Sacred trees of the Slavs of Rus. World tree of Slavs - the fund of the ancient Russian Vedic culture "Svarog"

The Universe appeared to our ancestors-Slavs as a magnificent tree, whose crown rests in the sky, and the roots entwine around the netherworld. At the top of this tree the sun and moon shone, the stars twinkled, below the birds reigned, the trunk was given into the possession of hardworking bees; all living creatures were born at the roots, and snakes, beavers, moles, shrews, and also all evil spirits and undead lurk under the roots.

In conspiracies, the world tree stands on the "umbilical cord of the sea" - a huge island where the Alatgr stone is located. Holy saints live on it, and at the roots a terrible snake Shkurupeya has curled up and a devil chained.
  One of the conspiracies begins as follows: “There is an oak on the sea, on Okiyan, on the island of Buyan, there is a bed under that oak, a girl lies on the bed, snakes are on my sister, I come to her, I bring a complaint to the kazuli (a kozulka, a kazulka is an old folk the name of the snake), for a squeeze ... ".

In folk creation myths, the whole earth rests like a ship on the sea-ocean, the sea-ocean splashes in an immense stone bowl, the bowl rests on the backs of four whales, whales swim along the river of universal fire, and the fire rests on an “iron oak planted above all else, but his roots are nourished by holy heavenly power. "
  Sometimes the Slavs considered the main, world tree, the support of the whole earth and birch, as mentioned in the old conspiracy:
  “On the sea, on the ocean, on the island of Buyan, stands white birch  down branches, up roots ... ”A captivating image of the world tree is found not only in conspiracies and wedding songs, but also in rites.
  For example, when they started to chop a new hut, in the center they first set up a tree and only after a short “initial feasting” did they start work. Later it became a custom to put a Christmas (New Year) tree in the house.

WEDDING SONG

Oh, let's play a wedding - a young affair,
  A young affair, a world tree,
  The world tree from earth to heaven
  Bring us, god, both wine and bread.
  Bring us warmth and light in the spring,
  Bring us more snow in the winter.
  Oh, let's play a wedding with a divin
  Clear sokolenka with a bird of innocence.
  It's a young affair, golden time
  Golden time, world tree.

Sunny forever above the village,
  Blossom for joy, the tree of new life!
Larks loudly glorify God
  Bees in a hollow tree are honey-colored.
  Clouds over a tree, a free wind drives
  Ermine under the tree of small children grooming.
  Oh, let's play a wedding in a high tower ...
  Hail Falcon! Hail, falcon is clear!

  Chasovsky Cyril (Gandharva). World tree

  Tree of life, wood, acrylic, varnish, 2009
  Museum of Slavic Mythology

The image of the tree is one of the unique inventions of mankind, which determined the structure of all mythological systems. Thanks to the world tree, man saw the world as a single whole and himself in this world as its particle. The underground world of roots, the world of Navi, in which life is born. The middle world - the trunk of the tree - the world of Reality in which we live (APPEAR, Phenomenon). The world is revealed by Yarila, the God of a youthful retirement, the fruitful forces of nature, growth. No wonder the fields sown in spring are “spring”, spring sunrises - “spring”, “spring” - spring in Czech, and “spring” - singing spring trees in the old days. The upper world - the branches of the Tree - the world of Law, the abode of the Light Forces and the Right, of the law. Genus - the personification of the universal male principle, the "parent" of the Universe - crowns this painting. He is the “father and mother” of all gods, the embodiment of the inviolability of the Slavic tribe, whose numerous descendants once descended from one common ancestor.

When a person is born, his future fate is recorded in the book of Rod, and, as the old Russian proverb says, "what is written in the family - no one can pass!" Sacred concepts are associated with the name of the Kin for each person - PARENTS (those who gave birth to the body), KINDS, KINDS, KINDS, KINDS, NATURES ...

Genus is one and many-sided at the same time, as is man himself. They call it differently: Rod, Roof, Vyshen, Svarog, Belobog ... There are secret names ... All these are manifestations of the universal mind, the primordial masculine energy, the life-giving principle.

The prophetic birds, the messengers of the Gods, depicted on both sides of the Family, sing divine hymns to people and portend the future to those who can hear them.

***

  Slavic mythology

Russian legends

As the wind plays with leaves, so feelings flow over, rising from leaf to leaf, from branch to branch - burning with fire, shining, sounding an indescribable sensual song, the Song of God! Diving deeper into the endless well of feelings! The guards of the Animal Beginning do not doze off, trying to steal the HUMAN attention, but if you are consistent and make your choice, you will certainly be Rewarded with a DIVINE HAPPINESS, meaning LIFE.

WORLD TREE

Each nation had its own sacred tree, with its features and properties based on natural and sometimes occult qualities, as set forth in esoteric teachings. So, Ashwattha, or the sacred tree of India, the abode of Pitri, became the tree of Bo (or ficus religiosa) Buddhists around the world, since Gautama Buddha reached the highest knowledge and Nirvana precisely under this tree. Ash, Yggdrasil, serves as a world tree among the Scandinavians. Banyan - a symbol of spirit and matter, descending to the earth, taking root, and then again rushing to heaven. The palace, with triple leaves, is a symbol of the triple essence in the Universe - Spirit, Soul, Matter. Black cypress was the world tree of Mexico, and now among Christians and Mohammedans it is a symbol of death, peace and tranquility. Fir was considered sacred in Egypt, and its cones were carried in religious processions, although now it has almost disappeared from the country of mummies; Sycamore, tamarisk, palm tree and vine were also sacred. Sycamore was the Tree of Life in Egypt, and also in Assyria. He was dedicated to Hathor (Hathor) in Heliopolis; now, in the same place, he is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. His juice was precious due to the quality of his occult powers, as well as Soma for the Brahmins, and Haoma for the Parsis. " The fruit and juice of the Tree of Life grant immortality. "In Erzyan beliefs, the tree is called Echke Tumo, where the nest of the sacred duck Ine Narmun is located, which gives birth to the same egg from which the whole world is born. In Turkic mythology, the tree is called Baiterek - it keeps the earth in place with its roots and supports the firmament with branches to he didn’t fall down. In Kabbalah, this is the Mekabtsiel Tree. In the Qur'an, this is Sidrat al-muntaha. In China, this is Kien-Mu, along which the Sun and Moon, lords, sages, Gods, spirits and so on. these sacred trees of antiquity, some of which are revered to this day, I could write a large volume, and still the matter was not settled.

According to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, the axis of the earth is a gigantic golden tree, with its peak resting against the sky. Gemstones grow on its upper branches and the heavenly goddess Nut lives. The rain that irrigates the earth and penetrates in the form of soil water into the underworld comes from the fact that a wonderful phoenix bird strikes its wings with its wings sacred tree, and it sprays its life-giving moisture. The worship of the world tree was closely connected with the cult of Osiris, the god of fertility and the eternal renewal of nature. Next to his tomb was a tree, on which it was believed that the soul of God sat in the form of a bird. In ancient Egyptian images you can see how this mythical tree sprouts through the entire tomb of Osiris, braiding it with its roots and branches. Moreover, Osiris himself was often identified with the tree.

Like the ancient Indians and other nations, the Egyptians believed that the earthly tree they worship was a copy of the heavenly tree that grows in the upper world. To the other ancient people of the Middle East - the Phoenicians who inhabited the coast of Palestine - the universe was drawn in the form of a giant tent, supported by a huge tree standing in its center, propping up the sky.

The ancient Chinese were confident in the existence of the cosmic tree. Myths placed him far in the east, in the Valley of Light. It was there that a colossal mulberry of inextensive thickness rose up from the seething sea. A wonderful rooster was sitting on its very top, with its cry heralding the onset of the day, which is why all the evil spirits roaming the earth at night retreated in a hurry. On the branches of the mulberry lived ten suns that had the appearance of golden three-armed ravens. Another world tree was placed in the far west of the universe, its leaves were like stars and illuminated the world at night. Over the centuries of its existence, mythology has constantly evolved: some plots and images were forgotten, others arose and overlapped with the old. Therefore, in addition to the two named cosmic trees in Chinese myths, there are many references to others like them. Thus, it speaks of a huge tree Xun a thousand li high, as well as a wonderful bread tree with a thickness of five girths, which grows on the world mountain Kunlun; wonderful sources beat there and all the gods of the Middle Kingdom live. It is also reported about trees through which you can ascend to heaven and descend into the underworld, this is the road of the gods and shamans.

The Mayans in Central America also placed the fantastic First Tree of the World, depicted with a barrel-shaped trunk dotted with prickly spikes, in the center of the universe. It was believed that it supports the universe. In addition to him, however, there were four more sacred trees located in the four corners of the world. They were to serve as additional support. But still, the central tree remained the main one, because first of all the gods gathered around it, there, in the center of the universe, they solved the most important issues concerning the fate of people and the universe. The cult of the great world tree permeated many areas of the Mayan religious life, many of its images are found in their manuscripts and on stone reliefs. At least of its importance is indicated by the fact that the altar, on which human sacrifices were made, was given the shape of a stump of this sacred tree. It was believed that since it binds together all the worlds of the universe, then through it the victim easily falls into heaven and will be more pleasing to the gods.

The world tree plays a very special role in archaic shamanistic religions. It was there that his image was developed in more detail than anything else. In Yakut mythology, great attention was paid to the wonderful tree Aal Luuk Mas, as if growing in the middle of Sibiir-land. The legends say that it exudes life-giving moisture "ilge", which gives those who have tasted it vivacity and new strength. Once this tree was conceived to grow into the heavenly land of the upper spirits in order to destroy them, but in the end it refused this sacrilegious thought and, having reached heaven, became a hitch for celestials. Having decided to reach the underworld and destroy the lower spirits, it again changed its mind, and its roots began to serve as a hanger for the creatures of the lower world. Stretching high up and deep down, Aal Luuk Mas forms the unshakable core of the universe

According to Altai beliefs, in the fertile place where seventy rivers merge, a hundred-trunk seven-knee eternal poplar with golden and silver leaves rises. Under a single branch of this fantastic tree, a whole herd of horses can hide. Two golden cuckoos are sitting on its top, portending fate, from their singing wonderful flowers bloom all over the earth. On the middle branches are two black golden eagles with diamond claws, sensitively guarding the depths of the blue sky. Two scary dogs with bloodshot eyes are chained to the base of the poplar with iron chains. A magic horse grazes peacefully there, which only a great hero can possess.

World tree - An indispensable attribute of the shamanistic picture of the world and the shamanistic cult. Many supernatural abilities were attributed to shamans, one of the most important was that they could travel to other worlds to gods and spirits. This was done for various purposes, but most often in order to return the soul of the sick person, which was believed to be abducted by spirits, or to identify with spirits, for which they sent a particular disaster to people. In preparation for such a journey, the shaman brought himself into a state of sacred ecstasy. To achieve this state, he beat a tambourine and danced, circling in one place. As a result, his assistant spirits come to him. With them he set off on the road. And here the world tree came to the fore, for it was along it that the path to heaven or to the underworld lay. With the help of friendly spirits, the shaman climbed up or, conversely, went down to the very roots and, finally, got into other worlds.

World tree (Evenki)

The above helps to understand why the world tree is often called shamanistic. For shamans, it not only served as a sacred road, but was also considered their cradle. Legends say that on the knots of this tree are located one above the other nests, like birds, the souls of all future shamans are raised there. The higher the nest, the more powerful the shaman will be born. The "spellcasters" themselves said so about themselves: "I am the fourth female shaman," "he is the seventh female shaman," etc. The ritual substitutes of the universal tree played a large role in the shamanistic ritual. A special tree was often planted in front of shamans' yurts. During initiation into shamans, the subject climbed a tree, which symbolically signified his ascent to heaven. A special sacred tree was also chosen as the place for the shaman to be buried, so he could more easily go to heaven, and then reincarnate as one of the people.

In addition to linking the worlds into one whole, the most important function of the world tree was that in a concentrated form it embodied the idea of \u200b\u200bfertility. It is a prayer for fertility that is the main content of a huge number of religious rites and beliefs: a man prayed to the gods to send him more food, game, cereals, moisture, necessary for the harvest. The above data show that all this was abundant under the magical tree of the world. Life-giving keys, giving strength and immortality, are beaten there, all kinds of plants and fruits grow luxuriantly, various animals graze peacefully there. Moreover, the cosmic tree not only represents excess food, but also sends down children. There are a large number of myths, according to which the souls of people grow on it in the form of flowers or fruits. Falling down in the womb, they become the cause of the birth of a child. In fairy tales, such representations were processed: a magic wand appeared, originally representing a branch of a wonderful tree. With one touch of her, various miracles can be performed - to extract water in the desert, turn a stone into gold, revive the dead.

It is quite natural that under the world tree, in the center of the universe, gods, heroes and great kings are born. According to ancient Greek myth, the baby Zeus was fed by the goat Amalthea at the foot of a sacred tree. Under the tree was born another great god of ancient Greece - Apollo. Legends say that the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar was found under a tree as a baby. Maya, the mother of Buddha, walking in the garden, felt the approach of labor and gave birth to a "deliverer of all living beings", clutching a branch of one of the trees with her hand. The legendary adviser to one of the great kings of ancient China, Yin, according to legend, was found in the hollow of mulberry, which, as we know, was revered by the Chinese as a world tree. Genghis Khan, as the legend tells, was found in the steppe sucking leaves of a lonely standing wonderful tree. Finally, apocryphal Christian traditions report almost the same thing about Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew says that the archangel Gabriel brought Mary the news of the Immaculate Conception at a time when she scooped up water from a spring at the foot of a tree.

The tree of knowledge that appears in the book of Genesis, apparently, is a world tree already familiar to us from the myths of many peoples. In the Old Testament this is shown rather convexly. A number of details are added by later Talmudic and apocryphal legends. According to some traditions, the tree from which Adam and Eve tasted was grape, since nothing brings more evil than wine. According to others, it was a fig tree, from the leaves of which the ancestors allegedly sewed clothes for themselves, and according to the third, wheat or breadfruit: after all, as the Babylonian Talmud explains, not a single child can name either father or mother before eating bread, - that is why the Old Testament speaks of the tree of knowledge. In Genesis, another tree of paradise is mentioned - the tree of life (it seems to be just a duplicate of the tree of knowledge). In the Talmud, truly cosmic dimensions are attributed to him: it only takes 500 years to go around it.

World tree in Zoroastrianism

The Tree of Life and Being, the destruction of which alone leads to immortality, according to the Bhagavad-gita, grows roots up and branches down. The roots depict the Supreme Being or the First Cause, the Logos; but one must strive beyond these roots in order to merge with Krishna, who, says Arjuna, “Above Brahman, and the First Cause ... Eternal! You are both Being and He Being, Inexpressible That which is beyond them. " Its branches are Hiranya-Garbha, the highest Dhyan-Kogan or Deva. The Vedas are its leaves. Only one who has risen above the roots will never return, that is, will not be reincarnated during this Age of Brahma.

The most famous World Tree is undoubtedly Yggdrasil - the giant ash of Scandinavian mythology, which is the axis, the structural basis of the world, the tree of life and destiny. The descriptions of Yggdrasil, the “tree of the best,” are contained in numerous ancient Scandinavian texts, primarily in the Elder and Younger Edds. Sometimes they differ from each other, but in the end they actually add up to a mythological description of the whole universe, as the Scandinavians understood it.

Ash I know
  named Yggdrasil,
  tree washed
  cloudy moisture;
  dew from him
  descend to the valleys;
  over the source of urd
  it turns green forever.
(Elder Edda, Divination of the Velva)

Yggdrasil unites all worlds: the world of the gods (Asgard); world of people and giants; the underworld, the kingdom of the dead. Three of its roots, which are constantly gnawed by snakes and the dragon Nidhegg, have three sources: the source of Mimir, Urd and the Boiling Cauldron (Hvergelmir). The copper source of the giant Mimir, “in which knowledge and wisdom is hidden,” nourishes the World Tree with honey. Sacred life-giving honey is impregnated with the whole Yggdrasil. At the source of Urd, his name also meant "Fate," "Rock." Three virgins live in this source: the first bears the same name of Destiny, Urd, the second is called Verdandi, which means "Becoming," the third is Skuld, "Duty, Duty." At the same time, their names mean the inevitability of the passage of time: the name Urd means the accomplished, past time, Verdandi - the present, Skuld - the inevitable future. These are virgins of fate or norn, similar to the Greek moira. Numerous female deities or spirits, similar to them, which are also called norn or disami, come to each newborn baby and give him fate - good or evil, depending on the nature of the deity itself. They come from different mythological creatures - some from the gods, others from dwarfs (carls, zwergs), and others - from alves, natural spirits, the name of which recalls the elves of European fairy tales and legends. But the main nors determine the fate of the whole world, embody its past, present and future. Their origin is mysterious, like mysteriously much that dates back to the beginning of time. The world tree, growing at the source of the norn, not only unites all the worlds in the mythological space, it connects the past and the future. This mythical time - a time measured by the alternation of day and night, by the luminaries moving through the firmament in their chariots - seems indifferent to the destinies of the world and man. This is the time of cosmic cycles, the time of eternal repetition.

In the beliefs of many peoples, the souls of unborn babies live in the branches of the world tree. The tree of fate was also a family tree. The Icelandic skald Egil Skallagrimson in his song “The Loss of Sons” compares the deceased son with an ash tree grown from his family and that of his wife, and taken by Gaut-Odin to the world of the gods - to his own souls. The dead returned to the world of their ancestors, to the world tree. The fate of all creatures is decided by the world tree and the incarnations of all worlds converge at its trunk, in the crown and at the roots. A huge wise eagle dwells in its branches, between whose eyes a hawk sits; The squirrel Rodenttooth warps up and down its trunk - it carries the swearing words exchanged between the dragon Nidhegg and the eagle. Four deer eat around his foliage, and the Elder Edda mentions many more snakes that gnaw along with Nidhegg his roots, and the trunk of the ash tree is rotten. Therefore, the norn should daily water the ash from the Urd spring and even fertilize it - they draw water along with the mud that covers the banks. The water of this spring is sacred - whatever gets into it becomes white. It is so life-giving that the ash remains evergreen. “The tree of life is always green,” Goethe wrote in Faust, continuing this ancient German tradition.

The dew flowing from Yggdrasil to the ground is honey dew, bees feed on it and collect nectar. Two wonderful swans swim in the spring. Swans are magic birds in which the divine virgins and companions of Odin the Valkyries loved to turn. The whole bestiary - the animal world, which is connected with the world tree, embodies all spheres of the universe and their relationship: the eagle (and the hawk) live in the sky, but seek prey on the earth, the dragon is a monster of the underworld, but thanks to its wings it can reach heaven, swans - waterfowl; four deer also embody the four cardinal points, like dwarfs sitting on the edge of the earth.

The “Tree of Limit”, growing in the center of the world and connecting all the worlds of Scandinavian mythology, reaches with its crown Valhalla, the hall of Odin, located in the divine city of Asgard. Here we begin to understand why Asgard is simultaneously in heaven and in the center of the world: he is permeated by the world tree. In Valhalla it is called Lerad - "Shelter". On the roof of Valhalla there is a goat Heidrun and picks ash leaves, therefore, hoppy honey flows from her udder and fills a large jug every day, so it’s enough to get drunk while drinking in the Odin room. Yggdrasil is truly the honey tree of life that feeds the magic drink. A whole grove of magic trees grows in Asgard at the gates of Valhalla. It is called Glasir - “Shiny”, because all the leaves are made of red gold. In addition to the goat on the roof of Valhalla, there is also the deer Eikturnir - “With oak tips of horns”; he also eats leaves, and so much moisture drops from his horns that it, flowing down, fills the stream of the Boiling Cauldron, from which the twelve earthly rivers originate. Deer is a sacred animal associated with the world tree in the most diverse mythologies of the world; this connection was striking to the creators of ancient myths, not only because deer feed on tree branches, but also because their horns themselves resemble a tree. It was not by chance that the “oak tips” were attributed to the horns of the Eikturnir — we may suspect that the deer himself, in the German myth that had not reached us, acted as a world tree — all world waters began with its horns. The late Icelandic Song of the Sun, written already in the Christian era, but in the tradition of pagan poetry of the Skalds, speaks of a sun deer, whose legs stood on the ground and the horns touched the sky. The gods (aces) gather at Yggdrasil to administer justice, the supreme god Odin tied his horse about the eight legs of Slaper to his trunk.

World Serpent Yormungand - was born when the creation was already completed. The evil as Loki became the father of this and other monsters who at the end of time attack Asgard and destroy the ancient enemies. This snake grew so much that it could only fit in the oceans, where it surrounds the earth with a ring, biting its own tail. Therefore, it is called Midgardsorm - Midgard Serpent, or Belt of the world. But he has another name, Jörmungand, which means "great staff."

Elena Blavatsky in the book - "Isis Unveiled" vol. 1 chap. 5 - believes the Egyptian pyramids also symbolically represent this idea of \u200b\u200bthe earth tree. Its top is a mystical link between heaven and earth and expresses the idea of \u200b\u200bthe root, while the base represents the diverging branches, extending to the four countries of the world of the material universe. The pyramid conveys the idea that all things had a beginning in the spirit

According to the ancients, the Tree of Life was closely connected with the front essence of man, for example, among the Assyrians, a unicorn (a symbol of the front essence) was often depicted next to the Tree of Life.

Symbol in the form of unicorns on the seal of the proto-Indian peoples.

I will quote from the book of Anastasia Novykh AllatRA:

Rigden: From ancient times, the Unicorn was one of the symbols of the Forward Being, which promotes a spiritually pure person connecting with his Soul, leaving the circle of rebirths. He personified the desire in only one direction - the spiritual, and therefore he was endowed with those qualities that are characteristic of man in his spiritual work on himself: purity, nobility, wisdom, strength, courage, perfect goodness, and also associated with the forces of Allat - the divine purity of the female beginning (myths of the Virgin and the unicorn). If you trace the history of symbols, then, for example, the Sumerians put the image of a unicorn as a symbol associated with a circle (Soul), which researchers interpret as a “moon symbol”, as well as an attribute of goddesses in the concept of spiritual purity. The Assyrians depicted a unicorn in bas-reliefs next to the Tree of Life, the Egyptians put the best moral qualities in its image. The Persians, according to their sacred knowledge, considered the unicorn to be perfect, a representative of the “clean world” among animals (originally four animals), and its horn was the only force capable of defeating Ahriman. Or take ancient Slavic legends and epics recorded in the old Russian collection of spiritual songs “Pigeon Book” (a book that in the 13th century became banned by religious priests of that time), where the unicorn is referred to as Indrik-beast (Indra). There are such lines:

“We have Indrik the beast to all the beasts, And he walks, the beast, through the dungeon, He passes all the mountains of white stone, Cleans the streams and grooves. When this beast beats up, the whole universe will pick up. All the beasts worship him, the beast. He does not offend anyone. ”

Rigden: In addition, Indra is believed to be the Guardian of one of the four cardinal points. There is also a mention that relates to Knowledge about the arrangement of the world. In particular, that Indra rules Svarga (Heaven) - according to the ideas of the Hindus, paradise, located on the top of Mount Meru. And now remember that in Slavic-Russian mythology there was also the god Svarog - the god of Heaven, heavenly fire, the father of Dazhbog and Svarozhich. In the all-Russian chronicle vault of the beginning of the XII century “The Tale of Bygone Years”, included in the Ipatiev Chronicle, there are such references to him: “... for the sake of nickname and god Svarog ... and the king’s son, he’s named Sun, he will be called Dazhbog ..” "The sun is the king, son of Svarogov, if he is Dazhbog ...".

Anastasia: That's right, it all has the same root! Indeed, although allegorically, it speaks of seven dimensions, the spiritual work of man on himself. The same Svarog as the personification of heaven, according to epics, "in the darkness of the clouds kindled the flame of heavenly fire (lightning)." And then, "breaking the clouds with thunder arrows, he kindled the lamp of the sun, extinguished by the demons of darkness." If we take into account that Svarog plays the role of the Front Entity here, the clouds are thoughts from the Animal Beginning, and the lamp is the Soul, "extinguished by the darkness" of subpersonalities, then ancient Russian mythology comes out quite amusing.

Rigden: Well ... By the way, in the same “Pigeon Book” explaining the origin of the world, Alatyr-stone is also mentioned. According to legend, it is believed that signs “talking” about the laws of the god of the sky Svarog are embossed on it. According to ancient Russian beliefs, it is precisely from under the Alatyr stone that the sources of living water originate, which bring food and healing to the whole world (creation), it is under it that a power that has no end is hidden, and it is on the Alatyr stone that the damsel Zarya, who is red, sits constantly awakens the world from night sleep. Now compare all this with knowledge of the AllatRa sign, the power of the divine creative female principle of Allat and its important role both in the processes of the development of the Universe and in the spiritual awakening of the Person and its merging with the Soul. By the way, Alatyr - so the ancestors of the Slavs from ancient times called in the spiritual legends the power of Allat, emanating from God, and the person who accumulated this power and multiplied it in himself by spiritual labor. “

In the views of the ancient Slavs, the World Tree is located on the island of Buyan on Alatyr-stone, which is also the center of the universe. Magical rivers flow from under the Alatyr stone around the world - Alatyr is guarded by the wise snake of Garafen and the bird of Gagan.

In my opinion, it is easy to determine the etymology of the word Alatyr - tyr, tyr, steal, accumulate - Alatyr means accumulated (accumulating) Allat! The words of God have the same etymology. A tyr - a diving - accumulating (accumulated) God, acquiring (accumulating) the Holy Spirit - it is amazing how modern philologists interpret this word as Rich and Voivod - or even exuberant, considering this word to be of Turkish or Mongolian origin, although its clear meaning lies on the surface !!

The image of this tree has come down to us, both in the image of various fairy tales, legends, epics, plots, songs, riddles, and in the form of ceremonial embroidery on clothes, patterns, ceramics, painting dishes, chests, etc. Here is an example of how the Tree of Peace is described in one of the Slavic folk tales that existed in Russia and tells about the extraction of a horse by a hero-hero: "... a copper pole stands, and a horse is tied behind it, there are clean stars on the sides, a month shines on the tail , red sun in the forehead ... " This horse is a mythological symbol of the whole universe which is nevertheless tied to the center-pillar or tree.

I will give one more excerpt from the book of Anastasia Novykh “AllatRa”:

“Rigden: So it is. The Icon of the Virgin “The Burning Dome” has nothing to do with all these matters of the priesthood. And in Russia they began to call it so not from the word “kupina” - “blackthorn, shrubbery”, but from the Old Slavonic word “kupa”, which means “connection”, “elevation”, “totality of something”. And the fact that she was associated with the belief in fire protection, but now, as you correctly noted, she stands in every house, famous for her miracles. But even more importantly, knowledge reached the majority through it, albeit in such an “unopened form”. And they are now, and this is important!

It is no accident that the “Burning Cup” is associated with the symbolism of the Immaculate Conception from the Holy Spirit. This is just a symbol of what I told you about. The Mother of God is the Conductor of the power of God̆ for every person who walks along the spiritual path, this, with the help of which the Soul of man is freed from earthly reincarnations. Jesus as a Spiritual Being from the world renewed the true Knowledge that has been lost for centuries and gave people spiritual tools for spiritual salvation. That is, in other words, he left the keys. Working on himself with the help of these tools, a person acquired, figuratively speaking, the key to the sign. And to the Mother of God as the Conductor of the power of God, as a spiritually liberated Being, located between the worlds for the spiritual liberation of human souls, He gave signs. And only when the zeal, work on oneself of the spiritual seeker and the strength of the Mother of God (Allat) was combined, did the Person merge with the Soul, that is, a person achieved the liberation of his Soul, the seventh dimension or, as they say in Christianity, “paradise”, “the kingdom of the Father and the Son ". And it only depended on a person’s choice whether the sign would be active, whether the person would be Worthy to receive this divine power that would lead him to God. The key is given to be used. And in order to use the key, you must make your own efforts to this. This is the path of a spiritual person - the path of spiritual dispassion, which only (together) with the creative power of God leads to liberation.

And this is known not only in Christianity, but also in other religions. This was known in ancient times when people called God and His Son and the Mother of God (Great Mother) in a different way. After all, the point is not in the priestly concepts from the mind and in their epithets, but in the same spiritual grains, on which all their religions rest. I will give a simple example.

As I mentioned, not so long ago, the cult of the goddess Isis, who originated in Ancient Egypt, was widely popular among various eastern and western peoples. By the way, it is enough to pay attention to the art of Ancient Egypt, to those of its samples that have come down to the present time in buildings, murals of ancient temples, sculptural images. And you can see the same symbols of the transmission of the foundations of spiritual Knowledge that are everywhere in the world: the AllatRa working sign, lotus, circle, cube, rhombus, pyramid, cross, square, symbolic image of the four Essences. So, the cult of the goddess Isis lasted for more than one millennium, including the era of the Roman Empire. And what is the real reason for such popularity? In active signs - “AllatRa”, which was distributed in those days with the help of the cult of the goddess Isis, as it is today distributed with the help of the cult of the God-Mother. Primordial Knowledge has long been largely lost, but symbols and signs remain!

Anastasia: Yes, Isis as the “Great Mother” was often depicted precisely with the AllatRa sign on the head, as we have already said, in the form of horns upwards, above which, like the convex side of the pearl, is.

Rigden: This sign indicates that this power belongs to the One, who created everything in the Universe. I have already said that once upon a time people designated the concept of “One Higher” (One Eternal) by the sound of Ra. Where later, with the birth of priesthood, appeared the god Ra, who, according to legend, arose from a lotus flower that rose from the oceans. The great goddess (who was called various epithets, later transformed into names) appeared initially as a conducting force of Ra (One Eternal). In addition to Isis, the bearers of such a sign in Ancient Egypt at different times were the goddess Hathor (the daughter of the sun Ra; her name meant “the house of Heaven”), the goddess ISat (her name meant “the creative hand of God”, “the greatest among those who come”) . It was believed, for example, that if a person tastes the spiritual gifts of the goddess Hathor, then this will give him additional spiritual strength, she will help to transfer this person from the earthly world to the (spiritual) one. Because of this, she was awarded the epithets of the Great Mother, the goddess of Love, spiritual joy, “Shining in the rays of Ra,” the Great Woman, the Creator of all living things. Among the additional associative designations symbolizing her, there were sycamore trees as the “Tree of Life”, as well as symbols of life - the colors green and blue, which, according to legend, she commanded. The latter is associated with encrypted knowledge and the moment of spiritual transformation. “

The center of the world for the ancient Slavs was the World Tree. It is the central axis of the entire universe, including the Earth, and connects the World of people with the World of Gods and the Underground World. The crown of the tree reaches the World of the Gods in heaven - Iry or Svargu, the roots of the tree go underground and connect the World of Gods and the World of people with the underworld or the World of the Dead, ruled by Chernobog, Marena and other "dark" Gods. Somewhere above, behind the clouds (heavenly abyss; above the seventh sky), the crown of a sprawling tree forms an island, here lies Irius (Slavic paradise), where not only Gods and human ancestors live, but also the ancestors of all birds and animals . Thus, the Tree of Peace was fundamental in the worldview of the Slavs, its main component. At the same time, it is also a staircase, a road through which you can get into any of the worlds. In Slavic folklore, the Tree of Peace is called differently. It can be oak, sycamore, willow, linden, viburnum, cherry, apple or pine.

In ritual songs and generally traditional folklore, such descriptions of the World Tree have come to us: a nightingale nests twists in its crown (as well as other sacred birds - Gamayun, Sirin, Alkonost, Utochka, Firebird, etc.), in the trunk live bees that they bring honey, an ermine lives at the roots, in the hole (nest) of a snake (Shkurupey), a dem is chained to the chain (the last, apparently, later bedding), the fruits of the Tree of Peace are the seeds of all existing herbs, flowers, trees. Traditional in folklore are hassles of the very snake that lives in the roots, and the bird that lives in the crown. At the same time, the serpent constantly threatens to burn the tree, and the bird each time defends itself or goes to cunning.

In the crown of the World Tree, the Sun and the Moon are often placed. In Belarusian folklore, beavers live at the roots of the tree, and a falcon lives in the crown, leaves are covered with beads, flowers are like silver, fruits are made of pure gold. Since it is a World Tree, the Slavic tradition in its folklore placed here all the most amazing creatures, from mythological birds to half-humans, half-horses, half-bulls, half-dogs, as well as all possible Deities and creatures. Here their place is near the center of the world.

The World Tree was so revered by the Slavs that it participated in many celebrations. The ritual tree was installed just before the construction of a new house in the very center of the planned construction, thus attracting power to this place and making it sacred, with a powerful energy base. The builder of a new dwelling makes his house a projection of the center of the universe, the same mystical modeling of the center occurs when a tree is brought into the house, placed in the middle of it, or in the red corner. Another rite may be a round dance on sunny holidays around a tree, with which birch or oak are often chosen. In ancient times, there were whole sacred groves, sacred forests, where it was strictly forbidden to cut down or spoil the trees. This directly applies to the figure of the World Tree itself, since, by analogy with it, the sacred trees were the habitat of spirits, creatures. In such groves, holidays, ceremonies, rituals of curing diseases took place.

Scythian cross from the excavations of Olbia

As we know, the ancient cross is a symbol of man, also a symbol of the World Tree. And the tombstone was placed as a symbol of the Tree of Life, rebirth. As a pointer and assistant to the soul of the deceased. The world tree is inextricably linked with man

The connection of the cross with the tree of paradise is reflected in the Ethiopian work known as “Thirteen Cross Suffering”. “There is a forest country called Litoster. They cut down eight trees there and made a cross of seven cubits and one inch long, three cubits and one inch wide. The first four trees were fig trees, the fifth - olive, the sixth - wild olive, the seventh - wheat, the eighth - reed. " It is further narrated that the fig tree was brought by an eagle from paradise, and then thrown into Jordan, where it sailed against the tide, thereby revealing its wonderful properties.

A characteristic detail is noteworthy: the cross tree here is composed of many plants of different species. This can only be understood in the sense that it represents embodied fertility, and therefore, is regarded as a symbol of inexhaustible life energy, eternal renewal and rebirth. And fertility is one of the important mythological signs of the world tree. Another characteristic of it, as we recall, is that it connects various worlds. This is also reflected in Christian mythology. For example, in the apocryphal “The Acts of the Apostle Andrew” the glorification to the cross says: “You extend to heaven and broadcast about the Higher Word. You prostrate to the right and to the left and expel dark forces and collect the scattered. You are strengthened in the earth and you connect the earthly with the heavenly ... O cross, planted in the earth and bearing fruit in heaven

It should be added that the image of the cross in the form of a flowering, evergreen tree was very popular in the Middle Ages. The ancient and universal mythological image, which has already changed its appearance several times, has become one of the favorite symbols of the world religion - Christianity.

  Godfather (medieval europe)

The image of the World Tree was imitated during funeral rites. In ancient times, people were buried in the branches of trees. Later this rite was modified and now, after cremation, the ashes of people were left on the so-called Bdyny - pillars with huts, which are also a prototype of the World Tree and help the deceased both ascend to the World of the Gods and descend this tree to the World of People to visit their descendants . It is known that the Christmas tree acted as a symbol of death, which connected with the "other world", the transition to it and the necessary element of the funeral ritual.

Since our ancestors burned their dead, i.e. sent them to the family, the spruce, as a tarry tree burning well at any time of the year, was used for cropping. The deceased Slavic prince or princess was densely lined with branches of spruce and cones, at the end of the funeral prayers of the sorcerers, and when the oats, rye were shed with cereals, and the “voting” of many-weeping mourners was set on fire, a mournful fire or kroda was set on fire. Burning flames rushed into the sky. It was believed that with the help of fire that rises to a great height (and bonfires for cremation were often very large), the soul fell directly into the realm of the dead. Also an important attribute at the funeral was the boat. This is due to the beliefs and mythology of the Slavs, which says that in another world, in Navi (World of the dead, where dead people go and where our ancestors live.)

This is due to the beliefs and mythology of the Slavs, which says that in another world, in Navi, the soul of the deceased must cross the Smorodina river to get directly to the place where it should be. In some traditions, we can find that the soul crosses the river along the Kalinov bridge, but nevertheless, the dead were burned in a boat. By the way, it’s worth saying that the modern coffin for burial is precisely a modified, simplified boat, the tradition of burying in which came to us from centuries of time. A priest or a sorcerer sets fire to the stolen with the dead at sunset. The fact that cremation occurs at sunset is also very symbolic. First, the sunset of the day, like the sunset of life. Secondly, according to the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, the sun goes to the underworld of Nav at night and takes with it the soul of a dead person. Thirdly, it is believed that at sunset the soul can see the light of the setting sun and, in principle, understand where to keep its path. A fence with sheaves of hay was laid out around the perimeter of the fire, which was also set on fire. The burning fence was also a fence in the sacred sense, which distinguished between the world of the dead and the world of the living, and was an analogue of the legendary burning river in another world. It is also noted that, along with the human body, the bodies of domestic animals and wild animals were burned - a bird, a bear, a hare, etc. - sacrificing the animal principle of man.

During the burning, special ritual prayers and chants were read. Strava was held - a feast for the deceased, and Trizny - funeral rituals and military games. The fire rising to the very sky means that the human soul rose to Svarga and left only its remains on earth. After the fire burns out (or in the morning), people collect bones and ashes (although, for example, the northerners did not collect the remains, but poured a hill on top of which they mounted a tripod) into a clay pot (a pot for food or in a special urn) and put in a special "hut on a pillar", an impromptu small house on a high stick. Some descriptions of this action omit the mention of huts and say that a vessel with ash was simply placed on a pole by the road. Such huts with remains were put on the way from the village to sunset directly along the road. In some regions of Russia, the custom to put houses right on the graves remained right up to the 20th century.

The pillar can also carry us to the archaic past of our ancestors. Even before the corpses were burned, people were buried in trees. Such trees were a prototype of the "world tree", which not only connected the world of the living and the world of the dead, the Gods, but also performed many other functions, such as maintaining the heavenly vault, the functions of the main axis of the universe, etc. Later, instead of a tree, a pillar began to be used, which, apparently, continued the role of the World Tree. With the help of the World Tree (pillar), the soul of the deceased could rise up into the world of the dead and come down. It is also worth noting that one of the places, according to the assumptions of the ancient Slavs, where the souls went after death, was the Moon. In general, planets, stars, cosmic bodies were presented to the ancient Slavs by the Gods and souls of their ancestors. So the Milky Way was called only "The Path of the Dead, Going to Eternal Life"

Remember what beliefs the ancient Egyptians had - here is an excerpt from the book of Anastasia Novykh, Sensei 4:

Well, since there is such an interest in this issue, then please ... The ancient Egyptians called one of the elements, as you already know, Ba - the soul that forms the basis of the Spiritual principle. The Ba was often portrayed as a falcon, with the head of a man and a burning lamp placed in front of him, as a symbol of Ba's belonging to heaven. The people believed that the stars were a cluster of small icon lamps of the blessed Ba - the soul of the mother of the stars Nut. - Sensei paused and clearly repeated. - Mother of the stars! Remember this, in the future you will understand why this is necessary. In addition, the ancient Egyptians endowed their gods Ba. For example, the constellation Orion was called only the soul of the god Osiris. Sotis, or Sirius in our opinion, was the soul of the goddess Isis, the faithful wife of Osiris ... This is also noted for yourself.

Sensei was silent for a while, apparently giving us the opportunity to better understand what we heard, and then continued:

The second element that makes up a human being according to the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians is “Ah,” or as it is also called “Ab.” Ah means “spirit”, “blessed”, “enlightened”, that is, from the Egyptian lexical basis “ah” - “to shine, to radiate”. Ah was seen as the connecting link between man and the radiant life force. It was believed that after death, Ah leaves the body in order to join the stars. Even such an expression existed: "Ah - to heaven, body - to earth."

Ah was depicted in the form of a bird with bright plumage - an ibis, which the Egyptians actually called "akhu," that is, "luminous." In addition, in Ancient Egypt, Thoth was worshiped - the god of knowledge (as well as the bearer of divine power and soul), who was depicted as a person with the head of an ibis or completely, like an ibis. It was believed that his wife Seshat wrote down the details of the life of each person on the leaves of the Tree of Heaven.

It is also worth saying that the ancient tribes built huts and temples in such a way that a living tree appeared inside, that is, they built a house around the tree - oak, ash, birch and others. Like the idols that represent the land of the Gods, the tree inside the house was the embodiment of the World Tree, which could also connect all three worlds and be the main place during some kind of house rituals. This tradition was alive right up to the beginning of the 20th century practically on the whole territory of Russia, and further, but in its simplified form. Before the construction of the house, a young tree was dug up and planted in the center or red corner of the future log house, with the sentence: “Here you are, grandmother, a warm house and shaggy cedar!”, It is clear that this meant Susedushka-Domovoi. There it grew until the very end of construction. Then he was carried out and planted in another place. In antiquity, it grew with people and towered with its crown above the roof, as above the firmament of heaven.

The Slavs most clearly have developed views related to the world tree, illustrated by the "Word of Igor's Campaign" (XII century), in which pagan motives and traditions have not yet given way to the traditions of the Orthodox worldview. The song-maker Boyan in “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”, like the Scandinavian Odin, who has tasted the honey of poetry, makes a shamanic journey through the world tree:

“If you are afraid to do it, if you at least remember to create something, then thought will be destroyed on the tree, on the ground,

Shizym orlom up the clouds ... ”-

"... jumping, glory, according to the thought tree, flying mind beneath the clouds, twisting glories both floors of this time ...".
  "... the diva cries out in the tree ...".

It is easy to notice that the World Tree was present in all ancient cultures - on all continents there was this knowledge - knowledge about the inextricable connection of the Soul of man with the One Creator - and the inextricable connection of Allat with the concepts of the World Tree! Thus, a person who acquires the Holy Spirit, every second being in the creator, gains Immortality, rising to the top according to the World Tree's roots to his roots - to the bottomless well, at the bottom of which there will be a reward!

Prepared by Arbat

About him the will of nature is very numerous and multifaceted. There is no symbol that would mean nature itself. But quite a lot of magic signs are devoted to it. First of all, this is magical nature. Therefore, we start with the symbols of the World Tree (Tree).

The World Tree (among the Scandinavians - Yggdasil ash) is the “axis of the world”, it holds all the worlds on itself. In the crown is the world of Rights. At the trunk - Yav, in the roots, where the World Serpent Yusha is huddled - Nav. A shaman, being in a trance, can make a trip through these worlds.

The image of a tree is one of the greatest inventions of mankind. It arose long ago and determined the structure of all mythological systems. Thanks to the World Tree, man saw the world as a single whole and himself in this world as its particle ... The tree entered our genetic memory, into the realm of the unconscious. As psychologists prove, at a certain stage in the development of the child's psyche, it makes itself felt as a primary image that has entered the flesh and blood: if a child draws a lot, then a tree predominates in his drawings. Some psychologists believe that this is the World Tree, the Tree of Life - the meeting place of a person with the Universe, their common symbol - a symbol of any whole made up of parts, the basis of any language with its branching phrases, an idea permeating poetry, painting, architecture, any games, choreography, social, economic and even mental structures.

On it, as on an axis, all elements of the world began to be strung: from specific gods and animals to abstract concepts like time categories. The vertical structure of the World Tree consisted of three parts, or levels: lower (roots), middle (trunk) and upper (branches). So the ancient cosmic zones were formed in the imagination of the ancients, and with them the dual opposites: earth - sky, earth - hell, fire (dry) - moisture (wet), past - present, present - future, day - night. These pairs are mixed in the structure of the tree with threefold unity: the past - present - future; ancestors - contemporaries - descendants; three parts of the body: head - trunk - legs; three elements: fire - water - earth. Pairs and triples covered a wide variety of life forms. People comprehended the relationship of opposites, the essence of all development.

The World Tree is the basis for streamlining thinking, memory, and perception. The images of the external and internal world are strung on this trunk, and now they can be expressed in sign systems - in words, numbers, formulas, images. A tree with its three levels is schematized in consciousness, and abstractions and symbols are already emerging. A sun wheel appears next to horses and bees, an eight-pointed cross inscribed in a circle. We find this symbol both in Orthodox churches and in Tibetan churches.

Each of the three parts of the Tree included certain creatures. Above, on the branches, depicted birds in the middle, at the trunk - ungulates (deer, elks, cows, horses), sometimes humans and bees, and at the roots - snakes, frogs, fish and beavers. God sat at the very top of the tree. Sometimes he fought a battle with a snake or dragon and freed the cattle they had stolen. The tree, symbolizing conception and fertility, was depicted on women's clothes.

The vertical structure of the Tree is more connected with cosmology, and the horizontal - with magic rituals. Most often, the Tree was depicted with eight branches, four on each side. It had four main colors: red, black, white, blue.

It is well known that for the ancient Slavs, trees were not just building material. Our pagan ancestors saw in them the children of earth and heaven, like themselves, who, moreover, had no less right to life. From the tree, according to some legends, the very first people were created - which means that the trees are ancient and wiser than people. Cutting down a tree is like killing a person. But you need to build a hut!

Russian peasants preferred to chop huts from pine, spruce, larch. These trees with long, even trunks fell well into the log house, adjoining each other tightly, retained internal heat well, and did not rot for a long time. However, the choice of trees in the forest was governed by many rules, the violation of which could lead to the transformation of the constructed house from a house for people into a house against people, bringing misfortune.

Of course, there could even be no question of raising a hand on a tree that was venerated, “sacred”. There were entire sacred groves in which all the trees were considered divine, and it was a sin to tear even a branch from them.

Individual trees could also be considered sacred, attracting attention by their extraordinary size, age, or developmental features. As a rule, local legends were associated with such trees. We have heard the tales of the righteous old people, turned into trees by the gods at sunset.

An ancient person would never have dared to cut down a tree grown on a grave. At the end of the XIX century. the peasants showed ethnographers a large pine tree, supposedly grown from the braid of a ruined girl; but what if a human soul has settled in a tree? A creak published by a tree was considered a true sign of this in Belarus: in creaky trees, according to popular beliefs, the souls of tortured people cried. Anyone who deprives them of a haven will probably be punished: they will pay with health, and even with life.

In some places in Russia for a very long time there was a strict ban on cutting all old trees in general. According to the peasants, it was a sin to deprive the forest patriarchs of the right to natural, "spontaneous" death from a windfall or simply from old age. An encroachment on such a tree would inevitably have to go crazy, cripple or die. The felling of “youngsters” - a young, immature forest, was also considered a sin. In this case, the mythological view was based on a completely natural desire to preserve young trees that did not achieve the best conditions. In relation to the “forest elders”, the law of mythological thinking acted: the eldest means the main, revered, sacred.

Trees with developmental anomalies - a large hollow, a stone or some other object that grew into the trunk, with an unusual trunk shape, with an amazing interweaving of roots - were also not subject to cutting: “not like everyone else” - you never know how much power could lie in them !

In different areas, there were bans on the felling of certain breeds. First of all, of course, this applied to the “cursed” trees, such as aspen and spruce. These breeds are energetically unfavorable for humans, they "pump" vital energy out of them, and even objects made from their wood retain this property. So the reluctance of our ancestors to live in a spruce or aspen house was again not without reason. On the other hand, a man who cut down a completely “benevolent” linden should certainly get lost in the forest. Apparently, the gods severely stood up for a tree that for centuries had been shoe-dressing, or even dressing people ...

Dead, dry trees were not good for building. It is understandable: such trees do not have the vitality within them, they bear the stamp of death - what good, they will bring it into the house. And even if no one dies in the house, the “dryness” will necessarily become attached. In a number of places, for this reason, they avoided cutting trees in the winter, when they were deprived of sap and “temporarily dead”.

A ban imposed on trees that fell to the north when felling their tops at the top of the head, is also associated with the idea of \u200b\u200bdeath, the afterlife: our ancestors associated this side of the world with eternal darkness, winter, lifeless cold - in a word, the other world. Insert such a tree into the log house, and people in the house will not live long!

A special and very dangerous variety of forbidden trees is “violent”, “evil”, “squirting”. It seems that such a tree seeks to avenge man for his death: he can crush a lumberjack, and they will cut a log out of it for an hut - even look, it will bring down the whole house on the head of the residents. Even a sliver from such a tree, deliberately planted by an evil carpenter, was capable, according to Russian peasants, of destroying a new house or mill. If the "wild" wood was chopped for firewood - you should be afraid of a fire!

Belarusians called "lush" trees "standing". That’s where our expression “steros club,” meaning a stupid and unkind person, comes from.

Lush trees, according to popular belief, most often grew on abandoned forest roads, especially at the intersections of such roads. The fact is that the Slavs attributed the road a great mythological meaning, moreover, negative. The road that goes into the distance, according to our ancestors, ultimately led to the other world - for outside the tribal territory, as you know, the kingdom of unknown forces began, and the border between the worlds of the dead and the living was close. And besides, the pagan thought the road as a kind of “horizontal projection” of the World Tree that connected the worlds. It is no accident that mysteries about the road were preserved, such as: “When the light arose, then the oak fell, and now lies”, and etymologists say that the words “tree” and “road” in the Russian language go back to the same root. The twisted trunk, twisted against the sun, also did not inspire confidence in the Gentiles.

There was a ban on the use in the construction of trees planted by man. First of all - garden trees, moreover, located inside the fence of the estate. Scientists believe that the point here is the mythological interpretation of such opposites as “one's own” - “alien”, “natural” - “cultural”, “wild” - “home”. A tree taken in the forest and used for the construction of human housing, certainly had to undergo a "change of quality": from the "alien" to become "their own." FROM garden tree  such a transformation could not have occurred, and besides, garden apple trees and cherries were almost family members for our pagan ancestors ...

If the first three trees scheduled for felling turned out to be unsuitable for any reason, then on this day it is better not to get down to business at all - there will be no good.

Despite the fact that the concept of the World Tree is absent in Greek mythology, medieval Greek folk traditions claim that there is a Tree that holds the Earth.

The World Tree (Wacah Chan) also appears in the Mayan religion as the axis of the world. The axis of the world connects people (Middle world), with a dungeon (en) (Other world) and heaven (Upper world).

World tree and ancient concepts of time and space

In the image of a tree, ideas about time, space, life and death are united. Try to solve the riddle:

There is a tree, on a tree there are flowers, under the flowers there is a cauldron, above the flowers there is an eagle, it picks flowers, it throws flowers into the cauldron does not decrease, in the cauldron does not increase. (Life and death)

The oldest Ukrainian carols brought to us the idea of \u200b\u200bhow the world appeared from a chaotic primitive ocean. They talk about times when there was still no sky, no earth, but only the blue sea. In that sea stood a tree (sycamore or pine). On a tree, three birds argued: how to establish peace? One bird dived into the sea - brought out a golden stone. The second dived - brought out a silver stone. The third is copper stone. From the golden sun appeared, from the silver - the moon, from copper - the dawn. Along with the creation in the imagination of primitive people the image of the world tree, an extensive system of oppositions arose:

• day Night
• summer Winter
• life death
• right - left
• straight - crooked
• top bottom
• fire water
• man Woman
• paired - unpaired

In the horizontal plane, the world tree and the space around it are divided into four parts, expressing the idea of \u200b\u200btime (morning, day, evening, night; spring, summer, autumn, winter) and space (east, south, west, north). At the top of the tree is the Sun, it was his “movement” that determined the “division” of the space around it into four parts. Vertically, the tree is divided into three parts: the lower - the root (underground world), the middle - the trunk (earthly world) and the upper - the crown (heavenly world). Each of these parts includes certain creatures. Below, near the root, there are snakes, frogs, fish, waterfowl and animals, because the bottom of the tree symbolizes not only the underworld, but also water. In the middle part, on the ground, there are large animals: tours, deer, horses, bears, wolves. It is also a world of people. At the top of the world tree, birds and bees settle, here are the heavenly bodies.

Folklore

World tree

Most often in folklore, as world trees, oak, sycamore, willow, linden, viburnum, cherry, apple tree, pine appear. The world tree is located in the fairytale space of folklore, usually on a mountain, in the middle of the sea, in clear fields near the road, at the master’s master in his yard. The time was also marked with a tree. When a tree marks a year, it is drawn or cut out with many branches, the so-called "pine". Mysteries about the tree-year have also been preserved: “Oak-oak is many years old, it has twelve heads, four nests on each branch, and seven eggs in each nest, and each has a name.”

In mythological representations, the world is divided into three worlds: person  (microcosm), society  and universe  (macrocosm). Or chronicle reality, nav  and rule  - the world is modern, otherworldly and ideal - heavenly. Moreover, all natural phenomena, events in society and the experiences of individuals occurred the same way in each of these three worlds, and in them all simultaneously and interconnected, as in a single organism. And the tree was a mediator between these worlds and placed these worlds on itself. With its help, you can move from one world to another (to the world of ancestors, to the heavenly world).

World tree in fairy tales

In fairy tales there is a “tree to heaven” motif, climbing on which the hero sees a heavenly deity and receives magical gifts. The custom of planting trees or bushes on graves is also connected with the image of a mediating tree between the worlds. There is a concept - “give oak” (die). The importance of this custom is emphasized by the fact that they plant plants of certain breeds. Among the Slavs it is mainly viburnum.

In Slavic legends, girls turn into trees from longing for their loved ones. In a fairy tale about a magical flute from the bones of a girl insidiously killed by sisters, a viburnum bush grows. A flute made from her twig speaks in a human voice. In general, in the fairy tale epic tree is closely associated with women and girls. Recall: a firebird has come to the royal court - to steal golden apples or pears from a magic tree. The prince goes on a campaign to catch a thief, and returns home with his bride. From this point of view, the fairy tale “Grandfather and Grandmother's Daughter”, in which an orphan girl meets a stove, a well and an apple tree (female characters), is interesting from this point of view. In the fairy tale “The Golden Boot”, the dying mother left her daughter a present-amulet: a seed from which the willow grew. For a long time, a tree inhabited by magic people, a poor orphan, helped. The tree came in handy when it was time to look for a mate. And after the wedding, the girls with the prince "willow with a well went underground and again left in the prince's garden."

In the spring trees there is a fairytale tree motif that crowns lovers: three churches and a bell tower appear from it: three clear candles (say, Mariyka, Oksanka and Nadiyka) in the church, and three vowel bells (Ivanko, Petrus and Vasilko) in the bell tower. Then Ivanko says: “I love Mariyka, I’ll buy my boots for Mariyka,” and so on for each pair.

World tree as the embodiment of fertility

The symbol of the tree of life is also the image of fertility, a woman, the Mother Goddess. Nature, the mother of all living things, is the tree of life. In images (on embroideries, Easter eggs, towels and carpets) the image of a woman is associated with a tree sign; she merges with him, and sometimes completely replaces him. They say that the house rests on a woman, like a roof on a bastard. The bastard holds the roof, like the tree of life - the sky. When housing appeared in people, it seemed to be a reference point in a limitless universe, a center of being for every person. The four walls of the house were oriented on the four sides of the world. And the base of the housing was the scum, which symbolized the strength of the home. When installing the scum in the house, there were a lot of rites and customs. When I had a dream that there was no scum in the house, it was believed that this was to death. The connection between the “core of the house” and the ideas about the tree of life is also confirmed by the ornament on the scraps: solar signs, snakes, zigzag images of water, “pines”.

The world tree is also a family tree. The most common image of a world tree is a trunk with three branches. Such family trees were embroidered with red threads on a white cloth of fate-towels and hung as amulets over insults, windows, portraits of relatives. Birds that are intermediaries between the world of the living and the world of ancestors, as well as the guards of the clan, in carols and fairy tales act as assistants and advisers in the selection of a pair. Moreover, they, of course, are sitting on a tree. Sometimes in the role of such an assistant to a young man is a snake, which is located near the root of a tree. Wedding symbols are decorated with verbal and hand-drawn, embroidered images of the tree of life. This is a wedding wreath, and wall paintings and embroideries saturated with marital symbolism, and songs that speak of a paradise tree that gave birth to two berries - young and young.

World Tree Synonyms

As in most characters, the world tree has synonyms that to a certain extent replace it in some texts or emphasize and develop one of the meanings or a separate property of the tree. Such symbols in fairy tales and ritual songs are a pillar, a mountain of the world, a road, a church with three tops, three towers, a ship, a ladder, a hook, a chain, an arch, a city. The personification of the world tree is a milestone - a high stick with a wheel on top (the wheel is a symbol of the sun), Kupala and May trees and the like. These attributes of the world tree are present in almost every of the largest holidays of the calendar cycle, as well as at the wedding. As the embodiment of a girl’s fate, the symbol of a tree appears in one of the fortunetelling on St. Catherine (December 7). The girl cuts a sprig of cherry in the garden, brings it into the house and puts it in a cup of water. If it blooms before Generous evening (St. Malania, January 13) - a good sign, there will be a wedding this year. And if it does not bloom - another year will have to sit in the girls. Here the cherry branch symbolizes the fate of a girl, the girl herself - or bloom for her at this year’s wedding, or not.

At the wedding, the young is symbolized by a wreath - a young tree, or branch, most often from pine or cherry. At a bachelorette party on Saturday, girls decorate it together with flowers, viburnum and colorful ribbons, while singing the song “to the Giltsya”. It’s like a symbol of the bride’s maidenhood. When they begin to share the loaf, the wreath is taken apart by a young friend on a branch. It is believed that the branches of the wedding wreath, decorated with flowers, then help friends to get married happily.

In some places in Polesie the custom to “drive a bush” on Green holidays  (Day of the Holy Trinity). One of the girls the group chooses "bush." To do this, weave two magnificent wreaths of branches of maple and linden, large - on the neck, small - on the head. For the girl’s belt they plug the branches so that it forms like a skirt made of greenery. With a bush girl, they go home, greet the owners on Green holidays, wish happiness and wealth. Apparently there is an echo of faith that dead souls move to trees, and come to descendants to visit Green holidays.

Kupalsky treewhich is called Kupaylitsa  or Madder, symbolizes fertility, girlhood, the unity of the young in marriage. It also recalls the first tree from which the world began. This tree (a large branch, most often made of willow or cherry) is established by the guys in the evening at the edge of the feast of Ivan Kupala (July 6). At the end of the ceremony, the Kupaylitsa is drowned or broken into small twigs, and each girl takes herself a twig.

Before Christmas there is a custom (which came to us from Western Europe) to install in the house and decorate the Christmas tree. Evergreen tree  symbolizes eternal life, and the decorations on it are those gifts that a person should receive in the new year. There is a thought that the Christmas tree is an image of the sacred tree, and the star with which it is crowned is a symbol of the sky or the sun. Among the Slavs, the image of the world tree is recorded in ornamental images on embroidered and woven towels, carpets, embroideries, Easter eggs, caskets, furniture, gingerbread boards, dishes, and in the decoration of clothes.

The Slavic symbol The Tree of Life (World Tree) is one of the most ancient and powerful. It is depicted in the form of a figure similar to a tree: a vertical line, from which smaller lines (like a trunk and branches) extend in different directions in its upper part. This sign is the personification of the connection between heavenly and earthly.

The tree of life, as the Slavs believed, is the world axis. The last ones are “strung” by Prav (above), Yav (in the center of the trunk), Nav (roots of the tree). Such an arrangement is very appropriate when you consider that Prav - Upper world, Jav - earthly, and Nav - underground.

The symbol of the Tree of Life united all the ideas about the structure of the world of the ancient Slavs, about its unity and close connection of its components. It is also associated with tribal memory. After all, the roots of a tree often represent ancestors, which must not be forgotten in order to have a thick and lush crown (descendants). The trunk in this case symbolizes contemporaries. You can also consider this sign as a combination of the past, present and future. On the other hand, a tree is partially similar to a person: a trunk is a trunk, a crown is a head, and roots are legs. In general, the meaning of this symbol is very deep.

The tree of life has become the starting point for the location of all components of the environment. Birds settled at the crown, reptiles at the roots, fish and amphibians. And the trunk level has become a haven for humans and other mammals.

The attitude to the trees among the Slavs was very reverent. For them, chopping a tree was like killing a man. After all, it, like all people, is a child of the gods. However, dwellings had to be built from something ...

Most often, the symbol of the Tree of Life could be found on embroideries as patterns and ornaments (on clothes, towels, bedding).

The Tree of Life.