Английская Википедия:Household deity

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Файл:Silesian Domovoy statuette (1).jpg
Early-20th-century Slavic cult image of a Domovoy, the household deity, progenitor of the kin, in Slavic paganism

A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world.

Файл:Teraphimandtongueofgold1.png
"Household god" in Gezer by R A Stewart Macalister

Household deities fit into two types; firstly, a specific deityШаблон:Snd typically a goddessШаблон:Snd often referred to as a hearth goddess or domestic goddess who is associated with the home and hearth, such as the ancient Greek Hestia.[1]

The second type of household deity is not one singular deity but a type or species of animistic, which usually has lesser powers than major deities. This type was common in the religions of antiquity, such as the lares of ancient Roman religion, the gashin of Korean shamanism, and cofgodas of Anglo-Saxon paganism. These survived Christianisation as fairy-like creatures existing in folklore, such as the Anglo-Scottish brownie and Slavic domovoy.

Household deities were usually worshipped not in temples but in the home, where they would be represented by small idols (such as the teraphim of the Bible, often translated as "household gods" in Genesis 31:19 for example), amulets, paintings, or reliefs. They could also be found on domestic objects, such as cosmetic articles in the case of Tawaret. The more prosperous houses might have a small shrine to the household god(s); the lararium served this purpose in the case of the Romans. The gods would be treated as members of the family and invited to join in meals or be given offerings of food and drink.

Types

In ancient and modern religions, a god would preside over the home.

Certain species, or types, of household deities existed. An example of this was the Roman Lares.

Many European cultures retained house spirits into the modern period. Some examples of these include:

Although the cosmic status of household deities was not as lofty as that of the Twelve Olympians or the Aesir, they were also jealous of their dignity and also had to be appeased with shrines and offerings, however humble.[2] Because of their immediacy, they had arguably more influence on the day-to-day affairs of men than the remote gods did. Vestiges of their worship persisted long after Christianity and other major religions extirpated nearly every trace of the major pagan pantheons. Elements of the practice can be seen even today, with Christian accretions, where statues to various saints (such as St. Francis) protect gardens and grottos. Even the gargoyles found on older churches could be viewed as guardians partitioning a sacred space.

For centuries, Christianity fought a mop-up war against these lingering minor pagan deities, but they proved tenacious. For example, Martin Luther's Tischreden have numerousШаблон:Snd quite seriousШаблон:Snd references to dealing with kobolds.[3][4] Eventually, rationalism and the Industrial Revolution threatened to erase most of these minor deities until the advent of romantic nationalism rehabilitated them and embellished them into objects of literary curiosity in the 19th century. Since the 20th century, this literature has been mined for characters for role-playing games, video games, and other fantasy personae, not infrequently invested with invented traits and hierarchies somewhat different from their mythological and folkloric roots.

Origins in animism and ancestor worship

Shinto as an exemplar of development

The general dynamics of the origin and development of household deities over a considerable span may be traced and exemplified by the historically attested origins and current practices of the Shinto belief system in Japan. As the Japanologist Lafcadio Hearn put it:

Шаблон:Blockquote

Drawing the picture with broader strokes, he continues: Шаблон:Blockquote

Furthermore,

Шаблон:Blockquote

Many Japanese houses still have a shrine (kamidana, kami shelf) where offerings are made to ancestral kami, as well as to other kami.

Cultural evolution and survival

Edward Burnett Tylor, one of the main founders of the discipline of cultural anthropology, spoke of survivals, vestiges of earlier evolutionary stages in a culture's development. He also coined the term animism. Tylor disagreed with Herbert Spencer, another founder of anthropology, as well as of sociology, about the innateness of the human tendency towards animistic explanations, but both agreed that ancestor worship was the root of religion and that domestic deities were survivals from such an early stage.[5]

Animism and totemism

In contradistinction to both Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, who defended theories of animistic origins of ancestor worship, Émile Durkheim saw its genesis in totemism. This distinction is somewhat academic since totemism may be regarded as a particularized manifestation of animism, and a synthesis of the two positions was attempted by Sigmund Freud. In Freud's Totem and Taboo, both totem and taboo are outward expressions or manifestations of the same psychological tendency, a concept which is complementary to, or which rather reconciles, the apparent conflict. Freud preferred to emphasize the psychoanalytic implications of the reification of metaphysical forces but with particular emphasis on its familial nature. This emphasis underscores, rather than weakens, the ancestral component.[6]

Domestic deities and ancestor worship

Jacob Grimm (1835)

Файл:Lararium, Pompeji.JPG
Shrine of the household deities lares in Pompeii, showing the offering altar and a niche for votive images

European folklorist Jacob Grimm did not hesitate to equate the Roman lar familiaris to the brownie.[7] He explains in some detail in his Deutsche Mythologie: Шаблон:Blockquote

Thomas Keightley (1870)

To underscore the equivalence of brownie, kobold, and goblin, consider the words of the English historian and folklorist Thomas Keightly:

Шаблон:Blockquote

MacMichael (1907)

MacMichael elaborated his views on the folkloric belief complex as follows: Шаблон:Blockquote

New International Encyclopaedia

Demonstrating that this evolution and functional equivalence has generally come to be accepted and that their nature is indeed that proposed by Grimm, one may refer to the early twentieth century New International Encyclopaedia: Шаблон:Blockquote

and also Шаблон:Blockquote

Origin of ancestor worship in animism

Hearn (1878)

William Edward Hearn, a noted classicist and jurist, traced the origin of domestic deities from the earliest stages as an expression of animism, a belief system thought to have existed also in the neolithic and the forerunner of Indo-European religion. In his analysis of the Indo-European household, in Chapter II, "The House Spirit", Section 1, he states: Шаблон:Blockquote

In Section 2, he proceeds to elaborate: Шаблон:Blockquote

George Henderson (1911)

George Henderson elaborated on the presumed origin of ancestor worship in animism: Шаблон:Blockquote

List

Specific deities

Domestic or hearth goddesses from various mythologies include:

European

African

Asian

Шаблон:More citations needed

North American

Other

See also

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Bibliography

External links

Шаблон:Wiktionary Шаблон:Wiktionary

Шаблон:Fairies Шаблон:Authority control

  1. Шаблон:Cite web
  2. For example, reserving a seat at the hearth for the brownie, and offering him milk and honeycomb.
  3. See Brüder Grimm, Wörterbuch, s.v. "kobold", "poltergeist", etc.
  4. "Luther glaubt nicht mehr an katholische Wunder, aber er glaubt noch an Teufelswesen. Seine Tischreden sind voll kurioser Geschichtchen von Satanskünsten, Kobolden und Hexen." ("Erstes Buch".)
    "Luther no longer believes in Catholic miracles, but he still believes in diabolical entities. His Table Talks are full of curious tales of satanic arts, kobolds, and witches."
  5. "Herbert Spencer as an Anthropologist", Journal of Libertarian Studies, V:2, 1981.
  6. SF.
  7. JG, Chapter 17, p 12. Шаблон:Webarchive