How the real pagans of Russia live and what the Mari do in their sacred groves

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

What do the last pagans of Russia look like? Do you imagine bloody rituals, aggressive half-naked men, weapon shaking? If so, then in vain. In the religious life of the Mari - the European small indigenous people of Russia - the main role is played by the sacred groves, and no one runs around them naked with axes.

Where do the Mari live

When the Mari to the question "Where are you from?" answer "From the Republic of Mari-El", then they often hear in response - "Is it far from Russia?" or "Was she in the Soviet Union?" In fact, this republic is almost in the very center of Russia. The ancient Mari (then the Russians called them Cheremis) more than once had a chance to participate in conflicts between the Moscow tsars and the Kazan khans - they chose one or the other side. Both Kazan and Muscovites were surprised by one circumstance: among the Mari warriors there were a noticeable number of girls, and these girls were in no way more cautious than their comrades.

After the Moscow tsars won and at the same time appropriated the Mari lands, the Mari more than once raised fierce uprisings, but for the last few centuries they have been one of the most calm peoples of Russia. The people themselves belong to the Finno-Ugric, and many of its representatives still speak the language of their ancestors. The Orthodox Church is proud that most of the Mari are now baptized, and yet a huge number of them still believe in the old gods and perform the old rituals.

Now there is a theory that the Mari (Mari) are the mysterious Meryans (Merya) who lived on the lands that became Russian after the arrival of the Kiev princes and Novgorod merchants. The possessions of the Meryans were vast, but they lived by hunting and therefore - in small villages far from each other, and not in cities, so it was easier to take their lands and drive them to the hospitable Bulgar Khanate on the Volga. This theory is from folk, not scientific, and is based on the fact that the Mari in the old days from an early age received a hunting bow and never parted with it, and the word "mari" resembles the word "merya". True, the Mari themselves believe in this: according to legend, earlier Moscow was called Maska-ava, mother-bear, and it was a village near the sacred grove, long before Yuri Dolgoruky.

Archer Nation Gods

In the Mari religion, the world is ruled by Kugu Yumo - the Great God (although earlier the word "yumo" meant heaven). He is somewhat similar to the Baltic Perun: bearded and with a hammer. But with him there is always also a rainbow, his battle bow, and he shoots lightning arrows from his magic bow. He sits on a golden throne, from where he sees all the deeds of people. His palace is behind an iron fence, behind seven heavens, and when he drives out behind the fence in a chariot with fiery horses, a thunderstorm begins - because Kugu Yumo goes to battle with his evil brother and shoots arrows at him.

It is sometimes said that Kugu Yumo sits not on a throne, but on an oak tree. He also has a wife, a son and a daughter, and they work with him from dawn to dawn so that their heavenly flock does not become scarce; that's why people have to work all day. And on holidays, they have fun, swinging on a heavenly swing.

His wife is Mlande-ava, Mother Earth. It was taken by ducks, raised from the seabed. Mland-ava makes sure that human families do not violate the laws of kinship: brothers did not marry sisters, grandchildren respected grandfathers and grandmothers, children respected their parents, and parents took care of children. In some myths, Mlandé-ava creates the earth in the world that her husband created, therefore it is believed that she is responsible for everything that the land gives - of course, first of all, for the harvest. She gives and protects health and children, drives away evil spirits from houses and arable lands, and determines the place of the soul in the next world.

The daughter of the two main gods, Yumyn Udyr, was once an independent goddess of the night sky in myths and songs, but over time she acquired a relationship with Kugu Yumo and Mland-ava. She became a shepherdess, spinner, embroiderer, baker. But until now, the North Star is considered a spindle in her hands. In the Kugu Yumo palace, she sits behind a transparent silk curtain, and only her long beautiful braid snakes from under the curtain. Kugu Yumo patronizes women, she has taught them women's crafts, archery and playing musical instruments. Yes, it was on her initiative that it seems that the Cheremis troops were full of archers! She also protects love.

Her brother, Yumyn Erge, went to earth to find out how people live, and there he made friends with a shepherd boy. When Yumyn Erge returned to heaven, the shepherd boy, bored, made a staircase out of spruce and followed up - after all, he was a girl in disguise and had time to fall in love with the young god! Of course, Yumyn Erge took her in marriage.

Under the influence of first Islam, and then Orthodoxy, the images of these and other gods among the Mari began to change. Kugu Yumo has become a single god, most of the Mari are even sure that this is the god of the Old and New Testaments, and they themselves are ordinary Christians (often the veneration of Kugu Yumo is adjacent to the performance of Orthodox rituals). His evil brother became an analogue of the devil, and the rest of the deities turned into characters in fairy tales. However, when it comes to simple rituals, the Mari still remember not only Kugu Yumo, but also several female deities.

Sacred groves

The Mari do not build temples for their ancient god. Holidays and sacrifices - everything takes place in groves, which are many hundreds of years old. There they all pray together under the guidance of a priest. These groves - oak and birch - as some believe, grew where the pieces of Yumyn Erge's body fell, when a cunning evil spirit cut the son of the main god into pieces and scattered them. Geese are usually sacrificed - this bird lives on land, and on water, and in the air. They are fried in a sacred grove and eaten, and the remains are burned in a fire. They can sacrifice both rams and cows, and, of course, they bring ancient holy food and drink to the sacred groves - pancakes and kvass.

In the sacred groves, you cannot cut trees, smoke, swear and lie, pick mushrooms and berries, hunt and build and grow anything. This led to conflicts with the Soviet government in the person of local officials, who more than once tried to lay power lines, cutting down a clearing in some sacred grove.

The prayers themselves can cause confusion among outsiders: people kneel in front of a generously set table with food. You might think that they are praying for food, but in fact there is sacrificial food on the tables, and they ask the gods, according to a custom, perhaps more ancient than the gods, to share food with them as a sign of alliance. They ask for the harvest, for the health of loved ones, for the souls of the ancestors to feel calm … All the same that Christians pray for in front of the icons, trying not to confuse which saint to ask for.

The Mari are not taught to be priests. When a new priest is needed, they ask some respectable man to fill this role. Everyone knows what to do: there are no secret ceremonies, everything happens from childhood in front of the faithful. In addition, there are no special requirements for priests - no need to apply tattoos, deprive yourself of masculinity, or something else in the same spirit. By and large, the priest is the same Mari as the others, and that is why he gets the right to speak with the gods on behalf of other Mari. The priest can be the headman of the village, a respected teacher - one whom people are used to trust.

Many come to the holiday in the clothes that they have, but it often happens that people try to put on a folk costume or at least a part of it, some old decoration or a hat: so that God does not doubt that he sees a Mari (or to remember this himself). And they all share the food brought with each other, like brothers and sisters.

Not only the Mari suffered from the claims of the Rurikovichs. What Russian Finno-Ugrians called Russian princes, served them and suffered from them.