Primitive religions and their features. Rise of Primitive Religions

The birth of primitive religions

The simplest forms religious beliefs already existed 40 thousand years ago. It was to this time that the appearance of the modern type (homo sapiens), which differed significantly from its supposed predecessors in physical structure, physiological and psychological characteristics, dates back. But his most important difference was that he was a reasonable person, capable of abstract thinking.

The practice of burial of primitive people testifies to the existence of religious beliefs in this remote period of human history. Archaeologists have established that they were buried in specially prepared places. At the same time, certain rituals were performed to prepare the dead for the afterlife. Their bodies were covered with a layer of ocher, weapons, household items, jewelry, etc. were placed next to them. Obviously, at that time religious and magical ideas were already taking shape that the deceased continued to live, that as well as the real world there is another world where the dead live.

Religious beliefs primitive man reflected in the works rock and cave art, which were discovered in the XIX-XX centuries. in southern France and northern Italy. Most of the ancient rock paintings are hunting scenes, images of people and animals. An analysis of the drawings allowed scientists to conclude that primitive man believed in a special kind of connection between people and animals, as well as in the ability to influence the behavior of animals using some magical techniques.

Finally, it was established that among primitive people the veneration of various objects, which should bring good luck and avert danger, was widespread.

nature worship

Religious beliefs and cults of primitive people developed gradually. The primary form of religion was the worship of nature.. The concept of "nature" was unknown to primitive peoples, the object of their worship was an impersonal natural force, denoted by the concept of "mana".

totemism

Totemism should be considered an early form of religious beliefs.

totemism- belief in a fantastic, supernatural relationship between a tribe or clan and a totem (plant, animal, objects).

Totemism - belief in existence kinship between any group of people (tribe, clan) and a certain type of animal or plant. Totemism was the first form of awareness of the unity of the human collective and its connection with the outside world. The life of the tribal collective was closely connected with certain types of animals that its members hunted.

Subsequently, within the framework of totemism, a whole system of prohibitions arose, which were called taboo. They were an important mechanism for regulating social relations. Thus, the age-sex taboo excluded sexual relations between close relatives. Food taboos strictly regulated the nature of the food that was to be given to the leader, warriors, women, old people and children. A number of other taboos were intended to guarantee the inviolability of the home or hearth, to regulate the rules of burial, to fix positions in the group, the rights and obligations of members of the primitive collective.

Magic

Magic is an early form of religion.

Magic- the belief that a person has supernatural power, which is manifested in magical rites.

Magic is a belief that arose among primitive people in the ability to influence any natural phenomena through certain symbolic actions (conspiracies, spells, etc.).

Originating in ancient times, magic was preserved and continued to develop over many millennia. If initially magical ideas and rituals were of a general nature, then their differentiation gradually occurred. Modern experts classify magic according to the methods and purposes of influence.

Types of magic

Types of magic by methods of influence:

• contact (direct contact of the carrier magical power with the object to which the action is directed), initial (a magical act directed at an object that is inaccessible to the subject of magical activity);
• partial (indirect effect through cut hair, legs, food remnants, which in one way or another get to the owner of mating power);
• imitative (impact on some similarity of a certain subject).

Types of magic by social orientation and goals of impact:

• malicious (spoiling);
• military (a system of rituals aimed at ensuring victory over the enemy);
• love (aimed at invoking or destroying sexual desire: lapel, love spell);
• medical;
• fishing (aimed at achieving good luck in the process of hunting or fishing);
• meteorological (weather change in the right direction);

Magic is sometimes called primitive science or ancestral science because it contained elementary knowledge about the surrounding world and natural phenomena.

Fetishism

Among primitive people, the veneration of various objects that were supposed to bring good luck and ward off dangers was of particular importance. This form of religious belief is called "fetishism".

Fetishism The belief that a certain object has supernatural powers.

Any object that struck the imagination of a person could become a fetish: a stone of an unusual shape, a piece of wood, an animal skull, a metal or clay product. Properties that were not inherent in it were attributed to this object (the ability to heal, protect from danger, help in hunting, etc.).

Most often, the object that became a fetish was chosen by trial and error. If, after this choice, a person was able to achieve success in practical activities, he believed that a fetish helped him in this, and kept it for himself. If a person suffered any failure, then the fetish was thrown out, destroyed or replaced by another. This treatment of fetishes suggests that primitive people did not always respect the subject they chose with due respect.

Animism

Speaking of the early forms of religion, it is impossible not to mention obanimism.

Animism- Belief in the existence of the soul and spirits.

Being at a fairly low level of development, primitive people tried to find protection from various diseases, natural disasters, endowing nature and the surrounding objects on which existence depended, with supernatural powers and worshiping them, personifying them as the spirits of these objects.

It was believed that all natural phenomena, objects and people have a soul. Souls could be evil and benevolent. Sacrifice was practiced in favor of these spirits. Belief in spirits and in the existence of the soul is preserved in all modern religions.

Animistic beliefs are a very significant part of almost everyone. Belief in spirits, evil spirits, an immortal soul - all these are modifications of the animistic ideas of the primitive era. The same can be said about other early forms of religious belief. Some of them were assimilated by the religions that replaced them, others were pushed into the sphere of everyday superstitions and prejudices.

shamanism

shamanism- the belief that an individual (shaman) has supernatural powers.

Shamanism arises at a later stage of development, when people with a special social status appear. Shamans were the keepers of information great importance for a given family or tribe. The shaman performed a ritual called kamlanie (a ritual with dances, songs, during which the shaman communicated with the spirits). During the ritual, the shaman allegedly received instructions from the spirits about how to solve a problem or treat the sick.

Elements of shamanism are present in modern religions. So, for example, priests are credited with a special power that allows them to turn to God.

In the early stages of the development of society, primitive forms of religious beliefs did not exist in their pure form. They intertwined with each other in the most bizarre way. Therefore, it is hardly possible to raise the question of which of the forms arose earlier and which later.

The considered forms of religious beliefs can be found among all peoples at the primitive stage of development. As social life becomes more complex, the forms of worship become more diverse and require closer study.

For many hundreds of millennia, 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, not 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 relating to an earlier period in the history of primitive mankind. Religion could only be born when the consciousness of a person had already developed so much that he had attempts to explain the causes of those natural phenomena that he encountered in his daily life. Observing various natural phenomena: the change of day and night, the seasons, the growth of plants, the reproduction of animals, and much more, a person 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 terrible phenomena, illnesses, 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 early forms of religion was totemism - the idea that all members of the same genus come from a certain animal - a totem. Sometimes a plant or some object was considered a totem. At that time, hunting was the main source of food. This was reflected in the beliefs of primitive people. People believed that they were related to their totem by blood relationship. According to them, a totem animal, if it wants to, can turn into a person. The cause of death was seen in the reincarnation of a person in 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 forbidden to be eaten. When killing a totem, people asked him for forgiveness or tried to put the blame on another. Survivals 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, 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 relationship of each tribe with some animal, which was considered a totem. If an Australian belonged to the kangaroo totem, then he said about this animal: "This is my brother." The genus belonging to the bat or frog totem was called the “genus bat"," the genus of the Frog.

Another form of primitive religion was magic, or sorcery. It was the belief that a person can allegedly influence nature with various "miraculous" tricks and spells. Paintings on the walls of caves and stucco figures have come down to us, often depicting animals pierced by spears and bleeding. Sometimes spears, spear throwers, hunting fences and nets are painted next to the animals. Obviously, primitive people believed that the image of a wounded beast helps a successful hunt. In the cave of Montespan, discovered by the outstanding cave explorer N. Caster in 1923 in the Pyrenees, a figure of a bear without a head molded from clay was found. The figure is riddled with round holes, probably marks from darts. Around the bear, on the clay floor, there are prints of human feet. A similar find was made in the Tyuc d'Auduber cave (France). Two clay sculptures of bison were found there, and around them prints of bare feet survived in the same way.

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

When a buffalo was thus “struck”, everyone surrounded him and, waving knives, pretended to be skinning him and dismembering the carcass.

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

The painted pebbles of the Mae d'Azil cave.

Gradually developed new form religions - the cult of nature. Man's superstitious fear of formidable nature evoked a desire to somehow propitiate her. Man began to worship the sun, earth, water, fire. Man in his imagination peopled all nature with "spirits". This form of religious representation is called animism (from the Latin word "animus" - spirit). Sleep, fainting, death, primitive people explained the departure of the "spirit" ("soul") from the body. Animism is associated with belief in an afterlife and ancestor worship. This is evidenced by burials: together with the deceased, his things were placed in the grave - jewelry, weapons, as well as food supplies. According to the idea of ​​primitive people, all this should have been useful to the deceased in his “afterlife”.

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

It is unlikely that archaeologists would have solved the mystery of the pebbles if they had not found similarities with similar drawings on the stones of the Australian Arunta tribe, which stood at a very low stage of development. The Arunta had warehouses of painted pebbles or pieces of wood called churingas. Arunta believed that after the death of a person, his "soul" moves into stone. Each arunta had his own churinga, the receptacle of the soul of his ancestor, the properties of which he inherited. The people of this tribe believed that every person from birth to death is connected with his churinga. Churingas of the living and dead Australians of the Arunta tribe were kept in caves with a walled entrance, known only to the elderly, who treated the churingas with special attention. From time to time they counted 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 view of primitive people were associated with the animation of all nature. Gradually developed religious ideas about the spirits of the earth, the sun, thunder, lightning, vegetation. Later, on this basis, the myth of dying and resurrecting gods arose.

With the disintegration of the primitive community, the emergence of classes and slave-owning states, new forms of religious ideas appeared. Among the spirits and deities, people began to single out the main ones, to whom the rest obey. There were myths about the family relationship of kings with the gods. In the ruling elite of society, professional priests appeared, clergymen who used religion in the interests of the exploiters as an instrument of oppression of the working people.

Modern and primitive religions are the belief of mankind that some higher forces control not only people, but also various processes in the Universe. This is especially true of ancient cults, since at that time the development of science was weak. Man could not explain this or that phenomenon in any other way, except for divine intervention. Often, such an 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 compulsion. If the belief was not accepted by a person, then he was tortured and tortured until he changed his point of view. Today, the choice of religion is free, people have the right to choose their own worldview.

What religion is the most ancient?

The emergence of primitive religions dates back to a long period, about 40-30 thousand years ago. But which belief came first? Scientists have different points of view on this. Some believe that this happened when people began to perceive each other's souls, others - with the appearance of witchcraft, others took the worship of animals or objects as a basis. But the very emergence of religion itself is 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 leads to the conclusion that attempts to search are unlawful. Each tribe that existed then had its own object for worship.

We can only say unequivocally 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 Gods out of wood. If they do not like something, then they can cut or pierce their patron with a needle. This is also supernatural. Therefore, every modern religion has its oldest "ancestor".

When did the first religion appear?

Initially, primitive religions and myths are closely intertwined. In modern times, it is impossible to find an interpretation of some events. The fact is that they tried to tell 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. The 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 just buried and that's it. There is no evidence that this process was accompanied by rituals.

Weapons, food and some household items (burials made 30-10 thousand years ago) are found in later graves. 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 are next to him. People buried or burned took on an invisible ghostly form. They became kind of guardians of the family.

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

Reasons for the emergence of the first and subsequent religions

Primitive religions and their features are very similar to modern beliefs. Various religious cults for thousands of years acted in their own and state interests, providing psychological impact to the 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 occurs in his life. And if he cannot get it thanks to his knowledge, then he will certainly receive the justification of the observed through supernatural intervention.
2. Psychology. Earthly life is finite, and there is no way to resist death, at least for this moment. Therefore, a person needs to 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 anyone who violates them. It is much easier to scare and prevent these actions. If a person is afraid to do something bad, due to the fact that supernatural forces will punish him, then the number of violators will significantly decrease.
4. Politics. To maintain the stability of any state, ideological support is required. And only this or that belief is capable of rendering it.

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

totemism

Types of religions of primitive man and their description should begin with totemism. Ancient people lived in groups. Most often these were families or their association. Alone, a person could not provide himself with everything necessary. This is how the cult of animal worship appeared. Societies hunted animals for food without which they could not live. And the appearance of totemism is quite logical. So humanity paid tribute to the means of subsistence.

So, totemism is the belief that one family is related by blood to some particular animal or natural phenomenon. In them, people saw patrons who helped, punished if necessary, resolved conflicts, and so on.

There are two features of totemism. First, each member of the tribe had a desire to outwardly resemble their animal. For example, some inhabitants of Africa, in order to look like a zebra or antelope, knocked out their lower teeth. Secondly, it was impossible to eat if you did not follow the ritual.

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

Fetishism

Primitive religions cannot be considered unless fetishism is taken into account. It was the belief that some things have supernatural properties. Various items worshiped, handed down 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 effect on some phenomenon, but did not affect its occurrence in any way.

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

Magic and religion

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

Despite the seeming impossibility of magic, it was she who formed 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, a funeral service, and so on) has supernatural power. But it is also considered in a separate form, different from all beliefs. People tell fortunes on cards, call on spirits, or do everything to see dead ancestors.

Animism

Primitive religions did 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 reflections, the belief that everyone has a soul appeared. 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 the belief in spirits, and it does not matter whether they refer to a person, an animal or a plant.

A feature 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 spiritualisms, belief in ghosts, essences, and so on.

shamanism

It is impossible to consider primitive religions without singling out the clergy. This is most acutely seen 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 more 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 kind of king or khan, who can only do natural movements (weapons, troops, and so on).

Elements of shamanism are present in virtually all modern religions. Believers especially treat priests, mullahs or other worshipers, believing that they are under the direct influence of higher powers.

Unpopular primitive religious beliefs

The types of primitive religions need to be supplemented with some beliefs that are not as popular as totemism or, for example, magic. Among them is the agricultural cult. The primitive people who led 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 today's 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, the primitive forms of religion cannot be considered briefly. Every ancient belief exists to this day, even though it has actually lost its face. Rites 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 would not have a strong direct connection with the most ancient cults.

Modern man does not always take seriously the beliefs of primitive people. Reasoning about the faith of an 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 kind 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. Totem - a special kind of animal or plant, endowed with supernatural powers: the ability to bestow healing, 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 clan has its progenitor: a bear, an eagle, a snake and even a duck;
• on the territory of modern Australia, totems can even include the manifestation of the weather: rain, the rays of the sun, heat;
• on the territory of Black Africa, the maize totem is especially common.

Animism

Animism is also a type of religion in 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 non-living being is animated 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, a conscious organism.

Magic

Primitive man was not endowed with such a system of knowledge that we now have. That is why he used the irrational to explain his environment. So, magic is a seemingly secret, supernatural influence on the surrounding matter. In a primitive society, not every member of the tribe could master the secret meanings of magic. This unusual mission was entrusted to separate "classes" of people - priests, shamans. Initiated tribal sorcerers were sometimes even more respected than military leaders and elders of the clan. They, according to ancient people, could heal or harm health, improve crop yields, cause good weather, destroy the enemy, and help in hunting.

What religion was preached in those ancient times, when Christianity was still unheard of? The religion of the ancient Slavs, which is commonly called paganism, included a huge number of cults, beliefs and beliefs. It coexisted both archaic primitive elements and more developed ideas about the existence of gods and the human soul.

The religion of the Slavs originated more than 2-3 thousand years ago. The most ancient religious belief of the Slavic peoples is animism. According to this belief, any person has an incorporeal double, a shadow, a spirit. This is where the concept of the soul originated. According to the ancient ancestors, not only people, but also animals, as well as all natural phenomena, have a soul.
The Slavic religion is also rich in totemic beliefs. Totems of animals - elk, wild boar, bear, as sacred animals, were the subject of worship. Subsequently, each became a symbol of a Slavic god. For example, a wild boar is a sacred animal and a bear is Veles. There were also plant totems: birches, oaks, willows. Many were held near isolated sacred trees.

Gods in the Slavic religion.

The Slavs did not have a single god for all. Each tribe worshiped a different one. The religion of the ancient Slavs refers to common gods such characters as Perun, Veles, Lada, Svarog and Makosh.

• Perun is a thunderer, patronized princes and warriors. Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich of Kyiv revered this god as supreme.
• Veles - the god of wealth, the "cattle-breeding" god, patronized the merchants. Rarely regarded as the god of the dead.
• Svarog - the god of fire and sky, is considered the father of other divine creatures, the supreme deity of the early Slavs.
• Makosh is the goddess of fate, water and fertility, the patroness of expectant mothers. It was considered the personification of the feminine.
• Lada is the goddess of love and beauty. She was considered the goddess of the "woman in labor", patronizing the summer harvest.

Idols of the ancient Slavs.

The religion of the ancient Slavs had not only its own gods, but also its own idols - sculptures that convey the image of one or another deity, which was revered more than others in the tribe. These were wooden or stone statues that were worshiped during religious ceremonies. Most often, idols were installed on the banks of rivers, in groves, on hillocks. They were very often dressed, they held a bowl or horns in their hands, next to them one could see rich weapons. There were smaller household idols that were hidden in dwellings. The ancient Slavs identified idols with the deity itself, so it was a great sin to damage the statue of an idol.

Ancient "Temples" and Magi in the Slavic Religion.

Inhabited in the territory modern Russia they never erected temples: they performed all ritual actions and prayers in the open air. Instead of a temple, they equipped the so-called "temple" - a place where idols were placed, an altar was located and sacrifices were made. Moreover, the religion of the ancient Slavs allowed any of the believers to approach the idols, bow to them and make some kind of offering. As a rule, various animals were used as sacrifices; the ancient Slavs did not practice human sacrifices.

Magi existed among the ancient Slavs as keepers of knowledge, seers and healers. They kept and passed on ancient myths from generation to generation, compiled calendars, predicted the weather, performed the functions of sorcerers and magicians. The Magi had a great influence on the Kiev princes, who consulted with them on all important state issues.

Thus, it can be stated with confidence that the religious ideas of the ancient Slavs are a well-developed system, which includes a huge number of different pagan beliefs professed by the Slavs before the adoption Christian religion. She played a huge role in shaping the worldview, worldview and culture of the Slavic peoples. Its echoes are still present in our lives.