms of religion, fetishism was preserved in the form of worship of idols - endowed mysterious power influence of material objects with human or animal features. IN modern religions it exists in the form of veneration of sacred objects (crosses, icons, relics), and as an independent remainder - in the form of faith in talismans and amulets. A talisman, from the point of view of superstitious people, brings happiness, an amulet protects against misfortune (horseshoes, amulet, pendants, etc.).

Another early form of religious views can be considered totemism (in the language of the Ojibwe Indians (crane) ot-totem - its genus) - belief in the supernatural kinship of human groups (clan, tribe "I") with certain species of animals and plants (less often - natural phenomena and inanimate objects). The term totemism appears in scientific speech at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the works of the outstanding English ethnographer James Fraser (1854-1941). , in which he hypothesized the origin of totemism from ancient ideas about the nature of childbirth: a woman becomes pregnant when the spirit of a plant or animal enters the womb. Since in this case the child is involved in the life of the animal or plant, this animal or plant is endowed with special meaning.

People looked at totems as substitutes for the clan and tribe, protectors, assistants in the outbreak of all conflicts, they considered them brothers and sisters. Therefore, primitive people called their clan groups after totems. For example, the North American Ojibwe Indians in the 17th century. had five clan groups, which were called crane, catfish, loon, bear, marten. In Australia at the end of the XVIII - early XIX V. Europeans were very surprised by the answer of the aborigines to the question “Who are you?” - “I am a kangaroo”, or “I am an insect larva”. Thus, through the ancestral totem, Australians emphasized their tribal affiliation.

At first, only a real animal, plant, bird or insect was considered a totem. Then his more or less realistic image began to suffice, in the end people began to be content with any symbol, word or sound with which they designated their totem. Each person, before going to bed and upon waking up, said the name of her totem, because she thought that thanks to its supernatural support, nothing bad would happen to her, on the contrary, she would be lucky in hunting and in other matters.

The emergence of totemism is closely “connected with the economic activities of primitive man - gathering and hunting. Plants and animals that gave man the opportunity to exist became objects of worship. In the first stages of the development of totemism, such worship did not exclude, but rather made it possible to use totem animals and plants for food Therefore, sometimes, to express their attitude towards the totem, primitive people used the words “this is our meat.” Later, elements of social, primarily blood relations, were introduced into totemism. Members of the clan group (blood relatives) began to believe in the ancestor and patron. their groups have a certain totem animal or plant and their ancient ancestors, who combined the characteristics of people and the totem, possessed incredible abilities. This led, on the one hand, to the strengthening of the cult of ancestors, on the other, to a change in attitude towards the totem itself, including. including the emergence of a ban on its use in food, except in cases where its consumption had little ritual character and was reminiscent of ancient norms and rules.

This is how a totem cult arises taboo- a system of prohibitions on the use of a totem animal in food or the task of causing any harm to it. The classic country where the taboo system received its greatest development is Polynesia. According to J. Fraser, the word “taboo” from the Polynesian language is translated as “noted” or “especially highlighted.” Taboos were an important mechanism for regulating social relations. Thus, gender and age taboos divided the primitive community into marriage classes, thereby excluding sexual relations between close relatives. Food taboos strictly regulated the nature of the food that was given to the leader, warriors, old people, women, and children. Other taboos were intended to guarantee the inviolability of the home or hearth, regulate burial rules, prohibit a stranger from communicating with a woman after her marriage, and the like.

These taboos were very strict. Researchers give the following examples of violation of prohibitions. One day, one of the tribal leaders of New Zealand left scraps from his dinner, which one of the ordinary members of the tribe ate. When the latter realized that he had used the leader’s food for food (this was prohibited), he fell to the ground, began to convulse and died These examples are not isolated. The very fact of awareness of the violation of a taboo, understood as something sacred, paralyzed the will of the violator, as well as the ability of his body to live.

Totemic taboos outlived totemism itself for a long time and remained in more developed religions in the form of corresponding prohibitions on eating “unclean (dirty)” types of food. For example, among Jews and Muslims, pork is considered dirty meat and therefore not suitable for food. No one can give a clear explanation for this, and the fact that this is a dirty animal looks unconvincing, because the pig is a very picky eater.

In the conditions of the collapse of the tribal system, primary totemic beliefs develop into anthropomorphic cults of nature, elements, animals, where these objects of worship are already provided with something like a human face. Later, elements of totemism entered all religions. Its influence is felt in Hinduism, where many animals (eg cow, elephant, monkey, snake) are considered sacred. Remnants of this original form of religion can also be seen in the images of centaurs from Greek Olympian mythology. Traces of totemism are clearly visible in Christianity. The Holy Spirit is still depicted today as a dove, and Christ is often called the “lamb (lamb) of God” or symbolized by a fish. The Christian sacrament of communion originates from the rite of ritual eating of a totem: it is believed that under the guise of bread and wine, believers eat the body and beat the blood of Christ.

Along with totemism and taboo, an outstanding place in the life of primitive man was occupied by magic(from the Greek Mageia - witchcraft, divination) - belief in the existence of supernatural methods of influencing nature or humans, that is, the world around us. There is no separation between magic and religion; it is impossible to oppose religion to magic, since every cult includes magical practice - prayers, from primitive to modern religions. Man is a product of matter and is therefore completely at its mercy.

The origins of this form of religious belief are more fully described by the English ethnographer Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) in his work Magic, Science and Religion. While studying the life of the natives of the Pacific Trobriand Islands, he noticed an interesting pattern. It turned out that the natives use magic in agriculture - in planting tuberous plants, but magic is not used in cultivating fruit trees, which produce a stable harvest. In fishing, magical techniques are practiced when catching sharks or other large and dangerous fish, but when catching small fish, magic is considered unnecessary. The boat workshop is always accompanied magical rituals, magic is not used in the construction of houses. These studies allowed Malinovsky to conclude that the field of magic is a high-risk activity. It comes to the rescue if there is no reliable algorithm for achieving success, when a person is not confident in his abilities, if it is guided by chance and uncertainty. This forces her to rely on the help of supernatural forces and perform magical actions.

The relationship that was established between man and nature has always had a dual character: on the one hand, the dominance of omnipotent nature over helpless man, on the other, the impact on nature that man strived for using his imperfect strengths and abilities. These techniques are magical practice.

Imitation of hunting means should contribute to the success of the hunt itself. Before going in search of kangaroos, Australians dance rhythmically around a drawing depicting the desired prey.

Magic is divided into six types: industrial, healing, love, harmful (destructive), meteorological (weather magic) and military. This species classification is far from complete, since many subspecies can be distinguished within each species. Thus, industrial magic, in turn, had many varieties: hunting, fishing, construction, agricultural, pottery, educational, sports, blacksmithing, etc.

Sometimes they also talk about “black”, harmful, and “white”, positive magic.

Harmful magic was intended to cause harm by supernatural means to an individual or persons. Among the peoples of the Southern Hemisphere, the following techniques dominated: targeting the enemy with a sharpened stick or bone, the Northern - “spoilage” through food, drinks, clothing, and the like. An important means of harmful magic is garbage if it is secretly thrown into someone else's yard.

One of the varieties of harmful magic is the belief in the “evil eye”, which was endowed with individual animals (snake, lion, cat, etc.) and people (slanted, with sunken dark eyes, with frowning eyebrows or those that have grown together). There is a belief that people and animals get sick from the evil eye, cows and goats don’t get milked, a hunter’s weapon loses its fighting properties, and the like.

War magic close to harmful in its goals and objectives. The only difference is that harmful is secret and one-sided, and military is the public need to overcome the active resistance of the victim.

Love magic had a dual purpose: to call a train or, conversely, to destroy it (“bewitch” or “where does it come from”,

"dry" or "vidsushity") Love magic should be considered perhaps the most ancient type of magic. Its appearance is due to the fact that in this area there was a lot that was incomprehensible to humans.

Healing magic differed from other types of magic in its exceptional variety of rituals. It is clear that this is ethnoscience. It is very difficult to draw the line between medicine and magic: rubbing a sick person with beeswax was practiced to scare away the spirits of the forest, although it was a good warming agent.

Production magic- its occurrence comes down to the rational economic activity of people who use disguises, disguises, and baiting animals, imitating their voices. Ancient forms of industrial magic are recorded in rock paintings.

Meteorological magic- this is the only type of magic that does not depend on human will and actions.

Usually, magical techniques were performed by specially trained people - wizards and shamans, who sincerely believed in their ability to communicate with spirits, convey to them the requests of fellow tribesmen, influence spirits or miraculous powers. But the main thing is not that they themselves believed in their unusual abilities, but that the team believed them and turned to them for help at critical moments. That is, wizards and shamans enjoyed special honors and respect from their fellow tribesmen. So, witchcraft practice is not opposed to religion, but, on the contrary, merges with it.

Belief in magic has survived to this day as an element of modern religions (belief in the supernatural power of rituals: prayer, sacrifice, purification, fasting) and in an independent form (fortune telling by cards).

Animistic ideas were also common in early-birth society. Animism (from the Latin Anima - soul) - belief in spirits and souls as a double of the body, a carrier of human life, as well as animals and plants. A detailed analysis of animistic beliefs was described by the English anthropologist, ethnologist and religious scholar Edward Taylor (1832-1917) in his work “Primitive Culture”. He was sure that the starting point for animism was the reflections of primitive man on such questions: what is the difference between a living and a dead body, the cause of sleep, ecstasy, illness, death, as well as the experience of trance and hallucinations. But unable to correctly explain these complex phenomena, she forms the concept of a soul located in the body and leaves it from time to time. Next, more complex ideas are formed: about the existence of the soul after the death of the body, the afterlife, etc.

Then the idea of the human soul began to be transferred to the world around us. At first, people thought that souls could look like birds, sometimes animals and plants. As you can see, animistic and totemic beliefs are closely intertwined here, although totemic images were necessary for people not in themselves, but as containers for spirits.

Later, the belief in transmigration of souls arose, which can be found in many religions, especially Hinduism. Even later, people began to spiritualize inanimate phenomena - stones, mountains, rivers and lakes, the sun and stars. This was necessary, firstly, in order to explain the cause of all natural phenomena in a completely satisfactory way, and secondly, to attribute to the spirits everything good and bad that happened throughout life. The immediate reason for the appearance of such animistic views may also be the peculiar interpretation by primitive people of a number of acoustic and optical phenomena: echoes, noises, shadows, etc. They seemed to them to be evidence not only of the existence human soul, but also similar non-corporeal doubles of almost everything that exists in the world. This is already the stage of late animism, or demonism, which leads to the emergence of belief in God, angels, Satan, mermaids, gnomes, fairies, nymphs, merman, immortal souls and the like. Animism itself lives in the belief in ghosts, spiritualism (the ability to communicate with the souls of the dead using various devices).

Modern and primitive religions are humanity’s belief that some higher powers control not only people, but also various processes in the Universe. This is especially true for ancient cults, since at that time the development of science was weak. Man could not explain this or that phenomenon in any other way other than divine intervention. Often this approach to understanding the world led to tragic consequences (the Inquisition, the burning of scientists at the stake, and so on).

There was also a period of coercion. If a person did not accept a belief, then he was tortured and tormented until he changed his point of view. Today, the choice of religion is free, people have the right to independently choose their worldview.

Which religion is the most ancient?

The emergence of primitive religions dates back to a long period, approximately 40-30 thousand years ago. But which belief came first? Scientists have different points of view on this matter. Some believe that this happened when people began to perceive each other’s souls, others - with the advent of witchcraft, and others took the worship of animals or objects as a basis. But the very origin of religion itself represents a large complex of beliefs. It is difficult to give priority to any of them, since there is no necessary data. The information that archaeologists, researchers and historians receive is not enough.

It is impossible not to take into account the distribution of the first beliefs throughout the planet, which forces us to conclude that attempts to look for each tribe that existed at that time had its own object of worship were illegitimate.

We can only say with certainty that the first and subsequent basis of every religion is belief in the supernatural. However, it is expressed differently everywhere. Christians, for example, worship their God, who has no flesh but is omnipresent. It's supernatural. in turn, they plan their own Gods from wood. If they don’t like something, they can cut or pierce their patron with a needle. This is also supernatural. Therefore, every modern religion has its own ancient “ancestor”.

When did the first religion appear?

Initially, primitive religions and myths were closely intertwined. In modern times it is impossible to find an interpretation for some events. The fact is that they tried to tell them to their descendants with the help of mythology, embellishing and/or expressing themselves too figuratively.

However, the question of when beliefs arise is still relevant today. Archaeologists claim that the first religions appeared after homo sapiens. Excavations, the burials of which date back to 80 thousand years ago, definitely indicate that he did not think about other worlds at all. People were simply buried and that was all. There is no evidence that this process was accompanied by rituals.

Weapons, food and some household items are found in later graves (burials made 30-10 thousand years ago). This means that people began to think of death as a long sleep. When a person wakes up, and this must happen, it is necessary that the essentials be near him. People buried or burned took on an invisible, ghostly form. They became peculiar guardians of the clan.

There was also a period without religions, but very little is known about it to modern scientists.

Reasons for the emergence of the first and subsequent religions

Primitive religions and their features are very similar to modern beliefs. Various religious cults have acted for thousands of years in their own and state interests, exerting a psychological impact on their flock.

There are 4 main reasons for the emergence of ancient beliefs, and they are no different from modern ones:

Intelligence. A person needs an explanation for any event that happens in his life. And if he cannot obtain it thanks to his knowledge, then he will certainly receive a justification for what he observes through supernatural intervention.
Psychology. Earthly life is finite, and there is no way to resist death, at least for now. this moment. Therefore, a person must be freed from the fear of dying. Thanks to religion, this can be done quite successfully.
Morality. There is no society that would exist without rules and prohibitions. It is difficult to punish everyone who violates them. It is much easier to scare and prevent these actions. If a person is afraid of doing something bad, because supernatural forces will punish him, then the number of violators will significantly decrease.
Policy. To maintain the stability of any state, ideological support is required. And only one or another belief can provide it.

Thus, the emergence of religions can be taken for granted, since there are more than enough reasons for this.

Totemism

Types of religions of primitive man and their description should begin with totemism. Ancient people lived in groups. Most often these were families or their association. Alone, a person would not be able to provide himself with everything he needs. This is how the cult of animal worship appeared. Societies hunted animals to obtain food without which they could not survive. And the emergence of totemism is quite logical. This is how humanity paid tribute to its livelihood.

So, totemism is the belief that one family has a blood relationship with a particular animal or natural phenomenon. People saw them as patrons who helped, punished if necessary, resolved conflicts, and so on.

There are two features of totemism. Firstly, each member of the tribe had a desire to look like their animal. For example, some Africans knocked out their lower teeth to look like a zebra or antelope. Secondly, it could not be eaten unless the ritual was followed.

The modern descendant of totemism is Hinduism. Here some animals, most often the cow, are sacred.

Fetishism

It is impossible to consider primitive religions without taking into account fetishism. It represented the belief that some things have supernatural properties. Various objects were worshiped, passed from parents to children, always kept at hand, and so on.

Fetishism is often compared to magic. However, if it is present, it is in a more complex form. Magic helped to have an additional impact on some phenomenon, but did not in any way influence its occurrence.

Another feature of fetishism is that the objects were not worshipped. They were revered and treated with respect.

Magic and religion

Primitive religions could not do without the participation of magic. It is a set of rites and rituals, after which, it was believed, it became possible to control certain events and influence them in every possible way. Many hunters performed various ritual dances, which made the process of finding and killing the animal more successful.

Despite the apparent impossibility of magic, it is magic that forms the basis of most modern religions as a common element. For example, there is a belief that a rite or ritual (the sacrament of baptism, funeral service, and so on) has supernatural power. But it is also considered in a separate form, different from all beliefs. People tell fortunes with cards, call upon spirits, or do anything to see deceased ancestors.

Animism

Primitive religions could not do without the participation of the human soul. Ancient people thought about such concepts as death, sleep, experience, and so on. As a result of such thoughts, the belief arose that everyone has a soul. Later it was supplemented by the fact that only bodies die. The soul passes into another shell or exists independently in a separate other world. This is how animism appears, which is a belief in spirits, and it does not matter whether they belong to a person, an animal or a plant.

The peculiarity of this religion was that the soul could live indefinitely. After the body died, it broke out and calmly continued its existence, only in a different form.

Animism is also the ancestor of most modern religions. Ideas about immortal souls, gods and demons - all this is its basis. But animism also exists separately, in spiritualism, belief in ghosts, essences, and so on.

Shamanism

It is impossible to consider primitive religions without highlighting the clergy. This is most acutely visible in shamanism. As an independent religion, it appears much later than those discussed above, and represents the belief that an intermediary (shaman) can communicate with spirits. Sometimes these spirits were evil, but most often they were kind, giving advice. Shamans often became leaders of tribes or communities, because people understood that they were associated with supernatural forces. Therefore, if something happens, they will be able to protect them better than some king or khan, who is only capable of natural movements (weapons, troops, and so on).

Elements of shamanism are present in virtually all modern religions. Believers have a special attitude towards priests, mullahs or other clergy, believing that they are under the direct influence of higher powers.

Unpopular primitive religious beliefs

The types of primitive religions need to be supplemented with some beliefs that are not as popular as totemism or, for example, magic. These include the agricultural cult. Primitive people who practiced agriculture worshiped gods different cultures, as well as the earth itself. There were, for example, patrons of corn, beans, and so on.

The agricultural cult is well represented in modern Christianity. Here the Mother of God is represented as the patroness of bread, George - agriculture, the prophet Elijah - rain and thunder, and so on.

Thus, it will not be possible to briefly consider the primitive forms of religion. Every ancient belief exists to this day, even if it has actually lost its face. Rituals and sacraments, rituals and amulets - all these are parts of the faith of primitive man. And it is impossible in modern times to find a religion that does not have a strong direct connection with the most ancient cults.

Questions for the course

"History of Religion"

Basic forms of primitive beliefs.

Animism is the belief in the existence of souls and spirits. Rivers and stones, plants and animals, the sun and the wind, the spinning wheel and the knife, sleep and illness, share and non-share, life and death - everything had a soul, will, the ability to act, harm or help a person. Spirits lived in the invisible other world, but penetrated visible world of people. Worship and magic were supposed to help people in one way or another get along with the spirits - to appease them or outwit them. There are elements of animism in any religion.

Totemism is the belief of a tribe in its kinship with a plant or animal. The totem was thought of as a real ancestor, the tribe bore his name and worshiped him. The life of the entire clan and each of its members individually depended on the totem. A common occurrence was the attempts of primitive man to influence the totem with various magical ways It is likely that the famous cave paintings and sculptures of the Upper Paleolithic era in Europe are associated with totemism.

Fetishism is the worship of objects, recognition of their special qualities that can control life and external forces. The object was thought of as a full-fledged being. Objects of worship can be stones, sticks, trees, any objects. They can be either natural or man-made. The forms of worship of fetishes are just as varied.

Magic is the belief in the ability to influence the outside world through certain rituals and spells (weather, life, hunting, etc.), a number of symbolic actions and rituals with spells and rituals. The most stable manifestation of fishing magic is hunting prohibitions, superstitions, signs, beliefs.

Shamanism is a well-established name in science for a complex of people’s ideas about the ways of conscious and purposeful interaction with the “otherworldly” world, primarily with spirits, which is carried out by a shaman.

TABOO - magical prohibition. Objects of TABOO could be things, animals, people, words, actions, etc. Some of these objects were considered sacred, others were considered "unclean".

Contact with both the sacred and the “unclean” threatened with punishment. Gender and age TABOOs excluded sexual relations between close relatives, food TABOOs determined the nature of food that was intended for children, old people, leaders, and warriors. Other TABOOs guaranteed the distribution of rights and responsibilities between community members, the inviolability of home, etc.

Mana in the beliefs of the peoples of Melanesia and Polynesia is a supernatural force existing in nature, the carriers of which can be individual people, animals, various items, as well as "spirits". Mana manipulation was used to achieve immediate goals: good weather, a bountiful harvest, a cure for illness, success in love, or victory in battle. This force is qualitatively different from physical forces, and it acts in an arbitrary manner. The fact that a person is a good warrior, he owes not only to his own strengths and capabilities, but also to the strength that the mana of a deceased warrior imparts to him; this mana is contained in a small stone amulet hanging around his neck, in a few leaves attached to his belt, in a spell he casts.

Traditional beliefs of primitive hunters.

1. The ritual function of burying animals. Thus p.o. either made sacrifices to the Supreme Being, or hoped that the meat on the bones would grow back.

2. Hunting magic. It involved either drawing rock paintings or carrying out special rituals with the participation of shamans. It is possible to reconstruct some aspects of prehistoric religions from the rituals and beliefs typical of primitive hunters. ecstasy of the shamanic type speaks, firstly, of the belief in the existence of a “soul” capable of leaving the body and freely traveling around the world, and secondly, that during this journey the soul can meet supernatural beings and ask them for help or about blessing.

Shamanic ecstasy also includes “possession,” i.e. the ability to enter the bodies of other people or to allow the soul of a deceased person, some spirit or deity into oneself.

3. Separate existence of men and women. Hunters believed that there were rituals in which either only men or only women took part. The separate existence of men and women suggests the existence of secret rituals in which only men can take part and which are performed before leaving for a big hunt. Such rituals are the prerogative of adults - as in “male unions.” “Secrets” are revealed to adolescents through initiation rituals. Some authors have seen images of initiation in the drawings of the Montespan cave, but this concept has been disputed.

4. Ritual choreography. It was carried out to calm the soul of a killed animal or to ensure an increase in production. Hunters lead round dances - either to calm the soul of the killed animal, or to ensure an increase in prey.

5. Faith in magical power speeches (praises, mockery, curses, anathemas) and gestures, which played an important role in the conduct of rituals.

Religious meaning of primitive rock paintings.

Since the drawings are located at a considerable distance from the entrance to the caves, researchers recognize that we are dealing with a kind of sanctuary. In addition, many of the caves were uninhabited, and the difficulty of entering them increased the air of the divine. The Cabaret Cave is a real labyrinth, the journey through which takes several hours. , in the caves of Nyo and the Three Brothers. Images of bears, lions and others

wild animals pierced by many arrows, and clay figurines of one bear and several lions with deep round holes found in the Montespan Cave were interpreted as evidence of "hunting magic". The scene in the Cave of the Three Brothers has been interpreted as depicting a dancer in a buffalo skin playing a flute-like instrument. This is typical ritual behavior of modern hunting peoples. The so-called “X-ray” drawings, i.e. sketches of the skeleton and internal organs of an animal were also associated with shamanism. They have been recorded in France and Norway. This type of art is characteristic of hunting cultures, but the religious ideology with which it is imbued is of a shamanic nature. Because only a shaman with supernatural vision is able to “see his own backbone.”

Mythology of the Iron Age.

The appearance of iron in people's lives played a huge role not only in the economy, but also in religion. Caves and mines are likened to the womb of Mother Earth. All over the world, miners practice rituals that include cleansing, fasting, meditation, prayer and cultic activities. Ores charged with sacredness are sent to furnaces. The Master replaces Mother Earth in order to speed up and improve the process of “maturation”. The furnaces act as a kind of new, artificial womb where the ores reach their maturity. Hence the endless number of precautions accompanying the smelting process. Foundry workers and blacksmiths were perceived as “masters of fire” - along with shamans, healers and sorcerers.

In a number of mythologies, divine smiths forge the weapons of the gods, for example, in the Egyptian version of the myth, Ptah forges the weapon that allows Horus to defeat Set; The divine blacksmith Tvashtar makes weapons for Indra to fight Vritra; Hephaestus forges lightning, with the blow of which Zeus defeats Typhon. The blacksmith also works for the gods as an architect and craftsman, the Blacksmith God is associated with music and singing, so that in some cultures blacksmiths and coppersmiths are at the same time musicians, poets, healers and sorcerers.

History of Ziusudra (Sumer).

Ziusudra (also Ziudsura, in Babylonian texts Atrahasis - “superior in wisdom”, in Assyrian - Utnapishtim; other Greek Xisouthros, Xisutrus) is the hero of the Sumerian narrative about the flood, possibly created in the 3rd millennium BC. e. - the ninth and last predynastic king of the legendary period before the Great Flood. The last of two known mythical kings of the fifth city-state of ancient Sumer, Shuruppak, located in the south of ancient Mesopotamia and reigned for 36,000 years, according to the Nippur king list.

He is credited divine origin. According to the royal list global flood Sumer was ruled by 9 kings in succession over 5 city-states for an incredible 277,200 years (and two of them reigned for 54,600 years). Then the flood washed away (the country). After the flood washed away the country and the kingdom was sent down from heaven (for the second time), Kish became the seat of the throne. This marked the end of the Early Dynastic I period.

The institution of kingship was re-brought to earth after the flood, since this catastrophe was tantamount to the “end of the world.” The only person saved was Ziusudra, according to Sumerian tradition. However, unlike Noah, he was not allowed to live on the land freed from the waters. To some extent deified, at least endowed with immortality, Ziusudra was sent to the country of Tilmun. Despite the disagreement and resistance of some members of the pantheon, the Great Gods decided to destroy humanity by sending a flood. Ziusudra learns from his intercessor about the decision of An and Enlil. Apparently, Ziusudra receives precise instructions regarding the construction of the ark. After seven days and seven nights the sun appears again

Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh contains Utnapishtim's account of how he was the sole survivor of the flood. Fragments of this narrative were also found in a king list excavated at Nippur in 1893 and published in 1914 by Arno Pöbel. They date back to the 18th century BC. e. In some Sumerian texts, Ziusudra appears as the king of the city of Shuruppaka, so there is reason to believe that a real historical figure became the prototype of the mythological hero.

Theogony of Heliopolis.

Like many other traditions, Egyptian cosmogony begins with the emergence of a hill from primordial waters. The appearance of this “First Place” over the vast expanses of water signified the emergence of the earth, but also the beginning of light, life and consciousness. In Heliopolis, a place called "Sandy Hill" and part of the sun temple was considered the primary hill.

Hermopolis was famous for its lake, on which the cosmogonic lotus rose. In accordance with the solar theology of Heliopolis, a city located in the upper reaches of the delta, the god Ra-Atum-Khepri created the first divine couple - Shu (Atmosphere) and Tefnut, who became the parents of the god Geb (Earth) and the goddess Nut (Sky). The demiurge performed the act of creation by masturbating or spitting out saliva. These expressions are simple-mindedly rude, but their meaning is clear: deities are born from the substance itself supreme god. In Hermopolis (Middle Egypt), theologians developed a complex doctrine of the Ogdoad, a group of eight gods later united by Ptah. In the primordial lake of Hermopolis, the Lotus arose, from which it emerged

“The sacred child, the perfect heir, begotten by the Ogdoad, the divine seed of the very first Precursor Gods, “he who knit together the seed of gods and men.”

Myth "About Osiris and Isis".

According to myths, at the head of the pantheon Egyptian gods stood the sun god Amon-Ra. The myths also tell about a divine couple - the earth god Hebe and the goddess of the starry sky Nut - who had four children: the gods Osiris and Set and the goddesses Isis and Nephthys. The Egyptians claimed that Osiris and his wife, the beautiful Isis, were their first rulers.

The divine couple conveyed to people knowledge about the land capable of producing shoots, initiated them into the mysteries of art and craft, taught writing and the canons of temple construction. People got the opportunity to live according to the laws of Heaven in unity with Nature. Osiris and Isis revealed to them the mysteries of life and death and the meaning of their own existence. They awakened in the souls a love for Wisdom and a thirst for knowledge. It was the most wonderful and happiest time for people.

Set, who hated his brother Osiris, came up with an insidious plan to kill him. He found out the size of his body and invited him to a holiday, where he showed the sarcophagus to the guests and promised to give it to someone who would fit it. All the guests tried to lie in the sarcophagus, but it only suited Osiris. As soon as he lay down, Seth slammed the lid of the sarcophagus and filled it with lead, and then drowned him in the Nile.

Osiris's wife Isis, being pregnant, could not fight Seth, and he assumed power over the entire world.

Isis was looking for the body of her husband. The children told her about Seth's atrocity. Isis followed the trail of the sarcophagus all the way to Byblos, where she found it hidden in the trunk of the tree from which the column of the palace of King Byblos was made. Isis hired herself as a servant at court and won the queen’s trust. After Isis revealed herself to her, the queen convinced her husband to release the sarcophagus. After this, Isis brought the body of Osiris back to Egypt and revived him to life with great spells.

For Seth, the resurrection of Osiris did not go unnoticed. With all his newfound power, he attacked him, killed him, dismembered the corpse and scattered the pieces throughout the country. Isis collected them to resurrect her husband again, but discovered that the crocodile (fish) had eaten his phallus, and replaced it with a wooden (clay) one.

Osiris did not rise again, but became a ruler the afterlife; Seth strengthened his power over Egypt and the whole world. However, Osiris returned from the underworld and prepared his son Horus for vengeance. Horus began a tireless and long war against Typhon (Seth) and his allies and eventually defeated them all, seizing his father's throne. This is the content of the myth, according to Plutarch. Plutarch's version coincides mainly with mythological and religious ideas Egyptians about Isis and Osiris, reflected in authentic Egyptian texts; True, these texts are much richer, they present a greater variety of mythological episodes and, perhaps, variants of the myth that remained unknown to Plutarch or were omitted from his meager narrative. So, for example, in Plutarch’s story there is not a word that Isis conceived her son “Horus the child” from the already deceased Osiris, there are no details, sometimes very interesting, about the mortal battle between Horus and Seth, about the revival of the deceased Osiris by Isis, about his mummification, etc.

19. The most significant religious texts of Ancient Egypt (brief description).

« Book of the Dead" in Ancient Egypt, a collection of Egyptian hymns and religious texts placed in a tomb to help the deceased overcome dangers other world and find well-being in the afterlife. Various copies Books of the Dead can contain from several to two hundred chapters of varying length, ranging from long poetic hymns to one-line magical formulas. The name “Book of the Dead” was given by Egyptologist R. Lepsius, but it would be more correct to call it “Book of the Resurrection,” since its Egyptian name is literally translated as “Chapters on the Exit to the Light of Day.”

This religious and magical collection gives the impression of a chaotic accumulation of prayers, chants, praises and spells associated with the funeral cult. Gradually, elements of morality penetrate into the Book of the Dead. At its core, “The Book of the Dead” is a religious collection, therefore the moral elements contained in it are intertwined with ancient magic. Thus, in the 30th chapter of the “Book of the Dead,” the deceased conjures his heart not to testify against him at the posthumous trial. This motley mixture of religious and magical beliefs is explained by the fact that the Book of the Dead was compiled and edited over a number of centuries. Ancient texts were traditionally preserved until late times, and their content often became incomprehensible and even required explanations, which, for example, were added to the 17th chapter of the Book of the Dead.

Of particular interest to researchers is the 125th chapter, which describes the posthumous trial of Osiris over the deceased. Thoth and Anubis weigh the heart of the deceased (a symbol of the soul among the ancient Egyptians). On one pan of the scales is the heart, that is, the conscience of the deceased, light or burdened with sins, and on the other is Truth in the form of the feather of the goddess Maat or the figurine of Maat. If a person led a righteous life on earth, then his heart and feather weighed the same; if he sinned, then his heart weighed more. The acquitted deceased was sent to the afterlife paradise, the sinner was eaten by the monster Amat (a lion with the head of a crocodile).

Sarcophagus Texts- a collection of ancient Egyptian funeral spells carved on the surface of sarcophagi. These inscriptions first appeared during the First Transition Period. These texts, borrowed in part from earlier sources such as the Pyramid Texts, contain significantly new material related to the daily needs of man. This suggests that these texts were used not only by the royal nobility, but also by ordinary rich people.

Most of the texts written on sarcophagi date back to the Middle Kingdom. However, sometimes such inscriptions are found on the walls of tombs, on the surface of chests, canopic jars, in papyri and even on mummy masks. Due to the limited surface on which the texts were written, they were often shortened.

Unlike the Pyramid Texts, which focus primarily on all things divine, the Sarcophagi Texts emphasize the earthly elements of an afterlife ruled by Osiris. In the Sarcophagi Texts, Osiris offers an afterlife to everyone, automatically assigning names to the dead with the prefix "Osiris". This underworld is described as a place full of terrible creatures, traps and dangers that the deceased must overcome. The spells recorded in the Sarcophagus Texts allow the dead to protect themselves from dangers and thereby avoid a second death.

Also, the Sarcophagus Texts say that all people will be judged by Osiris and his assistants, according to the deeds committed by people during their lifetime. The texts speak of the use of balance, which became a central judicial point in the later Book of the Dead. The texts advise the deceased on how to avoid such tiring and routine activities as physical labor, using all kinds of magical spells.

On top of that, these texts contain a detailed description of the land of the dead and its inhabitants.

Pyramid Texts - oldest work Egyptian religious and funerary literature that has come down to us. They got their name from their location: they cover the walls of the interior of the pyramids located in Saqqara, the necropolis of the pharaohs of Memphis. The texts themselves are likely older than the pyramids, and were created long before the unification of Northern and Southern Egypt (circa 3000 BC).

Although a relatively small number of texts have been damaged by time and tomb robbers, their reading, translation and interpretation still pose many problems to this day. The texts are very complex both grammatically and lexically, and the spelling is unusual (due to its antiquity). They contain many allusions to myths and legends unknown to us.

S. Mercer identifies the following subjects among the Pyramid Texts:

· Funeral ritual with the offering of gifts, which is associated with the idea of the reunification of parts of the disintegrated body, its revival and resurrection of the deceased king.

· Magic formulas for protection from troubles and misfortunes.

· Ritual of worship.

· Religious hymns.

· Mythical formulas identifying the late king with one or another deity.

· Prayers and supplications on behalf of the late king.

· Glorifying the greatness and power of the late king in heaven (doxology).

For a long time, scientists believed that the individual pyramid texts were in no way connected with each other. However, M. E. Mathieu in 1947 proposed a new order of reading the texts (from the entrance to the pyramid to the sarcophagus of the pharaoh). She also expressed the view that the Pyramid Texts were the words of a single funeral ritual that were spoken during the part of this ceremony that took place inside the pyramid.

Orpheus; Orphic views.

In the north of Greece, in Thrace, lived the singer Orpheus. He had a wonderful gift of songs, and his fame spread throughout the land of the Greeks.

The beautiful Eurydice fell in love with him for his songs. She became his wife. But their happiness was short-lived. One day Orpheus and Eurydice were in the forest. Orpheus played his seven-stringed cithara and sang. Eurydice was picking flowers in the meadows. Unnoticed, she moved far from her husband, into the wilderness of the forest. Suddenly it seemed to her that someone was running through the forest, breaking branches, chasing her, she got scared and, throwing the flowers, ran back to Orpheus. She ran, without knowing the road, through the thick grass and in a rapid run stepped into a snake’s nest. The snake wrapped itself around her leg and bit her. Eurydice screamed loudly in pain and fear and fell onto the grass. Orpheus heard his wife's plaintive cry from a distance and hurried to her. But he saw large black wings flash between the trees - it was Death that was carrying Eurydice into the underworld.

Great was the grief of Orpheus. He left people and spent whole days alone, wandering through the forests, pouring out his melancholy in songs. And there was such power in these melancholy songs that the trees moved from their places and surrounded the singer. Animals came out of their holes, birds left their nests, stones moved closer. And everyone listened to how he missed his beloved.

Nights and days passed, but Orpheus could not console himself, his sadness grew with every hour.

No, I can’t live without Eurydice! - he said. - The land is not dear to me without her. Let Death take me too, let me at least be in the underworld with my beloved!

But Death did not come. And Orpheus decided to go to the kingdom of the dead himself.

For a long time he searched for the entrance to the underground kingdom and, finally, in the deep cave of Tenara he found a stream that flowed into the underground river Styx. Along the bed of this stream, Orpheus descended deep underground and reached the bank of the Styx. Beyond this river began the kingdom of the dead.

The waters of the Styx are black and deep, and it is scary for the living to step into them. Orpheus heard sighs and quiet crying behind him - these were the shadows of the dead, like him, who were waiting for crossing into a country from which no one can return.

A boat separated from the opposite shore: the carrier of the dead, Charon, was sailing for new newcomers. Charon silently moored to the shore, and shadows obediently filled the boat. Orpheus began to ask Charon:

Take me to the other side too! But Charon refused:

I only transfer the dead to the other side. When you die, I will come for you!

Have pity! - Orpheus prayed. - I don’t want to live anymore! It's hard for me to stay on earth alone! I want to see my Eurydice!

The stern ferryman pushed him away and was about to set sail from the shore, but the strings of the cithara rang plaintively, and Orpheus began to sing. Sad and gentle sounds echoed under the gloomy arches of Hades. The cold waves of the Styx stopped, and Charon himself, leaning on his oar, listened to the song. Orpheus entered the boat, and Charon obediently transported him to the other side. Hearing the hot song of the living about undying love, the shadows of the dead flew from all sides. Orpheus walked boldly through the silent kingdom of the dead, and no one stopped him.

So he reached the palace of the ruler of the underworld, Hades, and entered a vast and gloomy hall. High on the golden throne sat the formidable Hades and next to him his beautiful queen Persephone.

With a sparkling sword in his hand, in a black cloak, with huge black wings, the god of Death stood behind Hades, and his servants, Kera, crowded around him, flying on the battlefield and taking the lives of warriors. The stern judges of the underworld sat to the side of the throne and judged the dead for their earthly deeds.

Memories were hidden in the dark corners of the hall, behind the columns. They had scourges made of live snakes in their hands, and they painfully stung those standing before the court.

Orpheus saw many kinds of monsters in the kingdom of the dead: Lamia, which steals small children from mothers at night, and the terrible Empusa with donkey legs, drinking blood people, and ferocious Stygian dogs.

Only the younger brother of the god of Death - the god of Sleep, young Hypnos, beautiful and joyful, rushed around the hall on his light wings, stirring a sleepy drink in his silver horn, which no one on earth can resist - even the great Thunderer Zeus himself falls asleep when Hypnos splashes into it with your potion.

Hades looked menacingly at Orpheus, and everyone around him began to tremble.

But the singer approached the throne of the gloomy ruler and sang even more inspired: he sang about his love for Eurydice.

Persephone listened to the song without breathing, and tears rolled from her beautiful eyes. The terrible Hades bowed his head on his chest and thought. The God of Death lowered his sparkling sword.

The singer fell silent, and the silence lasted for a long time. Then Hades raised his head and asked:

What are you looking for, singer, in the kingdom of the dead? Tell me what you want and I promise to fulfill your request.

Orpheus said to Hades:

Lord! Our life on earth is short, and Death overtakes us all someday and takes us to your kingdom - no mortal can escape it. But I, alive, myself came to the kingdom of the dead to ask you: give me back my Eurydice! She had lived so little on earth, had so little time to rejoice, loved so briefly... Let her go, lord, to earth! Let her live a little more in the world, let her enjoy the sun, warmth and light and the greenery of the fields, the spring charm of the forests and my love. After all, she will return to you after all!

So spoke Orpheus and asked Persephone:

Intercede for me, beautiful queen! You know how good life is on earth! Help me get my Eurydice back!

Let it be as you ask! - Hades said to Orpheus. - I will return Eurydice to you. You can take her with you up to the bright earth. But you have to promise...

Anything you want! - Orpheus exclaimed. - I’m ready to do anything to see my Eurydice again!

You must not see her until you come out into the light,” Hades said. - Return to earth and know: Eurydice will follow you. But don't look back and try to look at her. If you look back, you will lose her forever!

And Hades ordered Eurydice to follow Orpheus.

Orpheus quickly headed towards the exit from the kingdom of the dead. Like a spirit, he passed through the land of Death, and the shadow of Eurydice followed him. They entered Charon's boat, and he silently transported them back to the shore of life. A steep rocky path led up to the ground.

Orpheus slowly climbed the mountain. It was dark and quiet around him and quiet behind him, as if no one was following him. Only his heart was beating:

“Eurydice! Eurydice!

Finally it began to get lighter ahead, and the exit to the ground was close. And the closer the exit was, the brighter it became ahead, and now everything around was clearly visible.

Anxiety squeezed Orpheus’s heart: is Eurydice here? Is he following him? Forgetting everything in the world, Orpheus stopped and looked around.

Where are you, Eurydice? Let me look at you! For a moment, very close, he saw a sweet shadow, a dear, beautiful face... But only for a moment. Eurydice's shadow immediately flew away, disappeared, melted into the darkness.

With a desperate cry, Orpheus began to go back down the path and again came to the shore of the black Styx and called for the ferryman. But in vain he prayed and called: no one responded to his prayers. For a long time Orpheus sat on the bank of the Styx alone and waited. He didn't wait for anyone.

He had to return to earth and live. But he could not forget his only love - Eurydice, and the memory of her lived in his heart and in his songs.

The semi-mythical Orpheus is credited with creating one of the most significant pre-philosophical schools Ancient Greece- orphism. This school was essentially religious, and Orphism can be called a kind of “heresy” based on traditional Greek religion. Nevertheless, “Orpheus” and Orphism played a certain role in the genesis of philosophical thinking, predetermining some of the principles of early Greek science.
A number of original works have been preserved from the Orphic school: these are Orphic theogonies, sacred tales, and others. Basically, these works survive in fragments - either on plates or papyri, or in later retellings. However, already the classical critical tradition (Plato and Aristotle) retells the main provisions of the Orphic school. The progenitors of everything, following Hesiod, are Ocean and Tethys, born from Gaia and Uranus. The ocean and Tethys were previously woven together, but then separated under the influence of “fierce enmity.” At the same time, the Ether was born, in which planets, stars, mountains and seas appeared. The emergence of an animal is “like weaving a net” - it emerges from organs gradually (in this Orpheus predetermined the proto-evolutionary concept of Empedocles).

Orphism - mystical teaching in Ancient Greece and Thrace, associated with the name of the mythical poet and singer Orpheus. Appeared approximately in the 6th century BC. e. - The first Orphic hymns date back to this time. The teaching was emphatically esoteric in nature.
The Orphics believed in retribution after death (there are also elements of metempsychosis), the immortality of the soul (“imprisoned” in the “prison” of the body), the duality of human nature into good (the nature of Zagreus-Dionysus) and evil (the nature of the titans who tore him to pieces). Initially, Orphism was perceived as a purely grassroots folk cult and was ridiculed by various philosophical schools, its elements were subsequently used by Neoplatonism to create its own systematized cosmology. The Orphic teachings fell into decline in antiquity, leaving behind very little evidence. A number of scientists raised the question of the influence of Orphism on Christianity.

Eleusinian Mysteries.

The Eleusinian Mysteries are initiation rites in the cults of the fertility goddesses Demeter and Persephone, which were held annually in Eleusis (near Athens) in Ancient Greece.

Of all the rites of antiquity, the Eleusinian Mysteries were considered the most important. Beliefs, rituals, and religious activities were kept secret from the uninitiated, and initiation united a person with God, up to immortality and the possession of divine power in the other world.

The origin of the Mysteries can be dated back to the Mycenaean era (1,500 BC). They were celebrated annually for two thousand years.

Eleusis is a small city 22 km northwest of Athens, connected to them by a sacred road; has long been famous for its wheat production.

The Mysteries were based on the myths of Demeter. Her daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the god of the underworld. Demeter, the goddess of life and fertility, set out on a search after her daughter was abducted. Having learned from Helios about her fate, Demeter retired to Eleusis and swore that until her daughter was returned to her, not a single sprout would break out of the ground.

Worried about the crop failure, Zeus ordered Hades to return Persephone. After the return of her daughter, Demeter allowed the earth to blossom and, in joy, revealed her sacred rites and mysteries to King Kelei and the princes Triptolemus, Eumolpus and Diocles.

But since Hades gave Persephone a pomegranate seed to eat before leaving the underworld so that she would return to him, Demeter’s daughter could not stay with her mother for long. The gods came to an agreement that Persephone would live in the Upper World for two thirds of the year, and devote the remaining time to the Underworld Lord.

The Eleusinian Mysteries reenacted the return of Persephone from the Underworld, just as seeds thrown into the ground in the fall return annually in the spring, symbolizing the resurrection from the dead. Kelei was the first priest of Demeter, initiated into her rites and secrets, and his son Triptolemus, taught by the goddess the art of growing wheat, revealed it to other people throughout the earth.

There were two types of mysteries: Great and Small.

The Lesser Mysteries were celebrated in Anfestirion (February), although exact date not installed. The priests purified candidates for initiation, sacrificed a pig to Demeter, and purified themselves.

The Great Mysteries took place in Voidromion (September) and lasted nine days. The first act of the Great Mysteries (September 14) consisted of the transfer of sacred objects from Eleusis to Eleusinion (a temple at the base of the Acropolis in Athens dedicated to Demeter). On September 15, the priests announced the beginning of the rituals. The ceremonies began in Athens on September 16, with ministers washing in the sea at Phaleron (the natural harbor in Athens) and sacrificing a pig at Eleusinion on September 17. The sacred procession departed from Ceramics (the Athenian cemetery) on September 19 and moved to Eleusis along the so-called “Sacred Road”.

At certain points, participants shouted obscenities in honor of Yamba (the old maid who amused Demeter with her funny jokes when she mourned the loss of her daughter in Eleusis), and also shouted one of the names of Dionysus, Iacchus (Dionysus was considered the son of Demeter or Persephone).

Arrival in Eleusis was celebrated with fasting in memory of Demeter’s grief when she grieved over her daughter. The fast was interrupted by an infusion of barley and mint (kykeon), which Demeter drank in the house of King Kelei instead of red wine.

On the 20th and 21st of September, the priests entered the large hall of Telesterion (temple in honor of Demeter), where they saw sacred relics. This part of the mysteries was most hidden from the uninitiated; it was forbidden to tell strangers about it on pain of death.

There are several views regarding the essence of the mysteries. Some claim that initiates became convinced of the existence of life after death by contemplating sacred objects. Others say that this is not enough to explain the influence and longevity of the mysteries, arguing that in addition to external contemplation, initiates may have been under the influence of psychotropic drugs.

This hidden part was followed by a feast that lasted all night and was accompanied by dancing and entertainment. The dances took place in the field where, according to legend, the first sprout appeared. A bull was also sacrificed.

On September 22, initiates honored the dead by overturning special vessels. The mysteries ended on September 23.

At the center of Telesterion was the Anaktoron ("palace"), a small structure made of stone, which only priests could enter, and sacred objects were preserved in it.

Most of the rituals have never been recorded in writing, and therefore much of these mysteries remains a subject of speculation and speculation.

During the time of Pisistratus of Athens, the Eleusinian Mysteries acquired great importance, and pilgrims came from all over Greece to participate in them. Since 300 BC. e. Representatives of two families, the Eumolpides and the Kirikov, took control over the conduct of the mysteries.

A prerequisite for admission to the mysteries was non-involvement in murder and possession Greek(don't be a barbarian). Women and some slaves were allowed to participate.

The Roman Emperor Theodosius I the Great, by decree of 392, closed the sanctuary in the interests of fighting paganism and strengthening Christianity.

The last traces of the Mysteries were destroyed in 396 during the invasion of Byzantium by the Gothic king Alaric I.

Myths about Prometheus.

Prometheus - in ancient greek mythology Titan, king of the Scythians, protector of people from the tyranny of the gods. Son of Japetus and Clymene. His wife is Hesione.

According to Hesiod, Prometheus sculpted people from the earth, and Athena gave them breath; or he revived the people created by Deucalion and Pyrrha from stones. Near Panopeus (Phocis) in ancient times there was a statue of Prometheus, and nearby two large stones left over from the clay from which people were fashioned.

When the gods and people argued in Mekon, Prometheus deceived Zeus by offering him a choice, and he chose the larger, but worse part of the sacrifice. So Prometheus changed the order of sacrifices to the gods, previously the entire animal was burned, but now only the bones. Prometheus was the first to kill a bull. People decided to burn the livers of sacrificial animals on their altars so that the gods would enjoy their livers instead of Promethean's.

According to the oldest version of the myth, Prometheus stole fire from Hephaestus, took it from Olympus and gave it to people. He ascended to the sky with the help of Athena and raised the torch to the sun. He gave people fire by hiding it in a hollow reed stalk, and showed people how to preserve it by sprinkling it with ash.

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