Local traditional beliefs. Traditional beliefs

Local beliefs and huacas

Supernatural powers associated with places and objects were called Huaki(Holy places). The Relacion de los Ceques, Cobo's chronicle, lists and describes the huacas in the order in which they are located around Cuzco. "Relationships" describes over 350 holy sites, groups of which formed lines radiating out from the center of Cusco. Each imaginary line was called keke. Huayna Capac placed the huacians in Tomebamba, following Cuzco's plan in the same way; similar keke systems must have radiated out from other highland cities. In Cusco, the maintenance of the huacs located on these keque lines was entrusted to the relevant social groups, into which the city’s population was divided and with which it was identified in certain cases.

This is what the general list of huacs of the city of Cusco looks like: temples, places of worship, ancestral graves, stones, springs, springs, calendar marks, hills, bridges, houses, quarries; Also listed are places related to Inca mythology or associated with previous Inca emperors, such as Huanacauri, caves, hills, stones, meeting places and battlefields. The diagram of the Keke system (see Fig. 51) shows the distribution of the Keke lines in Cuzco among the geographical regions representing the four great quarters of the empire. Three quarters - Chinchasuyu, Antisuyu and Kolyasuyu - had nine keke lines, respectively. These nine lineages were divided into three groups of three, called Kolyana (a), Payan (b), and Kayao (c). In Kontisuyu the number of keke lines increased to fourteen. In the territory bounded by each group of three lineages, the chroniclers mention one Panaka and one Aylya in connection with the Payan and Kayao. Therefore, it is possible that the founding rulers of the Panaka were associated with the Keke Kolyana of the very group to which their Panaka belongs. Zuidema suggested that the principles of organization by which the religious system of the Keke was built may also turn out to be the fundamental principles of social and political organization of both Cuzco and the entire empire.

Rice. 51. Schematic representation of the keke system and solar towers (according to R.T. Zuidema)

In Huanacauri, the most important huaca, most chroniclers recognized the celestial deity and described it as a “spindle-shaped rough stone” located on Mount Huanacauri near Cuzco. The hill was also associated, according to Sarmiento, with the rainbow and can be seen as an example of a mountain representing a heavenly god. According to the origin myth, the stone represented Ayar Uchu, one of Manco Capac's brothers, who was considered the special patron of the religion for Incan families and youth. For this reason, it plays a prominent role in Inca rituals and coming-of-age rites, during which the imperial family visited the sanctuary for special ceremonies; some sources add that the Incas also came here to worship the Creator. Other mountains in the vicinity of Cuzco were also believed to have been influential deities, whose supernatural power was usually assessed in proportion to their height.

Ayar Cachi, Lord of the Lands, another of Manco Capac's brothers, was believed to have been turned to stone at the site of the future Temple of the Sun when he symbolically took over Cuzco. Such stone columns were usually considered huacas and patrons of the fields. Boundary markers called saivas were also considered huacas, as were piles of stones called apasita, which marked dangerous or significant areas on roads. In fact, anything that was lifeless, unusual, or in some way awe-inspiring could be called a huaca and serve as an object of worship. Small images and amulets representing people, animals, plants and the like, which were made of unusually shaped or colored stone or crystal, were also called huacas; they were carried with them and used for personal protection. The emperor had such a guardian, whom he called the Guanques and who, according to him, protected him and gave him advice. For the Inca Pachacuti, it was the god of Thunder, who appeared to him in a dream, but Manco Capac and Maita Capac preferred the inti bird.

Surely you have heard the words - church, mosque, Judaism, Buddha, Muslim, Orthodoxy? All these words are closely related to faith in God. In our diverse and multi-ethnic country, there are four main religions. They are different, but they all talk about the need to love people, live in peace, respect elders, do good deeds for the benefit of people, and defend your homeland.

1. RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY

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This is the most widespread religion in our country, which has a long history (more than a thousand years). For a long time, Orthodoxy was the only religion professed by the Russian people. And up to today Most of the Russian people profess the Orthodox Faith.

The basis of Orthodoxy is faith in God the Trinity, in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In 1988, the Orthodox peoples of Russia celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity. This date marked the anniversary of its approval as the official religion of the ancient Russian state - Kievan Rus which occurred, according to the chronicles, under the holy prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich.

The first Christian church erected in the capital of Kievan Rus was the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Every Orthodox Christian must follow the 10 commandments that God gave to Moses and the people of Israel. They were written on stone tablets (tablets). The first four talk about love for God, the last six talk about love for one’s neighbor, that is, for all people.

The Bible, as the holy book of Christianity, is a collection of books that in Christianity are considered Holy Scripture, for everything that is written in the biblical books is dictated to people by God himself. In terms of its composition, the Bible is divided into two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

COMMANDMENTS OF CHRISTIANS

1st commandment.

I am the Lord your God; Let you have no other gods besides Me. - With this commandment, God says that you need to know and honor Him alone, commands you to believe in Him, hope in Him, love Him.

2nd commandment.

You shall not make for yourself an idol (statue) or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the waters under the earth; do not worship or serve them. – God forbids worshiping idols or any material images of an invented deity. It is not a sin to bow to icons or images, because when we pray in front of them, we bow not to wood or paints, but to God depicted on the icon or to His saints, imagining them in front of you in your mind.

3rd commandment.

Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. God forbids using the name of God when it should not, for example, in jokes, in empty conversations. The same commandment prohibits: cursing God, swearing by God if you are telling a lie. The name of God can be pronounced when we pray and have pious conversations.

4th commandment.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Work six days and do all your work in them, and the seventh day (the day of rest) is the Sabbath (shall be dedicated) to the Lord your God. He commands us to work six days of the week, and devote the seventh day to good deeds: pray to God in church, read spiritual books at home, give alms, etc.

5th commandment.

Honor your father and your mother, (so that it may go well with you and) that your days on earth may be long. - With this commandment, God commands us to honor our parents, obey them, and help them in their labors and needs.

6th commandment.

Dont kill. God forbids killing, that is, taking the life of a person.

7th commandment.

Don't commit adultery. This commandment prohibits adultery, excess in food, and drunkenness.

8th commandment.

Don't steal. You cannot take someone else's for yourself in any illegal way.

9th commandment.

Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. God forbids deception, lying, and sneaking.

10th commandment.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. This commandment prohibits not only doing something bad to your neighbor, but also wishing bad things on him.

Defense of the Fatherland, defense of the Motherland is one of the greatest services Orthodox Christian. Orthodox Church teaches that any war is evil because it is associated with hatred, strife, violence and even murder, which is a terrible mortal sin. However, war in defense of one's Fatherland is blessed by the Church and military service is revered as the highest service.

2. ISLAM IN RUSSIA

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“Heart of Chechnya”, Photo: Timur Agirov

Islam is the youngest of the world's religions.

The term "Islam" means "submission" to the will of God, and one who submits is called a "Muslim" (therefore "Muslim"). Number of Muslim citizens Russian Federation estimated today at approximately 20 million people.

Allah is the name of the God of Muslims. To avoid the righteous wrath of Allah and to achieve eternal life it is necessary to follow his will in everything and keep his commandments.

Islam is not only a religion, but also a way of life. Two angels are assigned to each person: one records his good deeds, the other records his bad ones. At the bottom of this hierarchy are the jinn. Muslims believe that a line of jinn were created from fire, and they are usually evil.

God has declared that the day will come when all will stand before His judgment. On that day, every person's deeds will be weighed in the balance. Those whose good deeds outweigh the bad will be rewarded with heaven; those whose evil deeds turn out to be more severe will be condemned to hell. But what deeds in our lives are greater, good or bad, is known only to God. Therefore, no Muslim knows for sure whether God will accept him into heaven.

Islam teaches us to love people. Help those in need. Respect elders. Honor your parents.

Pray (salat). A Muslim must say seventeen prayers every day - rakats. Prayers are performed five times a day - at sunrise, at noon, at 3-4 pm, at sunset and 2 hours after sunset.

Giving alms (zakat). Muslims are required to give one fortieth of their income to the poor and needy;

Make a pilgrimage (Hajj). Every Muslim is obliged to travel to Mecca at least once in his life, if only his health and means allow him.

Muslim temples are called Mosques; the roof of the mosque is crowned with a minaret. A minaret is a tower about 30 meters high from which the muezzin calls believers to prayer.

Muezzin, muezzin, azanchi - in Islam, a mosque minister who calls Muslims to prayer.

The main book of Muslims: the Koran - in Arabic this means “what is read, pronounced.”

The oldest copies of the Koran that have reached us date back to the 7th – 8th centuries. One of them is kept in Mecca, in the Kaaba, next to the black stone. Another one is located in Medina in special room, located in the courtyard of the Prophet's Mosque. Eat ancient list Koran's National Library Egypt in Cairo. One of the lists, called the “Othman Koran,” is kept in Uzbekistan. This text received its name because, according to tradition, it was covered in the blood of Caliph Osman, who was killed in 656. There are indeed traces of blood on the pages of this list.

The Koran consists of 114 chapters. They are called "suras". Each sura consists of verses (“ayat” - from the Arabic word meaning “miracle, sign”).

Later, hadiths appeared in the Koran - stories about the actions and sayings of Muhammad and his companions. They were combined into collections called “Sunnah”. Based on the Koran and Hadith, Muslim theologians developed “Sharia” - the “right path” - a set of principles and rules of behavior obligatory for every Muslim.

3. BUDDHISM IN RUSSIA

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Buddhism is a complex religious and philosophical movement, consisting of many branches. Disputes regarding the canon of sacred texts have been going on between various faiths for many hundreds of years. Therefore, today it is almost impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question of which texts make up the holy book of Buddhism. There is no trace of such certainty as with the Holy Scriptures among Christians.

It should be understood that Buddhism is not a religion, and therefore does not imply reckless worship of some divine being. Buddha is not a god, but a man who has achieved absolute enlightenment. Almost any person who has properly changed his consciousness can become a Buddha. Consequently, almost any guide to action from someone who has achieved some success on the path of enlightenment, and not any specific book, can be considered sacred.

In Tibetan, the word “BUDDHA” means “one who got rid of all bad qualities and developed all the good qualities in myself.”

Buddhism began to spread in Russia about 400 years ago.

The first lama monks came from Mongolia and Tibet.

In 1741, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna officially recognized the Buddhist religion by decree.

In their lives, Buddhists are guided by the Buddha's sermons on the “four noble truths” and the “eightfold path”:

First truth says that existence is suffering that every living being experiences.

Second truth claims that the cause of suffering is “disturbing emotions” - our desires, hatred, envy and other human vices. Actions form a person’s karma and in the next life he receives what he deserved in the previous one. For example, if a person is real life did bad things, in his next life he may be born a worm. Even gods are subject to the law of karma.

The Third Noble Truth says that suppressing disturbing emotions leads to the cessation of suffering, that is, if a person extinguishes hatred, anger, envy and other emotions within himself, then his suffering can stop.

The fourth truth indicates the middle path, according to which the meaning of life is to obtain pleasure.This “middle path” is called the “eightfold path” because it consists of eight stages or steps: understanding, thought, speech, action, lifestyle, intention, effort and concentration.Following this path leads to the achievement of inner peace, as a person pacifies his thoughts and feelings, develops friendliness and compassion for people.

Buddhism, like Christianity, has its own commandments, the fundamentals of teaching on which the entire structure of belief is based. The 10 commandments of Buddhism are very similar to Christian ones. Despite all the external similarities of the commandments in Buddhism and Christianity, their deep essence is different. Besides the fact that Buddhism is not actually a faith, it does not in any way call for belief in a god or deity of any kind; its goal is spiritual purification and self-improvement. In this regard, the commandments are just a guide to action, following which you can become better and purer, which means getting at least one step closer to the state of nirvana, absolute enlightenment, moral and spiritual purity.

4. JUDAISM IN RUSSIA

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Judaism is one of the ancient religions, which has survived to this day and has a significant number of adherents mainly among the Jewish population in different countries peace.

Judaism is actually the state religion of Israel.

This is the religion of a small but very talented people who have made a huge contribution to the development of humanity.

Judaism preaches that the human soul does not depend on the body, it can exist separately, because God created the soul and it is immortal, and during sleep God takes all souls to heaven. In the morning, God returns the souls of some people, but not others. Those to whom He does not return their souls die in their sleep, and the Jews who wake up in the morning thank God for returning their souls.

A believing Jew is required to have a beard, grow long hair at the temples (sidelocks), wear a small round cap (kippah), and undergo the rite of circumcision.

In ancient times, the center of Jewish cult was the Temple of Jerusalem, where daily sacrifices were performed. When the Temple was destroyed, prayer took the place of sacrifices, for which Jews began to gather around individual teachers - rabbis.

The Torah is the main book of all Jews. It is always and at all times written by hand, the Torah is kept in synagogues (the place where Jews pray). Jews believe that it was God who gave the Torah to people.

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Now many beautiful temples are being built so that people can come and communicate with God. And it doesn’t matter what religion you are if you live in Russia. Our countryWhat makes it so beautiful is that in it people of different faiths and nationalities live in peace and harmony. One is a Muslim, another is Orthodox, another is a Buddhist - we all must respect each other’s faith.

Because we are all RUSSIANS, citizens of one huge and great country in the world!

Traditionally, beliefs are generally understood as religious ideas, the system of which forms the ideological content of religion. True, in Western European science the term “beliefs” often denotes views that are not of a theological nature. One way or another, already at the early stage of the development of human society, religious ideas played a significant, if not decisive, role in people’s lives. They were a human response to environmental influences. Over time, primitive beliefs developed into independent system religious views.

They are most closely associated with rituals that are adequate to them - symbolic actions performed for a religious purpose, that is, giving certain events in a person’s life a theological meaning. Moreover, the sequence and methods of behavior during the performance of these rituals are invariant and are performed, as a rule, traditionally, in accordance with custom or a specially developed “scenario”. In most cases, these rituals are collective in nature and are organized on the occasion of birth, death, marriage, etc.

From the point of view of religious beliefs and traditions, the western part of the Pamirs, officially called the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) and part of the Republic of Tajikistan, is a unique region. This exclusivity is due primarily to its geographical location. Even in ancient times, various ethnographic groups inhabited the few high mountain valleys suitable for habitation and agricultural activity. “...Here is a valley and here is a valley,” rightly noted the orientalist General A.E. Snesarev, “and between them there is a ridge and no pass; in this case there will be two different communities, two peoples, often speaking completely different languages, having no connection with each other.” Indeed, the peoples currently inhabiting GBAO - the Bartans, Wakhans, Ishkashims, Khufs, Shugnans, etc. - speak mutually incomprehensible and hitherto unwritten Eastern Iranian languages ​​(the language of the lowland Tajiks belongs to the western branch of the Iranian languages). The role of lingua franca is played by the Tajik language, as well as the language of the Shugnans - the largest people in the autonomous region in terms of population.

Despite the ethnic-differentiating significance of the natural-geographical factor, Ismailism, one of the currents of Shiite Islam, whose followers now live in more than 20 countries of the world, has been and remains a powerful integration stimulus. Ismailism penetrated into the Pamirs in the 10th–11th centuries. Ismailis, like Shia Muslims, claim that after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, his follower - cousin and son-in-law (husband of the Prophet's daughter Fatima) Ali - was the first imam, i.e. the spiritual leader of the Muslim community, and that the spiritual leadership known as The imamate is therefore hereditary through Ali and his wife Fatima.

Based on the doctrinal tenets of Ismailism, its opponents questioned the legitimacy of this movement, disseminating in their writings fabrications about the “unworthy goals, immoral views and dissolute practices of the Ismailis.” Ismaili imams were accused of non-Alid origin, and the teaching itself was considered by orthodox Sunni Muslims (rulers, theologians, etc.) as a heresy and a conspiracy against Islam, based on pre-Islamic beliefs. Orientalist historian N.M. Emelyanova had to deal with similar views relatively recently, in 2004, during her work in the Sunni regions of Afghan and Tajik Badakhshan. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, Ismailis were subjected to persecution and repression, including for religious reasons. During civil war in Tajikistan, namely at the end of 1992 - beginning of 1993, many people from GBAO were exterminated simply because they came from the Pamirs, which implied their religious affiliation.

That is why Ismailism to this day plays not only the most important socio-ideological, but also ethno-integration role in the culture of the peoples of the region we are considering. Here one cannot but agree with the famous ethnographer and religious scholar S. A. Tokarev, who considered religion as one of the ethnic characteristics. “From the very beginning to the very end,” he wrote, “religion is a form of social connection, mutual contraction (integration) of co-religionists and mutual repulsion (segregation) of people of other faiths. In this sense, it plays the same (more precisely, similar) role as any other “ethnic characteristic”: language, forms material culture, folk art, etc.”

By the time of the adoption of Ismailism, various pre-Islamic cults existed among the inhabitants of different valleys of the Western Pamirs: fire worship, Manichaeism, elements of ancient Iranian beliefs, etc. Some of the traditional religious ideas and practices are totemism, magical rituals, the use of amulets, the veneration of animals (zoolatry), the cult of ancestors and others - have survived to the present day. Neither the pre-Islamic nor the Ismaili layer is comprehensive; they predominate in different spheres of spiritual life. The mechanism of their interactions is quite complex, and its detailed study by specialists - religious scholars, ethnographers, historians - is still to come. Today we can only state the obvious fact of the existence of syncretism in the religious life of the Pamiris - mixing and interpenetration various forms beliefs.

In the works of humanities scholars since the Soviet era, there has been a point of view that later religions absorb the beliefs, rituals, and traditions that preceded them and, rethinking them, adapt them to their concepts. As ethnographer L. A. Tultseva writes, for example, “any religion in real life exists in close unity with the beliefs inherited from other, earlier religions, forming a syncretic alloy.”

Many researchers (B.A. Rybakov, V.N. Basilov in the bulk of their works, G.P. Snesarev, etc.) wrote about folk religion, which, along with the official ideology, included early pre-monotheistic (pre-Christian or pre-Muslim) ideas and rituals are pagan in essence. We were talking about the so-called everyday, or folk, Christianity and Islam. The latter, in particular, was characterized by the close interweaving of local pre-Muslim religious traditions with the norms, institutions, ideas and rituals of Islam. Moreover, it is important to note that in the minds of some Christians and Muslims, all beliefs and rituals, regardless of their origin, represent true Christianity and Islam.

The synthesis of monotheistic dogma and “pagan” beliefs gave researchers reason to call folk religion “dual faith.” This term is still used in scientific parlance and, as a rule, is understood unambiguously - as a formal, mechanical connection in folk religion of “two faiths.” According to T. A. Bernshtam, ethnographers studying religious beliefs Eastern Slavs, including Russians, believe that “paganism” constitutes a large and essential part of the people’s system of beliefs, poorly and transparently covered by Christianity, which is enough to be “removed” to reveal pre-Christian archaism almost in “ pure form" The author emphasizes that by paganism she understands “a layer of views of extra-Christian origin or archaic forms of syncretism.”

In the last decade, a number of works by Russian authors have observed a point of view different from the traditionalist one. Its essence boils down to the fact that ancient pagan beliefs, preserved in one form or another in monotheistic religions, are not paganism in their essence. They not only lose their previous external design, but also change their content as a result of its processing in the spirit of the dominant worldview.

The question arises: why do the ancient forms of views, which traditionalists call pagan, and the ritual actions associated with them continue to exist to this day? Most likely, because they are associated with current problems of people’s lives, they reflect the eternal aspects of human existence and perception of the world around them. The external form of rituals can be transformed, terminology may change, but the essence of these beliefs remains unchanged. Indeed, now, like many centuries ago, traditional beliefs and rituals are associated with ensuring fertility, healing from diseases, obtaining the necessary information from representatives of the supernatural spiritual world for making decisions in certain life situations, etc.

That is why we should rather say that it was later religions that adapted to ancient beliefs, customs and rituals, and not vice versa. In our opinion, today, within the framework of the dominant religious system, ancient beliefs and later religions coexist, mutually influence each other and mutually penetrate each other with individual features.

A striking example of this is the religious situation in the Pamirs. Under the dominance of official Ismailism here, the Badakhshans still retain the so-called primitive, or pagan, beliefs - totemism, magical rituals, the use of amulets, zoolatry, the cult of ancestors, etc. Their appearance was primarily due to harsh natural and climatic conditions, the lack of housing and economic space, isolation from lowland areas, illiteracy of the local population and other factors.

The origins of traditional beliefs go back to the ancient personification of nature and the spirits of dead people. Animistic ideas are universal for all human cultures - the belief in the existence of spirits and the possibility for humans to communicate with them. Most religious scholars believe that animism is the initial core from which all later religions grew. Moreover, ancient animistic views still coexist and exist in parallel with the dogmas of later developed religions.

In this regard, I would like to note two circumstances. Firstly, traditional ideas, in particular animistic ones, are characteristic of peoples who still retain, to one degree or another, a patriarchal way of life, vestigial forms of community and archaic cultural features. The Pamirs belong precisely to such societies. Secondly, among the peoples of Central Asia, ancient beliefs and rituals, including animist ones, merged with Islam. At the same time, they were deformed under the influence of the latter and acquired, so to speak, a Muslimized coloring.

And if Christianity, for example, clearly views all lower spirits as hostile to man, then in Islam the attitude towards them is different. Muslims call spirits jinn and are material beings created by Allah from “pure flame” (Sura 55:15) even before the appearance of people (Sura 15:26–27). According to Islamic doctrine, they have the appearance of people of both sexes, that is, they are anthropomorphic, endowed with consciousness, have free will and are responsible for their actions. Moreover, Islam recognizes part of the lower spirits as believers, that is, those who worship Allah, and the other part as “infidels,” or devils who tempt people and contribute to the spread of unbelief and sins.

Along with the common Muslim name “jinn,” the Pamiris and other peoples of Central Asia use private names when talking about this or that demonic creature. The composition of the pandemonium in the Central Asian region is more or less homogeneous. All the peoples inhabiting it, including the Pamirs, have ideas about paris (peri, peri), devas (maidens, divas), albasty (almasty) and some others. At the same time, the Pamiris have different, compared to other Central Asian peoples, ideas about the same object of demonology - the body of knowledge about evil spirits. Moreover, there is even a difference of views within the Pamir region. This may indicate either deformation folk beliefs over the course of centuries, or about the polysemantic nature of certain spirits.

The first Russian researcher to describe in more or less detail the “demonological pantheon” of the Pamiris was Count A. A. Bobrinskoy. He rightly noted that the mountaineers, feeling helpless before the power of nature, turned to their imagination, “revitalized” the world around them and clothed its representatives in new images, and a host of spirits filled the mountains, gorges, caves, forests, streams and even houses. “On all his paths,” wrote this researcher, “a mountaineer has to face them, defend himself, be cunning, please, fight...” Later, scientists - ethnographers and oriental historians - managed to collect quite extensive material not only about Pamir demonology, but also about relics of other traditional beliefs and rituals. Beliefs in good and evil jinn are still preserved among part of the population of GBAO, especially those living in remote high-mountain villages.

All our informants agree that spirits are especially active in the dark, especially at night, they can be found in the form of a person of both sexes, as well as in the form of a dog, horse, cow and other creatures near the water, on a heap of ash near a human dwelling, in a stable, etc. Depending on the role that jinn, or spirits, perform in a given situation, they can be divided into three groups, or categories.

The first includes those who are hostile towards a person and are capable of not only making him crazy, causing bodily illness or beating him, but even killing him. These demonic creatures cannot be appeased - they must be driven out or neutralized by performing magical rituals. True, the Pamirs believe that harmful spirits can still be made useful if they are subjugated and forced to serve by force.

One of the most “harmful” characters in the traditional beliefs of the Pamir peoples is Almasty. The question of the origin of this demonic creature is controversial: some researchers attribute it to Turkic mythology, others to Iranian. There is an assumption that the image of Almasty was formed in the era of ancient contacts of ethnic communities before their settlement in the territory of modern habitat.

According to the ideas of the Pamiris, Almasty is a hairy, ugly woman with long breasts, which she can throw behind her back. She is credited with gluttony and cannibalism. Even today in Shugnan they say about glutton women: “She’s like almasty.” A book, coin or hair in the hands of an almasty is a formidable weapon against a person. By selecting these objects, a person completely subjugates this creature. The Pamiris still use various kinds of amulets, spells, fire and burning coals as protection against almasty.

It is believed that this evil demon in female form brings harm mainly to women giving birth. The reason for the hostility towards them, as explained by my informants in Shugnan, is that one night one woman poured out hot water and scalded the Almasty child. After this, the latter began to take revenge on women in labor and newborns.

Among the Pamiris, there is a widespread belief in the existence of devas - evil spirits of mainly anthropomorphic appearance, ideas about which date back to the era of the Indo-Iranian and Indo-European communities. In the folklore of the Iranian peoples, including the Pamirs, devas appear as male giants covered with hair, living in hard-to-reach places, for example, inside the mountains or in the bowels of the earth. They guard the treasures of the earth and are hostile towards humans.

In popular views, the deva appears as an omnipotent being. Among the Shugnans today you can hear the following expression: “He (she) teaches the maiden,” which indicates the ingenuity or cunning of a person.

The second group includes patron spirits, who, however, in case of failure to fulfill their desires or some kind of misconduct, could send illness to a person. It was possible to get rid of it only if the demands of these demonic creatures were met.

Spirits in this category also include the so-called pure spirits that live in sacred places - mazars (or ostons, as they are called in the Pamirs). In the legends and myths of the Pamiris, characters such as Chiltans, whose image is of Tajik-Persian origin, are widely used. According to popular beliefs among the peoples of Central Asia, the Chiltans are forty powerful saints who rule the world. In the Western Pamirs, this term, translated into Russian as “forty people” or “forty persons”, is directly related to the Ostons. For example, one of these sanctuaries is located in the Shughnan village of Vezdara in the Roshtkala district of GBAO. Back in the 1920s, the famous Pamir expert M.S. Andreev collected material about chiltans in Yazgulem. There he was told that among the Chiltans there are four poles (qutb), which control the four sides of the world.

The history of ostons associated with chiltans goes back to ancient times and is possibly associated with pre-Islamic fire temples. It is no coincidence that chiltans are sometimes called “standing by the fire.” For example, in the center of the sanctuary in the above-mentioned village of Vezdara there is a large number of ash of ancient origin. Researchers have yet to figure out the genetic connection between this kind of oston and fire. Be that as it may, in the views of some peoples, Chiltans are directly related to economic life - they act as patrons of the mountain goat during hunting, stewards of water, etc. The Ismalit Pamirs recite a special spell “Chikhil Ism” (“Forty Names”) to drive out evil spirits.

The third category consists of spirits capable of entering into intimate relationships with a person and even creating a family, if in this case the term relating to marital relations, conditioned by a commonality of life and mutual assistance, is appropriate.

This group includes perhaps the most common spirit in the Pamir Mountains - pari (peri, peri). The genesis of this image, according to V.N. Basilov, should be sought in the depths of centuries - in the ancient layers of Iranian mythology, and the term “bet”, according to B. A. Litvinsky, perhaps goes back to the reconstructed Indo-European word per - “to bring into being, to give birth”, or pele - “to fill” . In the folklore of the Pamiris, the bet often appears in an anthropomorphic form and mainly in the form of an evil one, with a repulsive appearance, or a benevolent and beautiful girl. The latter usually acts as an intercessor. Among the residents of GBAO there is still an expression: “A bet helped him” if one of the men was lucky in business.

In Pamir fairy tales, there are often cases when bets took people with them and flew through the air with them. According to the beliefs of the Bartang people, paris are beautiful mountain spirits. If a pari girl falls in love with a young man, she takes him with her to the mountains. These spirits are capable of not only falling in love, but also getting married. So, in the Ishkashim fairy tale “Tsarevich Amad” Pari marries young man named Amad. It is believed that betting marriages produce extraordinary people. At the same time, according to the beliefs of the Yazgulyam people, for example, when a bet takes a young man as her husband, he loses his mind.

Along with a human form, this spirit can also appear in a zoomorphic form. Residents of one of the Bartang villages considered themselves descendants of the hunter Baig and Pari, who bred mountain goats. One day Baig was going to his beloved from his native village. He did not attach any importance to the fact that a fellow villager was following him with a dog. At this time, his wife and relatives were milking the goats. The dog barked, the goats ran away, and the milk spilled. As a result, the angry bet left her “earthly husband.”

In the Pamir pandemonium there are also genies who cannot be placed in any of the named groups. These demonic creatures can be loosely called joker spirits. They do not wish harm to a person, and at the same time one cannot expect good from them - they, for example, play pranks on lonely travelers.

We will not list all the demonic creatures known in the Pamirs. Let's just say that in Lately for all spirits the pre-Muslim name of deva and the Muslim genie were established. All incorporeal or material creatures living in man or the surrounding world, according to popular beliefs, are afraid of the mention of the name of Allah. Therefore, until now, when Ismailis visit abandoned houses, outbuildings and similar buildings, where there is a possibility of meeting with spirits, they widely use the Muslim formula “In the name of Allah.” Jinns also avoid dwellings where the holy book Koran is found.

Until now, in the life of the Pamiris, especially those living in remote high mountain valleys, great importance have magical techniques of therapeutic and prophylactic, agricultural and commercial nature. They are especially often practiced in rituals life cycle- wedding, maternity, funeral, etc. For example, during a wedding, a special role is assigned to women with many children, whose fertility is believed to be magically transferred to the newlyweds. In addition, the birth of children is magically promoted by showering the bride and groom with dried fruits, bean flour or sweets. In order to protect against demonic forces, the color of red must be present in the clothes of young people.

Just a few decades ago, barren young women came to ostons, where they tied scarves, scraps of fabric or pet hair to trees or poles standing there in order to receive the gracious help of the saints. Since, as is popularly believed, jinn are especially dangerous for women in labor and young children, both of them were supposed to have a variety of amulets with them.

Like many other peoples of the world, among the Pamirs, in the event of a difficult birth, the mother and relatives of the woman in labor untied the knots on their dresses in the house, unraveled the knots in their hair and opened all the locks. In the Pamirs, as in other regions of the Earth, three days after the birth of a child, they put on the first shirt, which among the Badakhshan people is called “the shirt of forty days” and borrowed from an old man or woman, from whom longevity should magically be transferred to the newborn. For talismanic purposes, beads were sewn onto it. And before putting a shirt on a child, a knife with a wooden handle was passed through its collar so that the baby would grow up strong as iron and kind, with a gentle character, like a tree. Usually the forty-day shirt was kept until the birth of the next child in the family.

To protect the baby from demonic forces, especially in the first forty days, which were considered the most dangerous, various amulets were used. Yes, on top bar the claws of an eagle or a bear, wolf teeth and even dog droppings were hung on cradles, and scraps of round-shaped fabric of different colors were sewn onto children's clothes or ornamental patterns were embroidered in the form of a solar circle or an open palm-five - a symbol of the Ismailis. To protect the child from evil forces, he was given two names - his real name and a nickname - and they tried not to call him by his true name until he reached adulthood.

Of all the beliefs related to human illness and death, the most prominent is the belief in the evil eye. This harmful type of magic, according to the beliefs of the Pamiris, is transmitted in two ways: verbally or with an unkind look. From " evil eye"and other magical techniques are believed to be helped by amulets called tumors. These are paper strips folded and sewn into scraps of cloth, on which suras from the Koran or texts from other Islamic religious books are written. At the same time, amulets with “magical” spells read on them can be used to harm a particular person. They are left, for example, in one of the corners or at the threshold of an enemy’s house. Along with amulets, household items are often used as harmful “things” - iron locks, pins, etc., on which the spell is “recited”. This procedure is called “sorcery” (serčid).

An additional impetus for the popularization of magical rituals among the people was the appearance in the late 1990s in the Pamirs of many psychics, telepaths, clairvoyants, etc. Their roles were played not only by adults of both sexes, but even by schoolgirls in grades five to seven. They instilled the same thought in both illiterate grandmothers and certified workers in the field of education, science and medicine: “They have cast a spell on you, which can be removed by such and such a fortune teller or such and such a clairvoyant.”

In addition to predictions, these individuals also positioned themselves as healers. Moreover, young “healers,” for example, reported that treatment recipes were given to them by deceased grandfathers, with whom only they could communicate. Things got to the point of outright oddities. One schoolgirl-healer “prescribed” a sick man who came to see her to drink the tears of... the wild goat Nakhchir. The mountaineer, dumbfounded by what he heard, only said: “Okay, daughter! I’ll somehow catch a mountain goat, but how can I make him cry?”

In conditions of mass unemployment and a sharp drop in living standards, for some, magical “sessions” in the Pamirs have become a source of profit, for others - a dream to “improve” their health, and therefore their material well-being.

In the Pamir Mountains, where from time immemorial there has been an open hearth in homes, it is a kind of home altar. During weddings, funerals and other ceremonies, the fragrant herb styrachmus is burned on it in order to propitiate the spirits of ancestors. For example, on the wedding day, the groom, before going to the bride, goes to the hearth and kisses it, and then takes a pinch of ash and puts it in his shoes. Fire and its derivative ash are considered pure and beneficial substances among the Pamirs. It is prohibited to step over the fireplace or step on its edges. Ashes taken from the fireplace are still thrown away in a place that is clean and inaccessible to pets. You cannot walk on it or jump over it. Before eating, it is not allowed to wash your hands over the ash pit located in front of the fireplace, since it is believed that the household spirit, the guardian of the farishta, lives in it.

Even in ancient times, the cult of animals, in particular sheep, bulls and cows, arose in the Pamirs, as evidenced by images on stones and in caves. Even today in high mountain villages there is a custom of placing bull dung on top of a pile of grain on the threshing floor in order to consecrate it. While escorting one or more cows to the groom's house, the bride's father pulls out some hair from the cows' tails and throws them into the barn. This is done to prevent the remaining animals from getting sick. The owner asks the cows to be taken away not to cause harm to either his family or the family of the new owner.

It can be said without exaggeration that one of the most widespread cults in the Pamirs is the veneration of the spirits of deceased ancestors. It can be seen especially clearly in funeral and memorial rites. From the first minutes after the death of a person, his loved ones, relatives and neighbors try to serve the spirit (ruh), and not the theme of the deceased. After the death of an Ismaili, burning candles are placed on the ledge of the hearth for three nights in a row, which should be considered as a relic of the ancient custom of “feeding” the soul. In our opinion, the actions of the deceased’s closest relatives at the wake of the third day can be considered an echo of fire worship. When the Ismaili spiritual guide (caliph) recites full text funeral treatise, they approach a special vessel where the wick is burning and bow to the fire. And the smell of the funeral dish bodge from the carcass of a ram at the funeral, according to folk beliefs, is pleasant to the spirit of the deceased and saturates him best. The very slaughter of a ram is of a cleansing nature and is a means to ward off the “blood of the dead man,” which is present in the house for three days after his death. Both the reading of the treatise and the preparation of special food are of a protective nature and are addressed primarily to the spirit of the deceased, who, like his “blood,” is present in the home for three days.

It should be said that Badakhshans are reluctant to begin rebuilding or remodeling a house, since this may disturb the spirits of the ancestors whom they revere. And when building a new house, they still pour wooden beams the blood of a sacrificial ram or rooster in order to propitiate the spirits of ancestors.

In the Pamirs, ancient folk ideas about the world, nature and man have been preserved to this day. They, as already mentioned, coexist peacefully and are most closely intertwined with the views and rituals of Ismailism. This syncretism is explained by the isolation of the Pamir gorges and the conservation of extra-Islamic beliefs, rituals and cults.

The material we have presented can be used in lecture courses and seminars at humanitarian universities that offer courses in religious studies or cultural studies. It clearly demonstrates that, despite the progress of science and technology, in the 21st century there remain peoples who managed to preserve the ancient folk traditions and religious beliefs. The task of researchers is to be able to capture them before they disappear into the boundless river of time.

The basis of all primitive cultures are supernatural beliefs aimed at explaining the phenomena of the surrounding world. These beliefs are called traditional, and they come in several different forms, which we will look at below.

Beliefs are traditional, primitive beliefs, early forms of religion, tribal cults, ideas characteristic of the primitive era, reflecting human belief in the existence of supernatural forces and beings that control the processes and phenomena of the material world. The main forms of traditional beliefs: animism, fetishism, totemism, ancestor cult, shamanism, Nolides-mopism, pagualism, magic (witchcraft, witchcraft), animatism, zoolatry, various commercial and agricultural cults.

Animism- belief in the existence of spirits and souls as supernatural images that control all phenomena and processes of the material world (sometimes all primitive beliefs are combined under the term “animism”). Animistic images are the spirits of deceased ancestors. souls of people, animals and plants, spirits natural phenomena and elements (thunder, wind), spirits of disease, etc. The soul, as a rule, is associated with some individual being or object. The spirit acts independently and independently. Souls and spirits can be zoomorphic (animal cult) and phytomorphic (plant cult), but often also anthropomorphic creatures. They are always endowed with consciousness, will and other human properties. The human soul is embodied in the most important processes of the body’s life (breathing) or in its organs (head, heart). The possibility of reincarnation of souls is allowed. Animism is characterized by the opposition of the visible and invisible (otherworldly) worlds, living and dead, incorporeal and incorporeal, animate and inanimate. Animism is often identified with polydemonism, which is characterized by belief in numerous spirits (as opposed to polytheism- belief in the existence of many gods), i.e. supernatural images that have not yet acquired “divine” specificity. Animism also differs from animatism- belief in the universal animation of nature and specific phenomena, but not personalized.

Fetishism- worship of inanimate objects and natural phenomena to which supernatural properties are attributed and which, as a result, turn into objects of worship. There is a widespread idea of ​​the fetish as a temporary receptacle for the spirit acting through it. Closely related to fetishism and animism nagualism- a developed form of the cult of personal patron spirits. Ancestor cult is the worship of the souls or spirits of deceased ancestors (ancestors). Ancestors are considered as guardians of the earth and guarantors of the well-being of their clan (family, tribe); they are considered to be constantly present among the living and influence the daily life of each individual and the entire social group. With the differentiation of society along social lines, the differentiation of ancestors also occurs, while the cult of leaders and elders comes to the fore. There are ancestor cults: family-tribal, general-tribal and national (cult of rulers). The cult of ancestors is closely connected with the funeral cult and funeral rites; it is layered with ideas about personal and family patrons, the souls and spirits of deceased people, the sacralization of power, elements of totemism and fetishism. The cult of ancestors is widespread among the peoples of Tropical Africa, occupies a prominent place in the polytheistic religions of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Indians and Slavs, and is an important element of Confucianism and Shintoism. On the basis of the cult of ancestors, the cult of heroes arose in ancient societies, and the cult of saints in Christianity and Islam.

Totemism based on the idea of ​​a supernatural relationship between a certain social community (usually a clan) and totem - mythical ancestor. Totems most often served as various animals and plants, less often - natural phenomena and inanimate objects. The totem was considered a relative (father, older brother) or friend, on whom the life and well-being of the clan as a whole and each of its members magically depended. As a rule, members of the social community bearing the name of the totem were forbidden to kill and eat it (except for rituals), and were not allowed to marry among themselves. Individual, sexual and other types of totemism have also been recorded. There are known magical rites of reproduction of the totem, which consisted of the ritual eating of its meat and the dancing of masked dancers imitating the totem, as well as the belief and possibility of the constant embodiment (incarnation) of the totem in newborn members of the clan. The idea has been recorded that the death of an object that is a symbol of a totem can lead to the death of its living double. Totemism has been best studied among the aborigines of Australia and the Indians of North America, for whom it forms the basis of the traditional worldview.

Zoolatry(therotheism, animalism, animal cult) - the veneration of animals, closely related in origin to totemism and trade cults.

TRADITIONAL BELIEFS (primitive beliefs, early forms of religion, tribal cults), ideas characteristic of the primitive era, reflecting human belief in the existence of supernatural forces and beings that control the processes and phenomena of the material world. The main forms of traditional beliefs: animism, fetishism, totemism, cult of ancestors, shamanism, polydemonism, nagualism, magic (witchcraft, witchcraft), animatism, zoolatry, various commercial and agricultural cults.

Animism is the belief in the existence of spirits and souls as supernatural images that control all phenomena and processes of the material world (sometimes all primitive beliefs are combined under the term “animism”). Animistic images are the spirits of deceased ancestors, the souls of people, animals and plants, the spirits of natural phenomena and elements (thunder, wind), the spirits of disease, etc. The soul, as a rule, is associated with some individual creature or object. The spirit acts independently and independently. Souls and spirits can be zoomorphic and phytomorphic, but often also anthropomorphic creatures. They are always endowed with consciousness, will and other human properties. The human soul is embodied in the most important processes of the body’s life (breathing) or in its organs (head, heart). The possibility of reincarnation of souls is allowed. Animism is characterized by the opposition of the visible and invisible (otherworldly) worlds, living and dead, but not corporeal and incorporeal, animate and inanimate. Animism is often identified with polydemonism, which is characterized by belief in numerous spirits (as opposed to polytheism - belief in the existence of many gods), that is, supernatural images that have not yet acquired “divine” specificity. Animism also differs from animatism - the belief in the universal animation of nature and its specific phenomena, but not personified.

Fetishism is the worship of inanimate objects and natural phenomena to which supernatural properties are attributed and which, as a result, turn into objects of worship. There is a widespread idea of ​​the fetish as a temporary receptacle for the spirit acting through it. Nagualism, a developed form of the cult of personal patron spirits, is closely related to fetishism and animism.

Ancestor cult is the worship of the souls or spirits of deceased ancestors (ancestors). Ancestors are considered as guardians of the earth and guarantors of the well-being of their clan (family, tribe); they are considered to be constantly present among the living and influence the daily life of each individual and the entire social group. With the differentiation of society along social lines, the differentiation of ancestors also occurs, with the cult of leaders and elders coming to the fore. There are family-tribal, general-tribal and national cults of ancestors (the cult of rulers). The cult of ancestors is closely connected with the funeral cult and funeral rites; it is layered with ideas about personal and family patrons, the souls and spirits of deceased people, the sacralization of power, elements of totemism and fetishism. The cult of ancestors is widespread among the peoples of Tropical Africa, occupies a prominent place in the polytheistic religions of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Indians and Slavs, and is an important element of Confucianism and Shintoism. On the basis of the cult of ancestors, the cult of heroes arose in ancient societies, and the cult of saints in Christianity and Islam.

Totemism is based on the idea of ​​a supernatural relationship between a certain social community (usually a clan) and a totem - a mythical ancestor. Totems most often served as various animals and plants, less often - natural phenomena and inanimate objects. The totem was considered a relative (father, older brother) or friend, on whom the life and well-being of the clan as a whole and each of its members magically depended. As a rule, members of the social community bearing the name of the totem were forbidden to kill and eat it (except for rituals), and were not allowed to marry each other. Individual, sexual and other types of totemism have also been recorded. There are known magical rites of reproduction of the totem, which consisted of the ritual eating of its meat and the dancing of masked dancers imitating the totem, as well as the belief in the possibility of constant embodiment (incarnation) of the totem in newborn members of the clan. The idea has been recorded that the death of an object that is a symbol of a totem can lead to the death of its living double. Totemism has been best studied among the aborigines of Australia and the Indians of North America, for whom it forms the basis of the traditional worldview.

Zoolatry (therotheism, animalism, animal cult) is the veneration of animals, closely related in origin to totemism and trade cults.

The total number of adherents of tribal beliefs throughout the world amounted to 103 million people in 1996 (less than 2% of the total population). The vast majority of them live in Africa and Asia - 70 million (9% of the population) and 30 million (about 1% of the population), respectively. In America, supporters of traditional beliefs number slightly more than 1 million people, in Australia and Oceania - 108 thousand people.

In Africa, there are significant groups of adherents of tribal beliefs in Nigeria (8.6 million, or 10% of the country's population), Mozambique (6.3 million, or 40%), South Africa (6.2 million, or 18%), in Madagascar (5.3 million, or 45%), in Cote d'Ivoire (3.8 million, or 30%), Tanzania (3.6 million, or 13%), Zimbabwe (3.2 million, or 33%), Ghana (3 million, or 20%), Burkina Faso (3 million, or 33%), Ethiopia (2.7 million, or 6%), Benin (2.6 million ., or 55%), Kenya (2.5 million, or 10%), Sudan (2.5 million, or 10%), Sierra Leone (2 million, or 48%), Zambia (1. 9 million, or 23%), Angola (1.4 million, or 14%), Cameroon (1.3 million, or 12%), Liberia (1.3 million, or 49%), Togo ( 1.2 million, or 36%), Uganda (1.1 million, or 6%), Chad (1.1 million, or 19%), Mali (1 million, or 11%), Democratic Republic Congo (about 1 million, or 3%), Guinea (0.9 million, or 12%), Rwanda (0.7 million, or 10%),