Ancient rituals dedicated to the forces of nature. Ancient rituals of different nations of the world

The forces of nature - perhaps the only thing that man could not fully cope with till now. The world has learned to treat complex diseases, clone living organisms, conquer outer space and the vast depths of the ocean, but still remains defenseless before droughts and tsunamis, earthquakes and glacier gatherings.

The ancient rite, dedicated to the forces of nature, gave man some kind of unity with the nature of the world, the ability to curb him. The amazing, inexplicable power of the approach was always of interest to mankind - it tried to comprehend this mystery, to join it, to make part of its own life. So there were ancient rites, the rudiments of which have survived today.

The man of the metropolis

If you approach the modern person and say: "Call the ancient rites dedicated to the forces of nature" - he can hardly remember at least one name, describe at least some sacrament that was sacred to distant ancestors. Of course, the world has changed significantly, objects have lost their magical properties in the world, where there is practically no room for secrecy among skyscrapers, airplanes, the Internet and banal hand dryers. However, this was not always the case.

The power of the ancients

Almost in every culture there is a place for people able to come into contact with natural phenomena: Magi, shamans, sorcerers, clairvoyants, priests and just elders. Ancient rituals, dedicated to the forces of nature, used to be far from being a rarity. In people there was then more faith, and the world, as they say in old legends, much more willingly responded to the requests of man.

Paganism is characteristic of almost all cultures of the world. Of course, there were significant differences between the beliefs of representatives of different races and territories, which is naturally due to the difference in the environments in which they were submerged. Nevertheless, the key aspects were almost identical. For example, in all cultures there was a cult of worshiping the sun.

Why Nature?

In fact, why did people worship the forces of the earth, water, air or fire ? Ancient rituals dedicated to the forces of nature did not arise from scratch. If to argue logically, then the man in antiquity directly depended on the harvest, the weather conditions, the whims of the climate. Naturally, he did his best to cajole the elements, make friends with the rains, tame the winds and blizzards.

Winter Rites

For our ancestors, perhaps the most long-awaited season was spring, on which the future harvest directly depended. Ancient rituals dedicated to the forces of nature were in this case particularly important - it was necessary to appease the prigozhuyu beauty. And this process began with a holiday called a komede, which later became known to us as Shrovetide. On this day our ancestors changed into bear hides, sang songs, performed ritual dances. The awakening of a clumsy forest inhabitant marked the coming of spring for our ancestors.

Another traditional winter rite was the burning of a baden - a ritual log, which was given to fire on Christmas Eve. Sentence ritual formulas during knocking out sparks guaranteed ancestors not only a successful change of seasons, but addition in cattle, which was no less important. By the way, there is a similar rite in the Indo-European culture, where the goddess Agi Buhnya served as the badminton.

Slavic Rites

In order to learn how the ancient Slavs used magic, one should turn to history. First of all, the distinctive feature of Slavic culture can be called the fact that the human sacrifice has been unacceptable since ancient times. But the animals of sacrifice were all the same. For example, in order to appease the water element, our ancestors threw a rooster to the bottom, which was supposed to entertain the marine master, leading him into a good mood.

In order to appease the god of the sun, light and fertility of Yaril, the Slavs organized another ancient rite dedicated to the forces of nature - noisy festivities with jumps over the fire. These actions had a function of the rite - the people's joy in honor of the meeting of Yarila promised people a rich harvest, a gentle sun and a rapid continuation of the family.

Rituals and ceremonies of the ancient Slavs can not but delight with their beauty and purity. Together with Jarilah in the spring were honored, for example, Svarog and Dazhdbog, in honor of which the girls dressed in the best clothes, conducted dances.

Farewell to the sun during the celebration of the day of Ivan-Kupala, accompanied by a ritual rolling in the pure field of a burning wheel. The ritual attribute symbolized the transition of the sun to descent, reduction of the circle.

At the same time, on the bathing night, young girls preparing to become brides turned to the water element as a rite. After the performance of dances and songs in honor of Rod, Makoshi, Mother Earth, Water, Rozhanitsa, the girls were exposed, disbanded and entered the water, referring to it as an element that takes their old life and gives a new life.

Rites of the earth

Of course, our ancestors could not turn to Mother Earth. Characteristic in this respect is the rite of sowing and harvesting fields. To fill the grain in the field was due solely to the man - in this case the parallel with the continuation of the genus, the giving of the seed, is clearly seen.

To take care of the fields and harvests were originally naked women, who personified the maternal origin of the land in this case. From them in the field was to be transferred to the force for the successors of the family. Harvesting, thus, was transformed into the birth of a new life.

In fact, the ancient rituals dedicated to the forces of nature have survived rudimentary even to this day. At the Kupala holidays, bonfires are still lit, New Year celebrations still involve sparkling lights, and the stuffed pancake and the subsequent eating of pancakes is still considered to be almost the most favorite winter holiday.