Surely you have heard the words - church, mosque, Judaism, Buddha, Muslim, Orthodoxy? All these words are closely related to faith in God. In our diverse and multi-ethnic country, there are four main religions. They are different, but they all talk about the need to love people, live in peace, respect elders, do good deeds for the benefit of people, and defend your homeland.
1. RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY
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This is the most widespread religion in our country, which has a long history (more than a thousand years). For a long time, Orthodoxy was the only religion professed by the Russian people. And to this day, most of the Russian people profess the Orthodox Faith.
The basis of Orthodoxy is faith in God the Trinity, in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In 1988, the Orthodox peoples of Russia celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity. This date marked the anniversary of its approval as the official religion of the ancient Russian state - Kievan Rus, which, according to the chronicles, occurred under the holy prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich.
The first Christian church erected in the capital of Kievan Rus was the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Every Orthodox Christian must follow the 10 commandments that God gave to Moses and the people of Israel. They were written on stone tablets (tablets). The first four talk about love for God, the last six talk about love for one’s neighbor, that is, for all people.
The Bible, as the holy book of Christianity, is a collection of books that in Christianity are considered Holy Scripture, for everything that is written in the biblical books is dictated to people by God himself. In terms of its composition, the Bible is divided into two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.
COMMANDMENTS OF CHRISTIANS
1st commandment.
I am the Lord your God; Let you have no other gods besides Me. - With this commandment, God says that you need to know and honor Him alone, commands you to believe in Him, hope in Him, love Him.
2nd commandment.
You shall not make for yourself an idol (statue) or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the waters under the earth; do not worship or serve them. – God forbids worshiping idols or any material images of an invented deity. It is not a sin to bow to icons or images, because when we pray in front of them, we bow not to wood or paints, but to God depicted on the icon or to His saints, imagining them in front of you in your mind.
3rd commandment.
Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. God forbids using the name of God when it should not, for example, in jokes, in empty conversations. The same commandment prohibits: cursing God, swearing by God if you are telling a lie. The name of God can be pronounced when we pray and have pious conversations.
4th commandment.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Work six days and do all your work in them, and the seventh day (the day of rest) is the Sabbath (shall be dedicated) to the Lord your God. He commands us to work six days of the week, and devote the seventh day to good deeds: pray to God in church, read spiritual books at home, give alms, etc.
5th commandment.
Honor your father and your mother, (so that it may go well with you and) that your days on earth may be long. - With this commandment, God commands us to honor our parents, obey them, and help them in their labors and needs.
6th commandment.
Dont kill. God forbids killing, that is, taking the life of a person.
7th commandment.
Don't commit adultery. This commandment prohibits adultery, excess in food, and drunkenness.
8th commandment.
Don't steal. You cannot take someone else's for yourself in any illegal way.
9th commandment.
Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. God forbids deception, lying, and sneaking.
10th commandment.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. This commandment prohibits not only doing something bad to your neighbor, but also wishing bad things on him.
Defense of the Fatherland, defense of the Motherland is one of the greatest services of an Orthodox Christian. The Orthodox Church teaches that any war is evil because it is associated with hatred, strife, violence and even murder, which is a terrible mortal sin. However, war in defense of one's Fatherland is blessed by the Church and military service is revered as the highest service.
2. ISLAM IN RUSSIA
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“Heart of Chechnya”, Photo: Timur Agirov
Islam is the youngest of the world's religions.
The term "Islam" means "submission" to the will of God, and one who submits is called a "Muslim" (therefore "Muslim"). The number of Muslim citizens of the Russian Federation today is estimated at approximately 20 million people.
Allah is the name of the God of Muslims. In order to avoid the righteous wrath of Allah and to achieve eternal life, it is necessary to follow his will in everything and observe his commandments.
Islam is not only a religion, but also a way of life. Two angels are assigned to each person: one records his good deeds, the other records his bad ones. At the bottom of this hierarchy are the jinn. Muslims believe that a line of jinn were created from fire, and they are usually evil.
God has declared that the day will come when all will stand before His judgment. On that day, every person's deeds will be weighed in the balance. Those whose good deeds outweigh the bad will be rewarded with heaven; those whose evil deeds turn out to be more severe will be condemned to hell. But what deeds in our lives are greater, good or bad, is known only to God. Therefore, no Muslim knows for sure whether God will accept him into heaven.
Islam teaches us to love people. Help those in need. Respect elders. Honor your parents.
Pray (salat). A Muslim must say seventeen prayers every day - rakats. Prayers are performed five times a day - at sunrise, at noon, at 3-4 pm, at sunset and 2 hours after sunset.
Giving alms (zakat). Muslims are required to give one fortieth of their income to the poor and needy;
Make a pilgrimage (Hajj). Every Muslim is obliged to travel to Mecca at least once in his life, if only his health and means allow him.
Muslim temples are called Mosques; the roof of the mosque is crowned with a minaret. A minaret is a tower about 30 meters high from which the muezzin calls believers to prayer.
Muezzin, muezzin, azanchi - in Islam, a mosque minister who calls Muslims to prayer.
The main book of Muslims: the Koran - in Arabic this means “what is read, pronounced.”
The oldest copies of the Koran that have reached us date back to the 7th – 8th centuries. One of them is kept in Mecca, in the Kaaba, next to the black stone. Another one is located in Medina in a special room located in the courtyard of the Prophet’s Mosque. There is an ancient copy of the Koran in the National Library of Egypt in Cairo. One of the lists, called the “Othman Koran,” is kept in Uzbekistan. This text received its name because, according to tradition, it was covered in the blood of Caliph Osman, who was killed in 656. There are indeed traces of blood on the pages of this list.
The Koran consists of 114 chapters. They are called "suras". Each sura consists of verses (“ayat” - from the Arabic word meaning “miracle, sign”).
Later, hadiths appeared in the Koran - stories about the actions and sayings of Muhammad and his companions. They were combined into collections called “Sunnah”. Based on the Koran and Hadith, Muslim theologians developed “Sharia” - the “right path” - a set of principles and rules of behavior obligatory for every Muslim.
3. BUDDHISM IN RUSSIA
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Buddhism is a complex religious and philosophical movement, consisting of many branches. Disputes regarding the canon of sacred texts have been going on between various faiths for many hundreds of years. Therefore, today it is almost impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question of which texts make up the holy book of Buddhism. There is no trace of such certainty as with the Holy Scriptures among Christians.
It should be understood that Buddhism is not a religion, and therefore does not imply reckless worship of some divine being. Buddha is not a god, but a man who has achieved absolute enlightenment. Almost any person who has properly changed his consciousness can become a Buddha. Consequently, almost any guide to action from someone who has achieved some success on the path of enlightenment, and not any specific book, can be considered sacred.
In Tibetan, the word “BUDDHA” means “one who has gotten rid of all bad qualities and developed all good qualities.”
Buddhism began to spread in Russia about 400 years ago.
The first lama monks came from Mongolia and Tibet.
In 1741, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna officially recognized the Buddhist religion by decree.
In their lives, Buddhists are guided by the Buddha's sermons on the “four noble truths” and the “eightfold path”:
First truth says that existence is suffering that every living being experiences.
Second truth claims that the cause of suffering is “disturbing emotions” - our desires, hatred, envy and other human vices. Actions form a person’s karma and in the next life he receives what he deserved in the previous one. For example, if a person has done bad things in this life, in the next life he may be born as a worm. Even gods are subject to the law of karma.
The Third Noble Truth says that suppressing disturbing emotions leads to the cessation of suffering, that is, if a person extinguishes hatred, anger, envy and other emotions within himself, then his suffering can stop.
The fourth truth indicates the middle path, according to which the meaning of life is to obtain pleasure.This “middle path” is called the “eightfold path” because it consists of eight stages or steps: understanding, thought, speech, action, lifestyle, intention, effort and concentration.Following this path leads to the achievement of inner peace, as a person pacifies his thoughts and feelings, develops friendliness and compassion for people.
Buddhism, like Christianity, has its own commandments, the fundamentals of teaching on which the entire structure of belief is based. The 10 commandments of Buddhism are very similar to Christian ones. Despite all the external similarities between the commandments in Buddhism and Christianity, their deep essence is different. Besides the fact that Buddhism is not actually a faith, it does not in any way call for belief in a god or deity of any kind; its goal is spiritual purification and self-improvement. In this regard, the commandments are just a guide to action, following which you can become better and purer, which means getting at least one step closer to the state of nirvana, absolute enlightenment, moral and spiritual purity.
4. JUDAISM IN RUSSIA
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Judaism is one of the oldest religions that has survived to this day and has a significant number of adherents mainly among the Jewish population in different countries of the world.
Judaism is actually the state religion of Israel.
This is the religion of a small but very talented people who have made a huge contribution to the development of humanity.
Judaism preaches that the human soul does not depend on the body, it can exist separately, because God created the soul and it is immortal, and during sleep God takes all souls to heaven. In the morning, God returns the souls of some people, but not others. Those to whom He does not return their souls die in their sleep, and the Jews who wake up in the morning thank God for returning their souls.
A believing Jew is required to have a beard, grow long hair at the temples (sidelocks), wear a small round cap (kippah), and undergo the rite of circumcision.
In ancient times, the center of Jewish cult was the Temple of Jerusalem, where daily sacrifices were performed. When the Temple was destroyed, prayer took the place of sacrifices, for which Jews began to gather around individual teachers - rabbis.
The Torah is the main book of all Jews. It is always and at all times written by hand, the Torah is kept in synagogues (the place where Jews pray). Jews believe that it was God who gave the Torah to people.
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Now many beautiful temples are being built so that people can come and communicate with God. And it doesn’t matter what religion you are if you live in Russia. Our countryWhat makes it so beautiful is that in it people of different faiths and nationalities live in peace and harmony. One is a Muslim, another is Orthodox, another is a Buddhist - we all must respect each other’s faith.
Because we are all RUSSIANS, citizens of one huge and great country in the world!
Autochthonous beliefs and rituals that developed on the continent retain their significance to this day in many parts of Africa. They rely on cosmogonic myths. Despite all the diversity in details, they are united in the idea of the primordial, the miraculous origin of this people and the deep conviction of its inseparability with nature, involvement in it. Myths, telling about the creation of the world, talk about the simultaneous emergence of man, plants, animals, or the transformation of plants or animals into humans; at the same time, there remains an awareness of the special kinship of all of them.
UNESCO in its reference publications often uses one conventional name for autochthonous beliefs - animism. However, there is no single African (or European, Asian or American) religion. As a rule, every nation has developed a complex set of religious ideas, in which various cults can be seen in different combinations: fetishism, animism, belief in nyama- vitality, totemism, etc. Witchcraft, witchcraft and magic: imitative, protective or harmful, still occupy a large place in the system of religious ideas. In societies little affected by urban culture and commodity production, all the most important stages of a person’s life (birth, puberty, marriage, death), as well as his practical activities (hunting, farming, cattle breeding, fishing, making tools, treating diseases, etc. .) are literally entangled in magic. The once common ritual eating of body parts (lips or forehead skin) of a powerful sorcerer or an admirable enemy in order to obtain part of his strength and power or wisdom gave rise to the idea of cannibals that roamed throughout European literature about Africa. Belief in harmful magic is also strong in cities: often European doctors working in Africa were surprised to note that it was impossible to save a person who knew that he had been damaged; There are also known cases of legal proceedings when people were accused of assassination attempts for piercing photographs of a political rival with pins; There have also been cases of theft of sacred objects in order to weaken the power of a particular enemy. Until now, a significant part of Africans do not believe in the natural nature of death. Talismans and amulets retain great and not yet extinct significance, in particular, supposedly making a person invulnerable or turning bullets into water (such ideas were widespread among participants in the anti-colonial uprisings in Na-
Mibiya, Tanzania, Kenya; among the partisans of Angola and Mozambique, etc.). The magical actions of sorcerers and healers often masked their excellent knowledge of nature and traditional medicine. The use of weather signs that were barely noticeable to the uninitiated made it possible to “cause” rain; the study of the properties of plants, minerals, animal poisons or the properties of individual organs made it possible to cure many diseases (especially mental ones), sometimes beyond the control of European medicine. Most religious belief systems on the continent are local cults. Among them, the cult of ancestors is of enormous, and often leading, importance. Among the ancestors of the family of most peoples of Africa, the ancestor of a large kinship group and the ancestor of the tribe stood out. In neighboring (territorial) communities, the leading role was attributed to the first ancestor of the family that was once the first to occupy the once empty lands. Before the start of agricultural work, hunting and fishing seasons, ore mining, etc. rituals and ceremonies were held to appeal to the ancestors for permission and blessings. Such a cult, as in other areas of the world, does not need either magnificent temples or a developed hierarchy of clergy.
Among the peoples who created their own early state formations even before European colonization (Akan, Fon, Yoru-ba and others in West Africa; Baganda, Banyoro and others in Inter-Zero Lake), an upper layer of nobility appeared, the basis of which was the clan nobility. The cult of the ancestors of the supreme rulers gradually became a national cult. Along with the faceless spirits of the forest, savannah water, etc. (Mizimu, Vidiye, Bashimi among the peoples of Central Africa; Orisha among the Yoruba) gods appeared, i.e. beings are more powerful, endowed with more distinct functions, having a personal name, a certain “sphere of activity.” So, among the Yoruba, Olorun - the lord of the sky; Obatala - patron of the earth; Olokun - lord of water; Ogun - god of iron and war; Olorosa is the goddess of the hearth, etc. In the conditions of technicalization of life, the emergence of new types of activities, some of them changed their “specialization”: for example, Ogun is now the patron saint of drivers and mechanics.
Among the host of gods and spirits, some peoples had a supreme deity, to whom the act of creating the world was often (but by no means necessarily) attributed. Among the Akan, the head of the pantheon was Nyame - the lord of the sky. The heads of pantheons of many nations from the Nile to the Zambezi have the same similar-sounding name: Nyama, Nyambe, Nzambi, Nzambi-Mpungu, etc. These are deities who personified the sun, or rain, or the entire vault of heaven. The personification of the earth is revered everywhere. This is naturally due to the great importance for agriculture
tsev soil fertility, solar heat and moisture. When translating the sacred texts of Christianity into African languages, the Lord was often translated as “Nzambi”. However, it must be borne in mind that in the traditional view, the understanding of “Nzambi” does not at all coincide with the assessment of the essence of the Christian God. The first appears only as the creator of the world, then no longer interferes with the lives of his creatures; his cult did not exist; they did not turn to him with requests and pleas; they did not expect either reward for a righteous life or retribution for sins. This is especially clearly expressed in the folklore of many African peoples (see, for example, the oral traditions of the Ashanti, Zulus, and Bakongo).
Polytheism in traditional African states inevitably merged with the cult of a deified ruler. Ideas about the sacred nature of the power of the ruler have left their mark on modern political life. The influence of these ideas was especially great during the period of the struggle for independence and in the early days of the existence of independent states. At that time, political parties were known to be formed along ethnic lines and were often led by traditional rulers, whose decisions were considered sacred and immutable. In traditional states, a professional priesthood also developed.
One of the important features of traditional beliefs is the existence of secret religious and mystical societies. Their foundations are rooted in the tribal system. However, they adapted both to the early state associations of pre-colonial Africa, where they performed police functions (like the Ogboni among the Yoruba), and to modern life (the Poro, Simo, Komo unions are still alive in West African countries, mainly manner in Liberia and Sierra Leone).
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Traditionally, beliefs are generally understood as religious ideas, the system of which forms the ideological content of religion. True, in Western European science the term “beliefs” often denotes views that are not of a theological nature. One way or another, already at the early stage of the development of human society, religious ideas played a significant, if not decisive, role in people’s lives. They were a human response to environmental influences. Over time, primitive beliefs developed into an independent system of religious views.
They are closely associated with rituals that are adequate to them - symbolic actions performed for a religious purpose, that is, giving certain events in a person’s life a theological meaning. Moreover, the sequence and methods of behavior during the performance of these rituals are invariant and are performed, as a rule, traditionally, in accordance with custom or a specially developed “scenario”. In most cases, these rituals are collective in nature and are organized on the occasion of birth, death, marriage, etc.
From the point of view of religious beliefs and traditions, the western part of the Pamirs, officially called the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) and part of the Republic of Tajikistan, is a unique region. This exclusivity is due primarily to its geographical location. Even in ancient times, various ethnographic groups inhabited the few high mountain valleys suitable for habitation and agricultural activity. “...Here is a valley and here is a valley,” rightly noted the orientalist General A.E. Snesarev, “and between them there is a ridge and no pass; in this case there will be two different communities, two peoples, often speaking completely different languages, having no connection with each other.” Indeed, the peoples currently inhabiting GBAO - the Bartans, Wakhans, Ishkashims, Khufs, Shugnans, etc. - speak mutually incomprehensible and hitherto unwritten Eastern Iranian languages (the language of the lowland Tajiks belongs to the western branch of the Iranian languages). The role of lingua franca is played by the Tajik language, as well as the language of the Shugnans - the largest people in the autonomous region in terms of population.
Despite the ethnic-differentiating significance of the natural-geographical factor, Ismailism, one of the currents of Shiite Islam, whose followers now live in more than 20 countries of the world, has been and remains a powerful integration stimulus. Ismailism penetrated into the Pamirs in the 10th–11th centuries. Ismailis, like Shia Muslims, claim that after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, his follower - cousin and son-in-law (husband of the Prophet's daughter Fatima) Ali - was the first imam, i.e. the spiritual leader of the Muslim community, and that the spiritual leadership known as The imamate is therefore hereditary through Ali and his wife Fatima.
Based on the doctrinal tenets of Ismailism, its opponents questioned the legitimacy of this movement, disseminating in their writings fabrications about the “unworthy goals, immoral views and dissolute practices of the Ismailis.” Ismaili imams were accused of non-Alid origin, and the teaching itself was considered by orthodox Sunni Muslims (rulers, theologians, etc.) as a heresy and a conspiracy against Islam, based on pre-Islamic beliefs. Orientalist historian N.M. Emelyanova had to deal with similar views relatively recently, in 2004, during her work in the Sunni regions of Afghan and Tajik Badakhshan. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, Ismailis were subjected to persecution and repression, including for religious reasons. During the civil war in Tajikistan, namely at the end of 1992 - beginning of 1993, many people from GBAO were exterminated simply because they came from the Pamirs, which implied their religious affiliation.
That is why Ismailism to this day plays not only the most important socio-ideological, but also ethno-integration role in the culture of the peoples of the region we are considering. Here one cannot but agree with the famous ethnographer and religious scholar S. A. Tokarev, who considered religion as one of the ethnic characteristics. “From the very beginning to the very end,” he wrote, “religion is a form of social connection, mutual contraction (integration) of co-religionists and mutual repulsion (segregation) of people of other faiths. In this sense, it plays the same (or rather, similar) role as any other “ethnic characteristic”: language, forms of material culture, folk art, etc.”
By the time of the adoption of Ismailism, various pre-Islamic cults existed among the inhabitants of different valleys of the Western Pamirs: fire worship, Manichaeism, elements of ancient Iranian beliefs, etc. Some of the traditional religious ideas and practices are totemism, magical rituals, the use of amulets, the veneration of animals (zoolatry), the cult of ancestors and others have survived to the present day. Neither the pre-Islamic nor the Ismaili layer is comprehensive; they predominate in different spheres of spiritual life. The mechanism of their interactions is quite complex, and its detailed study by specialists - religious scholars, ethnographers, historians - is still to come. Today we can only state the obvious fact of the existence of syncretism in the religious life of the Pamiris - the mixing and interpenetration of various forms of beliefs.
In the works of humanities scholars since the Soviet era, there has been a point of view that later religions absorb the beliefs, rituals, and traditions that preceded them and, rethinking them, adapt them to their concepts. As ethnographer L.A. Tultseva writes, for example, “any religion in real life exists in close unity with the beliefs it inherited from other, earlier religions, forming a syncretic alloy.”
Many researchers (B.A. Rybakov, V.N. Basilov in the bulk of their works, G.P. Snesarev, etc.) wrote about folk religion, which, along with the official ideology, included early pre-monotheistic (pre-Christian or pre-Muslim) ideas and rituals are pagan in essence. We were talking about the so-called everyday, or folk, Christianity and Islam. The latter, in particular, was characterized by the close interweaving of local pre-Muslim religious traditions with the norms, institutions, ideas and rituals of Islam. Moreover, it is important to note that in the minds of some Christians and Muslims, all beliefs and rituals, regardless of their origin, represent true Christianity and Islam.
The synthesis of monotheistic dogma and “pagan” beliefs gave researchers reason to call folk religion “dual faith.” This term is still used in scientific parlance and, as a rule, is understood unambiguously - as a formal, mechanical connection in folk religion of “two faiths.” According to T. A. Bernshtam, ethnographers studying the religious beliefs of the Eastern Slavs, including Russians, believe that “paganism” constitutes a large and essential part of the folk belief system, poorly and transparently covered by Christianity, which is enough to be “removed” to reveal pre-Christian archaic almost in its “pure form”. The author emphasizes that by paganism she understands “a layer of views of extra-Christian origin or archaic forms of syncretism.”
In the last decade, a number of works by Russian authors have observed a point of view different from the traditionalist one. Its essence boils down to the fact that ancient pagan beliefs, preserved in one form or another in monotheistic religions, are not paganism in their essence. They not only lose their previous external design, but also change their content as a result of its processing in the spirit of the dominant worldview.
The question arises: why do the ancient forms of views, which traditionalists call pagan, and the ritual actions associated with them continue to exist to this day? Most likely, because they are associated with current problems of people’s lives, they reflect the eternal aspects of human existence and perception of the world around them. The external form of rituals can be transformed, terminology may change, but the essence of these beliefs remains unchanged. Indeed, now, like many centuries ago, traditional beliefs and rituals are associated with ensuring fertility, healing from diseases, obtaining the necessary information from representatives of the supernatural spiritual world for making decisions in certain life situations, etc.
That is why we should rather say that it was later religions that adapted to ancient beliefs, customs and rituals, and not vice versa. In our opinion, today, within the framework of the dominant religious system, ancient beliefs and later religions coexist, mutually influence each other and mutually penetrate each other with individual features.
A striking example of this is the religious situation in the Pamirs. Under the dominance of official Ismailism here, the Badakhshans still retain the so-called primitive, or pagan, beliefs - totemism, magical rituals, the use of amulets, zoolatry, the cult of ancestors, etc. Their appearance was primarily due to harsh natural and climatic conditions, the lack of housing and economic space, isolation from lowland areas, illiteracy of the local population and other factors.
The origins of traditional beliefs go back to the ancient personification of nature and the spirits of dead people. Animistic ideas are universal for all human cultures - the belief in the existence of spirits and the possibility for humans to communicate with them. Most religious scholars believe that animism is the initial core from which all later religions grew. Moreover, ancient animistic views still coexist and exist in parallel with the dogmas of later developed religions.
In this regard, I would like to note two circumstances. Firstly, traditional ideas, in particular animistic ones, are characteristic of peoples who still retain, to one degree or another, a patriarchal way of life, vestigial forms of community and archaic cultural features. The Pamirs belong precisely to such societies. Secondly, among the peoples of Central Asia, ancient beliefs and rituals, including animist ones, merged with Islam. At the same time, they were deformed under the influence of the latter and acquired, so to speak, a Muslimized coloring.
And if Christianity, for example, clearly views all lower spirits as hostile to man, then in Islam the attitude towards them is different. Muslims call spirits jinn and are material beings created by Allah from “pure flame” (Sura 55:15) even before the appearance of people (Sura 15:26–27). According to Islamic doctrine, they have the appearance of people of both sexes, that is, they are anthropomorphic, endowed with consciousness, have free will and are responsible for their actions. Moreover, Islam recognizes part of the lower spirits as believers, that is, those who worship Allah, and the other part as “infidels,” or devils who tempt people and contribute to the spread of unbelief and sins.
Along with the common Muslim name “jinn,” the Pamiris and other peoples of Central Asia use private names when talking about this or that demonic creature. The composition of the pandemonium in the Central Asian region is more or less homogeneous. All the peoples inhabiting it, including the Pamirs, have ideas about paris (peri, peri), devas (maidens, divas), albasty (almasty) and some others. At the same time, the Pamiris have different, compared to other Central Asian peoples, ideas about the same object of demonology - the body of knowledge about evil spirits. Moreover, there is even a difference of views within the Pamir region. This may indicate either the deformation of folk beliefs over the centuries, or the polysemantic nature of certain spirits.
The first Russian researcher to describe in more or less detail the “demonological pantheon” of the Pamiris was Count A. A. Bobrinskoy. He rightly noted that the mountaineers, feeling helpless before the power of nature, turned to their imagination, “revitalized” the world around them and clothed its representatives in new images, and a host of spirits filled the mountains, gorges, caves, forests, streams and even houses. “On all his paths,” wrote this researcher, “a mountaineer has to face them, defend himself, be cunning, please, fight...” Later, scientists - ethnographers and oriental historians - managed to collect quite extensive material not only about Pamir demonology, but also about relics of other traditional beliefs and rituals. Beliefs in good and evil jinn are still preserved among part of the population of GBAO, especially those living in remote high-mountain villages.
All our informants agree that spirits are especially active in the dark, especially at night, they can be found in the form of a person of both sexes, as well as in the form of a dog, horse, cow and other creatures near the water, on a heap of ash near a human dwelling, in a stable, etc. Depending on the role that jinn, or spirits, perform in a given situation, they can be divided into three groups, or categories.
The first includes those who are hostile towards a person and are capable of not only making him crazy, causing bodily illness or beating him, but even killing him. These demonic creatures cannot be appeased - they must be driven out or neutralized by performing magical rituals. True, the Pamirs believe that harmful spirits can still be made useful if they are subjugated and forced to serve by force.
One of the most “harmful” characters in the traditional beliefs of the Pamir peoples is Almasty. The question of the origin of this demonic creature is controversial: some researchers attribute it to Turkic mythology, others to Iranian. There is an assumption that the image of Almasty was formed in the era of ancient contacts of ethnic communities before their settlement in the territory of modern habitat.
According to the ideas of the Pamiris, Almasty is a hairy, ugly woman with long breasts, which she can throw behind her back. She is credited with gluttony and cannibalism. Even today in Shugnan they say about glutton women: “She’s like almasty.” A book, coin or hair in the hands of an almasty is a formidable weapon against a person. By selecting these objects, a person completely subjugates this creature. The Pamiris still use various kinds of amulets, spells, fire and burning coals as protection against almasty.
It is believed that this evil demon in female form brings harm mainly to women giving birth. The reason for the hostility towards them, as explained by my informants in Shugnan, is that one night one woman poured out hot water and scalded the Almasty child. After this, the latter began to take revenge on women in labor and newborns.
Among the Pamiris, there is a widespread belief in the existence of devas - evil spirits of mainly anthropomorphic appearance, ideas about which date back to the era of the Indo-Iranian and Indo-European communities. In the folklore of the Iranian peoples, including the Pamirs, devas appear as male giants covered with hair, living in hard-to-reach places, for example, inside the mountains or in the bowels of the earth. They guard the treasures of the earth and are hostile towards humans.
In popular views, the deva appears as an omnipotent being. Among the Shugnans today you can hear the following expression: “He (she) teaches the maiden,” which indicates the ingenuity or cunning of a person.
The second group includes patron spirits, who, however, in case of failure to fulfill their desires or some kind of misconduct, could send illness to a person. It was possible to get rid of it only if the demands of these demonic creatures were met.
Spirits in this category also include the so-called pure spirits that live in sacred places - mazars (or ostons, as they are called in the Pamirs). In the legends and myths of the Pamiris, characters such as Chiltans, whose image is of Tajik-Persian origin, are widely used. According to popular beliefs among the peoples of Central Asia, the Chiltans are forty powerful saints who rule the world. In the Western Pamirs, this term, translated into Russian as “forty people” or “forty persons”, is directly related to the Ostons. For example, one of these sanctuaries is located in the Shughnan village of Vezdara in the Roshtkala district of GBAO. Back in the 1920s, the famous Pamir expert M.S. Andreev collected material about chiltans in Yazgulem. There he was told that among the Chiltans there are four poles (qutb), which control the four sides of the world.
The history of ostons associated with chiltans goes back to ancient times and is possibly associated with pre-Islamic fire temples. It is no coincidence that chiltans are sometimes called “standing by the fire.” For example, in the center of the sanctuary in the village of Vezdara mentioned above there is a large amount of ash of ancient origin. Researchers have yet to figure out the genetic connection between this kind of oston and fire. Be that as it may, in the views of some peoples, Chiltans are directly related to economic life - they act as patrons of the mountain goat during hunting, stewards of water, etc. The Ismalit Pamirs recite a special spell “Chikhil Ism” (“Forty Names”) to drive out evil spirits.
The third category consists of spirits capable of entering into intimate relationships with a person and even creating a family, if in this case the term relating to marital relations, conditioned by a commonality of life and mutual assistance, is appropriate.
This group includes perhaps the most common spirit in the Pamir Mountains - pari (peri, peri). The genesis of this image, according to V.N. Basilov, should be sought in the depths of centuries - in the ancient layers of Iranian mythology, and the term “bet”, according to B. A. Litvinsky, perhaps goes back to the reconstructed Indo-European word per - “to bring into being, to give birth”, or pele - “to fill” . In the folklore of the Pamiris, the pari often appears in an anthropomorphic form and mainly in the form of an evil, repulsive appearance or a benevolent and beautiful girl. The latter usually acts as an intercessor. Among the residents of GBAO there is still an expression: “A bet helped him” if one of the men was lucky in business.
In Pamir fairy tales, there are often cases when bets took people with them and flew through the air with them. According to the beliefs of the Bartang people, paris are beautiful mountain spirits. If a pari girl falls in love with a young man, she takes him with her to the mountains. These spirits are capable of not only falling in love, but also getting married. Thus, in the Ishkashim fairy tale “Tsarevich Amad”, Pari marries a young man named Amad. It is believed that betting marriages produce extraordinary people. At the same time, according to the beliefs of the Yazgulyam people, for example, when a bet takes a young man as her husband, he loses his mind.
Along with a human form, this spirit can also appear in a zoomorphic form. Residents of one of the Bartang villages considered themselves descendants of the hunter Baig and Pari, who bred mountain goats. One day Baig was going to his beloved from his native village. He did not attach any importance to the fact that a fellow villager was following him with a dog. At this time, his wife and relatives were milking the goats. The dog barked, the goats ran away, and the milk spilled. As a result, the angry bet left her “earthly husband.”
In the Pamir pandemonium there are also genies who cannot be placed in any of the named groups. These demonic creatures can be loosely called joker spirits. They do not wish harm to a person, and at the same time one cannot expect good from them - they, for example, play pranks on lonely travelers.
We will not list all the demonic creatures known in the Pamirs. Let's just say that recently the pre-Muslim name of deva and the Muslim genie have been adopted for all spirits. All incorporeal or material creatures living in man or the surrounding world, according to popular beliefs, are afraid of the mention of the name of Allah. Therefore, until now, when Ismailis visit abandoned houses, outbuildings and similar structures, where there is a possibility of meeting with spirits, they widely use the Muslim formula “In the name of Allah.” Jinns also avoid dwellings where the holy book Koran is found.
Until now, in the everyday life of the Pamiri people, especially those living in remote high-mountain valleys, magical techniques of a therapeutic and prophylactic, agricultural and commercial nature are of great importance. They are especially often practiced in life cycle rites - weddings, maternity, funerals, etc. For example, during a wedding, a special role is assigned to women with many children, whose fertility is believed to be magically transferred to the newlyweds. In addition, the birth of children is magically promoted by showering the bride and groom with dried fruits, bean flour or sweets. In order to protect against demonic forces, the color of red must be present in the clothes of young people.
Just a few decades ago, barren young women came to ostons, where they tied scarves, scraps of fabric or pet hair to trees or poles standing there in order to receive the gracious help of the saints. Since, as is popularly believed, jinn are especially dangerous for women in labor and young children, both of them were supposed to have a variety of amulets with them.
Like many other peoples of the world, among the Pamirs, in the event of a difficult birth, the mother and relatives of the woman in labor untied the knots on their dresses in the house, unraveled the knots in their hair and opened all the locks. In the Pamirs, as in other regions of the Earth, three days after the birth of a child, they put on the first shirt, which among the Badakhshan people is called “the shirt of forty days” and borrowed from an old man or woman, from whom longevity should magically be transferred to the newborn. For talismanic purposes, beads were sewn onto it. And before putting a shirt on a child, a knife with a wooden handle was passed through its collar so that the baby would grow up strong as iron and kind, with a gentle character, like a tree. Usually the forty-day shirt was kept until the birth of the next child in the family.
To protect the baby from demonic forces, especially in the first forty days, which were considered the most dangerous, various amulets were used. Thus, the claws of an eagle or a bear, wolf teeth and even dog droppings were hung on the top crossbar of the cradle, and round-shaped scraps of fabric of different colors were sewn onto children's clothes or ornamental patterns were embroidered in the form of a solar circle or an open palm-five - a symbol of the Ismailis. To protect the child from evil forces, he was given two names - his real name and a nickname - and they tried not to call him by his true name until he reached adulthood.
Of all the beliefs related to human illness and death, the most prominent is the belief in the evil eye. This harmful type of magic, according to the beliefs of the Pamiris, is transmitted in two ways: verbally or with an unkind look. As is popularly believed, amulets called tumors help against the “evil eye” and other magical techniques. These are paper strips folded and sewn into scraps of cloth, on which suras from the Koran or texts from other Islamic religious books are written. At the same time, amulets with “magical” spells read on them can be used to harm a particular person. They are left, for example, in one of the corners or at the threshold of an enemy’s house. Along with amulets, household items are often used as harmful “things” - iron locks, pins, etc., on which the spell is “recited”. This procedure is called “sorcery” (serčid).
An additional impetus for the popularization of magical rituals among the people was the appearance in the late 1990s in the Pamirs of many psychics, telepaths, clairvoyants, etc. Their roles were played not only by adults of both sexes, but even by schoolgirls in grades five to seven. They instilled the same thought in both illiterate grandmothers and certified workers in the field of education, science and medicine: “They have cast a spell on you, which can be removed by such and such a fortune teller or such and such a clairvoyant.”
In addition to predictions, these individuals also positioned themselves as healers. Moreover, young “healers,” for example, reported that treatment recipes were given to them by deceased grandfathers, with whom only they could communicate. Things got to the point of outright oddities. One schoolgirl-healer “prescribed” a sick man who came to see her to drink the tears of... the wild goat Nakhchir. The mountaineer, dumbfounded by what he heard, only said: “Okay, daughter! I’ll somehow catch a mountain goat, but how can I make him cry?”
In conditions of mass unemployment and a sharp decline in living standards, for some, magical “sessions” in the Pamirs have become a source of profit, for others - a dream to “improve” their health, and therefore their material well-being.
In the Pamir Mountains, where from time immemorial there has been an open hearth in homes, it is a kind of home altar. During weddings, funerals and other ceremonies, the fragrant herb styrachmus is burned on it in order to propitiate the spirits of ancestors. For example, on the wedding day, the groom, before going to the bride, goes to the hearth and kisses it, and then takes a pinch of ash and puts it in his shoes. Fire and its derivative ash are considered pure and beneficial substances among the Pamirs. It is prohibited to step over the fireplace or step on its edges. Ashes taken from the fireplace are still thrown away in a place that is clean and inaccessible to pets. You cannot walk on it or jump over it. Before eating, it is not allowed to wash your hands over the ash pit located in front of the fireplace, since it is believed that the household spirit, the guardian of the farishta, lives in it.
Even in ancient times, the cult of animals, in particular sheep, bulls and cows, arose in the Pamirs, as evidenced by images on stones and in caves. Even today in high mountain villages there is a custom of placing bull dung on top of a pile of grain on the threshing floor in order to consecrate it. While escorting one or more cows to the groom's house, the bride's father pulls out some hair from the cows' tails and throws them into the barn. This is done to prevent the remaining animals from getting sick. The owner asks the cows to be taken away not to cause harm to either his family or the family of the new owner.
It can be said without exaggeration that one of the most widespread cults in the Pamirs is the veneration of the spirits of deceased ancestors. It can be seen especially clearly in funeral and memorial rites. From the first minutes after the death of a person, his loved ones, relatives and neighbors try to serve the spirit (ruh), and not the theme of the deceased. After the death of an Ismaili, burning candles are placed on the ledge of the hearth for three nights in a row, which should be considered as a relic of the ancient custom of “feeding” the soul. In our opinion, the actions of the deceased’s closest relatives at the wake of the third day can be considered an echo of fire worship. When the spiritual mentor of the Ismailis (caliph) reads the full text of the funeral treatise, they approach a special vessel where the wick is burning and bow to the fire. And the smell of the funeral dish boj from the carcass of a ram at a funeral, according to popular beliefs, is pleasant to the spirit of the deceased and saturates him best. The very slaughter of a ram is of a cleansing nature and is a means to ward off the “blood of the dead man,” which is present in the house for three days after his death. Both the reading of the treatise and the preparation of special food are of a protective nature and are addressed primarily to the spirit of the deceased, who, like his “blood,” is present in the home for three days.
It should be said that Badakhshans are reluctant to begin rebuilding or remodeling a house, since this may disturb the spirits of the ancestors whom they revere. And when building a new house, to this day, wooden beams are doused with the blood of a sacrificial ram or rooster in order to appease the spirits of ancestors.
In the Pamirs, ancient folk ideas about the world, nature and man have been preserved to this day. They, as already mentioned, coexist peacefully and are most closely intertwined with the views and rituals of Ismailism. This syncretism is explained by the isolation of the Pamir gorges and the conservation of extra-Islamic beliefs, rituals and cults.
The material we have presented can be used in lecture courses and seminars at humanitarian universities that offer courses in religious studies or cultural studies. It clearly demonstrates that, despite the progress of science and technology, in the 21st century there remain peoples who have managed to preserve ancient folk traditions and religious beliefs. The task of researchers is to be able to capture them before they disappear into the boundless river of time.
religion Christianity Hinduism shamanism
HINDUISM, the main religion of India and one of the world religions. Hinduism originated in the Indian subcontinent, with over 90% of the approximately 1 billion people who practice this religion living in the Republic of India, which occupies most of the subcontinent. Hindu communities also exist in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kenya, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana.
Hinduism embraces a wide variety of beliefs and practices. Hinduism's tolerance for diversity of religious forms is perhaps unique among world religions. Hinduism has no church hierarchy or supreme authority; it is a completely decentralized religion. Unlike Christianity or Islam, Hinduism did not have a founder whose teachings were spread by followers. Most of the fundamental tenets of Hinduism were formulated during the time of Christ, but the roots of this religion are even older; Some of the gods that Hindus worship today were worshiped by their ancestors almost 4,000 years ago. Hinduism developed constantly, absorbing and interpreting in its own way the beliefs and rituals of the different peoples with which it came into contact.
Despite the contradictions between the various variants of Hinduism, they all are based on a few certain fundamental principles.
Beyond the ever-changing physical world there is one universal, unchanging, eternal spirit, which is called Brahman. The soul (atman) of every creature in the Universe, including the gods, is a particle of this spirit. When the flesh dies, the soul does not die, but passes into another body, where it continues a new life.
For most Hindus, an important element of religious beliefs is the host of gods. There are hundreds of deities in Hinduism, from small gods of local significance to great gods whose deeds are known in every Indian family. The most famous are Vishnu; Rama and Krishna, two forms or incarnations of Vishnu; Siva (Shiva); and the creator god Brahma.
Holy books play a large role in all varieties of Hinduism. Philosophical Hinduism emphasizes classical Sanskrit texts such as the Vedas and Upanishads. Folk Hinduism, which reveres both the Vedas and the Upanishads, uses the epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata as sacred texts, often translated from Sanskrit into local languages. Part of the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita, is known to almost every Hindu. The Bhagavad Gita is closest to what could be called the general scripture of Hinduism.
Sikhism- a religion founded in Punjab, in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent by the guru (spiritual teacher) Nanak (1469-1539).
The Holy Scripture is “Guru Granth Sahib”.
Sikh pilgrim in front of the Golden Temple
There are more than 22 million adherents of Sikhism around the world.
Sikhism is an independent religion that arose among Hinduism and Islam, but is not similar to other religions and does not recognize continuity.
Sikhs believe in One God, an omnipotent and all-pervading Creator. No one knows his real name.
God is considered in two aspects - as Nirgun (Absolute) and as Sargun (personal God within each person). Before Creation, God existed as the Absolute in itself, but in the process of Creation he expressed himself. Before Creation there was nothing - no heaven, no hell, no three worlds - only the Formless. When God wanted to express himself (as Sargun), he first found his expression through the Name, and through the Name, Nature appeared in which God is dissolved and present everywhere and spreads in all directions as Love.
The form of worship of God in Sikhism is meditation. No other deities, demons, spirits, according to the Sikh religion, are worthy of worship.
The question of what happens to a person after death is considered by Sikhs as follows. They consider all ideas about heaven and hell, retribution and sins, karma and new rebirths to be “wrong”. The doctrine of reward in the future life, the demands of repentance, cleansing from sins, fasting, chastity and “good deeds” - all this, from the point of view of Sikhism, is an attempt by some mortals to manipulate others. Fasts and vows have no meaning. After death, a person’s soul does not go anywhere - it simply dissolves in Nature and returns to the Creator. But it does not disappear, but remains, like everything that exists.
Confucianism- is not so much a religion as an ancient teaching that has incorporated ethical and political norms. Unlike most religions, Confucianism considers, first of all, issues of human relations, in particular, the relationship between the ruler and the subordinate, so, by definition, it is not a religion. The main difference from religion is that Confucianism does not imply any church. But the teaching has penetrated so deeply into the spirituality of Chinese society that it has become no less important than any religion.
When studying Confucianism, a person can read a large variety of written sources. This will provide a better understanding of how the teaching influences many aspects of Chinese social life. The main sets of canons of the religion are the Pentateuch and the Quadruple, with the second set of writings not being considered canonical until the 12th century. The absence of any god or other higher powers makes Confucianism one of the most flexible religions of the modern world, which successfully adapts to today's needs of society.
One of the most important elements of the Confucian religion is the cult of ancestors. The doctrine of “Xiao” - sons of piety, caring for parents.
The Japanese have their own religion - Shintoism, which was formed quite a long time ago and fully felt the influence of Buddhism. Shintoism is a religion with many objects of worship, which can be both deities and the spirits of deceased people.
In many ways, Shintoism can be classified as a pagan religion, since many objects and earthly phenomena can have their own deity. Moreover, surprisingly, any living object cannot necessarily be endowed with a spirit; for example, a spirit living in a certain stone is considered the spirit of the area where this stone is located. so do many eastern religions, Shintoism does not imply any kind of salvation at all, it leaves complete freedom of choice for each person, who can decide for himself what to do with his actions, feelings and emotions. His soul after death will follow exactly the same path as the souls of all other living and nonliving beings. Along with the gods, Shintoists actively revere the spirits of their ancestors, who during their lifetime were considered the patrons of their relatives, and after death will serve as protectors for their descendants. Among the adherents of this religion there is a belief in various totems, amulets and even magic.
Shintoists have an interesting view of good and evil. In traditional religions, such as Christianity and Islam, it is customary to elevate good and evil to absolutes and paint them in certain colors. Shintoists believe that a completely good or completely evil person does not exist, and good and evil deeds are divided by them only in terms of their suitability for life. Naturally, doing good is considered suitable and useful. A person who is forced to do evil, according to the teachings of Shinto, is simply deceived by evil spirits, since the very process of committing bad deeds is unnatural. A person is quite capable of preventing the harmful influence of various evil spirits on his own; to do this, he simply needs to live in harmony with himself and get as close as possible to the deities, naturally, through active worship and service.
The main principle of Shinto is to live in harmony with nature and people. According to Shinto beliefs, the world is a single natural environment where kami, people, and the souls of the dead live side by side.
Judaism is the oldest Abrahamic religion, the basis from which first Christianity came, and later Islam. The origin of the religion occurred during the Second Temple era, which occurred in 516 BC - 70 AD. The total number of Jews, which may include both ethnic Jews and people of other nationalities, is 13.4 million people. Approximately 42 percent of this number lives in Israel, the same amount in the USA and Canada, and the rest in other countries, mainly European.
Monotheism was first proclaimed in Judaism. That is, God created man and everything around him, higher powers are trying to help people, and in the end it is good that will win. These principles have become common to all Abrahamic religions of our time. That is, God is not only a creator, but also, to some extent, a father for people, he is the source not only of all things, but also of kindness itself, and therefore, by doing good deeds, we get closer to God. Man is the center of values of this religion, he is immortal, since his soul is immortal, and he has unlimited opportunities for self-improvement. With the help of free will and God's help, any person is capable of the greatest things. But at the same time, Jews also distinguish themselves, since in Judaism it is believed that it was God who gave the Jews commandments and entrusted them with the mission of bringing virtue to all humanity. That is why the believers call themselves the Chosen People. Most likely, this particular reason is a consequence of the fact that Judaism has not become so popular among other nationalities, and is practiced mainly only among the Jews themselves.
The Torah - the holy book of the Jews, contains 613 mitzvot - described, which were extracted from the Pentateuch, that is, 613 commandments. A Jew is obligated to keep all of these commandments, but the Torah also imposes some of these commandments on the rest of humanity. A non-Jew is obliged to fulfill the 7 commandments, the so-called laws of the New Sons.
At the heart of Judaism there is the doctrine of the most complete dominion of the spiritual world over the material, despite the fact that both of these dimensions were created by God. Moreover, the higher mind created man precisely in order to effectively manage the material worlds. Thus, all human actions must bear the imprint of God's will.
What is traditional religion and got the best answer
Answer from Winter37[guru]
The term “religion” was introduced by the famous Roman orator Cicero, who lived in the 1st century BC. X4. Cicero believed that this concept is derived from the Latin verb religere (to collect again, to discuss again, to ponder again, to put aside for special use), which figuratively means “to revere” or “to treat something with special attention.” Therefore, Cicero saw the very essence of religion in reverence for higher powers, the Divine. According to the Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor of Psychiatry, Institute of Forensic Psychiatry named after. Serbian F.V. Kondratyev, “the main, fundamental difference between traditional religions and heresies, from totalitarian sects is that the latter carry out penetration into the soul of the neophyte through depriving him of freedom and the right to informed consent, that is, they violate the basic provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Constitution of the Russian Federation and other fundamental documents on freedom of conscience through psychological violence"
TR are religions recognized by the state on the territory of their country. For example, in Russia these are Orthodoxy, Islam and Buddhism.
Answer from ***
[active]
Mari traditional religion (Mar. Chimariy yula) is the folk religion of the Mari, based on Mari mythology, modified under the influence of monotheism. Recently, with the exception of rural areas, it has been neo-pagan in nature.
The Mari religion is based on faith in the forces of nature, which man must honor and respect. Before the spread of monotheistic teachings, the Mari revered many gods known as Yumo, while recognizing the primacy of the Supreme God (Kugu-Yumo). In the 19th century, pagan beliefs, under the influence of the monotheistic views of their neighbors, changed and the image of the One God Tÿҥ Osh Poro Kugu Yumo (One Bright Good Great God) was created.
Followers of the Mari traditional religion carry out religious rituals, mass prayers, and conduct charitable, cultural and educational events. They teach and educate the younger generation, publish and distribute religious literature. Currently, four district religious organizations are registered.
Prayer meetings and mass prayers are held according to the traditional calendar, always taking into account the positions of the moon and sun. Public prayers usually take place in sacred groves (kusoto). The prayer is led by onea, kart (kart kugyz).
G. Yakovlev points out that the meadow Mari have 140 gods, and the mountain Mari have about 70. However, some of these gods probably arose due to incorrect translation.
The main god is Kugu-Yumo - the Supreme God who lives in the sky, heads all the heavenly and lower gods. According to legend, the wind is his breath, the rainbow is his bow. Also mentioned is Kugurak - “elder” - sometimes also revered as the supreme god:
Answer from Lika[guru]
the one that prevails in a given state. Europe - Catholicism, Russia - Orthodoxy, etc. d
Answer from Anton Steinengel[guru]
Religion that predominates in the population of a country, is supported by the state and is recognized as the main one
Answer from Yolomon Salmonello[guru]
A religion that has been widespread in this area for many years!! ! Predominant religion!!!
Answer from Billy[guru]
Confessions. Orthodoxy, Buddhism, Islam
