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:

1. 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.
2. Psychology. Life on earth is finite, and there is no way to resist death, at least for the moment. Therefore, a person must be freed from the fear of dying. Thanks to religion, this can be done quite successfully.
3. 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.
4. 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

The 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

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 the gods of various 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.

What did primitive people believe? Who did primitive people believe in?

What did primitive people believe?

Modern people do not always take the beliefs of primitive people seriously. Discussions about the faith of ancient society should not be reduced to primitive reasoning; they can only be comprehended from the point of view of historicism.

Totemism

Totemism is a special type of primitive religion in which an animal (the most common option) or a plant (such cases are less common) was perceived as the progenitor of a certain kind. A totem is a special type of animal or plant endowed with supernatural powers: the ability to bestow healing, good luck, life or death. In ethnography, it is customary to divide the concept of totem into several types:

• In North America, the most common type of totem is an animal. Each genus has its own progenitor: a bear, an eagle, a snake and even a duck;
• on the territory of modern Australia, even the manifestation of weather can be considered totems: rain, rays of the Sun, heat;
• In the territory of Black Africa, the maize totem is especially common.

Animism

Animism is also a type of religion of primitive society. It should be noted that animism has successfully survived to this day and is present in all modern world religions. So, animism is the belief that every living and nonliving creature is animate and sentient. The only difference between “modern” animism is the denial of the soul of the inanimate. Ancient people believed that every person, all flora and fauna, all Nature is a single animate, but most importantly, conscious organism.

Magic

Primitive man was not endowed with the system of knowledge that we now possess. That is why he used the irrational to explain his environment. So, magic is an apparent secret, supernatural influence on surrounding matter. In primitive society, not every member of the tribe could master the secret meanings of magic. This unusual mission was entrusted to certain “classes” of people - priests, shamans. Initiated tribal sorcerers were sometimes even held in higher esteem than military leaders and clan elders. They, according to ancient people, could heal or harm health, improve productivity, cause good weather, destroy the enemy, and help in hunting.

vashurok.ru

Culture and faith of primitive people

Primitive culture played a significant role in the development of mankind. It was from this cultural and historical period that the history of human civilization began, man was formed, and such forms of human spirituality as religion, morality, and art arose.

With the development of material culture, tools of labor, and the increasing importance of collective forms of labor, elements of spiritual culture developed, in particular thinking and speech, the embryos of religion and ideological ideas arose, some elements of magic and the embryos of art appeared in ancestral communities: wavy lines on the walls of caves, contour images hands. However, most scholars call this proto-art natural figurative activity.

The formation of a communal-tribal system contributed to the development of the spiritual life of primitive man. The times of the early tribal community were characterized by noticeable successes in the development of speech and the foundations of rational knowledge.

Until recently, it was believed that the languages ​​of the less developed groups of humanity have a very small vocabulary and are almost devoid of general concepts. However, further study of this issue showed that the vocabulary of even the most backward tribes, for example the aborigines of Australia, has at least 10 thousand words. It also turned out that in these languages ​​specific, detailed definitions predominate; they also have words that convey the content of general concepts. Thus, the aborigines of Australia have designations not only for different types of trees, but also for trees in general, not only for different types of fish, but also for fish in general.

A feature of the most primitive languages ​​is the underdevelopment of syntactic forms. In the oral speech of even the most peoples, in contrast to their writing, phrases also usually consist of an insignificant number of words.

The source of knowledge of primitive man was his work activity, during which he accumulated experience, primarily about the surrounding nature. Practical branches of knowledge have expanded significantly. Man has mastered simple methods of treating fractures, dislocations, wounds, snake bites, and other diseases. People learned to count, measure distance, calculate time, of course, quite primitively. So, at first there were three to five designations of numerical concepts. Long distances were measured in days of travel, shorter distances were measured by the flight of an arrow or spear, and even shorter distances were measured by the length of specific objects, most often various parts of the human body: feet, elbows, fingers. Hence the names of ancient measures of length, which were preserved as a relic in many languages: cubit, foot, inch, and the like. Time was calculated only in relatively large segments associated with the location of celestial bodies, the change of day and night, and the natural and economic seasons.

Even the most backward tribes had a fairly developed system for transmitting sound or visual signals over a distance. There was no writing at all, although the aborigines of Australia already had the beginnings of pictography.

Examples of fine art from the era of the early tribal community are known from numerous archaeological sites: graphic and pictorial images of animals, less often plants and people, rock paintings of animals and people, hunting and military scenes, dances and religious ceremonies.

In oral literature, legends about the origin of people and their customs, the exploits of ancestors, the emergence of the world and various natural phenomena developed early. Soon stories and fairy tales appeared.

In music, the vocal or song form preceded the instrumental form. The first musical instruments were percussion devices made from two pieces of wood or a stretched piece of leather, the simplest plucked instruments, the prototype of which, apparently, was a bow string, various pipes, flutes, and pipes.

Dancing belongs to the most ancient forms of art. Primitive dances were collective and very figurative: imitation (usually in masks) of scenes of hunting, fishing, military clashes, and the like.

Along with the rational worldview, religion arose in such early, primitive forms as totemism, fetishism, magic, and animism.

Totemism is the belief in a close connection between a person or a clan group and its totem - a certain type of animal, less often plant. The clan bore the name of its totem, and members of the clan believed that they descended from common ancestors with it, who were related to it by blood. The totem was worshiped. He was considered a father, elder brother, etc., who helps people of the family. People, in turn, should not destroy their totem or cause any harm to it. In general, totemism was a kind of ideological reflection of the connection of a clan with its environment, a connection that was realized in a single form of consanguinity that was understandable at that time.

Fetishism is a belief in the supernatural properties of inanimate objects, that they can somehow help a person. Such an object - a fetish - can be a certain tool, wood, stone, and later a specially made cult object.

Magic is the belief in a person’s ability to influence other people, animals, plants, and natural phenomena in a special way. Not understanding the true relationship of certain facts and phenomena, misinterpreting random coincidences, primitive man believed that with the help of special words and actions one could cause rain or raise the wind, ensure the success of hunting or gathering, help or harm people. Depending on its purpose, magic is divided into several types: production, protective, love, healing.

Animism is the belief in the existence of souls and spirits.

With the development of beliefs and the complication of the cult, their implementation required certain knowledge, skills, and experience. The most important cult actions began to be performed by elders or a certain group of people - sorcerers, shamans.

The spiritual culture of the early tribal community was characterized by a close interweaving of rational and religious ideas. Thus, to heal a wound, primitive man resorted to magic. Cutting through the image of an animal with a spear, he simultaneously practiced hunting techniques, showed them to the young, and “magically ensured” the success of the next task.

As the production activity of primitive man became more complex, the stock of its positive knowledge increased. With the advent of agriculture and cattle breeding, knowledge accumulated in the field of selection - artificial selection of useful plant varieties and animal breeds.

The development of mathematical knowledge led to the appearance of the first means for counting - bundles of straw or a pile of stones, cords with knots or shells strung on them.

The development of topographical and geographical knowledge led to the creation of the first maps - route designations printed on bark, wood or skin.

The visual art of the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic tribes was generally quite conventional: instead of the whole, a certain characteristic part of an object was depicted. The decorative direction has spread, that is, decorating applied things (especially clothing, weapons and household utensils) with artistic painting, carving, embroidery, appliqué, etc. Thus, ceramics, which were NOT decorated in the early Neolithic, were decorated with wavy lines in the late Neolithic, circles, triangles and the like.

Religion evolved and became more complex. With the accumulation of knowledge about its own essence and the surrounding nature, primitive humanity identified itself less with the latter, and became increasingly aware of its dependence on unknown good and evil forces that seemed supernatural. Ideas about the struggle between good and evil principles were formed. People tried to appease the forces of evil; they began to worship good forces as constant protectors and substitutes of the clan.

The content of totemism has changed. Totemic “relatives” and “ancestors” became the object of religious cult.

At the same time, with the development of the clan system and animism, a belief arose in the spirits of the deceased ancestors of the clan, helping him. Totemism was preserved in survivals (for example, in totemic names and clan emblems), but not as a system of religious beliefs. It was on this animistic basis that the cult of nature began to form; it is personified in the images of various spirits of the animal and plant world, earthly and heavenly forces.

The emergence of agriculture is associated with the emergence of the cult of cultivated plants and the forces of nature on which their growth depended, especially the Sun and the Earth. The sun was considered the fertilizing masculine principle, the Earth - the feminine principle. The cyclical nature of the life-giving influence of the Sun led to the emergence among people of the idea of ​​it as the spirit of fertility, dying and resurrection.

As at the previous stage of development, religion reflected and ideologically reinforced the outstanding economic and social role of women. A maternal-tribal cult of housewives and guardians of the family hearth developed. It was probably then that the cult of female ancestors and foremothers, known in some developed nations, arose. Most of the spirits of nature, and among them primarily the spirit of Mother Earth, appeared in the form of women and had female names. Women, as before, were often considered the main, and in some tribes even the exclusive bearers of secret knowledge and magical powers.

The development of agriculture, especially irrigation, which required precise determination of the timing of irrigation, the start of field work, etc., contributed to the streamlining of the calendar and the improvement of astronomical observations. The first calendars were usually based on observations of the changing phases of the Moon.

The need to operate with large numbers and the development of abstract concepts determined the progress of mathematical knowledge. The construction of fortifications, such vehicles as the cart and sailing ship, contributed to the development of not only mathematics, but also mechanics. And during land and sea campaigns associated with wars, astronomical observations, knowledge of geography and cartography were accumulated. The wars stimulated the development of medicine, especially surgery: doctors amputated damaged limbs and did plastic surgery.

The embryos of social science knowledge developed more slowly. Here, as before, mythological ideas about the miraculous nature of all the main phenomena of economic, social and ideological life, closely related to religion, prevailed. It was at this time that the foundations of legal knowledge were laid. They separated from religious ideas and customary law. This is clearly seen in the example of the original (and early class) legal proceedings, in which unrealistic circumstances, for example, “a sign from above,” often played a decisive role. In order for such a sign to appear, tests were used with an oath, consecrated food, and poison. It was believed that the guilty would die, and the innocent would remain alive.

The construction of defensive structures and tombs designed to last for millennia marked the beginning of monumental architecture. The separation of crafts from agriculture contributed to the flourishing of applied arts. For the needs of the military-tribal nobility, jewelry, valuable weapons, dishes, and elegant clothing were created. In this regard, artistic embossing, embossing of metal products, as well as the technique of enamel, inlay with precious stones, mother-of-pearl, etc., spread. The flourishing of artistic metal processing, in particular, was reflected in the famous Scythian and Sarmatian products, decorated with realistic or conventional images of people, animals, plants.

Among other specific types of art, heroic epic should be highlighted. The Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh and the epic section of the Pentateuch, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Irish sagas, the Ramayana, the Kalevala - these and many other classic examples of the epic, arose mainly in the era of the decomposition of the tribal system, brought to us references to endless wars, heroic deeds, relationships in society.

Class motifs began to penetrate oral folk art. Encouraged by the military-tribal nobility, singers and storytellers glorified its noble origin, military exploits, and wealth.

With the disintegration of the primitive communal system, forms of religion adequate to the new conditions of life arose and developed. The transition to patriarchy was accompanied by the formation of the cult of male patron ancestors. With the spread of agriculture and cattle breeding, agricultural fertility cults with their erotic rites and human sacrifices, well-known images of spirits who die and are resurrected, became established. From here, to a certain extent, the ancient Egyptian Osiris, the Phoenician Adonis, the Greek Dionysus and, finally, Christ originate.

With the strengthening of tribal organization and the formation of tribal unions, the cult of tribal patrons, tribal leaders, became established. Some leaders remained objects of cult even after their death: it was believed that they became influential spirits who helped their fellow tribesmen.

The separation of professional mental labor began. Such professionals first became leaders, priests, military leaders, then singers, storytellers, directors of theatrical mythological performances, healers, and experts in customs. The allocation of professional mental labor significantly contributed to the development and enrichment of spiritual culture.

The pinnacle of development of the spiritual culture of primitive society was the creation of ordered writing.

This happened through the gradual transformation of pictographic writing, which conveyed only the general meaning of messages, into writing consisting of a system of hieroglyphs, in which precisely fixed signs meant individual words or warehouses. This was the ancient hieroglyphic writing of the Sumerians, Egyptians, Cretans, Chinese, Mayans and other peoples.

Many phenomena of modern life arose precisely in primitive society. Because of this most important feature of this stage of human history, its study has not only educational but also ideological significance.

• < Первобытное общество. Бронзовый и Жедезный век
• The Rise and Decline of the Egyptian State >

30school.ru

What Did Primitive People Believe?

One day, when I was wandering through cave cities, ancient settlements and sites of primitive people, thoughts began to occur to me that not much had changed over these thousands of years. Unfortunately, I don’t want to present my entire train of thought and evidence in this answer - it’s long. I'll say it briefly. The behavior of modern man is often paradoxical. Many people believe in mutually contradictory things. The morals of people and their relationships have changed only the background, but in essence remained the same as thousands of years ago. For example, we fought with each other and continue to fight. We invent religions and “faiths” to justify our actions and subordinate other people to our interests. We unite in small “closed groups” (families, clans, tribes, communities) within which there are well-established relationships of mutual support and, at the same time, strive to use or destroy other similar associations. In case of unification, unions and entire countries and empires are formed. But at some point they split up again. The history of mankind is a series of wars and conflicts in which faith plays an important role. Any faith is intended to guide a person. Someone believes in themselves and in their success, like Arnold Schwarzeneg, who first became a champion in bodybuilding, then a famous actor, and now a politician. And someone uses someone else's faith. For example, hashishins (assassins, fidayeen) went into battle to die, because after death in battle, paradise awaited them. Catholics promote humility and martyrdom, for those who live humbly now after death will supposedly go to heaven. Such a person is easier to manage (even if he is a monarch, not to mention a “commoner”). As a result, the Middle Ages were saturated with religious blood and fear. A lot of examples can be given. As for primitive man. It seems to me that their view of the world was more realistic and practical than ours. They survived in conditions in which most modern civilized people would not survive even a month. Nowadays, even when camping, some people need toilets. They don’t want to take two steps under a bush and are afraid of every draft. But they don’t believe in anything and talk about everything. Whatever the primitive people believed, their faith motivated them and made our appearance possible. I believe that we must draw the right conclusions from this and find our faith.

answer.expert

Who did primitive people believe in?

Beliefs of primitive man

For many hundreds of thousands of years, primitive man did not know religion. The beginnings of religious beliefs appeared among people only at the end of the Old Stone Age, that is, no earlier than 50-40 thousand years ago. Scientists learned about this from archaeological sites: sites and burials of primitive man, preserved cave paintings. Scientists have not found any traces of religion dating back to an earlier period in the history of primitive mankind. Religion could only arise when human consciousness had already developed so much that he began to attempt to explain the causes of those natural phenomena that he encountered in his everyday life. Observing various natural phenomena: the change of day and night, seasons, the growth of plants, the reproduction of animals and much more, man could not give them a correct explanation. His knowledge was still insignificant. The tools of labor are imperfect. Man in those days was helpless before nature and its elements. Incomprehensible and menacing phenomena, illness, death instilled anxiety and horror in the minds of our distant ancestors. Gradually, people began to develop faith in supernatural forces supposedly capable of causing these phenomena. This was the beginning of the formation of religious ideas.

“Religion arose in the most primitive times from the most ignorant, dark, primitive ideas of people about their own and about the external nature around them,” wrote Engels.

One of the earliest forms of religion was totemism - the idea that all members of one genus descend from a specific animal - the totem. Sometimes a plant or some object was considered a totem. At that time, the main source of food was hunting. This was reflected in the beliefs of primitive people. People believed that they were related to their totem by blood. According to them, a totem animal, if it wants, can turn into a person. The cause of death was seen as the reincarnation of a person into a totem. The animal, which was considered a totem, was sacred - it could not be killed. Subsequently, the totem animal was allowed to be killed and eaten, but the head, heart and liver were prohibited from being eaten. When killing a totem, people asked him for forgiveness or tried to blame him on someone else. Remnants of totemism are found in the religions of many peoples of the ancient East.

In ancient Egypt, for example, they worshiped the bull, jackal, goat, crocodile and other animals. From ancient times to the present day, tigers, monkeys, and cows have been considered sacred animals in India. The indigenous people of Australia at the time of its discovery by Europeans also believed in the kinship of each tribe with some animal, which was considered a totem. If an Australian belonged to the kangaroo totem, then he would say about this animal: “This is my brother.” The genus that belonged to the totem of the bat or frog was called the “genus of the Bat”, “the genus of the Frog”.

Another form of primitive religion was magic, or witchcraft. This was the belief that a person could allegedly influence nature with various “miraculous” techniques and spells. Paintings on cave walls and stucco figures have reached us, often depicting animals pierced with spears and bleeding. Sometimes spears, spear throwers, hunting fences and nets are drawn next to the animals. Obviously, primitive people believed that the image of a wounded animal helps in a successful hunt. In the Montespan cave, discovered by the outstanding cave explorer N. Casteret in 1923 in the Pyrenees, a headless figure of a bear sculpted from clay was discovered. The figure is riddled with round holes, probably marks from darts. Around the bear there are prints of human feet on the clay floor. A similar discovery was made in the Tuc d’Auduber cave (France). Two clay sculptures of bison were discovered there, and around them, prints of bare feet also survived.

Scientists suggest that in these caves, primitive hunters performed magical dances and spells to bewitch the animal. They believed that the enchanted animal would allow itself to be killed. The same magical rituals were performed by the North American Indians of the Mandan tribe. Before hunting for bison, for several days they performed magical dances - “buffalo dance”. The dance participants, holding weapons in their hands, wore buffalo skins and masks. The dance depicted hunting. From time to time one of the dancers pretended to fall, then the others shot an arrow or threw spears in his direction.

When a bison was “hit” in this way, everyone surrounded it and, waving knives, pretended to skin it and dismember the carcass.

“Let the living beast be pierced with a spear in the same way as this image of him was pierced or as this skull of his was pierced” - this is the essence of primitive magic.

A new form of religion gradually developed - the cult of nature.

Man's superstitious fear of menacing nature evoked a desire to somehow appease it. Man began to worship the sun, earth, water, and fire. In his imagination, man has populated all nature with “spirits.” This form of religious ideas is called animism (from the Latin word “animus” - spirit). Primitive people explained sleep, fainting, and death by the departure of the “spirit” (“soul”) from the body. Associated with animism is the belief in an afterlife and the cult of ancestors. The burials speak about this: along with the deceased, his things were placed in the grave - jewelry, weapons, as well as food supplies. According to primitive people, all this should have been useful to the deceased in his “afterlife.”

An interesting discovery was made by archaeologists in 1887 during excavations in the Mae d'Azil cave in the foothills of the Pyrenees. They discovered a large number of ordinary river pebbles covered with designs made with red paint. The drawings were simple, but varied. These are combinations of dots, ovals, dashes, crosses, herringbones, zigzags, lattices, etc. Some designs resembled letters of the Latin and Greek alphabets.

It is unlikely that archaeologists would have unraveled the mystery of the pebbles if they had not found similarities with similar drawings on stones of the Australian Arunta tribe, which was at a very low stage of development. The Arunta had warehouses of painted pebbles or pieces of wood called churingas. The Arunta believed that after a person dies, his “soul” moves into stone. Each Arunta had his own churinga, the seat of the soul of his ancestor, whose properties he inherited. The people of this tribe believed that every person from birth to death is connected with his churinga. The churingas of the living and dead Australians of the Arunta tribe were kept in caves with a walled entrance, known only to the old people, who treated the churinga with special attention. From time to time they counted the churingas, rubbed them with red ocher - the color of life, in a word, treated them as objects of religious worship.

The words “spirit” or “soul” in the minds of primitive people were associated with the animation of all nature. Gradually, religious ideas about the spirits of the earth, sun, thunder, lightning, and vegetation developed. Later, on this basis, the myth of dying and resurrecting gods arose (see page 92).

With the disintegration of the primitive community, the emergence of classes and slave states, new forms of religious ideas appeared. Among the spirits and deities, people began to identify the main ones, to whom the rest obey. Myths arose about the kinship of kings with the gods. Professional priests and ministers of worship appeared in the ruling elite of society, who used religion in the interests of the exploiters as a weapon of oppression of the working people.

who did primitive people believe in: Beliefs of primitive man For many hundreds of thousands of years, primitive man did not know religion. The beginnings of religious beliefs appeared among people only at the end of the Old Stone Age.

The first domestic animals of primitive people

So, we can only make more or less reasonable assumptions about the existence of beliefs among the closest ancestors of modern man - the Neanderthals. One can speak more definitely about ancient beliefs in relation to Cro-Magnons - people of modern physical appearance.

In 1886, during the construction of a railway in the valley of the Vezere River (France), several skeletons of ancient people were found in a cave near the village of Cro-Magnon, who in their physical appearance were very close to modern people. One of the skeletons found belonged to an elderly man (“the old man from Cro-Magnon”). What did this Cro-Magnon representative look like? According to reconstructions, he was a tall man, about 180 cm tall, with very strong muscles. The Cro-Magnon skull was long and capacious (brain volume about 1560 cm 3). The forehead was straight, the face was relatively low, wide, especially in the cheekbones, the nose was narrow and long, the lower jaw had a pronounced chin.

Reconstructions of other Cro-Magnons found also allow us to imagine them as people whose faces no longer have anything animalistic, their jaws do not protrude forward, their chin is well developed and protruding, and their facial features are thin. The figure is completely straight, the position of the torso is the same as that of a modern person, the long bones of the limbs have the same dimensions.

The people of this era were skilled hunters. Compared to the Neanderthals, they already possessed more advanced tools - spears, darts with sharp stone and bone tips. The Cro-Magnons already used bolas in the form of stones and cannonballs, carved from mammoth bone and attached to the end of a long belt. They also used stone throwing discs for hunting. They had sharp daggers that were made from the bones of killed animals.

Their hunting ingenuity went much further than that of the Neanderthals. Cro-Magnons set various traps for animals. Thus, one of the simplest traps was a fence with one entrance, which could be easily closed if it was possible to drive the animal into it. Another hunting trick was to wear animal skins. The hunters, camouflaged in this way, crawled almost close to the grazing animals. They moved against the wind and, approaching a short distance, jumped up from the ground and, before the surprised animals could sense the danger and run away, struck them with spears and javelins. We learn about all these hunting tricks of the Cro-Magnons from their rock paintings. Cro-Magnons appeared approximately 30-40 thousand years ago.

We can judge more thoroughly the beliefs of the ancient people of this era. Many burials dating back to this time have been found. Cro-Magnon burial methods were very diverse. Sometimes the dead were buried where people lived, after which the Cro-Magnons left that place. In other cases, the corpses were burned at the stake. The dead were also buried in specially dug graves, and sometimes they covered their heads and feet with stones. In some places stones were piled on the head, chest and legs of the dead man, as if they were afraid that he would get up.

Apparently, for the same reason, the dead were sometimes tied up and buried in a strongly crouched position. The dead were also left in the cave, and the exit to it was blocked with large stones. Often the corpse or head was sprinkled with red paint; when excavating graves, this is noticeable by the color of the ground and bones. Many different things were put into the grave with the dead: jewelry, stone tools, food.

Among the burials of this era, the burial of “mammoth hunters” in Předmosti, near Přerov (Czechoslovakia), discovered in 1894 by K. E. Maška, became widely known. In this burial, 20 skeletons were found, which were laid in crouched positions and with their heads turned to the north: five skeletons of adult men, three of adult women, two of young women, seven of children and three of infants. The grave was oval in shape, 4 m long and 2.5 m wide. One side of the burial was lined with mammoth shoulder blades, the other with their jaws. The top of the grave was covered with a layer of stones 30-50 cm thick to protect it from destruction by predators. Archaeologists suggest that some group of ancient people used this grave for a long period, from time to time placing new deceased members of the clan group into it.

Other archaeological excavations provide a more complete picture of the beliefs of the people of this era. Some images painted by ancient people on the walls of caves are interpreted by scientists as figures of sorcerers. Drawings were found with people disguised as animals, as well as images of half-humans, half-animals, which allows us to conclude that there are elements of hunting magic and belief in werewolves. Among the figurines dating back to this era, there are many images of women. These figurines were called "Venus" in archeology. The faces, arms and legs of these figurines are not particularly pronounced, but, as a rule, the chest, belly, and hips are highlighted, i.e., the physical signs that characterize a woman. Scientists suggest that these female figures serve as a monument to some ancient cult associated with fertility. Many researchers do not doubt the religious nature of these beliefs.

So, according to archeology, only 30-40 thousand years ago ancient people began to have beliefs similar to the beliefs common among some modern peoples.

Science has accumulated a huge amount of material that allows us to identify the most characteristic beliefs of primitive society.

Let us first characterize them in general terms, that is, we will describe the main forms of primitive beliefs.

If we bring together the numerous data that archeology, anthropology, linguistics, folklore, ethnography and other sciences that study the early stages of the development of human society tell us, then we can identify the following main forms of beliefs of ancient people.

Fetishistic beliefs, or fetishism, - worship of individual objects and natural phenomena. This form of belief was called fetishism, and the objects that were worshiped were called fetishes, from the Portuguese word “fetiko” - “made”, “made”, this is how Portuguese sailors called the objects of worship of a number of African peoples.

Magical beliefs, or magic, - belief in the possibility, with the help of certain techniques, conspiracies, rituals, to influence objects and natural phenomena, the course of social life, and later the world of supernatural forces.

Totemistic beliefs, or totemism, - the belief that certain types of animals, plants, certain material objects, as well as natural phenomena are the ancestors, ancestors, patrons of specific tribal groups. Such beliefs were called totemism in science, from the words “totem”, “ottotem” - “his kind”, taken from the language of one of the North American Indian tribes.

Animist beliefs, or animism, - belief in the existence of the soul and spirits (from the Latin word "anima" - "soul"). According to animist beliefs, the entire world around humans is inhabited by spirits, and every person, animal or plant has its own soul, a disembodied double.

Shamanistic beliefs, or shamanism, - beliefs according to which it is believed that certain people, shamans (the name of a sorcerer-witch doctor among many northern peoples) can, having brought themselves to a state of ecstasy, frenzy, directly communicate with spirits and use them to heal people from diseases, to ensure good hunting , catch, for making rain, etc.

Cult of nature- beliefs in which the main objects of worship are the spirits of various animals and plants, natural phenomena, celestial bodies: the sun, earth, moon.

Animatist beliefs, or animatism(from the Latin “animato” - “with soul”, “animated”) - beliefs in a special impersonal supernatural force that is diffused throughout the surrounding world and which can be concentrated in individual people (for example, in leaders), animals, objects.

Cult of patron ancestors- beliefs in which the main object of worship is the ancestors and their spirits, whose help can supposedly be enlisted by resorting to various rites and ceremonies.

Cult of tribal leaders- beliefs according to which community leaders, tribal leaders and leaders of tribal unions are endowed with supernatural properties. The main rituals and ceremonies in this cult are aimed at strengthening the power of the leaders, which supposedly should have a beneficial effect on the entire tribe.

Agricultural and pastoral cults, which develop with the separation of agriculture and cattle breeding into independent branches, are beliefs according to which the main objects of worship are spirits and supernatural beings - the patrons of livestock and agriculture, the givers of fertility.

As we see, the beliefs of the era of the primitive communal system were quite diverse and manifested themselves in various combinations. But they all have one common feature, according to which we classify them as beliefs that are close in nature to religion or are religious. In all these beliefs there is a moment of reverence for something supernatural, standing above the surrounding real world, dominating this world.

Ancient people worshiped material objects because they endowed them with supernatural properties. They revered animals because they felt they had a supernatural connection with these animals. Unable to really influence the elemental forces of nature, ancient man tried to influence them through witchcraft. Primitive people later endowed human consciousness and the human psyche with supernatural properties, representing it in the form of a soul, independent of the body and controlling the body. The creation, with the help of fantasy, of a supernatural world placed above the real, natural world, was the result of the powerlessness and weakness of primitive man, suppressed by the elemental forces of nature.

In order to more clearly imagine the dependence of primitive people on nature, their powerlessness, it is best to turn to the life of modern peoples who are lagging behind in their development. Here is what, for example, the great Russian explorer of the Far North F. Wrangel wrote: “It is difficult to imagine to what extent hunger reaches among the local peoples, whose existence depends solely on chance. Often, from half the summer, people already feed on tree bark and skins, before which served as beds and clothing for them. A deer caught or hunted by chance is divided equally among members of the whole clan and eaten, in the full sense of the word, with bones and skin. Everything, even the entrails and crushed antlers and bones, is used for food, because something is needed. fill your hungry stomach."

Further, the scientist writes that during all the days of this wild hunger strike, people live only with the thought of a successful deer hunt, and finally this happy moment comes. The scouts bring good news: a herd of deer has been discovered on the other side of the river. “Joyful anticipation enlivened all the faces, and everything predicted an abundant harvest,” F. Wrangel continues his description. “But, to the horror of everyone, suddenly the sad, fatal news was heard: “The deer has staggered!” Indeed, we saw that the entire herd was probably frightened by the multitude of hunters, he moved away from the shore and disappeared into the mountains. Despair took the place of joyful hopes. The heart was breaking at the sight of the people suddenly deprived of all means to support their miserable existence. The picture of general despondency and despair was terrible. Women and children moaned loudly, wringing their hands. others threw themselves on the ground and with screams blew up the snow and earth, as if they were preparing a grave for themselves. The elders and fathers of the family stood silently, fixing lifeless gazes on those heights beyond which their hope had disappeared."

* (F. Wrangel. Travel along the northern shores of Siberia and the Arctic Sea, part II. St. Petersburg, 1841, pp. 105-106.)

This is a vivid picture of hopeless despair, fear of the future, painted by F. Wrangel, but here we are talking about modern people. Primitive man, with his pitiful tools of labor, was even weaker and more helpless in the face of nature.

Primitive man was an excellent hunter; he knew well the habits and habits of the animals he hunted. From a barely noticeable trail, he could easily determine which animal had passed here, in which direction and how long ago. Armed with a wooden club and a stone, he boldly entered into single combat with predators and set cunning traps for them.

And yet, the ancient man was hourly convinced that success in the hunt depended not only on his cunning and courage. Days of good fortune, and therefore relative prosperity, were followed by long hunger strikes. Suddenly, all the animals disappeared from the places where he had recently hunted so successfully. Or, despite all his tricks, the animals bypassed his perfectly camouflaged traps, and fish disappeared for a long time in reservoirs. Gathering was also an unreliable support for life. At a time of year when the unbearable heat burned out all the vegetation, man did not find a single edible root or tuber in the petrified earth.

And suddenly the days of hunger strike also unexpectedly gave way to success in the hunt. The trees generously gave man ripe fruits, and he found many edible roots in the ground.

Primitive man could not yet understand the reasons for such changes in his existence. It begins to seem to him that there are some unknown, supernatural forces that influence both nature and his life. Thus, on the living tree of knowledge, as V.I. Lenin said, a barren flower arises - religious ideas.

Not counting on his own strength, not trusting his primitive tools, ancient man more and more often pinned his hopes on these mysterious forces, linking both his failures and his victories with them.

Of course, all of the listed forms of belief: the worship of objects, the veneration of animals and plants, witchcraft, and belief in the soul and spirits - are the product of a long historical development. Science makes it possible to determine the earliest layers in the beliefs of primitive man.

As we have already said, at the earliest stages of development there was a lot of truth in man’s ideas about nature. Primitive man was a good hunter and well versed in the habits of animals. He knew which plant fruits were good for him. By making tools, he learned the properties and qualities of various materials. However, the low level of social practice, the primitiveness of the tools of labor, and the comparative poverty of experience determined that there was much that was incorrect and distorted in the ideas of ancient man about the world around him.

Not being able to understand some properties of objects or the essence of phenomena, not seeing the necessary real connections between them, ancient man often attributed false properties to them, establishing purely random, superficial connections between them in his mind. This was a delusion, but there was still no belief in the supernatural. We can say that such a distorted reflection of reality was a step towards religion, towards belief in the supernatural world, one of the origins of religion.

To clarify our thought, let us take the following example: primitive man, in his work and everyday life, was constantly faced with the fact of the transformation of some objects and phenomena into others. He has seen more than once how plants grow from seeds, chicks emerge from eggs, butterflies emerge from larvae, and fish emerge from eggs. From things that seemed at first glance inanimate, living organisms arose. Repeatedly, ancient man was faced with the facts of the transformation of water into ice or steam; he noted in his mind the movement of clouds, snow avalanches, falling stones from mountains, the flow of rivers, etc. It turned out that the inanimate world, like humans and animals, has the ability to movement. The line between a person and the objects of the surrounding world thus turned out to be fuzzy and vague.

Changing and transforming the objects of the surrounding world in accordance with his goals and needs, primitive man gradually began to endow them with other properties, to “remake” them in his consciousness and imagination. He began to endow natural phenomena and objects with the properties of living things; It seemed to him, for example, that not only a person or an animal could walk, but also rain, snow, that a tree “sees” a hunter sneaking through the forest, a rock lurking menacingly like an animal, etc.

One of man's early misconceptions about the world around him was the personification of nature, attributing to the inanimate world the properties of the living, often the properties of man himself.

Thousands of years separate us from this time. We know quite accurately, based on archaeological data, about the tools of labor of the ancient people of this era, about their way of life. But it is difficult for us to judge their consciousness with the same degree of accuracy. To some extent, ethnographic literature helps us imagine the spiritual world of ancient people.

The wonderful book of the great Soviet traveler and talented writer Vladimir Klavdievich Arsenyev “In the wilds of the Ussuri region” is widely known. Let us remind the reader about one of the heroes of this book - the brave hunter, brave guide of V.K. Arsenyev Dersu Uzala. He was a real son of nature, a subtle connoisseur of all the secrets of the Ussuri taiga, who perfectly understood its every rustle. But in this case, we are not interested in these qualities of Dersu Uzal, but in his views on the world, on nature, the life of which he felt so subtly.

V.K. Arsenyev writes that he was extremely struck by Dersu Uzal’s naive but firm conviction that all nature is something living. Once at a halt, says V.K. Arsenyev, “Dersu and I, as usual, were sitting and talking. A kettle forgotten on the fire persistently reminded us of its hissing. Dersu put it aside a little, but the kettle continued to hum. Dersu put it even further away Then the kettle began to sing in a thin voice.

Shout him! - said Dersu. - Thin people! - He jumped up and poured hot water on the ground.

How are "people"? - I asked him in bewilderment.

“Water,” he answered simply. - I can scream, I can cry, I can also play.

This primitive man spoke to me for a long time about his worldview. He saw the living force in the water, saw its quiet flow and heard its roar during floods.

Look,” said Dersu, pointing to the fire, “they are also people anyway.” *

* (VC. Arsenyev. In the wilds of the Ussuri region. M., 1949, p. 47.)

According to the descriptions of V.K. Arsenyev, in the ideas of Dersu Uzal, all the objects of the world around him were alive, or, as he called them in his language, they were “people”. Trees are “people”, hills are “people”, rocks are “people”, the thunderstorm of the Ussuri taiga - the tiger (in the Dersu language “amba”) is also “people”. But personifying nature, Dersu Uzala was not afraid of it. If necessary, he and his old single-barreled Berdan gun boldly entered into a duel with a tiger and emerged victorious.

It is impossible, of course, to completely identify these views of Dersu Uzal with the views of ancient man on the world, but apparently there is a lot in common between them. As has already been said, an incorrect explanation of reality is not yet a religion. At the stage of personification of nature, a person attributes properties that are not inherent to them to ordinary objects and phenomena. But, endowing natural objects with properties that are unnatural for them, imagining inanimate objects as living, a person does not yet worship them. Here, not only is there no worship of any supernatural forces hiding behind the world of real things, but there is also no idea of ​​the existence of supernatural forces.

F. Engels, who dealt a lot with the problem of the origin of religion, pointed out in his works such origins of religion as the most ignorant, dark, primitive ideas of ancient people about their own and the external nature surrounding them (see cit., vol. 21, p. 313), identified the main stages in the formation of people’s views on the path to religion, and noted the personification of the forces of nature as one of these stages. The preparatory works for Anti-Dühring contain the following important thought of F. Engels: “The forces of nature appear to primitive man as something alien, mysterious, overwhelming. At a certain stage, through which all cultural peoples pass, he becomes familiar with them through personification.” *.

* (K. Marx and F. Engels. Soch., vol. 20, p. 639.)

The personification of the forces of nature is undoubtedly one of the origins of religion. But here we should immediately make a reservation that not every personification is religious. Religious personification necessarily includes the idea of ​​a supernatural world, supernatural forces that control the world around us. When the ancient Babylonian, personifying nature, subordinated it to the patron god of vegetation, Tammuz, this was already a religious personification. In the same way, when the ancient Greeks, personifying nature, attributed the entire plant cycle with its spring blossoming and autumn withering to the moods of the fertility goddess Demeter, who rejoiced at the return of her daughter Persephone from the dark kingdom of Hades and was sad when she left her, this was a religious personification.

The ancient people, at the early stages of personifying the forces of nature, most likely had no idea of ​​the supernatural. Primitive man personified the world around him because his knowledge of nature was insignificant. The standards with which he approached the assessment of his surroundings were limited, and the comparisons were erroneous. Knowing himself best and observing those around him, he naturally transferred human properties not only to animals, but also to plants and even inanimate objects. And then the forest became alive, the babbling stream spoke, the animals began to be cunning. Such personification was incorrect, a distorted reflection of reality, but it was not yet religious. In the incorrect, distorted reflection of the surrounding world there was already hidden the possibility of the emergence of religion, or more precisely, of some of its elements. However, it would be a long time before this opportunity was realized.

When does this personification of nature acquire the features of religious ideas?

The matter apparently began with the fact that gradually ancient man began to endow real objects not only with qualities that were not inherent in them, but also with supernatural properties. In every object or natural phenomenon, he began to see fantastic forces on which, it seemed to him, his life, success or failure in hunting, etc. depended.

The first ideas about the supernatural were figurative, visual, almost tangible. The supernatural at this stage of development of human beliefs was not represented as an independent incorporeal being (spirit, god), things themselves were endowed with supernatural properties. In nature itself, its real objects and phenomena, ancient man saw something supernatural that had enormous, incomprehensible power over him.

The idea of ​​the supernatural is a figment of the imagination of a person who is aware of his powerlessness before the forces of nature. However, it cannot be said that this fantasy has nothing to do with the real world. It distorts the actual connections of real objects, but the material for fantastic images is drawn by man from the world around him. However, in these fantastic images, real objects and natural phenomena already lose their actual outlines. People say that “fear has big eyes.” The imagination of the ancient man was in the grip of fear, it worked under the influence of his powerlessness before the formidable, powerful nature, the laws of which he did not know, many of the most important properties of which he did not understand.

Ethnographic data also speaks of fear of the formidable forces of nature as one of the sources of primitive beliefs. One of the researchers of Eskimo beliefs, Knut Rasmussen, recorded interesting statements of one Eskimo: “And you cannot give reasons when we ask you: why is life the way it is? This is how it is, and this is how it should be. And all our customs lead we begin from life and enter into life; we don’t explain anything, we don’t think anything, but what I showed you contains all our answers: we are afraid!

We are afraid of the weather, which we must fight, tearing food from the earth and from the sea. We are afraid of want and hunger in cold snowy huts. We are afraid of the diseases that we see around us every day. We are not afraid of death, but of suffering. We are afraid of dead people...

That is why our ancestors armed themselves with all the old everyday rules, developed by the experience and wisdom of generations.

We don’t know, we don’t guess why, but we follow these rules so that we can live in peace. And we are so ignorant, despite all our spellcasters, that we are afraid of everything we do not know. We are afraid of what we see around us, and we are afraid of what legends and legends talk about. Therefore, we adhere to our customs and observe our taboos" * (prohibitions - V.Ch.).

* (K. Rasmussen. The Great Sleigh Road. M., 1958, pp. 82-83.)

Chained in the grip of fear, the consciousness of ancient man began to endow real objects with supernatural properties that for some reason caused fear. Researchers believe that, for example, poisonous plants were endowed with such supernatural properties. The similarity of the found stones, roots or branches with animals also made the imagination of the ancient man work. Noticing the similarity of the stone with the animal that was the main object of the hunt, a person could take this strange, unusual stone with him on the hunt. The coincidence of a successful hunt and this discovery could have led primitive man to the conclusion that this strange stone, similar to an animal, was the main reason for his luck. Success in a hunt was associated with a randomly found stone, which no longer became a simple object, but a miraculous object, a fetish, an object of worship.

Let's remember again about Neanderthal burials and warehouses of cave bear bones. As already mentioned, some scientists believe that Neanderthal burials indicate the emergence of people's belief in the soul and the afterlife. However, the emergence of ideas about the other world, an immortal soul separated from the body, requires a developed imagination, the ability to think abstractly. Such beliefs, as we will see later, arise in later stages of the development of human society. Neanderthals' beliefs were much simpler. In this case, we are most likely dealing with the fact that the corpse has been endowed with some supernatural properties. We observe similar beliefs among some backward peoples. For example, among Australians, funeral customs were generated by a superstitious attitude towards the corpse, the belief that the deceased himself could cause harm. Apparently, the attitude towards the bones of cave bears was similar: they were considered fetishes that had the supernatural properties of being reborn into new bears, and “ensure” a successful hunt in the future.

The veneration of material objects is often found among modern peoples. For example, the power of sorcerers among the indigenous people of Australia is directly associated with the presence of shiny, sparkling stones in the sorcerer’s possession: the more of them, the stronger the sorcerer. Among many African peoples, hunters did not start hunting until they found a suitable object (fetish), which, in their opinion, alone could make the hunt successful. Not a single big trip was complete without preparing or searching for a fetish. Often, much more attention was paid to the search for such items than to preparing supplies for the road.

The main features of fetishism, its specificity, focus on satisfying sensual desires, the desire to endow an ordinary thing with supernatural properties were noted by K. Marx. In one of his articles he wrote: “Fetishism is very far from elevating a person above his sensual lusts - on the contrary, it is "religion of sensual desires". A fantasy inflamed by lust creates in the fetishist the illusion that an “insensitive thing” can change its natural properties just to satisfy his whim. Rough lust of a fetishist breaks therefore, his fetish when he ceases to be his most loyal servant." * This vivid and accurate description of K. Marx allows us to draw a conclusion about the social harm that belief in the supernatural carries. After all, at this stage of human development, the supernatural has not yet separated from consciousness from natural objects, but how much effort is already wasted, how dearly his illusions cost a person!

* (K. Marx and F. Engels. Soch., vol. 1, p. 98.)

In the last century, an entire “museum” of fetishes was discovered in one African sorcerer. There were more than 20 thousand “exhibits.” According to the sorcerer, each of these items at one time brought one benefit or another to either him or his ancestors.

What were these objects? Among the numerous “exhibits” of this strange “museum” was a pot of red clay, into which a rooster’s feather was stuck; wooden stakes wrapped in wool; parrot feathers, human hair. There was also a tiny chair in the “museum”, with an equally small mattress next to it. In this “museum”, collected through the efforts of many generations, the old sorcerer came to “look after” the fetishes, he cleaned them, washed them, at the same time begging for various favors from them. Researchers noticed that not all objects in this museum enjoyed the same worship - some were revered almost like real deities, others were given more modest honors.

This is an interesting detail. A fetish, a revered object, is like a deity for a moment. It is useful only for a certain purpose, only for certain purposes. The fetish is specific, it does not have absolute power, valid in any conditions.

While initially honoring material objects, primitive man did not divide them into main and non-main. But gradually, from a number of fetishes, the main ones, that is, the most “powerful” ones, begin to stand out.

In those distant times we are talking about here, a person’s life and his food supply largely depended on the success or failure of a hunt, on whether he would find enough fruits, tubers, and roots. This constant dependence on the animal and plant world gave rise to false, fantastic ideas and aroused the imagination of ancient man. Not knowing any other social relationships other than blood relations, ancient man transferred them to nature. He represented various species of animals and plants as peculiar clans and tribes, related to the tribes of people; often animals were considered by ancient people to be the ancestors of their tribe. In other words, each clan group believed in some kind of kinship with its ancestor, the totem.

As studies have shown, in the first place among totems were plants and animals useful to humans. Thus, in Australia, among the tribes living on the coast, more than 60 percent of all totems were fish or sea animals. Among the tribes living inland, such “water” totems were less than 8 percent.

Totems for Australians, as ethnographic data show, are not deities, but related and close creatures. When talking about them, Australians usually use the following expressions: “This is my father”, “This is my older brother”, “This is my friend”, “This is my flesh”. The feeling of kinship with the totem most often manifested itself in the prohibition of killing it and eating it.

The main ceremonies associated with totemistic beliefs among Australians were the rites of “reproduction” of totems. Usually once a year, at a certain time, a totem animal was killed. The community leader cut off pieces of meat and, giving them to community members, said to everyone: “This year you will eat a lot of meat.” Eating the meat of a totem animal was considered an introduction to the body of the ancestor of the progenitor; its properties were, as it were, transferred to its relatives.

Totemistic beliefs are clearly associated with a certain type of practice, work activity and social relations. Among the Australians, whose main occupation was hunting and gathering, and the main type of social relations were tribal ones, totemistic beliefs dominated. Among their neighboring Melanesians and Polynesians, who already knew agriculture and had livestock (i.e., to a certain extent, they dominated animals and plants) and were at various stages of decomposition of the primitive communal system, totemistic beliefs were preserved only as weak remnants. Man does not worship those objects and natural phenomena that he has known, mastered, and “conquered.”

Scientists have long been confused by the fact that among the ancestral totems there are not only animals and plants, but also inanimate objects, in particular minerals. Apparently, this is a trace of more ancient, fetishistic beliefs.

Thus, we see that the worship of animals and plants fantastically reflected the dependence of ancient man on the blind forces of nature and a certain type of social relations. With the further development of mankind, when gathering was replaced by agriculture, and hunting by the domestication of animals, the strength of the primitive collective increased, it moved further along the path of conquering nature, totemism began to occupy a secondary place in ancient beliefs.

Primitive man did not simply passively venerate fetishes and totems. He tried to force them to serve himself, to satisfy the needs and desires of people. Due to the extremely low level of material production and man's knowledge of the world around him and himself, helplessness before the blind, elemental forces of nature pushed him to compensate for this real powerlessness with the imaginary power of witchcraft, magical activity.

The veneration of material objects by ancient people was accompanied by various actions (fetishes were “looked after,” cleaned, fed, watered, etc.), as well as verbal requests and appeals to these objects. Gradually, on this basis, a whole system of witchcraft actions arises.

A significant part of witchcraft rituals was based on the belief of primitive man that the desired phenomenon could be caused by actions that imitate this phenomenon. For example, during a period of drought, wanting to cause rain, the sorcerer climbed onto the roof of his hut and poured water from a vessel onto the ground. It was believed that the rain would follow his example and irrigate the fields dying from drought. Some Australian tribes, before going to hunt a kangaroo, drew its image in the sand and pierced it with spears: they believed that this would ensure good luck during the hunt. Archaeological scientists have found on the walls of caves in which ancient people lived, images of animals - bears, bison, rhinoceroses, etc., struck by spears and darts. This is how ancient people “secured” their luck in the hunt. Belief in the supernatural power of witchcraft forced ancient people to spend a lot of energy and time performing meaningless magical rituals.

It is precisely this feature of magic that K. Marx’s vivid description refers to: “Weakness has always been saved by faith in miracles; it considered the enemy defeated if it managed to defeat him in its imagination...” *.

* (K. Marx and F. Engels. Soch., vol. 8, p. 123.)

Originating in ancient times, the magical belief in miracles entered as an important component of all religions. And modern clergy call on believers to hope for a miracle and perform magical rituals. For example, one of the main rites of Christianity - baptism - is permeated with magic. In the Orthodox Church, during this ritual, four prayers are read, which are called “incantatory” prayers; they serve, according to the assurances of Orthodox clergy, “to drive away the devil being baptized.” Other magical actions are also performed during baptism: the person being baptized and his successors (godfather and godmother) at a certain moment turn to the west (because the west is “the country where darkness appears, and Satan is the prince of darkness”), renounce Satan three times, confirming this renunciation by "breathing and spitting on the evil spirit." The custom of spitting on Satan is a relic of the beliefs of ancient people, who attributed witchcraft powers to saliva. During the sacrament of baptism, the baby's hair is cut and thrown into the font. There are also traces of the beliefs of an ancient man who believed that by donating his hair to the spirits, he entered into a closer connection with the world of supernatural forces. All of these are examples of witchcraft in a “God-given” religion, which in words vehemently opposes magic as a sign of “lower” “pagan” beliefs compared to Christianity.

Scientists had to put a lot of effort and energy in order to make clear the bizarre world of witchcraft beliefs of ancient man. Apparently, at a certain historical stage, manipulations over revered objects begin to be carried out in a strictly defined, “canonized” order. In this way there arises action magic. Verbal requests and appeals to objects endowed with supernatural properties turn into witchcraft conspiracies, spells - the magic of words. Researchers of magical beliefs identify several types of magic: harmful, military, love, healing, protective, fishing, meteorological.

At the early stages of the development of primitive beliefs, as already mentioned, man endowed real objects with supernatural properties. He did not separate the supernatural from nature. But gradually a person developed ideas about a certain second supernatural nature of things, complementing their actual natural nature. It seemed to him that in every object there was some kind of mysterious double of this object, that a mysterious force lived in it. Over time, this double is separated in the imagination of an ancient person from an object or phenomenon and becomes an independent force.

Ideas arise that behind every bush, mountain, stream, any object or phenomenon, invisible spirits are hidden, that some kind of spiritual force - the soul - lurks in humans and animals. Apparently, the initial ideas about this double were very vague. This can be illustrated by examples of the responses of the natives of Nicaragua when asked questions relating to their beliefs. When asked what happens when people die, the natives answered: “When people die, something like a person comes out of their mouth. This creature goes to the place where the men and women are. It looks like a person, but does not die. Body remains in the ground."

Question. Do those who go there retain the same body, the same face, the same members as here on earth?

Answer. No, only the heart goes there.

Question. But when a person's heart is cut out during captive sacrifices, what happens?

Answer. It is not the heart itself that goes away, but what in the body gives people life, and this leaves the body when a person dies.

Gradually, these ideas about the mysterious double became more and more clear, and a belief in spirits and the soul arose. In order to more concretely imagine the process of formation of animistic beliefs among primitive people, let’s look at how some existing peoples imagine the soul and spirits. According to the testimony of the major polar explorer F. Nansen, the Eskimos believe that the soul is connected with breathing. Therefore, while treating a person, shamans breathed on the patient, trying to either heal his soul or breathe a new one into him. At the same time, despite the fact that the soul in the ideas of the Eskimos is endowed with the properties of materiality, physicality, it is thought of as an independent being, independent of the body, therefore it is believed that the soul can be lost, like a thing, and that sometimes shamans steal it. When a person goes on a long journey, the Eskimos believe, his soul remains at home, and this explains the homesickness.

Many peoples believe that in a dream a person’s soul leaves, and his body sleeps. Dreams are the nightly adventures of the soul, the double, but the human body does not participate in these adventures and continues to lie.

Among a number of peoples (Tasmanians, Algonquins, Zulus, Basuts), the word “soul” also means shadow. This suggests that at the early stages of its formation, the concept of “soul” among these peoples coincided with the concept of “shadow”. Other peoples (Koren, Papuans, Arabs, ancient Jews) had a different specific idea of ​​the soul; it was associated with blood. In the languages ​​of these peoples, the concepts of “soul” and “blood” were denoted by one word.

Perhaps the Greenlandic Eskimos had a particularly clear idea of ​​the soul. They believed that fat people have fat souls, and skinny people have skinny souls. Thus, we see that through the ideas of many peoples about the soul, the most ancient understanding of it shines through as some completely material carrier of the vital forces of animals and plants, which was associated with blood, heart, breath, shadow, etc. Gradually, bodily, material properties in ideas about the soul disappeared and the soul became more and more subtle, ethereal, spiritual and finally turned into a completely ethereal spiritual being, independent and independent of the real, bodily world.

However, with the advent of ideas about an incorporeal soul, independent of the real world, separating from the flesh, the ancient man was faced with the question: if the soul can be separated from the flesh, can leave it, leave the bodily shell, then where does it go when a person dies, when does his body become a corpse?

With the emergence of beliefs in the soul, ideas about the afterlife began to form, which was usually depicted in the image of the earthly one.

Primitive people, who did not know class stratification, property inequality, exploitation and exploiters, imagined the other world to be the same for everyone. Initially, the idea of ​​rewarding sinners for their sins and rewarding the righteous for their virtues was not associated with the afterlife. In the afterlife of ancient people there was no hell and heaven.

Subsequently, as animistic ideas developed, every somewhat significant natural phenomenon in the consciousness of primitive man received its own spirit. In order to appease the spirits and win them over to their side, people began to make sacrifices to them, often human ones. Thus, in ancient Peru, several boys and girls of ten years of age were sacrificed annually to the spirits of nature.

We examined the main forms of beliefs of people who lived in the era of the primitive communal system. Contrary to theological theories about the primordial belief in a single omnipotent God, contrary to the concept of primitive monotheism, it turns out that initially people revered crude material objects, animals, plants. The fantasy of ancient man, inflamed by fear of everything unknown, endowed natural objects and phenomena with supernatural properties. Then there appeared an equally blind faith in the soul, which can leave the body, ideas about spirits that hide behind any object, behind every natural phenomenon.

However, at this stage we do not yet see faith in the gods, and the supernatural world itself in the minds of ancient man has not yet separated from the real world. The natural and supernatural in these beliefs are very closely intertwined; the supernatural world is not presented as something independent, standing above nature and society. F. Engels gave a very accurate description of the content of the beliefs of ancient man of this period: “It was a cult of nature and the elements, which was on the path of development towards polytheism” *.

* (K. Marx and F. Engels. Soch., vol. 21, p. 93.)

What place did these beliefs occupy in the life of primitive man? In those cases where a person could confidently rely on himself, on his own strength and knowledge, he did not turn to supernatural forces for help. But as soon as people in their life practice encountered something incomprehensible, on which their well-being and even life largely depended, they began to resort to witchcraft, spells, trying to enlist the support of supernatural forces.

It would therefore be completely wrong to assert that primitive man could not have taken a step without witchcraft, magic, shamans, etc. Quite the contrary, if ancient people had relied on supernatural forces in everything, they would not have taken a step along the path of social progress. Work and the mind developing in work led man forward, helping him to understand nature and himself. Belief in the supernatural only prevented him from doing this.

The content of the article

PRIMITIVE RELIGIONS- early forms of religious ideas of primitive people. There is no people in the world that do not have religious ideas in one form or another. No matter how simple its way of life and thinking, any primitive community believes that beyond the immediate physical world there are forces that influence the destinies of people and with which people must maintain contact for their well-being. Primitive religions varied greatly in character. In some of them, beliefs were vague, and methods of establishing contact with supernatural forces were simple; in others, philosophical ideas were systematized, and ritual actions were combined into extensive ritual systems.

BASICS

Primitive religions have little in common except for a few fundamental features. They can be described by the following six main characteristics:

1. In primitive religions everything revolved around the means by which people could control the external world and use the help of supernatural forces to achieve their practical goals. All of them were little concerned about controlling the inner world of man.
2. While the supernatural has always been understood as a somewhat all-encompassing, all-pervasive force, its specific forms have usually been conceptualized as a multitude of spirits or gods; at the same time, we can talk about the presence of a weak tendency towards monotheism.
3. Philosophical formulations regarding the principles and goals of life took place, but they did not constitute the essence of religious thought.
4. Ethics had little to do with religion and relied more on custom and social control.
5. Primitive peoples did not convert anyone to their faith, but not because of tolerance, but because each tribal religion belonged only to the members of a given tribe.
6. Ritual was the most common way of communicating with sacred forces and beings.

The focus on the ritual and ritual side is the most important feature of primitive religions, since the main thing for their adherents was not contemplation and reflection, but direct action. Carrying out an action in itself meant achieving an immediate result; it answered an inner need to accomplish something. The sublime feeling was dried up in ritual action. Many religious customs of primitive man were closely related to belief in magic. It was believed that the performance of certain mystical rites, with or without prayer, would lead to the desired result.

Perfume.

Belief in spirits was widespread, although not universal, among primitive peoples. Spirits were considered creatures that lived in pools, mountains, etc. and similar in behavior to people. They were credited not only with supernatural strength, but also with completely human weaknesses. Anyone who wanted to ask for help from these spirits established a connection with them by resorting to prayer, sacrifice or ritual in accordance with established custom. Quite often, as for example among the Indians of North America, the connection that arose was a kind of agreement between two interested parties. In some cases - as, for example, in India - ancestors (even recently deceased) were considered spirits, and they were thought to be keenly interested in the well-being of their descendants. But even where the supernatural was thought of in specific images of spirits and gods, there was a belief that some mystical force endows all things with a soul (both living and dead in our understanding). This view was called animatism. It was implied that trees and stones, wooden idols and fancy amulets were imbued with a magical essence. Primitive consciousness did not distinguish between animate and inanimate, between people and animals, endowing the latter with all human attributes. In some religions the abstract all-pervading immanent mystical force was given a specific expression, for example in Melanesia, where it was called "mana". On the other hand, it formed the basis for the emergence of prohibitions or avoidance in relation to sacred things and actions that carry danger. This prohibition was called "taboo".

Soul and the afterlife.

It was believed that everything that exists, including animals, plants and even inanimate objects, has an internal focus of its existence - the soul. There probably was no people who lacked the concept of a soul. Often it was an expression of the inner awareness of being alive; in a more simplified version, the soul was identified with the heart. The idea that a person has several souls was quite common. Thus, the Maricopa Indians in Arizona believed that a person has four souls: the soul itself, or the center of life, a ghost spirit, a heart and a pulse. It was they who endowed life and determined the character of a person, and after his death they continued to exist.

All peoples believed in an afterlife to one degree or another. But in general, ideas about it were vague and developed only where they believed that a person’s behavior during life could bring reward or punishment in the future. As a rule, ideas about the afterlife were very vague. They were usually based on the supposed experiences of individuals who had “experienced death”, i.e. who were in a state of trance and then told about what they saw in the land of the dead. Sometimes they believed that there were several afterlifes, often without contrasting heaven with hell. In Mexico and the southwestern United States, Indians believed that there were several heavens: for warriors; for women who died from childbirth; for the elderly, etc. The Maricopas, who shared this belief in a slightly different form, thought that the land of the dead was in the desert to the west. There, they believed, a person is reborn and, having lived four more lives, turns into nothing - into dust flying over the desert. The embodiment of a person’s cherished desire is what underlies the almost universal nature of primitive ideas about the afterlife: heavenly life opposes earthly life, replacing its everyday hardships with a state of eternal happiness.

The diversity of primitive religions stems from different combinations and unequal emphasis on the same constituent elements. For example, the prairie Indians had little interest in the theological version of the origin of the world and the afterlife. They believed in numerous spirits, which did not always have a clear image. People looked for supernatural helpers to solve their problems, prayed for this somewhere in a deserted place, and sometimes they had a vision that help would come. Material evidence of such cases was formed into special “sacred knots.” The solemn procedure of opening the “sacred knots” accompanied by prayer lay at the basis of almost all the most important rituals of the Prairie Indians.

Creation.

The Pueblo Indians have long origin myths that tell how the first beings (of a mixture of human, animal, and supernatural nature) emerged from the underworld. Some of them decided to stay on Earth and people came from them; people, maintaining close contact with the spirits of their ancestors during life, join them after death. These supernatural ancestors were well distinguished and were always personified during ceremonies as "guests" taking part in the ritual. They believed that such ceremonies, which constitute calendar cycles, would bring rain and other benefits to the arid land. Religious life was quite clearly organized and proceeded under the direction of intermediaries or priests; at the same time, all men took part in ritual dances. Collective (rather than individual) prayer was the dominant element. In Polynesia, a philosophical view of the origin of all things developed, with an emphasis on genetic origin: from chaos the heavens and the earth were born, from these natural elements the gods emerged, and from them all people. And each person, in accordance with his genealogical closeness to the gods, was endowed with a special status.

FORMS AND CONCEPTS

Animism.

Animism is a primitive belief in spirits, which were thought of as representatives of the supernatural world rather than as gods or a universal mystical force. There are many forms of animistic beliefs. The Ifugao people of the Philippines had about twenty-five classes of spirits, including local spirits, deified heroes, and recently deceased ancestors. The perfumes were generally well differentiated and had limited functions. On the other hand, the Okanaga Indians (Washington State) had few spirits of this kind, but they believed that any object could become a patron spirit or helper. Animism was not, as is sometimes believed, an integral part of all primitive religions and, as a result, a universal stage in the development of religious ideas. It was, however, a common form of ideas about the supernatural or sacred. See also ANIMISM

Ancestor cult.

The belief that dead ancestors influence the lives of their descendants has never, so far as is known, formed the exclusive content of any religion, but it has formed the core of many creeds in China, Africa, Malaysia, Polynesia and several other regions. As a cult, veneration of ancestors was never universal or even widespread among primitive peoples. Usually the fear of the dead and the methods of appeasing them were not clearly expressed; More often, the prevailing view was that “those who went before” were constantly and benevolently interested in the affairs of the living. In China, great importance was placed on family solidarity; it was maintained by devotion to the graves of their ancestors and by seeking advice from these “elder members” of the clan. In Malaysia, it was believed that the dead constantly stayed near the village and were interested in ensuring that customs and rituals remained unchanged. In Polynesia they believed that people descend from the gods and the ancestors who replaced them; hence the veneration of ancestors and the expectation of help and protection from them. Among the Pueblo Indians, the “gone” were considered on a par with supernatural beings who brought rain and bestowed fertility. Two general consequences follow from all varieties of ancestor cult: an emphasis on maintaining family ties and strict adherence to established norms of life. Historically, the cause-and-effect relationship here may be reversed; then belief in ancestors should be understood primarily as an ideological expression of public commitment to conservatism.

Animatism.

Another widely accepted view of the spirit world was animatism. In the minds of many primitive peoples, everything that exists in nature - not only living things, but also what we are accustomed to consider inanimate - was endowed with a mystical essence. Thus, the boundary between animate and inanimate, between people and other animals was erased. This view underlies such related beliefs and practices as fetishism and totemism.

Fetishism.

Mana.

Many primitive peoples believed that, along with gods and spirits, there was an omnipresent, all-pervasive mystical force. Its classical form is recorded among the Melanesians, who considered mana to be the source of all power and the basis of human achievement. This power could serve good and evil and was inherent in various kinds of ghosts, spirits and many things that a person could turn to his advantage. It was believed that a person owes his success not to his own efforts, but to the mana present in him, which could be acquired by paying a fee to the secret society of the tribe. The presence of mana was judged by a person's manifestations of luck.

Taboo.

The Polynesian word "taboo" refers to the prohibition of touching, taking, or using certain objects or people because of the sacredness with which they are endowed. Taboo implies more than the caution, respect or reverence with which all cultures treat a sacred object. The mystical essence of an object or person is considered contagious and dangerous; this essence is mana, a pervasive magical force that can enter a person or object, like electricity.

The phenomenon of taboo was most developed in Polynesia, although it is known not only there. In Polynesia, some people were taboo from birth, for example, chiefs and chief priests, who descended from the gods and received magical powers from them. A person's position in the Polynesian social structure depended on which taboos he possessed. Whatever the leader touched and whatever he ate, everything was considered taboo for others because of its harmfulness. In everyday life, this caused inconvenience to people of noble birth, since they had to take tedious precautions to avoid harm to others associated with their power. Taboos were usually placed on fields, trees, canoes, etc. – to preserve them or protect them from thieves. Conventional signs served as warnings about taboos: a bunch of painted leaves or, as in Samoa, an image of a shark made from a coconut palm leaf. Such prohibitions could be ignored or overturned with impunity only by those people who possessed even greater mana. Violating a taboo was considered a spiritual crime, entailing misfortune. The painful consequences of contact with a taboo object could be eliminated with the help of special rituals performed by priests.

RITUALS

Rites of passage.

Rituals that mark a change in a person's life status are known to anthropologists as "rites of passage." They accompany events such as birth, naming, transition from childhood to adulthood, wedding, death and burial. In the most primitive primitive societies these rites were not given as much importance as in societies with more complex ritual life; however, the rites associated with birth and death were probably universal. The nature of the rites of passage varied from celebration and public (therefore legal) recognition of the new status to the desire to gain religious sanction. Different cultures had different rites of passage, and each cultural area had its own established patterns.

Birth.

Rituals associated with birth usually took the form of precautions to ensure the future well-being of the child. Even before his birth, the mother was prescribed exactly what she could eat or do; in many primitive societies paternal activities were also limited. This was based on the belief that parent and child share not only a physical, but also a mystical connection. In some regions, such importance was placed on the father-child bond that the father would be put to bed as an extra precaution during childbirth (a practice known as couvade). It would be a mistake to believe that primitive people perceived childbirth as such as something mysterious or supernatural. They looked at it as simply as they looked at what they observed in animals. But through actions aimed at obtaining the support of supernatural forces, people sought to ensure the survival of the newborn and his future success. During childbirth, such actions often turned out to be nothing more than a ritualization of completely practical procedures, such as washing the baby.

Initiation.

The transition from childhood to adult status was not celebrated everywhere, but where it was accepted, the ritual was more public than private. Often the initiation rite was performed on boys or girls at the moment they entered puberty or a little later. Initiations could involve testing one's courage or preparing oneself for married life through genital surgery; but the most common was the initiation of the initiate into his life's duties and into secret knowledge that was not available to them while they remained children. There were so-called “bush schools”, where new converts were under the tutelage of elders. Sometimes, as in East Africa, initiates were organized into brotherhoods or age groups.

Marriage.

The purpose of wedding ceremonies was to a much greater extent public recognition of a new social status rather than its celebration. As a rule, these rituals lacked the religious emphasis characteristic of the rituals that accompanied birth and the onset of youth.

Death and burial.

Death was perceived by primitive people in different ways: from treating it as natural and inevitable to the idea that it is always the result of the action of supernatural forces. Rituals performed over the corpse provided an outlet for grief, but at the same time served as precautions against evil emanating from the spirit of the deceased, or as a way to gain the favor of a deceased family member. Forms of burial varied: from throwing the corpse into the river to complex procedures of cremation, burial in a grave or mummification. Very often, the property of the deceased was destroyed or buried along with the body, along with those items that were supposed to accompany the soul to the afterlife.

Idolatry.

Idols are the embodiment of gods in the form of specific images, and idolatry is a reverent attitude towards them and cult actions associated with idols. It is sometimes difficult to tell whether an image is revered as something imbued with the spiritual essence of a god, or simply as a symbol of an unseen, distant being. Peoples with the least developed culture did not make idols. These kinds of images appeared at a higher stage of development and usually implied both a complication of the ritual and a certain level of skill required for their production. For example, the idols of the Hindu pantheon were created in the artistic manner and style that was dominant at one time or another, and essentially served as decoration for religious objects. Of course, idols could only exist where the gods were individualized and clearly personified. In addition, the process of making the image of a god required that the traits attributed to him be reflected in the image; Consequently, the production of idols in turn strengthened ideas about the individual characteristics of the deity.

An altar for an idol was usually installed in its sanctuary; here gifts and sacrifices were brought to him. Idolatry was not a form of religion per se, but rather a complex of attitudes and behaviors within a larger theological doctrine and ritual practices. Semitic religions, which include Judaism and Islam, expressly prohibit the making of idols or images of God; Sharia, in addition, prohibited any form of drawn images of living beings (however, in modern usage this prohibition is relaxed - images are allowed if they are not used as an object of worship and do not depict something prohibited by Islam).

Sacrifice.

While literally the word sacrifice (eng. victim, sacrifice) means “to make holy,” it implies such an offering of valuable gifts to some supernatural being, during which these gifts are destroyed (an example would be the slaughter of a valuable animal on the altar). The reasons why sacrifices were made, and what kind of sacrifice was pleasing to the gods, had their own characteristics in each culture. But what was common everywhere was to establish a connection with the gods and other supernatural forces in order to receive divine blessings, strength to overcome difficulties, gain good luck, ward off evil and misfortune, or to pacify and please the gods. This motivation had different shades in one society or another, to the point that sacrifice was often an unmotivated formal act.

In Malaysia, sacrifices of rice wine, chickens and pigs were commonly practiced; the peoples of East and Southern Africa usually sacrificed bulls; From time to time in Polynesia and constantly among the Aztecs, human sacrifices took place (from among captives or representatives of the lower strata of society). In this sense, an extreme form of sacrifice is recorded among the Natchez Indians, who killed their own children; The classic example of sacrifice in the Christian religion is the crucifixion of Jesus. However, the ritual killing of people was not always sacrificial in nature. Thus, the Indians of the northeastern coast of North America killed slaves to enhance the impression of building a large communal house.

Trial.

When human judgment seemed insufficient, people often turned to the judgment of the gods, resorting to physical testing. Like the oath, such a test was not common everywhere, but only among ancient civilizations and primitive peoples of the Old World. It was practiced legally in secular and ecclesiastical courts until the end of the Middle Ages. The following tests were common to Europe: putting a hand into boiling water in order to get an object, holding a red-hot iron in one’s hands or walking on it, accompanied by the reading of appropriate prayers. A person who managed to endure such a test was declared innocent. Sometimes the accused was thrown into the water; if he floated on the water, it was believed that the pure water would reject him as unclean and guilty. Among the Tonga people in South Africa, it was customary to sentence a person who was poisoned by a drug given to him during a trial.

Magic.

Many of the actions of primitive people were based on the belief that there was a mystical connection between certain actions performed by people and the goals to which they strive. It was believed that the power attributed to supernatural forces and gods, through which they influence people and objects, could be used when it comes to achieving goals that exceed ordinary human capabilities. Unconditional belief in magic was widespread in antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the Western world, it gradually faded away, replaced by the Christian idea, especially with the beginning of the era of rationalism - with its interest in exploring the true nature of causes and effects.

Although all peoples shared the belief that mystical forces influence the world around us and that a person can achieve their help through prayers and rituals, magical actions are characteristic primarily of the Old World. Some of these techniques were particularly widespread - for example, stealing and destroying nail clippings or hair of the intended victim - with the aim of harming him; preparing a love potion; pronouncing magical formulas (for example, the Lord's prayer backwards). But such actions as sticking pins into the image of a victim in order to cause his illness or death were practiced mainly in the Old World, while the custom of aiming a bone towards the enemy’s camp was characteristic of the Australian aborigines. Many witchcraft rituals of this kind, brought at one time from Africa by black slaves, are still preserved in Vodism in the countries of the Caribbean region. Fortune telling in some of its forms was also a magical act that did not extend beyond the Old World. Each culture had its own set of magical actions - the use of any other techniques did not provide confidence that the desired goal would be achieved. The effectiveness of magic was judged by its positive results; if they were not there, then it was believed that the reason for this was either reactive magical actions or the insufficient power of the magical ritual performed; no one doubted magic itself. Sometimes magical acts, which we would now call the tricks of illusionists, were performed only for the sake of demonstration; magicians and healers demonstrated their power over occult forces through the arts of magic to receptive and easily suggestible audiences.

Magic, or, more generally, the belief in a supernatural influence on human affairs, greatly influenced the way of thinking of all primitive peoples. There was, however, a significant difference between the essentially automatic, everyday appeal of the Melanesians to magic on every occasion and, for example, the relatively indifferent attitude towards it of the majority of American Indians. Nevertheless, experiencing failures and experiencing desires is common to all peoples, which finds a way out in magical or rational actions - in accordance with the way of thinking established in a given culture. The tendency to believe in magic and magical actions can manifest itself, for example, in the feeling that a slogan repeated many times is sure to become a reality. “Prosperity is just around the corner” was a catchphrase during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many Americans believed that she would somehow miraculously force the course of things to change. Magic is a kind of wishful thinking; psychologically, it is based on a thirst for fulfillment of desires, on an attempt to connect something that in reality has no connection, on a natural need for some kind of action to relieve emotional stress.

Witchcraft.

A common form of magic was witchcraft. A witch or sorcerer was usually considered to be evil and hostile to people, as a result of which they were wary; but sometimes a witch could be invited for some good deed, for example, to protect livestock or to prepare love potions. In Europe, this kind of practice was in the hands of professionals who were accused of intercourse with the devil and blasphemous imitations of church rituals, which was called black magic. In Europe, witchcraft was taken so seriously that even in the church edicts of the 16th century. contains vicious attacks on him. The persecution of witches continued into the 17th century and was later re-enacted in the famous Salem witch trials in colonial Massachusetts.

In primitive societies, individual initiative and deviations from customs often aroused suspicion. At the slightest suggestion that a person's excess magical power could be used for personal purposes, accusations were brought against him, which, as a rule, strengthened orthodoxy in society. The power of belief in witchcraft lies in the victim’s ability to self-hypnosis, with the ensuing mental and physical disorders. The practice of witchcraft was prevalent primarily in Europe, Africa and Melanesia; It was relatively rare in North and South America and Polynesia.

Divination.

Fortune telling also gravitates towards magic - an action aimed at predicting the future, finding hidden or lost objects, discovering the culprit - by studying the properties of various objects or casting lots. Fortune telling was based on the assumption that there was a mysterious connection between all natural objects and human affairs. There were many types of fortune telling, but a few of them were most widespread in the regions of the Old World.

Predictions based on examination of the liver of a sacrificed animal (hepatoscopy) appeared in Babylonia no later than 2000 BC. They spread westward, and through the Etruscans and Romans they entered Western Europe, where, condemned by Christian teaching, they were preserved only in folk tradition. Fortune telling of this kind spread to the east, where it began to include the study of other entrails, and was preserved in India and the Philippines in the form of actions practiced by family priests.

Predictions based on the flight of birds (auspices) and on horoscopes based on the positions of celestial bodies (astrology) also had ancient roots and were common in the same regions.

Another type of divination - based on cracks in a tortoise's shell or on fire-cracked shoulder bones of animals (scapulimancy) - originated in China or adjacent regions and spread throughout most of Asia, as well as in the northern latitudes of America. Looking at the trembling surface of water in a bowl, fortune telling by tea leaves and palmistry are modern forms of this kind of magic.

Nowadays, prediction is still practiced using the Bible opened at random, where they try to see an omen in the first paragraph they come across.

A unique form of prediction appeared quite independently among the Navajo and Apache Indians - fortune telling by the trembling of a shaman's hand. Differing in form, all these actions: casting lots, searching for water and hidden deposits of minerals by the movements of a branched twig - were based on the same logically unjustified ideas about causes and effects. It is well known, for example, that our game of dice is rooted in the ancient custom of casting lots in order to find out the future.

Performers.

Primitive religious rites were performed in all possible ways by priests or people considered saints, tribal leaders, and even entire clans, “halves” or phratries, who were entrusted with these functions, and finally, people who felt in themselves special qualities that allowed them to turn to supernatural forces. One of the varieties of the latter was the shaman, who, according to universal belief, acquired esoteric power through direct communication with spirits in a dream or in his visions. Possessing personal power, he differed from the priest, who played the role of mediator, intercessor or interpreter. The word "shaman" is of Asian origin. It is used in a broad sense, covering such different types as the Siberian shaman, the American Indian medicine man, the sorcerer-healer in Africa.

In Siberia, they believed that the spirit actually took possession of the shaman, but the healer was rather a person capable of summoning his helping spirit. In Africa, a sorcerer-healer usually had in his arsenal special magical means that were supposed to control intangible forces. The most characteristic activity of these people was the healing of the sick with the help of spirits. There were shamans who healed certain diseases, as well as clairvoyants and even those who controlled the weather. They became specialists through their inclinations rather than through directed training. Shamans occupied a high social position in those tribes where there was no organized religious and ceremonial life led by priests. Shamanism usually recruited into its ranks people with an unbalanced psyche and a tendency to hysteria.



Over hundreds of thousands of years of life of primitive people on Earth, they learned a lot and learned a lot.

People forced the mighty force of nature - fire - to serve them. They learned to sail boats on rivers, lakes and even seas. People grew plants and domesticated animals. With bows, spears and axes, they hunted the largest animals.

Yet primitive people were weak and helpless before the forces of nature.

Flashing lightning struck people's homes with a deafening roar. Primitive man had no protection from it.

Ancient people were powerless to fight a raging forest fire. If they failed to escape, they died in the flames.

A sudden blowing wind turned their boats over like shells, and people drowned in the water.

Primitive people did not know how to heal, and one person after another died from diseases.

The most ancient people only tried to somehow escape or hide from the dangers that threatened them. This went on for hundreds of thousands of years.

As people's minds developed, they tried to explain to themselves what forces govern nature. But primitive people did not know much of what we know now about nature. Therefore, they explained natural phenomena incorrectly, erroneously.

How did the belief in the “soul” appear?

Primitive man did not understand what sleep was. In a dream, he saw people who were far from the place where he lived. He also saw those people who had not been alive for a long time. People explained dreams by saying that a “soul”—a “spirit”—live in the body of every person. During sleep, she seems to leave her body, flies on the ground, and meets the “souls” of other people. With her return, the sleeper wakes up.

Death seemed to primitive man like a dream. It seemed to come because the “soul” was leaving the body. But people thought that the “soul” of the deceased remained close to the places where he lived before.

People believed that the “soul” of the deceased elder continued to take care of the clan, as he himself cared during life, and asked her for protection and help.

How people created gods

Primitive people thought that animals, plants, the sky, and the earth had a “soul” - a “spirit”. "Spirits" can be evil and good. They help or hinder hunting and cause illness in people and animals. The main “spirits” - the gods - control the forces of nature: they cause thunderstorms and wind, and it depends on them whether the sun will rise and whether spring will come.

Primitive man imagined the gods in the form of people or in the form of animals. Just as a hunter throws a spear, so the god of the sky throws a fiery lightning spear. But a spear thrown by a man flies several dozen steps, and lightning crosses the entire sky. The god of the wind blows, just like a man, but with such force that he breaks centuries-old trees, raises a storm and sinks boats. Therefore, it seemed to people that although the gods were similar to man, they were much stronger and more powerful than him.

Belief in gods and “spirits” is called religion. It arose several tens of thousands of years ago.

Prayers and sacrifices

Hunters asked the gods to send them luck in the hunt, fishermen asked for calm weather and a plentiful catch. Farmers asked God to grow a good harvest.

The ancient people carved a crude image of a person or animal from wood or stone and believed that God inhabited it. Such images of gods are called idols.

To earn the mercy of the gods, people prayed to idols, bowed humbly to the ground and brought gifts - sacrifices. Domestic animals, and sometimes even humans, were slaughtered in front of the idol. The lips of the idol were smeared with blood as a sign that the god accepted the sacrifice.

Religion brought great harm to primitive people. She explained everything that happened in people's lives and in nature by the will of the gods and spirits. By this she prevented people from looking for the correct explanation of natural phenomena. In addition, people killed many animals and even people, sacrificing them to the gods.