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Андрей Тихомиров
© Андрей Тихомиров, 2022
ISBN 978-5-0059-2797-2
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1. 2015 year of the Goat
This year according to the Eastern calendar is considered the year of the Goat (Goat) or Sheep (Aries). The Chinese name is «I-wei», the Korean is «yl-mi», the Japanese is «kinoto-hitsuji», this is the 32nd number of the cyclic year, the cycle of 1984—2043, the element is a tree, the planet is Jupiter, the color is green (blue), the element, the planet, the color, as in 2014. These data are not taken from astrological tables (astrology is a pseudoscience that uses scientific data from astronomy, physiology, political science, psychology and other sciences, seasoning them with references to space objects), but from the scientific monograph «Calendar customs and rituals of the peoples of East Asia. New Year», published in the publishing house «Nauka» (Moscow, 1985)
Meanwhile, these animals (in many peoples, these animals, relatively similar to each other, merge into a kind of community) are sacred, totemic to this day. And in ancient times they were deified. For example, Azael (Azazel) among the ancient Jews is the spirit of the desert in the form of a goat. On the Yom Kippur holiday, the priest transferred the sins of all the people to the goat and released him into the desert to Azazel, hence the expression «scapegoat».
It is characteristic that in Arabic fairy tales and folk legends Satan-Shaitan is endowed with other stable names and epithets, such as Azazil, al-marid (rebellious, rebellious), al-hannas (disappearing, retreating, at the mention of the name of Allah) and al-wasuas (instigating, tempting). The naming of Shaitan Azazil undoubtedly came from the Judeo-Christian tradition, where in the Bible Azazel (a variant of Azazil) is used only in the context of describing the ritual of the «day of atonement» (Yom Kippur). According to biblical beliefs, Azazel’s habitat was the desert. It is known that the desert in the minds of the peoples of the Near and Middle East is associated with the habitat of evil spirits. The meaning of the name Azazil (Azazil) can be translated as «a strong, powerful deity». Walpurgisnacht (Walpurgisnacht), – the night of the first of May is the night of witches who, riding on brooms, cats or goats, arrive at the witches’ abbey on the Bloksberg mountain in the Harz to dance with the devil.
A similar character to the devil in ancient Greek myths is pan, originally the god of flocks, the patron of shepherds, then of all nature (from Greek. pan – everything), was depicted as a man with goat horns, hooves and beard (i.e. he was a goat, a goat is a deified animal, now a curse, a tragedy – from Greek. «song of goats», possibly «combining» a goat with monkeys and other animals), it corresponds to the Roman Faun. According to myths, pan, accompanied by nymphs, wandered through the mountains, collected herds with the sounds of a pipe and songs, punished those who disturbed his peace, sending them unreasonable fear (hence the word «panic»).
The tragedy dates back to the primitive cult ritual dedicated to the god of fertility Dionysus, the tragedy arose from lyrical poetry or dithyrambs performed by a choir consisting of Dionysus’ companions – satyrs, who were called goats. Bes – in the ancient Egyptian religion, the god of fun and dancing. The word «devil» goes back to the ancient Greek «diabolos» – slanderer. The word is formed from the preposition «dia» – there and the verb «ballo» – I throw. The Greek «Satanas» is borrowed from the Hebrew «Satan» – the enemy, a similar term in Arabic is «Shaitan». The word «demon», which remained in the Russian language mainly as a designation of an insidious, evil person, comes from the ancient Greek «daimon» – god, spirit, evil spirit.
All these quite normal words in monotheistic religions (suddenly!) they became bad, denoting forces hostile to man, it is very easy to explain – these words denoted some deified forces from the period of polytheism, and polytheism opposed monotheism, therefore monotheistic religions in every possible way discredited the «divine» concepts of polytheism.
An interesting variant of the origin of the word «devil» (previously written «devil»), most likely from the words «devil», «draw», from the line that believers drew from «evil spirits». In Gogol’s novella «Viy», the philosopher drew a circle around himself so that no «evil force» could penetrate behind him. This idea goes back to ancient times, when man, like many animals today, marked his territory, and the penetration of other creatures for it was punishable by death. Satyrs, devils, and other representatives of the «evil forces» are someone other than people disguised in animal skins, including sheep, goats, wolves (shamans, werewolves). They threw off these skins and «became» people again. The then emerging human thinking perceived this as a kind of magical action (as modern children perceive Santa Claus, Snow Maiden, etc.), later under Christianity it became a bad demonic phenomenon and was persecuted.
No fluff, no feather – that is, nothing, but in the modern context it means wishing good luck, in ancient times it was a kind of deception of forest and water spirits necessary for successful hunting or fishing, the answer was also a deception – «to hell with it!», spirits lose vigilance, because they decide that the hunter after such a wish, nothing will be obtained – neither an animal nor a bird. «Good riddance!», initially it was the opposite of a greeting, when a kind of tablecloth – path was spread out for the greeter.
Researchers suggest that the toponym Sakmara (the area of the Southern Urals – Volga) has an Iranian-speaking origin, that is, it belongs to the Savromato-Sarmatian tribes. In this regard, the close toponym Samara gives a hint – the left-bank tributary of the Volga, whose upper reaches are 40 km from the confluence of the Urals and Sakmara. There are also rivers with the name Samara in the basins of the Don and Dnieper, as well as on the border of steppe and forest-steppe landscapes. Of the numerous versions about the origin of the toponym Sakmara, there is also one: translated from the Iranian languages, it means «sheep river» («shu» -«sheep», «mara» -«big river»). Apparently, during seasonal migrations from south to north, herds of nomadic sheep were concentrated on the banks of these rivers. Here they found excellent pastures and watering places, good conditions for lambing sheep and raising young animals.
Interesting comparisons can be made with the ancient Egyptian supreme deity Amon-Ra, who was the sun god, depicted as a calf or a ram, because in Latin (ancient Indo-European language, in German Indogermanen – Indogermans) aries – «aries, ram».
The rituals of veneration of Tengri Khan (God the Father) in the steppes of the Urals-Altai were quite strict and complex, prayers were long and cleansing the soul. They, too, in many ways resembled the religious traditions of the East. For example, water baptism, which looked like a complete triple immersion, and a religious meal were mandatory. The Epiphany was considered the biggest holiday.
The holiday fell on December 25, when, after the winter solstice, the day begins to arrive and the Man-heaven – Tengri Khan – went out into the world (originally Christmas was celebrated as a triple feast of baptism, birth, epiphany.). On this day, it was supposed to bring Christmas trees to the house – a message from the more ancient god Yer-su, who was worshipped by the Altai peoples about three thousand years ago, long before meeting Tengri Khan. The Asian peoples brought the custom of honoring spruce to Eastern and Central Europe, where they were thrown by the wave of the Great Migration of Peoples.
In the valleys of the Danube, Dnieper, Don, Volga, this holiday has certainly existed since the time of Attila. In Western Europe, it began to be celebrated in this form only in the XIX century. It should be remembered that the Slavs and Romans considered oak a sacred tree, the Finns – birch, the Greeks – olive, and the southern Germans – spruce. The first mention of a Christmas tree is found in the Alsatian chronicles of 1500. The decoration of Christmas trees for the New Year in Russia was banned during World War I by the tsarist government, as it was supposedly a German custom, in fact it dates back to the ancient times of the veneration of evergreens and trees.
In the Avestan (Zoroastrian) teaching about the end of the world – Frashkard, very reminiscent of the Apocalypse, sheep (rams) are mentioned: «Who was righteous and who was sinful – everyone will rise in the place where he met his death. The sun will shine with renewed