Patron of shepherds. Faun is the patron saint of shepherds and farmers. The myth of the transformation of the nymph Pitis into a pine tree

A representative of the Roman divine pantheon, the merry and good-natured Faun patronized cattle breeders and farmers. His prototype in Greek mythology was the god Pan. Faun is another Greek god who was worshiped and given gifts. His department included fields, pastures, forests and groves. According to myths, Faun's grandfather was the revered god of farmers, Saturn, and his father was Picus, the god of fields and forests.

The one who patronized the shepherds

There was a period in the history of Ancient Rome when, year after year, on February 15, the citizens of Rome celebrated the sacred Lupercalia dedicated to Remus and Romulus, the founders of the capital of the future empire. Those same brothers whom the she-wolf nursed and fed with her milk. The babies took refuge in the grotto until they were accidentally discovered by a shepherd in the sanctuary where the Faun lived (a deity respected by shepherds and farmers), located on the slope of the Palatine Hill.

Luperk is the middle name of Faun, which was given to him by the shepherds. They believed that the deity protected flocks of sheep from wolves. By the way, the ancient Romans associated Luparc with the wolf, which is why the festival was originally dedicated to the cult of this animal.

Celebration of Lupercalia on February 15th. Rituals

Faun is the god of fertility, so he was worshiped and revered, there was even a special holiday in his honor. The ritual took place as follows:

1. The main point of the festival was the sacrifice. For this purpose, a dog and a goat were chosen (in other sources - a goat and a goat). Two young boys were placed at the altar. Each of the Lupercas must approach them in turn and touch their forehead with a knife, the blade of which was covered in the blood of the sacrificed animal. Next, the priestess soaked the goat's hair in milk and quickly wiped the blood from the forehead of the young man, who at this moment should pretend to be in a joyful mood. Faun in Roman mythology was not an evil deity. He loved to joke, although his pranks were sometimes cruel. That is why they cajoled him with gifts and sacrifices.
2. After the sacrifice, strips were cut from animal skins for the Luper priests: wide ones to wear as belts and narrow ones for belts (febrois). A noisy crowd of naked Luper women, whose only hips were covered with goat skins, rushed from Lupercal to the Palatine Hill with exclamations. They ran around the sacred hill and whipped everyone they met with their belts. This is a rite of atonement and cleansing of everything that has accumulated during the previous year. Therefore, no one tried to evade the Luperca belt. Women who believed that scourging with a sacred goat belt guaranteed them fertility and a happy married life were especially willing to expose themselves.

Celebration of faunalia

How sincerely the Romans loved and revered their god Faun is evidenced by the presence in the calendar of another holiday dedicated to him - Faunalia, which was celebrated on December 5th.

On this day, milk, wine and a goat were sacrificed to the deity. After the sacrifice, a cheerful feast was organized, with the obligatory symbolic presence of the hero of the occasion - the kind and cheerful god Faun.

The holiday was celebrated in full swing. The cattle received complete freedom. Left to their own devices, the animals walked unhindered in the forests and fields. Also, arable animals had another opportunity to rest. Even slaves were given freedom. Left unattended, forced people had fun on this day wherever possible - at crossroads, in meadows. Faun is the beloved God of ordinary working people.

The character of the Faun and his relationship with people

The goodwill inherent in the deity did not at all prevent the manifestation of some pranks in relation to the one who disturbed his peace in the forest. A faun in ancient Roman mythology could, for example, either amuse or frighten someone who went deep into the forest. As soon as anyone fell asleep, the Faun began to tell various horror stories. The gift of prophecy was passed on to Faun from Picus's father. Therefore, through the rustling of leaves, the Faun could predict the future of the person from whom he felt a favorable attitude. To do this, one had to go to a sacred grove and, having spread the skin of a sacrificial sheep, doze off on it. A prophecy should visit you in a dream.

A faun is a special creature that was revered by ordinary workers. Shepherds and farmers were most afraid of angering him. Therefore, they regularly brought him various gifts.

The mythical horned, goat-footed god Pan is the oldest of the Greek gods. In ancient times, Pan patronized shepherds and protected herds and forests. Later, the goat-footed god begins to patronize nature.

Pan's father was the god Hermes, and his mother was the nymph Dryope. When Pan was born, Dryope was horrified by his appearance. The son of a beautiful nymph and a majestic god was born with goat horns, legs and a beard. The poor mother ran away in despair, and the father, delighted with his son, brought him to Olympus. All the gods had fun looking at Pan and congratulated their father.

Life on Olympus did not please Pan and he went into the forest. There Pan began to tend the flocks, playing the pipe. All the forest nymphs and satyrs gather around Pan when wonderful sounds fill the forest. The forest people are dancing and having fun to the music of the goat-footed god. Having frolic to his heart's content, Pan retires into the forest thicket. Woe to the one who dares to disturb his sleep. A hot-tempered guardian of the forest can send a terrible dream and panic, from which a random traveler will run away without making out the road, regardless of the danger. Even entire troops can be put to flight by Pan, instilling uncontrollable fear in them.

Below are photos - the god Pan in pictures, sculpture, painting:

When the anger passes, Pan becomes good-natured and merciful, protecting the flocks and patronizing the shepherds.

Lupercalia - festival of eroticism February 8th, 2011

Lupercalia is a festival of eroticism in honor of the goddess of “feverish” love Juno Februata and the god Faun (Luperc is one of his nicknames), the patron saint of herds, which was celebrated annually on February 15.

In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a month of ritual purification. At this time in the houses Ritual cleaning was carried out: houses were swept, then sprinkled with salt and wheat, called “spelt”.

On February 15, the famous Lupercalia was celebrated - originally a festival of shepherds in honor of the god Faun, nicknamed Lupercus in another spelling - Faunus, Lupercus. .
Faun in ancient Roman mythology is the god of forests and pastures, the patron saint of shepherds and hunters. In ancient Greek mythology, he corresponds to Pan.

According to myths, Pan is a cheerful god, accompanied by nymphs, wandering through the mountains and forests, dancing and playing the pipe. He seemed to the Greeks to be outwardly ugly, covered with hair, with horns, goat hooves, a beard and a tail. And therefore it caused horror, and this is where the expression “panic fear” comes from.

According to Plutarch in his “Comparative Lives,” purifying sacrifices - in order to revive the fertility of the land, herds and people themselves - were brought in the sacred grotto of Lupercal at the foot of the Palatine Hill, where, according to legend, there once lived a she-wolf (in Latin - lupa , in Russian - magnifying glass), who fed the brothers Romulus and Remus.

In ancient times, infant mortality was very high. In 276 BC. e. Rome nearly died out as a result of an “epidemic” of stillbirths and miscarriages. The oracle informed that in order to increase the birth rate, a ritual of corporal punishment (flogging) of women using sacrificial skin is necessary. People who, for whatever reason, had few or no children were considered damned and resorted to mystical rites to gain the ability to bear children.

The priests sacrificed a goat for fertility and a dog for spiritual purification. The blood was intended for ritual irrigation of crops. Young priests cut the skins into strips, dipped them in sacred blood, and began their ritual run around the Palatine Hill, spanking women with leather belts. Those, welcoming such touches, willingly offered, believing that cleansing blows healed infertility and contributed to gestation and easy childbirth.

But it turns out that this pagan “wolf” holiday of fertility and abundance did not end with this decorous ritual action. Lupercalia is also a time of riotous sensual bacchanalia: naked men (but wearing loin skins) gave rough caresses to the women they met - kissed them, lashed them with belts, wishing them to be fertile.

In ancient times, infant mortality was very high. In 276 BC. e. Rome nearly died out as a result of an “epidemic” of stillbirths and miscarriages. The oracle informed that in order to increase the birth rate, a ritual of corporal punishment (flogging) of women using sacrificial skin is necessary. People who, for whatever reason, had few or no children were considered damned and resorted to mystical rites to gain the ability to bear children.

According to The Illustrated History of Rod, written by William M. Cooper, the main part of the Lupercalia festival was naked men carrying goatskin straps running past women and beating them; women willingly exposed themselves, believing that these blows would give them fertility and an easy birth. This became a very common ritual in Rome, in which even members of noble families participated. Records say that even Mark Antony fled as Luperzi. At the end of the celebrations, the women also stripped naked.

It turns out that on the eve of Lupercalia, on February 14, Ancient Rome celebrated a holiday in honor of Juno, the goddess of marriage, motherhood and women, who is also the goddess of “feverish” love Juno Februata, Juno (Jun) Februata. On this day, the girls wrote their name on a piece of parchment and threw them into a large urn.

Bachelors who chose their passion before the next February 14th had no choice but to rely only on luck. At least the couple should have spent this holiday together, dancing and having fun. If fate turned out to be favorable to random partners, the lottery union grew into a marriage

These festivals became so popular that even when many other pagan holidays were canceled with the advent ofChristianity, this one existed for a long time.
The history of Valentine's Day dates back to the Lupercalia of Ancient Rome.

Birth of the god Pan. - The myth of Pan, defeated by the god Eros. - Nymph Syringa. - The myth of the transformation of the nymph Pitis into a pine tree. - The myth of the god Pan and the nymph Echo. - Panic fear.

Birth of the god Pan

Pan is a very ancient deity, mainly worshiped in Arcadia. Pan is the god of forests and pastures, patron of shepherds and guardian of flocks. The responsibility of the god Pan is to take care of the herds and their reproduction.

God Pan was born with horns, goat legs and a big beard. God Pan is considered the son of the god Hermes (Mercury), this messenger of the gods and mediator, and therefore, naturally, the father of the deity, transitional from the higher gods to the lower ones, who appear in the myths of ancient Greece in the form of animals.

Apparently, the birth of such a strange son made a very unpleasant impression on the mother of the god Pan, and the gods of Olympus, to whom Hermes, the father of Pan, showed him, greeted the appearance of the god Pan with universal laughter.

In one of Homer’s hymns, this incident is described as follows: “The god Hermes went to Arcadia to shepherd the flocks of a mere mortal, because there lived a beautiful nymph, the daughter of Drion, who conquered the heart of the cunning god. From this union a strange child was born with goat legs, a thick beard and a forehead decorated with two horns. The mother, overwhelmed with horror at the sight of such a monster, ran away, leaving her son to the mercy of fate, but Hermes, not at all embarrassed by his strange appearance, took him in his arms, and, proud and joyful, carried him to Olympus, where he showed him to the entire assembly of gods. All the immortals were amused at the sight of such a freak and called him Pan.”

In the Louvre there is a beautiful antique statue of the god Pan, in which all the animal features that characterize this deity are emphasized with great skill.

Sometimes, however, the god Pan is depicted with human legs. On some ancient coins, the god Pan even appears in the form of a young man, but with him the distinctive signs of the god Pan are always a shepherd's stick and a shepherd's pipe (σύριγξ).

Writers of antiquity always portrayed the god Pan as an old man and strikingly ugly.

God Pan did not remain on Olympus for long. He loves the forest, mountains and fields most of all. God Pan either makes his way through the thicket of forests, then climbs onto inaccessible rocks and from there watches the herds, or scours the mountains and jumps over abysses. God Pan is always on the move, and even in the evening, tired of his daily wanderings, Pan cannot rest peacefully, but plays the pipe, and its gentle sounds attract beautiful women who come to dance on the grass to these sounds. And the god Pan cannot sit still, he appears among them and rushes around in a wild dance, scaring the nymphs with his jumps.

The myth of Pan, defeated by the god Eros

All the nymphs laughed at the ugly god Pan, and he decided never to love anyone. But the cruel god (Cupid), with whom he once tried to fight, wounded the heart of the god Pan, ignited in him an undying love for the nymphs, and poor Pan constantly suffered for one of them.

Nymph Syringa

One day the god Pan met the chaste nymph Syringa. The only passion of the nymph Syringa was hunting. God Pan immediately became inflamed with love for Syringa, but the cruel nymph not only did not want to listen to the confessions of the god Pan, but also rushed to run away from him. Pursued by the god Pan, the nymph Syringa ran to the Ladon River, from which Syringa began to ask for protection. The river god Ladon turned the nymph Syringa into a reed. The distressed god Pan cut out several reeds of various sizes, tied them and began to extract from them tender, plaintive sounds, touching even the hearts of cruel nymphs.

Thus the shepherd's pipe (σύριγξ) was invented, which is the name Syringa This is exactly what it means when translated from ancient Greek. God Eros (Cupid), wanting to console the distressed Pan, predicted to him that his playing of the flute would attract all the beautiful nymphs to him. The prediction of the insidious god of love came true. The nymphs, as soon as they heard Pan's pipe, ran and danced around this ugly god.

The myth of the transformation of the nymph Pitis into a pine tree

God Pan soon forgot his love failure. Pan again liked the nymph Pitis, who, delighted with his music, approached the god Pan and began to answer his questions.

But the nymph Pitis was loved by the cold and terrible Boreas, the god of the north wind. Seeing his beloved, carried away by the game of another god, the god Boreas was inflamed with jealousy and began to blow with such force that the poor nymph Pitis, unable to stand on her feet, fell into the abyss and was broken.

The gods, touched by the sad fate of the nymph Pitis, turned her into a pine tree, and since then this tree has been dedicated to the god Pan, who is sometimes depicted with a wreath of pine branches on his head. The name itself Pitis means “pine” in translation from ancient Greek.

The myth of the god Pan and the nymph Echo

His attempt at union with the nymph Echo, who turned into a rock, also ended unhappily for the god Pan. All that was left of the nymph Echo was her voice - an echo.

Panic fear

God Pan, as a symbol of darkness, instills fear (panic) in people. God Pan also does not like it when his peace is disturbed by noise. Then the menacing voice of the god Pan is heard, causing fear and panic in everyone.

God Pan terrifies travelers with his sudden appearance on the road in front of them. Thanks to the god Pan, people often experienced panic fear- inexplicable horror.

In general, any fear or fear that appears without good reason was attributed to the influence of the god Pan. This panic also explained the sudden flight from the battlefields. For example, the Athenians believed that only with the help of the god Pan they defeated numerous Persians who fled the battlefield of Marathon. In gratitude for this, the Athenians dedicated a sacred place to the god Pan, placed many statues of Pan there and established a holiday in his honor with sacrifices and processions.

The cult of the god Pan, as the patron and guardian of domestic animals, dates back to the most ancient period in the history of ancient Greece. The primitive statues of the god Pan were equipped with a very real symbol of the god who cares about the reproduction and increase of the herd - the image of the phallus. In those distant times of the Greek archaic, such realism was not considered immoral.

But when the herds did not multiply, the shepherds showered the image of the careless deity with blows from their rods.

God Pan was also considered the god of light, noisy music and noisy fun.

Only later, under the influence of Orphic poetry, does the god Pan become the personification of the universe. The pipe of the god Pan about seven pipes in the philosophical interpretation of myths meant the harmony of the universe.

During the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, as legend tells, one day a loud, sorrowful cry was heard: “The Great Pan is dead, the Great Pan is dead.” Since then, no one has heard anything more about the god Pan. And this exclamation itself (“The great Pan has died!”) is considered a symbol of the end of ancient paganism.

ZAUMNIK.RU, Egor A. Polikarpov - scientific editing, scientific proofreading, design, selection of illustrations, additions, explanations, translations from Latin and ancient Greek; all rights reserved.