A comparative historical study of the religious traditions of the world suggests that distinctive feature religion primitive society is the belief in the animation of phenomena, processes, natural forces, visible space objects, etc. This belief was called "animism."

The problem of periodization of animism. E. Tylor believed that animism is the earliest form of religion, to which all its other types genetically go back. However, at present, the stage theory, which evolutionists adhered to, has no supporters among scientists. Data from field studies prove that those formed by anthropologists of the 19th century. ideas about animism, fetishism, totemism as successively replacing each other stages of the evolution of religion, characteristic of all cultures and peoples, are nothing more than an armchair abstraction. Therefore, animism, fetishism and totemism should be considered not as stages of the development of religion, but as properties of a religious worldview primitive world, which do not necessarily succeed each other sequentially (according to the principle “ highest form replaces the lower one") - they can manifest themselves simultaneously. It should also be taken into account that the listed forms of religion, strictly speaking, are not identical to the religions themselves; they act rather as certain framework concepts that receive a unique and inimitable filling with direct religious ideas and one or another historical and ethnic context.

E. Cassirer in “Philosophy of Symbolic Forms” (1923) suggested two types of animistic ideas: early animism is characterized by an understanding of the soul as alien to man, an external demonic force, while in late animism ideas about “patron spirits” are formed, i.e. . the souls of deceased ancestors, who protect the living and, because of this, are connected with them much more closely and “intimately” than the spirits of natural forces and phenomena. However, it is not possible to verify this assumption.

Ethnographers and religious scholars have suggested that developed animism was preceded by animatism - a belief in some impersonal spiritual force that fills nature and makes it animate. Animatism is characterized by the idea that the change of seasons, vegetative and reproductive processes in nature are ensured by this invisible spiritual force. However, speaking about animatism as a form of religious worldview that preceded developed animism, one should take into account what was said above about the stage theory.

Objects of worship. Perfume. The objects of worship in animism are both personified images of natural and cosmic phenomena and objects, and the souls of deceased ancestors, revered as patrons of the living. Belief in the ability of the soul to act outside of connection with its material shell gives rise to belief in spirits - special immaterial entities that have the ability to influence the material world, help a person or bring harm to him. For the ritual veneration of local spirits, sanctuaries were created - special cult places of sacrifice and magical rituals, directly related to ensuring the favor of the most powerful spirits; propitiatory and prognostic rituals were performed in the sanctuaries.

Many natural objects, phenomena and processes that directly influenced life primitive man, was projected into the spiritual world. It was a belief in many spirits, whose habitat was

The entire space surrounding a person was visible: air, earth, water, fire, forests, mountains and rocks - everything seemed to be inhabited by spiritual entities.

Within the framework of the animistic worldview, the first ideas about the hierarchy of the spiritual world are formed, which, according to the assumption of G. G. Stratanovich (see his “Folk Beliefs of Indochina”) are:

• 1) personal and collective spirits, spirits and deities of the cult of ancestors (good and evil), ancestors, teachers and creators of industrial and social foundations;
• 2) spirits of the area, spirits - the owners of animals and other living beings, personified elements and forces of nature;
• 3) supreme spirits, cosmological ideas and personified owners of worlds.

Animism is characterized by the idea that all groups of primitive society - clans, families, villages, tribes and tribal unions - have their own guardian spirits, which differ in varying degrees of power.

Despite the fact that animism is a religious worldview characterized by the presence of ideas about spirits, their hierarchy, rituals and sanctuaries, the depth and elaboration of animist religious ideas should not be exaggerated.

Probably, already in animism, the institution of priesthood was formed, whose representatives performed various duties related to the cult. In this regard, here are the main functions of clergy:

• community ritual leaders;
• experts in tradition;
• community fortunetellers, elemental propitiators and various healers;
• sorcerers and shamans;
• clergy of developed religions;
• “foreign” clergy (it was often believed that neighboring sorcerers were stronger than their own, so they were turned to when special knowledge and skills were required).

Example of food, humiliation, poverty, failure, defeat; mental and emotional disturbance; extremes of behavior; bitterness, unforgiveness; obsessive habits; envy, deceitfulness of personality and behavior; depression, feelings of guilt, unworthiness, rejection, heaviness, self-condemnation; hearing voices; irrational behavior; insomnia, nightmares; strong signs of abandonment, mistrust, rejection, loneliness, unworthiness, no one loves; abortion, fornication, adultery, sex with animals... love of illicit sex, prostitution, sexual violence, sadomasochism, sexual fantasies... arrogance, boasting, presumption, arrogance, pride, grumpiness, self-righteousness, inviolability; strong signs of rebellion, rebellion, stubbornness, disobedience; excessive anger, rage, bitterness or heavy feelings against, etc.

Being primitive in its level of worldview, this text testifies to the vitality of animistic ideas.

Fetishism. Another property of the religious worldview of primitive man is fetishism - the endowment of individual (special) material objects with an extraordinary ability to exert a fruitful influence on human life, a special power that provides protection from various harmful influences and ensures the well-being of an individual or an entire social community. Stones, images of animals and birds, fragments of sacred trees, bone remains of people and animals could act as a revered fetish - in principle, it could be any rare, unusual, or distinctive material object.

Since the fetish was revered as an object capable of influencing the world of spirits, it was endowed with spiritual power, a “soul”, inseparable from it. Therefore, it is difficult to draw a line between fetishistic and animistic worldviews - one does not exclude the other.

Fetishes differ in their power and area of ​​action. In this regard, there was a veneration of individual fetishes (ensuring the well-being of individuals and families), which were often inherited and extended their beneficial influence only to individuals or families, and collective ones, the power of which ensured the well-being of the entire tribe or village.

Since the well-being of an individual and a primitive social community (family, village, tribe) largely depended on the fetish, it became an object of religious veneration. A disrespectful attitude towards a fetish can cause the latter's anger. However, in certain cases a person can express his negative attitude towards a fetish.

There are known cases of Africans “punishing” fetishes if they do not justify their trust. In this case, the fetishes are “beaten”, nails are driven into them, blows are struck with sharp objects and stones. However, driving nails into a wooden fetish is not necessarily in the nature of punishment - sometimes this is done so that the latter better remembers the request addressed to him. Perhaps these practices are common

for fetishism as such. The belief in amulets and talismans, known in most religious traditions of the world, genetically goes back to primitive fetishism.

Totemism. Totemism, or the belief in the existence of special, beyond the ordinary, relationships between a separate primitive community of blood relatives and some plant, animal or natural phenomenon, is also one of the features of primitive religiosity. S. A. Tokarev 1 draws attention to the fact that the subject of totemism is completely rational, natural in nature - these are very real animals and plants, and not fictional monsters, monstrosities, fantastic creatures. If the object of totemism exists in reality, then relationship between him and the community of people are in the nature of beliefs - the element of belief here consists only in the relationship “supposedly existing between a given animal or plant species and the human group, as well as in the belief in the mutual magical connection of a person with his totem."

E. Durkheim drew attention to social functions totemism. He believed that totemic representations serve to unite the collective, the primitive clan, since they act as a visible, material statement of the genetic kinship of the clan, descending from one ancestor.

According to S. A. Tokarev, the connection between a person and a totem is manifested:

• in the ban on killing a totem animal;
• prohibition on eating totems;
• belief in supernatural descent from a totemic ancestor;
• belief in the possibility of magical influence on the totem.

Probably, in early totemism these relationships had the character of “totem -

patron, person - protected,” and later ideas about consanguineous relationships were formed. Now the totem was perceived as a powerful ancestor, supernaturally ensuring the well-being of its descendants.

Genetically, totemism goes back to the primitive way of meeting needs, when hunting and gathering satisfied human needs for food and clothing. This naturally promoted the veneration of plants and animals, since human existence depended on them, and animistic ideas contributed to the belief that the unrepentant soul of a killed animal was capable of taking revenge on hunters. The veneration of the object of the hunt, thus, did not at all exclude the possibility of the hunt itself. Data from historical linguistics indicate that initially a totem animal or plant could be eaten. The emergence of such prohibitions is associated with the development of ideas about consanguineous relationships between the totemic ancestor and his human descendants.

According to S. A. Tokarev, “the idea of ​​totemic ancestors is nothing more than a mythological personification of the sense of unity of a group, the commonality of its origin and the continuity of its traditions. “Totemic ancestors” is a religious-mythological sanction of the customs of the community. They are the supernatural founders of the totemic rites performed by members of the group, the prohibitions observed by them. Myths about the wanderings and adventures of the “totemic ancestors” constitute, as it were, a libretto for sacred dramatic ceremonies.”

Alfred Radcliffe-Brown 1 believes that the term “totemism” is a rather conventional name for a number of different institutions that “have something in common,” namely the division of society into stable groups and the presence of ideas about a special connection between each of these groups:

• with one or more species of animals or plants;
• a man-made object;
• part of the animal's body.

The researcher identifies several types of totemism:

• gender (groups of men and women forming one team have different totems);
• clan;
• individual.

The merit of the newest researchers of mythology, especially Malinovsky, lies precisely in the fact that they were able to understand the connection between mythology and religious-magical rites and customs and pointed out that myth is a kind of justification for the ritual practice of a community.

Thus, G. G. Stratanovich, summarizing the results of studies of folk beliefs in Indochina, reproduces the following scheme for the evolution of totemic ideas.

• 1. The human collective is merged with nature, there is no separation from nature and other collectives.
• 2. Isolated from other groups in nature, the human group maintains a connection with several brother-sister groups.
• 3. The head of the group is a woman; one or two groups have their own totem pairs.
• 4. One team, the head is a man.
• 5. The human collective is connected with the totem, standing, as it were, above nature.
• 6. The togem-ancestor stands, as it were, above nature.

Shamanism. Shamanism is one of the early forms of religion, which is based on the belief that the shaman is a charismatic intermediary between the world of people and the world of spirits, and has the ability to communicate with spirits and influence them. Shamanists believe that thanks to their special charismatic status, the shaman is able to support the well-being of individuals and their associations (family, clan, village, tribe, etc.), ensure the effectiveness of the hunt, heal the sick, improve the afterlife fate of the dead, etc. The term “shaman” is quite ambiguous: it is used to designate performers of ecstatic rituals (shamanistic rituals) in the context of shamanism, in addition, for a special category of priesthood that can exist in the conditions of a mythological religion that is not shamanism, as well as to designate performers of closely related rituals, existing in the discourses of folk faith correlated with theological religions (for example, Tibetan Buddhism). Shamanism is a complex phenomenon of primitive religious culture, in which there is a close interaction of elements of religious, social, and ethical discourses. According to V. G. Bogoraz1, it is animism that is the “philosophy and theology” of shamanism, and the researcher understands shamanism itself as a “primary form” that unites primitive science, medicine (including surgery), music, poetry and religious cult.

The main signs of shamanism:

• the belief that goes back to animism that the space surrounding a person is inhabited by invisible personified beings: good and evil spirits, on whose actions the well-being and life of a person depends;
• belief in the possibility of direct communication between humans and spirits;
• the idea that such communication is not accessible to everyone, but to individual charismatic individuals (shamans) who have a special sacred status;
• ideas about the multi-level structure of the world, the presence of the so-called “world axis”, which allows the shaman to carry out mystical (and (or) magical) journeys through the worlds;
• the presence of special rituals, thanks to which the shaman achieves a state of altered consciousness, which is also known as “shamanic trance”;
• the belief that illnesses and other troubles that befall a person are caused by the direct influence of harmful spirits on a person, while the shaman is able to neutralize this influence to a degree depending on his personal power.

Rituals are widespread in shamanism; in most cases, the shaman’s interaction with the spiritual world involves a ritual form - shamanic ritual. As a rule, it includes complex psychotechnical techniques, which may include chanting, the use of percussion instruments that set the rhythm (tambourine, drum), charismatic dancing, spinning in place and other actions to achieve a shamanic trance.

One of the researchers of shamanism, M. Eliade, came to the conclusion that the basis of shamanism is always “individual and ecstatic” experience. What for members of a primitive collective appears as an object of some kind of speculation, mythological faith, for the shaman appears in the form of a “mystical route” along which he will make an ecstatic journey. In other words, the shaman mystically concretizes and actualizes in his personal experience what was initially presented in the form of some abstracted (at least not personally actualized) knowledge. The shaman does what others - his fellow tribesmen - can only think and talk about.

The charismatic nature of shamanism allowed E. A. Torchinov to consider it precisely as a “technique of ecstasy.”

To this day, shamanic practices and rituals remain popular among numerous indigenous peoples of Siberia, Buryatia, Khakassia, Chukotka, etc.

Totemism is a primitive belief system that arose at the dawn of human civilization. Today, the totem is a symbol of the past: evidence of the wild imagination of uneducated people who knew nothing about the world around them. But in the old days, such illusions did not seem like something fantastic and unreal. Then the totem was direct evidence that ancient spirits and deities tirelessly monitor their two-legged relatives.

Meaning of the word totem

The concept of “totemism” was first introduced by the English scientist John Long in 1791. As a naturalist explorer, he often traveled around different countries, collecting old stories and myths bit by bit. Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that the religion of many primitive peoples was largely similar to each other.

Long decided to systematize his knowledge, combining it into new theory about the ancient religion of totemism. He borrowed the word “totem” from the North American Indian people Ojibwa. They called it the sacred coat of arms of the clan, which depicted the ancestor spirit.

What are totems for?

Totemism is a religion that exalts an object or being instead of gods. Most often the totem is an animal or a tree. Although there are many known cases where people endowed wind, fire, rock, river, flower, and so on with sacred properties. It should be understood that it is not a single object or animal that is chosen as a totem, but their entire species as a whole. That is, if a tribe honors a bear, then its respect extends to all clubfooted animals in the area.

If we understand the essence of totemism, then this religion serves as a kind of connecting link between nature and man. Thus, most primitive communities believed that their family descended from ancient ancestor: animal or plant. Therefore, the totem is a symbol of their birthright, explaining their own origins.

For example, once upon a time the Lutich tribe lived in Rus'. They believed that their distant ancestors were ferocious wolves who one day turned into people. Their entire culture and customs were built around this belief: on holidays, they wore wolf skins and danced around the fire, as if returning to that distant past, when they themselves were still wild animals.

Main features of totemism

The tribe can choose any animal or plant as a totem. The main thing is that their decision is supported by some kind of story - a story that can explain their relationship. Most often, the choice fell on noble animals, whose skills or strength differed from the rest. This is a primitive desire to show oneself in better light: Others will treat the offspring of a bear with more respect than the offspring of an earthworm.

In addition, the choice of a patron spirit was often influenced by geographical and social factors. For example, those tribes that survived by hunting were more likely to consider themselves beasts of prey, while the gatherers, on the contrary, sought protection from peaceful and hardworking creatures. Simply put, a totem is a kind of reflection of the soul of a people, its essence and self-affirmation. But there were rare exceptions when the tribe chose a weak or ugly patron as an idol.

Relation to the totem

A totem is a sacred symbol. Therefore, in many cultures he was idolized, which led to the emergence of certain rituals and customs. The most common belief was that totem animals or plants are prohibited: they cannot be killed, maimed, and sometimes even spoken about in a bad manner.

As social relations developed, ideas about idols also changed. If at first they served only as a reminder of the distant past, then in later times they were endowed with mystical powers. Now the patron spirit could protect from disease, drought, enemies, fires, and so on. At times this led to war between tribes, since some believed that all their troubles were because someone else’s totem was luring all the heavenly luck to itself.

A forgotten faith in the modern world

For many, such a worldview seems childish and primitive. After all, how can a wolf or a bear be a human ancestor? Or how a simple animal can influence the weather? Such questions are quite logical for modern people.

However, even in an era of worldwide progress and technological boom, there are those who still remain faithful to the ancient value system. For example, totemism is quite common among most South African tribes and Australian aborigines. Even with satellite television and cellular communications, they still believe in their past kinship with wild animals and plants. Therefore, it is too early to talk about totemism as a faith that has sunk into oblivion.

identification of a tribe with a certain type of holy animal, totem. This kind religious beliefs contains a statement about consanguineous ties of a certain community with a totem animal.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

totemism

TOTEMISM- one of the early forms of religion, which is based on the belief in the existence of a special kind of mystical connection between a group of people (clan, tribe) and a certain type of animal or plant (less often - natural phenomena and inanimate objects). The name of this form of religious belief comes from the word "ototem", which is in the North American language. Ojibwe Indian means "his kind." During the study of T., it was established that its emergence is closely related to the economic activities of primitive man - gathering and hunting. Animals and plants that gave people the opportunity to exist became objects of worship. In the first stages of T.’s development, such worship did not exclude, but even assumed the use of totemic animals and plants for food. Therefore, sometimes primitive people expressed their attitude towards the totem with the words: “This is our meat.” However, this kind of connection between people and totems dates back to the distant past, and its existence is evidenced only by ancient legends and stable linguistic expressions that have reached researchers from time immemorial. Later, elements of social, primarily consanguineous, relations were introduced into T. Members of the clan group (blood relatives) began to believe that the ancestor and patron of their group was a certain totem animal or plant and that their distant ancestors, who combined the characteristics of people and the totem, had supernatural powers. This led, on the one hand, to an intensification of the cult of ancestors, and on the other hand, to a change in attitude towards the totem itself. For example, there were prohibitions on eating totems, except in cases where eating them was ritual in nature and reminiscent of ancient norms and rules. Subsequently, within the framework of T. a whole system of prohibitions arose, which were called taboo. Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Belief in the supernatural accompanies a person throughout his existence. People considered everything inexplicable to be an otherworldly phenomenon. The first religions appeared at the dawn of the primitive communal system; they were in the nature of primitive beliefs. One of the religions was totemism, a branch of animism. What is a totem, and why did people believe in an invisible connection between different objects? What forms of totemism have survived to this day? Let's look at it in the article.

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Description

History of totemism

The first religions of mankind are called proto-religions. Historians and scientists classify them as four main forms:

1. animism;
2. fetishism;
3. magic.

Which proto-religion of those listed was the first is not known for certain. All four forms are believed to have appeared at approximately the same period in history. Historians explain that all major forms of belief were present in all prehistoric proto-religions.

Animism

What is animism as a proto-religion? Modern scientists define it as a belief in the spiritual world, that is, the existence of an immaterial principle. Animism implies belief in the spirits of nature, dead ancestors, and patron spirits. This is the animation of everything that surrounds a person and is incomprehensible.

Observing natural phenomena, primitive people animated them and attributed certain qualities. Over time, people began to perceive nature spirits as intelligent beings that controlled their lives. In order to appease the anger of the spirits of nature, they began to bring gifts and sacrifices.

People also believed that there was an afterlife world into which the soul of a deceased person was sent. There are also various entities and spirits.

Totemism

The definition of totemism is based on the belief in an invisible connection between a person/tribe/clan and a specific animal or plant. This animal/plant was called a totem. People believed that the totem protected them and protected them from life’s adversities. Scientists believe that primitive man began to deify animals and vegetable world, because the whole way of life was connected with him.

Examples of totemism are the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, the Indians of North America, the aborigines of Australia and the population of central Africa. What is different about the cult of totem worship? They bring gifts to the chosen patron, perform religious services and ask for protection or mercy. When a new member of the tribe is born, a service to the totem is immediately performed with a request to grant the baby certain qualities and protect from evil.

Totemism is distinguished from other beliefs by the presence of taboos. A taboo is a prohibition to perform certain actions. The taboo was associated with the prohibition:

• kill totem animals;
• eat totem meat;
• kill fellow tribesmen;
• demonstrate to foreign tribes your affiliation with the totem.

Rituals were performed whenever the tribe suffered from drought and lack of food, from attacks by warring tribes, and in any emergency. People believed that only a totem could help them cope with adversity.

Fetishism was closely related to totemism—belief in the mystical power of an object. This item could be a strangely shaped stone or a hand-made object, some plant or planet. Statues of deities worshiped by ancient people also became fetishes. But even in our times, the cult of fetishism has survived in Africa in a slightly modified form.

The magic of primitive people

Ancient people considered everything incomprehensible and unusual to be magical. If a person encountered on his way any object that attracted attention (a pebble, a root, part of an animal’s skeleton), he could make it his fetish. Over time, belief in fetishes grew stronger, and an entire tribe could worship any object and consider it their patron.

The fetish was placed in the center of the tribe, gifts were brought to it and praise was given for its help. People sincerely believed that it was the fetish that helped them and protected them from harm. However, there was also reverse side fetishism: if the object did not live up to expectations, it was subjected to torture.

Fetishism did not disappear over time, but took on a new form. Religious scholars argue that belief in amulets and charms is a modern form of fetishism. Closely related to fetishism is magic in its original and modern form. Also, magic has retained the features of totemism and animism, because magical rituals are an appeal to different forces nature or the spirits of animals or the dead.

Over time, a group of people separated from society, which was engaged only in conducting magical rituals for the tribe. The first magical rituals were performed by shamans, since shamanism is characterized by a connection with the spirits of nature and animals. Further magical practices expanded the scope of their application. IN modern world magic is closely related to the ancient cults of proto-religions, world religions and the study of energies.

Totemism is a phenomenon that most often means one of the most ancient forms of primitive religion.

This term usually refers to the division of a tribe into groups related by kinship along the male or female line. Moreover, each of these groups believes in its kinship with a totem - most often an animal (sons of a coyote, sons of a raven, etc.), less often a plant (sons of a corncob), an inanimate object or even a natural phenomenon (sons of the Big Dipper, sons of Thunder) - which considered the ancestor of this group. Often totemic groups have material emblems that have a sacred meaning (for example, churingas of the Australians, totem poles of the American Indians)). The ancestral totem is usually forbidden to kill and eat (sometimes they even avoid meeting and coming into contact with it in any way); it is considered the mystical patron of this group, and can be influenced using certain magical techniques. In some cases, a connection with a totem is established through its ritual killing and collective eating, in which all members of a given group participate (noticeable examples: the “bear festival” among the Yenisei Kets, during which all members of the group are obliged to eat a killed bear - the totem of the tribe, in order to to join this totem; the tearing and eating of a camel among some Arabian tribes in the pre-Islamic period, etc.). The taboo against killing a totem is temporarily lifted, and during a collective meal, group members join in with their common ancestor; at the same time, they often ask him for forgiveness for the murder they committed (this is exactly what they do during the “bear festivals” of the Yenisei Kets, Sakhalin Ainu, etc.). Totemism has its own mythology - this is the idea and myths about the totemic ancestor (ancestors). Sometimes ideas about totemic ancestors are associated with the belief in reincarnation, in the fact that totemic ancestors are eternally embodied in their descendants. Such beliefs were especially widespread among the aborigines of Australia; among other peoples they are less clearly represented. Totemistic ideas also reflect the close connection of the primitive collective with its territory.

North American Indian totems

The term “totem” itself was taken from the vocabulary of the North American Indians (Algonquins) and was first used in European scientific literature J. Long at the end of the 18th century. The interest of the scientific community in this phenomenon has especially increased in late XIX- early 20th century after the works of J. McLennan “On the Cult of Animals and Plants” and J. Frazer “Totemism” and “Totemism and Exogamy”. J. McLennan identified three components in this: fetishism, exogamy (the custom of marrying outside a given group) and matrilineal kinship (i.e., determining kinship along the maternal line). J. Frazer saw the basis of this in the possibility of magical influence on one’s totem (reflected, in particular, in the rituals of “reproduction” of the totem). These views in a more expansive interpretation - the preservation of elements of providential magic in totemistic beliefs (the influence on the totem as an object of providence) - were subsequently expressed by other researchers. W. Robertson-Smith argued that this is based on the concept that nature, like humanity, is divided into groups of things by analogy with consanguineous groups in human society. However, E. Taylor also warned against artificially inflating the problem of so-called, emphasizing that, in his opinion, this phenomenon has a rather modest place in religious and social systems; in addition, he drew attention to the fact that exogamy in some cases exists without totemism and, therefore, these phenomena are not inextricably linked.

Interest in totemism was especially great in the 1910-1920s, when many works devoted to this topic appeared, and in the journal “Anthropos”, starting in 1914 and for 10 subsequent years, there was a section “The Problem of Totemism”, in which The works of the most prominent scientists were published. There were many (about 40) versions of the origin of totemism; the famous work of A van Gennep is devoted to their review " Current state totemic problem." From the point of view of the scientist himself, totemism is the distribution between secondary groups of society of areas of territory with everything that lives and grows on it, i.e. there is a close connection between totemism and trade magic.

Even the English ethnologist W. Robertson Smith noted that the blood of a sacrificial animal symbolizes the unity of a primitive collective with its deity, and the ritual killing and eating of a sacrificial animal is the prototype of any sacrifice, the conclusion of an alliance between such a collective and its deity. Different opinions have been expressed about how ideas about the connection of a particular primitive group with a particular animal arose, although, apparently, they are rooted in the psychology of primitive man. The French anthropologist E. Durkheim considered totemism to be the original form of religion. He came to the conclusion that the main object of totemistic beliefs is not a specific animal, plant or image, but some impersonal and anonymous force that is located within them, but is not mixed with them. He believed this force to be God - impersonal, without a name, without history, immanent in the world. Totemic animals and images are thus symbols of this impersonal power. At the same time, the totem is a symbol of the primitive clan, its god, in whose person the clan honors itself. In other words, he defined totemism, partly following Robertson Smith and R. Thurnwald, as a form of self-worship of the primitive collective.

W. Rivers defined totemism as a combination of three elements: social (connections of an animal, plant, etc.) with a certain (moreover, exogamous) group of people; psychological (belief in the kinship of the members of this group and its totem); ritual (veneration of an animal, plant or material object, expressed in the prohibition of its use, except in certain cases).

Some researchers focused their attention on the social aspect of the problem (E. Lang, G. Kunov, F. Graebner, V. Schmidt, etc.). Others specifically based its religious side (E. Taylor, J. Fraser, W. Rivers, W. Wundt) or psychological (B. Ankerman, R. Thurnwald) - the feeling of unity between a certain social group and totem, as well as the collectivism of primitive thinking , which underlay totemistic beliefs.

Z. Freud offered his understanding of the problem of totemism. In the book "Totem and Taboo" he draws an analogy between the attitude towards animals of primitive man and that of a child - both do not completely separate themselves from the animal world. The emergence of phobias of a particular animal, which, according to his theory, is a substitute for the father, for whom the child experiences ambivalent feelings of fear and adoration, occurs as a result of the transfer of these feelings to the animal. Consequently, according to S. Freud, the totemic animal among primitive peoples is a substitute for the image of the father, and totemism itself originated from the Oedipus complex. He explains the totemic sacrifice by the same thing - the desire of the sons to kill and eat the father (his animal substitute) and take his place.

But already in the 1920s. Skeptical views were expressed on the problem of totemism. Thus, some representatives of the American historical school (A. Goldenweiser, R. Lowie) denied totemism as a phenomenon and a special form of religious beliefs. A. Goldenweiser, in particular, disputed the relationship of three phenomena that many researchers considered to be indispensable attributes of totemism: clan organization, attribution of animal and plant emblems to clans, and belief in the connection between the clan and its totem. R. Lowy was not at all sure of the existence of totemism as such.

Subsequently, there was a decline in interest in the problem of totemism. In “Anthropology” by A. Kroeber (1923), “General Anthropology”, written by F. Boas together with his students (1938), and “Social Structure” by J. Murdoch (1949), very little attention is paid to it. The connection between totemism and exogamy, which previously was often considered as the cause of the so-called, was also disputed.

The head of the cultural-morphological school, Ad. Jensen, denied totemism as a form of religion and believed that it was a transfer of earlier ideas - “real totemism” (belief in mythical half-animal ancestors, going back to the belief in the divine “master of animals”) to the primitive collective. A. Elkin, H. Petri and A. Shlesner identified “cult totemism” in Australia, which, in their opinion, is primary in relation to “social totemism”. The prominent ethnologist and anthropologist A. Elkin did not question the existence of totemism, but he seemed to “fragment this phenomenon, highlighting individual, sexual, etc. totemism.

Proponents of functionalism did not deny the existence of totemism as a phenomenon, but explained it in accordance with their theory. Thus, B. Malinovsky reduces the totemic problem to three questions. He explains the cult of animals and plants in totemism by the fact that they are necessary for humans as food and therefore quite naturally find themselves at the center of the interests of the primitive group. The belief in the kinship of man and animal is rooted, in his opinion, in the similarity of many biological functions of man and animal and even, in the idea of ​​primitive man, in the superiority of some animals over man. The desire to control one or another type of animal (so that it is available as an object of hunting or does not pose a danger) leads, according to B. Malinovsky, to the emergence of the idea of ​​​​community with the totem animal, as well as to the establishment of prohibitions on killing the totem, etc. P. A. Radcliffe-Brown considered totemism as a special case of formulating human connections with natural species in myth and ritual. He also denied that totemism was a universal phenomenon, believing that there were many different phenomena associated with different institutions; the only thing that unites them is the association of individual segments of society with some plant or animal species.

Totemism in Ancient Egypt

According to E. Evans-Pritchard, the totemic connection is rooted not in the very nature of the totem, but in the associations that it evokes in the human mind, i.e. concepts and emotions that are outside of them are projected onto living beings and objects.

The head of the Vienna School, J. Heckel, believed that totemism developed on the basis of various sources, the main one of which was the “socialization” of certain types of animals.

Cl. Lévi-Strauss, on the one hand, considered the problem of totemism to be far-fetched, not corresponding to reality. He pointed out the artificiality of the formation of the word “totem” itself, which in this form does not exist in the language of the Ojibwe Indians of the Algonquian group and noted that they had never encountered a belief based on the fact that members of the clan were descendants of a totem animal and that it was an object cult. On the other hand, he considered totemism as a way of classifying natural phenomena, not fundamentally different from the classifications used in the Middle Ages and even in some cases modern science. The logic of totemic classification is based on the idea of ​​similarity. Therefore, the entire system of totemistic beliefs, according to Cl. Lévi-Strauss, is a system of codes that establishes logical equivalence between natural views and social groups.

Representatives of the Soviet ethnographic school, in their attempts to explain the phenomenon of totemism, adhered, which was inevitable, to the Marxist approach to religion and acted as followers of evolutionist views. S.P. Tolstov considered totemism as a form of consciousness of the connection between members of one group and its opposition to other groups. In his opinion, the basis of totemism is a feeling of connection with certain species of animals or plants, the unity of a human group with the territory it occupies and the productive forces located on this territory. The scientist believed that totemism is a more ancient phenomenon than clan organization. A. Zolotarev argued that totemism is the first form of religious reflection of consanguinity. A. Anisimov saw the central idea of ​​totemism as a historically developed ideological reflection of certain features of the consanguineous structure of social groups. S. Atokarev, believing that the most important and difficult to explain in totemism is the belief in kinship, a certain mystical connection between the primitive clan and its totem, argued that the basis of totemism as the oldest form of religion is the transfer of consanguineous relationships to the outside world, a reflection of the ancient clan structure societies with a prevailing type of consanguineous social ties.

It has been pointed out more than once that in the system of totemistic ideas the animal plays a far from prominent role - it can be a plant, an object, etc. Some researchers (F.Grebner, W.Schmidt, etc.) tried to explain why this or that animal (plant, etc.) becomes a totem of a given group for economic reasons - in their opinion, a totem became an animal or plant that was the subject of export of a given group. Yu.I. Semenov believes that the specialization of individual hunting groups in hunting a particular animal, which subsequently became the totem of this group, played a significant role in the formation of totemism.

The meaning of the ritual killing and eating of a totem, which is usually taboo, is, according to some researchers, to strengthen the clan’s connection with its totem (sometimes this ritual is called “God-eating” as a prototype of later ritual meals).

Turning to the question of totemic ancestors, researchers sometimes considered them real people, deified after their death, although L. Levi-Bruhl noted that the mythological (totemic) and real ancestors of the primitive collective should not be confused. But more often than not, researchers admit that these are not the real ancestors of this or that group, they are often endowed with fantastic features and properties, and ideas about them are quite vague. Following B. Malinovsky, who explained the connection between myth and ritual and pointed out that mythology is a kind of justification for ritual practice, many researchers consider such ancestors to be the mythological personification of the sense of unity of a given group. Totemic ancestors are considered as a religious-mythological sanction of the customs of a given primitive group: the founders of totemic rituals and prohibitions. Some scientists (M. Fortes) generally associate the emergence of so-called with the cult of ancestors, believing that the relationship between people and totemic animals is a symbol of the relationship between people and ancestors in terms of mystical causality.

Some scientists believe that numerous mythological stories about sexual intercourse between people (especially women) and animals were originally associated with totemic ideas about the reincarnation of totemic ancestors.

It was also suggested that totemic ancestors could act as the most ancient “cultural heroes”. Some scientists (L. Levi-Bruhl, D.E. Khaitun) interpret anthropozoomorphic images, as well as images of people in animal masks of the Paleolithic era as images of totemic ancestors.

Some researchers consider various kinds of tabooism, zoolatry (animal worship), worship of zooanthropomorphic deities (having human and animal features), belief in werewolves, ideas about metempsychosis (transmigration of souls), etc. remnants of totemism. Apparently, such a view is legitimate if it is possible to establish a connection between such ideas and the collective (especially if the latter bears the name of a given animal). A number of scientists consider the veneration of a particular animal by a tribe or even an entire nation as a manifestation of a late stage of development of so-called tribal totemism; others deny this phenomenon. Echoes of totemistic beliefs can be traced in the mythological systems of the most diverse peoples (especially in ancient Egypt and India).

Literature: Freud Z. Totem and taboo. Pg., b.g.; Zolotarev A. Remnants of totemism among the peoples of Siberia. L., 1934; Khaitun D.E. Totemism, its essence and origin. Dushabbe, 1958; Semenov Yu.I. The emergence of human society. Krasnoyarsk, 1962; Tokarev S.A. Totemism // Tokarev S.A. Early forms of religion. M., 1990; Fraser J.G. Totemism and Exogamy. V.1,2. L., 1910; Van Gennep A. L "etat actuel du probleme totemique. 1920; Thurnwald R. Die Psychologie des Totomismus // Anthropos. 1917-1918 Bd.XII-XIII; Goldenveiser A. The method of investigating totemism // Anthropos. 1915-1916. Bd.X-XII; Lowie R. Primitive Society. N.Y., 1925; Les formnes elementaires de la vie religieuse: lt systeme totemique en Australie. ; Malinowski B. Myth in Primitive Psychology. L., 1926; Makarius R., L "origine de l" exogamie et du totemism. (., 1961; Levi-Strauss Cl. Le totemism aujourd "hui. , 1962.

Kets: myths and reality. Rituals, ceremonies, legends

The treasury of Ket mythology is rich in amazing and beautiful legends that explain the creation of the world and the origin of many natural phenomena. Once upon a time, the Kets lived in the upper reaches of the Yenisei, on fertile lands, knowing neither need nor sorrow. But one day they were attacked from the south by a tribe of cannibals. The Kets built boats and sailed in them along the Yenisei, entrusting their fate to the spirit of the river and praying for salvation. The cannibals did not know how to swim, so they grabbed mountains and threw them into the river - this is how river rapids appeared. But the Yenisei broke the mountains with its powerful stream and carried the boats further. In the Turukhansk region, the cannibals staged the most powerful ambush, throwing several huge mountains into the river, and the Yenisei could not break through them. Then it overflowed into a lake, raised its waters and began to flow into the Ob valley. The powerful shaman Alba, watching what was happening, took pity on the people and cut the rocks with a huge knife. So the Yenisei broke through into the Turukhan Valley, where the Kets tribes settled.

Bear Ritual (Bear Festival)

In the mythology of the Kets, the bear acts as a deity, a guardian spirit, a totem animal, the master of the lower world and the animal double of man. He was considered the shaman's assistant, the embodiment of his soul, and even a werewolf. The cult of the bear permeates the entire concept of the world that the Kets adhere to. The ritual demonstrating the identity of the bear and man is called the “Bear Festival” or “Bear Hunt”. After killing a bear, its skin is removed - this is the first stage of introducing the animal to human nature. Then the eating of bear meat begins - this is how the bear merges with the person, and the differences between them are completely erased. This ritual has been preserved to this day among the Ket tribes. Before a hunt or after its successful completion, as well as during healing rituals, chum salmon perform a ritual dance - wearing bear masks and skins, accompanied by bear songs.
Among the Kets, the bear is considered the patron of healing, and not only the health of people, but also of domestic animals depends on its favor. Therefore, before the shaman was going to treat the patient, he used special spells to summon the spirit of the bear. Particularly powerful shamans themselves can transform into these animals, and during magical rituals they turn into bears and other people.

More about Ket mythology:

Khosedem is the goddess of evil who lives in one of the gorges in the rock on the banks of the Yenisei and sends damage, illness and troubles to people. Tomem is a bright Goddess who opposes Khosedem and lives in the sky, under the sun. She was once Yesya’s wife, but then she cheated on him with a month, and he expelled her from his possessions.
One of the active participants in Ket myths is Alba, the first person on earth who took part in the creation of the world. Alba controls people's lives and helps them in case of danger. One day he decided to rid the world of Khosedem and drove her north along the Yenisei, but she turned into a sterlet and disappeared into the dark waters of the river. Alba jumped after her, but she suddenly soared into the sky, turning into a bird. He raced after her across the sky in a huge sleigh, leaving a trail in the form of the Milky Way. As a result, he managed, if not to get rid of Khosedem, then at least to drive her to the north, where she still lives.

It’s a pity that there are very few Ket people left - thanks to the Europeanization of Russian territory, the old Ket traditions and cults are dying out. Many suffer from hunger and alcoholism. And scientists’ forecasts are disappointing - over time, this nation will disappear from the face of the earth. And along with it, a rich culture that has developed over many centuries will sink into oblivion. Memories of Ket rites and rituals will remain only in history. Maybe the Kets are simply going back to the stars from where they came? They probably completed their mission on our planet, and Alba ordered them to return back. It's a pity if they leave us...