The topic of coniferous trees in the culture of Russian post-Finnish territories of Russia and its Finno-Ugric peoples and spruce, in particular, has been studied for a long time, this is confirmed by the mass of scientific works of very competent authors (Shalina I.A., Platonov V.G., Ershov V.P. , Dronova T.I...), each of which is dedicated to the customs and beliefs of the people or their individual group. But there has not yet been such work where a comparative analysis was carried out in order to identify common features in the rituals associated with the cult of the tree, to find those parallels that run like a thin thread through the layers of cultures of the Finnish, Karelian, Komi, Udmurt, Russian North, middle zone Russia (Yaroslavl, Vladimir provinces..), the Urals and Siberia. This article will attempt to conduct such an analysis based on the materials studied on the above topics.

Christ is risen from the dead,
Trampling death upon death,
At the fir trees in outstretched paws,
Wreaths of white baths.

N. Klyuev. "Zaozerye"

We should probably start with the images that we would like to consider, and the main one is the TREE.

Pagan Komi temple in a spruce forest. 60 years of the 20th century.

Cult of trees in Finno-Ugric cultures

The first associations that arise when mentioning this image are the world tree, the axis of the universe. This is true if we consider the tree on a global scale.

But for the peoples of the Finno-Ugric language group, a tree is also an intermediary between the world of people and the world of the dead, the LOWER world of ancestors. The Karelians had a custom of confessing to a tree (1). Among the Verkhnevychegda Komi, they brought a spruce tree to a dying sorcerer, before which he confessed and died without torment (2). According to the observations of ethnographer V.A. Semenov, the Komi considered all trees to be spiritualized (having souls) and associated with the spirits of ancestors; they were associated in popular ideas with a symbolic path to another world (marking the journey of the soul along the world tree).

Attitude to coniferous trees of the Finno-Ugric peoples

Coniferous trees - spruce, pine, juniper, fir, cedar, etc. - were endowed with special sacredness. They symbolized eternal life, immortality, were a receptacle of divine life force, and had cult significance. The New Year's tradition of decorating a Christmas tree goes back to the ancient ideas of the Finno-Ugric peoples that the special vitality and energy of these trees can bring spring closer, helps fertility and promises well-being.

Researcher of the Old Believers in Komi T.I. Dronova writes: “In the worldview of the Pechersk Old Believers, the coniferous forest was associated with the other world. This is indicated by the choice of location for the cemetery - a spruce forest, the ban on walking alone in the coniferous forest, which was called dark” (3).

The spruce forest - the “sacred grove” and the cemetery act as a special locus, as the world of ancestors, which determines its own laws of behavior. Everything in it belongs to the ancestors; here you cannot laugh, make noise, pick berries, mushrooms, firewood, or cut down trees. It can perform healing functions(4). Spruce is a tree of the dead, a tree of another world, it is associated with the cult of ancestors (5).

In the religious and magical beliefs of the Finno-Ugric peoples, spruce was a link between the mythological worlds (living and dead) and therefore was widely used in funeral rites.

The sacred groves of ancient cemeteries in Karelia, Komi and other regions, consisting of coniferous species, mainly spruce - kuusikko (spruce forest), eloquently testify to the fact that spruce belongs to another world and its connection with its ancestors.

In Karelian cemeteries you can often see a spruce tree (cosmic vertical) hung with rags and towels. In the village of Vinnitsa, there was a custom of worshiping a spruce stump in the cemetery (all that, apparently, remained of the cult spruce), to which peasants brought milk, wool, lard, candles and money (6).

The ancient burial ground in the village of Kolodno (16 km from Luga) consisted of fir trees and on one of them hung a stone cross, which peasants used in the treatment of various diseases; the sick crawled over the cemetery chapel three times. “Go to the key and pray in all four directions. Take at least a cross or something else from the patient and hang it on the Christmas tree...” (4).

In Karelian lamentations, the mourner, on behalf of the deceased, asks to prepare for him “beautiful places” (a grave) inside “fir forests flowing with gold” (7).

In Vep funeral rituals, the important role of funeral stretchers is noted (as, indeed, among many other Finno-Ugric peoples), on which the deceased was carried to the grave. They were made from two spruce poles, and after burial they were left on the grave (8). The Udmurts lashed each other with spruce branches when returning from the cemetery so that the spirits would not follow the living to their home. And in the old cemetery in the village of Alozero, in washed-out burials, there are graves in which the deceased was covered with spruce bark (31). When laying the foundation for a new house, the Komi chose a Christmas tree for the lower crown, which was given the symbolism of the “soul of the ancestors,” and therefore the people themselves received the nickname “spruce trees” (9).
The idea of ​​a tree branch as a container for the soul was thoroughly developed by J. Frazer. Interestingly, there are also direct indications of this connection. Thus, in the Dmitrov region in the Moscow region, according to materials from A. B. Zernova, according to local beliefs, the branches that decorate the walls and the front corner of the hut for the Trinity are inhabited by the souls of deceased relatives.

The roofs of the mighty northern houses were supported by structural parts that received a strange name - “chickens”. They were made from spruce rhizomes. Considering that abundant ethnographic materials constantly remind us of the relationship between the chicken and the world of the dead, then, apparently, this name is no coincidence (10).

Why “chicken”? The meaning of this interesting architectural detail still requires study, but a number of meanings can already be identified. The exact functional definition of this detail is given by V. Dahl: “a chicken in the meaning of a hook, a bark for the roof...”. The same definition is given by the Dictionary of the Russian Language of the 9th-17th centuries: “Kur is a device for supporting something, a hook.” But in the peasant consciousness there was a rethinking of this image; it turned out to be connected with the world of their ancestors. Let us remember the “hut on chicken legs”, the Christmas “changelings”: “The hen gave birth to a bull, the little pig laid an egg” - both characters belong to a “different” world; It is a custom at funerals to throw a chicken over the grave. Chicken (dialectal) can mean “blind man’s buff”, a dead person; “chicken god” - a stone with a hole or the neck of a bottle is a hypostasis of the god of the dead (the neck of a ceramic vessel with a living flower on the iconostasis of the Kirik and Ulita chapel near the road in the village of Pochozero, Kenozero) (11).

The chicken motif in spiritual peasant life is widely represented in wedding and funeral rites, “chicken holidays”, in gender terminology, savings magic and fertility magic. The house and the chicken are closely connected in the popular consciousness; straw taken from the roof of the House, like a magical remedy, helps in the reproduction of chickens, and a killed chicken upon entering a new house contributes to the well-being of the owners. The famous researcher of mythological prose N.A. Krinichnaya writes in this regard: “chickens, which have received a semantically significant decorative design, are interpreted in funeral lamentations and beliefs as one of the places where the deceased person embodied in a bird, or rather his soul, is shown for the last time before leaving this world forever.” “The ends of the chicken beams were given the fantastic shapes of a snake with an open mouth or some kind of monster with horns” (11).

Also known among the Finno-Ugric peoples (Karelians, Finns, etc.) is the iconic custom of cutting karsikko - cutting off the branches of a coniferous tree (spruce or pine) in a special way. This topic has been well studied by A.P. Konkka. This multifaceted symbol grows in ritual behavior (funeral, wedding, fishing, etc. rites) to universal categories, and carries the functions of a “mediator between mythological worlds” - the dead and the living (12).

The custom of covering the floor of the room where one says goodbye to the deceased and the road along which the coffin is carried with spruce paws has still been preserved. Spruce branches were a material sign of the life-giving power of the ritual tree (fir), an analogue or substitute for the mythological world tree (13), they were the focus of life-giving natural power” (14). Karsikko sat on cut branches during a ritual meal, with a broom made of coniferous trees they plowed graves in the northern regions of Karelia, green coniferous branches were thrown into the hem of the young housewife, which should contribute to family happiness and the birth of children, with a broom made of coniferous branches they swept under the stoves and took it to a stable for the sheep to lamb (14). A coniferous branch, decorated with ribbons, was carried in a sleigh with a scarecrow of Maslenitsa, or a spruce tree was carried in special firewood on Maslenitsa in some northern areas of Russian settlement and in the Volga region (15). A coffin was made from spruce or pine boards.

Wooden pine coffin,
Built for me...
(Spiritual song of the Old Believers)(16).

Among the Pechersk Old Believers, the coffin was indeed made of spruce (17).

V.G. Bryusova, having examined a chapel in the Karelian village of Manga (a monument of the 17th-18th centuries), writes: “Icons of local letters were mostly written on pine or spruce boards...” (18). The same phenomenon is noted in Siberia - folk icons there were also painted on spruce (19). Is this a coincidence? Did the type of wood have a sacred meaning? Karelian art critic V.G. Platonov, based on previous studies by I.A. Shalina(20), V.G. Bryusova, N.N. Voronin, puts forward the theory that the icon he analyzed from the Assumption Chapel in the village of Pelkula “The Descent into Hell with the Deesis Order” reflected in the iconography “the essential features of the ancient funeral and memorial rite”, “is associated with the funeral and memorial rites that took place in the chapel and in the cemetery near the village of Pelkula” (21).

Analyzing the collection of primitive folk icons from the same chapel, Ershov V.P. came to the same conclusions about their funeral and memorial function (22). Each character in the icon “takes care” in one way or another about the well-being of the dead in another world, and through them, about the living.

To be continued...

Author - Olga Kokueva. "Metsa Kunnta" Moscow.

1. Konkka A.P. Karelian and East Finnish karsikko in the circle of religious and magical ideas associated with wood // Ethnocultural processes of Karelia. Petrozavodsk, 1986. 20. Bryusova V.G. On the Olonets land. M., 1972.
2. Ilyina I.V Komi-Karelian parallels in religious and magical ideas about spruce // Karelians: ethnicity, language, culture, economics. Problems and ways of development in the conditions of improving interethnic relations in the USSR. Petrozavodsk, 1989.
3. Dronova T.I. Earthly existence - as preparation for the afterlife (based on ethnographic materials from Ust-Tsilma) // Christianity and the North. M., 2002.
4. Panchenko A.A. Folk Orthodoxy. St. Petersburg, 1998.
5. Ershov V.P. Board for an icon // Ours and others in the culture of the peoples of the European North. (Materials of the III International Scientific Conference). Petrozavodsk, 2001.
6. Tishchenko E. Ideas about trees in the rituals and beliefs of the inhabitants of Karelia // Problems of archeology and ethnography. Palace of Children and Youth Creativity. Petrozavodsk, 2001. Issue 3.
7. Konkka U.S. Poetry of sadness. Petrozavodsk, 1992.
8. Strogalshchikova Z.I. Funeral rituals of the Vepsians // Ethnocultural processes in Karelia. Petrozavodsk, 1986.
9. Semenov V.A. Maypole in the folk culture of the European northeast. (Theses) // Oral and written traditions in the spiritual culture of the people. Syktyvkar, 1990.
10. Uspensky B.A. Philological research in the field of Slavic antiquities. M., 1982.
11. Krinichnaya N.A., 1992, P. 6//Kenozersky readings.
12. Konkka A.P. Karelian and East Finnish karsikko.
13. In the Karelian and Finnish runes, the world tree appears in the form of a spruce with a “golden top” and golden branches: At the top the moon shines / And the Bear on the branches / At the edge of the Osmo clearing (Kalevala / Trans. Belsky R.10).
14. Konka A.P. Karelian and East Finnish karsikko.
15. Maksimov S.V. Unclean, unknown and godlike power. St. Petersburg, 1903.
16. Zenkovsky S. Russian Old Believers. M., 1995.
17. Dronova T.I. Earthly existence is like preparation for the afterlife...
18. Bryusova V.G. On the Olonets land. M., 1972
19. Velizhanina N.G. Folk icons of the Novosibirsk region from the Novosibirsk Art Gallery // Museum-4. Art collections of the USSR. M., 1983.
20. I.A. Shalina, studying the early Pskov icons, which depict saints identical to the icon from the Assumption Chapel in Pelkul (“The Descent into Hell, with the Deesis Order”), came to the conclusion that “the saints represented on the Pskov icons are united by one common feature: all they are somehow connected with thoughts about death, the afterlife and the salvation of the righteous...", and the icons themselves "served in ancient times as unique memorial images and were part of the complex of temple tombstones."
21. Platonov V.G. Segozero letters // The village of Yukkoguba and its surroundings. Petrozavodsk, 2001.
22. Ershov V.P. Savior-progenitors // Ibid.

Settlement of Finno-Ugric peoples

Finno-Ugric mythology is the general mythological ideas of the Finno-Ugric peoples, dating back to the era of their commonality, that is, to the third millennium BC.

A peculiarity of the Finno-Ugric peoples is their widespread settlement around the world: it would seem, what do the inhabitants of the European North - the Finns, the Sami - have in common with the inhabitants of the Urals, the Mordovians, the Mari, the Udmurts, the Khanty and the Mansi? Nevertheless, these peoples are related, their connection remains in language, customs, mythology, and fairy tales.

By the first millennium BC, the ancient Finno-Ugric peoples settled from the Urals and Volga region to the Baltic states (Finns, Karelians, Estonians) and northern Scandinavia (Sami), occupying the forest belt of Eastern Europe (Russian chronicles mention such Finno-Ugric tribes as Meri, Murom , miracle). By the ninth century AD, the Finno-Ugrians reached Central Europe (Hungarians).

In the process of settlement, independent mythological traditions of individual Baltic-Finnish peoples (Finnish, Karelian, Vepsian, Estonian), Sami, Mordovian, Mari, Komi, Ob Ugrians and Hungarian mythologies were formed. They were also influenced by the mythological ideas of neighboring peoples - the Slavs and Turks.

World structure

In the oldest common Finno-Ugric mythology, cosmogonic myths are similar - that is, stories about the creation of the world. Everywhere it is told how the demiurge god, that is, the creator of the world, orders a certain waterfowl or his younger brother, who has the appearance of such a bird, to get some earth from the bottom of the primary ocean. They talk about how the demiurge god creates the world of people from the earth obtained in this way. But the younger brother - usually the older brother's secret rival - has hidden some dirt in his mouth. From this stolen soil he creates various harmful things, for example, impassable mountains. In dualistic myths, the “companion” of the creator god in creating the world is not his younger brother, but Satan.

In another version, the world is created from an egg laid by a waterfowl.

In all Finno-Ugric mythological systems, the world is divided into upper, middle and lower parts. Above is the sky with the North Star in the center, in the middle is the earth, surrounded by the ocean, below is the afterlife, where there is cold and darkness. The upper world was considered the abode of heavenly gods - such as the demiurge and the thunderer. The earth was embodied by female deities, who often became the consorts of the heavenly gods. Marriage between heaven and earth was considered sacred. On earth lived the owners of forests, animals, water, fire, and so on. The creator of all evil has settled down in the lower world, among the dead and harmful spirits.

For Finnish mythology, the name “Yumala” is extremely important: it is a general name for a deity, a supernatural being, primarily a celestial one. The very name of the deity - “Juma”, “Ilma” - is associated with the name of the sky, the air. Often this word was used in the plural to refer to spirits and gods in general, collectively. After the Christianization of the Baltic peoples, “Yumala” began to be called the Christian God.

The mysterious country of Biarmia

Residents of the North have always considered those who live even further north to be sorcerers - after all, they are very close to the afterlife, one might say, they can easily enter there. The Slavs considered the Finns to be sorcerers, the Finns themselves considered the Sami to be powerful sorcerers - and so on. The Scandinavian sagas preserve stories about the travels of the Vikings to a magical land inhabited by certain Finno-Ugric peoples (naturally, powerful magicians).

Icelandic Normans have long known about the existence of the mysterious Biarmia - a country inhabited by sorcerers and possessing untold riches. One of them, named Sturlaug, went there to get the magic horn Urarhorn, sparkling like gold and full of enchantments.

Sturlaug decides to get hold of this wonderful item at any cost and, together with his comrades, sets off on the journey. Fate brings them to the country of the Hundings - man-dogs living on the edge of the Earth. The Hundings grab the Icelanders and throw them into the caves. However, Sturlaug managed to get out and lead his comrades out.

And so the Vikings reached the main temple of Biarmia, where an image of Thor appeared before them. The idol was on a dais, in front of it stood a table full of silver, and in the midst of these riches lay Urarhorn, filled with poison. Luxurious robes and gold rings were hung around on poles, and among other temple treasures, the Icelanders discovered golden chess sets.

Thirty priestesses served in the temple, and one of them was distinguished by her enormous height and dark blue skin. Noticing Sturlaug, she uttered a visu-curse: in vain the aliens hope to take away the golden rings and Urarhorn - the villains will be ground like grain. The path to the altar was blocked by stone slabs, but Sturlaug jumped over them and grabbed the horn, and another Viking, Hrolf, took the golden chess.

The priestess rushed after Hrolf and threw him so hard against the flagstones that he broke his back. But Sturlaug with the horn ran to the ships. The giantess overtook him, and then he pierced her with a spear.

Another saga about the interaction of the Vikings with the inhabitants of the north of Eastern Europe - the Biarms, a people of sorcerers - “The Saga of Halfdan Eysteinsson” - tells how the Vikings fought in battle with the Biarms and Finns. The Finnish leader Floki, for example, shot three arrows from a bow at once - and all three hit the target, hitting three people at the same time. When Halfdan cut off his hand, Floki simply placed the stump against the stump, and the hand became unharmed again. Another Finnish king turned into a walrus and killed fifteen people.

Icelandic historian and skald Snorri Sturluson also describes a journey to Gandvik - the “Witch Bay” (as the White Sea was called in medieval Scandinavia). At the mouth of the Vina River - Northern Dvina - there was a trading center of the Biarms, and the Viking leader Thorir, instead of trading, decided to simply profit there. He knew that, according to the customs of the Biarms, a third of everything that the deceased owned was transferred to the sanctuary in the forest under the mound. Gold and silver were mixed with soil and buried.

So the Vikings penetrated the fence of such a sanctuary. Thorir ordered not to touch the deity of the Biarms, who was called Yomali, but to take as much treasure as he could please. He himself approached the idol of Yomali and took the large silver bowl that was on his lap. There were silver coins in the bowl, and Thorir poured them into his bosom. Seeing how the leader was behaving, one of the warriors cut the precious hryvnia from the neck of the idol, but the blow was too strong, and the god’s head flew off. There was a loud noise, as if the idol was calling for help, and soon an army of Biarms appeared. Thorir, fortunately, knew how to make himself and his companions invisible: he sprinkled ashes on everyone, and at the same time sprinkled ashes on the tracks, and the Biarms did not find the newcomers.

Finnish deities

Almost no myths have survived that would coherently tell about the Finnish and Karelian gods. It was not until 1551 that the Protestant bishop Mikael Agricola, head of the Finnish Reformation, began to collect what little information remained about the gods of the pagan Finns.

Bishop Mikael Agricola was born around 1510 and lived less than fifty years, but he is called one of the “creators of the Finnish language” - primarily due to his educational activities and translation of the Bible into Finnish. He carefully studied the superstitions in which his people lived, and wrote down the legends and names of gods, the belief in which the Catholic Church could not eradicate (to some even the gloating of the reformer bishop).

In the old days, he says, the Finns worshiped the forest deity Tapio - he guides rich game into the traps set by hunters. The god of waters, Akhti, provided similar services to people. Magic songs were composed by Einemöinen (in this name it is easy to recognize the ancient name “Väinämöinen”). There was also an evil spirit named Rahkoy, who controlled the phases of the moon (apparently, every now and then he ate a piece of the moon, and at the same time caused lunar eclipses).

Herbs, roots and plants in general were ruled by a deity named Liecchio.

Ilmarinen, who was credited with creating the entire world and, most importantly, the air (he was generally the patron of the air element), monitored the weather. And, in particular, it was to this deity that a request should be made so that the trip would be successful.

Turisas was called the patron saint of warriors, granting victory in battles.

Finnish beliefs preserve the myth of the thunder god Turi, who killed a giant boar with his ax or hammer.

A person's property (and his goods) was handled by Cratti, and the household by Tontu. However, this pagan deity (according to the bishop - an ordinary demon) could drive him into rage. And in fact, according to legend, house and barn spirits really had the power to punish careless owners with illnesses and other misfortunes.

We see how pagan and once undoubtedly powerful gods are gradually relegated to the level of spirits, gods, characters of lower mythology and folk superstitions.

Thus, the barn - the spirit of tonite - is born from the ritual last sheaf, which is usually kept in the barn. If the tonite creaks, it means it will be a fruitful year; if it is silent, it means the year will not be very good. Tonitu is an enrichment spirit: he can steal grain from his neighbors for his masters.

In addition to the names of the gods, Bishop Agricola also names the names of Karelian idols, including the harvest god Rongotheus (in Finnish folklore this is the “father of rye” Runkateivas). In principle, the Finno-Ugric people generally worshiped a wide variety of vegetation spirits: almost every culture had its own patron god (rye, oats, barley, turnips, peas, cabbage, hemp, and so on).

The plant spirit Sampsa Pellervo is known in Finnish folklore. In the spring, this young god is awakened by the sun, and when the sun wakes up, seedlings begin to rise.

Sampsa lives on the island with his wife - Mother Earth herself. In some legends, the Son of Winter is sent after him, who arrives on the island on a wind horse. Sampsa returns to earth, the sun awakens - and summer comes.

In addition to Sampsa, fertility was patronized by the heavenly god Ukko and his wife Rauni. In Finnish ideas, Ukko is included in the group of “upper” gods: the general Finnish heavenly deity Yumala, the thunderer Turi, Paianen and the god of air and atmosphere Ilmarinen (who in later Karelian-Finnish runes takes on the features of a cultural hero - a blacksmith).

Fertility of livestock, according to Agricola's description, was promoted by the god Kyakri (or Keuri). The same word - “keuri” - is used to describe the Finnish holiday associated with the commemoration of the dead in early November, when grain threshing ends and summer gives way to the “throne” of winter. “Keuri” was also the name of the shepherd who was the last to bring in the cattle on the last day of grazing, and the last reaper during the rye harvest.

On the Keuri holiday the dead returned to the world of the living; a bathhouse was heated and a bed was made for deceased ancestors. If you accept the spirit of your ancestors well, they will ensure the harvest and fertility of livestock.

Bishop Agricola also noted the gods who, according to the Finns, patronize hunting and fishing. So, in the forest the hunter is helped by a god named Hiisi. For squirrel hunters there was their own god - Nirkes, for hare hunters there was another god - Hatavainen.

There were also goddesses: Kereytar - the golden wife, mother of foxes; Lukutar is the mother of silver foxes; Hillervo is the mother of otters, Tuheroinen is the mother of minks, Nokeainen is the mother of sables, Jounertar is the mother of reindeer. Perhaps all these “mothers” were the daughters of Tapio, the owner of the forest. The flocks of wild birds were tended by a separate goddess - the old woman Holokhonka (or Heikheneikko).

Mikael Agricola, who carefully wrote down all these names, sighed sadly: despite the existence of the Christian faith, the Finns continue to worship false gods, as well as stones, stumps, stars and the moon.

Creation of the world and man

According to the ideas of the ancient Finno-Ugrians, the world arose from water. At first there was an endless ocean, and a bird flew over it in search of a nest. What kind of bird it was - versions are different: sometimes it is a duck or a goose, there are myths where a swallow, an eagle, and so on appear.

And then the bird noticed some firmament on which it could land. This was the knee of the first human being, and it rose above the water. Some runes tell us the name of this creature - the heavenly maiden Ilmatar, the mother of Väinämöinen. In other legends, this is Väinämöinen himself, and the Finnish runes about the creation of the world explain his presence in the waters of the World Ocean with a rather strange circumstance: the fact is that an evil Sami sorcerer shot at him with a bow, so that Väinämöinen floated on the waters like a spruce log for six years.

The bird dropped to this knee and laid an egg or three eggs. The heat from the eggs was so intense that Väinämöinen could not stand the heat and shook them off his knee. The eggs rolled down, fell and broke, and from the building material of eggs, that is, the yolk, white and shell, the world was created.

There are legends that the bird laid three eggs, and they were swallowed by a pike, a hostile creature from the underground (water) world. But the bird still caught the pike and ripped open its belly, pulling out at least one egg. From the upper half of the egg the sky was created, from the lower half the earth, from the yolk the sun, from the white the moon, from the shell the stars, and so on.

In most myths, during the creation of the world, a certain blacksmith of “primordial times” is present. In Karelian-Finnish runes he bears the name Ilmarinen - this is the name of the ancient deity of the air. The blacksmith Ilmarinen, the air maiden Ilmatar, and the bird itself are all creatures belonging to the cosmic element. In some myths, the blacksmith forges the firmament, creates the sun and the moon after the demonic mistress of the North (the mistress of Pohjola, the ruler of the world of the dead) steals the originally existing luminaries. An even more ancient myth is also known, according to which a blacksmith helped to extract the stars from the bottom of the World Ocean - and he also attached them to the sky.

The specificity of Finno-Ugric cosmogony also lies in the fact that the myth of the origin of man almost completely repeats the myth of the creation of the world.

The Finnish rune tells the story of a girl who emerged from a duck egg laid by a bird in a swamp. This girl was named Suometar - that is, “Daughter of Suomi.” “Suomi” is what the Finns call their land, therefore, we are talking about the foremother of the Finnish people.

Six months later, she turned into a beautiful bride, and the Moon, the Sun and the son of the Polar Star came to woo her.

The month was the first to be rejected by her, because Suometar considered him too fickle, because he changes all the time: “now his face is broad, now his face is narrow.”

But the Sun with his golden mansions turned out to be not good enough for the Daughter of Suomi: he has a bad character. It is the Sun that burns the crops, then suddenly hides and allows the rain to “spoil haymaking time.”

She only likes the son of the Polar Star, and she agrees to marry him.

And this is not without reason, since it is the North Star in Finno-Ugric mythology that represents the center of the entire celestial world. This is a “nail”, a “rod” around which the firmament rotates. And having become the daughter-in-law of the North Star, the foremother of the Finnish people places herself at the very center of the universe. Thus, in Finnish mythology, man actually occupies a central place in the universe.

Three-part world

Like many archaic peoples, the Finno-Ugrians considered the world to be tripartite - consisting of three parts: upper, middle and lower. The upper and lower worlds, in turn, were three-layered; therefore, in Finno-Ugric mythology, the universe appears to consist of seven layers.

The middle world, the world of people, the earth is round. It lies in the middle of the waves of the World Ocean and is covered with a rotating sky.

The fixed axis of the sky is the North Star, the “Nail of the Earth.”

The firmament is supported by a mountain - copper, iron, stone (in different Finno-Ugric mythological systems the mountain can be described differently) or a huge oak tree, whose peaks also touch the North Star.

The oak was planted by three maidens, similar to the goddesses of fate from Scandinavian mythology. There is also a myth that this oak tree - the World Tree - grew from the foam skimmed off after brewing beer. Beer was a sacred drink among the Finno-Ugrians.

They also say about this oak tree that its huge crown obscured the sun and moon and did not let their light onto the earth. And then a magical dwarf came out of the sea and cut down the oak tree with a single blow of his hatchet. After this, the World Tree collapsed and turned into the Milky Way, which united all parts of the Universe. The felled oak tree is also a bridge across which one can pass from the world of the living to the world of the dead.

Pohjola

In the north, where the sky touches the earth, is the land of the dead. The Finns call it the “North Country”, Pohjola, the underworld. A river separates her from the world of the living, but instead of water, fire rushes along the riverbed (or, in other versions, a stream of swords and spears). You need to cross the thread bridge - only to meet the guardian of the land of the dead, whose iron teeth and three guard dogs inspire the traveler with natural fear for his fate. The gates can only open for those who have been properly mourned by their relatives with appropriate lamentations.

The embodiment of death, the owner of the kingdom of the dead, Tuoni, sends his daughters on a boat to pick up the dead man, and the sons of Tuoni weave iron nets so that the dead man or the shaman cannot escape back to freedom, back to the kingdom of the living.

All healers and sorcerers take their secret knowledge here, so the hero Väinämöinen had to penetrate into the kingdom of the dead when he needed magic words. This is where our ancestors live.

And at the same time, Pohjola is a country of forest and water abundance. From here game and fish enter the human world: their owner drives them from the far north to human habitats.

In the south of the World Ocean there is an island where dwarfs live. This island is called Linnumaa - “The Land of Birds”. This is where birds fly across the Milky Way when winter sets in.

A giant whirlpool hides in the very heart of the World Ocean. It releases and absorbs water, causing the ebb and flow of tides.

Thunderer Ukko

Ukko is the supreme god, the thunderer, common to all Baltic Finns. Estonians call him Uku, his other names are Vanamees, Vanem (“old man”, “grandfather”).

Ukko is an old man with a gray beard. Wearing a blue cloak (blue like clouds), he rides a chariot along the stone heavenly road. Ukko's main attribute is lightning. An ax (sometimes stone), a sword, a club are his weapons. Ukko hits the tree with his golden club (lightning) and strikes fire.

Ukko's "thunder claws" are associated with a very ancient idea of ​​the thunderbird. With these stone claws he carved out heavenly fire, which - on earth - went to Väinämöinen. Ukko rolls heavenly stones (thunder) and strikes evil spirits with lightning, who can only hide from him in water. Ukko's bow is a rainbow, his arrow is a sliver from a tree broken by lightning (to find such a sliver means to find a talisman endowed with very great power).

The sanctuaries of Ukko were groves and stones, to which they prayed for healing from illnesses and for a good harvest (as the “weather” god Ukko was undoubtedly associated with fertility). Ukko is the patron of hunters, especially in winter: he sprinkles the ground with fresh snow so that people can see traces of the game that has recently passed. Ukko will help you track down the hare and defeat the bear.

Ukko is not only a thunderer, but also a warrior, therefore he is the “Golden King”, who will dress the warrior in impenetrable chain mail, give him a fiery fur coat, and invincibility in battle.

The opponent of the Thunderer in Finnish folklore could be called "Perkele". The Finns borrowed this name from the Balts, who named their own thunderer with the name Perkunas. Among the Finns, the neighboring deity thus turned into its opposite.

We remember that the Finnish gods were described in the sixteenth century by Bishop Agricola. This pious man was especially outraged by the family relationship between Ukko and his wife Rauni. By the way, there is an assumption that “Rauni” is not the name of the goddess at all, but an epithet of Ukko himself, the word “fraujan” borrowed from the Old Norse language with the meaning “lord”. Another hypothesis for the origin of this name is related to the Finnish word “rauno” - “pile of stones” (stones are an important attribute of Ukko).

As Agricola writes, after the end of sowing, the peasants drank beer from a special “Ukko cup” and got drunk. Women also took part in the outrages. The feast was dedicated to the marriage of Ukko and Rauni and “various lewd things” happened there.

Rauni has a grumpy character, and when she swears, God begins to get angry: thunder rumbles from the north - it is Ukko growling. After the rain, seedlings rise, the quarrel of heavenly spouses serves as the key to a good harvest.

As an “old man”, Ukko is associated with the cult of ancestors; as a thunderer, he gradually began to merge with the image of Elijah the Prophet, as well as with the image of the Apostle Jacob - Jacob, who is nicknamed “the son of thunder.”

The celebration of the Apostle James on July 25 was called “the day of Ukko.” According to the sign, what the weather is like on this day - it will last like this throughout the harvest and throughout the fall. It is strictly forbidden to work on the day of Ukko: the deity can punish by striking the house of the disobedient with lightning.

In other places, the day of Ukko was celebrated on the day of the prophet Elijah and beer was brewed to bring about fertile rain.

Forest deities

Hiisi is an ancient spirit worshiped by all Baltic Finns. This is, on the one hand, a giant elk, and on the other, a spirit that lives in a sacred grove and is associated with the kingdom of the dead.

The dead were once buried in the Hiisi Grove. There it is forbidden to break branches and cut down trees; sacrifices were brought there - food, beer, wool, clothes, money. The “House of Khiisi” was once called the afterlife, the country of the North, and the “people of Khiisi” were the souls of people who did not find peace and refuge in the afterlife. A traveler may encounter a whole crowd of headless monsters on the Hiisi trail, moving in a whirlwind or on horseback; it is dangerous for the sanity of a living person.

Birch, pine, spruce - these trees can be iconic for Hiisi. In addition, in ancient times, giants made mounds of huge stones - these are also “Khiisi stones”. These giants were very powerful - they could throw a stone so large that they killed two bulls at once. A stone thrown by the giant-hiisi became a threshold on the river. Lake reefs are bridges that were not built by giants (they started the work but did not finish).

Hiisi himself is enormous in size. He has a wife and children; in fairy tales, the daring guy tries to woo Hiisi’s daughter and performs various difficult tasks for the sake of the bride.

Gradually, Khiisi turned from a deity into a goblin, an evil spirit, and the “Khiisi people” began to be called evil spirits. The whirlpools and waterfalls are home to underwater hiisi (these hiisi have wonderful cattle, and a brave person can steal a wonderful cow when it comes out of the lake).

Khiisi's arrows bring illness to people, and "Khiisi's Horse" brings plague. However, Hiisi’s patronage can also be useful for a person: like any goblin, he is able to save a traveler and send rich prey to the hunter.

The Khiisi giants are afraid of the ringing of bells and seek to destroy the church under construction.

Unlike the evil Hiisi, the owner of the forest, Tapio, always remained the “golden king of the forest,” the “gray-bearded old man of the forest,” and the patron of forest crafts. They ask him for help in the hunt. Small offerings are left on the “Tapio table” - a stump. The forest country is called "Tapiola".

Tapio's wife was Mielotar, Mielikki - the "mistress of the forest", capable, at the request of a hunter, of opening a honey chest and releasing a gold and silver beast, or even bringing rich hunting prey from Pohjola itself.

The Tapio children - “forest boys and maidens” - helped preserve the cattle grazing in the forests.

Bishop Agricola also mentions in his notes the water god Ahti - the patron of fish and seals, the one who owns all the riches of the waters, the “golden master of the sea” of runic songs. He was depicted as an old man with a green beard. He wears silver robes that look like scales. Sometimes Ahti appears in the guise of a fish. The sea is called “Akhtola”, and this is the barn of the god Akhti.

The water goddess Vellamo was considered the wife (or daughter) of Ahti. Väinämönen himself tried to catch her and marry her, but without any success. And this despite the fact that Väinämöinen had a kantele, a wonderful stringed instrument made from the backbone of a giant pike. When Väinämöinen played the kantele, all the inhabitants of the sea and land inevitably listened to the magical music. Playing the kantele was supposed to attract Ahti's pets online.

As a water deity, Ahti is also connected to the other world and is asked to heal illnesses.

The Finns and Karelians had other water spirits that could appear to people in the form of a fish, a dog, a foal, a goat, and even a frightened hare (being carried away by pursuit, a person risks falling into the sea and drowning). It is dangerous to meet a one-eyed fish in the waves, because it can knock a fisherman off the boat into the water with its tail. If you catch one in a net, it will cause a storm.

Small water spirits can drag a person under water, so if you come across a log, you should take a close look to see if it has one eye. One-eyed logs are very dangerous for humans, because if the poor fellow who has been castaway tries to grab onto one, it instantly sinks along with the “rider.”

Among the riches of water spirits that man seeks to acquire, the first known are herds of wonderful animals, most often cows. At night they come out of the waters to graze, and then they can be captured if you manage to run around the entire herd or throw an iron object into the water.

Origin of sacred animals

A number of legends tell how various realities of the external world came about (or were created) - luminaries, fire, iron, tools. The oldest among this category are the myths about sacred animals, the first of which is rightfully considered the giant elk Hiisi.

Hiisi is the name of a deity associated with the forest. As we remember, its constant attribute is its enormous size; it is a giant. Such is he in the form of a moose rushing across the sky. A hunter on skis is chasing the moose Hiisi, but he can’t catch up with his prey. In the end, the hunter turns into the North Star, the ski track becomes the Milky Way, and everyone can see the moose in the sky in the form of the constellation Ursa Major.

In the Karelian-Finnish runes, this hunt is attributed to various heroes, one of which is the “cunning guy Lemminkäinen.” This is a bright character: despite a certain “coolness,” he constantly fails.

So, one day Lemminkäinen made wonderful skis. These skis turned out to be so good that not a single living creature could escape the hunter, no matter where he chased him through the forest.

Of course, there was no need to boast about this, and even so loudly: the owners of wild creatures, Khiisi and other spirits, heard the hero’s speeches and, to spite him, created the elk Khiisi: the head - from a swamp hummock, the body - from dead wood, the legs - from stakes, the ears - from lake flowers, eyes from marsh flowers.

The magic elk ran north - to Pohjola, where he caused mischief: he knocked over a cauldron with fish soup. The women began to laugh at this confusion, and the girls, on the contrary, burst into tears. Lemminkäinen decided that the women were mocking him, the most dexterous hunter in the world, and chased Hiisi the moose on his wonderful skis. In three leaps he overtook the elk and jumped onto its back. And so he dreamed of how he would skin the prey, lay this skin on the wedding bed and caress the beautiful maiden there.

There was no point in dreaming about the unskinned skin: Lemminkäinen was distracted, and the elk took advantage of his absent-mindedness and ran away. The hero set off in pursuit again, but in his haste he broke his skis and poles.

Why did Lemminkäinen suffer such an unfortunate failure? Because he violated two prohibitions at once: firstly, prey is scared away by thoughts of marital pleasures, and secondly, the skin of a sacred animal cannot be used in everyday life.

There are several versions of the myth of the celestial hunt. In another case, the hunter is no longer pursuing an elk, but a cosmic bull, so powerful that even the gods themselves are not able to kill it.

The cosmic bull is truly huge: a swallow will fly between its horns all day long. When the gods decided to kill the bull, the supreme deity himself, Ukko, appeared, other gods helped him, but the bull scattered them with one movement of his head.

Only the blacksmith Ilmarinen is able to defeat the bull, but he did not succeed the first time. Only having obtained a huge hammer, Ilmarinen killed the bull with a blow to the forehead, after which the animal was boiled in a cauldron and its meat was fed to all the people of Kaleva.

In similar myths about a giant bull or boar, the opponent of the beast is not the supreme god or a cultural hero, but an old man, a little man who comes out of the sea.

Finally, one can come across a legend that the bull (boar) was defeated by the thunder god Tuuri, in whose image one can see the features of the Scandinavian Thor.

The sacrifice of a bull for a communal feast is a very old motive. And even a hundred years ago, the Karelians staged a “bull slaughter” at Christmas time: they dressed some old man in an inverted fur coat, put on a mask with horns, and instead of a hat, a bowler hat, and in this form they led him around the courtyards. The mummers walked around the village, the “bull” roared and scared the women and children. In the end, he was “killed” by hitting the pot - and after that a general feast began, and the “bull” was seated in a place of honor. Such a ritual, obviously, was supposed to provide the entire community with abundant food for the whole year.

It is interesting to note that in a number of cases the sky bull comes to replace the sky elk: obviously, such a replacement to some extent symbolizes the transition from hunting to cattle breeding.

Bear

Another revered animal among the Finno-Ugric peoples is the bear. Various legends have been preserved about the origin of this beast. One of the myths says that he was born near the constellation Ursa Major and was lowered down on silver straps in a gilded cradle straight into the forest. Another version says that the bear arose from wool thrown into the water from heaven.

During a bear hunt, the animal is usually convinced that he was not killed by the hunter at all, but came to people’s houses of his own free will and brought them his belly filled with honey as a gift. The bear was generally perceived as a relative of a person, hence the numerous stories about the “bear wedding”, which eventually “migrated” into fairy tales about a girl who married a bear and lived with him in love and harmony. Archaeologists made an amazing discovery in 1970 in one of the mounds where two women were buried. Next to one of them, a young girl, they found the remains of a real bear’s paw, with a silver ring on her finger. It was believed that girls who died before marriage did not live a full life and after death could become especially dangerous and even turn into evil spirits. Perhaps this is why the deceased girl was betrothed to a bear after the coffin - this will help avoid the grim consequences of her premature death.

In general, amulets in the form of a bear's paw, artificially made or real, were very common in the Finno-Ugric world. Claws were believed to be necessary for the shaman to climb the World Tree (or World Mountain) and reach worlds beyond human reach.

In some myths, the bear acts as a mount of the sun, in others it is considered the son of a pine tree - hence the custom of hanging the skull of a killed bear on a pine tree, that is, returning it to its mother: they believed that after such a ritual the bear would be reborn to life.

Unclean creatures

In addition to cosmic sacred animals, the world is full of evil creatures. The evil sorceress Suetar has flooded the world with all kinds of evil spirits. It was she who gave birth to blood-sucking insects, and from her spit into the sea snakes were born.

Suetar is something like a Baba Yaga, she resorts to magic to get into the world of people and harm them to the best of her ability.

A bizarre tale that retains the features of an etiological myth (that is, the myth about the origin of animals and things) tells how various harmful birds arose.

One woman had nine sons and was expecting a child again. She agreed with her children that if a girl was born, she would hang a spinning wheel on the gate, and if she had a son again, then an ax. A daughter was born, and the mother hung a spinning wheel on the gate. However, the witch Suetar changed the omen and put an ax instead of a spinning wheel, after which the sons left home and decided not to return. Obviously, they considered that the tenth boy in the family was too much.

Years passed, the daughter grew up, and her mother told her about how the witch deceived her brothers. The girl decided to find them, for which she baked a bun mixed with her own tears. The bun rolled along the road, pointing the way to the brothers.

But in the forest the girl met the witch Suetar, and she made her an offer that was difficult to refuse: “Spit in my eyes, and I’ll spit in you.” After this action, the witch and the girl exchanged appearances: the beautiful sister turned into an old woman, and the Finno-Ugric Baba Yaga into a beautiful sister. In this form they appeared to the nine brothers.

Having finally learned the truth, the brothers forced the witch to return her sister’s mind and her former appearance (by spitting in her eyes again), and Suetar herself was lured into a pit and burned there. Dying, the witch managed to turn her body into birds that harm people: magpies flew out of her hair, sparrows from her eyes, and crows from her toes. All these creatures are called upon to peck at the harvest and eat the goods of good people.

Pike and snake are considered harmful creatures in Finnish mythology. They are related to the underworld, to the kingdom of the dead. The frog is also one of the very unpleasant creatures. In particular, sometimes the frog replaces human children with its own cubs.

In addition to very real animals, which in one way or another interfere with a person’s housekeeping, the Finns were “hampered” by numerous spirits.

According to Finnish legends, there was a whole magical people - “inhabitants of the earth”, “earth people”, “underground people”: Maakhis, Maanveki, Maanalays.

These creatures are similar to people, but they differ in some special ugliness, for example, a foot turned backwards. However, their daughters can be exceptionally beautiful.

Maakhis are able to change their appearance and turn into frogs, lizards, and cats. They live in the underground world, but can live in hills, wastelands, and forests.

The road leads to their habitat along ant trails and across lakes.

At home, in the underworld, maakhis walk upside down, moving along the reverse surface of the earth.

A person can sneak into their country, and then an important rule must be observed: under no circumstances should you eat or drink anything there, otherwise there will be no way back. Returning to the human world, such a wanderer may find that a year spent with the Maakhis is equal to fifty years in the ordinary world.

If a person gets lost in the forest, the danger for him to get to the maakhis is very great, so you need to take measures in advance: for starters, turn your clothes inside out, otherwise what is right may turn out to be left for him and vice versa (maakhis are masters at fooling people). Next, they should be appeased by leaving some offering (honey, grain, milk) on the Maakhis trail.

The Maakhis kidnap children, leaving deformed changelings in their place. But they also have something that people would like to take possession of - wonderful cattle. If you manage to capture a Maakhis cow, you are guaranteed wealth. To do this, you should waylay a herd of maakhis and throw an iron object (key, button, needle) at the animals.

Marriages between humans and maakhis are possible. It is especially advisable to marry your daughter to the Maakhis: your new relatives will provide you with rich gifts.

In the human world, the Maakhis primarily look after livestock. If a person mistreats their pets, the maakhis will intervene and punish the culprit. Well, if a person accidentally built a barn over their underground dwelling, they can come and politely ask to move the structure, since sewage flows from there onto their heads. The Maakhis must be respected, otherwise the consequences may be very unpleasant for a person.

Host spirits

Karelians and Finns also believed in the master spirits of water and earth, forests and mountains, the owners of the hearth and the owners of the bathhouse.

The owner of the hearth usually takes the form of the one who first lit the fire in this hearth. Sometimes the house owner (and mistress) have a strange appearance: one eye in the forehead, for example. Many people wear a red cap with a tassel. The brownie is usually the one who died first in the new house.

The boats also had their own master spirit. A special spirit - the “master of the boundary” - ensured that the boundaries between the fields were drawn correctly. If a rogue land surveyor made an incorrect division, such a spirit could come to him shouting: “Rectify the boundary!” Sometimes the rogue land surveyor himself becomes the spirit who wanders around and cannot find peace.

Pyara milks the neighbor's cows and steals milk and butter from others for her owners. It’s not difficult to create such a “miner”. You need to bring a spindle with a drop of the owner’s blood into the sauna. This blood will help revitalize the spindle. Having become alive, such a spindle makes its way into the neighbor's yard through a hole in the fence - and does its tricky job.

Another appearance of the pyara is a black bird with a large belly. In this belly, the pyara carries goods into the house of its owner. Pyara can also look like a cat or a frog - this indicates the harmful nature of this spirit.

By the way, if you kill such an animal, then the owner of the bird dies along with it. So if you decide to use a spindle and a drop of your blood to start stealing from your neighbors, then the consequences are at your expense.

Finnish beliefs also include the idea of ​​mortal power - kalma. This is the embodiment of death, a certain power emanating from the dead. Kalma is embodied in objects that came into contact with the deceased. Sorcerers can use a purse containing cemetery soil to cause damage. The deceased may take several more people with him to the grave, so after the funeral certain rituals must be performed.

The spirit of the hearth, which lives in the oven, usually protects against the mortal spirit. After the dead person was removed, the hut was swept out, the garbage was thrown away, and thus death was driven out. The surest remedy was jumping over a fire and playing the kantele, a musical instrument. On the way to the cemetery, we stopped at a special memorial tree, tying colored threads around its trunk. Such a tree was a kind of analogue of the World Tree, and the World Tree, as we know, connects all worlds into a single whole and is the road to the afterlife.

Finnish epic and Kalevala

If you ask what the Finnish epic is called, almost everyone will answer - “Kalevala”. It is the most translated book written in Finnish; it was translated and re-sung in sixty languages ​​of the world. And the poem tells (like many epics, “Kalevala” has a poetic form) about the exploits of great heroes, about their rivalry, matchmaking and search for a wonderful source of abundance, for which they had to descend into the underground kingdom and there engage in single combat with the powerful and terrible mistress of the northern lands are the abode of the dead.

Elias Lönnrot, who is called (after Mikael Agricola) “the second father of the Finnish language,” was an outstanding scientist - dictionary compiler, educator, journalist, and folklore collector. He addressed educational publications to the Finnish-speaking peasantry, scientific articles and translations of samples of Finnish folk poetry to the Swedish-speaking intelligentsia.

Elias Lönnrot was a practicing physician who fought epidemics of cholera, dysentery, and typhus; published the very popular book “The House Doctor of the Finnish Peasant” (1839) and the first botanical reference book of Finland (1860). He lived a long life and left a great legacy, but the main contribution he made to world culture was the famous “Kalevala”.

During his vacations, which Dr. Lönnrot took for various periods, he traveled around Finland and Karelia, collecting folk songs. His goal was to unite these disparate runes into a single whole, into a complete, holistic work.

Lönnrot was not the first collector of Finnish folklore: his predecessor is called the historian and ethnographer Henrik Gabriel Portan (1739-1804). Portan argued that "all folk songs come from one source" and therefore can be combined.

Lönnrot wanted to present to the world community a majestic national epic similar to the work of Homer.

He worked on Kalevala for more than twenty years. The beginning of this work can be considered the master's thesis “Väinämöinen - the deity of the ancient Finns” (1827).

Over fifteen years of expeditions, often under difficult conditions, undertaken alone, Lönnrot covered a huge distance on foot, on skis, and by boat. In 1833, “Pervo-Kalevala” (a collection of runes about Väinämöinen) was published. However, he did not publish it, because by that time he had collected even more material. As a result, on February 28, 1835, “Kalevala, or Old Runes of Karelia about the ancient times of the Finnish people” was finally published. The book was published in a circulation of five hundred copies. The text consisted of thirty-two runes.

The significance of this event is difficult to overestimate. February 28 has since been celebrated in Finland as Kalevala Day, a national holiday, a day of Finnish culture.

Soon, in 1840, J.K. Grot translated “Kalevala” into Russian.

And Lennrot continued his work. He inserted blank sheets into his copy of the Kalevala edition and set off on the expedition again. On these sheets he wrote down new runes to complement the old songs. Finally, in 1847, Lönnrot combined all the folk songs he had collected into a single cycle. The poem has a chronological sequence and a unified compositional and plot logic. “I considered that I had the right to arrange the runes in the most convenient order for their combination,” Lennrot wrote.

The New Kalevala was published in 1849 and consisted of fifty runes. This version became canonical.

At the center of the story is the conflict between two worlds - Kalevala (the world of people) and Pohjola (the afterlife). This conflict was invented by Lennrot himself; in mythological systems everything did not happen so clearly. It should also be remembered that Elias Lönnrot worked in the era of romanticism, and this movement in literature and art is characterized by sharp contrasts between high and low (high and low), as well as a great interest in the folk, national.

The images of epic heroes under the pen of Lennrot were transformed: from “dark” mythological figures they turned into “living people”. Lönnrot’s creativity was especially pronounced in the depiction of tragic figures that did not exist at all in folk poetry, for example, in the image of the avenger slave Kullervo or the image of the girl Aino (by the way, both this girl and her name were entirely composed by Lönnrot himself; later the name “Aino” - “the only one” - became popular among Finns and Karelians).

The “fictional” image of Aino, who did not want to become the wife of old Väinämöinen and went to the sea, where she died, nevertheless fully corresponds to the spirit of folk poetry. The author’s descriptions of the heroine’s actions are taken from folk stories; they are not related to the myth of Väinämöinen, but do not contradict folk songs.

One of these songs tells about a girl who broke branches into a broom in the forest. There she was seen by the mysterious creature Osmo - the one who first brewed beer from barley (in some myths a deity, in others a cultural hero). Osmo wooed her, but the girl, when she came home, did not change clothes for the wedding, but committed suicide. Aino did the same in Kalevala.

Thus, the situation with the Finnish epic is truly unique.

On the one hand, “Kalevala” is a story about the epic heroes of Finnish antiquity, something like Russian epics.

On the other hand, this is the work of a specific person, Elias Lönnrot, albeit a scientist, albeit a conscientious collector, researcher of folk art, but still, first and foremost, a poet.

Who is the creator of “Kalevala” - the people or Dr. Lennrot?

For many years, the Kalevala was considered a Finnish epic. This is how it entered world culture, and this is how thousands of people perceive it.

The first Russian translator of the Kalevala, Grot, called it “a large collection of works of folk poetry.” (Elias Lönnrot is only a collector of texts). The German scientist Jacob Grimm published an article “On the Finnish Folk Epic” in 1845, in which he also adhered to this view. The translator into Swedish, Castren, also convinced readers that “in the entire Kalevala there is not a single line composed by Dr. Lönnrot.”

However, in the second half of the nineteenth - early twentieth centuries, scientists, primarily Finnish, established: Lönnrot often combined songs of different genres; in his epic they generally do not appear in the form in which they were performed by rune singers. “Kalevala,” they argued, is an author’s work.

In Russia, the dominant point of view was that Kalevala was a folk epic. It became especially established during Soviet times. The collector of this great folklore work - evidence of the creative power of the people - was named the “modest rural doctor” Lennrot, who simply loved folk songs.

In 1949, the outstanding philologist and folklorist V.Ya. Propp prepared the article “Kalevala in the light of folklore.” This article was written in the form of a report that Propp was going to deliver in Petrozavodsk at a conference dedicated to the centenary of the Finnish epic.

“Modern science cannot take the point of view of identifying the Kalevala and the folk epic... Lennrot did not follow the folk tradition, but broke it, he violated folklore laws and norms and subordinated the folk epic to the literary norms and requirements of his time,” wrote V. Ya .Propp.

Actually, he was right, but his point of view did not fit into the framework of official guidelines at all. The report did not take place. The article was published only in 1976.

Currently, the view of “Kalevala” as “the epic poem of Elias Lönnrot” has finally been established. (Just as the Iliad and Odyssey are Homer's epic poems).

The word “Kalevala” itself means “land of Kalev.” Kaleva is a kind of mythical ancestor, therefore the main characters of the epic are his descendants. Kaleva is known primarily in the folk poetic tradition of Finns, Karelians and Estonians as a character who lived a long time ago. The memory of him remained in the form of various unusual objects (huge stones, cliffs, holes; in the sky it is Sirius - the star of Kaleva, the constellation of Orion - the sword of Kaleva). Lightning is the fires of Kaleva.

The main meaning of the word “kaleva” is “giant”, mighty, seasoned, enormous. “Kalevan kansa” of Lönnrot’s poem is “the people of Kaleva” (this expression has no correspondence in the folk tradition, it is the creation of Lönnrot himself). The land of Kaleva is Kalevala. The name “Kalevala” itself, although not found in the folk poetic tradition (the concept of “country” in folklore is usually conveyed by the concepts of “native side” or “foreign land”) still exists in the language. In wedding songs, Kalevala is called a house or an estate.

One way or another, Kalevala in Lönnrot’s epic is a mythical country where the main events of the poem take place and which is represented by its main characters - Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen, Kullervo and, first of all, Väinämöinen.

The central character of Kalevala is the old man and sage Väinämöinen. This is a cultural hero, an inhabitant of the primary World Ocean. He participates in the creation of the world along with the demiurge - after all, it was Väinämöinen who created rocks and reefs, dug fishing holes, got fire from the belly of a fiery fish (salmon), and made the first net for fishing. In some myths, Väinämöinen also created the fire fish: this happened when a certain fish swallowed the spark he struck. That's why salmon has red meat. Actually, Väinämöinen had to invent the world’s first fishing net precisely in order to catch the salmon thief and remove the swallowed spark of the primordial fire from his belly.

Some runes say that Väinämöinen produces fire from his hand together with his main ally and rival (sometimes brother) Ilmarinen. They do this in the eighth heaven of the nine-layered vault of heaven.

The idea of ​​multi-layered worlds - especially the upper and lower ones - is associated with shamanic practices of traveling through alien spaces, the abode of gods, spirits, demons, and ancestors. Most often, Finns have a three-layer palate, sometimes seven layers; in the quoted rune it has nine layers.

So, Väinämöinen knocked out a spark, but it slipped from the upper layer of the sky down and through the chimney fell to the ground, into the baby’s cradle, scorching the mother’s chest. Saving her life, the woman wraps the spark into a ball and lowers it into Tuonela - into the river flowing through the kingdom of the dead. The river boils, its waves rise above the fir trees, and then a fish swallows the spark.

On the ground, meanwhile, the flames are raging with might and main, and only behind the “Akhti barn” (in the sea) there is no fire.

A snake swam in the sea, born from the spit of the witch Xuetar. This snake was caught and burned, and the ashes remaining after the procedure were sown on the ground. From the ashes flax grew, from the flax they made threads, from the threads Väinämöinen wove a fishing net and threw it into the sea. So he caught a fiery fish, which carried a spark in its belly. By the way, Väinämöinen had to use copper mittens mined in Pohela, otherwise the fish would have burned him.

In this legend, cultivated, domestic fire is contrasted with the fiery element. A fire raging on the ground is deadly for humans. But the spark obtained by Väinämöinen is a different matter: the cultural hero tame it, domesticate it, put it in a cradle and raise it as if it were a baby.

The “ice maiden of the cold” arrives from the same Pohjola as the “tamer” of the small fire. It reduces the power of fire and keeps it in check. And to treat burns, the deities send people a bee with its healing honey.

Another act of Väinämöinen, a culture hero, was the creation of the first boat. Selecting a tree for construction, he asks the oak tree for consent: does it want to become the skeleton of a future ship? Oak is not against it, but on one condition: Väinämöinen will build a battle boat out of it, and voluntarily lies down in the hero’s sleigh. But Väinämöinen's work stalled: he lacked three magic words to complete the process.

Väinämöinen had to go to the afterlife to get the necessary “tool”. The path there is difficult: you need to walk along the blades of axes and swords, along the points of needles.

There, in the afterlife, a certain giant Vipunen sleeps in a dead sleep. This is an ancient giant of primordial times who remembers a thousand spells. However, the main difficulty is that he died a long time ago, alder grew on his chin, and pine trees sprouted from his teeth. It’s not easy to get a clear consultation from such a creature, but Väinämöinen finds a way out: he sneaks into Vipunen’s womb. But even there he cannot obtain the secret knowledge that the dead giant possesses. Then Väinämöinen builds a forge right in the giant’s womb. In this forge, he forges an iron pole and wounds Vipunen's insides. With his sixth, Väinämöinen bursts open the giant’s mouth and floats through the monster’s veins on a boat for three days.

Such behavior, as they say, would awaken the dead. That's exactly what happened. Experiencing terrible torment, Vipunen finally woke up and, in order to get rid of the culture hero, told him all the necessary knowledge.

Now the main thing is to safely leave the kingdom of the dead, which is vigilantly guarded by guards - the daughters of Tuoni. But Väinämöinen is now filled with ancient wisdom, he turns into a snake and eludes the guards.

But the difficulties when building a battle boat from oak (sometimes, by the way, this is the World Tree, and not just oak) do not end there. While hewing out the boat, Väinämöinen injured his knee because Hiisi turned the ax against the master. To prevent blood from flowing out of the wound, Väinämöinen cursed everything that flows - all waters, all rivers and streams. Then he turned to the iron and reminded him that when it was pulled out of the swamp in the form of ore, it was not at all so great and arrogant as to hurt people.

According to archaic ideas, in order to eliminate a disaster, one should tell about where it came from. Therefore, Väinämöinen spends a lot of time telling the iron the story of its origin. At the same time, he tells the iron that they are relatives: like man, iron is a child of Mother Earth.

Having calmed the ax and stopped the bleeding, Väinämöinen went to look for a healer, but did not find one either in the lower world or in the middle. Only in heaven was an old woman found who healed the wound with the honey of a wonderful bee. (By the way, just after this injury, Väinämöinen swam in the waters of the original World Ocean, sticking out his sore knee, when the demiurge bird, a duck, laid her egg on this knee. In the mythological ideas of the Finns, the idea of ​​Väinämöinen as a kind of primordial being who found himself in the ocean before the creation of the world, and at the same time as a cultural hero. And then he acts as an epic character. And this is the same Väinämöinen!)

Another great deed of Väinämöinen, a culture hero, was the creation of the musical instrument “kantele”.

This is what happened.

As we remember, Väinämöinen’s boat considered itself a warship, but the creator did not use it for any glorious deeds. And the rook loudly complained about this circumstance.

To calm her down, the hero equipped a squad of rowers and sent them out to sea to look for adventure. But the boat got stuck in the ridge of a huge pike.

Rescuing his “brainchild,” Väinämöinen cut the monster with a sword and created a stringed musical instrument from the pike’s spine, which was called the “kantele.” Hiisi's hair was used for the strings.

Kantele plays a large role in the epic and Finnish culture, and various versions are told about its origin. Sometimes the creator of the kantele is the blacksmith Ilmarinen. In any case, this is a magical instrument, and singing to its music has a magical meaning, these are shamanic spells.

That is why Väinämöinen’s rival, young Eukahainen, is not succeeding. His kantele playing does not bring any fun. But when Väinämöinen himself gets down to business, everything around is transformed: animals and birds, the mistress of the forest and the mistress of the water - everyone is enchanted by this music. Without the singing of Väinämöinen, joy leaves the world, cattle stops “being fruitful and multiplying.”

Some legends have an additional, “romantic” clarification: the fact is that on the boat Väinämöinen was chasing the sea maiden Vellamo and he also created a musical instrument in order to lure her out of the water. But the stubborn maiden turned out to be the only creature on earth who remained indifferent to Väinämöinen’s singing and kantele music.

In general, the beautiful Vellamo - the daughter of the sea god Ahti - had reasons not to trust Väinämöinen. Väinämöinen once caught a wonderful salmon fish. He marveled at her beautiful appearance and immediately decided to cook it for himself for lunch. But it is impossible to cut up such prey with anything, so Väinämöinen asked the god Ukko for a golden knife. While the trial is in progress, the salmon turned into the beautiful Vellamo mermaid. She threw herself into the waves and sent a bitter reproach to the fisherman: she wanted not to be eaten, she fell in love with Väinämöinen and was going to marry him, but now it’s all over. After this, Vellamo sailed away, and Väinämöinen searched for her for a long time and in vain. Actually, trying to pull her out of the depths of the sea with a special rake, he created many underwater holes, and at the same time created underwater rocks and shoals...

In another rune, where the creator of the kantele is Ilmarinen, the magical essence of this instrument is even more clearly emphasized. Music is essential for the shamanic journey through all three worlds.

As we remember, the core connecting all three worlds is the World Tree. And then one day the blacksmith Ilmarinen comes to an oak tree, which represents one of the incarnations of the World Tree, and wants to cut it down to make a kantele. But the oak tree is not ready to be cut down: a black snake lies on its roots, a vulture sits in its branches (the upper and lower worlds are unfavorable for humans). It is allowed to begin work only after the picture has changed, and the other worlds have become favorable: a golden cuckoo crows in the branches, a beautiful maiden sleeps at the roots. Now the tree is suitable to become a material for kantele - a conductor to different worlds.

Väinämöinen's playing on the kantele turned out to be so attractive to the creatures of the earthly world that even the Sun and the Moon listened and descended from heaven to the top of the pine tree.

This should not have been done - they were immediately captured by Louhi, the evil mistress of Pohjola. She hid the Moon in a motley stone, and the Sun in a steel rock and sealed them with a spell.

Darkness fell on the world, grain stopped growing, cattle did not breed, even the god Ukko sat in darkness.

Then the people turned to the blacksmith with a request to forge new luminaries. Ilmarinen got down to business and made a month out of silver, and the sun out of gold. He hung these artificial luminaries on the tops of trees - pine and spruce - but there was no point.

People did not know who was to blame for the disappearance of the Sun and the Moon and where they were now hidden. Väinämöinen found this out: the fortune-telling chips of alder wood definitely pointed him to Pohjola. There's nothing you can do - you have to go.

Väinämöinen headed to the gates of Pohjola and near the river that separated the world of the living from the world of the dead, he shouted to the guards of Pohjola to give him a boat. However, they replied that they did not have a free boat. Väinämöinen had to turn into a pike and swim across the stream. On the opposite bank, he fought a battle with the sons of Pohjola (residents of the afterlife).

Finally he reached the island, where the stolen luminaries were hidden under a birch tree in a special rock. With his sword, Väinämöinen drew magical signs on the cloud, after which the rock split, and snakes came out, which the hero killed.

The main thing left was to open the locks, and Väinämöinen had neither the keys nor the suitable spells. So he turned to the blacksmith Ilmarinen and asked him to forge master keys.

While the blacksmith was hammering, the old woman Louhi suspected something was wrong and flew in the guise of a hawk to see what Ilmarinen was doing so interestingly. He told the hawk that he was forging a collar for Loukha - he wanted to chain her to the foot of the rock. The mistress of Pohjola was so frightened that, of her own free will, she returned the Sun and Moon to the people.

The cosmogonic myths of other Finno-Ugric peoples allow us to give this legend a slightly different interpretation. In a number of cases, the mistress of the underworld acts not as a thief of the luminaries, but as their first owner. After all, the Sun and Moon originally were at the bottom of the World Ocean, in the underground world, where the wonderful egg fell. From there the luminaries are obtained by a magic bird and a hero-blacksmith.

It is interesting to note that Ilmarinen is unable to forge a new sun and moon. Why? After all, the blacksmith participates in the creation of the world; he was once a “forger of the heavens”!

The fact is that by the moment described in the rune about the return of the Sun and Moon from Pohjola, the era of creation was over. The hero can no longer create anything new, he can only work on developing the well-being of humanity, creating cultural benefits - like a boat, a net, an ax, and so on; but no one can create light again.

Another thing that Väinämöinen takes from Pohjola (having lulled the guards to sleep by playing the kantele) is a wonderful sampo mill.

The embodiment of a people's dream

Sampo is a source of abundance, a magical object with a broad basis in folk tradition. The image of the miracle mill is the embodiment of the people's dream of prosperity and a comfortable life.

It is interesting to note that Elias Lönnrot, describing sampo in his “Kalevala,” does not rely on the most common version of the story about sampo, but, on the contrary, on a single one. A single four-line description of a sampo mill - a triune self-grinder, which has a flour grinder on one side, a salt grinder on the other, and a money grinder on the third - was brought from Russian Karelia in 1847, and the collector of folklore - this time not Lönnrot himself, but D.Evropeus - did not even indicate from whom he received the poetic excerpt.

One way or another, sampo - like many other cultural goods - is originally located in Pohjola. The most archaic versions of the plot tell how Väinämöinen and his associates are trying to steal a certain object, “sampo,” which contains the beginnings of all kinds of wealth and abundance. The mistress of Pohjola, however, stopped these attempts and poured the sampo into the sea. That is why the sea is so rich - and only the few “fruits of abundance” remaining in the sampo ended up on land. However, this small amount was enough for trees, herbs and cereals to begin to grow on the ground.

In later stories, the sampo is made by a culture hero - often Väinämöinen - and just according to the order of the mistress of Pohjola. The task is extremely difficult. The sampo must be made from negligible (or non-existent) material: from one swan feather, from a splinter of a spindle, from the “side” of a wool, from the milk of a barren cow, from a barley grain. Sometimes these items also need to be cut in half. As a reward, he receives permission to marry the mistress's daughter. But the hero doesn’t want to live in the underground kingdom, so he kidnaps both the owner’s daughter and the sampo.

However, escaping from the old woman Louhi is not so easy: she drives the fugitives into the sea, and Sampo dies there.

It is also interesting that the image of sampo in “Kalevala” developed gradually, and in the description of the miraculous mill Lennrot uses all the themes and motifs of folk versions - even in cases where these motifs are in some contradiction.

The uniqueness of the Karelian-Finnish epic

Separately, Russian folklorists studied the customs and legends of the “Russian Lapps” at the beginning of the twentieth century, but these records mainly relate to superstitions and fairy tales.

The uniqueness of Finno-Ugric mythology, presented to the general reader, lies in the fact that its main text - the epic - was written by a specific person and bears the hallmarks of not only folk poetry, but also specific personal creativity. On the other hand, the talent of Elias Lönnrot made the Kalevala the property of all mankind, and Finnish mythology - not the most significant (unlike, say, ancient) in the history of world artistic culture - one of the most famous.

UDC 291.33(093)(045) D.V. Puzanov

METEOROLOGICAL MAGIC OF THE FINNO-UGRIAN PEOPLES OF NORTHERN AND EASTERN EUROPE THROUGH THE EYES OF THEIR NEIGHBORS (BASED ON WRITTEN SOURCES OF THE 11th-13th CENTURIES)*

The article is devoted to the reconstruction of the complex of ideas of the peoples of Eastern and Northern Europe about the meteorological magic of their Finno-Ugric neighbors. The picture of the world of medieval peoples is recreated based on materials from written sources, which, for the most part, retained the denial of the power of magic characteristic of monotheism. The ritual actions of the Finno-Ugrians are not separated from the witchcraft of their compatriots. The ideas of the common people are most clearly manifested in the Scandinavian sagas, the authors of which believed in witchcraft. According to the sagas, Finno-Ugric sorcerers have a special power, which is manifested not so much in the natural charisma of the magician, but in his skill. According to the chronicles of Ancient Rus', folk ideas are restored hypothetically and only when compared with later ethnographic information. It is not possible to establish whether the ancient Russian population perceived the Finno-Ugric peoples as more skilled in magic compared to other ethnic groups. The sources of Livonia reflect even less popular ideas. In the chronicles of the order there is a purely Christian view that denied the power of magic, including Finnish. At the same time, only the Livonian Chronicle preserves a detailed, almost rational description of the rituals of some Finno-Ugric peoples. Arab sources testify to the belief of the peoples of the Volga region in the special abilities of some Finno-Ugric tribes to influence natural processes. In general, the materials studied allow us to talk about the interpenetration of multi-ethnic magical ideas and practices throughout the entire region.

Key words: Livonian Chronicle, Scandinavian sagas, ancient Russian chronicles, Al-Garnati, magic, natural phenomena, “witch hunt”.

Belief in the ability of individuals to influence natural phenomena occupies an important place in the religious beliefs of many peoples of the world. Magic rites and rituals in the traditional consciousness were supposed to perform a utilitarian function: control meteorological climate changes, promote the harvest, harm enemies, etc. At the same time, magic itself had its origins in irrational thinking, the belief in the presence of tangible objects and phenomena of supernatural properties.

Therefore, the actions of the sorcerer had to have a rational goal, but at the same time go beyond the limits of everyday reality. People with unusual behavior, such as mental disorders, had many chances to be considered as having supernatural abilities. However, the behavior of those who acted on the basis of an alternative everyday reality, and in other words, had a different ethnic picture of the world seemed no less strange.

The reflection of various aspects of the cult activity of one people in the worldview of another is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Naturally, someone else's magic could only be comprehended within the system of concepts and prejudices that initially existed among the observer. Therefore, it is extremely important to consider the same phenomenon from the perspective of different cultures. This approach will allow you to learn more about both the transmitted culture and the transmitting source.

In the XI-XIII centuries. In Northern and Eastern Europe, the original habitat of the majority of Finno-Ugric peoples, complex sociocultural processes took place. Tribal associations turned into states, the new political government was interested in the spread of monotheistic cults. As a consequence, a supra-ethnic picture of the world of Abrahamic religions is gradually being established, with its fundamental denial of polytheism and pagan magic. This was a time when ordinary layers of society still retained traditional ideas, and a kind of “semiotic explosion” took place among the intellectual elite, forcing them to abandon those truths that had recently seemed self-evident in the public consciousness.

The study was carried out with financial support from a grant from the Russian Science Foundation. Project No. 14-1803573 ““Fields of the non-existent”: unknown sources on the history and culture of the Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia (search, publication, popularization).”

The Finno-Ugrians occupied a special position in these processes. Only the Hungarians managed to create their own state. The remaining Finno-Ugric peoples were in extreme climatic and foreign policy conditions that were not favorable to sociogenesis and politogenesis. Therefore, they preserved the tribal system and pagan culture longer than their southern neighbors and represented a kind of anomaly for educated followers of monotheistic cults, which could not but affect the peculiarities of the perception of Finno-Ugric magic.

Researchers have long drawn attention to the peculiarities of its description in the written sources of their neighbors, noting that in the ideas of the Slavs and Germans, the Finno-Ugrians were especially skilled in witchcraft. According to some researchers, the Northern Germans and Eastern Slavs learned magic from the Finno-Ugric peoples. Descriptions of shamanic practices were discovered in medieval sources of peoples interacting with the Finno-Ugric peoples. At the same time, not all researchers attributed these practices to Finno-Ugric influence. In general, the problem of the perception of Finno-Ugric magic by neighbors was addressed as part of the study of the general magical worldview of the Slavs or Germans. Moreover, each medieval nation was studied separately. Not enough attention was paid to the differences and similarities between Finno-Ugric magic and the magic of other ethnic groups in the ideas of medieval peoples. The ideas about the influence of Finno-Ugric magic on natural phenomena remain unexplored. At the same time, faith in the ability of individuals to influence nature occupied an important place in the worldview of an agrarian society.

The study of meteorological magic1 of the Finno-Ugric peoples as perceived by their neighbors is intended to clarify many theoretical aspects associated with the perception of foreign-ethnic witchcraft. In addition, such work will reveal the main options for interpreting Finno-Ugric magic that existed during the Middle Ages among the Slavs, Germans, and Turkic population of the Volga region. A comparative analysis will help to reconstruct the circumstances and features of sociocultural interaction in the contact zone of the Finno-Ugrians, Slavs, Balts, Germans and Turks.

Finno-Ugric tribes in the XI-XIII centuries. lived next door to such powerful cultural and military-political centers as Rus', the Norman kingdoms, and Volga Bulgaria. In the 13th century. The territory of the Baltic Finns is conquered by the crusaders, forming their own states there. Ideas about Finno-Ugric magic were reflected in the sources of Ancient Rus', the countries of Scandinavia and Livonia. The writing of Volga Bulgaria has almost not survived, but valuable information about the ideas of the peoples of the medieval Volga region is contained in Arabic sources. The Scandinavian sagas contain the most information about the magical influence of the Finno-Ugrians on natural processes. This is not surprising: originating as epic oral creativity, they retained a significant folklore element and belief in magic even after being presented by the clergy in the form of a written text and in the most complete form, from the sources under consideration, reflect elements of the worldview of the medieval common people.

In the minds of the Normans, Finnish sorcerers, like the local ones, were associated with the elements of rain and accompanying phenomena. According to the Earthly Circle, after a campaign in Biarmia, the son of Half-dan, Erik, arrives in Finnmörk. There his people find a woman of extraordinary beauty in the house. Her name was Gunnhild, she was from northern Norway, and in the land of the Sami the girl learned witchcraft “from two Finns.” The beauty of the Norwegian woman was also noticed by the magicians who lived with her; each of them wanted to take her as a wife, but both were jealous of the woman for each other, which is why they slept poorly. To get rid of his admirers, Gunnhild hides the Vikings in the house and covers their tracks. The Finns returning from the hunt are euthanized, a bag is put on each head, after which the Normans kill the magicians. The Norwegians take the corpses out into the street, but they are prevented from returning to the ship by strong thunder, which thunders all night, and only in the morning do the Vikings reach the ship.

1 Meteorological magic is magic whose imaginary object is weather, climate, and natural phenomena. According to S. A. Tokarev, this type of magic differs from others in that its object “cannot in any way depend on the will and actions of a person.” In other words, meteorological magic, in its broad meaning, can include any magical actions aimed at the natural human environment. S. A. Tokarev himself, revealing the essence of the type of magic he identified, cites as an example attempts to influence not only meteorological, but also cosmological phenomena (meteorite falls, solar eclipses).

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When Olav the Saint goes on a campaign against the Finns, they leave their homes and hide in the forests. However, in the forest the Finns attack the Normans. The Norwegians make their way to the ships with heavy losses, but the Finns use witchcraft to cause a sea storm at night. The Normans were forced to sail against the wind. According to Saxo Grammar, the Biarms2 during the confrontation with Hadding send clouds, and the Finn, who is in the Danish army, disperses them with the help of a storm.

A similar incident happened with Ragnar. When the Biarmians learned that the Danish king had sailed to conquer them, they caused clouds and a storm that prevented the Danes from landing and aggravated their food shortages. Then the storm subsided, and the conquerors began to be scorched by the harsh heat and decimated by the epidemic. Witchcraft forced Ragnar to resort to a shameful trick for a Viking: he faked a retreat and then attacked the enemy.

Eric's chronicle claims that the Karelians sailed to Melar even in a strong storm and inflicted significant damage on the Svei. According to the Saga of Sturlaug the Hardworking Ingolvson, the priestess of the Biarms casts an impenetrable darkness during the battle with Sturlaug. When the priestess falls, the earth “sways like a sea in a storm.”

According to Scandinavian written sources, Finnish sorcerers use the forces of the atmosphere primarily in combat magic. The connection between rain and storm and battle can be traced in German mythology not only in this aspect. This idea is generally widespread among the peoples of Eurasia. It is known that among the Indo-Europeans the god of war was, as a rule, the Thunderer. And this idea is not unique to the peoples of the Eurasian continent. Storm and thunder were personified, for example, by the Egyptian god of war Set. Even in purely Christian sources of medieval Europe, the connection between atmospheric phenomena and battles can be traced in the poeticization of military battles through the description of thunderstorms, rain, hail, and storms. In Scandinavian sources, such descriptions are still semi-pagan in nature3.

In the minds of the northern Germans, Finno-Ugric sorcerers are similar to the Norman sorcerers not only in their strong connection with atmospheric phenomena, but also in their methods of neutralizing them. Particular danger, according to the Normans, came from the eyes of a sorcerer (or evil spirits). It is after Grettir has looked the ghost in the eyes that the hero's life turns into a lonely, fierce struggle for existence. The magician Stigandi was caught in an interesting way: Olav bribed a maid who put the sorcerer to sleep, and then they threw a bag over his head. The parallel with how Gunnhild deals with his Finnish teachers is obvious. What would have happened if the ungrateful student had not taken precautions sounds from her own lips: “If they get angry, the earth spins under their gaze, and if anything living catches their eye, it immediately falls dead.”

It is not surprising that the Finns, according to the sagas, similarly oppose the North German carriers of magic. Saxo Grammaticus describes the following case. When Odin, offended by the betrayal of his wife, leaves the country, a powerful magician with destructive powers seizes power. The sorcerer declared himself Odin. However, his charisma was not comparable to that of the one-eyed god. And when, after the death of his wife, Odin returned to his homeland, the impostor fled to Finland4. There he was killed by local residents. After his death, the sorcerer brought illnesses to the population, so that it seemed that he was avenging his death. Because of this, he was dug up and impaled on a stake. Thus, by its nature, Finnish magic, in the minds of the Normans, was not fundamentally different from their own.

The point of view of A. A. Svanidze needs a certain adjustment, according to which the northern Germans considered the Finns and Bjarms “magicians and sorcerers without exception (...) Skilled in these matters, they allegedly knew how to make the severed stump grow together; a person could be turned into a walrus, which began to crush people, and another - into a dragon.” The sources cited by the researcher only indicate the presence of powerful magicians in the Finno-Ugric environment. In some works, Finns and Biarmians, finding themselves in a difficult situation, not only do not use magic, but can themselves become victims of it.

2 Probably the population of the White Sea coast.

3 The storm represents battle in many Scandinavian kennings, which in turn are replete with pagan symbolism. The connection of the air-water element with battles is especially clearly manifested in the Song of the Valkyries.

4 How the toponym “Pheoma” is sometimes translated. However, other translation options are possible (Fyn Island).

In some cases, the magic of the northern Germans, or the charisma of the ruler, turns out to be stronger than Finnish witchcraft. During the confrontation with St. Olav described above, the Finns cause a storm at sea. But, thanks to the leader's luck, the Norwegians manage to successfully sail against the wind. In the confrontation between Olaf the Saint and the powerful magician bond Raud the Mighty, the king’s mere luck is no longer enough. A strong storm prevents the ruler from landing at the Salfti fjord, and only with the help of the bishop and special religious rituals do the Christians manage to land on land. However, the battle between Olav and Raud, which was supported by Scandinavians and Finns devoted to the old faith, with the active use of supernatural forces on both sides, probably personified the struggle between Christianity and paganism in Norway as a whole. There is news when a charismatic hero, with the help of military weapons, resists the magic of the Biarms.

At the same time, the Finnish (Sami) sorcerers, apparently, were indeed considered the most skillful by the Normans, who did incredible things. When Olav the Saint forced Eyvind to accept baptism, he refused even after terrible torture, because he was “a spirit brought to life in a human body thanks to the witchcraft of the Finns”5. When King Halfdan the Black had food disappearing from the tables during a feast dedicated to Yule, a Finnish sorcerer was blamed for it. The captured magician began to call for help from the king's son, Harald, who ultimately helped the Finn escape. One day the sorcerer said to the heir: “Your father is very offended that I took some food from him last winter. But I will compensate you with good news. Your father is now dead and you must go home." Halfdan died under very unusual circumstances. After the next Yule celebration, the king rode across the lake. But the sun flooded the ice - and Halfdan the Black drowned. Was this, in the view of the Normans, the revenge of the Finnish magician?

The mythological blacksmith of the Germans, Wölund, who was “the most skillful man among all people,” is called the son of a Finnish king in the Elder Edda. Nidud, the lord of the Nyars, grabbed the hero while he was sleeping, unfairly accused him of theft, cut the tendons under his knees and imprisoned him on the island. However, Wölund left his captivity, taking off like a bird, which makes it possible to suspect that this blacksmith has witchcraft abilities.

If we look for differences in the Scandinavians’ ideas about their own and Finno-Ugric magicians, then, apparently, in Norman magic its religious component is more clearly manifested. There are no reports in the sources about the Finno-Ugrians turning to gods and spirits during witchcraft, but this is typical of the northern Germans. For example: the skald Egil curses King Eirik and his wife Grunhild, conjuring the spirits of Norway; Earl Hakon sacrifices his son to the evil atmospheric spirits and thereby secures their direct participation in the battle with the Jomsvikings. Such differences are probably due to the fact that the Normans were more familiar with their own religious picture of the world than the Finno-Ugric one. If, however, the myths about the Finns teaching magic to the Scandinavians have a real historical basis,6 then the discrepancies can be explained in another way. The North Germans were primarily interested in the practical side of Finnish magic, and not in its religious interpretation. Therefore, Finnish magic is powerful, but in many ways resembles a craft. Its bearers are as virtuoso skilled in their craft as the mythical blacksmith Wölund, but their skills can be learned.

In this context, it is interesting to turn to the motive of werewolves of sorcerers in the Scandinavian sagas. A. A. Svanidze compares the belief in the ability of a sorcerer to turn into an animal with mummery during shamanic rituals, noting: “having made wings for himself, he could turn into a bird” and Völund. Such a connection with shamanism is also interesting because the reincarnation of a magician into an animal is often mentioned in connection with the action of Finnish and Biarmian magic, that is, magic associated directly with shamanistic practices.

Thus, in the minds of the Normans, Finnish sorcerers were not fundamentally different from North German magicians in terms of the nature of their witchcraft. Like the Norman magicians, the Finno-Ugric magicians

5 Eyvind's parents were barren and conceived him under the influence of a spell.

6 In the mythology of the North Germans, researchers have long found obvious elements of shamanism. The attempt made by O. V. Kutarev to present shamanism as the original religion of the Proto-Indo-Europeans is not convincing. The fact that the discovery of even surviving shamanic phenomena in the mythology of other Indo-Europeans is a serious problem suggests that Finno-Ugric magical practices could indeed seriously influence the culture of the Scandinavians.

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were associated with atmospheric phenomena and used them in battle magic. Finnish magicians, however, were considered more skillful. Moreover, their art often manifested itself not so much in witchcraft charisma, but in skill, which brings Finnish magic closer to craft. In addition, the Finnish magician did not always rise to the occasion. The outcome of the confrontation between Finnish and Scandinavian magic, or magic and charisma, largely depended on the personalities involved in the conflict.

If in the Scandinavian tradition, despite the fact that the scribes of the sagas were often monks, a common folk interpretation of Finno-Ugric magic was still preserved, then this cannot be said about other sources of the Middle Ages. Old Russian chronicles, for example, reflect a purely Christian view of magic. And therefore, neither the ritual nor the ethnic side of the magical influence on nature is clearly expressed here.

Researchers, however, have long been looking for indirect hints about the participation of Finno-Ugrians in ancient Russian pagan rituals. In pre-revolutionary historiography, there was a tendency to attribute all references to the activity of the Magi of northern Rus' to Finno-Ugric influence. However, the range of phenomena described in chronicles, interpreted by researchers as Finno-Ugric magic, has today been significantly reduced. Moreover, skepticism is increasingly emerging about the possibility of determining the ethnicity of sorcerers using the scant information from the chronicle.

If the ambiguity of chronicle messages complicates the task of determining the ethnic environment in which sorcerers operate, then reconstructing the attitude of the ancient Russian population to the Finno-Ugric magicians becomes completely impossible. It is obvious that the scribe does not separate Finno-Ugric magic from Slavic magic, considering it also the fruit of the teachings of the devil. In Scandinavian literature, if the magician turns out to be Finnish, the reader's attention is focused on this. There is no such thing in the ancient Russian book tradition. There is, however, one case when the chronicle reports about a Novgorodian going “to the Chud” for fortune telling. And this case is full of important details.

So, the Novgorodian came to the Chud sorcerer, who, judging by the description of his actions in the chronicle, was a shaman. The sorcerer, as is his custom, began to perform the rituals necessary to call “demons” into the house. However, during the ritual, the sorcerer fell into a stupor. Having recovered, the magician tells the Novgorodian that he was prevented from establishing a connection with spirits by some thing that the Novgorodian is wearing. The Novgorodian understood what was going on, took off his pectoral cross and left it outside the house. After this, the “session” was a success: the demons began to shake or throw the sorcerer and told the Novgorodian about what he had come for. But the Novgorodian’s curiosity did not end there. He asked the miracle why his gods were afraid of the cross. He replied that this was a sign of the heavenly god, of whom the shaman’s spirits were afraid. Then the Novgorodian asked the sorcerer to tell him more about his gods. It turned out that the Chud worships black, winged, tailed spirits living in the abyss. They ascend to heaven to listen to the gods of Novgorod, that is, the angels. When a Novgorodian dies, his soul goes to heaven, to his gods, and the soul of the Chud goes underground to his own.

IN. Klyuchevsky interpreted the sorcerer’s story in an ethnic key: the division of gods into “upper” and “lower” is the result of active contacts between the Slavs and the Finno-Ugric population and a kind of Finnish-Slavic-Christian religious compromise. After the adoption of Christianity, according to V. O. Klyuchevsky, the Finnish gods, in the minds of the Slavs, took the position of demons, and the Slavic gods - angels. Thus, the researcher tries to explain why the chronicler does not distinguish between Finnish and Slavic magic. Included in the “Russian-Christian cult,” the Finnish gods “have become Russified and have lost their foreign Finnish character in the eyes of Rus'.”

From the standpoint of modern science, such conclusions seem naive. It is unlikely that the caricature of the Chud gods actually came from the lips of the shaman. The ethno-dualism described by V. O. Klyuchevsky is not confirmed either in written sources or in the folklore of the Slavic and Finno-Ugric peoples.

From the text of the chronicle it is extremely clear that the heavenly God is Jesus Christ (his sign is the cross), and the gods of the Christian Novgorodian are angels, who, due to the ignorance of the pagan, were mistaken for heavenly gods. The chronicler portrays the gods served by the Magi as demons. Agreeing with the conclusion of the magician that the Chud (or rather all the pagans) go to their gods in the abyss, and the Novgorodians go to their gods in heaven, the scribe writes that this is so: sinners go to hell, and the righteous arrive in heaven with angels Next comes the argument that demons, appearing in a dream or in delusion to the infidels, teach them to do sorcery. Then examples of the activity of the Magi are given, drawn from

from Byzantine works. In general, the story about the Novgorodian’s campaign in Chud follows the discussion about the weakness and powerlessness of demons who do evil by God’s permission, but know nothing.

The story of the Chud sorcerer about the heavenly and underground gods, as established by V.V. and S.V. Milkov, has parallels in apocryphal literature. Despite the obvious influence of Christian ideology on the transmission of the sorcerer’s monologue, it could be based on a real story that came out of a dual-faith environment. Even E.V. Anichkov noticed that the stupor of the sorcerer resembles a similar state of shamans after dancing. V. Ya. Petrukhin found parallels closer to the text of the chronicle message. French traveler of the 17th century. Regnard described the ritual of a Sami shaman, who (like the chronicle sorcerer) fell and became numb. The shaman remained in a trance for a quarter of an hour, after which he admitted that he was unable to subdue the spirit, because “a foreigner is a greater sorcerer than a shaman...”. According to the researcher, the chronicle contains “the most ancient description of the ritual.” Unlike V. O. Klyuchevsky, V. Ya. Petrukhin believes that the scribe presented demons not as Finnish gods, but as evil underground spirits, which the shaman tried to subjugate.

The connection between the rituals of the Chud sorcerer and shamanic practices is truly obvious. O.V. Kutarev even used this plot to substantiate his thesis, according to which the religion of the Proto-Indo-Europeans was shamanism. However, the researcher was extremely inattentive with the source: after all, the sorcerer from the Chud land was hardly an Indo-European. A detailed, unprecedented description of magical actions, which was preserved among the people and found its way into the chronicle, on the contrary, indicates that the actions of the shaman were unusual for the magical consciousness of the ancient Russian population.

Nevertheless, miracle magic and Slavic magic, in the minds of the Rus, were still subject to general principles. As V. Ya. Petrukhin notes, a Novgorodian removes “the cross - this is what Russian people usually did when doing fortune telling.” Based on the researched message, it can also be said that the simple Slavic population of Ancient Rus', like the Scandinavians, was not averse to resorting to Finnish magic. The Novgorodian, however, was interested not only in the external side of someone else's witchcraft, but also in its religious foundations. We, however, do not have the opportunity to say for sure whether there really was a theological conversation between the Slav and the shaman or whether it was the fruit of the scribe’s creativity. In any case, it is obvious that the content of their conversation can hardly be trusted.

A Novgorodian went to the sorcerer in Chud for fortune telling. However, this does not mean that the Slavic population hoped to receive only information about the future from the Finno-Ugrians. Old Russian scribes generally often limit the abilities of sorcerers to prophetic functions. According to the chronicles, demons and magicians cannot influence natural phenomena. The scribes attributed the manifestations of the forces of nature that were unsuccessful for Rus' exclusively to the punishment of God, and the successful ones - to His patronage.

Written sources do not allow us to talk about the specific position of Finnish magic in the sacred picture of the world of the simple Slavic population of the Middle Ages. But numerous ethnocultural parallels, as well as later folklore reports, indicate that Chud magic could indeed be resorted to as more effective. In the minds of many Slavs, the witchcraft of neighboring peoples was capable of seriously influencing the weather and natural phenomena. It is interesting that the term “Chud” over time will turn from an ethnonym into a designation of a mythical people of antiquity, legends about which were found among the Russians who lived in the territory of the collision with the historical Chud, and some Finno-Ugric peoples. Researchers believe that the ethnonym first evolved to designate all Finno-Ugrians of the pagan faith, and then became the name of mythological characters endowed with magical properties.

Like the historical miracle, the mythological miracle has prophetic power. In the ideas of the Komi-Zyryans, the motive for the influence of the miracle on natural phenomena is clearly visible: they turn to it in case of illness, death of livestock, and crop failures. The miracles themselves can take the form of a snow whirlwind. Both among the Russians and among the Finno-Ugrians, myths about enchanted Chud treasures were widespread. Any mythological people in folklore must have supernatural abilities. In addition, among the Permian population, ideas about miracles are mixed with ideas about pagan ancestors. The Chud cycle of legends only testifies to the operation of general laws in the perception of foreigners. Among the Western Russian population, the functions of the mythological miracle were performed by lords and Lithuania.

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More consistently, in comparison with the ancient Russian chronicles, the Christian position in relation to Finno-Ugric magic is expressed by the chronicles of Livonia. The Crusaders did not have stable historical ties with the local population, and therefore their view of the peoples of Eastern Europe is that of an outside observer. In the picture of the world of Christian fanatics there were no inclusions from the ideas of local tribes. This was a purely Christian worldview of representatives of a theocratic state, which set as its official goal the baptism of the Baltic region through a “holy war.”

The Chronicle of Livonia by Henry of Livonia was written in this spirit. All political rivals of Livonia in the struggle for influence in the Baltic states are declared enemies of the Virgin Mary, who allegedly patronized the state of the crusaders. It goes to not only the pagans and Russians, but also the Danes, who profess the same faith as the Livonians. The Mother of God mercilessly punishes all enemies of Livonia. It is clear that the influence of pagan rituals on natural phenomena, from the point of view of such a paradigm, is out of the question. Unlike the ancient Russian monks, Henry of Livonia does not even reserve the prophetic gift for the pagans. On the other hand, the chronicler is very attentive to detail, and in his descriptions one can notice an almost rational view of the attempts of the pagans to resort to fortune-telling or to influence natural phenomena.

Of the Baltic tribes mentioned by Henry, the Finno-Ugric ones included the Livs (Old Russian Liv) and the Ests (Old Russian Chud). The ethnic specificity of these ethnic groups is not always visible in the chronicles, since for the author the customs of the peoples inhabiting the region were often “the same.”

The chronicle contains a detailed description of the “witch hunts” in the medieval Baltic states. When the rains flooded the fields and destroyed the crops of the Livs from Toreida, the local population blamed Theodoric, who was an employee of the bishop, for the misfortune, because “his harvest was more abundant.” They wanted to sacrifice the servants to the gods, but before that their will had to be known. The Livs led the horse over the spear, which he stepped over with the “foot of life.” At this time, Theodoric read prayers and made blessing gestures with his hands. The sorcerer who performed the ceremony, suspecting something was wrong, “says that the Christian god sits on the back of the horse and guides the horse’s leg, and therefore you need to wipe the horse’s back in order to throw off the god.” However, these actions did not change the behavior of the horse, and when it was put through the spear again, Theodoric had to save his life. The ritual described in detail by Henry of Livonia resembles similar rituals of the Baltic Slavs.

Theodoric earned a reputation as a sorcerer not only among the Livs. During his stay in Estonia, the bishop's employee was almost killed, accusing him of “eating the sun,” that is, causing eclipses. Ideas about the eating of the sun or moon by a sorcerer or demonic force are widespread in medieval written literature and in the folklore of the peoples of the world. According to the chronicles, in Rus' the “neveglas” believed that during an eclipse the luminary was eaten by someone. In the Elder Eda, the Sun and the Moon are pursued by two wolves - Skol and Hat-ti, ready to swallow the luminaries (it is interesting to compare the messages from the Elder Eda with the Scandinavian beliefs about two wolves attacking the sun and producing eclipses, and with the Slavic belief in the attack on the luminaries by werewolves [ werewolves]). Similar stories can be found in Finno-Ugric mythology. According to the psalter of Michael Agricola, the Finns believed in supernatural animals devouring the moon. The Udmurts and Mari believed that during an eclipse the sun was swallowed by the evil Ubir (Wuver).

The concept of eating the sun and moon has been around for a very long time. Even the ancient Egyptians believed that solar and lunar eclipses are echoes of celestial battles; the luminaries begin to disappear when Seth tears out the eye of Horus and swallows it. The story of the influence of sorcerers on the moon and the sun is widespread in the folklore of the peoples of the world. For example, in New France, the Indians, convinced that whites were able to accurately predict “lunar and solar eclipses, which they are very afraid of,” considered the Europeans to be powerful sorcerers who had power over the luminaries and natural phenomena. The motif of the theft of the moon and the sun by the sorceress Lovkha is found in the Kalevala.

Brother Theodoric, who later became a bishop, was a miracle worker in the eyes of pagans and Christians. Henry of Livonia describes the miracles that the priest performed: he healed the wounded Livonian with the help of prayers and herbs, the effect of which he allegedly did not know. The attitude of the Livs towards Theodoric was ambiguous. They either intend to kill him, or tearfully beg him to

he remained in Livonia after learning of his decision to return to Gotland. The failure of the bishop's peaceful mission, however, would have threatened the arrival of the Crusader army; in any case, Henry of Livonia does not believe in the sincerity of the Livonians. Nevertheless, after Theodoric's death the Livonians mourned him. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the subsequent government would impose Christianity more harshly. But it may also be that the bishop was seen as a powerful sorcerer, and, as a subject of sacred relations, was treated with ambivalence. At times they hoped to get help, and at times they were ready to kill if they were suspected of sabotage.

Another example of the Liv faith in the ability of people and gods to influence natural phenomena is demonstrated by the description of the Teutonic siege of Dabrela Castle. At night, the wind knocked down the siege tower of the Christians, which gave rise to the jubilation of the Livs in the castle. In gratitude to their gods, they began to sacrifice dogs and goats, and threw the bodies of animals into the faces of the Christians besieging the fortress. However, according to Henry of Livonia, their success was short-lived, since “a more powerful siege structure was immediately built.”

In general, the forces of nature in the chronicle are subordinated to God and the Mother of God. And nature more often helps Christians overcome pagans. An indicative case is when natural phenomena (severe frost) prevented the Latta-Christians from pursuing the Estonians, after which the Latta decided that their compatriots who died during the military conflict remained unavenged, and began to gather a large army. The failure only prompted the Christians to undertake a deliberate campaign, which resulted in the killing of many pagans: men, women, children and 300 elders. Henry of Livonia clearly sees the hand of Divine Providence in these events: “It was on Sunday, when they sing “Rejoice,” and everyone unanimously blessed God with joy.” A similar technique, when failure emanating from natural phenomena prompts the faithful to shed blood and ruin the pagans, is not unique in the Christian chronicles of the north. Thus, in Eric’s chronicle, the calm did not allow the Swedes to sail, and the wind, despite prayers, did not appear. This prompted the army to devastate the lands of Izhora. Immediately after the predatory campaign, a tailwind appears.

Thus, in relation to meteorological magic, Henry of Livonia takes the standard Christian position, according to which belief in the possibility of influencing natural processes with the help of witchcraft is stupid superstition. Only God and the saints are capable of such miracles.

The ideas about the meteorological magic of the Finno-Ugrians also include the belief of the ancient Bulgars, according to which the peoples of Visu7 and Jura8 living in the north, if they arrived in Bulgar in the summer, could bring with them cold that would kill their crops. Beliefs that ethnic groups living in cold climates could cause extreme cold were also widespread in the far west of Northern Europe. According to King Alfred's Orosius, among the Estonians (in this case the Balts) there is a tribe that is able to freeze the dead and turn water and beer into ice in the summer. It is interesting that Finno-Ugric fairy tales preserve information about a similar ability of some people. In the Mordovian fairy tale “Tsarevich the Bogatyr,” Merzlyak enters a hot bathhouse and cools it down. In Russia, the concept of “bringing bad (or good) weather” is still preserved. They say this more as a joke. Nevertheless, this example demonstrates how stable such logic itself is: having lost its sacred aura, it continues to live in a modified form in the environment of modern civilization.

Having examined the material from written medieval sources, we can identify two ideal (that is, not found anywhere in their pure form) views on Finno-Ugric magic. The first - common folk - was most reflected in the Icelandic sagas. The common population of European medieval states perceived the Finno-Ugrians as powerful magicians capable of radically influencing natural processes. However, it is difficult to say whether the Finno-Ugrians occupied a special position among other foreign sorcerers, since we often deal with fragmentary evidence and Christian interpretations that level out ethnic differences. Finno-Ugric magicians stand out especially from the general array of sorcerers only in Scandinavian sources. They are located at the courts of the kings or teach witchcraft to the Scandinavians. But such an idea could have arisen as a result of the peculiarities of the Finno-Norman cultural symbiosis. Having a developed political culture, who founded more than one European state, the Normans

7 Most likely the Permian population, bearers of the Chepetsk archaeological culture.

8 Probably the same as the chronicle Ugra.

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We probably influenced the potestar and military traditions of local tribes and, possibly, higher mythology. The Finno-Ugrians, in turn, could “repay” by transferring magical knowledge9.

As for the second, book-Christian, view, the Finno-Ugric peoples did not stand out from other peoples in any way. And the possibilities of their impact on nature seemed to be the speculation of pagans. On the other hand, such a view shifts attention from magical ideas about the results of sorcery to a completely rationalistic description of specific rituals. In general, the abundance of news concerning the influence of Finno-Ugric magic on nature may indirectly indicate that the non-Finno-Ugric population living in the neighborhood was not averse to resorting to the services of Finno-Ugric shamans, including for the purpose of controlling natural phenomena. Sometimes the consequence of such interaction was a mutual cultural symbiosis of magical practices and ideas. Probably only a small fraction of the results of this synthesis are reflected in medieval literature.

LIST OF SOURCES AND REFERENCES

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6. Matuzova V.I. English medieval sources of the XI-XIII centuries. Texts, translations, commentary. M., 1979.

7. Mordovian folk tales. Saransk, 1978.

8. Full collection Russian chronicles. M., 1997. T. 1.

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9 Some forms of witchcraft were considered by the Normans to be unworthy of a man.

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Received by the editor 02.12.16

THE METEORIC MAGIC OF FINNO-UGRIC PEOPLES IN NORTHERN AND EASTERN EUROPE BY THE VIEWS OF THEIR NEIGHBORS (BASED ON WRITTEN SOURCES OF THE XITH-XIIITH CENTURIES)

The article is devoted to reconstruction of a complex of views by the peoples of Eastern and Northern Europe concerning the weather magic of their Finno-Ugric neighbors. The world outlook of medieval nationalities is recreated using materials of written sources, most of which have kept the typical monotheistic denial of power of magic. According to this approach, the cult activity of Finno-Ugric peoples is not separated from the magic of compatriots. Most accurately the representations of common folk are shown in the Scandinavian sagas whose authors believed in magic. The Finno-Ugric wizards had a special strength, which is demonstrated not so much in the natural charisma of the magician, but in his skill. In the chronicles of Old Russia the views of common folk are restored hypothetically and only by comparison with the later ethnographic data. In the case of medieval Slavs it is impossible to determine whether they perceived the Finno-Ugric peoples as more skillful in magic in comparison with the other non-Slavic ethnoses. The sources of Livonia reflect the common mentality even less. The chronicles of the Livonian Order show also the special Christian approach, which denied the power of magic (including that of Finno-Ugric peoples). At the same time, only the Henry"s chronicle of Livonia keeps detailed, almost rational description of rites of some Finno-Ugric peoples. The belief of the peoples of the Volga region in special abilities of some Finno-Ugric tribes to influence natural processes is demonstrated by the Arab sources. As a whole, the materials studied suggest that there was an interpenetration of multiethnic magical views and practices throughout this region.

Keywords: Livonian chronicle, Scandinavian sagas, old Russian chronicles, al-Garnati, magic, natural phenomena, "witch-hunting".

Puzanov Daniil Viktorovich, graduate student

Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

426004, Russia, Izhevsk, st. Lomonosova, 4 E-mail: [email protected]

Puzanov D.V., postgraduate student

Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ural Branch of the RAS Lomonosova st., 4, Izhevsk, Russia, 426004 E-mail: [email protected]

The Finno-Ugric tribes, like most pagan peoples of Northern and Eastern Europe, did not have a sacred scripture - the entire religious tradition was transmitted orally. Already in our days it is captured by the Finnish epic “Kalevala” and the Estonian “Kalevipoeg”. Runes have been used in calendars for much longer than in Sweden. In Estonia they continued to be used at the end of the eighteenth century (the calendar from Hinumaa dates back to 1796). Thursday was considered a sacred day - the best food of the whole week was put on the table: on this day they ate butter and meat. The pagan calendar divided the year into four parts with the following major holidays: Kunnipaev (Plow Day, April 14, equivalent to the Scandinavian Summer Day), Karuspaev (Bear Day, July 13), Kolletamisepaev (Withering Day, October 14, equivalent to the Scandinavian Winter Day), and Korjusep ( Meeting Day, January 14, later the Scandinavian Midwinter Festival).

Among the Finno-Ugric deities is the sky god, known by many local names (Yumala in Finnish; Taevataat, "heavenly grandfather", in Estonian; Yumo in Mari; Inmar in Udmurd and Ibmel in Sami). The Lapland deities Peive (sun, female) and Mano (or Asve, moon, male) were never anthropomorphized; Peive appears as a rhombus or a circle with four rays, and Mano as a month. The Finns had Akko as their main deity. His wife Akka patronized the harvest and fertility. The Estonians called Akka “Maan-emo”, “mother earth”, and the Udmurts called it “Musem-mumi”. The thunder god among the Sami was called Horagalles (old man Thor), among the Estonians - Tooru/Taara, and among the Ostyaks - Torim. The national god of the Sami, Rota, is identified with Odin. Trade contacts between Scandinavia and these northern Finno-Ugric lands, as well as joint settlements, contributed to the partial assimilation of both the names and attributes of the deities. The Scandinavians of the Viking Age also considered the Sami and Finns to be “magicians”, masters of the “magical art”. The Sami, who lived in small groups common to hunter-gatherer communities, and, to a lesser extent, the more sedentary Finns, retained the role of the shaman - a magician who, in a state of trance, travels from the world of everyday life to the world beyond and returns with information bringing benefit the entire tribe. The Norwegian Viking Ingimund the Old sent two Sami people on a shamanic astral journey, the “magic path to Iceland.” He lost the silver statue of the god Frey, and the Sami, returning from the “magical journey,” told him where to look for it in Iceland. If you believe the “Book of the Settlement of the Earth,” their description turned out to be absolutely accurate: Ingimund, having gone to Iceland, found a statue of the god exactly where the Sami predicted.

In the Finno-Ugric religion, as in the beliefs of other parts of Europe, there is a cult of ancestors, spirits of the earth and specific elements of shamanic practice. The Sami revered Radie-atche, the ancestor god, accompanied by his wife Radie-akka, son Radie-kiedde and daughter Rana-neida (the patroness of spring). In sanctuaries, consecrated spindles were placed in honor of Rana-neida. In Estonia, the cults of the patron spirits Metsika and Tonna were very popular. Among a myriad of other creatures: Estonian Uku (spirit of the house), Sami Piegg-olmai ("master of the winds") and Veralden-olmai ("man of the universe, god of hunting and reindeer"), Udmurt water spirits Obin-murt ("rain man") , "Wu-murt ("man of water") and Wu-nuna ("uncle of water"). In addition, the cult of the bear occupied an important place in the religion of many tribes. In addition, amulets depicting a man with the head of an elk were found in Chud (Estonian) graves near Lake Ladoga; The Sami god Radie-kiedde was also depicted with horns. For the Finno-Ugric tribes, sacred groves played the same great role as for the Celts and other Baltic peoples. Among the Mari, ceremonies in honor of good deities took place in Yumon-tot, and deities dangerous to humans were propitiated in a grove called keremen, enclosed by a fence (keremen, equivalent to the Scandinavian Vebond). Even at the end of the nineteenth century, the Mari had no less than sixty-four sacred groves. The Udmurts also had similar groves, called luds. The Udmurts also erected sacred buildings (kvala) and low wooden structures without windows, which were sanctuaries of the family and the gods of the clan. Inside was a wooden vessel with images of the ancestor of the family or tribe. In accordance with the general tradition of European paganism, sacred trees were decorated with images of deities and symbolic ornaments.

The peoples of the Finno-Ugric group have inhabited the territories of Europe and Siberia for more than ten thousand years, since Neolithic times. Today, the number of speakers of Finno-Ugric languages ​​exceeds 20 million people, and they are citizens of Russia and a number of European countries - modern representatives of the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group live in Western and Central Siberia, Central and Northern Europe. The Finno-Ugric peoples are an ethno-linguistic community of peoples, including the Mari, Samoyeds, Sami, Udmurts, Ob Ugrians, Erzyans, Hungarians, Finns, Estonians, Livs, etc.

Some peoples of the Finno-Ugric group created their own states (Hungary, Finland, Estonia, Latvia), and some live in multinational states. Despite the fact that the cultures of the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group were significantly influenced by the beliefs of the ethnic groups living with them on the same territory and the Christianization of Europe, the Finno-Ugric peoples still managed to preserve a layer of their original culture and religion.

Religion of the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group before Christianization

In the pre-Christian era, the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group lived separately, over a vast territory, and representatives of different peoples had practically no contact with each other. Therefore, it is natural that the dialects and nuances of traditions and beliefs among different peoples of this group differed significantly: for example, despite the fact that both Estonians and Mansi belong to the Finno-Ugric peoples, it cannot be said that there is much in their beliefs and traditions general. The formation of the religion and way of life of each ethnic group was influenced by environmental conditions and the way of life of the people, so it is not surprising that the beliefs and traditions of the ethnic groups living in Siberia differed significantly from the religion of the Finno-Ugric peoples living in Western Europe.

There was no Finno-Ugric group in the religions of the peoples, so historians take all information about the beliefs of this ethnic group from folklore - oral folk art, which was recorded in the epics and legends of different peoples. And the most famous epics, from which modern historians draw knowledge about beliefs, are the Finnish “Kalevala” and the Estonian “Kalevipoeg”, which describe in sufficient detail not only gods and traditions, but also the exploits of heroes of different times.

Despite the presence of a certain difference between the beliefs of different peoples of the Finno-Ugric group, there is much in common between them. All these religions were polytheistic, and most of the gods were associated either with natural phenomena or with cattle breeding and agriculture - the main occupations of the Finno-Ugrians. The supreme deity was considered the god of the sky, whom the Finns called Yumala, the Estonians - Taevataat, the Mari - Yumo, the Udmurts - Inmar, and the Sami - Ibmel. Also, the Finno-Ugrians revered the deities of the sun, moon, fertility, earth and thunder; Representatives of each nation called their deities in their own way, but the general characteristics of the gods, besides their names, did not have too many differences. In addition to polytheism and similar gods, all religions of the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group have the following common characteristics:

1. Ancestor cult - all representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples believed in the existence of the immortal soul of man, as well as in the fact that residents of the afterlife can influence the lives of living people and, in exceptional cases, help their descendants
2. Cults of gods and spirits associated with nature and earth (A nimism) - since the food of the majority of the peoples of Siberia and Europe directly depended on the offspring of farmed animals and the harvest of cultivated plants, it is not surprising that many peoples of the Finno-Ugric group had many traditions and rituals intended to appease the spirits of nature
3. Elements of shamanism - as in, in the Finno-Ugric ethnic groups, the role of intermediaries between the world of people and the spiritual world was performed by shamans.

Religion of the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group in modern times

After the Christianization of Europe, as well as an increase in the number of adherents of Islam at the beginning of the first half of the second millennium AD, more and more people belonging to the Finno-Ugric peoples began to profess any of them, leaving the beliefs of their ancestors in the past. Now only a small part of the Finno-Ugric people profess traditional pagan beliefs and shamanism, while the majority have adopted the faith of the peoples living with them on the same territory. For example, the overwhelming majority of Finns and Estonians, like citizens of other European countries, are Christians (Catholics, Orthodox or Lutherans), and among the representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples inhabiting the Urals and Siberia, there are many adherents of Islam.

Today, the ancient animistic religions and shamanism have been preserved in their most complete form by the Udmurts, Mari and Samoyed peoples - the indigenous inhabitants of western and central Siberia. However, it cannot be said that the Finno-Ugric people completely forgot their traditions, because they preserved a number of rituals and beliefs, and even the traditions of some Christian holidays among the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group were closely intertwined with ancient pagan customs.