Ancient guardians of the family hearth. Household deities and spirits Good spirits patronizing the family and home

The emblem of the household gods was the sacred fire, which was constantly kept on the altar in the home of every Greek or Roman; their priest was the head of the family; to join a family - for example, for a woman through marriage - meant joining the cult of the household deity. Household deities were deified ancestors, ancestors, and parents. Fustel de Coulanges explained the entire structure of ancient society by the cult of ancestors, which served as the basis for both sacred, civil and public law; hence the isolation of the clan union, the members of which were united by the cult and were sharply opposed to all those who were not involved in it.

Among the ancient Greeks

The souls of ancestors, elevated by death to deity, were called demons or heroes/geniuses by the Greeks. The place of their cult - the hearth, the fireplace - was hidden from uninitiated eyes in the most intimate parts of the house. Hence another name for household deities - hidden (θεοί μυκίοι, ερκιοι κτήσιοι) or internal (dii Penates).

Not only each family, but also the state, as one whole, had its own lares (lari publici, as opposed to lari privati) and its penates (penati majores, publici, as opposed to penati minores, privati).

Among the ancient Romans

In China

The cult of ancestors was widespread in China, where it served as the starting point for all other religious systems. Until the 20th century, the Chinese made sacrifices to the souls of their ancestors and were convinced that the well-being of their deceased ancestors and living descendants was determined by their mutual goodwill and mutual services.

Among the Slavs

The cult of ancestors clearly appeared in Slavic mythology, and it is also reflected in modern folk ideas. S. M. Solovyov, finding that the religion of the Eastern Slavs consisted of the worship of elemental deities and the worship of the souls of the dead, argued that all Slavic demonology predominantly developed from the latter. Worship of the souls of the dead was determined, according to S. M. Solovyov, by tribal life and was performed by elders in clans and families, which explained the absence of a special class of priests among the Eastern Slavs and the underdevelopment of public worship.

Their deity protecting the clan and home was, first of all, Rod [ ] .

On the one hand, fire was a manifestation on earth of the heavenly solar god, a messenger of the heavenly gods; on the other hand, he contributed to the purification of the soul of the deceased and thus himself turned into a symbol of the soul of the ancestor, which, under the name of Rod, Chura, grandfather of the brownie, became a household deity, the guardian of the family and clan. On the hearth, both of these meanings of fire merged into one inseparable whole; it equally honored the elemental heavenly god and the tribal deity of the family community.

This dual meaning of fire found the most striking confirmation in the belief of the Western Slavs about a domestic creature (its Czech name is Křet “Krzhet”, Slovenian Skrat “Skrat”), which, under the guise of a fiery serpent, flew through a pipe and brought the owner all kinds of bread and other earthly fruits, and sometimes different treasures. Czech brownies were called with skrits And with grilles; Czech brownie Křet was depicted in the form of small bronze figurines, the size of a finger, which is why it was called Paleček “Executioner” (

 21.12.2010 19:37

Brownie is a kind Spirit, the keeper of the hearth. One of the ancestors, founders of a given Clan or House.
Scientists call Domovoi the energetic Substance of a house or apartment.
The brownie is everywhere where people live. He looks after the housekeeping and order in the house.
The Brownie was depicted as an Elder, wise from Experience. The figurines were made of wood, clay and most often with a cup in hand for Treba. The maximum size is a yard high. And the minimum is two inches.

The brownie was called differently: Grandfather, Master or Hostess, Neighbor (because he lives next door to people), Shishok (which means small in stature). Egor Kuzmich or simply Kuzmich - this is if the Brownie spoils, loves to play, fool around, “prank”. Nathanik, from the word Nav. The brownie, who lived in the house from generation to generation, was called by name. Which they already knew, because communicated with him for several centuries.
Domovoy really disliked being called the Devil, i.e. to those who are beyond the line of perception.
Christian Priests (Ashes of the Fathers who Betrayed) really do not like Brownies. They go from house to house and chase Domovoi with holy water, intimidating people, explaining to them that these are Demons.
Our ancestors were friends with the Brownies and took care of each other. There was mutual assistance and mutual support.
Such relations with Domovoy were normal even before the mid-20th century.

The Master's corner was the corner of the Brownie and the Masters of the house; a bowl was placed there for treating the Brownie.

In the house, a broom was placed at the threshold and so that it would be convenient for the Brownie to grasp it (he is short in stature) in order to sweep away evil spirits from the house.
The brownie does not eat the food that is put in his bowl, like a person. He takes from the products the Energy that he needs, because... When caring for the house, he spends energy.
Milk, cream, and sour cream were considered the highest energy foods. Oil. This is what they treated Domovoy to. Another bowl was placed for pancakes and pancakes. However, you can treat Domovoy to everything you eat yourself.

The aromas of food stewed in it attract him. Curtains used to be hung in this place so as not to disturb the Brownie.
In apartments, Domovoy also likes to live in the kitchen, in the wardrobe or under the “pet”’s bed.
Previously, the bedspread was made all the way to the floor or a valance was hung, also so as not to disturb the Brownie.
They made sure that Domovoy did not play around. Since he loves children, he can choose one and at night he tangles his hair (trying to braid his hair).
If a brownie falls in love with a girl, he will not let her get married. What did they do then? They sewed or knitted a brownie hat, sweater, and socks. They made furniture. And in response to care and guardianship, the satisfied Domovoy made the wedding joyful. As they say: “Debt is worth paying.”
The brownie likes to sit on the threshold, so it’s better not to stand in the doorway.
If the Brownie is brought to the point of “white heat,” then he turns, as they say now, into a Drum or a Poltergeist. Because in response to care, he taught disrespect. The Brownie can also behave when there are scandals, fights, and drinking in the house. Since this is all unnatural, but the Brownie is a natural creature and is accustomed to living in natural conditions. You cannot treat Domovoy to alcohol!!!
“A Man’s Life is counted as Years, and a Brownie’s Life as Ages.”
If you don’t see something around you, it doesn’t mean at all that it doesn’t exist.
Our attitude towards Domovoi is our attitude towards the World around us.
“Wish for others what you wish for yourself.”
“Love your neighbor if he deserves it.”

Source:
Based on materials from the Lessons of the Asgard Theological School of the Old Russian Inglistic Church of the Orthodox Old Believers of the Inglings. Lecturer Pater Diy.

In Slavic lower mythology, a spirit living in a house. In ancient times, among the Eastern Slavs, the brownie acted as the guardian of the hearth and family and was associated with the cult of ancestors. Legends and beliefs about the brownie have survived to this day in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian villages. Western and southern Slavs also have an idea about this creature. It is believed that in every house there lives a brownie - the patron of the house, the invisible helper of the family, therefore he is respectfully called the owner, grandfather, neighbor. He likes to settle in secluded places - under the threshold or under the stove, in the attic or in the closet, in the chimney or in the corner behind the chest.

He helps hardworking owners, tirelessly takes care of them and worries. The brownie notices every little thing, likes everything to be in order and ready; he enjoys the offspring of domestic animals and birds; he does not tolerate unnecessary expenses and gets angry because of them - in a word, the brownie is inclined to order, thrifty and prudent. If he likes the home, then he serves this family faithfully. But he harms and disturbs the lazy and careless, does various dirty tricks on them: he scatters things, tears clothes or stains laundry, or even completely prevents them from sleeping at night, strangling people in their sleep and torturing them. However, it is not difficult to make peace with an angry brownie: you just have to put things in order in the house and talk to him kindly - he is a very big hunter of kind words.

If the owners love their “neighbor”, if they live in harmony with him, then they will never want to part with him. Previously, when moving to a new house, people performed a certain ritual with the goal that the brownie would move with them and continue to help in the new place. The brownie was “transported” in a pot of coals, in a bag, lured with a pot of porridge, etc. For example, they would scrape under the threshold, collect the garbage in a dustpan - and sprinkle it in the new hut, not forgetting to say with all possible respect: “Grandfather brownie, come home. Come live with us!” It is a rare person who can boast that he has seen a brownie. It is much easier to hear a brownie: at night he knocks, rustles, creaks and commits various mischief. The brownie can predict various events, both pleasant and unpleasant, and give appropriate signs: his crying and dull, restrained moans seem to warn of danger, and his gentle and affectionate voice, like a breeze quietly rustling leaves, promises calm and joy. Sometimes at night he strokes the sleeping people with his soft paw, and then it is clear that this is for good.

This is what the Slavic brownie is like - undoubtedly a kind spirit, a caring keeper of the hearth, an invisible helper and a cheerful mischief-maker.

Religious beliefs of the Shors

The traditional spiritual culture of the Shors has its own local characteristics associated with differences in ethnocultural contacts with Russians in the 17th - early 17th century. XX centuries and the influence of modernization of the Soviet period. To the beginning XX century Most of the Shors, through the efforts of the Altai Spiritual Mission, were baptized and officially professed Orthodoxy. Orthodox calendar rituals supplanted shamanistic ones or were combined with them; knowledge of the Russian language, the Bible and the lives of saints, and the history of Russia was spread through missionary schools. However, shamanism and more archaic cults of fire, mountains, etc. continued to occupy a significant place in spiritual life.

Elements of pre-Christian beliefs have survived to this day, although they do not play a noticeable role in the modern life of the majority of Shors, the vast majority of whom adhere to a non-religious worldview.

Ancestral beliefs. Spirits of mountains, rivers, fire, trade cult.

The spirits of the Tag-Ezi mountains, unlike the hunting patrons of the Shors, did not receive material embodiment, although their image is quite clearly represented in the mythology of the Shors. They usually appeared to hunters in their dreams in the form of a young naked woman or girls with large breasts thrown over their shoulders or tucked under their arms. Images of the spirit of fire from-ezi are also not known among the Shors, although sacrifices to him during funerals and wakes have been preserved to this day. This fact is explained by ethnographers by the extreme antiquity of the cult, when the making of idols was not yet practiced.

The religious content of hunting among the Shors was so abundant that hunting itself was considered something sacred. Along the way, the hunters stopped at the foot of the mountains and “fed” the tag-ezi spirit, sprinkling the sacrificial drink abyrtka around. Crossing the ridge, they threw the collected fir branches, turning to the mountains with a request for successful fishing. Arriving at the fishing site, they sprinkled the hunting booth with abyrt, and during the evening meal they threw pieces of meat into the fire to the spirit of fire o-ezi. A kaichi storyteller, specially taken for the hunt, told tales to those present and to the spirits, accompanying his story by playing a two-stringed musical instrument, a komys or a pipe made of dry angelica.

There were strict prohibitions in the fishery: it was forbidden to make noise, shout, or swear, since animals in the taiga understand human speech. It was possible to communicate with each other only by signs, allegorically naming game animals. Instead of alba, sable was called askyr, i.e. beautiful, bear instead of apilak - ulugh kizhi, i.e. old person, etc.

It was believed that the soul of a game animal was in the tip of its nose, so the latter was cut off and kept as an amulet. Various parts of a killed bear served as similar amulets: a claw or paw suspended above the door served as a talisman against the evil spirits of the Ainu. There were cases when in an apiary they hung a bear's head on a stake and turned it towards someone else's apiary so that the bees would fly there to steal honey.

Along with the veneration of the spirit owners of game animals, every year, before a big hunt, prayers were held for other spirits that facilitate the hunt, which, according to Mrass, were usually depicted as one-headed or two-headed. Images with a large oval head with pieces of fur stuck on it and with short protrusions on the sides instead of arms were considered male. They had a long, straight and wide nose, and round copper eyes. The second image, in the form of two ovals of equal size, connected by a short and thin bridge, was considered female.

On Kondoma the spirit of hunting, Shalyg, was revered. He was depicted as a husband and wife carved out of wood, with one leg of the male image being made shorter than the other, which is why the shalyg was considered lame. They kept images of spirits in a canvas bag or birch bark box in the barn. Before hunting, they were brought into the house and left there until the hunters returned, treating them to araka and talkan. There on Kondoma the spirit of sarys was considered the patron saint of hunting. His images in the form of kolonka skin or a small rectangular canvas rag were hung on the branches of trees outside the ulus and fed on the way to the fishery.

In the fall, before hunting, the Kalarians worshiped the spirit of the terkizhi - the man of the front corner. Usually it was an image of a human face made of birch bark with an attached wooden nose and eyes made of lead plaques, with a glued beard and mustache made of a squirrel's tail. For feeding, ter-kizhi were brought from the barn to the house and placed in the front corner. A birch bark two-bucket container with abyrtka and a plate of porridge were placed in front of him. Feeding was accompanied by ritual and abundant feasting.

Spirits are the patrons of the hearth.

In addition to the host spirits and patrons of hunters, the spirits of ancestors also lived on the earth, being the patrons of the hearth. Their images were made by women. These anthropomorphic “patrons” of the hearth and children, the ancestors of the Orekenner or Ter-Kizhiler women, were present in every family and belonged to the most ancient cultural layer. The Shors had different variations of their material embodiment, and accordingly had different names: orekenner, ene-kizhi, tor-kizhiler.

When a girl left her parents' house, she received them from her mother and transported them to her husband's house. Ancestral spirits took care of the well-being of the family, increasing the clan, and protected the health of children and the ancestral fire. If these spirits were treated carelessly, they would send illnesses, so at least once a year they were treated to lard and butter. Such images were stored in a bag or birch bark box on a stove or under a barn lid.

Orekenners were simplified images of a person in the form of either rag dolls (canvas bags 15-20 cm long, filled with tow, or less often with hair cut from the head of a deceased shaman), or in the form of strips of kendyr fabric. Most often they were armless and legless, sometimes without a neck, nose, mouth, but always with beaded eyes. Often the figures were combined in pairs - husband and wife (Fig. 4).

In some Shor clans, images of household spirits were simplified anthropomorphic cylindrical figurines sewn from burlap, lacking a neck and sometimes a nose and mouth. Some figurines had breasts marked, representing female spirits. The “dolls” were connected either in pairs, denoting husband and wife, or in groups of three or more.

Canvas and fabric-stuffed tor-kijilers are similar to orekenners, but often had the likeness of arms and headdresses. Most likely, orekenners, tor-kizhilers and ene-kizhi are different local names for images that perform the same function.

Another type of home perfume includes images that have a wooden base sewn into a piece of fabric (Fig. 3), on top of which the eyes, nose and mouth are marked with beads or stitches of thread. A scarf was tied around the head or a round cap was put on, and the figures themselves were girded with sashes. Such images were also called tor-kijiler, and if treated poorly, they could harm livestock and poison the water.

In the pantheon of household spirits of patrons, the deity Umai, Umai-iche, occupied a special place. Ideas about the goddess Umai, the patroness of children, were widespread among all the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Sayan-Altai and apparently arose in the ancient Turkic era. According to the Shors, Umai lives both in the upper world and on earth next to a newborn child.

Over time, the cult of the goddess Umai descended to the family and everyday level and its functions were limited, like those of other ancestral spirits.

The Mras, Kondoma and Upper Abakan Shors (Balyktash ulus) simultaneously revered the good patroness of children, Umai, and the evil deity Kara-Umai, with whom they associated the illness and death of infants.

Umai, the patroness of children, was personified with the soul of a child and was included in the shamanic pantheon. The word “umai” was used to describe the soul of a child from the moment of birth until about three years of age; the Shors also called the baby’s umbilical cord. Her symbolic image - a talisman in the form of a bow with an arrow attached with a piece of hare skin to a piece of birch bark - was nailed to the wall of the yurt or above the cradle of a child as a sign of the presence of a female deity. L.P. Potapov notes that it “was made when the child was first put into the cradle (with the invitation of the shaman) and was removed when the children grew up and no longer used the cradle. Next to this image, pine nut grains were left overnight for a “treat” and sprinkled with talkan.

The Mars Shors had another image of Umai - a small birch bark cradle, lined with hare skin and pierced with either an arrow (for a boy) or a spindle (for a girl) and attached to the wall of the yurt. The simplest amulet could be a short wooden arrow with an iron tip, placed at the bottom of a child’s cradle.

In one of the field inventories by ethnographer A.V. Anokhin sketched a cloth doll, also called Umai. The material image of the evil spirit Kara-Umai was made of clay in the form of a human figurine attached to a wooden plank.”

If children in the family were sick and died, the mother turned to the shaman for help. He forced the woman, secretly from everyone, to roll up a pala kudu nachach doll from rags, i.e. the childish soul of a small child imitating a baby. This ritual of Umai Tytarga was held secretly in the dead of night on the anniversary of the death of the last child. Previously, on the advice of the shaman, the woman threw a cradle into the river so that Kara-Umai would float down the river with it to the kingdom of the dead. During the ritual, the woman held a made doll in her hands at her chest, like a child. The shaman performed his rituals quietly, although with a tambourine, carefully walking his way. Having caught Umai a child, the kam brought her in his tambourine, with which he covered the woman-mother, forcing her to drink milk or araka at that time and, with blows on the tambourine, “hammered” the kidnapped soul of the child into her. At the same time, the child whose soul was stolen died. The shaman reported the gender of the stolen child, whose soul was stolen, and ordered to make a talisman for the birth of a new child: for a boy - a small bow with an arrow, for a girl - a cowrie shell to hang them from the cradle to protect the newborn.

The Kara-Umai figurines were carefully hidden from prying eyes. Some buried them after a successful ritual in the earthen floor of the yurt not far from the place where the cradle with the newborn was usually placed. Others sent the doll in a small wooden coffin on a raft down the river.

The persistent preservation of the cult of this female deity among a number of modern Turkic-speaking peoples of Sayan-Altai and Central Asia, and in similar features, reaching the point of identity, indicates its wide distribution in ancient Turkic times.

Complex perfumes

The taiga Shors made and revered images of spirits who were at the same time patrons of the hearth and hunting, since the well-being of the family was inconceivable without a successful hunt. Among such images are T.I. Kimeeva distinguishes several types.

Among the Shors of the middle reaches of Mrassu and in the upper reaches of the Tom, kannatyg or kanatular (winged) was revered in the form of a natural fork of a birch branch with an unornamented cloth in the middle. Bird feathers were attached to the ends of the fork or along the top edge of the cloth. In the lower reaches of Mrassu, the fork with a canvas was called Ukhut-kan, in the lower reaches of Kondoma - Uchugat-kan. This idol, in the form of a rag fastened between a fork, patronized both hunting and protected the house from evil forces, living in the chimney.

Among the Shors of the lower reaches of the Kondoma, an image similar to the kanatular was also called sarae/sarys/kolunak, interpreted as the spirit of the hunt. It was either a small piece of canvas or a kolinka skin, which was hung on the mat for the entire duration of the owner’s hunt. T.I. Kimeeva believes that the prototype of the cult object in the form of a fork with stretched canvas was a kolinka skin, which, when making a bloodless sacrifice - feeding - was hung on a birch fork stuck into a bench.

The hunting spirits sarae, kolunak, kannatyg, kanatular had a generic affiliation. Their images were kept in a barn or under a roof along with other spirits and were “treated” to fatty foods - butter and porridge without salt. For disrespect, the “winged one” could send diseases and prevent hunters from aiming at the beast, flashing before their eyes.”

The spirits of the territorial-ethnic groups of the Shors, which were later in origin, already had an anthropomorphic form, were revered by entire groups of Shor clans and were called taigam, shalygi, kurmushi and constituted the 2nd type.

Throughout the Mrassu valley, in the upper reaches of the Tom and Abakan, the Shors revered the hunting spirit of the taiga, which had both one-headed and two-headed images. In both cases, the body proportions of the images were violated. Single-headed taigams were carved from wood and had an anthropomorphic shape with an oval head (Fig. 2). The straight and wide nose began at the upper edge of the head, the eyes were usually indicated by copper round buttons or pistons pressed into the wood. A mouth with thin lips was cut out, around which pieces of fur were glued, representing a beard and mustache. Some figures had feet and signs of gender. Before going on a hunt, the invited shaman sprayed an abyrt on a gun hanging from the wall.

The two-headed wooden taigams had the shape of two ovals connected by a thin bridge. The upper oval depicted a face with outlined features: a long dihedral nose widening downward, narrow eyes made of wire or round ones made of copper rivets, a mouth carved in the form of a recess. On the lower oval of some figures there is a sign of gender or feet. Some taigam have mustaches, eyebrows and beards made from pieces of fur.

Among the Shors of the middle reaches of the river. Before hunting, condominium hunters performed shalyga, which was revered both as a household penate and as a hunting spirit. The image of the spirit was carved from cedar or pine in the form of a flat anthropomorphic figure with an oval finish, eyes made of pieces of lead or copper, a relief-carved mouth and nose, dissected legs of different lengths and arms in the form of short protrusions.

According to A.V. Anokhin, among the Kondom Shors living near the city of Kuznetsk, the image of the shalyg was made in two copies: one was considered a wife, the other was considered a husband, and with legs of equal size, unlike the wife.

The third type includes idols made of birch bark in the form of a human face with eyes made of round lead plaques, a wooden nose, and a beard and mustache made of a squirrel's tail. They resemble Kocha birch bark masks. Such images symbolized spirits combining the functions of patrons of hunting and the hearth. According to L.P. Potapov, the hunters of the Cheley family organized a ritual for the “owner of the door” - the Yesi hedgehog, who was considered the son of Ulgen and the guardian of the human home. His image was also made from birch bark. In the past, the Shors of the Kalar clan revered tor-kizhi - “the owner of the front corner”, whose image was made in the form of a birch bark mask.

The Shors also had ideas about the magical power of amulets. This could be an animal bone attached to the rope of a child's cradle or a bear's paw, strengthened in front of the entrance to the yurt.

Images of domestic and hunting spirits were most often kept together in a secluded corner in a birch bark case or simply in a bag. Such pieces were decorated with simple ornaments: a zigzag of two parallel lines, rhombuses made using the scratching technique.

Thus, among the Shors, pre-shamanistic beliefs are represented by objects of household and hunting cults, as well as amulets endowed with magical powers.

Shamanism

According to the traditional worldview of the Kuznetsk Tatar-Shorians, the world is divided into three spheres: the heavenly land of Ulgen-cher (the land of Ulgen) - the sky; middle land - orty cher or bistin cher - our land; the land of evil spirits – aina cher – the underworld.

In the domain of the supreme deity Ulgen there are 9 heavens. On the first, lowest sky of the koshkan there is the lightning of the sarydzhy - a whip for the gray-white horse Ulgen, thunder - blows of this whip. In the middle of the first heaven of Sanchi lives its owner, who has his own house, wife, and children. The second sky is called kok kur - the blue belt, where the blue part of the Tengri Chelize rainbow is located. The third - kyzyl kur - red belt, the fourth - kyr kur - gray belt, the fifth - kektamosh kur - blue belt, and the sixth - kyzyl tengri - red sky, red women live there. The moon and stars are in the seventh sky, the sun is in the eighth, and Ulgen, the good supreme deity, lives in the ninth.

Ulgen, together with his brother Erlik, who in the mythology of the Shors personified the evil principle, created the world and man. According to legend, Ulgen created the sun, moon, stars, level earth and rivers on it. Erlik, an evil deity, placed mountains on the earth. Then Ulgen created birds and animals, then man, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not create his soul. He called Erlik and asked for help, to which he agreed, but set the condition that the created soul would belong to him, and let Ulgen own the body. Therefore, the Kuznetsk Tatars believed that Ulgen and Erlik were equal and their power over a person was the same. Happiness, health, wealth are the will of two, not one being. Even obvious evil: illness, misfortune - are determined by both principles.

According to legends, Erlik, by the will of Ulgen, was expelled from the surface of the earth to the underworld, where he rules. Subordinate to Eric are his Aina assistants. These are evil spirits that take away a person’s soul, causing him illness and death. In the lower world there is an afterlife where the souls of dead people live - the Kermes, who, like the Aina, serve Erlik.

Man lives on the middle earth in the vicinity of numerous spirits - the owners of places: taiga, mountains, rivers, lakes. Moreover, these spirits are usually presented as anthropomorphic creatures, almost no different from people in their way of life. The most revered spirits among the Shors were the spirits of the mountains - tag ezi and the spirits of water - sug ezi. These spirits were represented in the form of male hunters or naked women with long flowing hair. The water spirit was often seen in the form of a horned black man.

Tag Ezi was considered not only the owner of the mountain, but also the owner of the taiga with all its inhabitants. Animals and birds were perceived as his subjects. The Kuznetsk Tatars considered the molting of animals as a kind of payment of tribute to their owner.

The life of any person, according to the views of the Kuznetsk Tatars - Shors, was completely dependent on these surrounding spirits and deities of all three worlds. The person himself only in a few cases directly communicated with the spirits, for example, when “feeding” the spirit of fire, making sacrifices to the master spirits during crafts and some household patron spirits. More often, communication with spirits and deities took place through an intermediary - a shaman, a special chosen one among people living on earth.

The services of shamans were resorted to very often: in case of illness, during funerals and wakes, before a hunt, during difficult childbirth, before harvesting, etc. In addition, there were traditional ancestral prayers to Ulgen, in which a shaman necessarily participated.

Only a special chosen one of Ulgen could become a shaman, or kam in Shor. Such a chosen one usually has Ulgen's mark, the so-called artak seok - an extra bone: a tubercle on a finger or toe, a hole in the earlobe, etc. If parents noticed such a feature in a child, they turned to a shaman. He asked the main helping spirit, tag-ezi of Mount Mustag, whether the child would be a kam. If the spirit confirmed this, then the child was taught from childhood that he would be a kam. If the extra bone was not discovered in childhood, then all the same, at the time predetermined by Ulgen, Erlik will send spirits to inflict a painful shamanic illness on the chosen one until they achieve consent to become a shaman.

Shamans were divided into several categories according to their strength and capabilities. The strong always had a tambourine with helping spirits depicted on it and a mallet. The weak Shabynchi shaman performed rituals with a broom, mitten, stick or small hunting bow and could only heal the sick.

The most powerful Shor shamans received tambourines from Mount Mustag, others - from Erlik or Ulgen. In both cases, there were special rites of passage for the shaman's drum.

First, the future Kam was cut out an orb beater from a bird cherry branch with a fork of three or five branches. The blank was covered with wild goat skin or white hare skin. They drilled a hole in the handle of the beater, threaded a strap through it, tied it with a loop and tied strips of colored material. One could perform rituals with such a mallet for a whole year, then make a new one.

The shaman received the tambourine on Mustagh’s orders, usually in the fall. If Erlik gave permission for the tambourine, then he ordered to go to Ulgen in the spring. Having received permission to make a tambourine, the kam turned to the master spirit who had passed on to him from a shaman who had died in his family, trying to extract information from him about the material, the shape of the tambourine, the location of the tree from which the shell should be made, and about the designs applied to the tambourine.

The shell of a tambourine, at least 12 cm wide, was bent from the waist cloth, thus obtaining a round or oval base 60-70 cm in diameter, then it was tightened with two thin bird cherry hoops and a birch handle was inserted, decorating the latter with carvings and symmetrical holes of various configurations. The handle of the tambourine was considered an image of the spirit - the owner of the tambourine. Its upper part was pierced by an iron bowstring tebir kirish with hanging bells, metal hollow tubes, and strips of multi-colored material on both sides of the handle. Three knife-shaped pendants were hung on the upper edge of the shell - the “sabers and swords” of the shaman.

The tambourine was covered with the skin of a male deer or deer. The outer side of the covering was divided by sacred images into two unequal parts. The upper, larger part, personified the celestial sphere - the upper world, the lower - the underworld. The horizontal belt separating the upper part of the tambourine from the lower is the middle world, the earth. In the upper part of the covering, drawings were painted with white or red paint: the sun, the moon, stars, rainbows, sacred birches and poplars, and the shaman’s helping spirits in the form of birds. Below were people depicted - on foot, on horseback, in a sleigh - a bear, a horse and some kind of multi-legged animal. The contour of the shell is bordered by a wide arc of two lines, and between them - geometric figures, zigzags, oblique crosses, transverse stripes.

The lower part of the leather covering also depicted trees and birds, people in sleighs, with a bow, on foot, on horseback, and a shaman. Also here were depicted images of lizards, snakes, frogs - the shaman’s helping spirits. The more of them there were on the tambourine, the stronger the shaman was considered (Fig. 1).

The process of making the tambourine lasted several days. Over the course of two days, parts for the tambourine were prepared; on the third, the shell was covered with leather. In the evening, the shaman performed the first ritual and told the spirit-owner of the tambourine about the process of its manufacture. Then the “revival” of the tambourine began with the revival of the wood from which the rim was made. After this, the deer, whose skin was covered with a tambourine, “revitalized.” At the end of the ritual, during the night until dawn, all the men present took turns knocking on the tambourine.

In the morning, the shaman inquired from the spirit owner of the tambourine about the images, which were immediately applied to the covering, after which the “shaman’s knives” were hung up. During the day the tambourine dried, and in the evening everyone who took part in its manufacture tied ribbons of fabric to the crossbar and the handle of the tambourine. Then the shaman performed the ritual again, showing the tambourine to Mustag or Erlik.

In those cases when permission to make a tambourine was given by Erlik, the tambourine was made by one of the older distant relatives under the guidance of a shaman, who taught the future kama his craft. After making the tambourine, the shaman, together with his relatives, went to the person who made the tambourine and “wooed” him, since the host spirit became the shaman’s mythical wife. During matchmaking, the person who made the tambourine acted as the father of the hostess spirit; the role of her mother was entrusted to the one who helped make the tambourine. They sat on a bench, placed a tambourine near them, tied ribbons to it and tied a woman’s scarf on it. Then the shaman brought a cup of wine to the “father” of the owner of the tambourine. When he accepted the treat, the shaman or one of his relatives grabbed the tambourine and ran away from the home with it. “Father and “mother” acted out scenes of quarrel and reconciliation, ending with everyone present being treated to araka.

Then the “wedding” itself began, and the shaman made a “trip” to Ulgen. Having examined the tambourine, Ulgen reported on the period during which it could be used, indicating how many tambourines the shaman would change during his life.

As a cult attribute when treating the sick, the shaman also used a staff - a bird cherry stick 70 cm long with ornamentally cut bark in the form of spiral and straight lines along the entire length. At one end of the staff, a twisted piece of birch bark was suspended from a kendyr thread.

Judging by the photographs of G.I. Ivanova, N.P. Dyrenkova, L.P. Potapov, the Shor shamans did not have special ritual clothing; they performed rituals in a rather worn shirt and pants, sometimes barefoot, but both women and men always tied a scarf on their heads.

Every year, for the well-being of relatives, ancestral prayers to Ulgenu were held - a taelga ritual. He could perform rituals only in spring, summer and autumn, since in winter there is no communication between a person and Ulgen, they are separated by a layer of ice covering the sky.

Sacrifice in winter was allowed only in those cases if the kam agreed to it, who usually armed himself with a hammer and used it to break through the ice in the sky3. Ulgenu's ritual consisted of the sacrifice of relatives (exclusively men) of a stallion of a special color for each clan.

The place for the ritual was chosen by the kam himself - usually in a clearing near a birch tree. A pillar was dug in on the western side of it, and the kuspaks with abyrtka they had brought with them were placed in a row next to it. Not far away they were building a conical hut - an odag with a fresh birch tree in the center, the top of which with green leaves rose above the cone. The branches on the birch tree inside the hut were cut off, and 9 notches were made on the trunk - steps along which the shaman, during the ritual, penetrated to heaven to Ulgen. A small fire was lit next to the odag, and the remains of the meal were placed inside it - bones and a cup of unfinished arak. It was believed that in the future the bones would be embodied in another sacrificial stallion - the son of Ulgen, and the drinks would come in handy for Tag Ezi.

Outside, in front of the entrance to the yurt, facing east, a small symbolic shelter for a white sacrificial horse was built. During the ritual, a cup was placed on the horse's back and led to the pen. If the cup fell from the back upside down, it means that the horse was not suitable for sacrifice. The use of convex-concave objects for fortune telling (finding out the acceptance of the victim in this case) is typical for the shamanistic peoples of Siberia. Such objects are semantically associated with binary concepts “yes - no” and are expressed in logical oppositions “top - bottom”, “right side - left side”, etc. Despite the difference in the forms of the mallet among the peoples of the Tomsk region, they have in common the opposition recorded in its convex-concave shape or the qualitative difference in its sides if it is made from a birch fork.

At the beginning of the ritual, the shaman sat down and talked about the tracks of animals that he saw on the road to Ulgen, which means there will be many of them in winter; about the places where he met animals, which means that hunting there will be successful. The Kama's path passed through Golden (Teletskoye) Lake. On the way, he stayed with the owners of the mountains on Mrassa near the uluses of Kabyrza, Adyr, Kichik, Cheley, and visited the owner of the fire from Ezi. At this time, one of those present took a stick, split at one end, with birch bark inserted into the split, lit the birch bark from the fire and approached the fireplace.

He raised the tambourine high and threw it up, this meant that he was beginning to rise towards Ulgen. One of the relatives smoked a tambourine three times with a torch, while invoking: “Alas, alas.” Everyone present repeated the same words after him.

Then they tied ropes to the stallion’s legs and stretched them, thereby twisting the stallion’s joints until he died from pain. Then the carcass was cut up, leaving the skull and legs in the skin, while trying not to spill a drop of blood on the ground, not to break or cut bones. The meat was cooked in large cauldrons, then placed in wooden dishes and eaten slowly.

While the meat was cooking, a large stake with a fork was stuck into the ground next to the birch tree. A long tyukele pole was inserted into it, at the end of which the skin of a sacrificial stallion was strengthened and left there until the next ritual. Under the hanging skin, a wooden frame was built from 2-3 crowns on four pillars - a tastak altar.

The pole was placed in the fork of the post so that the head of the horse's skin was facing East if the sacrifice was intended for Ulgen, and to the West for Erlik.

The opposite end of the pole was fixed to the ground.

According to the description of A.V. Anokhina’s tyukele pole among the Shors’ neighbors, the Teleuts, was strengthened on a pole dug into the center of the tastak. The Teleuts, unlike the Shors, are characterized by a sitting position of the victim on the tastak. For the economy of the taiga Shors, the tayelga ritual with the sacrifice of a horse, along with horse breeding, is most likely borrowed from neighboring cattle breeders.

During the ritual, the members of the clan present cut out a mask from birch bark with two holes for the eyes and ties made of horsehair. Then a stick about 60 cm long was cut from the trunk of a thin birch tree, depicting the phallus of a stallion. At the time when the kam mentioned the sable’s tracks, those present took turns putting a mask with two holes for the eyes on their faces and sitting astride a stick, running after each other, tearing out the mask - they acted out a magical act - kochigan, aimed at increasing the fertility of sables.

Another Shachil ancestral prayer was associated with the veneration of the birch tree. This ritual was performed in the summer on St. Nicholas Day or on Trinity Sunday. Early in the morning, two “elected” people went around the houses with tues, collecting abyrtka from them and went together with a crowd of relatives to a high place outside the ulus. There, near the sacred birch tree, they placed tues of various sizes, filled with abyrtka. The ribbons, skins of squirrels, chipmunks, wood grouse and hazel grouse wings that they had brought with them were hung from the branches of a birch tree, having previously made three nods of the head. The eldest of the family stood against the birch and tues trees and turned to the spirits of the mountains. When pronouncing the name of a particular spirit, those present at the ceremony bowed and sprinkled abyrtka on and around the birch tree. Then there was a fight, after which, before leaving, they told fortunes on the cups, throwing them up. If the cup fell upside down, the year promises to be difficult, downwards - good.

According to the religious worldview of the peoples in question, the universe was divided into three worlds - heaven, earth and the underworld, inhabited by mythical animals, birds, and deities in human form. A significant part of the myths about the creation of earth and sky, of all earthly nature, Ulgenem, together with the ruler of the underworld Erlik, were recorded among the Shors and Teleuts. The sky, consisting of nine layers, was considered the land of Ulgen/Ulgen, who lived on the topmost layer. The remaining celestial layers were also inhabited, but the information about the spirits inhabiting them, received by researchers from various shamans, is very contradictory. Among various tribal groups, the recognition of Erlik as the main deity of the underworld is ambiguous; his veneration in the cult practice of shamans is not canonized; ritual variants and features were allowed during rituals with sacrifice. These facts, as well as the different ideas among different shamans about the number of sons and daughters of Ulgen and Erlik, are evidence that the formation of ideas about the main deity was not completed here.

Shamans, or kamas, were considered intermediaries between some of the supernatural beings and people. The main sign was considered to be a sign of “shamanic disease” (epilepsy), during which the chosen one was “recreated” by the spirits, cutting his body in a special cauldron, examining his bones for a long time and carefully. If one bone was missing, death awaited the failed shaman, but if there was an extra bone, then he became a shaman. Newly-minted shamans of both sexes among the Shors were the successors of the deceased shaman or shaman on the father’s or mother’s side.

A shaman could communicate with spirits using special, individual cult attributes endowed with special properties. Among them, the mallet and tambourine occupied an important place.

First, with the permission of the main spirit of the owner of the ancestral mountain, the Shor chosen shaman made a mallet from a planed birch or bird cherry fork, wrapped it in a rag and covered it with white hare skin or kamus from the legs of a deer. Multi-colored ribbons were tied to one end of the beater, and a leather loop was attached to the other end to put on the hand, since during the ritual the beater cannot be dropped, otherwise all the perfume will fly away. The appearance of the beater most likely depended on the craft skills of the shaman. In museum collections there are specimens decorated with copper plates and iron rings.

Some shamans were doomed to perform rituals with a mallet for several years and even all their lives; among the Shors they were called shabynchi and could only expel a small evil spirit - Ainu and treat some diseases. In addition to the mallet, the weak shamans of the Shors performed rituals with a mitten, a hat, an old Alar bow, and a broom.

Probably, the fate of ritual without a tambourine befell shamans who did not justify the trust of the spirits and did not receive instructions to acquire a tambourine. For the Shors, such an instruction came from the spirit of the ancestral mountain, for the Teleuts - from the spirits that “recreated” the shaman.

After making the mallet, the owner of the ancestral mountain of the Shors (Mustag), during the ritual, with the permission of Ulgen, assigned the shaman a time for making the tambourine, notifying who would make this or that part of it, where and from what wood the tambourine should be made. He also informed him about the deadline for the production of the first tambourine, about its appearance and how many times it would need to be changed. The tambourine was given special significance; among the Shors, even the life of a shaman was calculated by the number of tambourines given to him by his patron spirit (usually from three to nine): when their power ran out, the shaman died.

The shaman's tambourine among the peoples of Sayano-Altai has two names. L.P. Potapov considers the most common to be Tungur or Tuur - of Mongolian origin. Another term - chalu - is less common and belongs to the Turkic vocabulary. The shaman's tambourine among the Shors has only one name - tuur, unlike the Teleuts, who also used the term chalu, and during rituals the Teleut shaman sometimes called the tambourine ak adan - i.e. sacred camel40. After “revival,” the tambourine became a sacred attribute of the shaman, and no one had the right to touch it. Unlike the Shors, Teleut shamans did not “revive” the tambourine, explaining this by the fact that its handle was certainly made from “live birch”, therefore it was already alive.

The first ritual with a new tambourine among the Shors is the ritual of the Ulgenyu kama. This multi-hour performance was strictly tribal and had the goal of asking for the well-being of the entire family with the obligatory sacrifice of a horse. Ulgen informed Kam how many times he could change diamonds and after how many years. The Teleut shaman dedicated the first ritual to the owner of the tambourine - Mar eezi/Chalu eezi, during which he visited other spirits living along the way to him.

The Shors had a special shamanic ritual for asking for fertility - Kocha-kan. The Kochagan ritual associated with this spirit was performed by the Shors of the Kalar seok, the Teleut clans of Cheley and Tongul. Kocha-kan was the erotic side and accompaniment of the Tayelga ritual with the sacrifice of a horse. In the fall, the Shors performed another pozo kochazy ritual - Kocho mash, in which they smoked moonshine from freshly threshed barley and drank it for 2-3 days, while arranging a sacrifice, accompanied by the erotic ritual of paktygan.

For rituals associated with the mythical deity Kocha, an anthropomorphic mask with slits for the eyes, mouth and nose was cut out of a piece of birch bark; the latter could be replaced with a piece of birch bark sewn with hemp threads. Sometimes eyebrows, mustaches and beards were also sewn on from pieces of fur or horsehair. A stick about 60 cm long was cut out of a thin birch trunk, depicting the phallus of a stallion. During the Tayelga ritual, Kocha-kan meets a shaman while sacrificing a horse to Ulgen on the first celestial sphere and tries not to let him go further. He detains the shaman and asks him to play with him. The shaman, trying to get rid of him, brings him a sacrificial mash and throws Kocha-kan onto one of the men present at the ritual, into whom he inhabits. The participant in the ritual chosen in this way puts on a mask, picks up a wooden phallus and behaves like a “stallion in the rut.” The Shors had a ritual with the participation of Kocha-kan, aimed at increasing the fertility of sables, which, according to the Shors, were under the jurisdiction of Ulgen. During the ritual, the shaman spoke about supposedly visible traces of the sable, those present took turns putting a mask on the lino, inserting a stick between their legs and jumping with a loud cry, trying to snatch the stick and mask from each other. An imaginary horse helped convey requests to the deity.

In museum collections, a shaman's staff used to treat diseases is recorded - a bird cherry stick with a length of 60 cm with an ornament in the form of spiral and straight lines along its entire length. At one of its ends, a twisted piece of birch bark was suspended from a kendyr thread. One of the shamanic attributes was a needle case with sewn cowrie shells.

The Shor kamas did not use complex ritual costume. According to S.E. Malov's clothing was a casual shabyr robe made of kendyr and a hat made from the same canvas with feathers from an owl's tail. In the absence of a hat, a woman's scarf was tied to her head, holding the said feathers. In the middle of the 20th century. The Shors have a shaman's hat with a bunch of tow instead of bird feathers. The attributes of the Shors’ ritual costume have not been preserved in museum collections.

Drawings were applied to the surface of the tambourine using natural paints: red was prepared from ocher of different shades, and chalk was used for white. At the beginning of this century, they began to use black paint made from gunpowder, or (less often) oil paint. Among the Shors, designs were applied to the surface of the tambourine with a hazel grouse bone. Some “artists” painted without first diluting the powder prepared from the stone, but by wetting their finger with saliva, dipping it in the powder and applying a design to the surface of the tambourine.

The diluted paint was kept in a special shamanic basket. The drawings depicted the universe with heavenly bodies, animals, spirits of the upper and lower worlds, and the personal spirits of the shaman.

On each tambourine, in addition to the main ones, individual drawings were made, reflecting the power of the shaman. The presence of certain plots and images testified to the right of the owner of the tambourine to perform rituals on Ulgenya, and the opportunity to descend into the underworld during the ritual. The depiction of certain representatives of the fauna meant that the shaman could heal certain diseases with their help. Images of pikes (fish) embodied the water spirit and caused illness in people who did not revere them, and also helped treat stomach diseases and dropsy. The healing and magical practice of the Kams was not unambiguous; each of them healed in his own way, relying on a connection with the spirits, under the influence of which certain images appeared on his tambourine.

The Shors had several concepts that are translated into Russian as “soul”: tyn, kut, syune, uzyut.

Tyn - vitality, comes from tynyn - I breathe. This is a spiritual property that is not only inherent in man from his very birth, but also in animals, birds, plants, and stones. Tyn disappears when Aina steals Kut's soul.

Kut is life force man, his embryo, sent by Ulgen, is embodied in the womb into a red worm. Gives rise to the existence of a person, remains with him to live and grow. According to other ideas, the soul of Kut was created by Erlik and therefore it is the property of the latter. Representing human health, the soul is constantly in danger of being stolen by one of Erlik's assistants. The kut is capable of separating from a person during sleep, fainting, or severe fright. Having separated, the soul immediately becomes the prey of the evil spirits of Aina or Kermes, as a result of which the person falls ill.

Only a shaman could return the kut. If he failed, the person’s physical death occurred.

The cause of death was Erlik's greed or the verdict of a court carried out jointly by Erlik and Ulgen. Death caused by Erlik's greed is considered unnatural, premature, and can be eliminated by making sacrifices. The death pronounced in the verdict of the court of Erlik and Ulgen is predetermined and considered inevitable.

Syune as a spiritual substance appears after the physical death of a person. Separating from the body of the deceased, the shune wanders through the places to which it was accustomed during the person’s lifetime. She makes screams that can be heard by the living. To please her, treats were placed at the head of the deceased. Syune is expelled from the house by ritual on the seventh day after death, after which she turns into another substance, uzyut, which exists near living relatives for a year after death until the last wake.

Uzyut is not only the soul of the deceased, but also the name of an evil spirit in general. Over the course of a year, she comes to the home of her former relatives, announcing her presence with a gust of wind, a whirlwind, or a knock. If she achieves her goal and penetrates a person, he will immediately fall ill. Uzyut is escorted into the world of the dead twice: on the 40th day and a year after death during the wake.

Religious syncretism

At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. The Shors formed a bizarre picture of religious syncretism. The Shor orekenners, tor-kizhilers, and ene-kizhi have not yet lost their significance, characterizing the deep layer of ideas of the people, the origins of which go deep into the era of the tribal system and the types and forms of visual activity of ancient man associated with it.

Due to the failure of Siberian missionary work, the government and the Holy Synod, by decrees of 1789 and 1799, missionaries in Siberia were abolished. Only in 1826-1827. In the Tobolsk diocese, the Altai spiritual mission was established, headed by Father Macarius. In fact, the founding day of the mission can be considered August 29, 1830, when Father Macarius and two seminarians arrived in Biysk to “enlighten the Altai people of the Biysk district with the faith of Christ.” However, “nomadic foreigners” lived not only in the territory of Biysk, but also in the neighboring one - Kuznetsk, to which, from 1831, the head of the Tobolsk diocese allowed the mission to expand its activities. In 1832, Father Macarius achieved the adoption by the government of a law on benefits for the newly baptized - exemption from paying yasak and other duties for a period of three years. Dissatisfied with this, the unbaptized elders of the “foreign” volosts “perpetrated oppression” and arbitrarily established additional duties. It was enough for an insignificant reason - bad weather, illness or death of livestock - for, under the influence of embittered pashtyks and shamans, “the rules and pious customs of Christians were forgotten, and the superstitious concepts and habits of paganism were resumed again.” In order to protect his “spiritual children” from the tyranny of the pashtyks and zaisans, the missionary tried to settle the newly baptized near the mission camps, in the villages of Ulala, Muytu, Chemal, and then in Kuzedeevo, Chelukhoevsky and Ust-Anzas. In each of them, a church and missionary schools were built at the expense of the mission, which protected the baptized from the influence of pagans and the temptation to participate in shamanic rituals.

By the beginning of the 20th century. Most Shors officially professed Orthodoxy. The credit for this goes to Archpriest of the Altai Spiritual Mission Vasily Ivanovich Verbitsky and his students - natives of the aborigines: Ioann Shtygashev, Timofey Kanshin, Gavriil Ottygashev, Pavel Kadymaev and others.

The activities of Father Vasily began with the fact that on a frosty day on December 13, 1858, he moved from the Cossack village of Kaltan to the Shor ulus of Kuzedeyevsky. There, a year later, Russian carpenters built a small church in honor of the Prophet John the Baptist and a missionary school for foreign children. Gradually, the Kuzedeyevsky camp of the mission spread its influence over the entire Kuznetsk taiga. By 1885, the total number of baptized people had already reached 14,062 people. Following the Kuzedeevsky camp, through the efforts of Verbitsky’s students, Orthodox churches were opened in the village of Kondomskoye (1894), the uluses of Ust-Anzas (1880), Ochaevsky (1890), and Matur (1905).

The methods of spreading Christianity were very different - from direct coercion to the introduction of various benefits for the newly baptized: free distribution of bread, three-year exemption from all taxes, the opportunity to become a pashtyk. Baptisms were carried out both in the church itself and outside it - on the banks of local rivers during annual missionary trips. The missionaries spread advanced farming methods (beekeeping, agriculture), a healthy lifestyle and new means of healing, protected the Shors from the arbitrariness of royal officials, and fought against drunkenness and ignorance of shamans.

The most important result of their activities was the widespread spread of literacy through missionary schools with libraries and the emergence of the first Shor educators and intelligentsia from among the students of these schools. Among them were: the Shore missionary of the Matur camp, the author of the first Shore primer and literary work in Russian, Ioann Ottygashev. Graduates of the cateche-zatorsk school, brothers Yakov and Fyodor Telgerekov, became the first leaders of the Gorno-Shorsky national district, and the latter was also the creator of the first school textbook.

Vasily Verbitsky and his students tried to use primarily the practical side of Orthodoxy - its religious rituals, intertwined with everyday life, social needs, attracting with their psychological and aesthetic side. The essence of Christianity remained unclear to most newly baptized people. So, for example, the main god among the Shors was considered not Christ, but St. Nicholas the Pleasant, since the holy relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker were kept in the Kuzedeevskaya Church. Christianity, merging with the traditional ideas of the Shors, layering on them, created a bizarre picture of religious syncretism. Thus, the mythology of the Shors included characters and plots from biblical tales - Adam, Noah's Ark, etc. The newly baptized began to have Christian attributes: crosses on their bodies, icons both in their houses and on trees in front of villages, and grave crosses. However, the missionaries were never able to completely eradicate shamanic rituals and beliefs. Until collectivization, shamans continued to play a large role in public life, especially among the Mars Shors. Simultaneously with shamanism, former pre-shamanistic tribal trade and household cults coexisted.

To this day, the Shors have not developed a coherent traditional religious-mythological system. Religious beliefs represent a syncretic complex consisting of remnants of pre-shamanistic cults, Orthodox Christianity and remnants of Marxist-Leninist ideology. In addition to the residual elements of Orthodoxy and shamanism, since 1993, other faiths have been actively introduced, such as evangelical Baptists. Moreover, carriers of irreligious consciousness cannot be called atheists due to an insufficient educational level and knowledge of the elementary postulates of atheism. However, a complete revival of Orthodoxy among local residents, especially among the younger generation, is hardly possible. The majority of both rural and urban Shors are characterized by religious nihilism. Attempts to introduce neo-shamanism on the part of the Shor and Khakass national-political elite have not yet found support even among the older generation, both in the city and in the villages.

Religious syncretism is most clearly visible in the remote taiga uluses of Mountain Shoria (like Ust-Anzas, Chelisu-Aneas) in funeral and memorial rites, which are usually led by representatives of the older generation. Even after the closure and destruction of the church, the desire for baptism and the celebration of church holidays remained in the places of the former camps. In almost every house there are icons hanging in the corner, candles or bunches of willow. Shors of all generations constantly wear crosses received at baptism. At the same time, ideas about the souls of the deceased, fragmentary ideas about the spirits of mountains, water, fire, etc., have been preserved here, which is manifested in the customs of feeding the spirits of these natural objects.

At the beginning of the 20th century. In the minds of the Shors, religious beliefs of different orders were so intertwined that this created a bizarre picture of religious syncretism. So, V.V. Radlov had a chance to write down in the upper reaches of Mrassu: “God lives in the sky - Kudai (the Persian name for God common among all eastern Tatar tribes), who created the earth. His name is Mukoli (corrupted Russian Nikolai, whom the Russians call the Wonderworker). But there lives an evil one underground, his name is Aina. When a person dies, Aina devours his soul.”

The Shors, who adopted Christianity through the Russians, timed a number of traditional pagan holidays with their characteristic rituals to coincide with Orthodox holidays. One of the attributes of the costumes of the participants in the Christmas mummers were birch bark masks, similar to the masks of kocha or devils. One of the photographs from the early 20th century. captured a participant in the ritual wearing a birch bark mask on his face and a fur coat turned inside out - fur upside down. Just like the Russians did when caroling.

The spring holiday of asking for fertility among the Shors was harmoniously combined with the Orthodox Trinity - one of the central figures of which was the birch tree, traditionally revered by pagans.

Christianity was rethought by the Shors through the prism of its perception by the Russians, who, before moving to Siberia, timed a number of their pagan holidays to coincide with Christian ones. The Ust-Anzas Shors, for example, living on the Mrassu River, which was rich in fish in former times, greatly reverence Peter’s Day, as do the North Russian fishermen, who considered the Apostle Peter the patron saint of fishermen. According to V.V. Radlov, the Shors were Christians only in name, and “... all they knew about the Christian faith was that they had to be baptized, make the sign of the cross, and when a priest came to them, he always gave them the sacrament of kyzyl araki - red vodka.”

By the beginning of the 20th century. the patron spirits of individual Shor clans faded into the background, giving way to new pan-ethnic deities. The process of transforming tribal shamanism into a class religion was not yet completed. In addition, among the Shors, under the influence of Christianity, the evolution of shamanism ceased, and shamanistic ideas began to intertwine with beliefs characteristic of Orthodox Christians.

The influence of Orthodoxy on the life of the Kuznetsk Tatars had a beneficial effect on the development of their economy and life.

The missionaries noted in their reports that the aborigines living in the uluses closest to the missionary camp, in addition to traditional barley, began to sow wheat and rye in larger quantities than the inhabitants of distant uluses. “But not in this alone, but in other parts of the household they were ahead of the foreigners on horseback, on whom, due to their remoteness and the inconvenience of communication routes, the missionary and the school cannot have the same influence as on those living nearby.”

The spread of Christianity among the Shors merged with traditional religious ideas, layered on them and created a bizarre picture of religious syncretism. In one house, with icons, images of hunting and household spirits were preserved, to which a baptized foreigner could easily turn for help.

V. Kimeev

Material: http://history-ryazan.ru/print/12802

Our ancestors believed that the house is a fortress, the main defensive line primarily... from evil spirits, evil spirits and the undead. And, according to our ancestors, nature was simply teeming with it.
They believed that blood-sucking vampires could only kill their victims outside the house. Therefore, when building a home, they always performed cleansing rituals and resorted to protective magic. For example, security signs were cut out on the eaves, windows, and under the roof and they tried to cover every hole in the house with some kind of mark against evil spirits. Inside the house, the family and the owner were protected and supported by the brownie himself. Who is he?

The history of the appearance of a guardian spirit in a house is very old. Maybe she is 5 thousand years old, maybe more. Back in the Stone Age, the hearth was considered the most sacred place in the house. During the Bronze Age in the 4th - 3rd millennia BC, the cult of male patrons of the hearth began to spread widely. Perhaps it was then that the image of the guardian spirit of family and home arose. In the Caucasus it was represented as a phallic symbol. Among the ancient Romans, each family member had his own patron - Lara. The Laras looked like dolls. They were put in a special chest. Wasn't it what they called the casket?
Our Slavic brownie was closely associated with the power of fire. In the hut he lived near the stove and could turn into a flickering light or ember.
The brownies were different: those who lived in the house were called brownies, and those in the yard were called yard spirits. The brownie is the main owner of the estate and the hut. He is a good spirit, although undead. He was honored, fed, pampered with offerings and never cursed in the name of the brownie. They called him affectionately: master, grandfather, but often they called him allegorically: He, Dobrozhil, Dobrokhot, Sused.

Brownie-home

You usually cannot see the brownie, you can only feel his presence. Either out of boredom he rattles pots in the night, shuffles his feet, groans, sobs in the dark, then he speaks in a soft, affectionate voice or in a dull, abrupt voice. Gives brief answers to hosts' questions. The brownie loves warmth, he was also called “wen”; the prankster is not averse to licking something tasty, so he was also nicknamed “lizun”. God forbid you spy on a brownie if he doesn’t want to: the person gets sick or the horse hits him with its hoof.
At night, the brownie sometimes gives a sign. Lean on the chest of the sleeping person and let's put pressure. In the morning a person will wake up worried. Was that sign for good or for bad?
Few were able to see the owner. They say that he is shaggy and overgrown with hair. And his paw is warm, furry, affectionate. If he strokes a person with it in a dream, there is no need to guess - it’s a good sign. Some claim that the brownie looks like a small, shaggy old man. Capable of turning into different animals, black cats, for example. Then some kind of fuss was heard in the entryway, like cats grappling, hissing, screaming, rowdy. Know that it was your owner who started a fight with someone else’s slime.
“Don’t go into my domain,” he says to the enemy, there’s nothing for someone else’s undead to do here.

The brownie is tightly tied to his hut. Even if it has become dilapidated, abandoned to the howling of blizzards and cold autumn rains, the brownie will remain living in a cold old stove all alone. Crying, moaning in the ruins. But a family cannot live without a home guardian. Who will protect her at night from all evil spirits? Therefore, since ancient times, a custom has been preserved: when changing homes, they take a pot of coals from the old house and move it to the new hut. They put the pot in the oven and say: “House-brownie, come with me, lead the housewife to the mistress - I’ll reward you as best I can!”

A brownie may have a family. His wife is called “domanya” or simply “neighbor”. The brownie family is not very picky - they agree to settle not only near the stove, but also in the closet, on the threshold. According to various beliefs, there could be several brownie-domoviki. One for each family member, with personal responsibility for the ward.

The brownie is a faithful assistant in the household. He especially loves a cheerful, friendly family. Then he tries his best to help her. And he will gladly help careless owners to run things further and “spoil the cattle.” However, it is not difficult to change his attitude towards home. We need to make a sacrifice to the brownie and get down to business properly. The brownie can also help the owner in trading matters. Brownie advice has always been valued when purchasing horses and cows. If the new purchased cattle doesn’t take root at court, you know the brownie doesn’t like it.

The brownie often tries to warn the family about misfortune. If he cries behind the stove - to the dead man. If he pulls a woman's hair at night - don't quarrel with your husband, the owner didn't drink him, don't argue until you become hoarse, otherwise the husband will become angry and beat you with a log. If the household dishes rattle - be careful with the fire, if you make a mistake - an unextinguished firebrand will break out.

Be afraid, unfaithful wife, of the brownie! If I twisted my hem at night, the brownie would fall with a terrible weight on my feet and grab me by the throat. And he can beat a lustful man in the darkness and give him bruises. Protects family foundations. Well, if the brownie laughed in the night, the songs purred, you know, there will soon be joy in the house, or even a wedding.

Baking prankster

And there was also a ghost in the Russian house - a kikimora. Information about her is not very specific. It was believed that it was both a useful and harmful creature. The name kikimora consists of two parts. The first part of the word - kika - can be interpreted as a Slavic headdress with horns or simply the horned nature of a creature - an obvious sign of the undead. The second part of the word - mora, means that this evil spirit is related to all sorts of Troubles, Maras, which fool a person or even promise him death.
According to legends, kikimoras were found in houses, in stables, in forests and thickets. Folk fantasy painted; kikimoru in the guise of a short woman in a sundress, sometimes with a shishiga headdress, sometimes bare-haired, disheveled, with small horns. The kikimora's eyes are bulging and shining. Kikimora lives in the house behind the stove, loves mold, dampness, her favorite place is the corner of the hut where garbage is swept away. She is invisible, a spirit.

The domestic kikimora was considered the brownie's girlfriend, the forest kikimora was considered the goblin's girlfriend. Kikimora had an ambivalent attitude towards people. She sympathized with hard-working, hard-working women. At night she could wash all the dishes with it, watched over the dough so that it rose well, so that the pies turned out fluffy and tasty. She lulled children to sleep, but kikimora simply could not stand careless girls and women, and harmed them little by little. Could sloths even survive from the hut.

Kikimora is a big prankster. She usually loved to play around with yarn, for example, she spoiled needlework started by a woman on a spinning wheel. Kikimora herself loved to spin, but no one had seen her products. Often she took up needlework that had already been started and abandoned by a woman. The spinners believed that if the kikimora worked hard on a shirt, then you wouldn’t finish it in a week. There is a saying: “Sleep, girl, the kikimora will spin for you, and your mother will weave.” This was a stern warning from the lazy spinners. If the kikimora has begun to harm its owner, then there is one sure-fire remedy. You need to go into the forest, find a bitter fern root, and infuse it in water. Then wash all the dishes clean with this infusion. Kikimora loves ferns very much and is ready to forgive everything for such a delight. Kikimoras attributed chicken illnesses that occurred in dysfunctional farms to pranks. If chickens pluck their own feathers, it’s her fault.

A whirlwind will happen - a chicken disease that causes birds to spin on their perch and then fall down dead - the kikimora also had a hand. In such cases, they hung an amulet in the chicken coop - a stone with a hole, called the chicken god. Kikimora harmed sheep and horses. Either he plucks the wool from sheep, or he confuses the manes of horses, and at night he drives them so hard that in the morning they can barely breathe. A funny creature, kikimora, but formidable. If someone sees her in the house, it means that trouble is on the doorstep; a loved one may fall ill or die. It is not for nothing that this spirit is akin to Mare - Morena - the ancient goddess of death. The surest remedy for kikimora is the holy cross and prayer.

Spirits of the Court and the Sacrament of the Bath

The house-serf is in every way similar to his older “brother” from the hut, only his fur grows thicker. The yardman is more evil. Passion loves to torture cattle. All problems with domestic animals, horses, cows, sheep and chickens were explained by the pranks of the yard servant. He was only friends with goats and dogs.

To protect the animals from his mischief, they hung a killed magpie in the barn. The yard owner does not like these birds. To please the housekeeper, they tried not to keep white cats, white dogs, or white horses. Newborn calves and lambs were taken from the barn into the house, because the yard worker could strangle them, because the young animals were calmer in the house. Just don’t sleep, master, take care of the cattle. The villagers tried to appease the yard servant. He loves gifts. He loved colorful shreds, shiny tinsel, and crusty bread. All these offerings were carried to the barn and the spell was recited: “Master of the brownie, kindly neighbor, I give you a gift, thank you: accept the cattle, water, feed.” They hung a “witch’s broom” in the barn - a pine or spruce branch with thick needles.

The brownie also had other assistants - ringers. They looked like cats. Kolovershi - at night they carried money and all sorts of supplies from other houses for their owner.
In the courtyard of the barn, where the straw was dried, it was guarded by a special spirit - the barn. He was often represented in the form of a black cat. It was he who was the main fireman on the farm. He made sure that the overdried straw in the barn did not catch fire. However, a fire in a barn was often attributed to the mischief of someone else’s barn keeper, who deliberately set fire to the owner’s building. If you saw two cats fighting near a barn, they believed that it was the barn that was beating the scoundrel. According to legends, barn workers even fought with firebrands.

However, the most mysterious building in the courtyard was the bathhouse. Baths in Rus' were heated in black. The bathhouse had a bad reputation. The villagers, going to the bathhouse, took off their crosses. They were afraid of the spirits that lived in the bathhouse; they believed that it was better to be friends with them and not irritate them with Christian symbols. The main spirit of the bathhouse was the bannik. The bannik could not stand the wet steam, and angrily left its possessions when they were steaming there. But on cooled stones or in a sauna stove he could live for a long time. His worst prank is “container gas.” According to ancient beliefs, the souls of deceased ancestors - Navyas - lived in the bathhouse. The Navy treated the villager differently; they could help him, or they could kill him. A black chicken was always sacrificed to Bannik. Even visiting lonely wanderers were afraid to spend the night in the baths. Bannik could choke. After the steam room, they left a broom, a piece of soap and water in a tub. At night we heard some kind of fuss, splashing, cackling in the bathhouse. They thought it was the banniks whipping brooms and frolicking. The most serious fortune telling was associated with the bathhouse. Some tried to stick their naked back into the bathhouse, others, lifting up their dresses, tried to stick their buttocks. Bannik gave a sign by slapping the body with a cold or warm furry paw. A cold hand was bad luck, and a warm hand was good luck.

Our ancestors believed that the house is a fortress, the main defensive line primarily... from evil spirits, evil spirits and the undead. And, according to our ancestors, nature was simply teeming with it. They believed that blood-sucking vampires could only kill their victims outside the house. Therefore, when building a home, they always performed cleansing rituals and resorted to protective magic.

For example, security signs were cut out on the eaves, windows, and under the roof and they tried to cover every hole in the house with some kind of mark against evil spirits. Inside the house, the family and the owner were protected and supported by the brownie himself. Who is he?

The history of the appearance of a guardian spirit in a house is very old. Maybe she is 5 thousand years old, maybe more. Back in the Stone Age, the hearth was considered the most sacred place in the house. During the Bronze Age in the 4th - 3rd millennia BC, the cult of male patrons of the hearth began to spread widely. Perhaps it was then that the image of the guardian spirit of family and home arose. In the Caucasus it was represented as a phallic symbol. Among the ancient Romans, each family member had his own patron - Lara. The Laras looked like dolls. They were put in a special chest. Wasn't it what they called the casket?

Our Slavic brownie was closely associated with the power of fire. In the hut he lived near the stove and could turn into a flickering light or ember.
The brownies were different: those who lived in the house were called brownies, and those in the yard were called yard spirits. The brownie is the main owner of the estate and the hut. He is a good spirit, although undead. He was honored, fed, pampered with offerings and never cursed in the name of the brownie. They called him affectionately: master, grandfather, but often they called him allegorically: He, Dobrozhil, Dobrokhot, Sused.

Brownie-home

You usually cannot see the brownie, you can only feel his presence. Either out of boredom he rattles pots in the night, shuffles his feet, groans, sobs in the dark, then he speaks in a soft, affectionate voice or in a dull, abrupt voice. Gives brief answers to hosts' questions. The brownie loves warmth, he was also called “wen”; the prankster is not averse to licking something tasty, so he was also nicknamed “lizun”. God forbid you spy on a brownie if he doesn’t want to: the person gets sick or the horse hits him with its hoof.

At night, the brownie sometimes gives a sign. Lean on the chest of the sleeping person and let's put pressure. In the morning a person will wake up worried. Was that sign for good or for bad?
Few were able to see the owner. They say that he is shaggy and overgrown with hair. And his paw is warm, furry, affectionate. If he strokes a person with it in a dream, there is no need to guess - it’s a good sign. Some claim that the brownie looks like a small, shaggy old man. Capable of turning into different animals, black cats, for example. Then some kind of fuss was heard in the entryway, like cats grappling, hissing, screaming, rowdy. Know that it was your owner who started a fight with someone else’s slime.

Don’t go into my domain, - He tells the enemy that someone else’s undead have nothing to do here.
The brownie is tightly tied to his hut. Even if it has become dilapidated, abandoned to the howling of blizzards and cold autumn rains, the brownie will remain living in a cold old stove all alone. Crying, moaning in the ruins. But a family cannot live without a home guardian. Who will protect her at night from all evil spirits? Therefore, since ancient times, a custom has been preserved: when changing homes, they take a pot of coals from the old house and move it to the new hut. They put the pot in the oven and say: “House-brownie, come with me, lead the housewife to the mistress - I’ll reward you as best I can!”
A brownie may have a family. His wife is called “domanya” or simply “neighbor”. The brownie family is not very picky - they agree to settle not only near the stove, but also in the closet, on the threshold. According to various beliefs, there could be several brownie-domoviki. One for each family member, with personal responsibility for the ward.

The brownie is a faithful assistant in the household. He especially loves a cheerful, friendly family. Then he tries his best to help her. And he will gladly help careless owners to run things further and “spoil the cattle.” However, it is not difficult to change his attitude towards home. We need to make a sacrifice to the brownie and get down to business properly. The brownie can also help the owner in trading matters. Brownie advice has always been valued when purchasing horses and cows. If the new purchased cattle doesn’t take root at court, you know the brownie doesn’t like it.
The brownie often tries to warn the family about misfortune. If he cries behind the stove - to the dead man. If he pulls a woman's hair at night - don't quarrel with your husband, the owner didn't drink him, don't argue until you become hoarse, otherwise the husband will become angry and beat you with a log. If the household dishes rattle - be careful with the fire, if you make a mistake - an unextinguished firebrand will break out.

Be afraid, unfaithful wife, of the brownie! If I twisted my hem at night, the brownie would fall with a terrible weight on my feet and grab me by the throat. And he can beat a lustful man in the darkness and give him bruises. Protects family foundations. Well, if the brownie laughed in the night, the songs purred, you know, there will soon be joy in the house, or even a wedding.

Baking prankster

And there was also a ghost in the Russian house - a kikimora. Information about her is not very specific. It was believed that it was both a useful and harmful creature. The name kikimora consists of two parts. The first part of the word - kika - can be interpreted as a Slavic headdress with horns or simply the horned nature of a creature - an obvious sign of the undead. The second part of the word - mora, means that this evil spirit is related to all sorts of Troubles, Maras, which fool a person or even promise him death.
According to legends, kikimoras were found in houses, in stables, in forests and thickets. Folk fantasy painted; kikimoru in the guise of a short woman in a sundress, sometimes with a shishiga headdress, sometimes bare-haired, disheveled, with small horns. The kikimora's eyes are bulging and shining. Kikimora lives in the house behind the stove, loves mold, dampness, her favorite place is the corner of the hut where garbage is swept away. She is invisible, a spirit.

The domestic kikimora was considered the girlfriend of the forest brownie - the goblin. Kikimora had an ambivalent attitude towards people. She sympathized with hard-working, hard-working women. At night she could wash all the dishes with it, watched over the dough so that it rose well, so that the pies turned out fluffy and tasty. She lulled children to sleep, but kikimora simply could not stand careless girls and women, and harmed them little by little. Could sloths even survive from the hut.

Kikimora is a big prankster. She usually loved to play around with yarn, for example, she spoiled needlework started by a woman on a spinning wheel. Kikimora herself loved to spin, but no one had seen her products. Often she took up needlework that had already been started and abandoned by a woman. The spinners believed that if the kikimora worked hard on a shirt, then you wouldn’t finish it in a week. There is a saying: “Sleep, girl, the kikimora will spin for you, and your mother will weave.” This was a stern warning from the lazy spinners. If the kikimora has begun to harm its owner, then there is one sure-fire remedy. You need to go into the forest, find a bitter fern root, and infuse it in water. Then wash all the dishes clean with this infusion. Kikimora loves ferns very much and is ready to forgive everything for such a delight. Kikimoras attributed chicken illnesses that occurred in dysfunctional farms to pranks. If chickens pluck their own feathers, it’s her fault. A whirlwind will happen - a chicken disease that causes birds to spin on their perch and then fall down dead - the kikimora also had a hand. In such cases, they hung an amulet in the chicken coop - a stone with a hole, called the chicken god. Kikimora harmed sheep and horses. Either he plucks the wool from sheep, or he confuses the manes of horses, and at night he drives them so hard that in the morning they can barely breathe. A funny creature, kikimora, but formidable. If someone sees her in the house, it means that trouble is on the doorstep; a loved one may fall ill or die. It is not for nothing that this spirit is akin to Mare - Morena - the ancient goddess of death. The surest remedy for kikimora is the holy cross and prayer.

Spirits of the Court and the Sacrament of the Bath

The house-serf is in every way similar to his older “brother” from the hut, only his fur grows thicker. The yardman is more evil. Passion loves to torture cattle. All problems with domestic animals, horses, cows, sheep and chickens were explained by the pranks of the yard servant. He was only friends with goats and dogs.

To protect the animals from his mischief, they hung a killed magpie in the barn. The yard owner does not like these birds. To please the housekeeper, they tried not to keep white cats, white dogs, or white horses. Newborn calves and lambs were taken from the barn into the house, because the yard worker could strangle them, and this way the young animals were calmer in the house. Just don’t sleep, master, take care of the cattle. The villagers tried to appease the yard servant. He loves gifts. He loved colorful shreds, shiny tinsel, and crusty bread. All these offerings were carried to the barn and the spell was recited: “Master of the brownie, kindly neighbor, I give you a gift, thank you: accept the cattle, water, feed.” They hung a “witch’s broom” in the barn - a pine or spruce branch with thick needles.
The brownie also had other assistants - ringers. They looked like cats. Kolovershi - at night they carried money and all sorts of supplies from other houses for their owner.

In the courtyard of the barn, where the straw was dried, it was guarded by a special spirit - the barn. He was often represented in the form of a black cat. It was he who was the main fireman on the farm. He made sure that the overdried straw in the barn did not catch fire. However, a fire in a barn was often attributed to the mischief of someone else’s barn keeper, who deliberately set fire to the owner’s building. If you saw two cats fighting near a barn, they believed that it was the barn that was beating the scoundrel. According to legends, barn workers even fought with firebrands. However, the most mysterious building in the courtyard was the bathhouse.

Baths in Rus' were heated in black. The bathhouse had a bad reputation. The villagers, going to the bathhouse, took off their crosses. They were afraid of the spirits that lived in the bathhouse; they believed that it was better to be friends with them and not irritate them with Christian symbols. The main spirit of the bathhouse was the bannik. The bannik could not stand the wet steam, and angrily left its possessions when they were steaming there. But on cooled stones or in a sauna stove he could live for a long time. His worst prank is “container gas.” According to ancient beliefs, the souls of deceased ancestors - Navyas - lived in the bathhouse. The Navy treated the villager differently; they could help him, or they could kill him. A black chicken was always sacrificed to Bannik.

Even visiting lonely wanderers were afraid to spend the night in the baths. Bannik could choke. After the steam room, they left a broom, a piece of soap and water in a tub. At night we heard some kind of fuss, splashing, cackling in the bathhouse. They thought it was the banniks whipping brooms and frolicking. The most serious fortune telling was associated with the bathhouse. Some tried to stick their naked back into the bathhouse, others, lifting up their dresses, tried to stick their buttocks. Bannik gave a sign by slapping the body with a cold or warm furry paw. A cold hand was bad luck, and a warm hand was good luck.