The value of the sun in ancient mythology. Sun in religion and mythology

Smolnikova Daria Grade 5

The work was done by a 5th grade student. The paper analyzes the attitude of ancient people to the sun, considers the Gods of the Sun in different religions.

Download:

Preview:

MOU average comprehensive school ATAMANOVKA

UO MR Chitinsky District Zabaykalsky Krai

Research work

The image of the sun in early religions.

Leader: Chugunova Olga Pavlovna, 13th category

Atamanovka, 2013

Introduction

You shine so beautifully, the Sun,

On the bright surface of the sky, full of living life,

The beginning of life itself…

Amenhotep 4, 14th century BC

How sad on a cold rainy day without the sun! And how we rejoice when it finally peeps through the clouds.

The significance of the Sun for life on Earth has been felt by man since ancient times. To ancient people, it seemed to be a powerful being, on which everything depended: if there were no Sun, there would be no plants, no animals, no man.

Thousands of years ago, people saw, as we do today, that every morning the Sun rises, travels its daily path through the sky and sets below the horizon. But why this happens, they did not know. So there are different legends.

Ancient people compared everything they saw in the sky with themselves, with parts human body. So, the inhabitants of ancient Africa believed that the Sun is a person whose armpits glow. He raises his hand - it becomes light, the day comes, lowers his hand, goes to bed - night comes. The ancient Chinese thought that the universe was the body of a giant that grew for nearly 17,000 years until the sky separated from the earth. And when the giant died, his left eye became the Sun, his right eye became the Moon, and his voice became thunder.

These legends may seem naive to some, but in each of them there is an attempt to explain the mysterious phenomena of nature. Many more years passed before people received reliable information about the Sun, stars and planets.

Is it possible, based on myths and legends, to describe the worldview ancient man, the place of the heavenly body in the ideas of ancient people? This is what I will try to explain in my work.

The purpose of my work: to show the role of the sun in ancient religions, to find out how plausible these myths were.

My work consists of parts:

1. Relevance of the topic.
2. Moloch - biblical sun god
3. Yarilo - slavic god Sun.
4. Amon-Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god.
5. Conclusion.

Apollo

Apollo - the god of the Sun and Music among the ancient Romans, who adopted faith in him from the Greeks. Apollo son of Zeus and the Titanides Leto, twin brother of Artemis, onefrom major gods Olympic pantheon. Golden-haired, silver-eyed guardian god of herds, light (sunlight was symbolized by his golden arrows), sciences and arts, god-healer, leader and patron of the muses (for which he was called Musaget), predictor of the future, roads, travelers andsailors, also Apollo cleansed the people who committed the murder. Personified the Sun (and his twin sister Artemis-Moon).

A later mythological tradition ascribes to Apollo the qualities of a divine healer, guardian of the flocks, founder and builder of cities, and a seer of the future. In the classical Olympic pantheon, Apollo is the patron saint of singers and musicians, the leader of the muses. His image is becoming brighter and brighter, and the name is constantly accompanied by the epithet Phoebus (ancient Greek Phoibos, purity, brilliance, (“radiant” - in Greek mythology). The complex and controversial image of Apollo is explained by the fact that Apollo was originally a pre-Greek deity "Probably Asia Minor. Its deep archaism is manifested in close connection and even identification with the plant and animal world. The constant epithets of Apollo are laurel, cypress, wolf, swan, raven, mouse. But the significance of the archaic Apollo recedes into the background compared to its meaning The cult of Apollo in classical ancient mythology absorbs the cult of Helios and even crowds out the cult of Zeus.

Miter

Miter, in ancient Persian and ancient Indian mythology, the god of treaties and friendship, the defender of truth. Mitra was a light: he raced on a golden chariot-sun drawn by four white horses across the sky.

He had 10,000 ears and eyes; wise, he was distinguished by courage in battle. This god could bless those who worshiped him, granting them victory over enemies and wisdom, but did not show mercy to enemies. As the god of fertility, he brought rain and caused the growth of plants. According to one of the ancient legends, Mithra, being the sun to people, created a connection between Ahuramazda and Angro Mainyu, the lord of darkness. This assumption was based on the understanding of the role of the Sun as a sign of the constant transition of states of light and darkness.

The ancients believed that Mithra emerged from a rock at birth, armed with a knife and a torch. The spread of his cult is evidenced by the paintings in underground tombs, almost all of which are dedicated to the murder of the bull Geush Urvan, from whose body all plants and animals appeared.

It was believed that the regular sacrifice of bulls to Mithra ensured the fertility of nature. The cult of Mithra was very popular outside of Persia, especially the Roman legions revered him.

Tonatiu

Tonatiu in Aztec mythology is the god of the sky and the sun, the god of warriors. Manages the 5th, current, world era. He was depicted as a young man with a red face and fiery hair, most often in a sitting position, with a solar disk or half-disk behind his back. To maintain strength and preserve youth, Tonatiu must receive the blood of victims every day, otherwise he may die while traveling at night through the underworld. Therefore, every day his path to the zenith was accompanied by the souls of sacrificed animals and warriors who fell in battle. According to the Aztecs, the universe went through several eras during which various gods were the Sun. In the current, fifth, era, it was Tonatiu under the calendar name of Naui Olin.

The Anthropological Museum in Mexico houses the famous Aztec calendar "Stone of the Sun" - a huge basalt monolith with a diameter of 3.5 meters and a weight of 24.5 tons. It used to be colored. It reflects the ideas of the ancients about the distant past. In the center of the stone is depicted Tonatiu Maya, the Sun god of the present era. On the sides are the symbols of the four previous eras.

Stone of the Sun - " Aztec calendar”, a monument of Aztec sculpture of the 15th century, is a basalt disk with carvings representing years and days.

In the central part of the disc is depicted the face of the sun god Tonatiu. In the stone of the Sun, they found a symbolic sculptural embodiment of the Aztec idea of ​​time. The Sun Stone was found in 1790 in Mexico City, and is now kept in the Museum of Anthropology.

The Aztec culture was the last link in a long chain of advanced civilizations that flourished and declined in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The oldest of these, the Olmec culture, developed on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the 14th-3rd centuries. BC.

Moloch

Moloch is the name of a Semitic deity often found in the Bible. Being a common noun, it was applied to various deities, mainly to the patrons of a city or tribe, for example, among the Ammonites (Milkom - "their king", 3 Kings 11, 7) and the inhabitants of Tyre (Melkart - "king of the city"). Moloch called the supreme god and the Jewish plains; the Greeks identify him with Kronos, the Romans with Saturn. Moloch is the pagan god of nature, in particular, warmth and vital fire, manifested in the Sun. The human sacrifices characteristic of the Phoenician religion were performed in honor of Moloch precisely through the burnt offering, and the most expensive was offered to him, as the supreme god. The most pleasant victims were considered children of noble families; hecatombs of them were especially frequent in cases of extreme danger (for example, during the siege of Carthage by Agathocles), but in ordinary times they were not uncommon; e.g. the Bible mentions the "leading through the fire" of children in the valley of Hinnom (gehenna), in honor of Moloch, under the wicked Jewish kings. The children were laid on the outstretched arms of the idol, which had the face of a calf, a fire was burning below; the screams were drowned out by dancing and the sounds of ritual music. Traditionally, Moloch was depicted as a red-hot, strong-horned Bull, into whose fiery womb they threw sacrificed babies and children (“guided through the fire”). However, later (in the era of the early Middle Ages) Moloch began to be identified with his messenger (herald) - the "Horned Owl", symbolizing omniscience and all-penetration (the owl sees in the darkness and has a viewing angle of 270 degrees). It is this Owl - a giant 12-meter stone idol (Great Owl, of course, with horns) installed in the center of the Bohemian Grove on the shore of the lake behind the altar, on which the ritual cremation of the "Oppressive Care" is performed. In the Bohemian Club itself, the analogy with Moloch is not particularly hidden: “The Oppressive Care and its creations are nothing more than a dream. Just as Babylon and beautiful Tyre have sunk into oblivion, she will also disappear” (the words of the Third Priest in “The Cremation of Oppressive Care”). However, no “purity of faith” can be traced among the “bohos”: priests in black and red cassocks, clearly borrowed from the mysteries of the druids, calmly walk around the Canaanite idol. The tree faerie Hamadreyada has the same Celtic roots.

Yarilo

The bright sun after the winter death of nature was completely different. In April, the spring holidays of the revival of life began. In the villages of the Slavs, a young red-haired rider on a white horse appeared. He was wearing a white mantle, a wreath of spring flowers on his head, he held rye ears in his hand, urged his horse with his bare feet. This is Yarilo. His name, derived from the word "yar", has several meanings: 1) piercing spring light and warmth; 2) young, impetuous and uncontrollable force; 3) passion and fertility. Yar is a stream of water rapidly rushing during the spring flood. Ardent means quick-tempered, enraged. Yaritsa - a field of wheat. In a word, all this time indulges in the violent joys of life, sometimes even excessive and unsafe. It happened that at the Yarila holiday, the guys, because of some beauty, staged a real massacre.

At the celebration, they chose a bride for Yarila and named her Yarilikha. The girl was dressed in all white, her head was decorated with a wreath and, tied to a lonely standing tree, they danced around her and sang songs.

The second time Yarila was honored closer to the middle of summer. The youth gathered outside the village, in a special place - "Yarylin's pleshka". Here, the festivities were noisy all day long, the people ate, sang, danced and honored the young man and girl in white clothes, decorated with bells and bright ribbons - Yarila and Yarilikha. With the onset of darkness, numerous "Yarilin fires" were lit. Sometimes the festivities ended with the "funeral" of Yarila and his bride - straw effigies with clay masks were taken out into the field and left there or thrown into the water. By this, people seemed to say: “Go wild and that’s enough, it’s time and honor to know.” Yes, and there was no time to have fun and dance anymore - every day more and more work was added in the field.

The name of Yarila is preserved in the names of many Slavic villages. These are Yarilovichi, Yarilovaya Grove and the Yaryn River in Belarus, Yarilovo Field in the Kostroma Region, Yarilov Valley in the Vladimir Region.

God RA (RE)

This is the supreme god, standing at the origins of all things. The lord of infinity, the creator of heaven and earth, he preceded the world and created himself.

Whatever form he takes and whatever name he is called, RA

(In a different transcription - Re) is one of the main gods Egyptian pantheon. He was born of his own free will from the primary ocean, ascended the primary hill in Heliopolis and illuminated the benben stone, which became the prototype of future obelisks. Ra is associated with creation, whether we are talking about the creation of the world or about the annual spring revival of nature. He is revered as a creator and patron. He is the lord of the seasons, as well as the judge of the divine and earthly worlds.

Ra is a many-faced god. His images are different depending on the city, era, and even on the time of day!

During the day, Ra is depicted as a man crowned with a solar disk. He can also take the form of a lion, a jackal, or a falcon. When Ra embodies the rising sun, he becomes a child or a white calf whose skin is adorned with black spots.

At night, Ra takes the form of a ram or a man with a ram's head. He can also be depicted as a cat killing a snake. Different names correspond to each image of Ra throughout the day: Khepri - the rising sun, Ra - the midday sun, Atum - the sunset sun.

Ra takes many different forms like the sun. After all, the sun during one day continuously moves across the sky and is transformed, which means that this should be characteristic of the god who embodies the luminary.

Like the sun, shedding its beneficial rays on the earth, Ra allows the world to exist and develop. Without Ra, as well as without the sun, there is no life: he is considered the father of all gods and the creator of all people.

Ra laid the foundation for the entire Universe. He gave birth to Shu (Air) and Tefnut (Goddess of moisture). From them came a new pair: Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky). From this couple, four more gods were born who went down in history: Osiris and Isis (good beginning), Seth and Nephthys (evil beginning). Together the gods form the so-called ennead, "nine".

Every morning, Ra rises in the East, accompanied by the sounds of singing and dancing. He opens his radiant eye, and boards the Day Boat of Mandzhet, which will sail across the sky until evening. And now Ra arrives in the West. He transfers to the Night Rook (Mesektet), which will take him through the underworld: the realm of the night, full of dangers, where death lives. Ra takes the form of a ram or a man with a ram's head. During this nocturnal voyage, Ra revives Osiris. Thanks to the funeral rituals, during which the body was embalmed, each deceased becomes a potential "Osiris". And every Egyptian dreams of this: to be resurrected for a new life by the good god Ra, as happened with the god Osiris.

Nut was carrying five babies in her womb when Shu separated her from Geb. Ra, enraged by the obstacle on his way across the sky, cruelly took revenge on the spouses. He said that children could not be born in any of the twelve months of the year. Nut was doomed to certain death. But, fortunately, Thoth, the god of wisdom and science, intervened. He played Luna at craps and won five extra days. He added them to the calendar, and Nut was allowed to be pregnant. Thus reason triumphed over vengeance, and love over anger. Since then moon calendar(the god Thoth) coexists with the sun (the god Ra). Ra was very unhappy that he could not get the upper hand, but was forced to accept. It's been a long time. The aging Ra faced the disobedience of people. After talking to the family, he turned his eye on the people. This divine eye turned into a lioness, which exterminated the rebels who had hidden in the desert. The lioness is associated with the goddess Hathor. She was insatiable. To stop the carnage, Ra poured a heady drink around the lioness, which made her forget about the persecution.

The cult of the god Ra very early spread throughout Egypt. Sanctuaries were built for Ra, he had his own priests and vast lands to “satiate” him

But Ra faced opponents of his culture, who forced the people to accept other gods. The importance of the god Amun increased. So, under the pharaohs Ramses, the lands of the sanctuary of Ra made up only a sixth of the lands of Amon. But the cult of Ra did not disappear, although it became less pronounced. During the reign of Amenhotep 4 (Akhenaton), the sun Ra reappeared on the scene. Only the name and appearance of God has changed. He became Aten and retained only the incarnation in the form of a solar disk. Amenhotep 4 even took the name Akhenaten ("pleasing to the Aten"). But the return to the cult of Ra did not last long. Akhenaten's successor, Tutankhaten regained the name of Amun and became Tutankhamun, making the cult of Amun an official cult. But Ra, even receding into the background, remained a revered god and continued to shine in the firmament of Egypt.

Ra guards the pharaoh in the afterlife. But Osiris and his cult invaded Ra's place. Osiris rules in world of the dead, but he must share this power with Ra, because both gods are two faces of one great "divine soul."

Abu-Ghurab, south of Cairo, was one of the largest places of worship of Ra. The ruins that have survived to this day do not allow us to imagine the size of the five temple complexes that the pharaohs of the 5th dynasty erected in honor of the sun god. The largest of them were built at the behest of Niuserra. The first sun temple dedicated to Ra is located in Abusir. It was erected under Pharaoh Userkaf, the founder of the 5th dynasty (approximately 2500 BC). Heliopolis is the ancient Greek name for the capital of the cult of Ra. During the era of the reign of the pharaohs, this city bore the name of Junu. In Junu, there were at least ten shrines and many obelisks dedicated to Ra. God Ra was honored in other sanctuaries, for example, in Khmun, Nekhen, Dendera, Edfu and Karnak.

And Pharaoh Khafre consolidated the tradition according to which all pharaohs were considered the sons of the Sun, that is, God.

The life path of Ra begins when he rises above the horizon in the morning. This is Khepri - Ra, "becoming", or "one who has arisen from himself." It is from him that everything begins and is reborn. Rising to the zenith, he becomes Ra - Khorakhti. Although it resembles Horus (with the head of a falcon), it is nevertheless one of the forms of Ra. He is the ruler of the sky that he crosses. Having reached the evening, the aging Atum-Ra sometimes takes the form of a man with a ram's head. He is holding a scepter was and ankh cross . It can also be depicted as a cat.

Conclusion

From the earliest times, mankind has noted the important role of the Sun - a bright disk in the sky, carrying light and heat.

With its life-giving power, the Sun has always evoked feelings of worship and fear in people. The peoples, closely connected with nature, expected from him gracious gifts - harvest and abundance, good weather and fresh rain, or punishment - bad weather, storms, hail.

In many prehistoric and ancient cultures The sun was revered as a deity. The cult of the Sun occupied an important place in the religions of the civilizations of the Egyptians, Incas, Aztecs.

Our ancestors did not know that the Sun is the only star solar system, around which other objects of this system revolve: planets and their satellites, dwarf planets and their satellites, asteroids, meteorites, comets and cosmic dust. And the primary knowledge about the celestial body was fantastic and fabulous.

Our mood, desires, emotions depend on the sun. The sun makes it possible to grow fruits and vegetables, because most living organisms on Earth exist thanks to the sun. This is what ancient people knew about the sun and therefore revered it and believed in its power.

Bibliography:

V. Kalashnikov. Gods of the ancient Slavs. Moscow, 2009

Magazine "Secrets of the Gods of Egypt", 2012, issue No. 2.

Internet resources:

A. Khvoshchova. Solar Gods. 2010

1. Relevance of the topic.
2. Apollo is the ancient Greek god of the sun.
3. Mithra is the ancient Persian and ancient Indian sun god.
4. Tonatiu is the Aztec sun god.

   Hypothesis: Is it possible, based on myths and legends, to describe the worldview of an ancient person, the place of a heavenly body in the ideas of ancient people? This is what I will try to explain in my work. The purpose of my work: to show the role of the sun in ancient religions, to find out how plausible these myths were.

   Apollo - the ancient Greek God of the Sun Mythological tradition ascribes to Apollo the qualities of a divine healer, guardian of herds, founder and builder of cities, seer of the future.

   Mitra - the ancient Persian and ancient Indian god of the sun Mithra, in ancient Persian and ancient Indian mythology, the god of treaties and friendship, the defender of truth. Mitra was a light: he raced on a golden chariot-sun drawn by four white horses across the sky.

   Tonatiu - the god of the Sun among the Aztecs Depicted as a young man with a red face and fiery hair, most often in a sitting position, with a solar disk or half-disk behind his back. To maintain strength and preserve youth, Tonatiu must receive the blood of victims every day, otherwise he may die while traveling at night through the underworld. Therefore, every day his path to the zenith was accompanied by the souls of sacrificed animals and warriors who fell in battle.

   Moloch - the biblical god of the Sun Moloch is the pagan god of nature, in particular - warmth and vital fire, manifested in the Sun. The human sacrifices characteristic of the Phoenician religion were performed in honor of Moloch precisely through the burnt offering, and the most expensive was offered to him, as the supreme god. The most pleasant victims were considered children of noble families.

   Yarilo - the Slavic God of the Sun The bright sun after the winter death of nature was completely different. In April, the spring holidays of the revival of life began. In the villages of the Slavs, a young red-haired rider on a white horse appeared. He was wearing a white mantle, a wreath of spring flowers on his head, he held rye ears in his hand, urged his horse with his bare feet. This is Yarilo. His name, derived from the word "yar", has several meanings: 1) piercing spring light and warmth; 2) young, impetuous and uncontrollable force; 3) passion and fertility. Yar is a stream of water rapidly rushing during the spring flood.

   Amon-Ra - the ancient Egyptian God of the Sun Whatever his appearance and whatever name he was called, RA is one of the main gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He was born of his own free will from the primary ocean, ascended the primary hill in Heliopolis and illuminated the benben stone, which became the prototype of future obelisks. Ra is associated with creation, whether we are talking about the creation of the world or about the annual spring revival of nature. He is revered as a creator and patron. He is the lord of the seasons, as well as the judge of the divine and earthly worlds.

   Conclusion Since the earliest times, humanity has noted the important role of the Sun - a bright disk in the sky, carrying light and heat. With its life-giving power, the Sun has always evoked feelings of worship and fear in people. The peoples, closely connected with nature, expected from him gracious gifts - harvest and abundance, good weather and fresh rain, or punishment - bad weather, storms, hail. In many prehistoric and ancient cultures, the Sun was revered as a deity. The cult of the Sun occupied an important place in the religions of the civilizations of the Egyptians, Incas, Aztecs.

The veneration of the sun among the ancient Slavs is not in doubt. Without heat and light, life can not exist, at the same time, the sun has destructive force in the absence of elementary safety rules.

The sun is the source of life energy

The veneration of the heavenly sanctuary is reflected in ancient myths, tales, legends, fairy tales, prayers and conspiracies.

There are also solar (solar) symbols endowed with protective power.

Four faces of the sun god among the Slavs

The image of the sun can be found everywhere. On children's drawings, household items, bedding, clothes, amulets.

The sun god among the Slavs has 4 faces or hypostases corresponding to the seasons. Each season, the sun represents a different god.

Each has its own character and specific image:

autumn - .

The ancient Slavs respected the commandments of each sun god and in honor of each of them there was a day of celebration (celebration).

god of the cold winter sun

God Khors personifies the winter sun.

The image of Horse: a middle-aged man dressed in a sky (azure) color cloak. He wore a shirt and trousers made of coarse woven linen.

The time of the god of the winter sun: the time of the influence of Hors is the period between the winter and spring solstice. The winter solstice falls at the end of January, which is reflected in the celebration of the modern new year.

According to some sources, the sun god of winter time is Kolyada.

And spring is observed in the twentieth of March. Shrovetide is a modern holiday - seeing off winter. On this day, the god of the winter sun hands over the reign to the young and hot Yarila.

Lord of the spring sun and fertility

Yarilo is the sun god of the Slavs, personifying the rebirth of nature after winter. The patron saint of the spring sun is rightfully considered the god of love and fertility.

Yarilo, god of the spring sun among the Slavs

The image of Yarilo: A young fair-haired young man with blue eyes riding a fiery horse. The attribute of the windy god of the spring sun is a bow with arrows with which he protects the earth from the cold.

The power of Yarilo: the power of the Slavic god of the spring sun extends to the awakening of nature and passionate violent love. The time of influence is from the spring equinox (March 22) to the summer solstice (June 20).

Honoring and celebrating Yarilo in modern times correlates with Shrovetide. On the day of the summer solstice, games and dances were also held in honor of the god of the spring sun and fertility.

Yarovik - Symbol of the god Yarilo.

Symbol - yarovik. The strength of the Yaril sign lies in:

protection from evil

increase in male strength,

restoring harmony and expended energy

as a symbol of the wealth of fertility (healthy and strong offspring).

After Dazhdbog comes into power.

Lord of the Summer Sanctuary

The god of the summer sun Dazhdbog occupied an important place in the pantheon of Slavic gods. Time of influence from summer solstice to autumn. During this period, it is associated with suffering (work in the field).

The time of Dazhdbog is the height of summer.

Image of Dazhdbog. This pagan god the suns were depicted in golden armor with a fire shield in their hands. Among other gods, he stands out for his greatness and directness. The ancient Slavs believed that Dazhdbog moves across the sky on a magical chariot harnessed by 4 winged golden-maned horses.

Strength: Dazhdbog's strength also extended to people under his protection. They turned to him at dawn with a request for a successful resolution of any matter.

The symbol of the pagan god of the sun - the solar square, helps to achieve success.

Slavic god of the autumn sun

Svarog as the master of the autumn sun.

Svarog is considered the patron saint of the autumn sun. The time of the first night frosts, the time of harvest and preparation for winter. Svarog was the progenitor of the first gods, he created the earth and taught people to plow the field, gave a plow. Considered the patron saint of blacksmiths.

Image of Svarog. AT Slavic mythology Svarog is represented as a blacksmith. During the war, he is portrayed as a warrior with a sword in his hands.

The time of the warm sun from autumn to winter solstice.

Slavic sun gods replace each other from one solstice to another and correspond to a certain season.

Ancient sign of the sun

At any ancient religion The sun occupied an important place in human life. It symbolizes the future and the present, life and warmth are associated with it, it is an inexhaustible source of strength and goodness.

Thanks to the observation of the sun, people learned to predict the future, made a calendar, learned to predict the weather and the revelry of the elements.

Amulets with symbols of the sun are endowed with colossal protective energy and are available for everyone to wear.

And The image of the sun is present in rock art, applied to tools, weapons, clothing, jewelry. Images have varietyin writing, however sacred meaning always one.

The symbol of the sun personifies the naturalness and continuity of the passage of time in all cultures of the world. In addition to the general meaning, each culture has its own sacred meaning of solar signs.

What do the rays of the sun symbolize?

AT amulets often use the image of the rays of the sun, what do they mean:

the closedness of the rays into a single circle personifies the continuity and cyclicality of life, being.

4 rays symbolize fire as the source of life.

6 rays - a sign of the Thunderer Perun.

8 - powerful energy of the sun.

When the rays are twisted in the direction or counterclockwise, it also has its own sacred interpretation in different amulets.

Ladinets

Feminine refers to solar symbols. It has a powerful energy of protection from the evil eye and damage, helps women to take place in motherhood. A sign was presented to protect women from illness, sadness, impotence and an evil word. It is also a symbol of fertility.

solar cross

The solar cross amulet can be made of wood or metal.

Slavic amulet solar cross personifying spiritual harmony and connection with ancestors refers to solar symbol. Also, the power of the amulet is aimed at transmitting the wisdom of the ancestors to the future generation.

In ancient times, the sign "solar cross" was applied to the clothes and weapons of warriors, priests, sorcerers, mentors in various sciences wore them as amulets. Wearing a talisman helps to reveal talent, transfer knowledge, find harmony with the outside world.

You can make a charm from ash or maple wood. More durable amulets can be created from silver or copper.

Suitable for people on the path of self-development and self-knowledge, as well as for all those who in one way or another teach the younger generation (teachers).

The power of the amulet is important for those who want to restore the family connection. Helps in finding ancestors and studying their way of life. Suitable for art historians, archaeologists, historians.

Kolovrat

The amulet Kolovrat refers to the solar symbol, is a male talisman.

The Kolovrat amulet has considerable power and is widely used among men of our time. The appearance of the amulet: 8 rays closed in a circle. The symbol represents the continuity of movement. Has great strength.

The talisman with the image of the Kolovrat sign attracts good luck, helps to maintain health (mental and physical), promotes good luck in business and love, and is also a sign of fertility.

The solstice is a symbol of 3 gods of the Slavic sun at once: Yarilo, Dazhdbog and Khors.

If the rays are directed clockwise, the amulet is called a thunderbolt, and against - a thunderbolt.

The thunderstorm personifies the summer solstice, and the winter solstice.

The solstice refers to the protective signs of warriors. Applied to weapons and clothing. Helped me out in battle.

Currently, the symbols are also male, helping to achieve success in the goal. Suitable for men who are on the protection of the state and land (military, police, Ministry of Emergency Situations, firefighters) or businessmen.

Black Sun

The black sun amulet is a connection with the other world.

The black sun amulet refers to a strong symbol that is a conductor between the world of reality and the other world.

In ancient times, the sign of the black sun was used only by strong magicians, priests and magicians. Wearing this badge thoughtlessly is not permissible.

“And the white light is from the face of God,
The sun is righteous - from his eyes,
The moon is bright - from the crown of the head,
Dark night - from the back of the head,
Morning and evening dawn -
from the eyebrows of God,
Often the stars - from the curls of God!
Spiritual verses of the "Pigeon Book of Forty Pyaden"

The sun god in Slavic mythology
The attitude of the Slavs to the World of the Gods developed over many centuries. It was not forced and artificially imposed against the will of people, but was formed gradually on the basis of their spiritual growth and development.

Since the main activities in those distant times were agriculture and cattle breeding, the deities to whom people turned with prayers were directly related to everything on which the life and well-being of the peasants depended. Special place, certainly occupied space phenomena, not only because of their scale, but also because of their practical benefits, allowing the development of various systems of orientation in time and space.

“The pagan religion of the Slavs was based on common Aryan features. At the head of the Slavic deities was an indefinite deity of the sky - the mysterious Svarog, similar to the Pelasgian Uranus and the Indian Varuna ... there were Khors, Dazh-god, Volos, Svyatovit, Kupalo - solar deities, and Perun, the god of thunder and lightning. All these were Svarozhichs, children of Svarog. Then there are other elemental deities…”

Svarog
The main God, personifying the Sky, was rightfully considered Svarog - the father of the most important gods of the Svarozhichs. His name is translated from various old Slavic languages means "heavenly circle" or "heavenly horn". The name reflects the association that arises in a person who observes the movement of stars during the night, when all the stars, as it were, crawl in one direction along a certain surface that resembles a curved cone with a fixed top - the North Star. In this regard, Svarog was more associated with the night sky, dotted with stars. The function of Svarog coincides with the function of the "firmament", which protects the Earth.
The personification of the daytime sky was considered the son of Svarog - Perun. True, in addition to this function, he also exercised control over the observance of all agreements that were concluded by people on Earth. They swore by his name, making certain promises. This makes the Slavic Perun related to the Zoroastrian Mitra, also the deity of the Sun. On one of the sculptures, Perun is depicted with a silver head (celestial dome) and a golden mustache (a symbol of the solar trajectory).

K. Vasiliev. Sventovit, 1971.
An important place in the pagan cult of the Slavs was occupied by Sventovit, also the son of Svarog. This is the deity of light, whose name is interpreted as "knowing all that is visible." The function of Sventovit is to make objects visible and give them some color that changes depending on the illumination of the objects, i.e. he "answered" the question why different objects are painted in different colors and why this color changes with the time of day. Each of the four faces known from the description of the statue of Sventovit corresponds to one of the times of the day: dawn, day, dawn, night (two female and two male characters).
Together, Svarog, Perun and Sventovit form the most important triune deity Triglav, who has power over all three kingdoms - heaven, earth and the underworld. Triglav is supreme god the entire pagan religious system.
The next few important gods are directly related to the Sun itself.

V. Korolkov. Dazhbog
The sun, warming everything with living rays, connecting the Earth to the light of Heaven, is called Dazhbog in pagan Russia and is the son of Heaven-Svarog. “And after Svarog, his son reigned by the name of the Sun, they call him Dazhbog ... The Sun is the king, the son of Svarogov, the hedgehog is Dazhbog, for the husband is strong ...” - says the Ipatiev Chronicle. Dazhbog is the main deity of the Sun, the giver of all that is good. Asking Heaven for blessings or wishing each other well, people said: “God forbid!”. And since in the Old Russian language the word “give” sounds like “dazh”, it turned out: “God forbid!”.
In the rich figurative perception of the peasants, Dazhbog-Sun was seen as a "fiery heavenly bull", the Moon as a "celestial cow", and their cosmic union was a symbol of the birth of a new life. Dazhbog was considered in Slavic mythology and as the progenitor of the Russian people - "the life-giving god."
Ra is one of the oldest Slavic names for the sun god. The sun god Ra ruled the solar chariot for many thousands of years, taking the sun to the firmament. When he was tired, he turned into Surya, a sunny honey drink and Ra-river. After him, his son Khors began to rule the chariot of the Sun.
Khors in his view is somewhat similar to Dazhbog. This is the deity of the Sun, like a solar disk, the very one to whom Prince Vseslav "crossed the path":

“Vseslav-prince ruled the people,
lined the princes of the city,
and he himself roamed like a wolf in the night:
from Kyiv he roamed to the roosters of Tmutorokan,
to the great Hors, like a wolf, roamed the path ... "
"The Tale of Igor's Campaign"
Before morning, Horse rests on the sunny islands of Joy. In the morning, Matinee rushes to these islands on a white horse to wake the Sun, and then Hors takes the chariot with the Sun to heaven. And in the evening, when the Sun is leaning towards the horizon, Vechernik rides on a black horse, announcing that the Sun has left his chariot and gone to bed. The next day the cycle starts again. From the marriage of Khors with Zarya-Zarevnitsa, a daughter, Radunitsa, and a son, Dennitsa, were born.
Dennitsa, turning into a Falcon, flew through the skies and was proud of his father, the great Horse. “I want to fly higher than the Sun, rise higher than the stars and become like the Almighty!” - he was proud and sat in the chariot of the Sun. But Horse's horses did not listen to the inept driver. They carried the chariot, burning Heaven and Earth. And then Svarog launched lightning into the chariot, breaking it:

The storm howls and the thunder rumbles
The red sun does not rise...
Along the sea, along the quiet swell
the Falcon's body only floats...
"The Book of Kolyada", IV century

Dennitsa - "light-bearer", "son of the dawn", "carrier of light"
The act of Dennitsa, the son of Khors, corresponds to a similar myth about the fall of Phaethon, the son of Helios, in Greek mythology.
According to Slavic mythology, the entire Slavic race descended from the God of the Sun - the progenitor of Dazhbog, therefore, in those distant times, the Slavs were called nothing more than Dazhbog's grandchildren:

“Already, brothers, a gloomy time has come,
The desert has already covered the army.
There was an insult in the troops of Dazhbozh's grandson ... "
"The Tale of Igor's Campaign"
The “Laws of Svarog”, handed down to the Russian descendants by their Heavenly Father, speak of how society should be organized, instruct them on a righteous life, on honoring ancestors and observing traditions. The main Testament of Svarog - "avoid Falsehood, follow the Truth in everything" - means to follow the path of Light, Goodness, Truth and Righteousness, which in the Zoroastrian tradition corresponds to the Path of Arta.

Solstice and Months

Many other solar characters of Slavic mythology are associated with the cycle of the Sun, the Monthly Word and the passage of the luminary through the main calendar points. One of the gods is associated with each of the key points of the calendar, responsible for changes in the movement of the Sun and festivities dedicated to this event. These are Yarila, Kupala, Ovsen and Kolyada.
Opened the calendar, according to the ideas of the ancient Slavs, the day of the vernal equinox. From that time on, girls and children began to “click for spring”, for which they climbed onto the roofs of buildings, gathered on hillocks and shouted out spring songs:

Sun-bucket,
Look out, red, from behind the mountain-mountain!
Look out, Sunshine, until springtime!
Have you seen, little bucket, the red spring?
Did you, red one, meet your sister?

The son of Veles, Yaril (Yar), is associated with spring and the flaming Sun, with the awakening of nature and its spring flowering, which among the "calendar" gods stands out most clearly as a solar god. The Slavs dedicated the first month of spring to him - Beloyar (March). Yarila was portrayed as a young handsome man on a white horse and in a white robe, with a wreath of spring flowers on his head and ears of corn in his left hand.
All spring field work went under the sign of worship of this god. At the end of the sowing, on Yarilin Day, the most beautiful girl in the entire district was chosen for him as a bride. Yarilin's bride was decorated with the first spring flowers, seated on white horse and drove clockwise - "according to the sun", around the cultivated field. The youth sang songs, led round dances. All this was supposed to appease Yarila, encourage him to bring a good harvest to all the workers, and offspring to the house, for popular belief read: "Yarilo dragged all over the world: he gave birth to a field, he gave birth to people, he gave birth to children." It was believed that if Yarilo would "go around" the fields of grain growers every day, then there would be clear and warm days on Earth, bringing bread and prosperity to the plowmen's houses.
But Yarila is not only a farmer, he is also a brave warrior. The myth about the liberation of the beautiful girl Yarina from the smoke snake Lamia is associated with the name of Yarila. The analogue of Yarila and his feat are the Greek Perseus and the Christian George the Victorious.
The summer solstice is the crown of summer, the time of the highest power of the Sun. The main thing at this time was the ripening of the harvest, which was approached very responsibly, revering the Earth as a pregnant woman carrying a child in her womb. Until the rye was harvested, children and youth were not even allowed to "jump on the boards" - the simplest kind of swing, consisting of a board on a log. It was impossible to jump and jump, because Mother Earth at that time was “heavy”. This is the attitude towards Nature that the Russians had a thousand years ago!
People turned to Heaven and prayed to the Sun for the harvest, for good weather. For example, if the rains were charged, they requested:

Sunshine, show yourself! Red, gear up!
So that year after year the weather gives us:
Warm letechko, mushrooms in birch bark,
Berries in a basket, green peas.
Rainbow arc, don't let it rain
Come on Sunshine, little bell!
And as soon as the grain was harvested, the youth went to the Rye field to call:

Sun, sun, shine out the window,
Give the oats growth so that it grows to heaven,
Mother Rye,
To stand up as a wall!

Feast of Ivan Kupala
People lived in unity with Nature, with its rhythms. They rejoiced at life and dignified it.
By this time of the year in Russia there is a very ancient, beautiful and solemn holiday of Kupala.
Kupala is the holiday of Fire. The most honorable old people extracted “living fire” from wood by friction for the Kupala fire, which was bred on high hills or mountains. The fire of the Kupala fire was transferred to the hearth to protect the household from all misfortunes. As a symbol of the Sun, a lit wooden wheel was raised on a high pole. The healing power of Fire cleansed and protected people from infirmities, damage and conspiracies. Fire was considered the earthly substitute for the Sun.
During the summer solstice, the life-giving power of the Sun is most generously poured into all of nature and feeds all the elements with its fruitful fire. healing properties wild flowers and herbs were filled, they were collected in Kupala night. On the Kupala night, water was considered sacred in all open sources and reservoirs, and the morning dew had healing powers, so before dawn everyone - young and old - swam in the river and swung on the ground in the Kupala dew.
People amused themselves with games, fortune-telling, danced round the fire and sang Kupala songs. But most of all they believed that on the Kupala night, the fire of God Perun descends on the fern flower, and the green plant flares up with bright light, blooming at midnight for a few moments. Possession of a magic flower by a poor person was identified with wealth: with hidden treasures that “come out” of the Earth that night and can only get to the owner of a magic flower. The festive festivities ended with the meeting of the sunrise, in honor of which Kupala was celebrated, because the Sun brightly “plays” on the Kupala morning dawn - it doubles, triples and shimmers with multi-colored lights.

Avsen, Bausen, Ovsen, Tausen, Usen.
The autumnal equinox was not celebrated with such magnificent celebrations as other turning points in the cycle of the Sun, because it weakened very quickly at this time, and the day gave way to night. But the autumn festival in honor of the God of the Sun - Ovsen - still took place. At this time, they arranged the “name day of Ovin” in honor of Ovinnik, in another way they were called oats, and the whole next week - oats.
Autumn celebrations were associated with the loss of the “canopy of trees”, and the festival began “in the canopy” - at the house, when they walked on the straw on which the sleigh stood, which in those distant times served as a means for threshing. Sledges slid along the spread out ears, crushing the ears. Fresh straw was scattered on the floor in the hut. A huge Sheaf was placed in the Red Corner of the hut, the oldest person in the family was seated near it, who was considered the head of the celebration. All this - Sheaf, Straw, Grandfather or Baba - served as the last reminder of the departed Summer, and Autumn came into its own on this day. In the hallway stood a barrel of oatmeal mash, and the food was fresh bread and pies, pancakes and dumplings with cottage cheese, all kinds of dishes from the collected vegetables and fruits.
At its core, the Feast of Ovsen was a remembrance of the Creation of the World by the god Svarog, which is why Cottage cheese (or Stvarog) was one of the most important dishes. It was cooked on honey, with nuts and spices, served with milk and honey. Stvarog was a symbol of the “creation of matter”, and cottage cheese was the result of the interaction of the Heavenly and Earthly Forces - a gift sent down to man from above. “From the Heavenly Living Grass the Grass turned green, which was plucked by the Cows that gave Milk, but for the Grasses the Sun-Suriya is needed, and from the Milk the Sun-Suriya also creates Stvarog-Cottage Cheese”. From here, a religious attitude to cottage cheese was formed, which became a ritual dish at the main festivals of the ancient Slavs, and later passed into Christian cuisine. For example, for Easter, a “curd Easter” is prepared in the form of a pyramid.
In some places, this holiday was called the Rich Man, since this time is associated with the final harvest of bread and economic abundance, when even the poor had bread on the table. The rich man was personified by the peasants with the God of the Sun, Harvest, the son of Svarog and the husband of the Goddess of the Moon - Dazhbog, the trustee of plowmen and sowers. He was considered a God who gives wealth, abundance and prosperity. The symbol of the Rich Man or Dazhdbog in the house was a lubok filled with grain with a wax candle inserted into it. The Lubka was called “the rich man” and stood all year in the “honorary” corner under the icons.
In the chronicles, Dazhbog is called the ancestor of the Russians and the keeper of the keys to the Earth. Dazhbog closes the Earth for the winter and gives the keys to the birds, which, flying south at this time, take them with them to the summer kingdom. In the spring, the birds return the keys, and Dazhbog opens the Earth again.
On the days of the winter solstice or winter solstice, people returned with a vengeance to the glorification of the Sun. The "dying" autumn Sun was reborn into a new, strong and growing stronger day by day.

Kolyada was the main winter holiday. Imitating the Sun and, as it were, playing its mystery, people first extinguished all the fires in the hearths, and then produced a new fire. On the new fire, special breads and pies were baked, various treats were prepared. Feasts were held everywhere, which were called brotherhoods. Ovsen and Kolyada were called on them - two Deities who personified the life-giving forces of nature and transferred control to each other. Fortune-telling, which was divided into three parts, gave a mysterious color to the carol evenings: agricultural - about the future harvest, love - about the betrothed, and simply fortune-telling about the future fate. Fun, joyful, mysterious and mysterious were carol festivities.

The winter solstice - Karachun - foreshadowed the shortening of the night and the beginning of the "dying" of winter, drew a line under the past year and opened the two-week Svyatki. The atmosphere of Christmas fun was created by games, songs, dances, round dances and cheerful gatherings, which were usually interrupted by the arrival of mummers. The mummers went from house to house and praised their owners with their songs. The most ancient Slavic custom that has come down to our days is “driving a goat”, in which the goat was given a special magical role, foreshadowing the well-being and fertility of domestic animals. But why did the goat become the main symbol of Christmas carols and got into the most important rite that opens the year and is dedicated to the Sun-God? Perhaps it is no coincidence, because, as the old Belarusian proverb says, “a goat does not jump for nothing.” According to one of ancient legends It was the goat that God instructed to convey to people the message of immortality - that after death they would go to Heaven. According to another legend, from under the hooves of this animal, untold wealth could unexpectedly crumble on the ground: “Where a goat walks, it will give birth to life, where a goat with a foot, there is a life with a dig, where a goat with a horn, there is a haystack.” Like the "goat" there was also "driving a bear", personifying strength and health. After comic dances, comic scenes, ritual songs, the owners of the house generously presented the carolers.

Ancient Slavic calendar (Kolyada God's Gift) krg Svarog.
Who was so strong to fulfill such desires of the peasants? Certainly not a goat or a bear. They served only as an attribute, a messenger of the most ancient and powerful Slavic God of the Family, who was considered not only the guardian of farmers, but also giving life to all living things. One of his images was a phallic symbol that personified great power and creative energy, carrying an active masculine principle. Perhaps, the most common carol dance game “Tereshka's Marriage” was dedicated to him, which served as a prelude to the upcoming marriage season, when many couples really united by marriage.
They say that from the day of the winter solstice, the Sun seems to dress up in a festive sundress and kokoshnik, get into a cart and go to warm countries. In obedience to an old custom, in the evening people burned bonfires in honor of the Sun, and in the morning they went outside the outskirts and shouted as loudly as possible: “Sunshine, turn around! Red, fire up! Red sun, go on the road! Then they rolled a wheel from the mountains, saying: “The wheel is on fire, roll, come back with a red spring!”

Several chronicle and folk legends have survived to this day that the sun was revered by the Slavs.

The sun is the source of life on earth. In Slavic mythology, together with the month and individual planets, it is personified, endowed with the epithets “red”, “clear”, “hot”, etc. then reappear. On certain days it “marries” the earth (“plays”); the year of the Slavic farmer is subordinated to its annual cycle.

In the annals there are expressions that indirectly point to the ancient beliefs of our ancestors in the participation of the sun in human affairs: “the rays of the sun are not tolerating this” - “the sun perished and was like a month, but they say it unfamiliarly: we eat the sun.”

The sun was revered on the one hand, as a heavenly body, located in the middle of the world, illuminating everything, and as God, as the King-Sun. The Slavs represented his kingdom somewhere beyond the sea, in the land of eternal summer and eternal life, from where the seeds of life fly to us, and his chambers (mansions, palace, chamber) were located on high, sacred mountains. There is a legend: when the Sun is ready to leave its halls to take a daytime walk around the wide world, all the evil spirits gather and wait for its appearance, hoping to capture the deity of heavenly fire and kill him. But at one approach of the Sun, evil spirits scatter, feeling their impotence.

The sun god among the Slavs has 4 faces or hypostases corresponding to the seasons. Each season, the sun represents a different god.

Each has its own character and specific image:

• winter - Horse;
• spring - Yarilo;
• summer - Dazhdbog;
• autumn - Svarog.

The ancient Slavs respected the commandments of each sun god and in honor of each of them there was a day of celebration (celebration).

The idea of ​​the ancient Slavs about the Sun and the Earth are connected and inseparable. The sun was revered as the holy Ruler of heaven, earth and people. They believed that stars and winds, crops and weather depend on it; believed that the sun helps good people, punishes those who stumble. The sun was also considered the protector of orphans and the patron of family peace and happiness, so every family had to have his image. And the most interesting thing is that the Sun, as the lord of everything, was addressed with a prayer not only in trouble or illness, but constantly, every day.

The most popular slavic symbol The sun is Kolovrat. The Slavs believed that this amulet helps them, gives the strength and energy of the Sun itself, the health of the body and the strength of the spirit, protection from everything bad, good luck in good deeds and undertakings, as well as the fertility of the land and a rich harvest.

Since the Slavs noticed the dependence of the phase of the heavenly body on the change of seasons, a certain God was responsible for each season, in general, there were four of them:

• Horse - his time was from the winter solstice to the spring.
• Yarilo - he was responsible for the period from the spring solstice to the summer.
• Dazhdbog - he came into power, from the summer to the autumn solstice.
• Svarog - they revered him from the autumn solstice to the winter. Svarog - God of fire and sky.

Although according to some studies, the Slavic god of the sun is the son of Svarog. It is believed that the supreme deity Svarog gave birth to two sons: the Sun and Fire.

In any ancient religion, the sun occupied an important place in human life. It symbolizes the future and the present, life and warmth are associated with it, it is an inexhaustible source of strength and goodness.

Thanks to the observation of the sun, people learned to predict the future, made a calendar, learned to predict the weather and the revelry of the elements.

Amulets with symbols of the sun are endowed with colossal protective energy and are available for everyone to wear.

The image of the sun is present in rock art, applied to tools, weapons, clothing, jewelry. Images have a variety of inscriptions, but the sacred meaning is always the same.

The symbol of the sun personifies the naturalness and continuity of the passage of time in all cultures of the world. In addition to the general meaning, each culture has its own sacred meaning of solar signs.

The sun is a heavenly body, revered by the Slavs as a source of life, heat and light.

When studying a new subject of the NRK - Literature of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, we saw an unusual image of the sun, the image of the sun by the indigenous peoples of the North did not at all resemble the image we are used to. At the lessons of the surrounding world, we got acquainted with the image of the sun in our Russian culture, and both of these images were opposite. We wondered why?

The relevance of our study lies in revealing the influence of the nationality of the people and their living conditions on the image of the objects of the world around us.

The goal is to trace the changes in the image of the sun from the ancient Slavs to the present. Therefore, the object of research is the image of the Sun in creativity different peoples, and the subject is his image in Slavic literature and modern Russian literature.

I. Representations of the ancient Slavs about the sun

The church influenced popular ideas about the Sun. In ancient Russian literature, especially in epics, a prince was compared with the Sun: “Oh, you are a prince, Vladimir the Red Sun” or a hero, and in songs and lamentations of the 19th century. "bright" or "red sun" is a relative or just a loved one.

In folklore, the Sun is called clear and red, bright and holy, divine and righteous, kind and pure. In many Slavic traditions, the Sun was sworn and mentioned in curses. It appears in beliefs as a reasonable and perfect being, which is either itself a deity, or performs God's will. In folk beliefs, the Sun is the face, eye or word of God or the window through which God looks at the earth. According to Ukrainian beliefs, the Sun is a wheel from the chariot on which Elijah the prophet rides across the sky, and according to another version, the angels of God raise the Sun on their wings.

In Slavic beliefs, the Sun watches over the affairs of people from the sky and in the evening tells the Lord about them. At noon and before descending below the horizon, it slows down a bit and rests. At sunrise on Easter, the Sun "plays" (shimmers different colors), rejoicing at the resurrection of Christ, and on Ivan Kupala - bathing in water.

1. 1. The sun in oral folk art

Maybe that's why the Sun is often mentioned in proverbs and sayings. Not everyone will remember a fairy tale or sing a song about the Sun, but someday he will say a proverb and he himself will not notice that he mentioned the Sun in a conversation. Many proverbs appeared as a result of observing the life of nature and people, as a result of interest in how the sun appears in the sky.

▪ The sun rises, does not ask the master's clock.

▪ The sun is not waiting for us.

▪ The sun bakes red in my backyard too.

▪ The sun will come to our windows.

▪ Not all bad weather, and the red sun will peep through.

▪ When the sun is warm, when the mother is good.

According to folk beliefs, the sun descends at night underground or into the sea. In this regard, it, like the moon, in some cases is comprehended as the luminary of the dead. In the funeral lamentations, the swan girl is removed after death:

For the hills she is for the high,

For clouds, she is for walking.

To the red sun, a girl in a conversation,

By the light of the month, she is in the shore!

In Russian songs and riddles, the Sun is depicted in a girlish image: “The red girl looks in the mirror”, “The red girl looks out the window”. In Ukrainian carols, the master of the house is compared with the moon, his wife with the Sun, and the stars with their children; also in Belarusian wedding poetry, the month is a man, and the Sun is a woman. In a song from the Tambov province, a girl talks about herself:

My mother is a red sun,

And the father is a bright Moon,

My brothers are frequent Stars,

And the sisters are white Zoryushki.

In a Russian wedding song: "The moon is clear - the groom, the red sun - the bride." Russian riddles about the Sun:

▪ The red girl walks in the sky.

▪ Red, the girl looks out the window.

▪ I will get up early, white and ruddy; I will wash myself with dew, I will unravel the golden braids.

▪ As I ascend the mountains in a crown of gold, let me look with bright eyes, and man and beast will rejoice.

The Slavs turn to the image of the sun in children's folklore. In nursery rhymes, the image of the sun is mentioned in a diminutive version. In the invocations performed by children to stop the rain, the children of the Sun are mentioned:

Sunshine, sunshine

Look out the window!

Sunshine, dress up

Red, show yourself!

Children are waiting for you

The kids are waiting.

Sunny bucket!

Come up quickly

Light up, warm up

Calves and lambs

More little guys.

sun bell,

You get up early

Wake us up early

We run into the fields

We welcome spring!

1. 2. Artistic depiction of the sun

In rituals, folklore and folk art, the SUN was symbolized as a wheel, gold, a fire, a falcon, a horse or a deer, a human eye, etc. . , mainly in women's costume decorations. These are a circle, a cross in a circle, a wheel, a rosette, etc. Such motifs are common in the ornamentation of folk clothes and fabrics, in carvings on various parts of peasant houses, furniture, tools for spinning and weaving - Appendix 1.

A similar idea has been preserved in Slavic folklore. On famous annual holidays, the Slavs lit a wheel, which, according to medieval writers, was mistaken for a sacred image of the sun. “Russian settlers, meeting the spring sun during Shrovetide, carry a sleigh, in the middle of which a pillar is approved, and a spinning wheel is put on the pillar,” The Bulgarians called December “kolozheg”, that is, the month of the ignition of the solar wheel - the time when the Sun is born. In the Ishim district, people were talking about backward people: "They lived in the forest, prayed to the wheel." In folk songs they sang: “Wheel-wheel, sonny go uphill” - Appendix 2.

On the carved and painted gates of the Slovak peasant estate, the sunrise and sunset were depicted, shown in the form of a circle - appendix 3. On one gate pillar, the Morning Dawn is carved in the form of a humanoid figure with a golden head. There is a radiance above it, and even higher - the morning Sun, rolling along its path-arc. At the other end of the arc is the setting Sun, which is waiting for the Evening Dawn below, the evening radiance shimmers above her head. In the same place, in addition, a row of darkened suns is depicted, descending from the celestial arc. It is possible that these are dead suns, which are mentioned many times in Slavic folklore - Appendix 4.

You can find the features of the indigenous peoples of the North: Dolgans, Nenets and Evenks, in the image of the Northern Sun - Appendix 5.

In contemporary art, animation artists also do not bypass the theme of the Sun, depicting it as their fantasy and understanding of the nature of the sun tells them - Appendix 6 and 7.

Photographs of the sun also fascinate people, people shoot the sun from different angles, with special love - Appendix 8.

The Sun finds a special place in children's creativity. Children begin to draw the sun from a very young age and improve their skills throughout childhood - Appendix 9.

1. 3. The sun is a deity

Having studied these data, we came to the conclusion that in the life of the Slavs the sun was more than an image, the sun was a deity. In ancient Slavic mythology, the Sun appears in the form of two gods: Dazhdbog and Yarilo.

Dazhdbog - God of summer and happiness, also known as: Generous God. Its symbol is the Sun disk, golden in color. Dazhdbog is located in a golden palace on the land of eternal summer. Sitting on a throne of gold and purple, he is not afraid of shadows, cold or misfortune. He is a cheerful god and the loss of the throne does not bother him much, as long as good is rewarded and evil is punished. Finally, he is the patron saint of the twelve signs of the zodiac. With a daily appearance, Dazhdbog is very similar to a handsome young prince with a silver beard and golden mustache. As the day progresses, he gradually gets older, but every morning he rejuvenates again. Dazhdbog flies across the sky in a golden chariot trimmed with diamonds, pulled by a dozen white horses with golden manes breathing fire.

Yarilo - God of fertility, the cult of Yarila was accompanied by carnival games, dances.

Light and power God Yarilo

Our red sun

There is no more beautiful you in the world!

God grant light, warm summer.

And why were pancakes served at Shrovetide? This rite is associated with fire. To speed up the awakening of the Sun, people tried to help him climb higher into the sky, for this, Yarila - the sun was coaxed with pancakes, in a shape resembling a solar circle. This action was accompanied by the invocation:

red sun,

Get out on the road

Drive away the winter cold!

That is why our ancestors experienced, if not horror and fear of the Sun, then sincere respect for it. Traditions and superstitions associated with the Sun have survived to this day.

In the Vladimir province, at the sight of the rising, as well as the setting sun, the peasants took off their hats and devoutly baptized themselves "into the sun." They also prayed to him, being in the field, in forests or meadows. The sun or the east side, as a rule, are addressed in conspiracies:

I will stand on the damp earth,

I'll take a look at the east side,

As the red sun shone

Bakes moss swamps, black mud.

So she would bake, dry up about me.

1. 4. Superstitions related to the sun

There are many rules and prohibitions due to the worship of the Sun: do not turn your back to the Sun even while working in the field, do not relieve your need so that it can see the Sun, do not spit in its direction, otherwise darkness will reign, do not point your finger at it, otherwise gouge out his eye. After sunset, they did not lend anything from the house, especially fire, so that happiness and prosperity would not leave the family, they would not throw garbage into the street, they would not repair a new carpet of bread.

The ancient Slavs tried to explain where the Sun came from, so myths and legends about the Sun were born. In the legend "The Birth of the Sun", the sun appears as a negative and evil hero, but this is how people tried to explain the appearance of the Solar disk in the sky.

And then the sun appeared and began to kill people and burn their houses. Although the people gathered stones and stakes, the sun was killing them, and the people could not do anything to him.

II. The Sun in Modern and Classical Literature

In Slavic folklore, the Sun appears both in female and in male image. In fairy tales, it lives where the earth converges with the sky, has a mother and sister, steals a wife from people; a person goes to the sun to find out why it rises cheerfully, and in the evening it sets sad and dark, this plot was used by P. P. Ershov in the poetic fairy tale “Humpbacked Horse”.

In the fairy tale by A. S. Pushkin “The Tale of dead princess and seven heroes ”King Elisha turns to the Sun for help:

To the red sun at last

The good guy turned.

“Our light is the sun! you walk

All year round in the sky, you drive

Winter with warm spring

You see us all below you.

Al refuse me advice?. »

In a Russian folk tale, an old man gives his daughters off as the Sun, the Moon, and Raven Voronovich; to feed the old man with pancakes, when he comes to visit, the Sun bakes them on himself.

Folklore, and, above all, fairy tales can always tell a lot about the people who created them. All fairy tales about the sun are similar to each other. In each folk tale, the peculiarities of the mentality of the people, their attitude to the world, understanding of man in the world, attitude to good and evil are manifested. "The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it," is the best proof of this from the lips of the storyteller himself.

In K. D. Ushinsky’s fairy tale “The Wind and the Sun”, the Sun comes to the defense of a person, and shows the reader that more can be achieved with kindness and kindness than with threats.

“You see,” the meek Sun then said to the angry Wind, “you can do much more with caress and kindness than with anger.

In the Koryak folk tale “Sokholylan”, the Sun appears before us not as an image of a kind, gentle sun, but as a cowardly, envious half-man, half-deity, who did not want to heat the lands where the tundra is located because of the beauty. This is how the Koryaks try to explain the conditions and traditions of their way of life: permafrost and polar night.

We will live here and a little in the tundra. Let the inhabitants of the tundra see me a little. But I will walk far from them. Let the raven remember this.

The daughter of the North saw that the sun was not close, that the inhabitants of the tundra were freezing and dissatisfied with the raven, and he was powerless to return the sun to the tundra. She laughed at the raven and went to her father Sever. And since then the sun has lived more overseas and sends only the coldest rays into the tundra.

CONCLUSION

The image of the Sun is used in their works by many writers and poets of all times and peoples.

The poor sparrow is crying.

Come out, Sunny, hurry up!

We are sad without the sun.

In the field, the grain is not visible!

K. I. Chukovsky "The Stolen Sun"

The students of our class tried to portray their sun to show what kind of character he has. The sun turned out to be different for everyone, probably, it takes on the features of its artist, who depicts it.

Sunflower care -

Not a moment without a care

While the sun is standing:

Like a radar behind an airplane

He looks after the sun. (V. Musatov)