Totemism is an idea of a supernatural connection, kinship between a group of people and a certain kind of animals, plants, and less often objects. The term "totem", "ototem" is taken from the language of the Ojibwe tribe of North American Indians, in which it means "his kind". The totemism of the Australian tribes is the most developed and best studied. Australia is therefore called the "classic" country of totemism. (The indigenous population of Australia - the Australians at the time of colonization (the end of the 18th century) were at an early stage of the primitive communal system, therefore their religious beliefs give an idea of the oldest forms of religion.) Australian clans and phratries (groups of related clans) bore the names of totem animals and plants; for example, the Arabana tribe consisted of 12 genera, which had names: wedge-tailed eagle, raven, dingo, caterpillar, frog, snake, etc.
The totem was considered the ancestor of the clan, its ancestor, therefore a number of prohibitions were associated with it: it was forbidden to kill and eat the totem (with the exception of ritual ceremonies), it was forbidden to harm it. The killing of a totem or causing any damage to it by an outsider was perceived by the Australians as a personal insult. Numerous myths tell about totemic ancestors - fantastic creatures, half-humans, half-animals, about their life, wanderings, exploits. Some totemic rites were a staging of such myths. Myths and rituals were considered sacred, they were known only to men who had passed the rites of initiation.
The Australians believed in their ability to influence the totem, they had special “intichium” ceremonies (the name is taken from the language of the Aranda tribe), the purpose of which was to magically promote the reproduction of totem animals and plants. The main part of the ceremonies were dances; their participants sought their appearance- headdresses, masks, special coloring of bodies, - as well as movements to resemble totems. The final part of the rite was the ritual eating of the totem, which was considered a way of familiarizing with it.
Totemism is one of the forms of religion of the early tribal society, it is closely connected with such types of economy as hunting and gathering. Animals and plants, which gave people the opportunity to exist, become for them the object of religious worship. Totemism also reflected the features of primitive social relations based on the principle of consanguinity. Not knowing other connections in society, except for blood relations, people transferred them to external nature. The connection of members of the genus with the animal and plant world of their area was perceived by them as a blood relationship.
Totemic views are attested not only among the Australians, but also among many other tribes: the Indians of North and South America, in Africa, Melanesia, although here they no longer appear in such a “classical” form as among the Australians, since these tribes have passed the stage of early tribal society . The Indians had totemic names of clans and phratries, myths of the origin of clans from totems, and totemic prohibitions. Religious dances were performed in honor of the totem: wolf dance, bear dance, crow dance, etc. The totem was considered a patron, so his images were applied to weapons, household items, housing. The Tlingit of the northwest coast of North America erected a totem pole in front of each house, covered with images of the totem ancestor.
On the basis of totemism, later, at a higher stage of development, a cult of animals arose, which existed among many peoples of the world. AT ancient egypt there was a cult of sacred animals - a bull, a jackal, a goat, a crocodile, etc., considered the incarnations of the gods. Temples were dedicated to them, sacrifices were made. Many Egyptian deities were depicted as animals: the god of the dead Anubis - in the form of a jackal, the goddess of love and fertility Isis - in the form of a woman with a cow's head. In ancient India, cows, tigers, monkeys and other animals were revered. Special festivities were held in honor of the cow. Monkeys met in large numbers on the streets of Indian cities, no one dared to touch.
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Middle East and Mediterranean (Zoroastrianism Islam Judaism Christianity)
Pre-Columbian America
Pre-Christian Europe (Germans Ancient Armenia Ancient Greece Celts Slavs)
supernatural entities
Totemism- the once very widespread and now still existing religious and social system, which is based on a kind of cult of the so-called totem. This term was first used by Long in 1791. , borrowed from the North American Ojibwa tribe, in whose language totem means the name and sign, the coat of arms of the clan, as well as the name of the animal to which the clan renders a special cult. In the scientific sense, a totem is a class (necessarily a class, not an individual) of objects or natural phenomena to which one or another social group, clan, phratry, tribe, sometimes even each individual sex within the group (Australia), and sometimes the individual (Northern . America) - they render special worship, with which they consider themselves related and by whose name they call themselves. There is no such object that could not be a totem, however, the most common (and, apparently, ancient) totems were animals.
Types of totems
Wind, sun, rain, thunder, water, iron (Africa), even parts of individual animals or plants, for example, the head of a turtle, the stomach of a piglet, the ends of leaves, etc., can act as a totem, but most often - classes of animals and plants. So, for example, the North American Ojibwa tribe consists of 23 clans, each of which considers a special animal (wolf, bear, beaver, carp, sturgeon, duck, snake, etc.) as its totem; in Ghana in Africa, a fig tree and a maize stalk serve as totems. In Australia, where totemism especially flourishes, even all external nature is distributed among the same totems as the local population. So, among the Australians from Mount Gambier, rain, thunder, lightning, clouds, hail belong to the crow totem, fish, seals, certain tree species, etc. belong to the snake totem; among the tribes in Port Mackay, the sun refers to the kangaroo totem, the moon to the alligator totem.
Scope of use of totems
Totemistic ideas are reflected in the entire worldview of the primitive animist. The main sign of totemism is that the totem is considered the ancestor of a given social group, and each individual of the totem class is a blood relative, a relative of each member of the group of his admirers. If, for example, a crow serves as a totem, then it is considered the real progenitor of this genus, and each crow is a relative. In the stage of the theoretic cult that preceded totemism, all objects and natural phenomena were presented to man as anthropomorphic creatures in the form of animals, and therefore animals are most often totems.
Africa
In Africa, at the birth of a totem snake, newborns are subjected to a special snake test: if the snake does not touch the child, it is considered legal, otherwise it is killed as alien. Australian muri refer to the totem animal as "their flesh". The tribes of the Gulf of Carpentaria, at the sight of the murder of their totem, say: “Why was this man killed: is this my father, my brother, etc.?” In Australia, where sex totems exist, women consider the representatives of their totem to be their sisters, men - brothers, and both of them - their common ancestors. Many totem tribes believe that after death, each person turns into the animal of his totem and, therefore, each animal is a deceased relative.
According to traditional ideas, the totem animal saves special relationship with an ethnic group. So, if the totem is a dangerous predator, it must definitely spare the consanguineous clan. In Senegambia, the natives are convinced that scorpions do not touch their admirers. The bechuans, whose totem is the crocodile, are so convinced of its favor that if a person is bitten by a crocodile, even if water is splashed on him from hitting the water with a crocodile's tail, he is expelled from the clan, as an obviously illegal member of it.
In Africa, sometimes instead of asking what genus or totem a person belongs to, they ask him what kind of dance he dances. Often, for the same purpose of assimilation, during religious ceremonies they put on face masks with images of a totem, dress in the skins of totem animals, adorn themselves with their feathers, etc. Survivals of this kind are found even in modern Europe. Among the southern Slavs, at the birth of a child, an old woman runs out with a cry: “The she-wolf gave birth to a wolf cub!” After which the child is threaded through the wolf skin, and a piece of the wolf’s eye and heart is sewn into a shirt or hung around the neck. To fully consolidate the tribal union with the totem, the primitive man resorts to the same means as when accepting an outsider as a member of the clan and concluding inter-tribal alliances and peace treaties, that is, to a blood contract (see Tattooing, Theory of tribal life, circumcision).
North America
Among the bison clan of the Omaha tribe (North America), the dying person was wrapped in a bison skin, his face was painted in the color of the totem and addressed to him like this: “You are going to the bison! You go to your ancestors! Be strong! Among the Zuni Indian tribe, when a totem animal, a turtle, is brought into the house, it is greeted with tears in their eyes: “O poor dead son, father, sister, brother, grandfather! Who knows who you are? - Worship of the totem is primarily expressed in the fact that it is the strictest taboo; sometimes they avoid even touching it, looking at it (the Bechuans in Africa). If it is an animal, then they usually avoid killing it, eating it, dressing in its skin; if it is a tree or another plant, they avoid cutting it, using it for fuel, eating its fruits, and even sometimes sitting in its shade.
Among many tribes, the killing of a totem by an outsider requires the same kind of vengeance, or vira, as the killing of a kinsman. In British Columbia, eyewitnesses to such a murder hide their faces in shame and then demand vira. Similarly, in ancient Egypt, incessant bloody feuds arose between the nomes over the killing of totems. When meeting with a totem, and in some places - even when parading the sign of the totem, they greet him, bow to him, throw valuable things in front of him.
To win the full favor of their totem, totemists use a variety of means. First of all, he tries to approach him by outward imitation. So, among the Omaha tribe, boys of the bison clan curl two locks of hair on their heads, like the horns of a totem, and the turtle clan leaves 6 curls, like the legs, head and tail of this animal. Botoka (Africa) knock out the upper front teeth to resemble a bull, their totem, etc. Solemn dances often aim to imitate the movements and sounds of a totem animal.
Australia
When the corpse of a totem animal is found, condolences are expressed and a solemn funeral is arranged for him. Even tribes that allow the consumption of the totem try to consume it in moderation (central Australia), avoid killing it in a dream and always give the animal the opportunity to escape. Australians from Mount Gambier only kill a totem animal in case of hunger and in doing so express regret that they killed "their friend, their flesh."
Totems, in turn, as faithful relatives, who also have supernatural powers, provide patronage to blood-related fans, contributing to their material well-being, protecting them from the machinations of earthly and supernatural enemies, warning of danger (the owl in Samoa), giving signals to march (kangaroo in Australia), leading a war, etc.
The tradition of eating the totem.
Rubbing the body with the blood of the totem turned over time into painting and similar feigning practices. An important means for using the supernatural patronage of the totem is considered to be its constant close presence. Therefore, totem animals are often fattened in captivity, for example, among the highlanders of Formosa, who keep a snake and a leopard in cages, or on the island of Samoa, where eels are kept at home. Hence the custom subsequently developed to keep animals in temples and to give them divine honors, as, for example, in Egypt.
The most important means for communicating with a totem is considered to be eating its body (theophagy, see also prosphyra, communion). Periodically, members of the clan kill a totem animal (see slaughter) and solemnly, while observing a number of rites and ceremonies, eat it, most often without a trace, with bones and entrails. A similar rite takes place in the case when the totem is a plant (see kolachi, carols).
Survivals of this ancestral tasting of food are found in the Lithuanian Samboros. This custom, according to the views of the totemist, is not in the least offensive to the totem, but, on the contrary, is very pleasing to him. Sometimes the procedure is of such a nature as if the animal being killed is performing an act of self-sacrifice and is eager to be eaten by its fans. Gilyaks, although they came out of totem life, but annually solemnly kill a bear during the so-called bear holiday, they confidently say that the bear himself gives a good place for a fatal blow (Sternberg). Robertson Smith and Jevons consider the custom of periodically eating the totem as the prototype of later sacrifices to anthropomorphic gods, accompanied by the eating of the victims themselves who brought it. Sometimes the rite of religious killing aims either to terrorize the totem by the example of killing some representatives of its class, or to release the soul of the totem to follow in better world. So, among the genus of worms of the Omaha tribe (North America), if worms flood the cornfield, they are caught by several pieces, crushed together with grain and then eaten, believing that this protects the cornfield for one year. Among the Zuni tribe, once a year, a procession is sent for totemic tortoises, which, after the warmest greetings, are killed and the meat and bones are buried, not eaten, in the river, so that they can return to eternal life. Recently, two researchers in Australia, B. Spencer and Gillen, discovered new facts of totemism - inticiuma ceremonies. All these ceremonies are performed at the beginning of the spring season, the period of flowering of plants and the reproduction of animals, and are intended to cause an abundance of totem species. The rites are always performed in the same place, the abode of the spirits of the clan and the totem, are addressed to a certain representative of the totem, which is either a stone or an artificial image of it on earth (transition to individual deities and images), almost always accompanied by a sacrifice of the blood of totemists and ends with a solemn eating a forbidden totem; after which it is usually allowed to consume it in moderation in general.
Influence on subsequent religious teachings
In totemism, as in an embryo, all the main elements of the further stages of religious development are already contained: the relationship of a deity with a person (the deity is the father of his worshipers), taboos, forbidden and not forbidden animals (later clean and unclean), animal sacrifice and the obligatory eating of his body , the selection of a chosen individual from the totem class for worship and keeping him at dwellings (the future animal is a deity in the temple of Egypt), the identification of a person with a totem deity (reverse anthropomorphism), the power of religion over social relations, the sanction of public and personal morality (see below ), finally, jealous and vengeful intercession for the offended totem deity. Totemism is currently the only form of religion in all of Australia. He dominates the North. America and is found on a large scale in South America, in Africa, among the non-Aryan peoples of India, and its remnants exist in the religions and beliefs of more civilized peoples. In Egypt, totemism flourished in historical times. In Greece and Rome, despite the anthropomorphic cult, there are sufficient traces of totemism. Many genera had eponymous heroes who bore the names of animals, for example, κριό (ram), κῠνός (canis, dog), etc. The Myrmidons, the ancient Thessalians, considered themselves descendants of ants. In Athens, they worshiped a hero in the form of a wolf, and anyone who killed a wolf was obliged to arrange a funeral for him (see also the Capitoline she-wolf). In Rome, they worshiped the woodpecker, which was dedicated to Mars, and did not eat it. Roman patricians used family totems in their family coats of arms - images of various animals (bulls, lions, fish, etc.). Features of totem ceremonies are noticeable in thesmophoria, which were intended to guarantee the fertility of the earth and people. In ancient India, the features of totemism are quite clear in the cult of animals and trees and the prohibitions on eating them (see Terotheism). Totemism is not only a religious, but also a socio-cultural institution. He gave the highest religious sanction to tribal institutions. The main foundations of the clan are the inviolability of the life of a relative and the duty of revenge arising from it, the inaccessibility of the totem cult for persons of alien blood, the obligatory heredity of the totem in the male or female line, which established once and for all the contingent of persons belonging to the clan, finally, even the rules of sexual regulation - all this most closely associated with the cult of the ancestral totem. Only this can explain the strength of totemic ties, for the sake of which people often sacrificed the most intimate blood ties: during wars, sons went against fathers, wives against husbands, etc. e. Fraser and Jevons consider totemism the main, if not the only, culprit in the domestication of animals and the cultivation of plants. The ban on eating a totem animal was extremely favorable to this, because it kept the greedy savage from the frivolous extermination of valuable animals during the period of domestication. Even up to the present time, pastoral peoples avoid killing their domestic animals, not for economic reasons, but because of religious experience. In India, killing a cow was considered the greatest religious crime. In the same way, the custom of keeping from year to year the ears, grains, and fruits of totem trees and plants, and eating them periodically for religious purposes, must have led to attempts at planting and cultivation. At the same time, the didukh was burned after the holidays. Often this was even a religious necessity, for example, when moving to new places where there were no totem plants and they had to be artificially bred.
The study of totemism
Although totemism, as a fact, has been known since the end of the 18th century, the doctrine of it, as a stage of primitive religion, is still very young. It was first advanced by Mr. McLennan, who traced it from the savages to the peoples of classical antiquity. It owes its further development to the English scientists Robertson Smith, Fraser, Jevons, and a number of local researchers, especially Australian ones, of whom Gowit and Fison rendered the greatest service, and most recently B. Spencer and Gillen.
Genesis of totemism
The main question of the genesis of totemism has not yet left the field of controversy. Spencer and Lubbock are inclined to consider the origin of T. the result of some kind of misunderstanding (eng. misinterpretation of nicknames ), caused by the custom to give people, due to the poverty of the language, names for objects of nature, most often the names of animals. Over time, the savage, confusing the name of the object with the object itself, came to believe that his distant ancestor, called by the name of the animal, really was such. But this explanation fails because every savage has every opportunity to verify the meaning of the nickname on himself or on those around him, who are often also called by the names of animals and yet have nothing in common with the eponymous animal. In 1896, F. Jevons, who sees the genesis of totemism in the psychology of tribal life, put forward a very harmonious and witty theory of totemism. The animist savage, leveling all nature according to the human pattern, naturally imagines that all external nature also lives the same tribal life as he himself. Each individual species of plant or animal, each class of homogeneous phenomena, is in his eyes a conscious tribal union, recognizing the institutions of revenge, blood contracts, waging bloody feuds with other people's clans, etc. An animal, therefore, for a person is an alien who can be avenged and with whom you can enter into agreements. Weak and helpless in the struggle with nature, primitive man, seeing in animals and in the rest of nature mysterious beings stronger than himself, naturally seeks an alliance with them - and the only lasting alliance known to him is the union of blood, homogeneity, fastened a contract of blood, moreover, an alliance not with an individual, but with a class, a whole genus. Such a blood union, concluded between the genus and the totemic class, turned both of them into a single class of relatives. The habit of regarding the totem as a kinsman created the idea of a real descent from the totem, and this in turn strengthened the cult and alliance with the totem. Gradually, from the cult of the totem class, the cult of the individual is developed, which turns into an anthropomorphic being; the former taste of the totem turns into a sacrifice to the individual deity; the growth of clans into phratries and tribes, with common totems for their constituent subtotems, expands the totemic cult into a polytotemic one, and thus the foundations of further stages of religion are gradually developed from the elements of totemism. This theory, which satisfactorily explains certain aspects of t., does not solve the fundamental question of its genesis: it remains unclear why, given the homogeneity of the psychology of primitive man and homogeneous conditions surrounding nature, neighboring clans each choose not one totem, the most powerful of the surrounding objects of nature, but each one of its own, often an object that is not outstanding at all, for example, a worm, an ant, a mouse?
See also: Cult of the Ancestors, Hero ( in Greco-ancient mythology)
Fraser's theory
In 1899 prof. Fraser, on the basis of the newly discovered inticium ceremonies by Spencer and Gillen, constructed a new theory of totemism. According to Fraser, totemism is not a religion, that is, not a belief in the conscious influence of supernatural beings, but a type of magic, that is, a belief in the possibility of various magical means to influence external nature, regardless of its consciousness or unconsciousness. Totemism is a social magic that aims to cause an abundance of certain types of plants and animals that serve as natural consumer products. In order to achieve this, groups of clans living in the same territory at one time drew up a cooperative agreement, according to which each individual clan abstains from eating one or another species of plants and animals and performs annually a well-known magical ceremony, as a result of which an abundance of all consumer products is obtained. Apart from the difficulty of allowing such mystical cooperation to form among primitive people, it must be said that the inticiuma ceremonies can be interpreted as expiatory procedures for eating a forbidden totem. In any case, this theory does not resolve the fundamental question of belief in descent from a totem object.
The theory of Pickler and Somlo
Finally, in the city, two learned lawyers, prof. Pickler and Somlo, came up with a theory, finding that the genesis of totemism lies in pictography, the rudiments of which are indeed found in many primitive tribes (see sign system, semiotics, archetype, eidolon (idol)). Since the most conveniently depicted objects of the outside world were animals or plants, the image of one or another plant or animal was chosen to designate a certain social group, unlike any others. From here, by the name of this latter, they received their names and genera, and subsequently, due to a peculiar primitive psychology, the idea was developed that the object that served as a model of the totem sign was the true ancestor of the clan. In support of this view, the authors refer to the fact that the tribes, unfamiliar with pictography, do not know totemism either. More plausible, however, is another explanation of this fact: pictography could have developed more among totem tribes, accustomed to depicting their totem, than among non-totem ones, and, therefore, pictography is more a consequence of totemism than its cause. In essence, this whole theory is a repetition of the old thought of Plutarch, who derived the worship of animals in Egypt from the custom of depicting animals on banners.
Tylor's theory
Taylor came closer to clarifying the issue, who, following Wilken, accepts the cult of ancestors and belief in the transmigration of souls as one of the starting points of totemism; but he did not give his point of view a clear factual basis. For a correct understanding of the genesis of totemism, it is necessary to bear in mind the following:
- Tribal organization, terotheism and the cult of nature, as well as a special tribal cult, existed before totemism.
- Belief in origin from any object or phenomenon of nature is not at all a later speculative conclusion from other primary facts, such as a blood contract (Jevons), pictography, etc., but, on the contrary, is understood by primitive man quite realistically, in the physiological sense of the word for which he has sufficient reasons, logically arising from his whole animistic psychology.
- The genesis of totemism lies not in any one reason, but in a whole series of reasons arising from one common source - a peculiar worldview of primitive man. Here are the main ones:
1) Family cult. Among many primitive tribes with a theorotheistic cult, there is a belief that all cases are not natural death, for example, in the fight against animals, death on the water, etc., as well as many cases of natural death, are the result of a special disposition of animal deities who accept the dead into their kind, turning them into their own kind. These relatives, who have turned into deities, become the patrons of their kind and, consequently, the object of the tribal cult. A typical cult of this kind was stated by Sternberg among many foreigners of the Amur region - Gilyaks, Orochs, Olches, etc. The kind of animal that adopted the chosen one becomes related to the whole family of the latter; in each individual of a given class of animals, the relative of the chosen one is inclined to see his descendant and, consequently, his close relative. From here it is not far to the idea of abstaining from eating one or another class of animals and to the creation of a typical totem. There are other forms, when selected personalities are responsible for the creation of totems. Religious ecstasies (for shamans, for young men during obligatory fasts before initiations) cause hallucinations and dreams, during which one or another animal appears to the chosen one and offers him his patronage, turning him into himself similar. After that, the chosen one begins in every possible way to liken himself to a patronizing animal and with complete faith feels himself to be such. Shamans usually consider themselves under the special protection of one or another animal, turn themselves into such during the ritual and pass on their patron by inheritance to their successors. In North America, such individual totems are especially common.
2) Another root cause of totemism is parthenogenesis. Belief in the possibility of conception from an animal, plant, stone, sun, and in general any object or natural phenomenon is a very common phenomenon, not only among primitive peoples (see Immaculate Conception). It is explained by the anthropomorphization of nature, the belief in the reality of dreams, in particular erotic ones, with actors in the form of plants and animals, and, finally, an extremely vague idea of the process of generation (in all of central Australia, for example, there is a belief that conception occurs from the entry into the body of a woman of the spirit of an ancestor). Some real facts, such as the birth of freaks (subjects with a goat's leg, a foot twisted inward, a special hairiness, etc.) in the eyes of a primitive man, serve as sufficient proof of conception from a non-human being. Back in the 17th century. similar cases have been described by some writers under the name adulterium naturae. Stories like the story about the wife of Clovis, who gave birth to Merovee from a sea demon, are very common even among historical peoples, and faith in incubus and elves involved in the birth is still alive in Europe. It is not surprising that some erotic dream or the birth of a freak among a primitive tribe gave rise to the belief in conception from one or another object of nature and, consequently, to the creation of a totem. The history of totemism is full of facts such as the fact that a woman of one or another totem gave birth to a snake, a calf, a crocodile, a monkey, etc. L. Sternberg observed the very genesis of such a totem kind among the Orochi tribe, who have neither a totem organization nor a totem cult, no genus names; only one clan from the whole tribe calls itself a tiger, on the grounds that a tiger appeared in a dream to one of the women of this clan and had conjugio with her. The same researcher noted similar phenomena in non-totemic gilyaks. Under favorable conditions, the totem and the totem cult arise from this. At the basis of totemism lies, therefore, a real belief in a real origin from a totem object, present or transformed into such from a human state - a belief that is fully explained by the entire mental make-up of primitive man.
Notes
see also
- group psychology
- group psychosis
- Phratria (as a tribal community)
- Fratria (guild)
- Freemasonry, admission to masons, consecration of the union, blood union (unity by blood)
- Group "I"
- Taming (as taming)
- History of the circus
Literature
- Semenov Yu. I. Totemism, primitive mythology and primitive religion // Skepsis. No. 3/4. Spring 2005, pp. 74-78.
- J. F. M'Lennan, "The worship of Animals and Plants" ("Fortnightly Review", Oct. and Nov. 1869 and Feb. 1870), also in "Studies in Ancient history" (1896); W. Robertson Smith, "Religion of the Semites" (New ed. London, 1894);
- J. G. Frazer, "Totemism" (1887); his own, "The golden hough"; his own, The Origin of Totemism (Fortnightly Review, April and May, 1899); his own, "Observations on Central Australian Totemism" ("Journal of the Anthropological Institute for (Great Britain etc.", February and May, 1899);
- B. Spencer, "Remarks on Totemism etc."; E. Tylor, "Remarks on Totemism" (ibid., 1898, August and November);
- A. Lang, "Mythes, Ritual and Religion" (2nd ed., 1899); his, "M. Frazer's theory of totemism" ("Fort. Review" LXV);
- F. B. Jevons, "Introduction to the history of Religion"; his own, "The place of Totemism in the evolution of Religion" ("Folk-Lore", 1900, X);
- B. Spencer and Gillen, "The native tribes of Central Australia" (1899);
- J. Pikler u. F. Somlo, "Der Ursprung des Totemismus" (Berl., 1900);
- Kohler, "Zur Urgeschichte der Ehe, Totemismus etc.";
- Göffler-Goelz, "Der medizinische Dämonismus" ("Centralblatt für Anthropologie etc.", 1900, no. I),
- G. Wilken, "Het Animisme bijde Volken wan den indischen Archipel" (1884);
- E. S. Hartland, "The legend of Perseus";
- Staneley, "Totemism", "Science", 1900, IX);
- L. Sternberg, communications in geographer. society (short reports in Living Antiquity, 1901).
Links
TOTEMISM - English. totemism; German totemismus. 1. A complex of beliefs in a supernatural relationship between groups of people (genus, tribe) and certain totems (animals, plants, natural phenomena, inanimate objects) ... sociological dictionary
A comparative historical study of the religious traditions of the world suggests that a distinctive feature of the religion of primitive society is the belief in the animation of phenomena, processes, natural forces, visible cosmic objects, etc. This belief is called "animism".
The problem of periodization of animism. E. Tylor believed that it was animism that was the earliest form of religion, to which all other types of religion genetically ascend. However, at present, the stage theory, which evolutionists adhered to, has no supporters among scientists. Field research data proves that formed by anthropologists of the XIX century. the idea of animism, fetishism, totemism as successive steps in the evolution of religion, characteristic of all cultures and peoples, is nothing more than an abstraction in the office. Therefore, animism, fetishism and totemism should be considered not as stages in the development of religion, but as properties of the religious worldview of the primitive world, which do not necessarily successively replace each other (according to the principle “the higher form replaces the lower”) - they can manifest themselves simultaneously. It should also be taken into account that the listed forms of religion, strictly speaking, are not identical to the religions themselves, they act rather as some kind of framework concepts that receive a unique and unrepeatable filling with direct religious ideas and in one or another historical and ethnic context.
E. Cassirer in his "Philosophy of Symbolic Forms" (1923) suggested two types of animistic ideas: early animism is characterized by an understanding of the soul as alien to man, an external demonic force, while in late animism ideas about "protecting spirits" are formed, i.e. . the souls of dead ancestors who protect the living and, therefore, are connected with them much more closely and “intimately” than the spirits of natural forces and phenomena. However, it is not possible to verify this assumption.
Ethnographers and religious scholars suggested that developed animism was preceded by animatism - a belief in some kind of impersonal spiritual force that fills nature and makes it animated. Animatism is characterized by the idea that the change of seasons, vegetative and reproductive processes in nature are provided by this invisible spiritual force. However, speaking of animatism as a form of religious worldview that preceded developed animism, one should take into account what was said above about the stage theory.
Items of worship. Perfume. The subject of worship in animism is both personified images of natural and cosmic phenomena and objects, and the souls of dead ancestors, revered as patrons of the living. Belief in the ability of the soul to act out of touch with its material shell gives rise to faith in spirits - special non-material entities that have the ability to influence the material world, help a person or harm him. Sanctuaries were created for the ritual veneration of the spirits of the localities - special places of worship for sacrifices and magical rituals, directly related to ensuring the favor of the most powerful spirits, propitiatory and prognostic rites were performed in the sanctuaries.
Many natural objects, phenomena and processes that directly influenced the life of primitive man were projected into the spiritual world. It was a belief in many spirits whose habitat is
all the space surrounding a person: air, earth, water, fire, forests, mountains and rocks - everything seemed to be inhabited by spiritual beings.
Within the framework of the animistic worldview, the first ideas about the hierarchy of the spiritual world are formed, which, according to the assumption of G. G. Stratanovich (see his “Folk Beliefs of Indochina”), are:
- 1) personal and collective spirits, spirits and deities of the cult of ancestors (good and evil), progenitors, teachers and givers of industrial and social principles;
- 2) spirits of the area, spirits - the owners of animals and other living beings, personified elements and forces of nature;
- 3) supreme spirits, cosmological representations and personalized owners of the worlds.
Animism is characterized by the idea that all groups of primitive society - clans, families, villages, tribes and tribal unions - have their own spirits-protectors, which differ in varying degrees of power.
Despite the fact that animism is a religious worldview, characterized by the presence of ideas about spirits, their hierarchy, rituals and sanctuaries, one should not exaggerate the depth and elaboration of animistic religious ideas.
Probably, already in animism, the institution of the priesthood was formed, whose representatives performed various duties related to the cult. In this regard, here are the main functions of the clergy:
- community leaders of the performance of rites;
- connoisseurs of traditions;
- communal fortune-tellers, propitiators of the elements and various healers;
- sorcerers and shamans;
- priests of developed religions;
- “foreign” clergy (it was often assumed that neighboring sorcerers were stronger than their own, so they were turned to when special knowledge and skills were required).
An example of stya, humiliation, poverty, failure, defeat; mental and emotional disorder; extreme behavior; bitterness, unforgiveness; obsessive habits; envy, deceitfulness of personality and behavior; depression, feelings of guilt, unworthiness, rejection, heaviness, self-condemnation; hearing voices; irrational behavior; insomnia, nightmares; strong signs of abandonment, distrust, rejection, loneliness, unworthiness, no one loves; abortion, fornication, adultery, sex with animals... love of forbidden sex, prostitution, sexual abuse, sadomasochism, sexual fantasies... arrogance, boastfulness, arrogance, arrogance, pride, quarrelsomeness, self-righteousness, inviolability; strong signs of rebelliousness, rebellion, stubbornness, disobedience; excessive anger, rage, bitterness or heavy feelings against, etc.
Being primitive in terms of worldview, this text testifies to the vitality of animistic ideas.
Fetishism. Another feature of the religious worldview of primitive man is fetishism - endowing individual (special) material objects with an extraordinary ability to have a fruitful impact on human life, a special power that provides protection from various harmful influences and ensures the well-being of an individual or an entire social community. Stones, images of animals and birds, fragments of sacred trees, bone remains of people and animals could act as a revered fetish - in principle, any rare, unusual, or eye-catching material object could become such a fetish.
Since the fetish was revered as an object capable of influencing the world of spirits, it was endowed with spiritual power, a "soul", inseparable from it. Therefore, it is difficult to draw a line between fetishistic and animistic worldviews - one does not exclude the other.
Fetishes differ in power and range of action. In this regard, there was a veneration of individual fetishes (ensuring the well-being of individuals, families), which were often inherited and extended their beneficial influence only to individuals or families, and collective, the power of which ensured the well-being of the entire tribe or village.
Since the well-being of the individual and the primitive social community (family, village, tribe) largely depended on the fetish, it became the subject of religious veneration. An irreverent attitude towards a fetish can arouse the wrath of the latter. However, a person in certain cases can express his negative attitude towards a fetish.
There are known cases of "punishment" of fetishes by Africans, if the latter do not justify trust. In this case, fetishes are “beaten”, nails are driven into them, hit with sharp objects and stones. However, driving nails into a wooden fetish does not necessarily have the character of punishment - sometimes this is done so that the latter better remembers the request addressed to him. Perhaps these practices are common
for fetishism as such. Faith in amulets and talismans, known in most religious traditions of the world, genetically goes back to primitive fetishism.
Totemism. Totemism, or the belief in the presence of special relationships that go beyond the ordinary, between a separate primitive community of blood relatives and some plant, animal or natural phenomenon, is also one of the features of primitive religiosity. S. A. Tokarev 1 draws attention to the fact that the subject of totemism is quite rational, natural in nature - these are quite real animals and plants, and not fictional monsters, monsters, fantastic creatures. If the subject of totemism exists in reality, then relations between him and the community of people are in the nature of beliefs - the element of beliefs here consists only in the relationship "allegedly existing between a given animal or plant species and the human group, as well as in the belief in the mutual magical connection of a person with his totem" .
E. Durkheim paid attention to social functions totemism. He believed that totemic representations serve to unite the collective, the primitive clan, since they act as a visible, material statement of the genetic relationship of the clan, which comes from one ancestor.
According to S. A. Tokarev, the connection of a person with a totem is manifested:
- in the prohibition to kill a totem animal;
- prohibition to eat the totem;
- belief in a supernatural origin from a totem ancestor;
- belief in the possibility of a magical effect on the totem.
Probably, in early totemism, these relations were in the nature of "totem -
patron, the person is patronized”, and later ideas about consanguineous relations were formed. Now the totem was perceived as a powerful ancestor, providing the well-being of his descendants in a supernatural way.
Genetically, totemism goes back to the primitive way of providing needs, when hunting and gathering satisfied a person's needs for food and clothing. This naturally contributed to the veneration of plants and animals, since the existence of man depended on them, and animistic ideas contributed to the belief that the unforgiving soul of a killed animal was capable of taking revenge on hunters. The veneration of the subject of the hunt, therefore, did not at all exclude the possibility of the hunt itself. The data of historical linguistics indicate that initially a totemic animal or plant could be eaten. The emergence of such prohibitions is associated with the development of ideas about blood relations between a totem ancestor and his human descendants.
According to S. A. Tokarev, “the idea of totemic ancestors is nothing more than a mythological personification of the feeling of unity of the group, the commonality of its origin and the continuity of its traditions. "Totemic ancestors" - religious and mythological sanction of the customs of the community. They are the supernatural founders of the totemic rites performed by the members of the group, the prohibitions observed by them. Myths about the wanderings and adventures of the "totemic ancestors" form, as it were, the libretto of sacred dramatic ceremonies.
Alfred Radcliffe-Brown 1 believes that the term "totemism" is a rather conventional name for a number of different institutions "having something in common", namely the division of society into stable groups and the existence of ideas about a special connection between each of these groups:
- with one or more animal or plant species;
- man-made object;
- part of the animal's body.
The researcher identifies several types of totemism:
- gender (groups of men and women forming one team have different totems);
- clan;
- individual.
The merit of the latest researchers of mythology, especially Malinovsky, lies precisely in the fact that they were able to understand the connection between mythology and religious and magical rites and customs and indicated that myth is a kind of justification for the ritual practice of the community.
So, G. G. Stratanovich, generalizing the results of studies of the folk beliefs of Indochina, reproduces the following scheme of the evolution of totem representations.
- 1. The human collective is merged with nature, there is no separation from nature and other collectives.
- 2. Standing out from other groups in nature, the human team retains a connection with several brother-sister groups.
- 3. The head of the collective is a woman, one or two collectives have their own totem pairs.
- 4. One team, the head is a man.
- 5. The human collective is connected with the totemic one, standing, as it were, above nature.
- 6. Togem-ancestor stands, as it were, above nature.
Shamanism. Shamanism is one of the early forms of religion, which is based on the belief that the shaman is a charismatic mediator between the world of people and the world of spirits, has the ability to communicate with spirits and influence them. Shamanists believe that due to a special charismatic status, a shaman is able to maintain the well-being of individuals and their associations (family, clan, village, tribe, etc.), ensure the effectiveness of hunting, heal the sick, improve the afterlife of the dead, etc. The term "shaman" is quite ambiguous: it is used to refer to performers of ecstatic rites (shamanistic rituals) in the context of shamanism, in addition, to a special category of priesthood that can exist in a mythological religion that is not shamanism, as well as to refer to performers of closely related rituals, existing in the discourses of popular faith, correlated with theological religions (for example, Tibetan Buddhism). Shamanism is a complex phenomenon of primitive religious culture, in which there is a close interaction of elements of religious, social, ethical discourses. According to V. G. Bogoraz1, it is animism that is the “philosophy and theology” of shamanism, and the researcher understands shamanism as a “primary form” that combines primitive science, medicine (including surgery), music, poetry and religious cult.
The main signs of shamanism:
- the belief that goes back to animism that the space surrounding a person is inhabited by invisible personified beings: good and evil spirits, on whose actions the well-being and life of a person depends;
- belief in the possibility of direct communication between man and spirits;
- notions that such communication is available not to everyone, but to individual charismatic personalities (shamans) who have a special sacred status;
- ideas about the multi-level structure of the world, the presence of the so-called "world axis", which allows the shaman to carry out mystical (and (or) magical) journeys through the worlds;
- the presence of special rituals, thanks to which the shaman reaches a state of altered consciousness, which is also known as a "shamanic trance";
- the belief that diseases and other troubles that overtake a person are due to the direct impact on a person of harmful spirits, while the shaman is able to neutralize this effect to a degree depending on his personal power.
In shamanism, rituals are widespread, in most cases the interaction of a shaman with the spiritual world involves a ritual form - shamanic ritual. As a rule, it includes complex techniques of psychotechnics, which may include chants, the use percussion instruments who set the rhythm (tambourine, drum), charismatic dance, whirling in place and other actions to achieve a shamanic trance.
One of the researchers of shamanism, M. Eliade, came to the conclusion that shamanism is always based on “individual and ecstatic” experience. What for the members of the primitive collective appears as an object of some kind of speculation, mythological faith, for the shaman appears in the form of a "mystical route" along which he will have to make an ecstatic journey. In other words, the shaman mystically concretizes and actualizes in his personal experience what was originally presented as some kind of abstract (at least not personally actualized) knowledge. The shaman does what others - his fellow tribesmen - can only think and talk about.
The charismatic nature of shamanism allowed E. A. Torchinov to consider it precisely as a “technique of ecstasy”.
Until now, shamanic practices and rituals remain popular among the numerous indigenous peoples of Siberia, Buryatia, Khakassia, Chukotka, etc.
Totemism is a phenomenon that most often means one of the oldest forms of primitive religion.
This term usually denotes the division of a tribe into groups related by kinship through the male or female line. moreover, each of these groups believes in its kinship with a totem - most often an animal (sons of a coyote, sons of a raven, etc.), less often a plant (sons of a corncob), an inanimate object, or even a natural phenomenon (sons of the Big Dipper, sons of Thunder) - which considered the ancestor of this group. Often, totemic groups have material emblems that have a sacred meaning (as, for example, Australian churingas, totem poles among American Indians)). The ancestral totem is usually forbidden to kill and eat (sometimes they even avoid meeting and somehow coming into contact with it), it is considered the mystical patron of this group, it can be influenced by certain magical techniques. In some cases, a connection with the totem is established by ritually killing it and collectively eating it, in which all members of this group participate (bright examples: the "bear holiday" among the Yenisei Kets, during which all members of the group are obliged to eat the killed bear - the totem of the tribe, in order to to join this totem; tearing and eating a camel among some Arabian tribes in the pre-Islamic period, etc.). The taboo on killing the totem is temporarily canceled, during the collective meal, the members of the group join their common ancestor; at the same time, they often ask him for forgiveness for the murder they committed (this is exactly what they do during the "bear holidays" among the Yenisei Kets, Sakhalin Ainu, etc.). Totemism has its own mythology - this is the idea and myths about the totemic ancestor (ancestors). Sometimes with ideas about totemic ancestors there is a belief in reincarnation - reincarnation, in the fact that totemic ancestors are eternally embodied in their descendants. Such beliefs were especially widespread among the natives of Australia; in other peoples they are less distinct. Totemistic representations also reflect the close connection of the primitive collective with its territory.
North American Indian totems
The term "totem" itself is taken from the dictionary of the North American Indians (Algonquians) and was first used in European scientific literature by J. Long at the end of the 18th century. The scientific community's interest in this phenomenon especially increased in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. after the works of J. McLennan "On the cult of animals and plants" and J. Fraser "Totemism" and "Totemism and exogamy". J. McLennan singled out three components in volume: fetishism, exogamy (the custom of marrying outside a given group) and matrilineal kinship account (i.e., determining kinship through the maternal line). J. Fraser saw the basis of the so-called magic in the possibility of a magical effect on his totem (reflected, in particular, in the rites of "reproduction" of the totem). These views in a more broad interpretation - the preservation of elements of fishing magic in totemistic beliefs (influencing the totem as an object of fishing) - were subsequently expressed by other researchers. W. Robertson-Smith argued that the concept is based on the concept that nature, like humanity, is divided into groups of things by analogy with consanguineous groups in human society. However, even E. Tylor warned against the artificial inflating of the problem of t., emphasizing that, in his opinion, this phenomenon has a rather modest place in religious and social systems; in addition, he drew attention to the fact that exogamy in a number of cases exists without totemism and, therefore, these phenomena are not inextricably linked.
Interest in totemism was especially great in the 1910-1920s, when many works devoted to this topic appeared, and in the journal Antropos, starting from 1914 and over the next 10 years, there was a section "The Problem of Totemism", in which the works of prominent scientists were published. There were many (about 40) versions of the origin of totemism, the well-known work of A van Gennep is devoted to their review " Current state totemic problem". From the point of view of the scientist himself, totemism is the distribution between secondary groups of society of plots of territory with everything that lives and grows on it, i.e. there is a close connection between totemism and fishing magic.
Even the English ethnologist W. Robertson Smith noted that the blood of a sacrificial animal symbolizes the unity of the primitive collective with its deity, and the ritual killing and eating of the sacrificial animal is the prototype of any sacrifice, the conclusion of an alliance between such a collective and its deity. Different opinions have been expressed about how ideas about the connection of one or another primitive collective with a certain animal arose, although, apparently, they are rooted in the psychology of primitive man. The French anthropologist E. Durkheim considered totemism the original form of religion. He came to the conclusion that the main object of totemic beliefs is not a specific animal, plant or image, but some impersonal and anonymous force that is inside them, but does not mix with them. He considered this force to be a god - impersonal, without name, without history, immanent in the world. Totemic animals and images are thus symbols of this impersonal power. At the same time, the totem is a symbol of the primitive clan, its god, in whose person the clan honors itself. In other words, he defined totemism, partly following Robertson Smith and R. Thurnwald, as a form of self-reverence of the primitive collective.
W. Rivers defined totemism as a combination of three elements: social (connections of an animal, plant, etc.) with a certain (moreover, exogamous) group of people; psychological (belief in the relationship of members of this group and its totem); ritual (worship of an animal, plant or material object, expressed in a ban on its use, except in individual cases).
Some researchers focused their attention on the social aspect of the problem (E. Lang, G. Kunov, F. Gröbner, W. Schmidt, etc.). Others specifically substantiated its religious side (E. Tylor, J. Fraser, V. Rivers, W. Wundt) or psychological (B. Ankerman, R. Turnwald) - a sense of unity between a certain social group and a totem, as well as on the collectivism of primitive thinking underlying totemic beliefs.
Z. Freud offered his understanding of the problem of totemism. In the book "Totem and Taboo" he draws an analogy between the attitude towards the animal in primitive man and in the child - both do not completely separate themselves from the animal world. The emergence of phobias of one or another animal, which, according to his theory, is a substitute for the father, for whom the child experiences ambivalent feelings of fear and adoration, occurs as a result of transferring these feelings to the animal. Consequently, according to Z. Freud, the totemic animal among primitive peoples is a substitute for the image of the father, and totemism itself originated from the Oedipus complex. He explains the totemic sacrifice by the same - the desire of the sons to kill and eat the father (his animal substitute) and take his place.
But already in the 1920s. expressed skeptical views on the problem of totemism. Thus, some representatives of the American historical school (A. Goldenweiser, R. Lowy) denied totemism as a phenomenon and a special form of religious beliefs. A. Goldenweiser, in particular, disputed the relationship of three phenomena that many researchers considered indispensable attributes of totemism: clan organization, attributing animal and plant emblems to clans, and belief in the connection of the clan and its totem. R. Lowy was not at all sure of the existence of totemism as such.
In the future, there was a decline in interest in the problem of totemism. In "Anthropology" by A. Kreber (1923), "General Anthropology" written by F. Boas together with his students (1938), "Social Structure" by J. Murdoch (1949), little attention is paid to it. The connection between totemism and exogamy, which was previously often considered as the cause of the so-called exogamy, was also disputed.
The head of the cultural-morphological school, Ad.Jensen, denied totemism as a form of religion and believed that it was the transfer to the primitive collective of earlier ideas - "real totemism" (belief in mythical semi-animal ancestors, going back to faith in the divine "master of animals"). A. Elkin, H. Petri and A. Shlezner singled out "cult totemism" in Australia, which, in their opinion, is primary in relation to "social totemism". A prominent ethnologist-authorologist A. Elkin did not question the existence of totemism, but he, as it were, “crushed this phenomenon, highlighting individual, sexual, etc. totemism.
Supporters of functionalism did not deny the existence of totemism as a phenomenon, but explained it in accordance with their theory. Thus, B. Malinovsky reduces the totemic problem to three questions. He explains the cult of animals and plants in totemism by the fact that they are necessary for man as food and therefore quite naturally find themselves in the center of interests of the primitive group. Belief in the kinship of man with animals is rooted, in his opinion, in the similarity of many biological functions of man and animal, and even, in the idea of primitive man, in the superiority of some animals over man. The desire to control one or another type of animal (so that it is available as an object of hunting or does not pose a danger) leads, according to B. Malinovsky, to the emergence of the idea of community with a totem animal, as well as to the establishment of prohibitions on killing a totem, etc. P. A. Radcliffe-Brown considered totemism as a special case of formulating human relations with natural species in myth and ritual. He also denied that totemism is a universal phenomenon, believing that there are many different phenomena associated with different institutions; the only thing that unites them is the association of certain segments of society with any plant or animal species.
Totemism in Ancient Egypt
According to E. Evans-Pritchard, the totemic connection is rooted not in the very nature of the totem, but in the associations that it evokes in the human mind, i.e. concepts and emotions that are outside of them are projected onto living beings and objects.
Chapter Vienna School J. Haeckel believed that totemism developed on the basis of various sources, the main of which was the "socialization" of certain animal species.
Kl. Levi-Strauss, on the one hand, considered the problem of totemism far-fetched, not corresponding to reality. He pointed out the artificiality of the formation of the word "totem" itself, which does not exist in this form in the language of the Ojibwe Indians of the Algonquian group and noted that they never met a belief based on the fact that members of the clan were descendants of a totem animal and that it was an object cult. On the other hand, he considered totemism as a way of classifying natural phenomena, not fundamentally different from the classifications used by medieval and even in some cases modern science. The logic of totemic classification is based on the idea of similarity. Therefore, the entire system of totemistic beliefs, according to Kl. Levi-Strauss, is a system of codes that establishes a logical equivalence between natural species and social groups.
Representatives of the Soviet ethnographic school, in their attempts to explain the phenomenon of totemism, adhered, which was inevitable, to the Marxist approach to religion and acted as followers of evolutionary views. S.P. Tolstov considered totemism as a form of consciousness of the connection between members of one collective and its opposition to other collectives. In his opinion, totemism is based on a feeling of connection with certain types of animals or plants, the unity of the human group with the territory it occupies and the productive forces located on this territory. The scientist believed that totemism is a more ancient phenomenon than the tribal organization. A. Zolotarev argued that totemism is the first form of religious reflection of consanguinity. A. Anisimov saw the central idea of totemism as a historically developed ideological reflection of some features of the consanguineous structure of social groups. S. ATokarev, believing that the most important and difficult to explain in totemism is the belief in kinship, some kind of mystical connection between the primitive clan and its totem, argued that the basis of totemism as the oldest form of religion is the transfer of blood relatives to external world, a reflection of the ancient tribal structure of society with the prevailing type of consanguineous social ties.
It has been pointed out more than once that in the system of totemistic representations an animal plays a far from prominent role - it can be a plant, an object, etc. Some researchers (F. Gröbner, W. Schmidt and others) tried to explain why this or that animal (plant, etc.) becomes the totem of this group for economic reasons - in their opinion, the totem became an animal or plant that was the object of export of this group. Yu.I. Semenov believes that essential role in the formation of totemism, the specialization of individual hunting groups in the hunt for a certain animal, which later became the totem of this group, played.
The meaning of the ritual killing and eating of the totem, which is usually taboo, is, according to a number of researchers, to strengthen the connection of the clan with its totem (sometimes this rite is called "god-eating" as a prototype of later ritual meals).
Turning to the issue of totemic ancestors, researchers sometimes considered them to be real people, deified after their death, although L. Levy-Bruhl noted that mythological (totemic) and real ancestors of the primitive collective should not be confused. But more often, researchers admit that these are not the real ancestors of a particular group, they are often endowed with fantastic features and properties, ideas about them are rather vague. Following B. Malinovsky, who explained the connection between myth and ritual and pointed out that mythology is a kind of justification for ritual practice, many researchers consider such ancestors to be mythological personifications of the sense of unity of this group. Totemic ancestors are considered as a religious and mythological sanction of the customs of this primitive group: the founders of totemic rites and prohibitions. Some scholars (M. Fortes) generally associate the emergence of t. with the cult of ancestors, believing that the relationship between people and totem animals is a symbol of the relationship between people and ancestors in terms of mystical causality.
Some scholars consider numerous mythological stories about the sexual intercourse of people (especially women) with animals originally associated with totemistic ideas about the reincarnation of totemic ancestors.
It has also been suggested that totemic ancestors could act as the most ancient "cultural heroes". Some scientists (L. Levy-Bruhl, D. E. Khaitun) interpret anthropozoomorphic images, as well as images of people in animal masks of the Paleolithic era, as images of totemic ancestors.
Some researchers consider various kinds of tabooing, zoolatry (worship of animals), worship of zooanthropomorphic deities (having human and animal features), belief in werewolves, ideas about metempsychosis (transmigration of souls), etc. vestiges of totemism. Apparently, such a view is justified if it is possible to establish a connection between such representations and the collective (especially if the latter bears the name of the given animal). A number of scientists consider the veneration of a certain animal by any tribe or even an entire people as a manifestation of the late stage of development of the so-called tribal totemism; others deny this phenomenon. Echoes of totemic beliefs can be traced in the mythological systems of the most various peoples(especially in ancient Egypt and India).
Literature: Freud Z. Totem and taboo. Pg., b.g.; Zolotarev A. Remnants of totemism among the peoples of Siberia. L., 1934; Khaitun D.E. Totemism, its essence and origin. Dusabba, 1958; Semenov Yu.I. The emergence of human society. Krasnoyarsk, 1962; Tokarev S.A. Totemism // Tokarev S.A. Early forms of religion. M., 1990; Fraser J.G. Totemism and Exogamy. V.1,2. L., 1910; Van Gennep A. L "etat actuel du probleme totemique. 1920; Thurnwald R. Die Psychologie des Totomismus // Anthropos. 1917-1918 Bd.XII-XIII; Goldenveiser A. The method of investigating totemism // Anthropos. 1915-1916. Bd.X-XII, Lowie R. Primitive Society, N.Y., 1925, Durkheim, E. Les formnes elementaires de la vie religieuse: lt systeme totemique en Australie, P., 1912, Levi-Bruhl, L. Mythologie primitive, P., 1935 ; Malinowski B. Myth in Primitive Psychology. L., 1926; Makarius R., Makarius L. L "origine de l" exogamie et du totemism. (., 1961; Levi-Strauss Cl. Le totemism aujourd "hui. P. , 1962.
Kets: myths and reality. Rituals, rituals, legends
The treasury of Ket mythology is rich in amazing and beautiful legends that explain the creation of the world and the origin of many natural phenomena. Once the Kets lived in the upper reaches of the Yenisei, on fertile lands, knowing neither need nor sorrow. But one day a tribe of cannibals attacked them from the south. The Kets built boats and sailed in them along the Yenisei, handing over their fate to the spirit of the river and praying for salvation. Cannibals could not swim, so they grabbed mountains and threw them into the river - this is how river rapids appeared. But the Yenisei broke the mountains with its powerful stream and carried the boats further. In the region of the Turukhansk region, the cannibals staged the most powerful ambush, throwing several huge mountains into the river, and the Yenisei could not break through them. Then it overflowed into a lake, raised its waters and began to flow into the Ob valley. The powerful shaman Alba, watching what was happening, took pity on the people and cut the rocks with a huge knife. So the Yenisei broke into the Turukhansk valley, where the Ket tribes settled. 
Bear ritual (Bear holiday)
In the mythology of the Kets, the bear acts as a deity, a guardian spirit, a totem animal, the master of the lower world and the bestial counterpart of man. He was considered an assistant to the shaman, the embodiment of his soul and even a werewolf. The cult of the bear permeates the whole concept of the world, which the Kets adhere to. A ritual that demonstrates the identity of a bear and a person is called the "Bear Holiday" or "Bear Hunt". After the bear is killed, the skin is removed from it - this is the first stage in introducing the animal to human nature. Then the eating of bear meat begins - this is how the bear merges with the person, and the differences between them are completely erased. This rite has been preserved in the Ket tribes to this day. Before the hunt or after its successful completion, as well as during the healing ceremonies, the Kets perform a ritual dance - in bear masks and skins, accompanied by bear songs.
Among the Kets, the bear is considered the patron saint of healing, and not only the health of people, but also domestic animals depends on his favor. Therefore, before the shaman was going to treat the patient, he called the spirit of the bear with the help of special spells. Particularly powerful shamans themselves can transform into these animals, and during magical rituals they turn them into bears and other people.
More about Ket mythology:
Khosedem is the goddess of evil, who lives in one of the gorges in the rock on the banks of the Yenisei and sends damage, illness and trouble to people. Tomem is a bright Goddess who opposes Khosedem and lives in the sky, under the sun. Once she was Esya's wife, but then she cheated on him for a month, and he expelled her from his possessions.
One of the active participants in the Ket myths is Alba, the first person on earth who took part in the creation of the world. Alba controls the lives of people and helps them in case of danger. Once he decided to rid the world of Khosedem and drove her north along the Yenisei, but she turned into a sterlet and disappeared into the dark waters of the river. Alba jumped after her, but she suddenly soared into the sky, turning into a bird. He rushed after her across the sky in a huge sleigh, leaving a trail in the form milky way. As a result, he managed, if not to get rid of Hosedem, then at least to drive her to the north, where she still lives.
It is a pity that there are very few Kets left - thanks to the Europeanization of the territory of Russia, the old Ket traditions and cults are dying out. Many mow down hunger and alcoholism. And the forecasts of scientists are disappointing - over time, this nation will disappear from the face of the earth. And along with it, a rich culture that has developed over many centuries will sink into oblivion. Memories of the Ket rites and rituals will remain only in history. Maybe the kets just go back to the stars where they came from? They probably completed their mission on our planet, and Alba ordered them to return back. Too bad they leave us...