Syncretic arts examples. Primitive culture: syncretism and magic. Syncretism in art

Protoculture is a culture that is characterized by alternativeness and openness in modeling the development of man and society, high innovative and creative activity, characteristic of unstable cultural systems.

A specific feature of primitive culture is syncretism (undividedness), when forms of consciousness, economic activities, social life, and art were not separated or opposed to each other.

Syncretism – 1) indivisibility, characterizing the undeveloped state of any phenomenon (for example, art in the initial stages of human culture, when music, singing, poetry, dance were not separated from each other). 2) Mixing, inorganic fusion of dissimilar elements, for example. various cults and religious systems.

Any type of activity contained other types. For example, in hunting there were combined technological methods for making weapons, spontaneous scientific knowledge about the habits of animals, social connections, which were expressed in the organization of hunting. Individual, collective connections, religious ideas are magical actions to ensure success. They, in turn, included elements of artistic culture - songs, dances, painting. It is as a result of such syncretism that the characteristic of primitive culture provides for a holistic consideration of material and spiritual culture, a clear awareness of the conventions of such distribution.

The basis of such syncretism was ritual. Ritual (Latin rutis - religious rite, solemn ceremony) is one of the forms of symbolic action, expressing the connection of the subject with the system of social relations and values. The structure of the ritual is made up of a strictly regulated sequence of actions associated with special objects, images, texts in conditions of appropriate mobilization of the moods and feelings of the actors and groups. The symbolic meaning of the ritual, its isolation from everyday practical life, is emphasized by the atmosphere of solemnity.

Ritual plays a very important role in culture primitive society. Through its prism, nature and social existence are examined, an assessment is given of the actions and actions of people, as well as various phenomena of the surrounding world. Ritual actualizes the deep meanings of human existence; it maintains the stability of a social system, such as a tribe. The ritual carries information about the laws of nature obtained through observation of biocosmic rhythms. Thanks to the ritual, a person felt inextricably linked with the cosmos and cosmic rhythms.

Ritual activity was based on the principle of imitation of natural phenomena; they were reproduced through appropriate ritual symbolic actions. The central link of the ancient ritual - sacrifice - corresponded to the idea of ​​​​the birth of the world from chaos. Just as chaos at the birth of the world is divided into parts from which the primary elements arise: fire, air, water, earth, etc., so the victim is divided into parts and then these parts are identified with parts of the cosmos. Regular, rhythmic reproductions of the basis of the event elements of the past connected the world of the past and the present.

The ritual closely intertwined prayer, chant, and dance. In dance, a person imitated various natural phenomena in order to cause rain, plant growth, and connect with the deity. Constant mental stress caused by the uncertainty of fate, relationship to the enemy or deity found a way out in dance. Dancing participants rituals were inspired by the consciousness of their tasks and goals, for example, a warrior dance was supposed to enhance the sense of strength and solidarity of tribe members. It is also important that all members of the team participated in the ritual. Ritual is in the primitive era the main form of human social existence and the main embodiment of the human ability to act. From it, production, economic, spiritual, religious and social activities subsequently developed.

Syncretism of society and nature. The clan and community were perceived as identical to the cosmos and repeated the structure of the universe. Primitive man perceived himself as an organic part of nature, feeling his kinship with all living beings. This feature, for example, manifests itself in such a form of primitive beliefs as totemism, when there is partial self-identification of people with a totem or symbolic assimilation to it.

Syncretism of personal and public. Individual feeling primitive man existed at the level of instinct, biological feeling. But on a spiritual level, he identified himself not with himself, but with the community to which he belonged; found himself in the feeling of belonging to something non-individual. Man initially became precisely man, displacing his individuality. His actual human essence was expressed in the collective “we” of the family. And today in the language of many primitive peoples the word “I” is completely absent, and these people speak about themselves in the third person. This means that primitive man always explained and assessed himself through the eyes of the community. Integrity with the life of society led to the fact that the worst punishment, after the death penalty, was exile. Leaving a person in a community who does not want to follow its norms meant completely destroying the social order and letting chaos into the world. Therefore, everything that happened to each member of the tribe was important for the entire community, which was presented as an inextricable connection of people. For example, in many archaic tribes, people are convinced that the hunt will not be successful if the wife, who remains in the village, cheats on her husband, who has gone hunting.

Syncretism various fields culture. Art, religion, medicine, productive activities, and obtaining food were not isolated from each other. Objects of art (masks, drawings, figurines, musical instruments, etc.) have long been used mainly as magical means. Treatment was carried out using magical rituals. And even practical activities were associated with magical rituals. For example, hunting. Modern man needs only objective conditions for hunting success. For the ancients, the art of throwing a spear and silently making their way through the forest, the desired wind direction and other objective conditions were also of great importance. But all this is clearly not enough to achieve success, because the main conditions were magical actions. Magic is the very essence of the hunt. The hunt began with magical actions over the hunter (fasting, purification, causing pain to oneself, tattooing, etc.) and over the game (dancing, spells, dressing up, etc.). The purpose of all these rituals was, on the one hand, to ensure human power over future prey, and on the other hand, to ensure the availability of game during the hunt, regardless of its will. At the very moment of the hunt, certain rituals and prohibitions were also observed, which were aimed at establishing a mystical connection between man and animal. But even after the successful capture of the animal, a whole series of rituals were carried out, which were aimed at preventing revenge on the part of the animal’s spirit.

Syncretism as a principle of thinking. In the thinking of primitive man there were no clear oppositions between such categories as subjective - objective; observed – imaginary; external - internal; living - dead; material - spiritual; one - many. In the language, the concepts of life - death or spirit - body were often denoted by one word. An important feature of primitive thinking was also the syncretic perception of symbols, i.e. the fusion of a symbol and what it stands for. For example, an object belonging to a person was identified with the person himself. Therefore, by harming an object or image of a person, it was considered possible to cause real harm to him. It was precisely this kind of syncretism that made possible the emergence of fetishism - the belief in the ability of objects to possess supernatural power. The fusion of symbol and object also led to the identification of mental processes and external objects. This is where many taboos came from. For example, you should not look into the mouth of a person eating or drinking, since the gaze can extract the soul from the mouth. And the custom of hanging mirrors in the house of the deceased goes back to the fear that the reflection of a living person (his soul) could be stolen by the spirit of the deceased. A special symbol in primitive culture was the word. Naming a phenomenon, an animal, a person, a mystical creature in magical rites was at the same time evoking it, and the words falling from the lips of the shaman, who at the moment of ecstasy became the container of the spirit, created the illusion of its actual presence. Names were perceived as part of a person or thing. Therefore, pronouncing names in a certain context could be dangerous for their owner. In particular, the name of the totem animal was not mentioned in everyday communication. A different designation was used instead. Thus, among the Slavs the word “bear” is an allegorical name (“knowing honey”), and the forbidden form of the name of this animal was probably close to the Indo-European (cf. German Bar), an echo of which is the word den (“ber’s lair”).

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Posted on http://www.allbest.ru/

Essay

Artistic culture of primitive society: syncretism and magic

Introduction

fine primitive art rite

The origins and roots of our culture are in primitive times.

Primitiveness is the childhood of humanity. Most of human history dates back to the primitive period.

Primitive culture is usually understood as an archaic culture that characterizes the beliefs, traditions and art of peoples who lived more than 30 thousand years ago and died long ago, or those peoples (for example, tribes lost in the jungle) that exist today, preserving the primitive Lifestyle. Primitive culture covers mainly the art of the Stone Age; it is a pre- and non-literate culture.

Together with mythology and religious beliefs, primitive man developed the ability for artistic and figurative perception and reflection of reality. A number of researchers believe that the artistic creativity of primitive people could more accurately be called “pre-art,” since it largely had a magical, symbolic meaning.

It is difficult now to name the date when the first artistic ability inherent in human nature. It is known that the very first works of human hands discovered by archaeologists are tens and hundreds of thousands of years old. Among them are various products made of stone and bone.

Anthropologists associate the true emergence of art with emergence of homo sapiens, otherwise known as Cro-Magnon man. Cro-Magnons (these people were named after the place where their remains were first found, the Cro-Magnon grotto in the south of France), who appeared from 40 to 35 thousand years ago.

Most of the products were intended for survival, so they were far from decorative and aesthetic purposes and served purely practical purposes. People used them to increase their security and survival in a difficult world. However, even in those prehistoric times There have been attempts to work with clay and metals, scratching drawings or making inscriptions on cave walls. The same household utensils that were in homes already had noticeable tendencies to describe the surrounding world and develop a certain artistic taste.

The purpose of my work is to determine the role of artistic culture in primitive society.

To achieve this goal, I put forward the following tasks:

Studying the history of the development of culture of primitive society

Determination of the characteristics of primitive art.

Analysis of its role in primitive society.

1 . Perhiodization of primitiveness

The oldest human tool dates back to about 2.5 million years ago. Based on the materials from which people made tools, archaeologists divide the history of the Primitive World into the Stone, Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages.

The Stone Age is divided into ancient (Paleolithic), middle (Nesolithic) and new (Neolithic). The approximate chronological boundaries of the Stone Age are over 2 million - 6 thousand years ago. The Paleolithic, in turn, is divided into three periods: lower, middle and upper (or late). The Stone Age was replaced by the Copper Age (Neolithic), which lasted 4-3 thousand BC. Then came the Bronze Age (4th-early 1st millennium BC), at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. it was replaced by the Iron Age.

Primitive man mastered the skills of agriculture and cattle breeding in less than ten thousand years. Before this, for hundreds of thousands of years, people obtained food for themselves in three ways: gathering, hunting and fishing. Even in the early stages of development, the mind of our distant ancestors affected us. Paleolithic sites, as a rule, are located on capes and when enemies enter one or another wide valley. The rough terrain was more convenient for driven hunting of herds of large animals. Its success was ensured not by the perfection of the weapon (in the Paleolithic these were darts and spears), but by the complex tactics of the beaters who pursued mammoths or bison. Later, by the beginning of the Mesolithic, bows and arrows appeared. By that time, mammoths and rhinoceroses had become extinct, and small, shameless mammals had to be hunted. What was decisive was not the size and coherence of the team of beaters, but the dexterity and accuracy of the individual hunter. In the Mesolithic, fishing also developed, and nets and hooks were invented.

These technical achievements - the result of a long search for the most reliable, most expedient tools of production - did not change the essence of the matter. Humanity still appropriated only the products of nature.

The question of how this ancient society, based on the appropriation of wild nature products, developed into more advanced forms of farming and pastoralism is the most difficult problem historical science. In excavations carried out by scientists, signs of agriculture dating back to the Mesolithic era were discovered. These are sickles, consisting of silicon inserts inserted into bone handles, and grain grinders.

It is inherent in the very nature of man that he cannot be only a part of nature: he shapes himself through the means of art.

Osobenefits of primitive art

The involvement of Stone Age hunters and gatherers in the fine arts was first attested to by the famous archaeologist Eduard Larte, who found an engraved plate in the Chaffaux grotto in 1837. He also discovered an image of a mammoth on a piece of mammoth bone in the La Madeleine grotto (France).

A characteristic feature of art itself is early stage there was syncretism.

Human activity related to the artistic exploration of the world also contributed to the formation of homo sapiens (reasonable man). At this stage, the possibilities of all psychological processes and experiences of primitive man were in embryo - in a collective unconscious state, in the so-called archetype.

As a result of the discoveries of archaeologists, it was discovered that monuments of art appeared immeasurably later than tools, almost a million years.

Monuments of Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic hunting art show us what people's attention was focused on during that period. Paintings and engravings on rocks, sculptures made of stone, clay, wood, and drawings on vessels are devoted exclusively to scenes of hunting game animals.

The main object of creativity of the Paleolithic Mesolithic and Neolithic times were animals.

Both cave paintings and figurines help us capture the most essential in primitive thinking. The spiritual powers of the hunter are aimed at comprehending the laws of nature. The very life of primitive man depends on this. The hunter studied the habits of the wild animal to the smallest detail, which is why the Stone Age artist was able to show them so convincingly. Man himself did not enjoy as much attention as the outside world, which is why there are so few images of people in cave paintings and so close in in every sense words paleolithic sculptures.

The main artistic feature of primitive art was the symbolic form, the conventional nature of the image. The symbols are both realistic images and conventional ones. Often works of primitive art represent entire systems of symbols that are complex in their structure, carrying a great aesthetic load, with the help of which a wide variety of concepts or human feelings are conveyed.

Culture in the Paleolithic Age. Initially not isolated into a special type of activity and associated with hunting and the labor process, primitive art reflected man’s gradual knowledge of reality, his first ideas about the world around him. Some art historians distinguish three stages of visual activity in the Paleolithic era. Each of them is characterized by a qualitatively new figurative form. Natural creativity - composition from ink, bones, natural layout. Includes the following points: ritual actions with the carcass of a killed animal, and later with its skin thrown on a stone or rock ledge. Subsequently, a molded base for this skin appears. Animal sculpture was an elementary form of creativity. The next second stage - artificially pictorial form includes artificial means of creating an image, the gradual accumulation of “creative” experience, which was expressed at first in a fully voluminous sculpture, and then in bas-relief simplification.

The third stage is characterized by the further development of Upper Paleolithic visual creativity associated with the emergence of expressive artistic images in color and volumetric image. The most characteristic images of painting of this period are represented by cave paintings. The drawings were made with ocher and other paints, the secret of which has not been found to this day. The Stone Age palette is visible, with four primary colors: black, white, red and yellow. The first two were used quite rarely.

Similar stages can be traced when studying the musical layer of primitive art. The musical principle was not separated from movement, gestures, exclamations and facial expressions.

The musical element of natural pantomime included: imitation of the sounds of nature - onomatopoeic motifs; artificial intonation form - motives, with a fixed pitch position of the tone; intonation creativity; two - and triad motifs.

An ancient musical instrument made from mammoth bones was discovered in one of the houses at the Mizinskaya site. It was intended to reproduce noise and rhythmic sounds.

The subtle and soft tradition of tones, the overlay of one paint on another sometimes creates the impression of volume, a feeling of the texture of the skin of an animal. For all its vital expressiveness and realistic generality, Paleolithic art remains intuitively spontaneous. It consists of individual specific images, there is no background, there is no composition in the modern sense of the word.

Primitive artists became the founders of all types of fine art: graphics (drawings and silhouettes), painting (color images made with mineral paints), sculpture (figures carved from stone or sculpted from clay). They also succeeded in decorative arts- stone and bone carving, relief.

A special area of ​​primitive art is ornament. It was used very widely already in the Paleolithic. Geometric pattern covered with bracelets, all kinds of figures carved from mammoth ivory. Geometric ornament is the main element of Mizinsky art. This pattern consists mainly of many zigzag lines.

What does this abstract pattern mean and how did it come about? There have been many attempts to resolve this issue. The geometric style did not really correspond to the brilliant realism of the drawings of cave art. Having studied the cut structure of mammoth tusks using magnifying instruments, the researchers noticed that they also consist of zigzag patterns, very similar to the zigzag ornamental motifs of the Mezin products. Thus, the basis of the Mezin geometric ornament was a pattern drawn by nature itself. But ancient artists not only copied nature, they introduced new combinations and elements into the original ornament.

Stone Age vessels found at sites in the Urals had rich ornamentation. Most often, the drawings were extruded with special stamps. They were usually made from rounded, carefully polished flat pebbles of yellowish or greenish stones with sparkles. Slots were made along their sharp edges; stamps were also made from bone, wood, and shells. If you press such a stamp onto wet clay, a pattern similar to the impression of a comb is applied. The impression of such a stamp is often called comb or jagged.

In all the cases carried out, the original plot for the ornament is determined relatively easily, but, as a rule, it is almost impossible to guess it. The French archaeologist A. Breuil traced the stages of schematization of the image of a roe deer in the late Paleolithic art of Western Europe - from the silhouette of an animal with horns to some kind of flower.

Primitive artists also created works of art of small forms, primarily small figurines. The earliest of them, carved from mammoth ivory, marl and chalk, belong to the polealite.

Some researchers of Upper Paleolithic art believe that the most ancient monuments of art, for the purposes they served, were not only art, they had religious and magical significance, and oriented man in nature.

Culture in the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras. Later stages of the development of primitive culture date back to the Mesolithic, Neolithic and the time of the spread of the first metal tools. From the appropriation of finished products of nature, primitive man gradually moves on to more complex forms of labor; along with hunting and fishing, he begins to engage in agriculture and cattle breeding. In the new Stone Age, the first artificial material invented by man appeared - refractory clay. Previously, people used what nature provided - stone, wood, bone. Farmers depicted animals much less often than hunters, but they increasingly decorated the surface of clay vessels.

In the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, ornament experienced a true dawn and images appeared. Conveying more complex and abstract concepts. Many types of decorative and applied arts were formed - ceramics, metal working. Bows, arrows and pottery appeared. The first metal products appeared on the territory of our country about 9 thousand years ago. They were forged - casting appeared much later.

Bronze Age culture. Since the Bronze Age, bright images of animals almost disappear. Dry geometric patterns are spreading everywhere. For example, profiles of mountain goats carved on the cliffs of the mountains of Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Central and Central Asia. People are spending less and less effort on creating petroglyphs, hastily scratching small figures on the stone. And although in some places drawings still make their way today, ancient art will never be revived. It has exhausted its capabilities. All his highest achievements are in the past.

The last stage in the development of Bronze Age tribes in the Northwestern Caucasus is characterized by the existence of a large center of metallurgy and metalworking. Copper ores were mined, copper was smelted, and the production of finished products from alloys (bronze) was established.

At the end of this period, along with bronze objects, iron objects begin to appear, which mark the beginning of a new period.

The development of productive forces leads to the fact that part of the pastoral tribes switches to nomadic cattle breeding. Other tribes, continuing to lead a sedentary lifestyle based on agriculture, move to a higher stage of development - to plow farming. At this time, social changes also occurred among the tribes.

IN late period In primitive society, artistic crafts developed: products were made from bronze, gold and silver.

Types of settlements and burials. By the end primitive era A new type of architectural structure appeared - fortresses. Most often these are structures made of huge rough-hewn stones, which have been preserved in many places in Europe and the Caucasus. And in the middle, forest. A strip of Europe from the second half of the 1st millennium BC. settlements and burials spread.

Settlements are divided into fortified (sites, villages) and fortified (fortified settlements). Settlement sites and fortifications are usually referred to as monuments of the Bronze and Iron Ages. The term “sites” refers to settlements of the Stone and Bronze Ages. The term “parking” is very relative. Now it is being replaced by the concept of “settlement”. Special place occupied by Mesolithic settlements called kjekenmeddings, which means “kitchen heaps” (they look like long heaps of oyster shell waste). The name is Danish, since these types of monuments were first discovered in Denmark. On the territory of our country they are found in the Far East. Excavations of settlements provide information about the life of ancient people.

A special type of settlement is Roman terramara - fortified settlements on stilts. The building material of these settlements is marl, a type of shell rock. Unlike the pile settlements of the Stone Age, the Romans built terramaras not in a swamp or lake, but in a dry place, and then filled the entire space around the buildings with water to protect them from enemies.

Burials are divided into two main types: burial structures (mounds, megaliths, tombs) and ground burials, that is, without any grave structures. At the base of many Yamnaya culture mounds there was a cromlech - a belt of stone blocks or slabs placed on an edge. The size of the pit mounds is very impressive. The diameter of their cromlechs reaches 20 meters, and the height of other heavily swollen embankments even now exceeds 7 meters. Sometimes on the mounds there were stone tombstones, gravestone statues, stone women - stone sculptures of people (warriors, women). The stone woman formed an inextricable whole with the mound and was created with the expectation of being placed on a high earthen pedestal, with visibility from all sides of the most distant points.

The period when people adapted to nature, and all art was essentially reduced to “the image of the beast”, is over. The period of man's dominance over nature and the dominance of his image in art began.

The most complex structures are megalithic burials, that is, burials in tombs built from large stones - dolmens, menhirs. IN Western Europe and in the south of Russia dolmens are common. Once upon a time, in the north-west of the Caucasus, there were hundreds of dolmens.

The earliest of them were built more than four thousand years ago by tribes that had already mastered agriculture, cattle breeding and copper smelting. But the dolmen builders did not yet know iron, had not yet tamed the horse, and had not yet lost the habit of using stone tools. These people were very poorly equipped with construction equipment. Nevertheless, they created stone structures that were not left behind not only by the Caucasian aborigines of the previous era, but also by the tribes who later lived along the shores of the Black Sea. It was necessary to try many construction options before arriving at the classic design - four slabs placed on an edge, supporting a fifth - a flat ceiling.

Megalithic tombs with engravings are also a monument to the primitive era.

Menhirs are individual stone pillars. There are menhirs up to 21 meters long and weighing about 300 tons. In Carnac (France), 2683 menhirs are placed in rows in the form of long stone alleys. Sometimes the stones were placed in the form of a circle - this is a cromlech.

Chapter 2:Definition

* Syncretism is the indivisibility of various types of cultural creativity, characteristic of the early stages of its development. (Literary Encyclopedia)

* Syncretism - a combination of rhythmic, orchestic movements with song-music and elements of words. (A.N. Veselovsky)

* Syncretism - (from the Greek synkretismos - connection)

o Indivisibility, characterizing the undeveloped state of any phenomenon (for example, art in the initial stages of human culture, when music, singing, dancing were not separated from each other).

o Mixing, inorganic fusion of heterogeneous elements (for example, various cults and religious systems). ( Modern encyclopedia)

* Magic is a symbolic action or inaction aimed at achieving a certain goal by supernatural means. (G.E. Markov)

Magic (witchcraft, sorcery) is at the origins of every religion and is a belief in supernatural abilities human influence on people and natural phenomena.

Totemism is associated with the belief in the kinship of a tribe with totems, which are usually certain types of animals or plants.

Fetishism is a belief in the supernatural properties of certain objects - fetishes (amulets, amulets, talismans) that can protect a person from harm.

Animism is associated with ideas about the existence of souls and spirits that influence people's lives.

Fine art of primitive people

During excavations we often encounter scratches on Ivory images of the head of a rhinoceros, deer, horse and even the head of an entire mammoth. These drawings breathe with some kind of wild, mysterious power, and in any case, with undoubted talent.

As soon as a person has provided himself even a little, as soon as he feels the least bit secure, his gaze seeks beauty. He is amazed by the bright colors of the paints - he paints his body with all kinds of colors, rubs it with fat, hangs it with necklaces made of berries, fruit seeds, bones and roots strung on a cord, even drills into his skin to attach jewelry. The dense networks of vines teach him to weave beds for himself to sleep in, and he weaves a primitive hammock, aligning the sides and ends, taking care of beauty and symmetry. The elastic branches make him think of a bow. A spark is produced by rubbing one piece of wood against another. And, along with these necessary discoveries of extraordinary importance, he takes care of dancing, rhythmic movements, bunches of beautiful feathers on his head and careful painting of his physiognomy.

Paleolithic

The main occupation of Upper Paleolithic man was collective hunting for large animals (mammoth, cave bear, deer). Its production provided the society with food, clothing, and building materials. It was on hunting that the efforts of the oldest human collective were concentrated, representing not only specific physical actions, but also their emotional experience. The excitement of the hunters (“excessive emotions”), reaching its climax at the moment of destruction of the beast, did not end at the same second, but continued further, causing a whole complex of new actions of primitive man at the animal carcass. “Natural pantomime” is a phenomenon in which the rudiments of artistic activity are focused - a plastic action played out around an animal carcass. As a result, the initially naturalistic “excessive action” gradually turned into a human activity that created a new spiritual substance - art. One of the elements of “natural pantomime” is an animal carcass, from which a thread stretches to the origins of fine art.

Artistic activity was also syncretic in nature and was not divided into genera, genres, or types. All its results were of an applied, utilitarian nature, but at the same time they also retained ritual and magical significance.

The technique of making tools and some of its secrets were passed down from generation to generation (for example, the fact that stone heated over a fire is easier to process after cooling). Excavations at sites of Upper Paleolithic people indicate the development of primitive hunting beliefs and witchcraft among them. They made figurines of wild animals from clay and pierced them with darts, imagining that they were killing real predators. They also left hundreds of carved or painted images of animals on the walls and vaults of caves. Archaeologists have proven that monuments of art appeared immeasurably later than tools - almost a million years.

Historically, the first artistic and figurative expression of man’s ideas about the world was primitive fine art. Its most significant manifestation is rock painting. The drawings consisted of compositions of military struggle, hunting, cattle driving, etc. Cave paintings try to convey movement and dynamics.

Rock drawings and paintings are varied in the manner of execution. The relative proportions of the animals depicted (mountain goat, lion, mammoth and bison) were usually not observed - a huge aurochs could be depicted next to a tiny horse. Failure to comply with proportions did not allow the primitive artist to subordinate composition to the laws of perspective (the latter, by the way, was discovered very late - in the 16th century). Movement in cave painting is conveyed through the position of the legs (crossing legs, for example, depicted an animal on the run), tilting the body or turning the head. There are almost no motionless figures.

When creating cave paintings, primitive man used natural dyes and metal oxides, which he either used in pure form or mixed with water or animal fat. He applied these paints to the stone with his hand or with brushes made of tubular bones with tufts of wild animal hairs at the end, and sometimes he blew colored powder through the tubular bone onto the damp wall of the cave. They not only outlined the outline with paint, but painted over the entire image. To make rock carvings using the deep-cut method, the artist had to use rough cutting tools. Massive stone burins were found at the site of Le Roc de Cerre. The drawings of the Middle and Late Paleolithic are characterized by a more subtle elaboration of the contour, which is conveyed by several shallow lines. Painted drawings and engravings on bones, tusks, antlers or stone tiles are made using the same technique.

Archaeologists have never discovered landscape paintings in the Old Stone Age. Why? Perhaps this once again proves the primacy of the religious and the secondary nature of the aesthetic function of culture. Animals were feared and worshiped, trees and plants were only admired.

Both zoological and anthropomorphic images suggested their ritual use. In other words, they performed a cult function. Thus, religion (the veneration of those whom primitive people depicted) and art (the aesthetic form of what was depicted) arose almost simultaneously. Although for some reasons it can be assumed that the first form of reflection of reality arose earlier than the second. Since images of animals had a magical purpose, the process of creating them was a kind of ritual, so such drawings are mostly hidden deep in the depths of the cave, in underground passages several hundred meters long, and the height of the vault often does not exceed half a meter. In such places, the Cro-Magnon artist had to work lying on his back in the light of bowls with burning animal fat. However, more often the rock paintings are located in accessible places, at a height of 1.5-2 meters. They are found both on cave ceilings and on vertical walls.

The person is rarely depicted. If this happens, then clear preference will be given to the woman. A magnificent monument in this regard can be the female sculpture found in Austria - “Venus of Willendorf”. This sculpture has remarkable features: a head without a face, limbs only outlined, while sexual characteristics are sharply emphasized.

Paleolithic Venuses are small sculptures of women who were depicted with pronounced gender characteristics: large breasts, a convex belly, and a powerful pelvis. This gives grounds to conclude about their connection with the ancient cult of fertility, about their role as cult objects.

It is very interesting that the same Late Paleolithic monument usually contains female figurines, not of the same type, but different in style. A comparison of the styles of works of Paleolithic art along with technical traditions has revealed striking and, moreover, specific similarities between finds between distant regions. Similar “Venuses” have been found in France, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Russia and many other areas of the world.

In addition to images of animals, on the walls there are images of human figures in terrifying masks: hunters performing magical dances or religious rituals.

Both cave paintings and figurines help us capture the most essential in primitive thinking. The spiritual powers of the hunter are aimed at comprehending the laws of nature. The very life of primitive man depends on this. The hunter studied the habits of the wild animal to the smallest detail, which is why the Stone Age artist was able to show them so convincingly. Man himself did not receive as much attention as the outside world, which is why there are so few images of people in the cave paintings of France and the Paleolithic sculptures are so faceless in the full sense of the word.

The composition “Fighting Archers” is one of the most striking Mesolithic compositions (Spain). The first thing to pay attention to is the content of the image associated with the person. The second point is the means of representation: one of the episodes of life (the battle of archers) is reproduced using eight human figures. The latter are variants of a single iconographic motif: a person in rapid movement is depicted with somewhat zigzag dense lines, slightly swelling in the upper part of the “linear” body and a rounded spot on the head. The main pattern in the arrangement of the iconographically united eight figures is their repeatability at a certain distance from each other.

So, we have before us an example of a clearly expressed new approach to solving a plot scene, conditioned by an appeal to the compositional principle of organizing the depicted material, on the basis of which an expressive and semantic whole is created.

A similar phenomenon becomes a characteristic feature of Mesolithic rock paintings. Another example is “Dancing Women” (Spain). The same principle prevails here: repetition of the iconographic motif (a female figure in a conventionally schematic manner, depicted in silhouette with an exaggerated narrow waist, a triangular head, a bell-shaped skirt; repeated 9 times).

Thus, the works examined indicate a new level of artistic understanding of reality, expressed in the emergence of a compositional “design” of various plot scenes.

Culture continues to develop, religious ideas, cults and rituals become significantly more complex. In particular, the belief in the afterlife and the cult of ancestors is increasing. The burial ritual involves the burial of things and everything necessary for the afterlife; complex burial grounds are built.

The fine art of the Neolithic era is enriched by a new type of creativity - painted ceramics. To the most early example includes ceramics from the settlements of Karadepe and Geoksyur in Central Asia. Ceramic products are distinguished by simplest form. The painting uses a geometric pattern placed on the body of the vessel. All signs have a certain meaning associated with the emerging animistic (animate) perception of nature. In particular, the cross is one of the solar signs denoting the sun and moon.

The transition from matriarchy to patriarchy also had serious consequences for culture. This event is sometimes defined as historical defeat women. It entailed a profound restructuring of the entire way of life, the emergence of new traditions, norms, stereotypes, values ​​and value orientations.

As a result of these and other shifts and transformations, profound changes are taking place in the entire spiritual culture. Along with the further complication of religion, mythology appears. The first myths were ritual ceremonies with dances in which scenes from the life of distant totemistic ancestors of a given tribe or clan, who were depicted as half-humans and half-animals, were played out. Descriptions and explanations of these rituals were passed down from generation to generation, gradually became isolated from the rituals themselves and turned into myths in the proper sense of the word - tales about the life of totemistic ancestors.

2. Primitive syncretism

Initially, the boundaries between artistic and non-artistic (life-practical, communicative, religious, etc.) spheres human activity were very vague, vague, and sometimes simply elusive. In this sense, they often talk about the syncretism of primitive culture, meaning the characteristic diffuseness of different ways of practical and spiritual exploration of the world.

The peculiarity of the initial stage of artistic development of mankind is that we also do not find any definite and clear genre-specific structure there. Verbal creativity It has not yet been separated from the musical, the epic from the lyrical, the historical-mythological from the everyday. And in this sense, aesthetics has long been talking about the syncretism of early art forms, while the morphological expression of such syncretism is amorphism, that is, the absence of a crystallized structure.

Syncretism prevailed in various spheres of life of primitive people, mixing and connecting seemingly unrelated things and phenomena:

* syncretism of society and nature. Primitive man perceived himself as an organic part of nature, feeling his kinship with all living beings, without separating himself from the natural world;

* syncretism of personal and public. Primitive man identified himself with the community to which he belonged. “I” replaced the existence of “we” as a species. The emergence of man in his modern form was associated with the displacement or replacement of individuality, which manifested itself only at the level of instincts;

* syncretism of various spheres of culture. Art, religion, medicine, agriculture, cattle breeding, crafts, and food production were not isolated from each other. Objects of art (masks, drawings, figurines, musical instruments, etc.) have long been used mainly as objects of everyday life;

* syncretism as a principle of thinking. In the thinking of primitive man there was no clear opposition between the subjective and the objective; observed and imagined; external and internal; living and dead; material and spiritual. Important feature primitive thinking was a syncretic perception of symbols and reality, words and the object that this word denoted. Therefore, by harming an object or image of a person, it was considered possible to cause real harm to them. This led to the emergence of fetishism - the belief in the ability of objects to have supernatural powers. A special symbol in primitive culture was the word. Names were perceived as part of a person or thing.

3. Magic. Rituals

The world for primitive man was a living being. This life manifested itself in “personalities” - in man, beast and plant, in every phenomenon that a person encountered - in a thunderclap, in an unfamiliar forest clearing, in a stone that unexpectedly hit him when he stumbled while hunting. These phenomena were perceived as a kind of partner, possessing its own will, “personal” qualities, and the experience of the collision subjugated not only the actions and feelings associated with it, but, no less, the accompanying thoughts and explanations.

The most ancient forms of religion in origin include: magic, fetishism, totemism, erotic rituals, and funeral cult. They are rooted in the living conditions of primitive people. We will focus on magic in more detail.

The most ancient form of religion is magic (from the Greek megeia - magic), which is a series of symbolic actions and rituals with spells and rituals.

Magic, as one of the forms of primitive beliefs, appears at the dawn of human existence. It was to this time that researchers attribute the appearance of the first magical rituals and the use of magical amulets, which were considered an aid in hunting, for example, necklaces made from the fangs and claws of wild animals. The complex system of magical rituals that developed in ancient times is now known from archaeological excavations and from descriptions of the life and everyday life of peoples living under primitive conditions. It is impossible to perceive it in isolation from other primitive beliefs - they were all closely connected with each other.

The magical rites performed by ancient sorcerers often represented real theatrical performance. They were accompanied by the singing of spells, dancing or playing bone or wooden musical instruments. One of the elements of such sound accompaniment was often the colorful, noisy attire of the sorcerer himself.

Among many peoples, magicians and sorcerers often acted as community “leaders”, or even recognized tribal leaders. They were associated with the idea of ​​a special, usually inherited, witchcraft power. Only the owner of such power could become a leader. Ideas about the magical power of leaders and their extraordinary involvement in the world of spirits are still found on the islands of Polynesia. They believe in the special power of leaders, which is inherited - mana. It was believed that with the help of this power, leaders win military victories and directly interact with the world of spirits - ancestors, their patrons. In order not to lose mana, the leader observed a strict system of prohibitions and taboos.

Primitive magical rites are difficult to limit from instinctive and reflexive actions associated with material practice. Based on this role that magic plays in people’s lives, the following types of magic can be distinguished: harmful, military, sexual (love), healing and protective, fishing, meteorological and other minor types of magic.

One of the most ancient are magical rituals that ensured a successful hunt. Among many primitive peoples, members of a community, led by their community magician, turned to totemic spirits for help in hunting. Often the ritual included ritual dances. Images of such dances are brought to this day by the art of the Stone Age of Eurasia. Judging by the surviving images, at the center of the ritual was a sorcerer-caster, who dressed in the “guise” of one or another animal. At this moment, he seemed to become like the spirits of the most ancient ancestors of the tribe, half-human, half-animal. He was about to enter the world of these spirits.

Often such ancestral spirits needed to be won over. Traces of the “appeasement” ritual were discovered by archaeologists on one of the Carpathian mountains. There, primitive hunters deposited the remains of animals for a long time. The ritual apparently contributed to the return of the souls of animals that died at the hands of humans to the heavenly abode of spirits. And this, in turn, could convince the spirits not to be angry with people who exterminate their children.

Prayer is a ritual. On the Papuan island of Tanna, where the gods are the souls of deceased ancestors who patronize the growth of fruits, the leader says the prayer: “Compassionate father. Here is food for you; eat it and give it to us.” In Africa, the Zulus think that it is enough to call on the ancestors, without mentioning that the person praying needs: “The fathers of our house” (they say). When they sneeze, it is enough for them to hint at their needs if they are standing next to the spirit: “Children,” “cows.” Further prayers, which were previously free, take on traditional forms. Among savages one can hardly find a prayer in which moral good or forgiveness for an offense is begged. The rudiments of moral prayer are found among the semi-civilized Aztecs. Prayer is an appeal to a deity.

Sacrifice appears next to prayer. There are theories of gift, honoring or deprivation. First the valuable was sacrificed, then little by little the less valuable, until it came to worthless symbols and signs.

Gift theory - primitive form offerings, without any idea what the gods do with the gifts. North American Indians make sacrifices to the earth by burying them in it. Sacred animals, including humans, are also worshiped. So, in Mexico, they worshiped a young captive. A large share of the offerings belongs to the priest as a servant of the deity. It was often believed that life is blood, so blood is sacrificed even to disembodied spirits. In Virginia, Indians sacrificed children and thought that the spirit was sucking the blood from their left breast. Since the spirit in early Acmeism was considered as smoke, this idea can be traced in smoking rituals.

Countless images of sacrificial ceremonies in the temples of Ancient Egypt show the burning of incense balls in incense burners in front of images of the gods.

Even if the food is untouched, this may mean that the spirits have taken its essence. The soul of the victim is transferred to the spirits. There is also the transmission of fire sacrifices. Motives: to gain benefits, to avoid bad things, to achieve help or forgiveness of an insult. Along with the fact that gifts gradually turn into signs of veneration, a new teaching arises, according to which the essence of sacrifice is not that the deity receives the gift, but that the worshiper sacrifices it. (Deprivation Theory)

Rituals - fasting - are painful stimulation for religious purposes. One such arousal is the use of drugs. Ecstasy and fainting are also caused by increased movements, singing, and screaming.

Customs: burial of the body from east to west, which is associated with the cult of the sun. In none of the Christian ceremonies has the custom of turning to the east and west reached such completeness as in the rite of baptism. The person receiving baptism was placed facing west and forced to renounce Satan. The orientation of temples to the east and the direction of the silent ones in the same direction was preserved in both the Greek and Roman churches.

Other rituals primitive magic were aimed at ensuring fertility. Since ancient times, various images of spirits and deities made of stone, bone, horn, amber, and wood have been used for these rituals. First of all, these were figurines of the Great Mother - the embodiment of the fertility of the earth and living beings. In ancient times, figurines were broken, burned or thrown away after the ceremony. Many peoples believed that long-term preservation of the image of a spirit or deity leads to its unnecessary and dangerous revival for people. But gradually such revival ceases to be considered something undesirable. Already in the ancient Paleolithic settlement of Mezin in Ukraine, one of these figurines in the so-called sorcerer’s house was fixed in the earthen floor. She probably served as the object of constant incantations.

Magical rituals of causing rain, widespread among many peoples of the world, also served to ensure fertility. They are still preserved among some peoples. For example, among the Australian tribes, the magical ritual of causing rain goes like this: two people take turns scooping up enchanted water from a wooden trough and splashing it in different directions, at the same time making a slight noise with tufts of feathers in imitation of the sound of falling rain.

It seems that everything that came into the field of vision of the ancient man was filled with magical meaning. And any important, significant action for the clan (or tribe) was accompanied magical ritual. Rituals also accompanied the production of ordinary, everyday objects, such as pottery. This order can be traced among the peoples of Oceania and America, and among the ancient farmers of central Europe. And on the islands of Oceania, boat making turned into a real festival, accompanied by magical rituals under the leadership of a leader. The entire adult male population of the community took part in it, and spells and praises were chanted for the long service of the ship. Similar, although smaller-scale, rituals existed among many peoples of Eurasia.

Rituals, spells and performances dating back to primitive magic have survived centuries. They are firmly entrenched in cultural heritage many peoples of the world. Magic continues to exist today.

Conclusion

The culture of primitive society - the oldest period of human history from the appearance of the first people to the emergence of the first states - covers the longest and, perhaps, least studied period of world culture. But we are all firmly convinced that everything that ancient man did, all the trials and errors - it all served the further development of society.

We still use, albeit improved, the techniques that our ancestors invented (in sculpture, painting, music, theater, etc.). And also, there are still rites and rituals that ancient people performed. For example, they believed in a Sky God who watches over everyone and can interfere in the lives of ordinary mortals - isn’t this the “ancestor religion” of Christianity? Or the Goddess who was worshiped - this religion is the predecessor of modern Wicca.

Everything that happened in the past always finds echoes in the future.

Listusedliterature

1. Bagdasaryan N.G. Culturology: Textbook for students. tech. universities - M.: Vyssh. school, 1999.

2. Gnedich P.P. " The World History arts"

3. History of the Ancient World, 2006-2012

4. History of primitive society. General issues. Problems of anthroposocigenesis. Science, 1983.

5. Kagan. M.S. Forms of primitive art

6. Kravchenko A.I. Culturology: Textbook for universities. - 3rd ed. - M.: Academic project, 2001

7. Lyubimov L. The Art of the Ancient World, M., Education, 1971.

8. Literary encyclopedia. - In 11 volumes. Edited by V.M. Fritsche, A.V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939.

9. Markova A.N. Culturology - Textbook, 2nd edition, edited by

10. Pershits A.Ts. and others History of primitive society. M., Nauka, 1974.

11. Primitive society. Main problems of development. M., Nauka, 1975.

12. Sorokin P. The crisis of our time // Sorokin P. Man. Civilization. Society. M., 1992. P. 430.

13. Modern Encyclopedia, 2000

Posted on Allbest.ru

Similar documents

The culture of primitive society as the most ancient period of human history. Fine art of primitive people. Magic, fetishism, totemism, rituals as the main forms of primitive beliefs. Rituals and traditions that have survived to our time.

abstract, added 03/18/2015


Formation and development of primitive culture. Syncretism of primitive culture. The meaning of cyclicality in the life and beliefs of the ancients, attitude towards the New Year. Myth is an expression of the syncretism of primitive consciousness. Magical primitive rituals, sacrifice.

test, added 11/18/2010


Primitive syncretism, culture of ancient civilizations; Egyptian worldview. The Golden Age of Roman Poetry. The emergence of Christianity, holidays and sacraments. Knightly culture of the Middle Ages; peculiarities French Renaissance; new time: sentimentalism.

test, added 01/17/2012


Neolithic Revolution; characteristics of the way of life of primitive people: economy, society (clan, tribe), attitude, art. The concept and specificity of myths, the essence of animism, fetish, taboo, magic. Features of primitive art; rock paintings.

test, added 05/13/2013


Stages of development of human society; periodization of primitiveness. Character traits archaic culture; early forms of belief: fetishism, totemism, animism; magic and religion. The evolution of culture and art in the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages.

course work, added 03/25/2011


Characteristics of the culture of primitive society and the concept of syncretism. Reasons for the close connection of art with religious beliefs: totemism, animism, fetishism, magic and shamanism. Masterpieces of world rock art, sculpture and architecture.

presentation, added 11/13/2011


Knowledge of the role of magic and its influence on the culture of the West and East. Temporal specificity of Western magic. Christian magic as the dominant direction of magical practice in Europe. Magic of the East: the genesis of ritualization and ritual in Eastern cultures.

abstract, added 04/12/2009


The development of the creative activity of primitive man and the study of the geography of the emergence of primitive art. Features of fine art of the Paleolithic era: figurines and rock paintings. Distinctive features Mesolithic and Neolithic art.

presentation, added 02/10/2014


Types of artistic culture. The meaning of the expression “Culture is the personal aspect of history.” Characteristic features of modern cultural expansion of the West. The artistic culture of primitive society, antiquity, the European Middle Ages, the Renaissance.

cheat sheet, added 06/21/2010


Features of thinking and mythology of primitive society. The relationship between mythology and religion. Findings of scientists testifying to the beginnings of art in the Paleolithic. Cultural monuments of the Mesolithic population of Europe. Applied art of the Neolithic era.

B. Rosenfeld

Syncretism - in the broad sense of the word - is the indivisibility of various types of cultural creativity, characteristic of the early stages of its development. Most often, however, this term is applied to the field of art, to facts historical development music, dance, drama and poetry. In the definition of A. N. Veselovsky, S. is “a combination of rhythmic, orchestic movements with song-music and elements of words.”

The study of S. phenomena is extremely important for resolving questions of the origin and historical development of the arts. The very concept of “S.” was put forward in science as a counterweight to abstract theoretical solutions to the problem of the origin of poetic genera (lyrics, epic and drama) in their supposedly sequential emergence. From the point of view of the theory of S., the construction of Hegel, who affirmed the sequence: epic - lyric - drama, and the construction of J. P. Richter, Benard and others, who considered the original form to be lyric, are equally erroneous. WITH mid-19th V. these constructions are increasingly giving way to the theory of S., the development of which is undoubtedly closely connected with the successes of bourgeois evolutionism. Already Carriere, who basically adhered to Hegel’s scheme, was inclined to think about the initial indivisibility of poetic genera. G. Spencer also expressed the corresponding provisions. S.'s idea is touched upon by a number of authors and is finally formulated with complete certainty by Scherer, who, however, does not develop it in any broad way in relation to poetry. The task of an exhaustive study of the phenomena of S. and elucidation of the ways of differentiation of poetic genera was set by A. N. Veselovsky, in whose works (mainly in “Three Chapters from Historical Poetics”) the theory of S. received the most vivid and developed (for pre-Marxist literary criticism) development, substantiated by vast factual material.

In the construction of A. N. Veselovsky, the theory of poetry basically boils down to the following: during the period of its inception, poetry not only was not differentiated by genre (lyrics, epic, drama), but in general it itself did not represent the main element of a more complex syncretic whole: The leading role in this syncretic art was played by dancing - “rhythmic orchestious movements accompanied by song-music.” The lyrics were originally improvised. These syncretic actions were significant not so much in meaning as in rhythm: sometimes they sang without words, and the rhythm was beaten out on a drum; often the words were distorted and distorted to suit the rhythm. Only later, on the basis of the complication of spiritual and material interests and the corresponding development of language, “an exclamation and an insignificant phrase, repeated indiscriminately and without understanding, as the support of a chant, will turn into something more integral, into an actual text, an embryo of the poetic.” Initially, this development of the text was due to the improvisation of the lead singer, whose role was increasingly increasing. The lead singer becomes the singer, leaving only the chorus for the choir. Improvisation gave way to practice, which we can now call artistic. But even with the development of the text of these syncretic works, dance continues to play a significant role. The choral song-game is involved in the ritual, then combined with certain religious cults; the development of the myth is reflected in the nature of the song and poetic text. However, Veselovsky notes the presence of non-ritual songs - marching songs, work songs. In all these phenomena are the beginnings of various types of art: music, dance, poetry. Artistic lyrics became isolated later than the artistic epic. As for drama, in this matter A. N. Veselovsky decisively (and rightly) rejects the old ideas about drama as a synthesis of epic and lyric poetry. Drama comes directly from syncretic action. The further evolution of poetic art led to the separation of the poet from the singer and the differentiation of the language of poetry and the language of prose (in the presence of their mutual influences).

There is much that is true in this entire construction of A.N. Veselovsky. First of all, he substantiated with vast factual material the idea of ​​the historicity of poetry and poetic genera in their content and form. The facts of S., attracted by A.N. Veselovsky, are beyond doubt. With all this, in general, the construction of A. N. Veselovsky cannot be accepted by Marxist-Leninist literary criticism. First of all, despite the presence of some individual (often correct) remarks about the connection between the development of poetic forms and the social process, A. N. Veselovsky interprets the problem of poetry as a whole in isolation, idealistically. Without considering syncretic art as a form of ideology, Veselovsky inevitably narrows the field of syncretic art to the phenomena of only art, only artistic creativity. Hence not only a number of “blank spaces” in Veselovsky’s scheme, but also the general empirical nature of the entire structure, in which the social interpretation of the analyzed phenomena does not go further than references to class, professional, etc. moments. Essentially, questions about the relationship of art (in its initial stages) to the development of language, to myth-making remain outside the field of vision of Veselovsky; the connection between art and ritual is not fully and deeply considered; only a passing mention is made of such an essential phenomenon as work songs, etc. etc. Meanwhile, S. embraces the most diverse aspects of the culture of pre-class society, by no means limiting itself only to the forms of artistic creativity. Taking this into account, it is possible to assume that the path of development of poetic genera from syncretic “rhythmic, orchestic movements with song-music and elements of words” is not the only one. It is no coincidence that A. N. Veselovsky blurs the question of the significance of oral prose legends for the initial history of the epic: while mentioning them in passing, he cannot find a place for them in his scheme. It is possible to take into account and explain the phenomena of S. in their entirety only by revealing the social and labor basis of primitive culture and the various connections connecting the artistic creativity of primitive man with his labor activity.

G. V. Plekhanov went in this direction in explaining the phenomena of primitive syncretic art, who widely used Bucher’s work “Work and Rhythm”, but at the same time he argued with the author of this study. Fairly and convincingly refuting Bucher’s propositions that play is older than labor and art is older than the production of useful objects, G. V. Plekhanov reveals the close connection of primitive art-play with the labor activity of pre-class man and with his beliefs determined by this activity. This is the undoubted value of G.V. Plekhanov’s work in this direction (see mainly his “Letters without an address”). However, for all the value of G.V. Plekhanov’s work, despite the presence of a materialistic core in it, it suffers from the defects inherent in Plekhanov’s methodology. It reveals biologism that has not been completely overcome (for example, imitation of animal movements in dances is explained by the “pleasure” experienced by primitive man from the discharge of energy when reproducing his hunting movements). Here is the root of Plekhanov’s theory of art as play, which is based on an erroneous interpretation of the phenomena of the syncretic connection between art and play in the culture of “primitive” man (partially remaining in the games of highly cultural peoples). Of course, syncretism between art and play occurs at certain stages of cultural development, but this is precisely a connection, not identity: both are various shapes display of reality, - play - imitative reproduction, art - ideological and figurative reflection. The phenomenon of S. receives a different light in the works of the founder of the Japhetic theory - Academician. N. Ya. Marra. Recognizing the language of movements and gestures (“manual or linear language”) as the most ancient form of human speech, Acad. Marr connects the origin of sound speech, along with the origin of the three arts - dancing, singing and music - with magical actions that were considered necessary for the success of production and accompanied one or another collective labor process(“Japhetic theory”, p. 98, etc.). So. arr. S., according to the instructions of academician. Marr, included the word (“epic”), “the further development of the rudimentary sound language and development in the sense of forms depended on the forms of society, and in the sense of meanings on the social worldview, first cosmic, then tribal, estate, class, etc. » (“On the Origin of Language”). So in the concept of acad. Marra S. loses its narrow aesthetic character, being associated with a certain period in the development of human society, forms of production and primitive thinking.

The problem of S. is still far from sufficiently developed. It can receive its final resolution only on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist interpretation of both the process of the emergence of syncretic art in pre-class society and the process of its differentiation in the conditions of social relations of class society (see “Poetic Genera”, “Drama”, “Lyrics”, “ Epic", "Ritual poetry").

Syncretism

Syncretism

SYNCRETISM - in the broad sense of the word - the inseparability of various types of cultural creativity, characteristic of the early stages of its development. Most often, however, this term is applied to the field of art, to the facts of the historical development of music, dance, drama and poetry. In the definition of A.N. Veselovsky S. - “a combination of rhythmic, orchestral movements with song-music and elements of words.”
The study of S. phenomena is extremely important for resolving questions of the origin and historical development of the arts. The very concept of “S.” was put forward in science as a counterweight to abstract theoretical solutions to the problem of the origin of poetic genera (lyrics, epic and drama) in their supposedly sequential emergence. From the point of view of the theory of S., the construction of Hegel, who affirmed the sequence: epic - lyric - drama, and the construction of J.P. Richter, Benard and others, who considered the original form to be lyric, are equally erroneous. From the middle of the 19th century. these constructions are increasingly giving way to S.'s theory, the development of which is undoubtedly closely connected with the successes of bourgeois evolutionism. Already Carriere, who basically adhered to Hegel’s scheme, was inclined to think about the initial indivisibility of poetic genera. G. Spencer also expressed the corresponding provisions. S.'s idea is touched upon by a number of authors and is finally formulated with complete certainty by Scherer, who, however, does not develop it in any broad way in relation to poetry. The task of an exhaustive study of the phenomena of S. and elucidation of the ways of differentiation of poetic genera was set by A.N. Veselovsky (see), in whose works (mainly in “Three Chapters from Historical Poetics”) the theory of S. received the most vivid and developed ( for pre-Marxist literary criticism) development, substantiated by enormous factual material.
In the construction of A.N. Veselovsky, the theory of poetry basically boils down to the following: during the period of its inception, poetry not only was not differentiated by genre (lyrics, epic, drama), but in general it itself did not represent the main element of a more complex syncretic whole: The leading role in this syncretic art was played by dancing - “rhythmic orchestious movements accompanied by song-music.” The lyrics were originally improvised. These syncretic actions were significant not so much in meaning as in rhythm: sometimes they sang without words, and the rhythm was beaten out on a drum; often the words were distorted and distorted to suit the rhythm. Only later, on the basis of the complication of spiritual and material interests and the corresponding development of language, “an exclamation and an insignificant phrase, repeated indiscriminately and without understanding, as the support of a chant, will turn into something more integral, into an actual text, an embryo of the poetic.” Initially, this development of the text was due to the improvisation of the lead singer, whose role was increasingly increasing. The lead singer becomes the singer, leaving only the chorus for the choir. Improvisation gave way to practice, which we can now call artistic. But even with the development of the text of these syncretic works, dance continues to play a significant role. The choral song-game is involved in the ritual, then combined with certain religious cults; the development of the myth is reflected in the nature of the song and poetic text. However, Veselovsky notes the presence of non-ritual songs - marching songs, work songs. In all these phenomena are the beginnings of various types of art: music, dance, poetry. Artistic lyricism became isolated later than artistic epic. As for drama, in this matter A.N. Veselovsky decisively (and rightly) rejects the old ideas about drama as a synthesis of epic and lyric poetry. Drama comes directly from syncretic action. The further evolution of poetic art led to the separation of the poet from the singer and the differentiation of the language of poetry and the language of prose (in the presence of their mutual influences).
There is a lot of truth in this entire construction by A.N. Veselovsky. First of all, he substantiated with vast factual material the idea of ​​the historicity of poetry and poetic genera in their content and form. The facts of S., attracted by A.N. Veselovsky, are beyond doubt. With all this, in general, the construction of A.N. Veselovsky cannot be accepted by Marxist-Leninist literary criticism. First of all, in the presence of some individual (often correct) remarks about the connection between the development of poetic forms and the social process, A.N. Veselovsky interprets the problem of S. as a whole in isolation, idealistically. Without considering syncretic art as a form of ideology, Veselovsky inevitably narrows the field of syncretic art to the phenomena of only art, only artistic creativity. Hence not only a number of “blank spaces” in Veselovsky’s scheme, but also the general empirical nature of the entire structure, in which the social interpretation of the analyzed phenomena does not go further than references to class-professional, etc. moments. Essentially, questions about the relationship of art (in its initial stages) to the development of language, to myth-making remain outside the field of vision of Veselovsky; the connection between art and ritual is not fully and deeply considered; only a passing mention is made of such an essential phenomenon as work songs, etc. d. Meanwhile, S. embraces the most diverse aspects of the culture of pre-class society, by no means limiting itself only to the forms of artistic creativity. Taking this into account, it is possible to assume that the path of development of poetic genera from syncretic “rhythmic, orchestic movements with song-music and elements of words” is not the only one. It is no coincidence that A.N. Veselovsky blurs the question of the significance of oral prose legends for the initial history of the epic: while mentioning them in passing, he cannot find a place for them in his scheme. It is possible to take into account and explain the phenomena of S. in their entirety only by revealing the social and labor basis of primitive culture and the various connections connecting the artistic creativity of primitive man with his labor activity.
G.V. Plekhanov went in this direction in explaining the phenomena of primitive syncretic art, who widely used Bucher’s work “Work and Rhythm”, but at the same time he argued with the author of this study. Fairly and convincingly refuting Bucher’s propositions that play is older than labor and art is older than the production of useful objects, G.V. Plekhanov reveals the close connection of primitive art-play with the labor activity of pre-class man and with his beliefs determined by this activity. This is the undoubted value of G.V. Plekhanov’s work in this direction (see mainly his “Letters without an address”). However, for all the value of G.V. Plekhanov’s work, despite the presence of a materialistic core in it, it suffers from the defects inherent in Plekhanov’s methodology. It reveals biologism that has not been completely overcome (for example, imitation of animal movements in dances is explained by the “pleasure” experienced by primitive man from the discharge of energy when reproducing his hunting movements). Here is the root of Plekhanov’s theory of art as play, which is based on an erroneous interpretation of the phenomena of the syncretic connection between art and play in the culture of “primitive” man (partially remaining in the games of highly cultural peoples). Of course, the syncretism of art and play takes place at certain stages of cultural development, but this is precisely a connection, not identity: both are different forms of displaying reality - play is imitative reproduction, art is an ideological-figurative reflection. The phenomenon of S. receives a different light in the works of the founder of the Japhetic theory (see) - Academician. N.Ya.Marra. Recognizing the language of movements and gestures (“manual or linear language”) as the most ancient form of human speech, Acad. Marr connects the origin of sound speech, along with the origin of the three arts - dancing, singing and music - with magical actions that were considered necessary for the success of production and accompanying one or another collective labor process ("Japhetic Theory", p. 98, etc.). So. arr. S., according to the instructions of academician. Marr, included the word (“epic”), “the further development of the rudimentary sound language and development in the sense of forms depended on the forms of society, and in the sense of meanings on the social worldview, first cosmic, then tribal, estate, class, etc. » (“On the Origin of Language”). So in the concept of acad. Marra S. loses its narrow aesthetic character, being associated with a certain period in the development of human society, forms of production and primitive thinking.
The problem of S. is still far from sufficiently developed. It can receive its final resolution only on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist interpretation of both the process of the emergence of syncretic art in pre-class society and the process of its differentiation in the conditions of social relations of class society (see Poetic genera, Drama, Lyrics, Epic, Ritual poetry).

Literary encyclopedia. - At 11 t.; M.: Publishing House of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Fritsche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .

Syncretism

SYNCRETISM poetic forms. This term was introduced by the late academician A. N. Veselovsky, who shook before him the prevailing theory of the stepwise development of poetic forms. Based on the continuity in the development of poetic forms in ancient Greece, expressed in the fact that the poems of Homer and Hesiod preceded the lyrics of Archilochus and Tyrtaeus, and the latter preceded the dramas of Aeschylus and Sophocles, scientists believed that the order of development of forms that was laid down in Greece is applicable to the literatures of all other nationalities. But after the folklore of uncultured peoples was brought into the study, and the very poems attributed to Homer were subjected to more detailed study, it turned out that singers existed before Homer. Demodocus and Thamir are mentioned in the Odyssey. There is an indication from Greek prose writers and philosophers that before Homer, various singers composed hymn songs in honor of Apollo, and the hymn was already predominantly lyrical work . Much more information has been revealed for resolving the question of the primary form of a poetic work by studying the creativity of uncultured peoples, and it turned out that the poetic work of many peoples is preceded by a song without words, consisting of only interjection exclamations (see Glossolalia), each time newly created and strictly subordinated a peculiar rhythm. This song was associated with actions and rituals that reproduced various kinds of activities characteristic of a primitive or uncultured person and explained by the conditions of his life. This action or ritual was of a mimic nature. Hunting of animals, buffaloes, boas, elephants, etc., was imitated; the life, voice and movements of those animals that were tamed or not tamed by man were depicted in pantomimes. Among the agricultural tribes, sowing grain, reaping it, threshing, grinding, etc. were reproduced in games. Hostile clashes with other tribes also found an echo in special war games-actions that imitated war with all its consequences. All these action games, or rituals, as Veselovsky calls them, required a whole group or even several groups of characters. The performers were in most cases men, and the spectators, but also active, were women. Play and action were expressed in dancing, facial expressions and various body movements, in accordance with the content of the action. Women, as well as other spectators, watching as the game progressed, beat time with their palms or percussion instruments like a drum. This primitive conducting brought harmony and order to the game. The beats varied according to the progress of the game. From here we draw the conclusion that rhythm precedes meter, because such a complex game, which we have just talked about, cannot allow for a one-dimensional meter. In the most pathetic places the spectators shouted their approval or disapproval. Thus we see that in a primitive game, dialogue and action, what belongs to the form of drama, were expressed by facial expressions and dancing, and lyrics by interjections. An epic in the sense of a story was also conveyed through various body movements. Some of these games, especially among agricultural tribes, were timed to a certain time of year, and the games themselves were calendar games. At the next stage, games related to melody appear, thanks to the replacement of percussion instruments with strings and winds. The melody should have arisen as a result of the weakening of affectivity in the game, due to its frequent repetition. The very content of the game could gradually change due to changing living conditions. In the absence of musical instruments, as well as in joint work, the melody was expressed through vocal means, the voice in singing. And here the words often have nothing to do with the content of the ritual: the same text, but in a different melody, supports a wide variety of games and works. Finally, at the last stage in the development of syncretic play, a song appears with content that reveals the meaning of the game. Among the participating persons, the singer-poet stands out, improvising the course of the unfolding game. The role of the lead singer was thus the role of the librettist. Particularly pathetic parts of the librettist’s song were picked up by the audience, from which a choir subsequently emerged. The first poet was the spokesman for the entire mass of the population; he was a tribal poet, and therefore the personal assessment characteristic of individual creativity was absent. The lyrical element in these improvisations was expressed very weakly, because the poet was obliged to conform in his work to the mood of the crowd. The epic element had to be consistent with the content of the actions themselves and therefore be stable. The dramatic element could develop under special conditions, with the differentiation of the choir, which could manifest itself in warlike rites, where the very meaning of the game required the division of those participating into two groups, into two choirs. Such differentiation appeared in wedding songs, where on one side the relatives of the bride perform, on the other - the groom, or, as can be seen from the song: “And we sowed millet, we sowed,” girls participate in one choir, and boys in the other. Naturally, when another choir was singled out, another singer also stood out. Thus, before the differentiation of poetic forms comes the complication of this syncretism.

Special mention must be made about work songs. Work differs from play in that all movements in it must be proportionate and conditioned by the tact of work, which requires a certain uniformity. When making stone tools, when pounding grain in a mortar, when hitting a hammer on an anvil, and other work, a meter is developed, like a song pattern. Let us give as an example one Russian phrase:

I sow, I sow, I sow, I weave

I sow, I sow white lenochek (2)

White lenochek, white lenochek

A white lenochka in tynochek.. .

A strict trochee is maintained here. With differentiation and especially with the stratification of the population into classes, songs with their own specific content are distinguished. The songs of the Rig Veda accurately reproduce the entire process of pounding and squeezing grass to prepare the Indian deity Indra soma, a special intoxicating drink: “Although you are found in every house, O mortar, yet you sound most cheerful here, like the beat of a victor’s timpani. And here, oh pestle, the wind blows in your face; squeeze soma for Indra’s drink, O mortar.” Thus, with the division of labor, songs took a more stable form and at the same time the song content diversified. These professional songs, in turn, were part of the content of the ritual-game and complicated it.

Under certain conditions, the ritual turned into a cult. This evolution of the ritual did not cause the cessation of the ritual itself. The ritual continues to exist along with the cult. Syncretism of forms could remain in both cases; only two forms of it were obtained: 1) ritual syncretism and 2) cult syncretism. The cult was developed during evolution religious beliefs. The cult could not develop under feshitism, due to the fact that the fetish was a family deity or even the deity of an individual. A cult developed only in cases where faith in a well-known deity was shared by an entire tribe or a significant group of it. In many cases, the rite itself already contained the features of the cult. Games that depict the worship of an animal after a successful hunt for it, for example, the worship of a bear carcass among Siberian foreigners, associated with its glorification and propitiation, are not far from a cult, but they are not the cult itself, but a transitional step to it. The most important thing in the cult is the mystery and incomprehensibility of some actions and the stability of the song text, turning into religious formulas and, finally, greater detail of actions with less content of a separate religious plot compared to the ritual. And the most important thing in a cult is the combination of actions with a certain verbal text. Here the melody and the word are of equal importance. Therefore, the natural question is why the cult ceased to be content with interjections alone and demanded a verbal shell for its further life? In French and German folk poetry, some works are performed through a tale told in prose and singing in verse (singen und sagen, dire et chanter). Prose usually precedes verse and has the same content as verse. The same features are also found among uncultured peoples, for example, among the Kyrgyz and Yakuts. Based on this, we have the right to conclude that the same prose text, preceding the poetic one, appeared as a result of the desire to more fully and accurately acquaint ourselves with the poetic text and the former song text, because the song text is not always perceptible to the ear. During the ritual performance of various subjects, facial expressions and actions could not always be understandable, due to the complications of the ritual with new details and due to the survival of actions in the ritual that lost their meaning in the conditions of the new life. An excellent example illustrating our situation are many Russian conspiracies, in which the actions that must be performed are described in verbal form in the conspiracy: I will wash myself, dry myself with a clean towel, cross myself, go out to the east, bow in all directions, etc.

Differentiation of syncretism of forms appears very early, even before the stratification of the population into different classes. But this separate existence of various poetic forms still has very narrow boundaries and is determined by various phenomena family life. First of all, lamentations and funeral songs appear. It takes some talent to praise the deceased and to express feelings of grief over his death. Hence, the natural appeal of the relatives of the deceased, if among them there are no talented performers of the song ritual, to outside experienced persons. This is how professional mourners arise among various nations, but among us there are mourners. Thanks to these professional mourners and their communication with each other, a kind of literary school, developing its own style, its own techniques and its own scheme for a funeral song. Thus, simultaneously with differentiation, the integration of the song occurs in the sense of the development of a stable form in it. The funeral song is a lyrical-epic work in its content.

Before the division of the population into classes, singers had to sing in their works related to the ritual only those events and express those feelings that worried the entire mass of the population, therefore the epic and lyrical elements were distinguished by their schematicity and generality. With the division into classes, class psychology is distinguished by greater definiteness. Those events and feelings that were not interesting to one part of the population become interesting to another. When different classes competed with each other, their own class ideology had to be developed. This, in its entirety, as well as many other conditions, brought forward the emergence of their own special singers, exponents of the worldview of the class to which the singer himself belonged. Already in Homer's Iliad, representatives of not only the aristocracy, but also the demos, the people, are identified. Thersites should be counted among these. And that was it anyway strong personality, otherwise Homer would not have called him Contemptuous, and therefore we rank him among the ideologists of his class. The song about Roland, without a doubt, arose in the princely milieu, just like our “Tale of Igor’s Campaign”; epics about the guest Terentishche, Stavr Godinovich, Sadka the rich guest came from among the bourgeoisie. Those songs about Ivan the Terrible, in which the handsome features of this king are sung, came from the people's zemstvo environment. Professional singers were not alienated from the life of other classes. Dobrynya Nikitich at his wife’s wedding is Vladimir’s buffoon, a special professional folk singer, Kaliki travelers, representatives of wandering religious Rus', find shelter with the same Prince Vladimir. These singers, alien to any class, could be actors in the performance of one or another ritual, and the content of the song in the ritual thus deepened, and at the same time its very forms were developed. With the deepening of content and form, the song became interesting in itself, apart from the ritual, and therefore it stood out and received a special existence. Thus, lyrical-epic songs of predominantly warlike content are distinguished from the ritual. From the cult, with the advent of priesthood and the deepening of mythology, religious songs also of lyrical-epic content emerge - hymns. When a lyric-epic song is passed on to different singers and different generations, the effectiveness disappears and the song becomes purely epic. These are our epics, historical and even wedding songs. The song, separated from the ritual, is integrated in terms of form and content, thanks to the individual creativity of class singers. Along with a purely epic song, a lyrical-epic song can also exist. Such are the Little Russian thoughts and many of our spiritual poems.

The development of new forms in the epic continues with the development of tribal consciousness and the emergence of statehood. In the early stages of its existence, a lyrical-epic song depicts any particular moment in the life of the hero, which is of great importance from the point of view of the emerging nation. The emerging state, pursuing its own interests, collides with the interests of neighboring tribes and nationalities. As a result, wars arise between neighboring tribes. Both hostile camps have their own heroes. Given the duration of hostilities, the exploits of heroes become varied. At the end of hostilities, these exploits are sung by various singers, and everything is grouped around one main, outstanding hero. The same poetic narration about the most important moments of military operations is also performed among the hostile tribe. When peaceful relations are resumed, songs about the same war pass from one tribe to another. Subsequently, all this is cyclized and united, and thus an epic, or heroic poem, arises. The Trojan War was sung by both the Achaeans and the Trojans. The Achaeans had Achilles as their main hero, and the Trojans had Hector. In the same way, from individual lyrical-epic songs dedicated to the cult, a mythological epic is composed, in the style of Hesiod’s “Theogony”.

It is much more difficult to indicate the path of formation of a fairy tale from the syncretism of poetic forms that we have we're talking about. One must think that fairy tales are different in origin. Some stood out from the ritual. These can be considered tales about animal epics. Others could develop independently of ritual and cult within the close circle of the family and for the family. In cases where the ritual reproduced the hunt for various animals, for example, bison or seals, those participating in this ritual disguised themselves in the skins of the depicted animals, imitated their screams, movements, etc. Among the actors in the ritual, they stand out, as already mentioned said individual performers, singers and storytellers. These singers or storytellers, as professionals, when the opportunity arises, separately or together with another singer, reproduce the ritual, eliminating actions from it due to the impossibility of reproducing them, due to the lack of the mass of characters required for the ritual execution of the plot; Overdressing can also be eliminated. The entire course of the ritual is conveyed in this way in verbal form. From here the animals speak and become humanoid, and thus the tale of the animal epic has already begun. The further path of its development is already simple. The same path must be indicated for isolating conspiracy from the cult, according to at least some types of it. The conspiracy was brought from the cult, but developed outside the cult for the family and in the family, as can be seen from the analysis of conspiracies. And here the action is very often depicted in verbal form due to the impossibility of performing it.

Proverbs and riddles emerged from ready-made forms - from fairy tales-songs, in modern times from fables, etc. The proverb “the beaten is lucky for the unbeaten” is borrowed from the fairy tale about the fox and the wolf, “Marco the yak stalks through the heat” (malor.) from the fairy tale about Mark the Rich, “the legend is fresh, but hard to believe” from Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit.” On this basis, one must think that such proverbs as “a jug gets into the habit of walking on water, and there you can break its head”, “where a horse has a hoof, there is a crayfish with a claw” and many others. others are fragments of former fairy tales that have come down to us in destruction. The same must be said about riddles and sayings.

Like the epic, lyric poetry also emerged from syncretism. In a ritual that foresaw a series of events, with the goal of preparing the tribe for war or hunting animals, naturally, the singer had to somehow evoke a certain mood among the participants. This mood, while the ritual was wordless, was expressed in shouts, and when the ritual was combined with a verbal form, then in corresponding verbal pathetic exclamations, which were picked up by all participants in the choir, and which formed a chorus - refrain, schematically expressing in the form of a formula the effectiveness of the entire group of participating persons . At the earliest stage of its development, refrain consists of the repetition of the same word or several. It is further complicated by the figure of psychological parallelism. An example of repetition from the war song of the Otonis: “Have fun with me, Dear friends, have fun, children, and go to the battlefield; be cheerful and joyful in the midst of these shields, the flowers of the bloody battle” (Letourneau. Liter, development. P. 109). An example of psychological parallelism: “You can’t pour water out of Volkhov, you can’t knock people out of Novgorod.” Refrain, the most striking in its expressiveness, often breaks away from its song and moves into another, sometimes changing the very content of another song, examples of which we can see in many Russian songs. With the appearance of two singers in the chorus, the lyrical element of the song becomes more prominent due to the dialogical development of the song itself. This is where the stanzacity characteristic of lyricism comes from. So, the form of the lyrics is predetermined by repetition, parallelism, i.e. comparison inner world a person with externality and strophicity. With the advent of class poetry, lyricism develops even more due to the sharp division of interests of one class from another, and thus gnomic, instructive and satirical lyricism arises, and at the same time its forms naturally differ.

At first, poetic works of syncretic form are distinguished by the expediency of their content, that is, by their utilitarian character. Ritual and cult always pursue some goals.

The cult appeases the deity, the ritual prepares for battle or hunting. Once ritual and cult have lost their purpose, they naturally turn into drama and its ramifications. This transition is facilitated by the emergence of professional performers, first singers, and then buffoons, as artists in their field.

Iv. Lyskov. Literary Encyclopedia: Dictionary literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925

The concept of syncretism

Definition 1

Syncretism is the main quality of culture, which characterizes the process of transition from biological animal existence to sociocultural forms of existence of a reasonable person.

Syncretism was also represented as a set of cultural practices, religious views and systems of social symbols.

This term appeared in ancient culture, but this phenomenon began to be studied only in the 19th century. This explains the fact that scientists have not yet come to a compromise about its meaning and its characteristics. But when it comes to analyzing the historical basis of culture, art, religious processes and the entire spiritual life of society, they turn to syncretism.

Note 1

Syncretism acts as the core on which the understanding rests that all the activities of primitive people, their social and cultural life is something the same for everyone modern people, uniting them into something common.

The syncretism of a given historical state of culture is considered natural and logical, since at the primary level the systemic integrity manifests itself in an undifferentiated and amorphous form.

Syncretism should be distinguished from synthesis, since synthesis is inherently a fusion of objects that exist on their own and have independence. Syncretism is a state that precedes the division of the whole into elements.

Characteristic features of syncretism

The characteristic features of syncretism are:

• Manifestations of the unity of man with nature, where primitive man compares himself with animals, plants, and natural phenomena. Associated with these identifications is a special ancient culture the phenomenon of totemism, which, translated from the Indian language of the Ojibwe tribe, means its clan, is a belief in ancestors, which manifests itself in the form of an animal, bird, plant, tree, etc.
• The primitive phenomenon of animism is also associated with syncretism, which is translated from Lat. means soul, is the animation of the natural world and natural phenomena that surround primitive man. All human activity is considered to be a product of nature. This stable worldview is called traditionalist.
• With the development of crafts it was possible to bring people to new level worldview, gave him a significant awareness of himself and nature, the originality of his existence and the existence of nature.

Syncretism manifests itself in the non-separation of cultural subsystems:

1. material,
2. spiritual,
3. artistic.

The spiritual (ideal) subsystem of primitive culture was presented at 2 levels of the work of human consciousness: the mythological and realistic level.

The mythological subsystem was an unconsciously artistic ability of the work of consciousness.

The realistic subsystem was elemental-material consciousness. With the help of this consciousness, primitive people could distinguish the properties of natural objects and phenomena. This is an ordinary, practical type of thinking. This is the state of pre-science.

Artistic activity is a manifestation of primitive syncretism. It was rightfully included in material and production processes.

Artistic activity turned hunting into a poetically sublime action, and the game of hunting was realized as a bloodthirsty ritual. From this comes the practice of sacrifice. The degree of difficulty and danger of the hunt increased the value of the victim.

Food became a collective meal and was an image of victory, strength, and carried a festive character. Morphological non-separation also refers to the manifestation of syncretism. This concept includes the indivisibility of the genus, type, and genres of art.

Note 2

Primitive artistic creativity was a song-tale-action-dance, as A.N. said. Veselovsky. The basic unit of artistic thinking was emerging - a metaphor, which represented the unity of all things.