Ancient Slavic customs. Ancient customs and rituals

Many, if not all, famous fairy tales and epics are actually just an ancient retelling, so to speak, just a popular retelling of myths and legends created in Slavic antiquity. The pagan gods of the ancient Slavs, about whom we know inexcusably little, were, like the gods of ancient Greece, subject to passions and indulging their own desires, and sometimes vices. If you carefully and thoughtfully look at the depiction of any of them, then in addition to the "social" role , or professional affiliation (good-evil, reality-nav, light-darkness), in themselves were far from ambiguous personalities. Noble deeds were performed by representatives of the dark forces, at the same time, strange and not too decent deeds were also carried out by the bright, good ancient Slavic gods. Actually, there was no difference between them and their relatives from other parts of the earth. In addition, the true events, and the reasons why these events took place, are also distorted in fairy tales and adjusted to Christian morality, which requires a strict division into good and evil. And the heroes themselves, having migrated from ancient Slavic paganism to Russian national fairy tales, retold after the baptism of Russia, appear before us far from their true form. This happened with Baba Yaga, whom I have already talked about before. The same thing happened with Kashchei the Immortal. Rather, it happened with the famous love triangle which is found in many fairy tales. An evil, skeletal-thin, bald and lustful old man who steals beauties on the eve of the wedding, and often right from the crown. This is how we know Kashchei the Immortal. And then, Ivan Tsarevich goes to save the beauty. He finds the same egg and, having killed Kashchei, returns his beloved. The true story looked somewhat different. And so, heroes. Kashchei Immortal Vievich, in fairy tales the kidnapper of other people's brides. Beauty Princess, Vasilisa the Beautiful, Marya Morevna is none other than the ancient Slavic goddess of death and winter Morena. Ancient Slavic death is not a skeleton with a scythe in a black cloak, but beautiful woman in a white robe. A good fellow, Ivan Tsarevich is the bright god Dazhdbog, who, having lost his first wife, the giant maiden Maya Zlatogorka, inflamed with an unhealthy obsessive passion for Morena. At the end of our story, another heroine appears, with the help of which, in fact, the triangle ceases to exist. My story will not be short, and therefore only those who are really interested in it will read it. You can’t just briefly tell the whole truth, and it’s difficult to omit some details so as not to distort the retelling of what is already quite distorted by time and people. The black prince Navi Kashchei was certainly not a kind man and not an angel. At this point, the profession obliged, there was nowhere to go. He was of very noble origin. Father - Viy Gorynovich, king of the underworld. Mother - Mother Earth Cheese. Viy himself, thanks to such heredity, was very powerful and formidable (wherever he looked, everything dries up and dies) and succeeded in dark deeds, as he was supposed to. However, if you imagine him, then this is rather a young hero, Attractive man , rich and in the business of the profession. It is unlikely that he was handsome, at the root of his name is the word-bones, so he was most likely thin and pale. But it's not for beauty that we, women, choose our companions in life. If he was Immortal, why would he suddenly become an old man? And the fact that he was a representative of the dark forces - so after all, someone had to deal with this. When it was time for Kashchei to start a family and offspring, he chose the beautiful Morena, the daughter of Svarog and Leda. It was her that he loved all his life, while most of the bright gods not only married more than once, but also had many mistresses. Kashchei was also familiar with Dazhdbog, and they were, if not friends, then certainly not enemies. Dazhdbog somehow saved the life of Kashchei, when during a quarrel he was almost killed by the same young, daring god Veles, the same as these two, a powerful patron of cattle, animals, and magical powers. In gratitude, Kashchei took a vow to forgive Dazhdbog for this three insults, if any. Having wooed Morena, Kashchei Vievich waited for some time for the answer of the beauty. During the courtship of Kashcheev, the intoxicated Dazhdbog wandered into the tower to Morena, who that day was a guest at a feast with her parents. Returning home, Dazhdbog decided to walk through the heavenly garden of Iriysky, apparently to freshen up, where he stumbled upon the painted maiden tower of the owner's daughter. And at Morena there was a feast with harpists and songbirds. She met guests from the kingdom of the Underground - Kashchei Vievich with his brothers. Since she had not yet given the word to Kashchei, the flirtatious girl decided to flirt and flirt with Dazhdbog. Treat him with intoxicated Surya and hint that he would come to her somehow when she has no guests. Dazhdbog took all this coquetry at face value and flared up for Morena with a manic passion. Of course, Dazhdbog also liked Morena, but her choice fell on Kashchei. The choice was right. In addition to the fact that she liked him, this marriage was supposed to be very harmonious. Both are representatives of the dark forces. In addition, he is Immortal, she is the goddess of death. Complete fusion of professional interests, spiritual closeness. And on the other hand, Kashchei is the king of the kingdom of the dead, the son of the mighty Viy, and Dazhdbog, although he was the son of Perun, was illegitimate, from a connection with a simple mermaid Rosa. But, literally on the eve of the wedding, Dazhdbog stole Morena and, observing all the formalities and rituals necessary at that time, made him his wife. Mad with grief, Kashchei rushed after them. When he found them, a lot of time passed and Morena managed to give birth to Dazhdbog a bunch of children. Little is known about the cohabitation of Mary and Dazhdbog. Most likely, it was not easy for Dazhdbog and Mara. Painfully different natures. However, you can understand Dazhdbog: Mara, according to all descriptions, is a maiden of incredible beauty. Yes, and she was not sweet, so she gladly ran away from her husband. From a purely human point of view, it can be assumed that, in general, the whole thing is in Morena herself. Apparently she really liked both of them, and although she chose the dark, cold, but very faithful and reliable Kashchei for herself, it’s very difficult to refuse the god of passion, life and love of the brutal handsome Dazhdbog if you are given eternity, and you have lived just yet some not full 200 years. That is why she did not really resist the first kidnapping. How did this mistake come back to haunt her in life! The passion passed, her unloved husband tired her to death and was drawn to a reliable, spiritually very close to her Kashchei. And a centuries-old story of kidnappings began. If for the first time Morena unquestioningly allowed herself to be kidnapped, then later she used all her strength turning Dazhdbog, then into a Deer, then into a drake, then dousing him with wine (which he never refused) and when the bored hubby fell into a dream, she asked Kashchei to kill Dazhdbog. However, Kashchei kept his word to forgive three insults. Moreover, He did not kill anyone, but only reigned over the dead. Dazhdbog every time more and more furiously pursued the couple in love. But Koschei and Mara did not grieve, they gave birth to children. The first was Frost, then his brothers - Son and Moroz. And the sisters are just like a selection - listen to their names: Resentment, Msta, Karna (Kruchina), Zhelya (Sorrow), Laziness, Sandman. Here is after all what harmony in family. Full unity of interests and values! But they did not have peace. Dazhdbog used in pursuit not only his own strength, but also actively used the help of friends. Among his assistants was the goddess of spring Zhiva, who was in love with him, whom I, purely as a woman, do not understand at all. Why help a loved one in his persecution of another woman, when it is better to help him forget about her. But that's why I'm not a goddess. Zhiva decided that if she forgets, she can also remember, and therefore it is better to destroy her physically, in which she succeeded. Here she is - a beautiful, eternally young goddess of spring! In the end, tired of this whole story with two men, Morena decided to put an end to it herself. Realizing that Kashchei, with his chistoply observance of the “word of honor”, ​​would never kill Dazhdbog, and he, in turn, would never get rid of them, she drugged the bright god with wine and chained him to the Alatyrsky mountains. The rescued Living Dazhdbog became furious, found the oak tree where the egg of Kashchei's death was kept and again appeared to the couple tired of him. Morena offered him a drink of wine, wanting to once again intoxicate Dazhdbog. And after all again would drink, the word of honour! How many troubles he has because of this, but this time he did not refuse and took the cup in his hands. But then Zhiva knocked this cup out of the hands of her beloved drunkard, Dazhdbog fell into a rage, broke an egg and, like Karandyshev from the Dowry (so don’t get it to anyone!) Slashed Morena in half with a sword. The dying Kashchei, with his last strength, cut off Dazhdbog's head and, it would seem, everyone died. However, Zhiva saved her beloved by splashing her with Living Water. And the great gods revived Mara and Kashchei. The death of Kashchei brought a terrible flood to the earth, because the egg was not just the death of Kashcheev. With his death, the harmonious structure of the world was disturbed, in which there should have been evil and good, darkness and light. The great gods decided that it was impossible to leave everything like that. It is necessary to restore the violated Lad of the World. It was decided that "... half of the year of Svarog Koshchey with Mara will reign, and the remaining half - Dazhdbog with the Living", who bore him a son, Orey, who, accordingly, produced a son named Rus. By the way, this is how the first Slavic man appeared, whose descendants became Russians .. Like this .. Everything is fair: night and winter - to the Black gods, day and summer - to the Light ones. Svarog even forged a second sun for the Blacks - the Moon, so that they, too, would have everything like decent rulers. I want to emphasize that the Adult Great Gods did not force Morena to return to Dazhdbog, but left her with Kashchei!
So it turns out that Ivan Tsarevich stole the bride from Kashchei, and not vice versa, as it is told in fairy tales. But, you can’t sew feelings to the case, but the facts are as follows - Although contrary to desire, Dazhdbog was Morena’s husband, and therefore Christian morality and the prohibition of adultery oblige her to remain the wife of the kidnapper. Yes, and dark Kashchei could not become a positive hero of a fairy tale, although in his entire life he did not kill a single living creature, he did not break his word. He was a faithful husband and a kind father and grandfather. Among his children, it is worth paying attention to the son of Frost. The same one that still comes to us in new year's eve with his Snow Maiden, and puts gifts under the tree. But that's a completely different story, which I'll tell another time.

Ancient customs and rituals

Clothes, fashion. How to find out what people wore hundreds of thousands of years ago? After all, during this time, not only clothes, but also the body itself will not be preserved. In 1964, the skeleton of a man buried more than 20 thousand years ago was found at the Sungir site (near Vladimir). Rare find. By millimeter with a brush, our group cleared the remains of a man and found strange "rings" on his chest, resembling a shell. When, carelessly touched with a brush, one of the rings flew off, it turned out to be a bead. Thousands of such beads, each of which was carved with a stone knife from a mammoth tusk, completely covered the clothes on the chest and trousers.

More than three thousand small beads bordered the body, on the arms and legs were bracelets made of mammoth bones. It turned out that this was not a shell, but an ornament of clothes that looked like fur overalls.

Such clothes were sometimes depicted in drawings and figurines. For example, at the sites of Malta and Buret near the hearths and in the dwellings of the Old Stone Age, curious figures of women in fur clothes were found. Some of them have only a face open, and everything else is pulled into a kind of overalls, sewn with fur on the outside. It is indicated by semicircular pits and notches arranged in a certain rhythmic order. The fur is sharply separated from the convex face by deep narrow grooves, forming a roller - a thick fluffy border of the hood. The wide and flat hood is pointed upwards.

Very similar clothes are still worn by Arctic sea animal hunters and tundra reindeer herders. 25 thousand years ago, the shores of Lake Baikal were also occupied by tundra, and without such “dresses” it was impossible to survive here. In winter, the cold, piercing winds of the steppes and tundra, stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic, forced Paleolithic people, like modern inhabitants of the Arctic, to wrap themselves in fur clothes. It does not constrain movements and perfectly retains heat during snowfall, wind, storms and snowstorms. The figurines tell us not only about the "fashion" of the people of the ancient Stone Age, but also about the harsh climatic conditions in which they had to live. After all, then the glacier covered the whole of Europe, and in the place where Moscow is located, there was a three-kilometer layer of ice.

Rites. About 100 thousand years ago, in the era that archaeologists call Mousterian, people began to accompany the funeral of the dead with special rites. Fearing that the deceased would not return, they tied him up and, bending his legs and arms to his chest, laid him on his side, as if putting him to bed. In the grotto Teshik-Tash (Central Asia) around the grave of a child, a barrier made of horns of a mountain goat was built. The horns, placed in pairs with their points down, form a circle, inside of which were the remains of the skeleton. People wanted to revive a person in another world and sprinkled the bodies of the dead with ocher - a red mineral resembling blood in color. Various things were placed in the grave that the deceased used during his lifetime: weapons, magic items, etc.

So, at the Malta site (near Irkutsk), a child's burial was found in a specially constructed stone box. A diadem, a bracelet, a necklace of beads with a pendant in the form of a stylized flying bird, and a plaque with the image of a snake were laid in his grave. Next to the deceased lay a knife, at the feet - a spear, a piercing and a flint point. Apparently, those who buried the baby hoped that he would grow up "in the country of his ancestors" and be able to use these items. This means that even then people believed in an afterlife.

In the late Paleolithic, graves were arranged not only for people, in the same Malta, burials of arctic foxes were found. And now, in some places in Siberia, the bones of dead animals are buried so that they “resurrect” and again become the prey of hunters.

A special rite of burial of the dead, the widespread use of figurines of goddesses of fertility, cult "medallions" with a pattern of female genital organs, magical images of birds and animals - all this indicates that a certain system of beliefs had already developed in the Upper Paleolithic. True, she did not prevent primitive hunters from sometimes eating their neighbors. At the site of Afontova Gora (Siberia), along with the remains of eaten animals, the skeletons of two people were found - an adult and a child.

The rituals of ancient people can be imagined to some extent by the rituals of those tribes that still live in the conditions of the Stone Age. The family does not have its own household, it is common to all clans. Husband and wife are equal, marriage is easily dissolved. For example, in order to divorce spouses in Indochina, it was enough to break two sticks with which they eat rice in front of witnesses. In Thailand, a husband can sell any of his wives, with the exception of the first - she must be divorced. Among the Eskimos in Alaska, a man who wants a divorce leaves home and is absent for several days. The wife should understand this "hint" and disappear.

Some peoples of Central Africa and Asia had a custom: if the wife asked permission to go out, and the husband did not say: “Come back soon!” - the marriage was considered terminated and the wife should no longer appear at home.

As for the children, a lot of attention was paid to educating them for endurance and obedience to their elders. As already noted, every teenager had to pass a rigorous exam - initiation.

Initiation. Here is what the Australian aborigine Roberts tells about her: “I was probably nine years old then. My brother-in-law, Mardy, crept up behind me, covered my eyes with his hands and said:

Your time has come. Your father, Barnabas, told the elders that his son was ready to become a man.

I think that any nine year old white boy I would feel flattered to hear about it. Another thing is a small native living according to the laws of the tribe: he knows that he will have to endure pain, isolation, cruelty, take a vow of monastic self-denial and be silent for a long time. This means that they will circumcise me with a stone, forbid me to talk with certain relatives for two years and eat some types of food all my life, and others periodically, they will offer to sleep with a group of female in-laws, without annoying them with questions and without touching them.

Poor me, poor me!

So my brother-in-law closed my eyes. The elders immediately surrounded me. They banged boomerangs and sang ceremonial songs, while my in-laws, meanwhile, drew designs on my forehead, cheeks and body in red ocher. This meant that I was now a boy destined to become a man.

Then I was taken to the in-laws. Only now I have learned what humiliating trials await me...

Now let's go to bed, - said the relative and pointed me to a place next to her under the covers. But I shouldn't have touched her. She talked almost incessantly to her sisters, often talking about me. But I didn't say a word... So the law of the tribe commanded.

I got the first skills of self-control. My body and mind were getting used to the discipline. Now I can always keep myself under control.

As soon as I went to the in-laws, my father, mother, brothers and all close relatives pulled away from me, although there was no taboo on me. It was just one way to teach me restraint. I was embarrassed, I was crying on the sly, but I was silent and did not even make an attempt to run away.

Further, even more severe tests awaited the boy: torture to teach him to endure pain, training in the ability to obey elders, tests for mastery of the skill of a hunter, mastering the laws of the tribe, and much more.

Roberts says that there were performances and dances at night, during which “the dancers bombarded me with instructions and spells. This verbal attack was led by my uncles and cousins:

Don't chase women!

Don't throw spears at dogs!

Listen to the elders!

If you are told to run a mile, run!

Do not argue!

Don't mind!

Do not fight with comrades, with sisters and brothers!

Avoid cousins!

Don't lose your temper!

While I was instructed in this way, the choir and dancers were reminded of the bays and rivers created by the Rainbow Serpent. We consider the Snake to be the ruler of life. Her symbol is a rainbow. She "paves the way", turning young girls into women, opens the way into their wombs so that children-spirits can enter there and be reborn from their flesh.

Roberts had to pass a severe test, prove to everyone that he could shoot accurately from a bow, get any game, track down the enemy, be hardy and patient, obey his elders, and much more.

The initiation lasted two years, and Roberts remembered it for the rest of his life. Scientists talk about initiation in another tribe living in the desert: “Australian children are surrounded by universal attention, affection and care. But then comes youth. And then the boy's carefree life suddenly ends. Even the women closest to him: grandmother, mother, sister - suddenly pounce on him and, threatening with flaming torches, drive him out of the common habitat (parking lot, camp). From this time until the end of the rite of circumcision, for about a year, the young man is treated as an outcast. He now sleeps at some distance from the parking lot, never approaches women and does not talk to them. Nor does he speak to the old men until they themselves call him. Answering the old people, the young man is obliged to speak only in a whisper.

The life of an exile goes like this: during the day he is among men, and at night he sleeps by his small fire outside the tribal camp. And then, finally, the day comes when the old men grab the young man and, under the lamentations of women, the cries and stomp of men who have already passed initiation, lead him to a secluded place. The closest relatives of the young man - adult men - open the veins on their hands and smear the body of the young man with blood. The purpose of a long rite of initiation is to acquaint a young Australian with the laws of the clan and tribe and tell him about his ancestors, clan, man and the world, and teach him to obey his elders. At the same time, everything that can educate a young man is used: hunger and pain to strengthen the strength of the spirit, creating an atmosphere of incomprehensible mystery. The young man, lying face down, hears but does not see what is happening around him. Only for a moment they allow him to raise his head and, in the light of the wavering flame of the fire, look at the spectacle that causes ecstasy. Amazing experiences remain in the memory for a lifetime.

Not all young men are able to endure the hardships and tortures they are subjected to during initiation, the weakest die. Women and children are strictly forbidden even to approach the camp of initiates, so that they cannot see those who are being tested, hear their groans and cries. The extreme cruelty of the rites weeded out the weak in body and, most importantly, in spirit, and brought up courage, stamina, and modesty in young men.

In every primitive tribe there were revered people, but everywhere they achieved respect thanks not to family ties, but exclusively to personal merits - endurance, skill in making tools, success in hunting, etc. Merit to the family does not mean at all that a person was given especially much food or provided better housing. On the contrary, he had more responsibilities than other members of society.

There were no written laws for over 2.5 million years. However, everyone knew very well what could and could not be done. And they understood what awaited them for deviating from the laws of the tribe, especially for breaking taboos.

Taboo is the strictest prohibition, which, as it were, takes under protection some of the most essential aspects of social activity, everyday life and personal life of people. Taboo protects important persons - leaders, elders, shamans, priests and the weak - children and women from the danger associated, for example, with touching a corpse or eating poisoned food. Under his protection are also childbirth, initiation into adults, sexual life, personal and public property etc. People believed that if they broke the taboo, they would die.

Here is an excerpt from the memoirs of the native Roberts:

“I saw how my relatives, seized with horror, rolled their eyes and foam appeared on their lips. I saw them run in a frenzy, speechless. And all because they immediately explained every phenomenon they did not understand as witchcraft.

I have witnessed how a healthy man lost his strength and reason in a few days and died of shock when he learned that the sorcerer had aimed a bone at him or "buried" him. He believed that the bone had entered his body."

For a native, there are no unsolvable problems. If he is unable to explain this or that event, especially out of the ordinary, then faith in the supernatural comes to his aid. He thinks, "There's something here!"

Aborigines believe that they were all given totems, "dreams". Sometimes there are several totems. Roberts says: “I belong to the kangaroo totem. Therefore, I believe that the kangaroo gave me a language, a place where water gathers, food, hills and valleys, and much more. I am not allowed to eat certain parts of a kangaroo, such as the front and back legs. An aborigine belonging to the totem of the snake does not eat it at all, because all parts of the body of the snake are so similar to each other that he can make a mistake.

Once, in fact, I earned the laurels of a hunting master by tracking down and killing a dingo - a wild dog, the most shy and cunning animal of the forest, but, ironically, I could not tell anyone about this feat.

Not many of my relatives managed to kill a dingo dog or even get close to it at the distance of a spear throw. I was overwhelmed by the desire to pry off her corpse and lay it at the feet of my tutor Ulagang. But the dingo is my second "dream", my second totem.

If it becomes known that I killed a dingo, I will have to make amends to my cousins ​​and brothers. That is the law. Whatever they demand from my property - spears, boomerangs, utensils, blankets, clothes - I must meekly give them for my second "dream", even if I remain a beggar. This law is sometimes used to get even with a person who, by mistake, turned out to be discourteous or offended a fellow tribesman. If, for example, I really want to smoke, and my friend pulls out a cigarette from a full pack and lights it up without offering it to me, I can kill one of his "dreams" - maybe a guana, a snake, or a flying fox - and bring it to the camp. "Pack of cigarettes! - I will demand. - The whole thing! Ten pounds that you won yesterday at cards! Your penknife! Shirt off the body!”

And he must fulfill all my requirements in order to redeem his "dream". After all, I can demand anything.”

The writer Herman Melville, who lived for several months in 1842 among the cannibals of the Taipi tribe in the Marquesas Islands, says: “Often, walking through the groves, I noticed on some breadfruit tree or on a coconut palm, a special wreath of leaves clasping the trunk. It was a taboo sign. The tree itself, its fruits, and even the shadow it casts, are declared inviolable. Cunning inexplicable prohibitions are one of the notable features of taboo. To list them all would be simply unthinkable. Black boars, infants up to a certain age, women in an interesting position, young people when their faces are tattooed, and also some parts of the valley while it rains, are equally protected by the prohibitive power of taboo.

One of the tipsy captains, in response to the warnings of his comrades, replied: “Fuck you with your taboo!” - and began to shoot at the sacred birds, tear the fruits of the forbidden tree, etc. The Indians waited in horror for the sky to strike the defiler with death, but this did not happen. But when the captain, tired of the rampage, tried to get drunk in the stream, his path was blocked, they did not let him under the canopy, where he intended to hide from the sun.

There were cases when foreigners who violated the taboo were simply killed. Sigmund Freud gives such an example. Once a tribal leader, a New Zealander, left the remains of his lunch on the way. Some hungry guy immediately picked them up and ate them. The man who saw this told him with horror that he had swallowed the leader's taboo dinner. After these words, a healthy and strong young man fell down and died in excruciating convulsions by the evening of the next day. Another example. The leader lost the lighter, the tribesmen found and used it. But when they found out that the lighter was taboo, they died of horror. Or: a woman was picking fruit in a forbidden place. When she found out about this, she died a day later.

Life primitive man full of fears. “I have been living among white people for ten years now, as a white man, but I still have not overcome my innate fear and the conviction imbibed with my mother’s milk that some old natives are endowed with supernatural power,” Roberts says in his book.

Special bodies have been formed in the states, designed to severely punish violations of the laws, but, despite this, no one observes them as strictly as our distant ancestors observed the taboo rules.

So, by the end of the Old Stone Age, man created not only tools, but also dwellings, in which he lives now in the harsh conditions of the Arctic. He learned how to make fire, cook food on it, invented painting, sculpture, invented his own rituals and unwritten laws (taboos), which allowed him to maintain organization and discipline in the tribe. All this helped a person to live in any conditions and create a civilization.