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Scientists have found out when a person started using clothes

In a cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, archaeologists have discovered more than 60 bone tools that ancient people used to produce clothing made of leather and fur. The age of the finds is 90—120 thousand years. This is the oldest evidence to date of the manufacture of clothing by representatives of Homo sapiens. The results of the study are published in the journal iScience.

The beginning of the use of clothing is an important milestone in the history of mankind. Its appearance not only marks the rise of man to the next step in cultural and cognitive evolution, this innovation has given people the opportunity to settle outside Africa, in colder and more unfavorable regions from the point of view of climate.

Archaeologists and anthropologists agree that Homo sapiens began using clothing in the late Pliocene, but they could not say more precisely until now: leather, furs and other organic materials used for manufacturing are poorly preserved in the archaeological record. Therefore, scientists are constantly trying to find indirect evidence of the appearance of clothing production technologies among ancient people – specialized tools for making skins.

Researchers studying the site of an ancient man in the Contrebandier cave in Morocco have found here about 12 thousand fragments of animal bones, at least 60 of which have been identified by scientists as tools for skinning and skinning. The found bone tools have a certain correct shape, they are polished and smoothed, which indicates long-term use.

Next to the bone tools, the bones of small fur – bearing animals – sand foxes, golden jackals and wild cats – were found with traces indicating that the animals were butchered to skin them. The bones of other animal species found in the cave, belonging to cattle, have marks of a different type, indicating that they were processed for meat.

«The combination of predator bones with traces of skinning and bone tools, which were probably also used for fur processing, provides very convincing indirect evidence of the production of the earliest clothing in the archaeological record,» the words of the first author of the article Emily Hallett from the German Max Planck Institute for the History of Mankind are quoted in the press release of the publishing house. «But given the level of specialization, these tools are probably part of an earlier tradition, examples of which have not yet been found.»

Experts compared the tools from the Contrebandier cave with descriptions of skin treatment tools from other studies and found that they have the same shape and the same markings. The age of the oldest of the finds is 120 thousand years. This is the earliest evidence to date of the emergence of a culture of clothing production and specialized tools for its manufacture.

In general, according to the researchers, the findings from the Contrabandier cave emphasize the emergence of a complex culture in the late Pleistocene in Africa, including the use of a wide variety of materials for the manufacture of specialized tools.

«Bone tools from the Contrebandier cave demonstrate that approximately 120 thousand years ago Homo sapiens began to actively use bones to make specialized tools for solving specific tasks, including processing leather and fur. This feature, apparently, is the basic one for our species, and did not appear after the expansion into Eurasia,» Hallett summarizes.

Learn more: https://ria.ru/20210916/odezhda-1750382673.html

Scientific comments are given in parentheses.

The Bible (Genesis): mention of clothing

Chapter 2:25 And both Adam and his wife were naked, and they were not ashamed. (Shame in the development of human self-identification appears later. Loincloths – from the point of view of religious figures, the loss of innocence led to a sense of shame, and people began to cover the genitals with loincloths (girdles), Christians covered the genitals in sculptures and paintings with fig leaves (hence to show figs – to ridicule Christian mock modesty). Man is the only animal that deliberately covers his body with foreign materials for reasons that we call «modesty», using the «belt of modesty». Other animals can cover themselves with dirt in order to cool the body, or they can use an unoccupied shell as a shelter, but, as far as we can judge, only people have modesty. A. Asimov believed that at first some kind of coverings were needed in order to protect the most sensitive places – for example, the genitals – from contact with the external environment. (When a person stood on his hind legs, the genitals were more open than before.). As people migrated to cooler areas, clothes became heavier and tighter around the body: a person needed artificial heat. The motive of modesty (or, in some cases, shamelessness: after all, sometimes garments were used to emphasize erotic places) appeared, apparently, as a side effect of this utilitarian need for clothing. On the other hand, there are still primitive cultures for which nudity is not considered shameful; there are also developed peoples with similar views – for example, the Japanese; finally, one can recall nudist (from the Latin nudo – to expose, to do naked, to discover, to be discovered) colonies and beaches. The loincloth was used by people to prevent feces from falling or urine from spilling during hunting and in general, since an enemy or a predatory animal could track down the traces of human excrement. By blood (using spears with notches that cause an abundance of blood), traces, droppings, ancient people and current hunters, as well as animals by smell, track down prey. Loincloths were also used to support the genitals, as corsets and bras were later used to support women’s breasts.)

Chapter 3:21 And the Lord God made leather garments for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (Once again proves that the Lord God is a man, or rather tailors who skin animals and use animal skins for clothing. that is, cattle breeding is developing.)

Chapter 9:20 Noah began to cultivate the land and planted a vineyard; (Noah’s occupation with agriculture and, in particular, viticulture).

21 And he drank the wine, and became drunk, and lay naked in his tent. (Description of Noah’s drunkenness, clothes by that time were not only the subject of hiding from the cold, but also became the subject of modesty).

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness, and went out and told his two brothers. (Here it is proved that by that time clothes had become a subject of modesty, it became necessary to hide their nakedness with the help of clothes).

23 Now Shem and Japheth took a garment and put it on their shoulders, went backwards and covered their father’s nakedness; their faces were turned back, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. (Once again it is proved that it was impossible for children to see their parents’ nakedness).

24 Noah overslept from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him (Noah’s actions towards his youngest son, but in ancient times the rule of the minor was applied to younger sons, that is, all property was given to him).

25 And he said, Cursed is Canaan; he will be a servant of servants to his brothers. (However, it is not Ham who is cursed, but his son, that is, Noah’s grandson Canaan! Canaan is the ancestor of the Canaanites and the writers of the Bible, who covered these events in later times, had to justify the enslavement of Canaan by the Israelites).

26 Then he said: Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; Canaan will be his servant; (Shem had his own God, most likely the god of the tribe of Shem, then there was polytheism, Canaan was proclaimed a slave to Shem. Here again the Israelites’ conquest of Canaan is justified).

Chapter 20:16 And Sarah said, Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, this is a veil for your eyes before all who are with you, and before all you are justified. (A veil to hide the eyes. Headscarves for women – all peoples at different times have a closure of the face, body. For example, the burqa is from the Arab. farajiya – upper loose clothing, veil – from Sanskrit. pata is a fabric, a light female head covering, now a wedding headdress. The face in ancient times was considered the abode of the soul, where the most important features of a woman were, so they were hidden even more carefully than the rest of the body. Nowadays, a resident of Saudi Arabia, having lived with her husband for 30 years, filed for divorce after a curious spouse looked at her face for the first time, removing the veil, thus he violated the law of his wife’s hometown, which prohibits showing her face even to her spouse).

Chapter 24:53 And the servant took out silver things, and gold things, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; and he also gave rich gifts to her brother and her mother. (Endowment).

Chapter 27:15 And Rebekah took the rich clothes of her eldest son Esau, which she had in her house, and clothed her youngest son Jacob; (Camouflage). 16 and she covered his hands and his smooth neck with the skin of the goats; (Camouflage). 27 He came up and kissed him. And [Isaac] smelled the smell of his clothes and blessed him and said, «Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of the field that the Lord has blessed; (Deception). 28 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fat of the earth, and plenty of bread and wine; (A blessing by deceit!).

Chapter 28:20 And Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I am going, and will give me bread to eat and clothes to put on, (A vow is a contract with a priest).

Chapter 35:2 And Jacob said to his house and to all who were with him, Cast away the strange gods that are with you, and be cleansed, and change your clothes; (There must be one god who will «guide»).

Chapter 37:3 Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age, and made him a colorful garment. (Joseph is the youngest son, that is, he fits under the right of a minor. Multicolored clothes meant wealth, a kind of being chosen for ancient times, something like the fashion of that time. Expulsion of children – in the animal world, it is often possible to observe the expulsion of their older cubs by females with newborns, this is done by them in order to save the life of a newborn cub and feed it, also a female feeding a newborn does not seek to mate, she does not produce menstruation, this is also observed in humans (often eaten or buried by animals placenta, so that predators do not come to the smell and eat the cubs, according to the ancient African custom of some peoples, including the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, their placenta was buried together with the deceased in a canopic jar). In ancient Russia, group marriage was a form of family life in which a woman and a man from the same family formed a monogamous family for a while. They lived as husband and wife for exactly as long as it took to have children and raise them up to about the age of three. From that moment on, the mother paid less attention to the child, since he was considered old enough to do a variety of work. A woman could have already given birth to a second child, so she either extended the relationship with her former spouse, or moved on to another man. The elder must arrange his own life. Such a phenomenon exists in humans – in Russian fairy tales, older brothers are always treacherous, and the younger one is «good», in Germany, the custom was preserved for a long time when older children left home and arranged their own lives. This is the right of the minor, the ancient system of inheritance of property by the youngest in the family, was replaced by the right of the major – the right of inheritance by the eldest of the heirs, was aimed at preserving and consolidating large landed property). 23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they took off Joseph’s clothes, the multicolored clothes that he was wearing (the clothes were apparently expensive).

24 And they took him and threw him into the pit; but the pit was empty; there was no water in it. (Revenge of the brothers).

25 And they sat down to eat bread, and looked, and saw, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, and their camels were carrying styrax, balm, and frankincense: they were going to take it to Egypt. (A trading caravan. In religious manipulations, aromatic effects are widely used – the establishment of influence with the help of odors and smoking (myrrh, myrrh, frankincense, etc.). It has been scientifically proven that frankincense contains incensol acetate and is a remedy for depression and acts as an antidepressant. Balms – from the Greek – aromatic resin, natural substances, which include essential oils and resins dissolved in them, aromatic and other compounds. Styrax (in Greek, in Hebrew – nataf – a tree or shrub, the brown-red resin of this tree was used in medicine and cosmetics, the ancient Israelites used this resin when smoking in tents).

26 Judah said to his brothers, «What good is it if we kill our brother and hide his blood?» (Judas is against the murder of his brother).

27 Let us go and sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let not our hands be on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. His brothers obeyed him (It is better to sell Joseph).

28 And when the merchants of Midian were passing by, they pulled Joseph out of the ditch and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver; and they took Joseph to Egypt. (Joseph was sold to Egypt. A piece of silver is a Jewish coin).

29 But Reuben came again to the ditch; and behold, Joseph was not in the ditch. And he tore his clothes, (Tearing clothes is an ancient custom of inflicting certain injuries to himself).

30 And he returned to his brothers, and said, There is no lad, but I, where am I going? (Reuben empathizes with Joseph).

31 And they took Joseph’s clothes, and slaughtered the goat, and stained the clothes with blood. (Staging).

32 And they sent a garment of many colors, and brought it to their father, and said, We have found it; see if this is your son’s garment or not. (Father’s deception).

33 He recognized her and said, «This is my son’s garment; a beast of prey has eaten him; surely Joseph has been torn to pieces.» (Jacob believed the deception).

34 And Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. (Sackcloth or sackcloth – sackcloth, clothing made of coarse fabric).

35 And all his sons and all his daughters gathered together to comfort him; but he would not be comforted, and said, With sorrow I will go down to my son in hell. So his father mourned him. (Mourning originates in antiquity. Mourning – according to the rule of talion, grief, mourning clothes, veil, female crying (mourners) – all these are ways to cause pity for the mourner, ways to cause sadness, grief, remorse. A person in grief beats his chest, tears his hair, refuses to eat, thereby trying to punish himself and avoid the upcoming eternal punishment or weaken the punishment he is waiting for for the death of a loved one).

Chapter 38:14 And she took off the garment of her widowhood, and covered herself with a veil, and shut herself up, and sat at the gate of Enaim, which is on the road to Tamnah. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she was not given to him as a wife. (Special clothes existed in ancient times for mourning, different countries have different mourning colors in Europe – black, in China – white).

15 When Judas saw her, he took her for a harlot, because she had covered her face. (The woman’s closed face, apparently, meant the opening of the lower part of the body to those who wished).

16 He turned to her and said, «I will come in to you.» For he did not know that this was his daughter-in-law. She said: what will you give me if you come in to me? (Prostitution, one of the oldest professions).

17 He said: I’ll send you a kid from the herd. She said: Will you give me a deposit while you send it? (A pledge is also needed, otherwise it will deceive).

18 He said, «What pledge shall I give you?» She said, «Your seal, and your sash, and your cane, which is in your hand.» And he gave it to her and went in to her; and she conceived by him. (Pregnancy also appeared).

19 And she arose, and went, and took off her veil, and put on the garment of her widowhood. (The widow again).

20 Judah sent a kid by his friend the Adollamite to take the pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her. (Payment).

21 And he asked the inhabitants of the place, saying, Where is the harlot who was in Enaim by the wayside? But they said: There was no harlot here. (Clarification).

Chapter 39:12 She grabbed him by his clothes and said, «Lie down with me.» But he left his clothes in her hands, ran and ran out. (The woman is preparing a trick).

13 But when she saw that he had left his clothes in her hands and ran out (to contradict a woman like that!).

14 She called her household and said to them, «Look, he has brought a Jew to us to scold us. He came to me to lie down with me, but I screamed in a loud voice, (A woman is preparing a trick).

15 And when he heard that I raised a cry and cried out, he left his clothes with me, and ran, and ran out. (Insinuations).

16 And she kept his clothes with her until his master came to her house. (The woman is preparing a trick).

17 And she told him the same words, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came to me to abuse me. (Insinuations).

18 But when I raised my voice and cried out, he left his clothes with me and ran out. (Insinuations).

19 When his master heard the words of his wife, which she said to him, saying: your servant did this to me, then he was inflamed with anger; (The insinuation ended with the victory of the deceiver).

20 Then his master took Joseph and put him in the prison where the king’s prisoners were imprisoned. And he was there in prison. (Joseph is in prison).

Chapter 41:14 And Pharaoh sent and called Joseph. And they hurriedly brought him out of prison. He cut his hair and changed his clothes and came to Pharaoh. (Joseph was summoned to Pharaoh). 42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand; he clothed him in fine linen, and put a golden chain around his neck.; (Joseph is the most important official of the state, visson is an expensive fabric).

43 He ordered them to take him to the second of their chariots and proclaim before him: Bow down! And he set him over all the land of Egypt. (Joseph is the most important official of the state).

Chapter 44:13 And they tore their clothes, and each one laid a burden on his donkey, and returned to the city. (Tearing clothes meant showing a high degree of despair).

Chapter 45:22 To each of them he gave a change of clothes, and to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes; (Pharaoh’s order).

Chapter 49:11 He binds his colt to the vine and his donkey’s son to the vine of the best grapes; he washes his clothes in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes; (Predictions are blessings).

Chapter 50:10 And they came to Goren-haathad by the Jordan, and there they wept with a great and very strong weeping; and [Joseph] wept for his father seven days. (In ancient times, it was necessary to show grief for the deceased. Mourning – according to the rule of talion, grief, mourning clothes, veil, female crying (mourners) – all these are ways to cause pity for the mourner, ways to cause sadness, grief, remorse. A person in grief beats his chest, tears his hair, refuses to eat, thereby trying to punish himself and avoid the upcoming eternal punishment or weaken the punishment he is waiting for for the death of a loved one).

Animal skins – initial clothing

The skins of various animals were the first forms of clothing of ancient man. The skins of various animals were cut up and served as a blanket for a person.

For example, bulls are very often found in legends and beliefs of different peoples. The «Word about Igor’s regiment» mentions «Busovo time», Bus in ancient Greek, bos in Latin – «bull, cow», aka Booz, Boos, God – king and commander of the tribal associations of Slavs (Ants), executed by the Goths in the IV century along with 70 other leaders of related tribes. In ancient Western Semitic languages, «aleph» meant «bull», and «bet» – «house» (in Hebrew, «aleph» and «bet», respectively), hence the name of the first Greek letters «alpha» and «beta» (in the Byzantine pronunciation «vita»), the Russian word «alphabet».

In ancient Egypt, there was, along with other animals, the cult of the bull, it was one of the most magnificent and solemn cults that an animal has ever been honored with, the Memphis bull Apis was considered a «servant of the god Ptah» and a symbol of fertility; he lived in a sacred stable right in the main temple, where he was cared for by special priests. After the death of the bull, it was embalmed and buried in compliance with a complex solemn ceremony and with a huge gathering of people. The priests then went to look for his receiver, and here they looked for some birthmarks – «divine» signs, only a black bull was recognized as a «newborn Apis», who had a white spot in the shape of a triangle on his forehead, a scarab—shaped growth under his tongue, a spot resembling an eagle on his spine, a two—color on his tail wool, etc.; these «divine» signs were allegedly about 30. When such a bull was finally found, which was undoubtedly not an easy task, he was solemnly escorted to a cleaned sacred stable, where he lived with a harem of specially selected cows until his death, the last bull lived to the moment when Egypt became a Christian country. The cult of the «golden calf» was borrowed by the Jews from the ancient Egyptians, who worshipped the bull Apis (hecatomb – in ancient Greece, the sacrifice of a hundred bulls to the gods).

The longest 2nd surah of the Quran is called «Cow».

The ancient Egyptian god Osiris was usually identified with the bull Apis from Memphis and with the bull Mnevis from Heliopolis. It is difficult to say whether these bulls, like red-haired oxen, were incarnations of Osiris as the spirit of bread, or whether they were originally independent deities who merged with Osiris later. These two bulls are distinguished from other sacred animals whose cult was local in nature by the fact that their cult was widespread everywhere. Whatever the original relation of Apis to Osiris, we have one fact regarding the former, which cannot be ignored in any way when discussing the custom of killing God. Although the ancient Egyptians worshipped this bull as a real god, with great solemnity and deep reverence, they did not allow Apis to live longer than the period prescribed by the ritual books. At the end of this period, the bull was drowned in a sacred spring. Apis, according to Plutarch, was allowed to live for twenty-five years. However, recent excavations of Apis graves show that this prescription was not always carried out punctually. From the inscriptions on the tombs it appears that during the reign of the twenty-second dynasty, two of the sacred bulls lived for more than twenty-six years.

The Hindus have a cult of the cow, the killing and eating of whose meat they revere for a crime as heinous as premeditated murder. Nevertheless, the brahmins transfer the sins of the people to one or more cows, which are then taken to the place indicated by the brahmin. Sacrificing a bull, the ancient Egyptians called on his head all the troubles that could fall on themselves and on their land, after which they sold the bull’s head to the Greeks or threw it into the river. The ancient Egyptians worshipped bulls in the historical era, it was their custom to kill bulls and eat their meat. A large number of facts lead us, however, to the conclusion that originally the Egyptians, along with cows, considered bulls sacred animals. They not only considered sacred and never sacrificed cows – they sacrificed only such bulls, on the body of which there were certain marks. Before sacrificing the bull, the priest carefully examined it: if the necessary markings were present, the priest branded the animal as a sign that it was suitable for sacrifice. The man who sacrificed an unbranded bull was himself to be put to death. The cult of the black bulls Apis and Mnevis (especially the first one) played an important role in Egyptian religion. The Egyptians carefully buried all bulls who died of natural causes on the outskirts of cities, after which they collected their bones from all parts of Egypt and buried them in one place. All the participants in the sacrifice of the bull at the great mysteries of Isis wept and beat their chests. So, we have the right to conclude that originally bulls, like cows, were revered by the Egyptians as sacred animals and that the slaughtered bull, on whose head all the people’s misfortunes were heaped, was once a divine redeemer.

Since the end of the XIII century BC, a new time has begun for Egypt. The Pharaohs, and above all the famous Ramses II, who ruled for 67 years, moved their residence to Lower Egypt in order to facilitate their protection from the invasions that threatened the country primarily from the Hittites, then from the «sea peoples» and the Philistines. They sought to organize the defense of Egypt not at the very remote Thebes, but at the Nile Delta, directly at the gates of Egypt. The god Amon with a ram’s head (with twisted horns) is also gradually losing its former dominant place. Ramses II creates a cemetery of sacred bulls (with horns) in Memphis. Far to the south, near the border with modern Sudan, at Abu Simbel, he builds a sanctuary deep in the rock. German author Erich Tseren in the book «Biblical Hills» writes: «There, in Susa (the capital of ancient Elam, modern southern Iran), as a result of excavations in 1901—1902, the French found… the „code of laws“ of the Babylonian king Hammurabi, written on a huge diorite stone. They also found parts of a wall bas-relief of the XII century BC, on which a bearded bull-man with a crown in the form of a horn and bull hooves is depicted next to a palm tree. It is quite obvious that the most ancient image of the bull is now becoming more and more a humanoid image of the moon god, who, in the end, preserved only as a sign of divinity the sacred horns on his forehead, the same as those of the leaders of the Semites, Indo-Europeans, Germans and other peoples.» The ancient Egyptians worshipped bulls, cats, crocodiles, sheep, etc. and considered them gods, as well as their kings.

In Hebrew mythology, cherubs are drawn as four-faced creatures (each of them has a human, bull, lion and eagle face), having four wings, under which human hands and four wheels are located. Cherubim symbolize intelligence, obedience, strength and speed. The Bible says that God sits on cherubim (1 Samuel, chapter 4, v. 4; Psalm 79, v. 2), that cherubim are the guardians of paradise (Gen., Chapter 3, v. 24) and carriers of God’s chariot through the clouds (Ezek., chapters 1 and 10). The etymology of the word «cherub» is controversial. Once this word was derived from the Aramaic root «harab» – to plow, but now it is believed that it comes from the Assyrian karibu – «blessing». «Cherub» is a singular form, in Hebrew the plural is formed by adding the suffix «im», thus the word «cherub», and this despite the fact that in the Russian translation it looks like paradise is guarded by a single being, denotes a certain number of guards.

«The Book of the Judges of Israel», scientific commentaries in parentheses. «Chapter 2. 11 Then the children of Israel began to do evil in the sight of the Lord and began to serve the Baals; (Obedience and loyalty to «their» god, this is the main thing for slaves from the point of view of the slave-owning priests. Baal, Baal, from the Phoenician «lord», «lord» – an ancient all-Semitic deity, revered in Phoenicia, Syria, Palestine. Initially, he was considered the head of the patriarchal family, the patron god of a certain territory, a city, was depicted as a man with goat horns («Azazel», more precisely «Aza-El» – from Hebrew «goat—god»). The worship of the ancient gods was preserved among the Jews even when monotheism was established among them and the church, temple organization of the cult of Yahweh was formed. According to the book of Leviticus (XVI, 5—30), God commanded Moses that on the tenth day of the seventh month the Jews celebrate the «day of purification» from all sins. Baal: A pagan deity, a symbol of human sacrifice. Some rituals included the sacrifice of children, as with other ancient peoples. The parents believed that they could earn the favor of Baal by placing their firstborn on his altar. They thought he would reward their devotion by giving them many more children. In other cases, the body of a sacrificed child was immured in the foundation or wall of a new house. By doing so, the family hoped that it would provide her with Baal’s protection and keep her out of trouble. Baals could be people, priests-lords, many of them wore horns on their heads, goat skins, hooves, mimicking totem animals – goats, rams, bull bulls).

Does Baal resemble such fabulous creatures as the devil, the devil, the devil? These were people, priests of the primitive tribal system, who wore animal skins, they became competitors of other priests, with wings on their backs.

Horned animals symbolized the sickle of the «sacred» Moon, the Moon and the Sun, as well as the sky itself, where supposedly «celestials» live, by analogy with earthly life, became sacred animals that you need to resemble, initially to get closer and catch, therefore they wore horns, hooves, tail.

Sorcerer in the skin of a bull, drawing from the cave of the Three Brothers, Ariege, France, Upper Paleolithic

Hunters, in order to catch an animal, put on its skins, made an imitation of hooves, horns, tails, masks or wings, so it was easier to catch any animal that perceived a person in the skin of this animal as its own. Hence came a variety of werewolves – people in the skin of animals, later actors (actors), priests and sorcerers who used various methods to establish their dominance over their tribesmen, including to become «human hunters», that is, to make tribesmen their slaves.

Detail of the painting of the «Blue Hall» of the Penjikent Palace, Tajikistan, depicts a fight with demons-divas, people who wear horns, goat beards and legs with hooves, two fierce demons, pulling bows, whirl into battle on a winged chariot, that is, artificial wings are attached to the chariot, 5—8 centuries.

In most mammals, rods (photoreceptor cells) predominate in the retina of the eye, so, for example, a wolf or a fox do not distinguish colors, but they see even on a moonless night. Talk about the fact that the wolf is afraid of red flags or the bull rushes to the red with special fury has no basis. Humans and monkeys (as well as birds) have a lot of cones in the retina of the eyes, so they distinguish colors, but they do not see anything on a dark night.

Archaeological research shows that the homeland of the ancient Indo—Europeans is the area of the Southern Urals – the Black Sea region, where they formed as a single language group. Indo-European languages are formed in ancient times and originate from a single Proto-Indo-European language, whose native speakers lived about 5—6 thousand years ago. On the territory of the Southern Urals, the oldest beliefs are formed, which became the basis of subsequent religions: Vedism and Mazdaism, which, in turn, developed from primitive beliefs. The ancient Indo-Europeans began the culture of metallurgy development here, this was facilitated by the presence of a huge number of swamps. The Indo-Europeans learned how to extract marsh ores and melt iron from them. «Santa Claus» can be translated from Latin as «sacred, closed place» from «sanctus» – «sacred, inviolable, indestructible», «clausum» – «closed locked place, lock, bolt». This is the legendary Vara from the Zoroastrian Avesta. In ancient times, it was also in Vars: priests with horns on their heads and wings behind their backs burned dead people – that’s the prototype of hell. Indo-Europeans carried their goods for sale on sleighs in winter and became prototypes of Santa Claus.

Mention of clothing and folk customs in the epic of peoples

The Enchanted Castle

(Persian folk tale)

Was it so or not, the Padishah (Padishah – Persian. «supreme sovereign») The country of Haveran (Haveran is a small city in the south of Iran, in the province of Fars) had three sons. The elder was called Afruz (Afruz – Persian. «victorious»), the middle one is Shahruz (Shahruz – Persian. «royal, happy, lucky»), and the younger one is Behruz (Behruz – Persian. «successful»). (The «sacred» troika). One day they sat with their entourage and talked about this and that, until they talked about amazing places on earth and cities that are worth seeing. Here all the sons of the padishah really wanted to go on a long journey together, wander around the world, see the amazing and unprecedented. That’s what they decided. They went to their father, kissed the ground in front of him and asked for permission to go to distant lands. The Padishah answered them:

– Well you planned it! After all, it is not for nothing that our wise elders said: «It is better to wander than to sit at home in vain.» To go around the whole world is very good, a person sees a lot of interesting things and remembers what will be useful to him later. Go, take a walk, see different countries, talk to wise, experienced people and learn something from everyone. As the sages say: «From each hirman (Hirman – tok, threshing floor, a platform on which grain is poured), take an ear so that your hirman is larger than any other.» But if you go and in your journey you will reach

standing on the very border of the city of Nigaristan (Nigaristan is the residence of suburban shah palaces in the vicinity of Tehran), do not enter it and turn from there as soon as possible, because this is not a good city, and anyone who comes there becomes unhappy. The worst thing is that not far from the city, on a hill, behind a stone wall, there is a palace called the «Enchanted Castle». Anyone who enters it will lose everything. Dozens of young men did not listen to the advice of the elderly and went there. They lost their lives and wealth, and so far it has never happened that someone came to the city of Nigaristan and did not go to the enchanted castle. I say it again, my sons! Be on the alert, God forbid that your foot set foot in the city of Nigaristan and you went to the enchanted castle!

The sons bowed low to him, kissed the ground in front of him and said:

– We obey! With our soul and heart we heed the order of the Padishah!

The Padishah kissed everyone and said:

– Go, be healthy, may God protect you!

The next morning, the sons got up early, mounted good horses, rode out of the gates of the city and drove along the road. But every time they remembered their father’s speeches and his strict order, they began to think: «Is the city of Nigaristan and the enchanted castle such a dangerous place? Why didn’t Father tell us to go there? How does he know everything? Have you been there yourself, heard from someone or read in books? Why didn’t he tell us more, didn’t he explain what kind of city Nigaristan is and what kind of enchanted castle it is?»

Such seductive thoughts came into their heads all the time and deprived them of peace.

Days passed, months passed, they passed through towns and villages, until one day they came to a green, cheerful plain, which beckoned from afar with lush gardens. One could guess that behind the gardens there was a city, abundant with water and fertile. They drove a little further, entered the gardens and between the trees saw the battlements and towers of the city walls rising to the sky. People coming from the city began to come across them. The sons of the Padishah asked them: What kind of city is this?

They were answered:

– This is the city of Nigaristan.

Then all three remembered their father’s speeches, shuddered and froze in place… Finally Afruz said:

This is the same city standing on the border. Father strictly ordered us not to go to these places. However, as you can see, the city is worth a look. I don’t know what we should do, enter the city or not enter?

The younger brother, Behruz, answered him:

– How do you not know what to do? It is necessary to fulfill the father’s order and, without looking at this city, immediately turn back.

The middle brother said:

– Since we are already here, it would be nice to drive up to the city gate and look there, and then leave.

Then the elder brother spoke again:

– I don’t think this is the same city where our father didn’t tell us to go. That city should lie in ruins, but in this one, so beautiful and blooming, in my opinion, anyone can enter. We left home to see everything worth seeing, and this city is certainly worth seeing. I think we need to go there, and if this is the same Nigaristan that father spoke about, we will not go to the enchanted castle, we will not spend the night in the city, we will ride through this gate and, without dismounting, we will leave the other gate.

For a long time they argued like that, until suddenly they noticed that they had already arrived at the very city gate. As they saw the gates and the decorations above them, they bit their fingers in surprise. And when they looked through the gate into the city itself, they were just dumbfounded… They see: yes, this is the same city of Nigaristan, standing on the border, about which my father spoke.

Afruz, the oldest brother, said:

– Our father did not tell us to go to this city. But he either did not know what kind of city it was, or he thought that we were still helpless children and if someone attacked us, we would be defeated and captured. He doesn’t know that if someone comes face to face with us, he won’t be able to. Each of us is worth ten heroes in archery, swordsmanship and wrestling!

He said and added:

«Come what may! I’m going to the city! The middle brother said,

«I’m coming with you!»

And the youngest says:

– I have to go with you, because we are going together. If there is a road in front of us, we must go along it together, and if there is a pit in front of us, we must fall there together!

And so all three brothers entered the city. They’ve never seen anything like this before! Palaces and houses, gardens and flower beds amazed the eye, over every door, at every intersection, on every wall such pictures are painted – you can’t take your eyes off! But listen, what kind of people are there! Some are white, pink, strong, they are dressed in new beautiful clothes, they talk, laugh, are cheerful, they have a holiday from evening to morning, they do not know grief. These cheerful and beautiful people are more often found on the streets, and others, who are much more numerous than the first ones, work for them, and they, unhappy, hungry, ragged, thin, live in dilapidated houses on the outskirts, no one pays attention to them.

The brothers really liked the city, and they decided to spend a few days in it. We stayed there for two or three days and became completely different – just drunk. They didn’t care about anything, had fun, and only wanted to sing and dance.

One day, being in a cheerful mood, the elder brother Afruz said to the two younger ones:

– I keep thinking about why my father didn’t want us to go to this city. Was he jealous of our pleasures?

The middle brother replied:

– Maybe this city was destroyed earlier and the father knows about it since then, but does not know anything about today?

The younger brother said:

– Maybe he knows about something bad in this city that we haven’t met yet?

I won’t bother you with transmitting their conversation, but they talked for a long time. In the end, they got quite settled in the city.

One day Afruz says:

– Brothers! The place here is not bad and probably the enchanted castle is the same, and my father just told us not to go there in vain. We need to look into it too, and if you don’t come with me, I’ll go alone and come back soon.

Shahruz replied:

– I will not enter the castle, but I will go with you to its foot. Behrouz replied:

«If you’re both going, then I’m going with you.»

The brothers got up here, mounted their horses and went to look for the enchanted castle. But they didn’t ask anyone how to get to him, they all showed him the threshold, and then gave the same advice: «It’s better not to go there, it’s a bad place, they say; of the young men who went there, no one returned the same way they left.» And every inhabitant of the city of Nigaristan, who met them, reported something new about the enchanted castle. One said:

– In winter, instead of snow and rain, stones and lightning fall from the sky, and in summer, flames shoot out of doors and windows.

Another said:

– Padishah divov (Divas, devas – slav. «marvel» – supernatural humanoid beings, present in Turkic, Iranian, Slavic, Georgian, Armenian, mythologies, in Zoroastrianism – evil spirits) imprisoned in this castle the daughter of Shah Peri (Peri – Persian. in Persian mythology, creatures in the form of beautiful girls, a kind of analogue of European fairies) and wants to persuade her to become his wife. But the padishah is afraid that if some hero finds the way to the castle, he will take the beauty away, and therefore anyone who comes to the castle is attacked by divas.

Many said:

– The daughter of the Chinese emperor has been kidnapped and is being held there in chains. A strong guard is assigned to her so that no one can free her.

Others said:

– In that castle, in the dungeon, a girl named Chilgis is imprisoned (Chilgis is a Persian. «Forty braids», the «sacred» number 40. Science does not believe that some numbers are «bad» and others are «good», but such an opinion exists in religious and mystical thinking. Some examples. 3. The idea of the «divine trinity», being a reflection of the fact of the existence of a monogamous family. Dad, mom and child, the role of mom is downplayed due to the rule of patriarchy, instead of mom, the holy spirit borrowed from Zoroastrianism. 13. The damn dozen. The devil is a representative of the «wrong» pagan religion, who wore animal skins, horns, and a kind of hooves on his feet – initially in order to get closer to animals and catch them. 12 – «dozen», from «squeeze» – that is, «be able», the number 12 is divided into many numbers, and 13 it is not divided into anything – it turns out «a damn dozen». 40. Ancient tribes of Indo-Europeans lived for thousands of years in the Arctic Circle, where the polar day lasts 40 days, and the Sun was God. 666. Apocalypse, the number of the beast. In many ancient peoples, including the Jews, numbers were denoted by different letters of the alphabet, in Hebrew words are read from right to left: nun (50); vav (6); nes (200); nun (50); nes (200); sameh (60); kuf (100) in the sum of the numerical values and give the number 666, it turns out the emperor «Caesar Nero»). She was tied by her braids to a post so that she would not run away. She will be there until the hero Jahantig (Jahantig – Persian. «avalanche») and will not free her.

One or two people said:

– This castle belongs to the daughter of the Chinese emperor. She is very beautiful, but she does not marry anyone and will only marry someone who will answer all her questions. Until now, no one has been able to answer her questions, and those who have wooed, but have not answered the questions, are beheaded, impaled on spikes and put their heads on the battlements of the fortress walls. In addition, many young men there were bewitched, and some of them were petrified to the waist, and others – from head to toe.

The people they met told the three brothers about all this, and they wanted to see the enchanted castle more and more. It takes a long time to retell everything here, and, in short, Afruz asked those people who told about this castle:

– Have you seen everything you are talking about with your own eyes? Answered:

– No! We heard from our fathers, but none of us went there, because there is a Chinese border and a fortress behind the famous Chinese wall.

In the end, Afruz, Shahruz and Behruz left the city of Nigaristan in the direction of the enchanted castle. From a distance, they saw a castle rising to the sky on a hill behind a powerful stone wall… We reached the top of the hill. At the very wall they got off their horses and tied them to a tree. With great difficulty, they climbed the wall, descended from it and found themselves on the other side of the wall at the foot of the castle. The castle gates were closed and no one was there. For some reason, the brothers were seized with fear, they wanted to return, but Afruz thought and said:

– Since we came here, we should still look into the castle. If you’re afraid, stay here and wait for me. I’ll go there and come back quickly.

Shahruz and Behruz said:

– No, brother, let’s get out of here! We can’t go in there, this castle scares us, let’s get out of here!

Afruz replied:

– No, as the man said, that’s what he should do. Stay here, I’ll be back soon.

With the end of his sword, he lifted the bolt, opened the gate and entered the castle. Shahruz and Behruz, trembling with fear, were waiting for him at the castle gate. Two or three hours have passed, and he’s still gone. They were alarmed. Shahruz said:

– In my opinion, an accident has happened to our brother. Stay here, and I’ll go to the castle. If we come back from there with him, we’ll leave right away, and if I enter the castle and don’t come back either, don’t follow me, go straight to our city, to your father, and tell him everything.

Behrouz asked:

– Why don’t I follow you if you don’t come back?

Shahruz replied:

– Because I’m afraid you will also disappear with us, and more grief will be added to the grief of the father, he will be left completely without sons, his house will be empty, the hearth will go out. In any case, you alone should stay with him, so that in his old age he would have support!

With these words, Shahruz entered the castle gate and also disappeared… Behruz, when he saw that the middle brother also did not appear, wanted to do as he said and return to his father, but then he thought: «That would be ignoble! I’ll go to the castle, and if they are captured, I may be able to free them!»

Behruz entered the castle gate and saw: there is a huge building, there are a lot of ayvans (Ayvan is a covered terrace) and rooms, the walls are covered with paintings everywhere, the floors are made of marble and porphyry (Porphyry is a volcanic rock. Porphyry (fabric) is a purple – colored material used for the manufacture of outerwear of royal persons and other important persons). He really liked looking at all this at first, but then he suddenly thought: «After all, I came for my brothers and immediately lost my head in front of these paintings, so much so that I forgot about my brothers! I stand as if bewitched! That’s right, they called this castle enchanted!»

He moved from his place and went to look for his brothers. He moved from ivan to ivan, from room to room, until he reached a room that was larger than the others, and saw his brothers standing there confused, biting their finger in surprise, in front of some painting. He was delighted at the sight of his brothers. Looked around and sees: what beautiful paintings! He said to himself:

«We need an expert here to figure everything out! It seems that these paintings were drawn by the hand of the prophet Mani himself!» (Mani is a semi – legendary prophet, the founder of the religion of Manichaeism (III century AD). Manichean temples were decorated with wall paintings, and therefore Mani himself was considered a skilled artist).

Then he went up to the brothers and looked at the image they were looking at. Then his heart sank, and he, too, was numb with surprise. The three of them stared at the painting until it got dark. We spent the night there, in the castle, suffering from hunger and thirst. When the sun rose and it became quite light, they came up to the painting again. This time Behrouz examined her and saw next to her an inscription in Chinese, going from top to bottom: «Mei-Kui-Gul, daughter of the Chinese emperor.» As soon as I read it, I turned to my brothers and said:

– This is a portrait of the daughter of the Chinese padishah, and she herself is now in this country, and we are not sure why we were stunned here in front of her soulless image!

Afruz said this:

– That’s right you say! I fell in love with the one that is painted here, and until I come to her doorstep, the sweet drink of life will be bitter to me! Come what may, I’m getting on my horse right now and I’ll drive him day and night until I get to China. There I will go to the Chinese emperor and tell him that I am a prince and ask for the hand of his daughter and add: either take this sword and cut off my head, or give me your daughter! And both of you go back to our father from here right now and tell him everything about me.

The younger brothers themselves fell in love with that girl, but they did not dare to say it openly and therefore said nothing:

– No, we can’t let you go alone. We’re coming with you.

No matter how much he tried to persuade them not to go, they answered:

– We have to go!

In the end, the three of them headed out of the enchanted castle towards the Chinese capital. They traveled through many different cities until they reached the capital of China and stopped there in a caravanserai. The next day Afruz went to the bathhouse, washed himself thoroughly, anointed his hair and was about to go to the emperor. But then the middle brother Shahruz told him:

«You can’t do it that way. After all, the emperor probably won’t want to give his daughter to some alien. You better get to his daughter and make her love you. When you lure her and catch her in a snare, then – whether her father agrees or does not agree – she will still become your wife. Afruz replied to this:

– No, I won’t do that. I know that no one can get to this girl.

In short, he went to the palace of the Chinese emperor, introduced himself to the chief courtier and asked permission to see the emperor. And he allowed few people to come to him and the courtier replied:

– Find out, check carefully whether he is telling the truth that he is the son of the shah. Ask him if he brought me a message from his father or if his father was angry with him and he came here to ask for my mediation so that I could reconcile them. Or maybe he is seeking refuge in my palace? Anyway, if he brought any message, take it away and bring it to me.

When the courtier came out to Afruz and began to question him about everything, he was upset and said:

– It’s all wrong and wrong! I dreamed of going to China and seeing the emperor there. Of course, I have a request to him, but I can’t tell anyone but him about this request.

They negotiated for a long time. In the end, the emperor allowed Afruz to enter. He came, bowed low, laid gifts at the feet of the emperor, tried, as far as possible, to be sweet-spoken and show submission. When the emperor found out that Afruz was telling the truth, that he really was the king’s son, he began to treat him very graciously and said:

– You’re like my nephew. Since you have come to me, it is not appropriate for you to stay in a caravanserai (a caravanserai is a large public building in the Near and Middle East and Central Asia, in cities, on roads and in uninhabited places, serving as shelter and parking for travelers, as a rule – for trade caravans). I’ll have a whole house prepared for you.

Then he turned to the servant:

– Prepare for shahzade (Shahzade – Persian. «the king’s son, prince») one of my houses with a garden, slaves, maids, a gatekeeper and eunuchs, so that he does not stay in the caravanserai.

Afruz agreed, but did not say that he was not alone, but with his brothers, who also stopped at the caravanserai. For several days he lived in the house that was assigned to him. During this time, he made friends with slaves and maids and began to ask them quietly about Mei-Kui: what is she like, is she going to get married or not? Is she in love with someone or is someone in love with her? Does she have a betrothed fiance? About this, one of their maids, who knew everything about Mei-Kui well, told him:

– The princess in the whole vast Chinese country has no equal in beauty, and as beautiful as she is, she is just as reasonable. She wants to choose a groom that she would like. Many princes came to woo, but she did not want any of them, and even the son of the Indian padishah did not like her.

Afruz asked:

«What does her father say about it?»

The girl replied:

«She agreed with her father that she would question anyone who would woo her, and if he turned out to be reasonable, she would become his wife, even if he was a beggar, and if he was ignorant, she would not marry him, even if he was a padishah.

Let’s leave Afruz for now and talk about Shahruz and Behruz.

When they both saw that the elder brother did not appear for three or four days, they became worried and thought: «What if, God forbid, the emperor got angry with Afruz and killed him or threw him into prison?»

Distressed, alarmed, they sought out the palace of the Chinese emperor, came to the chief courtier and asked him about his brother:

– What happened to the man who came here a few days ago?

He answered them:

– The Emperor placed at his disposal a house with a garden, slaves and maids. He’s doing well.

The brothers asked him if they could, if possible, allow them to go to see Afruz. The courtier asked:

«Are you related to him?» Those say:

– Yes, he is our older brother.

Then the courtier led them to Afruz. Their arrival was very unpleasant for Tom. The younger brothers, as soon as they saw that the elder was alive and well, were very happy. We sat with him for two hours, talked and left. The courtier told the Chinese emperor about this visit, and he did not like Afruz’s act: why did he not say anything about the brothers, why did he leave them in the caravanserai? After that, the emperor stopped accepting Afruz with the same honor and respect, he began to treat him quite differently.

In the end, Afruz’s patience ran out, and one day he asked a courtier:

«If I ask the emperor for something, won’t he get angry?» Can I tell him everything directly, or should I tell someone else first so that they can tell him later?

The courtier replied:

– No, he won’t be angry. But you need to ask his permission first, and then make a request.

Afruz asked for permission and went to the emperor. He entered, bowed to the ground, kissed the threshold. And the emperor was in a good mood that day. Two people whom he considered thorns in his path, he managed to eliminate by cunning, two or three good news about such cases came from different parts of the country, and besides, a beautiful slave was brought from Kashmir, from India. And he was not averse to talking to someone or fulfilling someone’s request.

The prince, when he saw that the emperor was cheerful, thought: «Fate favors the fulfillment of my wish!»

Before speaking, he bowed to the ground once more and again asked for permission. The Emperor asked him:

– Why didn’t you tell me the day you came to us that you had two more brothers with you and didn’t ask me to put them in my place? After all, these brothers did not want to leave you alone, they came with you from the other end of the world, they would have been near you in a difficult moment. Why did you leave them when you were lucky? I don’t like what you did!

Afruz then realized why the emperor was not as merciful to him as before. And he also told him:

– Tell me, what do you want from me? Money? Honors? Afruz replied:

– I ask of you what is above all this, that you make me a slave of your threshold!

The emperor turned to the courtier and said:

«He’s obviously asking for Mei-Kui’s hand in marriage?» Explain to him well what my daughter Mei-Kui is like. I have a big disagreement with her. I want her to become the wife of a rich padishah or shahzada, but she does not agree, she wants her future husband to be smart and reasonable. Says: «I will become the wife of a clever beggar, but I will not become the wife of a stupid padishah.» Five years ago, when her mother died and she was in great grief, I promised her that I would give her only for someone she would love herself, and since then I have not been forced to. Tell this shahzada: if he really wants to take my daughter as a wife, let him go to her so that she looks at him and asks about something. If he can answer all her questions, his wish will be fulfilled, and if not, I will not give up my daughter for anything.

Afruz listened, bowed to the ground and left the palace. The next day, he placed a crown studded with emeralds on his head, put on gold-woven robes, girded himself with a jeweled sword and headed for the Mei-Kui house, which adjoined the imperial palace. He sees: the place is quiet and peaceful, there is only one gatekeeper at the door, no voices are heard. He entered the room where the girl was. As soon as I looked at her, I immediately lost consciousness and fell down. They brought rose water, splashed it in his face, he woke up and saw: she is a hundred times more beautiful than her image in the enchanted castle! He lost consciousness again, regained consciousness, got up and, panting, pale, approached her.

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