Paganism - is it a religion or cultural traditions?

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

There are many definitions of "paganism". Some researchers believe that paganism is a religion, others suggest that it is more than a religion, but rather a way of life, the thoughts of an entire people, others simply assume that this is a folklore component of ancient people. And yet, it is worth considering in more detail what paganism was in the life of people of distant times using the example of the life and culture of the ancient Slavs.

In the current interpretation, paganism is the religion of countries that did not profess monotheistic religions at that time, were not adherents of Judaism. Paganism was widespread, but the strongest cults were in the territory of ancient Scandinavia and Russia. The ancient Egyptians, and the Romans, Greeks and many other peoples also belonged to the pagans, but when pronouncing this term, the runic formulas of the Scandinavians and Slavic traditions come to mind. Even if we accept the definition that it is a religion, then the paganism of the ancient Slavs, however, like other peoples, was not a religious canon. Ancient man lived by these foundations. Forthere was no world outside of paganism. The Slavs could understand and accept the universe only through the complex and set of rules and laws of the pagan system. For them, paganism is the gods, and the gods controlled every minute of their lives, gave joy and punishment. People lived in accordance with the cult of each deity. Each god owned and controlled a certain part of the world, and man took it for granted and never grumbled at higher powers.

The ancient Slavic world existed by the will and under the control of the gods. These were not separate deities, the gods of paganism were a clearly structured pantheon. In the hierarchical ladder, each god had his own weight and a certain set of responsibilities. The paradox of paganism was that, to some extent, despite the extraordinary power that the gods and spirits of the ancient Slavs were endowed with, they were strong only in the element they controlled, while a person included the Universe, and an enlightened man could control all the forces of nature by the power of his spirit.

Man was like the god Rod, who was the supreme deity, but due to the fact that his capabilities included a full cycle, he could be feminine and masculine, he could be fire and water at the same time, he was everything - the essence of the universe. Despite this, and perhaps because this phenomenon was too difficult for an ancient person to understand, the leadership in the pantheon of the time of Prince Vladimir was given to Perun, who controlled lightning and thunder - quite understandable powerful natural phenomena,the strength of which unusually frightened the ancient man and served as a regulatory component. It was clear that Perun could punish, and his punishment would be a terrible blow of thunder and lightning. Like any polytheistic world, paganism is the worship of many gods, more precisely, certain deities and spirits were important for each tribe, and the supreme ruler was scary, but far away.

This way of thinking and life has become so deeply rooted in the culture and life of the Slavs that after the baptism of Russia, it transferred part of the holidays, rituals and deities to Christianity. The deities only changed their names, without changing their functions. A vivid example of this is the transformation of Perun into Elijah the prophet, who is still popularly called the Thunderer. And there are thousands of such examples. Rituals, beliefs, holidays exist in our days. Paganism is a powerful cultural complex, it is the history of the people, its essence. It is impossible to imagine Russia without paganism. Even the concept of Orthodoxy, introduced by the Christian Church in the 12th century, was borrowed from the pagan canon to glorify the right, the truth - to live right.