The Distaff and the phallic cult

Svetlana Zharnikova

The Distaff and the phallic cult

Svetlana Vasilevna Zharnikova

The Distaff and the phallic cult

Photo. The girl is a pomorka. The village of Umba. The Tersky Coast. The North of Russia. 1910

In the modern world, the urgency of the problems of the ethnic history of the peoples of various regions of our planet is obvious. The growth of ethnic self-awareness, which has been observed everywhere in recent decades, is accompanied by an increase in interest in the historical past of peoples, in the transformations that each of them experienced during its millennium-long formation. It became a spiritual need for a representative of a modern urbanized society to find the roots of his ethnic existence, to know the diverse processes that led to the formation of that ethnocultural environment through which he perceives the world around him.

The book "The Distaff and the Phallic Cult" is devoted to the study of the semantics and symbolism of the most important object of Indo-European life - the spinning wheel. The connection of the spinning wheel with the depths of the phallic cult, Russian and Indo-European mythology is shown.of the most important subject of Indo-European life - spinning wheels. The connection between the spinning wheel and the sewing machine and the depths of Russian and Indo-European mythology is shown.

S. I. Dmitrieva

Mezen spinning wheels

(To the question of the origin of the Mezen painting)

Among Russian traditional murals, one of the most striking, interesting and mysterious is considered to be the Mezen wood painting, called so in the place of its greatest distribution - the Mezen River. However, the area of Mezen painting is wider. In addition to the Mezen basin with Vashka, it includes the Pinega and lower reaches of the Northern Dvina to the Onega Peninsula in the west, and the Izhma and Pechora basins in the east.

Among the objects with Mezensky painting are the butcher spinning wheels made in the village of Palashchely, located in the middle reaches of the Mezen. They were in demand among the population of the north-eastern regions of the European North and were produced in large quantities for sale at famous fairs in Kholmogory, Vashgort, and Mezen. A spinning wheel along with a colored shawl was considered a good gift to a woman; in many houses of the villages of Mezen, Northern Dvina, Pinega, Vashka and Pechora, there were several each. Thanks to this tradition, spinning wheels of spinning work are not uncommon now, especially on the Mezen.

Mezen

The origin of the Mezen painting is still a mystery. The dates found on the Mezen spinning wheels suggest that most of them were made in the years 1870-1930.1 However, the originality of the painting, the graphic art and the primitively conventional interpretation of the images of animals and birds give researchers a reason to look for the origins of the Mezen painting in the art of neighboring peoples and ancient cave paintings. An opinion was expressed about the similarity of the manner in which horses were depicted on Mezensk ware and monuments of Azelin culture of the 3rd-4th centuries. 2 V. S. Voronov, studying the styles of folk paintings on wood in different regions of Russia, singled out the Mezen as mysterious and curious, pointing out its connection with the ancient Greek styles. 3

Mezen

Some modern researchers, for example N. V. Taranovskaya believe that the Mezen painting is the result of the interaction of the decorative art of the Komi and Russians. 4 L. N. Zherebtsov, supporting this point of view, emphasized that the applied art komi played a decisive role in the emergence of the geometric style of Mezen painting. 5 However, painting on Komi products (in particular, on spinning wheels) in composition is quite significantly different from painting on Mezen products. The similarity of some Komi-Zyryan spinning wheels to butcher's, according to, for example, V. N. Belitser, is explained by the influence of the latter. 6 A characteristic feature of the Mezen painting, in our opinion, is multi-tiered (Fig. 1). Three tiers stand out on almost every Mezen spinning wheel, with horses and deer appearing as the main figures in the lower and middle murals, and birds in the upper one. As a rule, in the middle tier (less often in the lower tier), figures of birds were attached to the images of animals, while in the upper tier only birds were depicted. In all likelihood, the tiers we selected in the images of the spinning wheels correspond to images of three worlds: underground, terrestrial and heavenly, known by the art of many peoples of the world. It is characteristic at the same time that the terrestrial (middle) world, as it were, combines the features of the underground and heavenly. We see a similar combination in the middle tier of the Mezen spinning wheels.

Fig. 1. Spinning wheel with Mezensky painting (front and back view). All spinning wheels shown in the figures were made in the village of Palashchelye at the end of the 19th century.

Another approach to the tiers depicted on the spinning wheels is also possible. If we take into account the geometric series dividing the tiers discussed above, we get a seven-tier division. The number 7, as well as 3, is characteristic of representations of the vertical division of the world, known from the materials of folklore and folk art among many peoples of the world. It is enough to recall the Babylonian ziggurats, Asian pagodas, murals on the houses of the Secret Unions in Polynesia, etc.

The sevenfold division of the world was especially pronounced in the representations of the Ob Ugrians. The division of the world into three - heavenly, earthly, and underground - is characteristic of Finno-Ugric folklore, in particular, Komi (the heroes of their fairy tales travel to these worlds).7 Similar representations are noticeable in products of the Perm animal style.8 The image of a shaman traveling across three worlds is often can be seen on the “miraculous” shamanic plaques from the Urals. 9 It would seem that the vertical division of the spinning wheels is easily explained by the influence of the Komi neighboring with the Russian Mezen. However, this is hindered by the existence of such ideas, although not as pronounced as those of the Finno-Ugric peoples, in folklore and the fine arts of many regions of the Russian North. Heroes of Russian fairy tales also travel to different worlds. The division into tiers, though not as obvious as on the Mezen spinning wheels, can be seen on some Severodvinsk spinning wheels and spinning wheels of the Yaroslavl-Kostroma type, although these spinning wheels are not very similar to the Mezen ones in the subject of images and performance technique. A fairly clear vertical division can be traced in the Pomeranian spinning wheels and in the Mezeni rubels (ironing sticks) close to them.

B. A. Rybakov, having shown the cosmogonic symbolism of the shamanistic representations of the Urals in the art of the northern Russian, Finno-Ugric and Samoyed peoples, considers that the sources of such representations should be sought in the worldview of the primitive hunters of the Mesolithic. The hunting ideology of the Mesolithic and Neolithic was not preserved due to any ethnic peculiarities, but was a sign of the stadia to the extent of this stadia more fully manifested in the materials of the 19th century, the Samoyed-Ugric tribes, preserved among the Finno-Ugric and Russian northeastern Europe.10 It is also possible that the similarities are considered in the representations reflected in the art of various peoples of Eastern Europe, which is explained not only by the convergence of these representations, but also by the common substrate included in the Russian Mezen, Komi and peoples of the Urals. It is appropriate to recall the point of view of N. Ya. Marr, who found a common substrate not only in the Caucasus and the Mediterranean, and almost throughout Eastern Europe.11 In addition, according to tribute to archeology, paleoanthropology and linguistics, the migration of tribes from Eastern Europe to countries The Mediterranean and in the opposite direction have taken place since ancient times.12

Almost all the images on the inside of the spinning wheels, known in the research literature as “everyday scenes”, in our opinion, are variants of the so-called “world plots” that are widespread in the art of different peoples. For example, in a bird-hunting scene that usually sits on top of a tree, a “world tree,” or “tree of life,” is guessed. A tree with birds on branches is one of the favorite subjects in folk art not only of the Slavic, but also of other peoples of Eastern Europe (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Fragment of the painting of the butcher spinning wheel (hunter and bird on top of a tree).

In particular, the tree motif with several branches rose upwards and birds sitting on them is widespread in the embroideries of the Karelians of the Kalinin Region and the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic13. The “world tree” in the form of an oak tree with birds upstairs or a birch tree with a “sun bird” in the branches is one of vivid images of the Karelian epic 14. In the fine arts of the Russian North, such a tree was reflected in a three-part composition with the Mother Goddess and the figures of people or animals that were to her, surrounded by birds. The figure of the goddess was often combined or replaced by the image of tree15. On the Mezen, this composition is present in paintings on the gables of some houses, where on the sides of the tree there are figures of opposing lions. On the Mezen spinning wheels, the tree is most often depicted with a large bird on top. Probably, such an image of the "tree of life" is not accidental. It is connected with the custom, widespread in the recent past, among neighboring Komi to put carved wooden birds on poles near houses16. Although researchers on the question of the origin of such images did not always associate them with the “tree of life," this connection seems undeniable in the light of comparative ethnographic material. For example, the Yakuts have “shaman trees” in which L. Ya. Sternberg sees the “world tree”, were depicted in the form of high poles, on the top of which birds - eagles were placed. In turn, the "shaman trees" of the Yakuts17, like similar images of all the Ural-Altai peoples, have a whole complex of features associated with the ideas about the "world tree" among the peoples of the Mediterranean cultures, as well as among the peoples of Scandinavia and Western Finno-Ugric peoples. The plot of the “world tree” and the eagle as a hypostasis of the supreme god Odin, who lives on top of this tree, is very vividly developed in Scandinavian mythology. The connection between the “tree of life" and the bird as the embodiment of a deity can be traced in the folklore of the Slavs.18 The motif of a bird on the top of a tree, bringing good news or gifts, takes place in the calendar and wedding poetry of the Western and Eastern Slavs19. The bird on top of the tree can be seen in the drawings on the Mezen birch bark tues. Obviously, it is necessary to associate such ideas with the well-known in the Russian North wooden chip birds, which in the recent past were customary to hang in the red corner of the house. The village of Selishche, where the craftsmen who carved birds lived, is located not far from the village. Palaschel is the place where Mezen spinning wheels were made. A relic of the same motif (birds at the top of a tree) can be seen in the very custom of northern peasants to hang wooden birds in the red corner, since a revered tree was often associated with the latter.20

There are images of a lonely standing tree on Mezen spinning wheels, often ate. It is legitimate to associate these images with the veneration of trees, including spruce, reflected in the rites and customs of the Russian Mezen21. Numerous testimonies of the veneration of sacred trees by the closest neighbors of the Russians Mezen - Komi have been preserved.22

Leshukonye

Of particular interest is the composition of three trees (Fig. 3). In all likelihood, this is one of the variants of a three-part composition. Two identical trees are located on the sides of the central tree, differing from the others by either larger size or general configuration. It is no coincidence that a similar plot is found in the paintings on the old peasant furniture on the Mezen. The theme of three trees in various versions is inherent in the art of ancient Urartu and the art of the ancient Armenians and Scythians related to it.23 There are other analogies to the images of three trees on spinning wheels. The Selkups have an idea of three sacrificial trees - birch, cedar and larch, worshiping which they hung rags: white on birch, red on larch, black on cedar. Three sacrificial trees stood at the shaman's dugout. They were called "heaven and earth, binding the sacrificial trees." Around them, each clan made its own ancestral sacrifice, and the entire Selkup tribe sacrificed near the tree (birch) common to both clans.24 In the light of this kind of ideas, the special position of the central tree becomes clear both in the Mezen paintings and in the ancient Urartian and Scythian images.

Figure: 3. Fragment of painting on a palaschel spinning wheel (three trees).

Another circle of subjects in the painting on the Mezen spinning wheels is associated with ancient images. These are boats and ships in which it is easy to see the well-known world motif found in the art of many nations (Fig. 4, 5).

Figure: 4. Fragment of painting on a spinning wheel (boat)

Figure: 5. Fragment of painting on a spinning wheel (steamer)

Its antiquity is evidenced by numerous images of boats on rock paintings in different parts of the world. A. P. Okladnikov, who studied the Amur petroglyphs, in which boats often appear, writes that similar images are found in the petroglyphs of the Baikal region, Yenisei, Karelia and Scandinavia25: “In a word, this is a whole world of such boats from Baikal to the White Sea and the Baltic. You can ... from Scandinavia stretch the processions of boats and even further, to pre-dynastic Egypt, to the funeral boats of the pharaohs, to the solar boat of the god Ra, on which he makes his eternal journey from sun rise to sunset, into the bowels of the underworld to die and rise again to the delight of people, as the ancient Egyptian myth tells, as the sacred texts of the pyramids say"26. Ethnographic material shows that these boats are the boats of the dead, in which the souls of the dead are transported to the land of the dead. A boat or a ship often appears in fairy tales: on them the heroes go to another kingdom27. The idea of the ship (boat) of the dead prevails among the island peoples of Oceania; in Europe, the classic country of the cult of the boat of the dead is Scandinavia28. In this connection, I would like to note that the motive of the boat (ship) was especially developed on the Mezen spinning wheels; on spinning wheels from other Russian regions, it is almost completely absent. The preservation of this motive on the Mezen was undoubtedly facilitated by the close connection of the population of the Mezen with the river and the sea. An important role in the economy of the Mezen was played by the sea fishing for fish and animals, which in winter gathered the male population from many Mezen villages, including the village of Palaschelya.

However, although the economic activity of the population of Mezen played a role, it alone cannot explain the preservation of the subject in question in the Mezen painting. How else to explain the absence of it in the paintings of other northern regions (in particular, the Northern Dvina), the population of which was also drawn into the marine industries? Obviously, the motive of the boat in the Mezen paintings has deep roots, possibly connected with the local Neolithic population, who left rock paintings on the shores of the White Sea.

N. A .Shabunin "Journey to the North". 1906

World plots include the images of driving in a sleigh or carts harnessed by one or a pair of horses, which are not uncommon on Mezen spinning wheels (Fig. 6). The plot is quite widespread and is found in the paintings of household items and on architectural structures in many countries. He took a significant place in Russian art, having received special development in folk art, in particular, in the paintings of spinning wheels, especially in Severodvinsk, less often in Gorodets and Mezen. This plot is not uncommon in the paintings of Hutsul masters29. It is characteristic that of the listed murals, only the Mezen painting retains features that have analogies in archaeological antiquities. So, on the Mezen spinning wheels we see "drags", which are the most ancient form of the simplest construction of two tree trunks or poles, which were dragged by a horse. Such "drags" remained longer in hard-to-reach, swampy, mountainous places. Back at the end of the 19th century, “drags were found in the valleys of the Alps, Transcaucasia, the Carpathians and some remote corners of Russia. They are often mentioned in Kalevala. As D. N. Anuchin, a sled of a primitive design, supplanted everywhere by wheeled carts, was preserved as a part of the funeral rite.

Figure: 6. Fragment of painting on a spinning wheel (ride in a sleigh)

I would like to note, by the way, that the main subjects of the Mezen painting can serve as an illustration to the classic work of this scientist "Sleigh, boat and horses as belonging to the funeral rite." This indirectly confirms that the plots of the Mezen painting we are considering should be interpreted not as everyday, but as religious, pagan in their basis plots.

It is noteworthy that of the two horses, one is often dark and the other light. On the Mezen spinning wheels, often painted one black, the other red, and horses follow each other, personifying, apparently, the afterlife and the real world. The basis for the latter assumption can serve as mythological ideas about the horse, which exist among many peoples of the world, including the Slavs.30. The fact that the horses depicted on the spinning wheels have a sacred meaning can be judged by the numerous solar signs placed by the artists above the manes, between the legs and under the horses' legs, as well as by the nature of the images of the animal figures themselves. The horses of the Mezen paintings are more distant from the real prototype than the horses in the peasant paintings from other regions. Most of them are red-orange in color, which is not typical for ordinary horses. The body of black horses was often covered with a continuous lattice pattern, emphasizing, in our opinion, the sacred significance of the animal. The horses' legs, unnaturally long and thin, ended in feathers. Often horses were depicted “not following each other, but against each other and, judging by the rearing poses, in a mutual struggle. Sometimes, on reared horses, there are riders fighting each other (Fig. 7). On one of these images we find the names of horsemen - Ilya Muromets and Polkan the hero (Fig. 8).

Figure: 7. Wrestling horses

Figure: 8. Ilya Muromets and Polkan the Bogatyr

Of course, the considered Mezen drawings, which, in our opinion, are variants of the most common world plots, have come down to us in a transformed form. They bear the layers of different eras, including everyday life, by the modern Mezen masters of the 19th century, due to which they are perceived by many as everyday subjects. However, practice shows that in folk art only plots are firmly established, constructively and logically corresponding to traditional ornamental motives. V. S. Voronov, who devoted a special study to the genre of everyday life in peasant art, found that some genre scenes depicting cattle herding by a shepherd, milking cows, working in a smithy, round dances, a meal, threshing, dancing and other characteristic scenes from folk life, “did not receive strict formal crystallization in artistic processing and appear to be curious scattered fragments of everyday folk painting"31. Plots of this kind did not have deep roots in folk art and therefore turned out to be short-lived.

On the outside of the spinning wheels, the pattern is more canonical than on the inside (Fig. 1). In its middle part, two rows of horses or deer running one after another are almost always depicted. Often, both rows are filled with uniform figures of horses, less often - deer. Usually, in each row, the master placed three or four figures of animals, so those in totals there were six or eight figures in both rows, respectively. The images of animals here, as well as on other parts of the spinning wheels, are rather monotonous. The red-orange silhouettes of horses and deer, as Yuri Arbat first noticed, who had the opportunity to directly observe the manufacture of spinning wheels in the village of Palashchel, are formed from three parts: a rectangular body, a long elongated neck and muzzle. The mane, four long legs and tail are drawn with thin black strokes. Deer differ from horses only in that instead of a mane, branched horns appear behind their backs with the same black strokes. Solar signs and images of birds are placed around the figures of horses and deer. The latter dominate in the upper and lower friezes, symbolizing, as already mentioned, the upper and lower worlds, respectively.

The tiers-worlds both on the front and on the back of the spinning wheel were separated by horizontal frieze stripes filled with a geometric report (repeating) pattern. Despite the fact that the geometric patterns were made up of the same type and even monotonous elements, on a separate spinning wheel such a pattern looked unusual, giving originality to the entire spinning wheel as a whole. A similar effect was achieved by the fact that each master combined elements of geometric ornament in his own way and on each spinning wheel in different ways.

It is important to note that the geometric rows under consideration, dividing the Mezen spinning wheels into three parts, were drawn by masters at the same level, both on the front and on the back of the spinning wheel. This, in our opinion, testifies to the fact that the spinning wheel was perceived by their creators as something voluminous and round. If this assumption is correct, it leads us to the idea that, on the whole, the design of the spinning wheels was likened to the "tree of life", divided, as already mentioned, into several tiers-worlds. B.A. Rybakov, having examined in detail the spinning wheels with the image of the Universe, noticed that the spinning wheels are developing another idea - a "world tree" rising to the sky 32. We have already said that this idea is quite vividly reflected in the art of the Finnish peoples, in particular in the Kalevala. A vivid description of the "world tree" is also found in the Scandinavian epic 33.