Nikandr Semyonovich, how do you feel about the fact that through magical actions a person can be sent “to the next world”?
- According to believers, this is quite possible.
- Does this happen?
- Happens.
We are sitting with the famous Mari ethnographer Nikandr Popov in one of the establishments in Yoshkar-Ola, drinking beer and talking about the worldview of the Mari.
- How serious is this?
- Very seriously. In this case, of course, one cannot exclude a random factor, a coincidence.
Every person also has a conscience that can torment him for what he said “wrong” or acted “wrong.” And this cannot be ruled out either.
But it also happens that when a person makes the wrong decision, deviates from all that is holy, he is punished for this not by human, but by some other, unknown force.
- How can one explain that practicing magic has become part of the way of life of many Mari?
- In general, only a small part of people practice magic. Meanwhile, for some reason it is believed that all Mari know magic techniques. This is not entirely true. Although it is reliably known that the Mari still maintain faith in magic.
Why do people turn to magic? In all likelihood, because in life they have no other, more effective ways achieving what you want, self-defense.
Turning to God for help or performing magical practices is an expression of the last hope for a miracle.
The Mari peasants constantly felt their dependence on the formidable natural elements. Risk and danger awaited them during hunting, fishing, and commercial activities.
Only by turning to God, the revered forces of nature, or performing magical acts, could a person, even in his imagination, count on success and believe in his security.
In Tsarist Russia, the Mari living on their land were officially considered “foreigners” and constantly felt their unequal position.
Due to ignorance of Russian laws, they, as a rule, had to constantly endure bureaucratic arbitrariness. For the same reason, they often lost litigation.
What could be done in such conditions? How could justice be achieved and the offender punished?
Only by turning to the gods, using magical actions for fair retribution!
The Mari had and continue to have the following custom: in order to punish a person who grossly violated generally accepted norms and thereby challenged society, people made a sacrifice in the grove and turned to the deities or spirits with a request to punish the culprit.
It was and is believed that soon after such prayer the guilty person begins to get very sick and dies...
- How do you separate the concepts of “religion” and “magic”?
- It is traditionally believed that religious prayers cannot be addressed to the forces of evil. By worshiping spirits, nature deities, and God, people hope to achieve universal prosperity. Through prayers, universal calm, peace, harmony, and happiness are achieved.
The Mari pray in the Grove for themselves, their relatives, loved ones, acquaintances, for the inhabitants of the surrounding villages and hamlets and for the entire Mari people, and even for people of other nationalities living in close proximity to them.
Magic is based on ideas about the supernatural abilities of a person to subjugate natural forces to his will, to force him to accomplish what he wants by performing magical actions.
It is not universal human interests that are expressed here, but personal, rather selfish ones.
Therefore, magical actions are carried out secretly, hidden from others. The one who commits such actions knows that he is not doing very well, turning to unknown, harmful forces, sticking out only his own interests.
- They say there is one God. Is there then a difference between praying in the Grove and in church?
- Of course, there is a difference. Every nation has its own Patron. Even though he is called the One God.
Look: the pagan tradition is a very ancient religion that was formed long before Christianity.
And this traditional religion gave impetus to the formation of other, so-called “class” religions. Including Christianity.
Their basis is very ancient: God, personifying nature, personifying the entire universe.
IN different religions the representative of this ancient God is seen in different ways. Islam, for example, sees in the face of Allah, Christians see in the face of Christ. Buddhists have Buddha.
You see, it's all the same thing. We say that the Mari worship the primal principle, and in other “world” religions that were formed in our era, they worship human teachers who presented new divine truths that made it possible to understand and realize the spiritual principle in conditions of changed social relations.
- Nikandr Semyonovich, what is the meaning of the Mari sacrificing domestic animals in sacred groves?
- This means that sacrifices are carried out with the aim of renewing the relationship between the revered deity and people.
People gathered for prayer, with their spiritual mood, faith, prayers offered to the deity, form, in the language of physics, something invisible to the eye and intangible human body a powerful spiritual (energy) field directed to the sky-high heights, allowing human life to be adjusted in unison with the rhythm of life of nature.
Believers call this establishing invisible contact with the divine Patron.
The sacrificial animal, according to the ideas of the Mari, is the personification of revered living nature. It is also located within the energy field formed in the grove, and therefore becomes part of the accumulated spiritual energy.
In addition, the soul of the sacrificial animal in the process of sacrifice, according to believers, passes into the power of the revered deity.
- What then is conveyed to God in the process of sacrifice?
- In the process of sacrifice, first of all, the soul is transferred to God - the embodiment of the image of the animal, as well as personification vitality animal: parts of the heart, liver, other organs, ligaments, cartilage, which are thrown into the fire as a special gift to the deities.
All parts of the animal remaining after the sacrifice are burned in the fire.
It is believed that fire can convey not only people’s requests, but also the sacrificed animal and its life force.
The victim appears in heaven safe and sound!
- Praying in the Grove: is it obligatory for the Mari? Or can you perform traditional rituals at home?
- Currently, prayers are held not only in the Sacred Groves, but also at home. In general, a person can pray anywhere if he is in a clean place.
Prayer in the Grove is different in that it is carried out with the participation of large quantity people. Joint prayers, according to the Mari, have a more effective influence. Prayers sent on behalf of the people reach God faster.
But the main thing, I still see, is that a person has a core, an understanding that he is the son or daughter of a people whom he watches over and who is helped by one or another Patron God!
For any person, be it an Orthodox believer or a believer of the Mari Traditional Faith, or another religion, if he believes in his God, he will always feel hope.
I hope that there is such a force behind him that will always help in any situation!
- At what age can you go to pray in the Sacred Grove?
- It is believed that one should go to the Grove to pray at a conscious age. It all depends on the person’s preparedness to participate in such an important event.
Since childhood, village children know how to slaughter geese, chickens, ducks and other domestic animals.
This is part agricultural culture. City children may not know all this.
But prayers are held without the sacrifice of domestic animals.
- Will the book for children “Fundamentals of Mari Traditional Culture” see the light of day?
- I believe that this will happen. Today there are no obstacles to this.
We have a myth that children who speak two languages may have problems with the Russian language and it will allegedly be difficult for them to study anywhere in the future.
- This myth exists not only in Mari villages. All of Russia knows this myth. We have an “opinion” that in Russia, with a native language other than Russian, you will not achieve social success.
And in the world, for example, international language English is recognized, without knowing which it is difficult to secure your future.
Life itself forces us to learn Russian, English, and our native Mari languages.
In addition, people who speak two languages since childhood, for example, Mari and Russian, have developed logic and thinking. They easily master English, Finnish, and other languages.
Hundreds of examples can be given to confirm this position!
- Nikandr Semenovich, what will happen to the Mari in twenty years? Will the people survive?
- I believe in the future. First of all, why? So we say: the Mari are the kind of people who pray to God Yumo. If he prays to Yumo, he will keep it. Because we were formed, appeared as a people, precisely by the will of God. Without this, the people would not have formed. There would be Merya or Murom or Meshchera left. And the Cheremis would have disappeared.
But it turned out differently. The Cheremis remained, but other peoples disappeared.
Why? Because we had faith. If the faith continues, and in twenty years the faith will not disappear, that’s for sure - the Mari will remain!
- How can people survive in the era of globalization, when borders between states disappear?
- Without its own ideology, it is impossible for a people to survive in modern conditions.
The only core that can save a people from assimilation is religion and traditions.
- What about culture, songs, music?
- And they are very important. But religion gives more possibilities for unity, preservation of customs, traditions, language. Without such a factor that unites the people, we can very quickly merge with other nations.
- Which main job Have you written in your fifty-eight years?
- I have written several books and more than one hundred and fifty articles. But I consider the book “Yumyn Yula”, written jointly with Alexander Ivanovich Tanygin, to be the most useful for the people.
I would also like to note the collection of prayers “Mari Kumaltysh Mut”.
- What are these prayers about?
- These are traditional prayers of the Mari, preserved from ancient times. They set forth the innermost aspirations and thoughts of the people, their bright faith in a peaceful, happy life.
Prayers give figurative ideas about the meaning of life, ideals, and values of the spiritual unity of the people with God.
These are ordinary truths. How can a person save himself and ensure his future? These are, first of all, the principles on which all life is built.
At the heart of everything is the position that everything a person does is done according to the will of God!
- Nikandr Semyonovich, what would you wish to the readers of the newspaper “Mariskiy Mir”?
- Mari, if we want to live with dignity in the twenty-first century, to survive as a people in subsequent centuries, we need to learn, keep pace with life, move forward!
Mari people, learn!
But don’t forget who you are, what your name is, who your parents are, where you come from. Studying is not only about obtaining a higher education.
This includes the development, preservation and enhancement of what has been given to us over the centuries!
Yuri Yusupov
This is how religions arose. From the point of view of physics, this is even somehow explained by the fact that certain prayers increase in strength from their repeated repetition from decade to decade.
Places of power or places of prayer also arose - old churches, former temples and other things of the same kind.
Both from the point of view of history and religious studies, and simply out of human curiosity, any religion is interesting. But there are also forces that people are accustomed to turning to, moreover, with which they, in their opinion, can interact. In this case we are talking about magic. Everyone, if they don’t know, have at least heard that this is an appeal to the forces of evil or good, respectively, black or white magic. But there is magic of the elements, individual spirits and other things, because the concepts of good and evil are generally conditional in the magical understanding.
A rather interesting example in its originality, as well as its ancient history, is Mari magic. The Mari are one of the most ancient peoples to inhabit the earth. Initially, they honored many gods, calling them all Yumu, but there was also a supreme, so to speak, god of all gods, whom they called Komu Yumu. All these deities are divided in the understanding of the people into three groups and each group has its own sphere of action.
Thus, Mari spells for prosperity, fertility and in general peace coupled with well-being should be addressed to Yulyan Yumo - the life-giving god, Agavirem Yumo - the god of everything creative. These are the gods of the light elements.
If one of the Mari stands at a crossroads in life situation, in front of him difficult choice and he is at a loss, it is necessary to carry out rituals dedicated to the gods responsible for fate, for the passage of time and for luck. Mari rites to help in decision making and resolution difficult situation addressed to Prysh Yumo and Mer Yumo, who is their god of harmony. You can also ask for help from the god of all mercies and goodness, whose name is Kugu Sergalysh.
Mari magic is special in that its rituals supposedly allow you to choose, not only the gender, the fate of your child even before his birth. True, not everyone can ask for this, but only initiates. However, the entire population transmits requests of this kind through them. As a rule, this is a request that the child be pious or modest, less often, that he be endowed with some abilities and skills. The Mari religion says that the fate of every child is written in heaven long before he is born. Once the child is born, little can be changed. This statement is a kind of echo of the time when people considered themselves helpless and completely dependent on the gods. This made it easier to explain failures, accidents and other unfavorable circumstances. This is, in fact, a property of all ancient religions. As with all types of magic, whoever asks for something pays the price.
So if you ask for something not good, the retribution will not only not keep you waiting, but will come doubly and very soon. Although it may wait and strike as punishment for the sins of life in the afterlife.
Mari magic
Mari magic - hot topic for our region, just like the magic of Chuvashia, Kirov region and Mordovia. Indeed, very little has been written about it; most do not own a computer and usually knowledge is not transmitted in a “printed publication.” Mari magic, the magic of the earth, is one of the strongest forces, no matter how they call it rustic, they did not treat it with a touch of half-contempt, the wave of newly minted psychics and cosmoenergeticists who had read magical literature considered it a simpleton. In principle, it is the same Voodoo magic of our region. Naturally, we are more accustomed to reading everything foreign. One example of Mari magic: a granny sitting on the rubble of her house, a cheap round mirror in a canvas potato sack, her half-closed eyes and a quiet, unintelligible whisper. There are very few psychics who can stop the death of a person whose life and health it takes. It's not a scary start. Many Mari never accepted Christianity, remaining children of forest owners. Usually all the villagers know - this grove is good, this one is evil. Here you ask for good, here you ask for evil. The power of the grove is reasonable, close to the complete materialization of the reality of the request, at the same time powerful, resourceful, worldly, cunning, like any of us is a rational thinking organism. For example, a guy telling a girl “I love you” is one thing. A guy says “I love you” to a girl in a grove, practically this is a rite of engagement, a rite of obligation, which, in the event of his refusal, carries with it a list of very serious problems, because... the grove is like an altar, and it can be very problematic to debunk it. In the common people this will again be called damage, in reality it is a punishment for failure to fulfill obligations. In society, ignorance of the laws also does not exempt one from responsibility. But at the same time, despite its rigidity, however, like any other system, it is just as reasonable and has the other side of the coin. If the sorcerer has the right of access, knows the laws quite clearly and follows them, without destroying everything left and right (while destroying himself and the client first), piling up a clump of notorious enemies and damage that in reality does not exist, he follows the path of not the consumer - this It is always possible to send strength home. It goes away slowly, over 5-7 days, “leaks out” - that’s what I would call it, and what’s most interesting is that it doesn’t return back to this person. And if the same sorcerer persistently tries to send her back, the sorcerer and the customer are punished, up to and including death, at which point the owner of the grove himself initiates justice, like any owner, for abuse of power and failure to comply with his decision.
Mari magic is earth magic. Today I would like to try to describe some characteristic symptoms of the manifestation of the work of Mari magic. The first symptoms: weakness, pain under the shoulder blade the size of a five-kopeck coin. Increased sweating (usually cold sweat), hand cramps (if picked up). Leg cramps - especially at night. In men, there is complete apathy towards sexual life. In women, the menstrual cycle jumps, right up to its complete cessation. The most effective field of destruction is still up to the waist, where the field of the earth has great strength for the average person. Many people have probably often noticed people who like to squat. This is really a different topic. Boils and flashes of greed to the point of paranoia in a completely good-natured and non-greedy person, unexpected actions when a husband suddenly leaves home and tries to pick up a chicken from the refrigerator, that’s all Chuvashia, but quite often this is done in Mari magic.
Admirers of the Mari religion recognize One God; Osh Kugu Yumo and nine of his assistants (manifestations), read a prayer three times annually, take part in collective or family prayer once a year, conduct family prayer with sacrifice at least seven times during their lives, regularly hold traditional funerals in honor of deceased ancestors , observe Mari holidays, customs and rituals.
History of the emergence of the Mari Religion.
Before the spread of monoestic teachings, the Mari revered many gods known as Yumo, while recognizing the primacy of the Supreme God (Kugu Yumo). In the 19th century, the image of the One God was revived; Osh Kugu Yumo (One Light Great God). The One God (God is the Universe) is considered to be the eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent and all-righteous God. He manifests himself in both material and spiritual guise, appearing in the form of nine deity-persons. These deities can be divided into three groups, each of which is responsible for:
Calmness, prosperity and empowerment of all living things - the god of the bright world (yumo), the life-giving god (Ilyan yumo), the deity of creative energy (Agavairem yumo);
Mercy, righteousness and harmony - the god of fate and predestination of life (Prysh yumo), the all-merciful god (Kugu Serlagysh yumo), the god of harmony and example (Mer yumo);
All-goodness, rebirth and inexhaustibility of life - the goddess of birth (Shochyn Ava), the goddess of the earth (Mlande Ava), the goddess of abundance (Perke Ava).
Osh Kugu Yumo is the source of being. Like the universe, the One Light Great God is constantly changing, developing, improving, involving the entire universe, the entire the world around us, including humanity itself. From time to time, every 22 thousand years, and sometimes earlier, by the will of God, the destruction of some part of the old and the creation of a new world occurs, accompanied by complete update life on earth.
The last creation of the world occurred 7516 years ago. After each new creation of the world, life on earth improves qualitatively, in better side Humanity is changing too. With the development of humanity, there is an expansion of human consciousness, the boundaries of world- and God-perception are expanded, the possibility of enriching knowledge about the universe, the world, objects and phenomena of the surrounding nature, about man and his essence, about ways to improve human life is facilitated.
Among the Mari, echoes of a dualistic worldview have been preserved, in which an important place was occupied by faith in magic, in the animation and spirituality of the surrounding world and the existence in them of a rational, independent, materialized being - the owner - a double (vodyzh), soul (chon), spiritual hypostasis (shyrt) . However, the Mari believed that deities, everything around the world and man himself are part of the one God (Yumo), his image.
Nature deities in popular beliefs, with rare exceptions, were not endowed with anthropomorphic features. The Mari constantly sought to involve the gods in the process of spiritual ennoblement and harmonization everyday life. Some leaders of Mari traditional rituals, possessing heightened inner vision, with the help of Mari magic, through the effort of their will, could receive the spiritual enlightenment of the one God Yumo.
The Mari religion (magic), being more ancient, turned out to be closer to God and absolute truth. There is little influence of subjective aspects in it. Taking into account the perseverance and patience in preserving the ancient religion transmitted by the ancestors, dedication in observing customs and rituals, Osh Kugu Yumo helped the Mari preserve true religious ideas, protected them from erosion and thoughtless changes under the influence of all kinds of innovations. This allowed the Mari to maintain their unity, national identity, survive under the conditions of social oppression of the Khazar Kaganate, Volga Bulgaria, the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Kazan Khanate and defend their religious cults during the years of active missionary propaganda in the 18th - 19th centuries.
The life of every child begins in heaven long before his birth. Initially, it does not have an anthropomorphic form. God sends life to earth in materialized form. Together with man, his angels-spirits - patrons - develop, represented in the image of the deity Vui mbal yumo, the bodily soul (chon) and doubles - the figurative incarnations of man rt and syrt.
The Mari religion teaches that a person, acting righteously, receives a worthy reward: he greatly facilitates his life in this world and his fate in the afterlife. For a righteous life, deities can endow a person with an additional guardian angel, thereby ensuring the ability to contemplate and experience God, the harmony of divine energy (shulyk) and the human soul.
A person is free to choose his actions and actions. He can lead life both in the direction of God and in the opposite, destructive direction. A person’s choice is predetermined not only by divine or human will, but also by the intervention of the forces of evil.
The Mari religion considers all manifestations of life to be the main value in this world and calls for the sake of its preservation to show mercy even towards wild animals.
In public life, the traditional Mari religion strives to maintain and improve social harmony.
The Mari religion unites believers of the ancient Mari (Chimari) faith, admirers of traditional beliefs and rituals who have been baptized and attend church services (marla faith) and adherents of the religious sect “Kugu Sorta”. These ethno-confessional differences were formed under the influence and as a result of the spread Orthodox religion in the region. The religious sect “Kugu Sort” took shape in the second half of the 19th century. Certain inconsistencies in beliefs and ritual practices that exist between religious groups do not play a significant impact in the daily life of the Mari. These forms of the Mari religion form the basis of the spiritual and magical values of the Mari people.
The religious life of adherents of the Mari religion takes place within the village community, one or more village councils (lay community). All Mari can participate in all-Mari prayers with sacrifice, thereby forming a temporary religious community of the Mari people (national community)
.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Mari religion acted as the only social institution for the cohesion and unity of the Mari people, strengthening their national identity, and establishing a unique national culture. The current generation of believers, recognizing the cult of the One God of the Universe, is convinced that this God can be worshiped by all people, representatives of any nationality. Therefore, they consider it possible to attach to their faith any person who believes in his omnipotence.
Admirers of the Mari religion, respecting the rights and freedoms of representatives of other faiths, expect the same respectful attitude towards themselves and the religious (magical) actions performed. They believe that the worship of the One God - the Universe in our time is very timely and quite attractive for the modern generation of people interested in spreading the environmental movement and preserving pristine nature.
The Mari religion will continue to defend the rights and interests of its believers, protect their honor and dignity from any encroachment on the basis of the legislation adopted in the country.
Rituals, prayer meetings and mass prayers, depending on the significance and status (family, community, district, general, etc.), are initiated and carried out either by individual members of the community, or by decision of the entire community or its elders, and, if necessary, in agreement with other communities or their elders. An important part of their implementation is magical illumination or sacrifice, carried out in various forms and accompanied by special prayers and spells. The following items are blessed and donated: food, poultry, livestock or money.
Prayer meetings and mass prayers are held in accordance with the traditional calendar, which the community establishes according to tradition and internal agreement. The calendar necessarily takes into account the position of the moon and then the sun.
The family is the basis of human society, one of the foundations of human existence and society. Marriage is recognized as sacred and its dissolution is condemned. The most important is the relationship between generations - the veneration of elders on the part of young people and the absolute responsibility of elders for the upbringing of new generations. Marriage with people of other faiths is not condemned in religious canons and depends entirely on the opinion of the person himself, his parents and family.
There are no restrictions on the marriage of a clergyman, except in cases where he himself imposes such a vow.
This attitude is responsible for the exceptional power of the Mari love spell.
An important part of personal development is participation in the life of the community through participation in its work and religious life. Participation in magical life is not limited to attending prayers, but also active participation in their organization, conducting rituals and ceremonies through direct performance of duties and obedience to elders. It is important for a follower of the Mari Traditional Religion to master both the forms and content of religious rituals, as well as the rules of conduct accepted in the community and stipulated in prayers and speeches accompanying the rituals.
The system of strong veneration of mothers by sons, the husbands in this family are also in strong dependence and subordination. The ritual is simple, to the point of disgrace, sons from childhood and husbands from the first days of marriage are drunk with their urine, periodically and regularly. The effect and result is amazing. Love spells sorry, for such a “dirty topic” on menstrual blood and dead water they rest as if they were not wealthy and, in comparison with this system, they look like they have not succeeded... At the same time, it should be noted that as long as there is no opposition to this system, the man is healthy and quite promising, like an ordinary normal person, like each of us.
In Mari magic, almost most of the work is carried out on transfers, transfers, etc. In the course whatever goes have ash on hand, a firebrand, eggs, water. There is a very interesting ritual so as not to be fired from work. Two pine cones are taken, read to the client and his immediate superior, fastened together with melted wax, in some places tied tightly and repeatedly red thread, lie down in a secluded place. Despite the apparent naivety and simplicity of the rituals, it is enough effective methods according to the results.
About 15 years ago I had an incident that I still remember. No matter how they say that all Mari are pagans. 95% of the population are Orthodox, baptized. And excuse me, the effect of magic is actually weakened. There is a small percentage who are truly pagans.
This is the percentage that I had to get involved with at one time. The girl was getting ready to get married, they came to make a match. At the same time, one of the “compassionate” neighbors planted a well-read firebrand. We didn’t have time to sit down at the table, neither drink nor eat. A scandal began with a fight in which the BRIDE stabbed the groom. This bride was my client. That’s the naivety of magic. In Zvenigorod, for example, there is a general passion for working on water. Under Maple Mountain they prefer ash.
Basically, in linings, underlays, overlays, overlays, etc. everything goes, starting from the husks of seeds, moss, eggs, adding water from a dead person or simply from a sick person in order to transfer the disease to another person. Millet, firebrands, ash work very well. The magic of the Mari and Chuvashia is fully adapted to everything , what is at hand in everyday life. Hair, nails, etc. I know a woman who bets people money on cockroaches. You know, it works and it’s really normal, they are first read and buried in the ground in a jar, the procedure is repeated several times. Mari, for example, they really like to read and sew damage into the seams of pillows, the main thing is when they have time. They like to work on pins and needles. Chuvash magic is very widespread in throwing woven knots into someone else's house, knot to knot.. All linings and throws are usually recommended if it is metal with a recitation, place it in salt water before throwing it away. Read off the combustible material and burn it. I recommend it to my clients, bring it to me and send it back through the cemeteries.
I would like to raise a question. Almost always all linings, etc. have a goal orientation. And when they say that another person stepped, took or ate. This should not work, because he was not the object of the work and the order. True, this does not always happen as we would like. First, in any case, the work is dispersed into the environment. Any well-read, made, poured system in the physical world is in any case not located in a closed space. Second, by similar in principle, attracts like. A person with the same sins or problems turned out to be at the wrong time at the wrong hour. The effect of damage is weakened, but it begins to be present. Third, family ties: son-father, mother-daughter. I had a case when a drunk friend of a mother, a girl client, whom the mother and daughter were escorting home after a party. Offended by something in a drunken delirium, she began to curse her friend, and her friend’s daughter led her by the arm. The curse passed, the mother was drunk, at least she , that. It touched on a family connection, mother-daughter. From that moment on, the girl received epilepsy syndrome. The epilepsy itself did not fully go away, but the syndrome with seizures entered and was firmly established. After working with the girl, that woman died, but the syndrome and I She was filmed for several more months after that.
