The presence of Scythian priests and the above-mentioned methods of divination are confirmed by archaeological data and ethnographic materials. A similar method of divination is described by researchers in Ossetians.<\/p>\n
Regarding Enaarians, this term is explained by experts as a non-man (from the Iranian „nara“ – a man, „e“ – no). According to Herodotus, the disease of the Enarey had a divine origin: the Enarey are the descendants of the Scythians who looted the temple of Aphrodite Urania in the Syrian city of Ascalon, for which the goddess punished them with a female disease.<\/p>\n
Pseudo-Hippocrates in his treatise „On Air, Water and Terrain“ denies the divine origin of the disease of the Enaarians. According to him, this disease has a natural cause: constant riding in many causes tumors, thighs, gout, which causes impotence, which was explained by the actions of the deity. This led to the enarai wearing women’s clothing, learning women’s habits and doing housework with women.<\/p>\n
Describes Herodotus and the rite of the Scythian brotherhood – the oath of allegiance: in a vessel with wine mixed the blood of the parties to the treaty, dipped there akinak, arrows, ax and dart; after that, those who swore and the most respected of those present prayed for a long time and then drank wine (9,204). The existence of brotherhood among the Scythians is confirmed by archaeological finds in the royal mounds (Kul-Oba, Solokha).<\/p>\n
The custom of smoking hemp, which was a peculiar form of shamanism, is also of cultic significance. The smoke from the cannabis burned in the yurt caused narcotic intoxication, which led to the ecstasy of those present and was the cause of the magical rites of shamans, the content of which is the ascent of souls into the underworld.<\/p>\n
Similar to the Trypillians and Cimmerians, the Scythians buried the dead in a hunched form under the mounds. Along with this there was cremation. Both of these rites were passed on to other Slavs through the Ants and became widespread in pre-Christian times in Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.<\/p>\n
Elements of the Scythian religious worldview were absorbed by the Slavic cult of the Family. It is a feeling of ancestral presence, faith in life after death. The Slavs burned or buried the dead. Food, weapons, and a horse, woman, or slave were put in the graves. They filled up hills or high mounds. A year after his death, a trizna was held at the grave.<\/p>\n
N. Polonska-Vasylenko notes the significant influence of Scythian beliefs on the formation of the East Slavic religious and mythological system: „The Scythians continue to develop Trypillia mythology in the images of a fantastic animal style and transmit it through the Antoslav village: these are the images of the Mother Goddess, the shepherd Hercules a cyclops, a griffin, a cult bull, a horse, a wild boar, etc. Our house has an even clearer traditional connection with its stove. „<\/p>\n
The Slavs attributed the miraculous powers of the patron saint of the family to the hearth connected with the furnace. According to the belief, when it collided with fire and earth, fertility increased, so the furnace was the sacred place where a woman should give birth to a child. At the same time, the furnace is the residence of the dead members of the family.<\/p>\n
It is believed that the stove could pick up a sick child and bring her back healthy. This indicates the long-standing provision of fire with a regenerating function. Cleaning and protective properties were also attributed to the hearth. Fire was associated with the sun, which gave warmth and light. Solar power could give a girl beauty, give love. The same magical properties were given to the hearth. M. Kotsyubynsky in the story „In a human way“ describes an ancient custom when the hearth preserves the honor of a girl abandoned by a guy who promised to marry her.<\/p>\n
The girl secretly broke into the groom’s house, and then sat down on the stove in front of everyone. In this case, neither the boy nor his parents could refuse the wedding. M. Gogol („Eyelashes“) also mentions the rite of purification by fire: people who carried the young lady’s body to the church put their hands on the stove. Confirmation of the unity of the sun and the hearth is the baking in the oven of loaves, shaped like the sun.<\/p>\n
World harmony was physically symbolized in the image of the marriage of firelight with water. This symbol was performed on the day of Kupala and was a prototype of sexual union on earth. Therefore, at the end of the holiday, boys and girls were married. Similar holidays existed in many nations: Finns, Germans, Hungarians, Lithuanians and others.<\/p>\n
The image of a duck, a goose on cult objects gives grounds to believe that the image of waterfowl among the Scythians was a religious symbol. Only waterfowl can move safely in three elements – on land, on water and under water, in the air. Slavs also honor waterfowl.<\/p>\n
BO Rybakov believes that the duck was a symbol of connection with the afterlife. Only she could penetrate into the waters of the underground sea and return from there. Birds protective and magical functions, as well as combined with the idea of \u200b\u200btime and space.<\/p>\n
Like the Scythians, the Slavs also worshiped the sword. In the chronicle of the monk Nestor „The Tale of Bygone Years“ it is mentioned that the Slavs worshiped the sword as the god of war.<\/p>\n