TOTEMISM - one of the early forms of religion, the essence of which is the belief in the existence of a special kind of mystical connection between a group of people (genus, tribe) and a certain type of animal or plant (less often, natural phenomena and inanimate objects). The name of this form of religious belief comes from the word "ototem", which in the language of the North American Ojibwe Indians means "his kind." During the study of totemism, it was found that its emergence is closely connected with the economic activity of primitive man - gathering and hunting. Animals and plants, which gave people the opportunity to exist, became objects of worship. At the first stages of the development of totemism, such worship did not exclude, but even assumed the use of totem animals and plants for food. Therefore, sometimes primitive people expressed their attitude to the totem with the words: "This is our meat." However, this kind of connection between people and totems belongs to the distant past, and only ancient legends and stable language turns that have come down to researchers from time immemorial testify to its existence. Somewhat later, elements of social, primarily kinship relations, were introduced into totemism. Members of the tribal group (blood relatives) began to believe that a certain totem animal or plant was the ancestor and patron of their group, and that their distant ancestors, who combined the signs of people and a totem, had extraordinary abilities. This caused, on the one hand, the strengthening of the cult of ancestors, and on the other hand, a change in attitude towards the totem itself, in particular, the emergence of prohibitions on eating the totem, except for those cases when eating it was of a ritual nature and reminded of ancient norms and rules. . Subsequently, within the framework of totemism, a whole system of prohibitions-taboos arose. Totemic beliefs played a big role in the formation of primitive society. They performed an integrating function, uniting people of a particular group around a totem recognized by them. They quite effectively performed a regulatory function, subordinating people's behavior to numerous prohibitions - taboos that all members of the totem group had to observe. In the most “clean” and “convenient” form for research, totemism was found among the Indians of North America, the aborigines of Australia, and the indigenous people of Central and South Africa. Survivals of totemism (food prohibitions, depiction of sacred beings in the form of animals, etc.) ) can be found in many religions of the world.
A.N. Krasnikov
Totemistic beliefs, or totemism - the belief that certain types of animals, plants, some material objects, as well as natural phenomena are the ancestors, ancestors, patrons of specific tribal groups.
Totemism (“from-otem” in the language of North American Indians means “his family”) is a system of religious ideas about the relationship between a group of people (usually a family) and a totem - a mythical ancestor, most often an animal or plant. The totem was treated as a kind and caring ancestor and patron who protects people - their relatives - from hunger, cold, disease and death. Initially, only a real animal, bird, insect or plant was considered a totem. Then their more or less realistic image was enough, and later the totem could be designated by any symbol, word or sound.
We can meet some manifestations of totemism among the peoples of Melanesia: tribal groups bear totemic names, in places totemic prohibitions are preserved, belief in the connection of totems with the ancestors of the clan, etc. Among the tribes of the islands of Samoa, among the peoples of America - there are totems in coats of arms, family signs on clothes, on housing. In the form of a minor religion, as a modification, the belief in werewolf among the peoples of America has been preserved.
The choice of totems is often associated with the physical and geographical nature of the area. So, for example, among many tribes of Australia, the kangaroo, emu, opossum, wild dog, lizard, raven, bat, which are common here, act as totems. At the same time, in the desert or semi-desert regions of the continent, where natural conditions and wildlife are scarce, various insects and plants become totems, which are not found anywhere else in this capacity.
Totemism is the religion of an early tribal society, where blood ties are the most important between people. A person sees similar connections in the surrounding world, he endows all nature with kindred relations. Animals and plants, which form the basis of the life of a hunter and gatherer, become the subject of his religious feelings.
As historical development progressed, most peoples lost totemic ideas. However, in some places totemism has shown extraordinary vitality, for example among the Australian Aborigines. In the rituals of the Australian tribes, sacred objects - churingi - play a huge role. These are stone or wooden plates with drawings applied to them, denoting one or another totem.
Belief in the absolute connection of churinga with the fate of a person is so strong that in the event of its destruction, a person often fell ill and sometimes died. This, in turn, served as a new confirmation of the effect of invisible spells.
Traces and remnants of totemism are found to varying degrees in modern religions and have been preserved as elements in the ethnic cultures of many peoples.
Animism.
A new form of religion gradually developed - the cult of nature. Man's superstitious fear of formidable and mighty nature evoked a desire to somehow propitiate her. Man in his imagination peopled all nature with spirits. This form of religious beliefs is called animism (from the Latin words - "animus" - spirit). According to animistic beliefs, the whole world around is inhabited by spirits, and each person, animal or plant has its own soul, an incorporeal double.
Such a belief, in one form or another, is inherent in any religion, from the most primitive to the most advanced. True, the degree of expression of animistic beliefs is not the same in different forms of religion, at different stages of its development.
The term "animism" covers very diverse categories of religious ideas, diverse not only in appearance, in ideological content, but also, most importantly, in origin. Animistic images are personifications, but human fantasy can personify anything.
The words "spirit" or "soul" in the view of primitive people were associated with the animation of all nature. Religious ideas about the spirits of the earth, the sun, thunder, lightning, and vegetation gradually developed. Later, on this basis, the myth of dying and resurrecting gods arose.
Magical beliefs, or magic - the belief in the ability, with the help of certain techniques, conspiracies, rituals, to influence objects and natural phenomena, the course of social life, and later the world of supernatural forces. In the cave of Montespan, discovered in 1923 in the Pyrenees, a clay figure of a bear without a head was found. The figure is riddled with round holes. These are probably dart tracks. Around him, on the clay floor, there are prints of bare human feet. A similar find was made in the Tyuc d'Auduber cave. The ancients believed that the bewitched animal itself would allow itself to be killed.
Totemism is a primitive belief system that arose at the dawn of human civilization. Today, the totem is a symbol of the past: evidence of the wild imagination of uneducated people who knew nothing about the world around them. But in the old days, such illusions did not seem like something fantastic and unreal. Then the totem was direct evidence that the ancient spirits and deities tirelessly watch their two-legged relatives.
The meaning of the word totem
For the first time the concept of "totemism" was introduced by the English scientist John Long in 1791. As a naturalist explorer, he often traveled to different countries, collecting bits and pieces of old stories and myths. Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that the religion of many primitive peoples is in many ways similar to each other.
Long decided to systematize his knowledge, combining them in a new theory about the ancient religion of totemism. The very word "totem" he borrowed from the North American Indian people of the Ojibwa. They called them the sacred coat of arms of the clan, which depicted the ancestor spirit.
What are totems for?
Totemism is a religion that exalts some object or being instead of the gods. Most often, the totem is an animal or a tree. Although there are many cases when people endowed wind, fire, rock, river, flower and so on with sacred properties. At the same time, it should be understood that not a single object or animal is chosen as a totem, but their entire species as a whole. That is, if a tribe honors a bear, then its respect extends to all clubfoot in the district.
If we understand the essence of totemism, then this religion serves as a kind of link between nature and man. Thus, the majority of primitive communities believed that their family descended from an ancient ancestor: an animal or a plant. Therefore, the totem is a symbol of their birthright, explaining their own origin.
For example, once in Rus' there lived a tribe of Lutichs. They believed that their distant ancestors were ferocious wolves who once turned into people. Their entire culture and customs were built around this belief: on holidays, they put on wolf skins and danced around the fire, as if returning to that distant past, when they themselves were wild animals.
The main features of totemism
A tribe can choose any animal or plant as a totem. The main thing is that their decision should be supported by a certain story - a tale that can explain their relationship. Most often, the choice fell on noble beasts, whose skills or strength differed from the rest. This is a primitive desire to show oneself in a better light: others will treat the descendants of a bear with more respect than the children of an earthworm.
In addition, geographic and social factors often influenced the choice of a patron spirit. For example, those tribes that survived by hunting were more likely to classify themselves as predatory animals, while gatherers, on the contrary, sought protection from peaceful and hardworking creatures. Simply put, the totem is a kind of reflection of the soul of the people, its essence and self-affirmation. But there were rare exceptions, when the tribe chose a weak or ugly patron as an idol.
Relation to the totem
The totem is a sacred symbol. Therefore, in many cultures it was deified, which led to the emergence of certain rituals and customs. The most common was the belief that totem animals or plants were forbidden: they should not be killed, maimed, and sometimes even talked about in a bad manner.
As social relations developed, ideas about idols also changed. If at first they served only as a reminder of the distant past, then in later times they were endowed with mystical power. Now the patron spirit could protect from diseases, drought, enemies, fires, and so on. At times this led to a war between the tribes, since some believed that all their troubles were due to the fact that a strange totem was luring all heavenly luck to itself.
Forgotten Faith in the Modern World
For many, this worldview seems childish and primitive. After all, how can a wolf or a bear be an ancestor of a person? Or how a simple beast can affect the weather? Such questions are quite logical for modern people.
However, even in an era of worldwide progress and technological boom, there are those who still remain true to the ancient system of values. For example, totemism is quite common for most South African tribes and Australian Aborigines. Even with satellite television and cellular communications, they still believe in their past relationship with wild animals and plants. Therefore, it is too early to talk about totemism as a faith that has sunk into oblivion.
totemism- a primitive, once almost universal and still very widespread religious and social system, which is based on a kind of cult of the so-called totem. This term, first used by Long at the end of the 18th century, is borrowed from the North American Ojibway tribe, in whose language totem means the name and sign, the emblem of the clan, and also the name of the animal to which the clan has a special cult. In a scientific sense, totem implied Class(necessarily a class, not an individual) of objects or natural phenomena to which one or another primitive social group, genus, phratry, tribe, sometimes even each individual sex within the group (Australia), and sometimes the individual (North America) - have a 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. As a totem we meet 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., but most often - classes of animals and plants. So, for example, the North American tribe Ojibway consists of 23 genera, each of which considers a special animal (wolf, bear, beaver, carp, sturgeon, duck, snake, etc.) as its totem; on the Gold Coast in Africa, a fig tree and a stalk of maize serve as totems. In Australia, where Totemism especially flourishes, even all external nature is distributed among the same totems as the local population. Thus, among the Negroes 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. This shows how profoundly totemistic ideas are reflected in the entire worldview of the primitive animist. - The main feature of Totemism is that totem is considered the ancestor of this 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 terotheistic cult, which preceded t., all objects and phenomena of nature were presented to man as anthropomorphic creatures in the form of animals (see Terotheism), and therefore animals are most often totems. This belief in kinship with the totem is not symbolic, but eminently real. In Africa, for example, 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 mouri call the totem animal "their flesh". The tribes of the Gulf of Carpentaria, at the sight of the murder of their totem, say: "Why did they kill this person: is this my father, my brother, etc.? ”In Australia, where sex totems exist, women consider representatives of their totem to be their sisters, men to be brothers, and both of them to be 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.Among the buffalo clan of the Omahas tribe (North America), the dying person is wrapped in the skin of a buffalo, the face is painted in the sign of the totem and addressed as follows: "You are going to the buffaloes! You are going to your ancestors! Be strong!" Among the Indian tribe Zu ñ i, when a totem animal, a turtle, is brought into the house, it is greeted with tears in the 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 (see); sometimes they even avoid touching it, looking at it (bechuans in Africa). If this is an animal, then usually avoid killing him eat, dress in his 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 a stranger requires the same revenge, 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. 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 a totem, they greet him, bow to him, throw valuable things in front of him. 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 kill a totem animal only in case of hunger and at the same time express regret that they killed "their friend, their flesh." Totems, in turn, as faithful relatives, moreover, possessing supernatural powers, provide patronage to blood-related fans, contributing to their material well-being, sewn up from the machinations of earthly and supernatural enemies, warning of danger (an owl in Samoa), giving signals to march (kangaroo in Australia), leading the war, etc. If the totem is even a dangerous predator, it must definitely spare the consanguineous family. 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 benevolence that if a person is bitten by a crocodile, even if water is splashed on him from hitting the water with the crocodile's tail, he is expelled from the clan, as an obviously illegal member of it. - To win the full favor of his totem, primitive man uses a variety of means. First of all, he tries to approach him with external assimilation. So, among the Omahas tribe (S. America), boys of the buffalo clan curl 2 locks of hair on their heads, like the horns of a totem, and the turtle 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. 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, similitudes are put on the face during religious ceremonies. masks with images of a totem, dress in the skins of totem animals, decorate 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, primitive man resorts to the same means as when accepting an outsider as a member of the clan and when concluding inter-tribal unions and peace treaties, i.e. to the blood pact(see Tattooing, Theory of tribal life). Rubbing the body with the blood of the totem turned over time into painting and similar feigning customs. 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 snakes and leopards in cages, or on the island of Samoa, where they keep eels 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 eating the body his. Periodically, once a year, and in emergency cases more often, members of the clan kill a totem animal and solemnly, while observing a number of rituals 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. We find remnants of this tribal eating of food in the Little Russian Christmas kuta, Lithuanian Samboros, Greek πάνσπερμα, etc. This custom, according to the views of the totemist, is not at all 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 totemic life, but annually solemnly kill a bear during the so-called. bear holiday, they confidently say that the bear itself provides 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 members of its class, or to release the soul of the totem to follow to a better world. So, among the genus of worms of the tribe Omahas (North America), if worms flood the field, they are caught by several pieces, crushed together with grain and then eaten, believing that this protects the field for one year. Among the tribe Zu ñ i, once a year, a procession is sent for the totemic turtles, which, after the warmest greetings, are killed and the meat and bones are buried, without eating, in the river so that they can return to eternal life. Recently, two researchers of Australia, B. Spencer and Gillen, discovered new facts Totemism - inticiuma ceremonies. All these ceremonies are performed at the beginning of the spring season, the period of flowering of plants and 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 blood sacrifice totemists and end with a solemn eating forbidden totem; after which it is usually allowed and in general moderate eating it. In T., 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 (a deity is the father of his worshipers), taboos, forbidden and not forbidden animals (later pure and impure), animal sacrifice and the obligatory tasting of the body him, 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 deity-totem (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 found in wide sizes in Yuzhn. 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 even in historical times. In Greece and Rome, despite the anthropomorphic cult, there are sufficient traces of T. Many genera had eponymous heroes who bore the names of animals, for example, Crio (ram), Kinos (dog), etc. Myrmidons, the ancient Thessalians, considered themselves descendants of ants. In Athens, a hero in the form of a wolf was worshiped, and anyone who killed a wolf was obliged to give him a funeral. In Rome, they worshiped the woodpecker, which was dedicated to Mars, and did not eat it. Features of totemic ceremonies are noticeable in the thesmophoria, which were intended to guarantee fertility land 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 totem ties, for which people often sacrificed the most intimate blood ties: during wars, sons went against fathers, wives against husbands, etc. Fraser and Jevons consider Totemism the main, if not the only responsible for 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 have avoided killing their domestic animals, not for economic reasons, but for religious reasons. In India, killing a cow was considered the greatest religious crime. In the same way, the habit of keeping from year to year the ears, grains, and fruits of totem trees and plants, and periodically eating them for religious purposes, must have led to attempts at planting and cultivation. 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. - Although T., as a fact, has been known since the end of the 18th century, but the doctrine of it, as a stage of primitive religion, is still very young. It was first advanced in 1869 by McLennan, who traced it from the savages to the peoples of classical antiquity. It owes its further development to the English scholars Robertson Smith, Fraser, Jevons, and a number of local researchers, especially Australian ones, of whom Gowit and Fison and, most recently, B. Spencer and Gillen, have rendered the greatest service. 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 Totemism the result of some kind of misinterpretation of nicknames, caused by the custom of giving people, due to the poverty of the language, names after objects of nature, most often the names of animals. Over time, the savage, confusing the name of an object with the object itself, came to believe that his distant ancestor, called by the name of an animal, really was such. But this explanation fails because every savage has the full opportunity to verify the meaning of the nickname on himself or those around him, who are often also called by the names of animals and yet have nothing in common with the eponymous animal. A very harmonious and witty theory of totemism was put forward in 1896 by F. Jevons, who sees the genesis of totemism in the psychology of tribal life. 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. e. An animal, consequently, for a person is an alien to whom one can take revenge and with whom one 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 totem 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 the further stages of religion are gradually worked out 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 incomprehensible why, given the homogeneity of the psychology of primitive man and the homogeneous conditions of the surrounding nature, neighboring clans each choose not one totem, the most powerful of the surrounding objects of nature, but each with its own special, often unremarkable object, for example, a worm, an ant, a mouse? In 1899 prof. Fraser, on the basis of the inticium "a ceremonies newly discovered by Spencer and Gillen, built a new theory of T. 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, belief in the possibility of different magical means to influence external nature, regardless of its consciousness or unconsciousness.Totemism is social magic, aiming to cause an abundance of certain types of plants and animals that serve as natural consumer products.To achieve this, groups of clans living in the same territory at one time constituted a cooperative agreement by which each individual genus abstains from eating one or another species of plants and animals, and performs annually a certain magical ceremony, as a result of which an abundance of all consumer products is obtained.Besides the difficulty of admitting the formation of such a mystical cooperation 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. Finally, in 1900, two learned lawyers, prof. Pickler and Somlo came up with a new theory, finding that the genesis of totemism lies in pictography, the rudiments of which are indeed found among many primitive tribes. 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 tribes unfamiliar with pictography do not know T either. However, another explanation for this fact is more plausible: pictography could have been developed more among totem tribes, who were used to depicting their totem, than among non-totem , and, therefore, pictography is rather a consequence of T. 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 came closer to elucidating 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, the following must be kept in mind. 1) Tribal organization, terotheism and the cult of nature, as well as a special tribal cult, existed earlier Totemism 2) Belief in origin from any object or natural phenomenon is not at all a later speculative conclusion from other primary facts, like a blood contract (Jevons) , pictography, etc., but on the contrary, is understood by primitive man completely real, in a physiological sense this word, for which he has sufficient reasons, logically arising from his whole animistic psychology. 3) Genesis 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) Ancestral cult. Among many primitive tribes with a theorotheistic cult, there is a belief that all cases of unnatural 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 arrangement of animal deities who take dead in 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. All in. In America, such individual totems are especially common. 2) Another root cause is Totemism - 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. It is explained by the anthropomorphization of nature, the belief in dream reality, in particular erotic, 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 foot, 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 the human state - a belief that is fully explained by everyone. mental make-up of primitive man.
Literature. 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 Australi a n Totemism" ("Journal of the Anthropological Institute for (Great Britain etc.", February and May, 1899); W. 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 own, "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 o f 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 D ämonismus" ("Centralblatt fü r Anthropologie etc.", 1900, issue 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 (brief reports in "Living Antiquity", 1901).
L. Sternberg.
Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron. - S.-Pb. Brockhaus-Efron.
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 most ancient 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 strove with 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. In 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.
