ANTROPOLOGIJA SMRTI ANTHROPOLOGY OF DEATH 254 KOKO., CACHIRU IN DRUGA LETEEA BITJA Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie Kljuene besede: smrt, mitiena leteea bitja, elovekovo telo, kulturni predmet, kognitivni horizont Uvod Ena bolj zanimivih lastnosti elove.kega mi.ljenja je, da ne more obstajati brez nekega zunanjega predmeta, na katerega se v svojem delovanju nana.a. To pa ne pomeni, da mora biti predmet nana.anja vedno le meterialne narave. Prav tako je lahko tudi mentalna slika v elovekovi zavesti, eeprav moramo v tem primeru loeevati med mental- no predstavo in mislijo, ki mentalno sliko tisti trenutek omogoea. Nastanek mentalne slike sega v preteklost in ima vpliv na posameznikovo nadaljnje mi.ljenje. Ne glede na to pa so na.a .ivljenja na splo.no natrpana z vsakovrstno predmetno ..aro., kajti posamezniku je obieajno veliko la.je vzpostaviti odnos z materialnim svetom kot pa izgraditi kompleksno strukturo reflesije znotraj razuma. Morda lahko pravkar povedano pospremimo z ob.alovanjem, toda biti moramo realni, kajti za povpreenega posameznika je vsakdanje .ivljenje pae predvsem in najprej materialno. Izmed vseh razlogov, zaradi katerih je posameznik prete.no orientiran k fizienemu svetu, je prav gotovo najpomembnej.i naslednji: v primeru, ko bi se stik med posamezniki, izvr.en prek nosilcev materialnega sveta, prekinil, bi nastopilo popolno unieenje dru.benega sveta. In ker je vse, kar biva, v svojem bistvu dru.bene narave (glej na primer Mead 1962 in Schutz 1967), lahko reeemo, da je tudi znanost dru.beni konstrukt. Na podlagi tega spet lahko trdimo, da dru.boslovna znanost ne sme zanemariti materialnih dimenzij dru.benih procesov. Kajti v tem primeru znanost ne more odgovoriti na vpra.anje, kako so interpersonalni odnosi med posamezniki v svetu vsakdanjega .ivljenja sploh mogoei. Temeljna zahteva sociolo.kega in antropolo.kega preueevanja elove.kega fenomena le.i v kvalitetno pridobljenem znanju o materialnem svetu. Povedano drugaee: razlaga specifienega dru.benega ali kulturnega fenomena je odvisna od tega, koliko spretnosti premoremo pri doloeanju dru.benega in kulturnega predmeta. Za sociologa, katerega glavni cilj je doloeiti kognitivne pogoje elovekovega razuma, je ta zahteva nema Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie ra neobieajna. Toda ne glede na to verjamemo, da je vee kot le potrebna. Na.a najpomembnej.a naloga v prieujoeem eseju je, da poi.eemo, kar se le da veliko primerov razlienih .ivali, ki simbolizirajo smrt, in nato dobljene primere ustrezno klasificiramo v razliene kategorije. V nadaljevanju bomo pokazali, kako posamezniki skozi sebi lastno kulturno izku.njo uporabljajo svoja telesa in kako pri tem pazljivo izbirajo med razlienimi tipi objektov, ki lahko nastopajo kot kulturni objekti v primeru simboliziranja smrti. Klasifikacija .ivali 256 Ta prispevek je plod nekega navdu.enja, ki ga je porodila Fantastiena zoologija J. B. Borgesa, knjiga, v kateri so brez ambicij po sistematizaciji in klasifikaciji zbrana bitja, ki spremenijo zoolo.ki v mitieni vrt. Kot pravi njen avtor, bo ta knjiga vedno ostala pomanjkljiva, enako pa velja tudi za prieujoe pregled krilatih bitij, ki jih je elovek tako ali drugaee povezoval s smrtjo. .ivalska simbolika je med seboj izredno prepletena, zato so na tem mestu zbrana bitja oziroma bo.anstva ne glede na zgodovinske in geografske okvire. Izvzeti so angeli in zmaji, ki seveda zahtevajo poglavje zase. Predstavili bomo le nekaj .ivali oziroma bitij, ki podpirajo antropolo.ko razlago fenomena smrti. Veeina od njih ima, kakor je za simbole nasploh znaeilno, svoj pozitiven in negativen pomen. Na tem mestu bomo izpostavili le slednjega. Zakaj krila in smrt? Ko leteee bitje izgine iz polja na.ega zaznavanja, ne pusti za seboj nobene oprijemljive sledi, kot so na primer stopinje v pesku, rov v zemlji ali vzburkana voda. Let pusti za seboj komaj zaznaven pi. vetra, podoben hladni zoni, ki nas spreleti v trenutku, ko se zavemo smrti. Mnogo krilatih bitij nima sposobnosti letenja ali pa jo je .e davno izgubilo. S tem ko pripnemo nekemu bitju krila, ga povzdignemo med duhovna bitja. V svetu duhovnih bitij pa je let mogoe tudi s kamnitimi krili. Pomen letenja je v osvobajanju od zemeljske te.nosti, ki je vzrok za veeino te.av, s katerimi se otepamo v to - in onstranstvu. Pri verovanju v posmrtno .ivljenje je smrt sama le ovira, ki jo mora elovek premagati, da dose.e nesmrtnost oziroma ponovno rojstvo. Oviro pa premagamo najla.je tako, da jo preskoeimo ali .e bolje - da jo preletimo. Kadar govorimo o paleolitskih grobovih z magijsko - religijskim pomenom, ne moremo mimo dejstva, da vsebujejo ostanke .ivalskih kosti in rogovja. Iz tega lahko le ugibamo o duhovni dejavnosti teh davnih pogrebcev in pri tem izhajamo iz opazovanj nekaterih dana.njih arhaienih ljudstev (otrok, obkro.en s kozorogovim rogovjem iz kraja Te.ik Ta. v Uzbekistanu, ali .enska lobanja, postavljena na eeljust in rog severnega jelena v Mas d.Azilu). Ni .e dognano, ali gre po veeini za ostanke pogrebnih pojedin ali pa za dejansko .opremo. pokojnika, ki bi potrdila verovanje v posmrtno .ivljenje. Vsekakor pa je bila relacija elovek - smrt - .ival vzpostavljena na samem zaeetku elovekovega zavedanja o bivanju in njegovem prenehanju. Koko., cachiru in druga leteea bitja Vodilno naeelo paleolitske umetnosti je: na svetu so samo ljudje in .ivali, lovci in njihov plen; kar je vmes, ni bistveno in torej ne sodi v umi.ljen prostor, ki ga vidi umetnikovo oko. Toeka na kateri se sreeata lovec in .ival, pa je smrt. Ideologija lovskih kultur je pravzaprav .amanistiena, saj je le .aman s svojim nadnaravnim darom sposoben prodreti do izvira .ivalskega .ivljenja. .amanistieno ekstazo omenjajo nekateri avtorji .e v zvezi s paleolitikom. Ka.e na vero v du.o, ki je sposobna zapustiti telo in svobodno potovati. Na tak.nem potovanju lahko sreea nadnaravna bitja in jih zaprosi za pomoe. (V jami v Lascauxu naletimo na podobo na videz mrtvega eloveka, ki bi ga lahko interpretirali kot vraea v transu. Na obrazu ima kljun, poleg pa je palica s ptieem, ki najverjetneje predstavlja duha za.eitnika.) Du.o v podobi ptice, prav tako pa tudi ptico kot vodnico du., sreeujemo zelo po-257 gosto: Egipeanska knjiga mrtvih opisuje .mrtveca. kot sokola, ki vzleti; na prazgodovinskih spomenikih Evrope in Azije vidimo na vejah Kozmienega drevesa ptice, ki najverjetneje simbolizirajo du.e prednikov; v Mezopotamiji so se pokojniki prikazovali kot ptice... Smrt je edina, ki lahko eloveka preobrazi v ptico, in tako lahko .amani s svojimi nadnaravnimi sposobnostmi do.ivljajo usodo du.e, ki je navadnim smrtnikom dostopna le v trenutku smrti. .amanistieni ekstatieni vnebohodi porajajo obeutek transcendence, vzvi.enosti in s svojo simboliko leta dajejo imaginarno izkustvo vi.ine kot osvoboditve od te.nosti (Eliade 1985, 1996). Resnieno obstojeee .ivali ARA - Kolumbijski Indijanci Bribi uporabljajo rdeeo papigo kot pokojnikovega vodnika. Indijanci Bororo verujejo v zapleten ciklus preseljevanja du., med katerim se du.e za nekaj easa utelesijo v ari. EUK - ..Ne bo vee dolgo, euk ga je klical nocoj. ali pa .Euk ga je izpel., tako in podobno modrujejo stare .enice, kadar glave vkup stak nejo, in .al se .e celo od mo. sem ter tja sli.ijo enake neslane besede. In tako je ubogi euk zaradi svojega .alostnega glasu prav po nedol.nem razvpit kakor mrtva.ki ptie. Marsikoga mrzel pot oblije, ko ga sli.i v tihi noei eukati. Bedak ugiba sem in tja, komu bi utegnila veljati eukova pesem. Ee nato noee nihee umreti, nobeden ne misli vee na smrtnega sla. Ee pa se res prigodi, da v sose.eini kmalu kdo umrje, potem vra.jim babjevercem ne izbije. iz glave, da eukovo petje ni .pomenilo. smrti. (Erjavec 1995, 476). Euku pravijo tudi smrtni ptie. Ee prileti v bli.ino hi.e, pomeni to skoraj.njo smrt za njene prebivalce. Podobno grozi, ee ponoei sli.imo euka peti ali celo cviliti. Skoraj povsod po Sloveniji se boje njegovega ogla.anja. .al pa ta .ivahna sova rada prebiva blizu eloveka - pod strehami, v sadovnjakih in cerkvah - zato vra.avernim vsekakor veekrat povzroea sive lase. Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie Euki pa niso glasniki smrti le v Evropi, temvee jih sreeamo tudi kot sle poglavarjev Xibalbe, de.ele mrtvih pri Majih. V drugem delu svete knjige Indijancev Quiche POPOL VUH naletimo na .tiri euke: Chabi-Tucur - hiter kot pu.eica Huracan Tucur - enonogi euk Caquix Tucur - euk makao z rdeeimi krili Holom Tucur - euk, ki je imel le glavo in krila, nog pa ne. Tudi dva varuha vrtov v Xibalbi sta bila euka. Ker nista dobro pazila na tisto, kar jima je bilo zaupano, so jima gospodarji razklali kljun in odtlej ima euk razklan kljun. Ponoei ga privabljajo razsvetljena okna, ki so bila veekrat znak, da ljudje bedijo 258 pri mrlieu. Pravijo, da od tod njegova nesreena povezava s smrtjo. Vendar pa tudi fizionomija njegove glave z moeno poveeanimi oemi, ki nekoliko spominja na lobanjo, in pa njegov nemiren zaletav let aplicirajo na elovekove predstave o bli.ini smrti. KOKO. - Kot veeina domaeih .ivali je verjetno tudi koko. romala prek daritvene sklede v kuhinjski lonec. Pri Grkih je bila koko. priljubljena .rtvena .ival revnih ljudi. Tudi Rimljani so se baje skrbno in praznoverno dr.ali napovedi koko.jega preroei.ea. Po vsej erni Afriki je raz.irjeno .rtvovanje koko.i, potrebno zaradi komunikacije s pokojnimi. V iniciacijskem obredu .amank pri Luluih kandidatki, po preizku.nji smrti in preporoda v jami, obesijo okoli vratu koko.. Z njo bo poslej lahko mamila du.e pokojnih medijev v go.ei. Zelo raz.irjen je strah pred koko.jim kikirikanjem. .ensko bitje z mo.kimi lastnostmi je vedno povzroealo nelagodje in strah. Gre namree za zdru.itev lastnosti oziroma moei dveh principov. Popolnoma smo sposobni razumeti, torej sprejeti, le enega. Taka zdru.itev nima prihodnosti, je oboje in hkrati ni nie. Ne more se nadaljevati, torej ji grozi smrt. Ee zaene koko. peti kot petelin, grozi smrt gospodarju. Tak.no koko. - petelinko je bilo potrebno br. zaklati, saj lahko .izpoje gospodarja.. Ee poje erna koko., izpoje gospodarja, ee pa poje bela koko., .izpoje gospodinjo.. Petje erne koko.i pomeni nesreeo pri hi.i, petje bele koko.i smrt, petje rjave koko.i pa po.ar. KOLIBRI - Azteki verujejo, da se du.e mrtvih bojevnikov vraeajo na zemljo v podobi kolibrijev ali metuljev. KROKAR - .Erno perje, votlo krokanje, nenasitna po.re.nost in roparska predrznost ga delajo skrivnostnega, groznega in po.astnega. Zato pa skoraj vsem narodom pomeni nesreeo, oznanja smrt. (Erjavec 1995, 398). Simbolika krokarja je dobila povsem negativen vidik .ele nedavno in skoraj izkljueno v Evropi. Na splo.no velja, da krokar ne obeta nie dobrega, da je glasnik nesreee in lahko napoveduje celo smrt. Tudi v keltskem izroeilu je krokar slabo znamenje. Njegovo podobo je privzela Morrigan, kraljica strahov, boginja vojne in podzemlja. Morrigan se pojavlja .e v dveh podobah - kot .Norija. in .Poparjena vrana.. .e pred bitko je oprala opremo tistih, ki bodo padli, in s tem .e doloeila pora.enca. .Krokar je erna ptica romantikov, ki se spreletava nad boji.eem in kljuva trupla. (Chevalier - Gheerbrant 1993, 285). Koko., cachiru in druga leteea bitja Res je, da krokar zavoha mrhovino na zelo veliko razdaljo in se z njo tudi pogosto hrani, torej dejansko .sluti. smrt .e na daljavo. Ta smrt pa je njegova hrana, njegov dejanski obstoj. V Greiji je imel krokar skupaj z orlom in labodom prero.ko funkcijo. Pri nas pravijo, da lahko, kadar hi.o preleti en krokar, raeunamo na smrt .enskega elana dru.ine, ee pa jo preleti vee krokarjev, grozi smrt mo.kim. Mornarji so verjeli, da smrt prina.ajo trije krokarji, ki letijo skupaj. V Mahabharati krokarje primerjajo z glasniki smrti. V veeini verovanj je soneni vidik, pogosto demiurg, vodnik du. na njihovem poslednjem potovanju, kajti kot psihopomp razkriva skrivnost teme, ne da bi ga to zmedlo. Pozitivno vlogo ima pri nomadskih, ribi.kih in lovskih ljudstvih, medtem ko velja pri 259 stalno naseljenih in poljedelskih ljudstvih za negativnega. Alkimisti fazo gnitja in erne snovi imenujejo krokarjeva glava. KUKAVICA - Kukavica je ptica, ki je povezana s pomladjo in prebujenjem narave, zato pri sibirskih ljudstvih pomaga .amanu in o.ivlja mrtve. V vedskem izroeilu je kukavica simbol elove.ke du.e pred inkarnacijo in po njej. Telo je kot tuje gnezdo, v katero pride du.a. Ee kukavica sede na suho vejo in tam zakuka, bo pri hi.i kmalu nekdo umrl. Kukavica v gnezdo, kamor odlo.i svoje jajce, prinese smrt, saj iz njega pomeee .e zasnovane oblike .ivljenja. Za svoj obstoj potrebuje torej smrt. LASTOVKA - Ee si lastovka spomladi pri hi.i naredi gnezdo in ga kasneje zapusti, bo tamkaj gotovo nekdo umrl. Lastovka zato, ker je ptica selivka, simbolizira samoto, selitev in loeitev. NETOPIR - Pri Majih je netopir eno izmed bo.anstev, ki inkarnirajo podzemske sile. V Popol Vuhu je netopirjeva hi.a eno izmed podzemeljskih obmoeij, skozi katera pridemo do de.ele mrtvih. Netopir je gospodar ognja, unieevalec .ivljenja, po.iralec svetlobe. Je emblem smrti. Pravijo mu .tisti, ki trga glave.. Prikazan je z mrtvimi oemi. Bo.anstvo smrti je tudi pri Mehieanih, ki ga povezujejo s severom. Pogosto je prikazan z odprtim gobcem ali .rtvenim no.em namesto gobca. Dvolienost hibridne narave, mi.i in ptiea, v alkimistienem izroeilu razlaga ambivalenco netopirjeve simbolike: netopir predstavlja androgina, krilatega zmaja, demona. Njegova krila so krila peklenskega prebivalca (hudie ima modra krila, podobna netopirjevim). Netopir mora mahati s krili, zato ne pozna poeitka v mrtvem letu. Narava i.ee krilo, najde pa grdo kosmato opno, ki vendarle deluje kot perut... PETELIN - Tako kot koko. tudi petelin po verovanju preprostih ljudi ne pomeni nie dobrega. Ee je petelin sedem let star, znese jajce, iz katerega se izvali hudie - bazilisk. Kot za.eitnika pred slednjim so ga upodabljali na .eitih, amuletih in nagrobnikih. Tudi petelin, eeprav v redkih primerih, napoveduje smrt - npr. ee zakikirika malo pred polnoejo. V Greiji ima vlogo psihopompa. Pokojnikovo du.o naj bi napovedal na drugem svetu, nato pa jo tja odpeljal; odprla naj bi oei v novi svetlobi, novemu rojstvu. Dodelili Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie so ga Hermesu, glasniku, ki potuje po treh ravneh kozmosa, od pekla do nebes. Pri starogermanskih pogrebnih obredih so petelina darovali mrtvim. Med oei.eevalnimi in izganjalnimi obredi po smrti pri nekaterih altajskih ljudstvih prive.ejo petelina k pokojnikovi postelji: petelin predstavlja smrt, ki jo .aman nato izganja. SLAVEC . Ljudje verjamejo, da slaveev spev umirajoeim omogoea blago smrt. Slavec s svojim prelepim petjem opozarja na minljivost in z njo v zvezi na tenko steno med ljubeznijo in smrtjo. SOKOL - Podobo sokola, povezano s smrtjo, najdemo po veeini v starem Egiptu. Najpogosteje nastopa kot BA, ki predstavlja duhovno moe, du.o. Ba ima sokolje telo, 260 elove.ko glavo in bo.jo brado. Ko je telo ob posmrtnem obredu povelieano, ga ba zapusti in se nato svobodno giblje. Podnevi sledi soncu na obzorju, ponoei pa se vrne v podzemlje, v svoje telo, ki je njegovo pravo bivali.ee, in se nahrani s pogrebnimi darovi. Sokar (tudi Seker), memfi.ki bog mrtvih, teme in razpadanja v zemlji, ima sokoljo glavo, podobo sokola pa privzema tudi eden od .tirih Horusovih otrok - Kebehsenef. Gre za .tiri za.eitnike trupla, ki so umrlega varovali pred lakoto in .ejo. Vsak od njih je bil zadol.en za eno od strani neba. V posebnih posodah, kanopah, so shranjevali notranje organe. Kanopa s Kebehsenefovo podobo je vsebovala trebu.ne organe in je predstavljala sever. SOVA - .Sove so jeznorite, plahe, neumne in po.re.ne ptice. Zaprte sove se med seboj koljejo in .ro; razen nekaterih malih se s elovekom nikoli ne sprijaznijo, zmeraj ostanejo divje in togotne. Ee poleg tega pomislimo .e na njihovo neprijetno zunanjost, na tiho letanje in noeno dejanje ter na njihov neprijetni glas, bomo lahko razumeli, da so vse sove eloveku odurne, za neukega in praznovernega imajo pa .e celo nekaj groznega, skrivnostnega in po.astnega. Vra.a je sovo naredila za mrtva.ko ptico in zato jo babjeveren in nespameten svet preganja. (Erjavec 1995, 470). Sova je noena ptica, povezana z luno, ne prena.a sonene svetlobe. Leta nizko, tiho in poeasi. Njena sposobnost videti v temi jo je naredila za simbol jasnovidnosti in je zato atribut prerokovalcev. Pri Indijancih Srednje in Ju.ne Amerike je sova simboliena .ival peklenskih bo.anstev. V vee azte.kih kodeksih je prikazana kot euvarka zemeljske temne hi.e. .Povezana je s htonienimi silami in je tudi avatar noei, de.ja, viharjev. Ta simbolika jo povezuje s smrtjo. Na predmetih predinkovske civilizacije Chimu je pogosto prikazan .rtveni no. v obliki polmeseca, nad njim pa je podoba polelove.kega in pol.ivalskega bo.anstva v obliki noene ptice - sove. Ta simbol, ki je oeitno povezan z idejo o smrti ali .rtvovanju, je okra.en z ogrlicami iz .koljk in biserov. Prsi ima rdeee pobarvane, zraven nje pa sta veekrat prikazana psa, katerih pomen psihopompa je dobro znan. Sova pogosto dr.i v eni .roki. .rtveni no., v drugi pa vre, v katerega naj bi stekla kri .rtve. Sova je .e danes bo.anstvo smrti in euvarka pokopali.e pri .tevilnih indijanskih ljudstvih. (Chevalier - Gheerbrant 1993, 564). Sova je poleg pajka in netopirja atribut azte.kega boga smrti in podzemlja Mictlantecutlija. V vlogi glasnice nastopa pri majevskem bogu smrti, poosebitvi nesree, Koko., cachiru in druga leteea bitja mraka in mraza ter gospodarju Mitnala, kraljestva mrtvih, Hunahau. V knjigi POPOL VUH je vrae - sova eden izmed vraeev, ki Stvarniku in Tvorcu pomagajo unieiti nehvale.ne ljudi, ki sta jih ustvarila. Vrae - sova jim polomi kosti, zdrobi .ivce, jih zmelje in raztrese ostanke njihovih kosti. Sova igra skupaj z golobom glasni.ko vlogo tudi pri vedski boginji Niriti. Simbolna .ival judovske noene demonke, ki ogro.a noseenice in mori dojeneke ter se podi po ru.evinah, je prav sova, ki jo tudi dejansko lahko sreeamo na zapu.eenih krajih. Na Kitajskem je sova negativna protiute. feniksu in prav tako napoveduje nesreeo. 261 Simboliziranje sove kot glasnice smrti zaradi njenega samotnega .ivljenja in zamolklega zagrobnega ogla.anja je .e prastaro in dobro zasidrano v zavesti ljudi. Gorje, ee ima ta bol.eeea ptica poseben glas in pri tem zaide v bli.ino hi.e! Vee sov skupaj nesreeo .e poveea, torej ni eudno, ee sovo imenujejo tudi mrlieeva kura. VRANA - Ee se je vrana spustila na streho, je to pomenilo, da bo v tej hi.i moral nekdo umreti. .OLNA - Ee v bli.ini hi.e veekrat zapoje erna .olna (imenujejo jo tudi smrtni ptie), bo v bli.ini zagotovo kdo umrl. Izmi.ljena bitja BAZILISK - je nadnaravno me.ano bitje judovsko - kr.ean skega izvora. Najpogosteje je upodobljen kot petelin z zmajevim repom ali kot kaea s petelinjimi perutmi in svetlo liso v obliki krone na glavi. .tevilo nog se na upodobitvah spreminja in dose.e celo .tevilo osem. Na zaeetku srednjega veka so ga upodabljali kot .tirino.nega petelina s kronico, rumenim perjem, velikimi bodieastimi krili in kaejim repom, ki se veasih konea tudi z drugo petelinjo glavo. Spoeet je bil v petelinjem jajcu, polo.enem v gnoj, brez matere. Zvalila ga je krastaea ali .aba. Prebiva v vodnjakih in kleteh, po nekaterih virih pa v pu.eavi, ki jo sam ustvarja, saj k njegovim nogam mrtve padajo ptice, okrog njega pa zgnijejo vsi sade.i. Reke, v katerih se napaja, ostanejo .e cela stoletja zastrupljene. Je utele.enje zla in smrti. Njegov zli pogled ubija. Ubije ga le vonj po podlasici, kikirikanje petelina ali ogledalo, iz katerega ga je zadel lasten pogled. Predstavlja smrtno nevarnost, ki je ni mogoee pravoeasno zaznati. Popotniki so se za preekanje neznanih pokrajin oskrbeli z .ivimi petelini. Borges v zvezi z baziliskom navaja Quevedovo romanco, ki pravi: Ee je .iv tisti, ki te je videl, je vsa tvoja zgodba la., kajti ee ni umrl, te ni videl, ee pa je mrtev, nam tega ne more potrditi. Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie CACHIRU (tudi Cachuru) - zlobno bo.anstvo, ki ga poznajo na obmoeju Santiaga del Estera, Argentina. Prikazujejo ga kot nenavadnega skovirja z ogromnimi kremplji in ostrim kljunom. Njegovo perje je temnosivo in raskavo, proti nogam pa prehaja v .eetine. Njegove ogromne svetlikajoee oei .arijo v senci kakor ognji. Ta lue in njegovi nesreeo naznanjajoei kriki so edino, kar izdaja njegov nesli.en let. Pravijo, da lahko dvigne eloveka v nebo ali pa ga v hipu raztrga. Najpogosteje pa ugrabi du.o ob smrtni uri in jo spremeni v grozljivo prikazen. .ivi v najbolj nedostopnih predelih gozda, kamor elove.ka noga ne more stopiti. Ker pa se gozdovi kreijo, se njegovo kraljestvo o.i, ee ni .e domala izginilo. CHONCHON (tudi Chonchonyu) - bo.anstvo Indijancev Mapuche. Zli duh, prav262 zaprav elove.ka glava z ogromnimi uhlji, ki jih uporablja kot peruti. Kro.i v bli.ini bolnikov in eaka na prilo.nost, ko ni ob njih nikogar. Takrat jih ubije in jim popije kri... Ta bizarna po.ast se nam bo mogoee zdela manj tuja, ee se spomnimo na demone z dolgimi u.esi v srednjeve.kem kiparstvu in grafiki. Taki .uhatci. se pogosto vrtijo okoli umirajoeega. Prav tako pa poznajo uhate demone v funkciji euvarjev grobov na Daljnem vzhodu. Neizmerna u.esa so kakor krila ali .koljke, v katerih odzvanjajo .umi sveta. GORGONE - gr. skupina treh sester, po.asti z grozljivim obliejem. Ob pogledu nanje je vsakdo okamenel. .ivele so na skrajnem zahodu zemlje. K njim spadajo: Steno, Evriala in Meduza. Upodobljene so z zlatimi krili, bronastimi rokami, s sikajoeimi kaeami namesto las in merja.eevimi eekani v ustih. Gorgonina glava ob sveti.eih in grobovih odvraea zle moei. HARPIJE - demonske viharne boginje stare Greije. So krilate po.asti, me.ana bitja s ptiejim telesom, .ensko glavo, dolgimi razpu.eenimi lasmi, ostrimi kremplji in ku.nim zadahom. To so mrhovinarji v .enski podobi. Vse, kar vidijo, po.ro in oneeastijo s svojimi izloeki. Napogostej.e so: Viharna, Hitroleta in Mraena. Harpije poosebljajo pohlepno lakoto. Mueijo du.e, saj jim z nenehnim nadlegovanjem ne dajo miru. So vra.ji del kozmiene energije, pekel polnijo z nenadno umrlimi. Veter, ki jih edini lahko pre.ene, je sapa duha. KERONKEUKEN (tudi Keronkenken, Kerol Kenk) - mitiena .ival Indijancev Tehuelche. Nima nataneno doloeene oblike, najpogosteje pa ga opisujejo kot velikega ptiea s ernim repom, kot sovo ali celo kot .rebieka. Je zelo hudobno bitje, pojmujejo ga tudi kot earovni.kega odposlanca. Ee kro.i ponoei okoli hi.e, bo vzel .ivljenje njenemu stanovalcu tako, da bo le-ta ob zori zbolel in popoldne umrl. Lahko ga primerjamo s krokarjem, ki prav tako veekrat z nie kaj prijaznim poslanstvom nastopa kot earovni.ki sel oz. kot njegovo zloeesto orodje. LASE - etru.e. skupina mladostnih boginj slu.abnic, ki stra.ijo predvsem grobove. Upodobljene so veeinoma s krili in bolj ali manj gole. Njihova atributa sta venec in ogledalo. MANTUS - etru.e. vodnik mrtvih in euvaj v podzemlju. Na sarkofagih so ga upodabljali kot eokatega mo.kega, s krili, divjimi obraznimi potezami, satirskimi u.esi in velikim kladivom. Koko., cachiru in druga leteea bitja NASU - iran. demonka mrtve snovi, trupla in oskrumbe. Takoj po elovekovi smrti prileti k truplu v podobi muhe in sosede oku.i z boleznijo. V nosaea trupla prodre skozi eno od devetih telesnih odprtin. NAVJE - psl. ime za umrle; po sprejemu kr.eanstva je bil pomen zo.en na du.e prezgodaj umrlih, nekr.eenih otrok. Veasih se navje pojavljajo kot velike ptice in napadajo noseenice. Ponekod navje pomeni de.elo mrtvih. Beseda je nastala iz korena *naHu. - ladja. Navezuje se na predstavo o de.eli mrtvih nekje za morjem, do katere je treba odpluti... PAZUZU - akad. zli demon, ki prina.a vroeino in mrzlico in pooseblja jugovzhodni veter. Upodobljen je s .tirimi krili, spaeenim obrazom, dolgimi lasmi, levjimi .apami, ptiejimi kremplji na nogah in .korpijonovim .elom. 263 PIHUCHEN (tudi Piguchen, Pihuechengu) - Mitieno bitje Araukancev, s kaei podobnim podalj.anim trupom, ki je pokrit s perjem. Ima peruti in veasih dve kaeji glavi. Leta samo ponoei in med letom .vi.ga ali pa oddaja srhljive piske. V veliki vroeini se dr.i drevesne skorje in pu.ea na deblu rdeeo sled. To je kri, ki jo sesa ljudem in .ivalim, dokler jih popolnoma ne izsu.i. Njegov .vi.g je zanesljiva najava smrti, razen ee nam po.ast uspe videti prej, kot ona opazi nas. Pravijo, da si ljudje pokrivajo u.esa, da je ne bi sli.ali, da pa je ne bi videli, je potrebno namoeiti tla. SFINGA - 1. egipe. po.ast in me.ano bitje veeinoma mo.kega spola, s elove.ko glavo in levjim telesom; 2. gr. po.ast in demonsko me.ano bitje z .ensko glavo in prsmi ter krilatim levjim telesom. Sedee na peeini pri Tebah je mimoidoeim zastavljala uganko in po.rla vsakogar, ki je ni znal re.iti. SIRENE - gr. dve do .tiri demonke .kode, me.ana bitja z .ensko glavo in ptiejim telesom. .ivijo v Hadu, na rajskih poljanah ali na otoku ter s svojim zapeljivim petjem privabljajo mornarje in jih nato po.rejo. .KOPNIK - leteei demon, znan v Alpah. Leti kot goreei snop slame (.kop) ali metla in skozi dimnik vdira v hi.o. Po funkciji je podoben .kratu. .TRPED - polh, ki je imel namesto prednjih nog sokolja krila. Iz u.es so mu rastli jesenovi listi. Njegove oei so bile sokolje, dlaka pa bela (dobri .trped) ali redkeje erna (.trped, ki je prina.al nesreeo in smrt). Izlegel se je vsakih sedem let ob pomoei polne lune in zlatokljunega sokola Lunja. Bil je izredno pla.ljiva .ival. Vse, eesar se je erni .trped dotaknil, je izginilo v nie. TANATOS - gr. bog ter poosebitev naravne in nasilne smrti. Umrle nosi v Had. Upodobljen je kot krilati demon s pove.eno baklo. TIFON - gr. 1. orja.ka po.ast v podzemlju s stotimi zmajskimi glavami in s kaeami namesto nog ter utele.enje unieujoeih sil narave; 2. grozljiva po.ast s kaeami namesto nog in s krili, ki so zakrila sonce. TOT - pomaga Ozirisu na onstranskem sodi.eu, zato je bog mrtvih. Nadzira tehtanje src in zapisuje razsodbe. Ker pot do Ozirisa vodi mimo njega, du.am umrlih utira pot in jih vodi v onstranstvo. Upodobljen je z ibisovo glavo ali kot ibis. Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie TURMS - etru.e. bo.ji sel in vodnik mrtvih v podzemlje. Upodobljen je s krilatimi eevlji in glasni.ko palico (ustreza Hermesu in Merkurju). VANTH - etru.e. demonka podzemlja in mrtvih ter glasnica smrti in pomoenica pri umiranju. Upodobljena je s krili. Njeni atributi so kaea, bakla in kljue. VELES - slovan. bog ered, imetja in podzemnega sveta. V Velesovem cesarstvu so du.e umrlih in pozimi ptice. Nekaj teoretienih sklepov 264 Kaj lahko sklepamo na podlagi povedanega v prvem delu na.ega eseja? Predvsem bi morala biti na.a naloga poiskati kulturni pomen, ki ga imajo .ivali, ki simbolizirajo smrt. Ali lahko gradimo na predpostavki, da so ..ivali. pravzaprav kulturni objekti posebne vrste? Za tistega, ki je posvetil svoje .ivljenje iskanju poti, ki bi ga popeljala k ustrezni razlagi elovekove kulture, se bo nemara zdel predlog zgolj slaba .ala. Vse tak .ne antropologe in sociologe bomo spomnili na elanek Roberta Wuthnowa, v katerem posveea kar nekaj prostora opisu zgodovinskega razvoja dveh pojmov: .kulture. in .smisla. (Wuthnow 1987). Po njegovem mnenju moramo loeevati med tremi razlienimi obdobji v razvoju teh dveh konceptov. V prvem obdobju je bila pozornost kulturnih teoretikov (Durkheima, Marxa in Webra), usmerjena k vzniku kulturnega pomena na podlagi delitve subjekta in objekta. Eeprav je kulturni objekt samostojen, pa ni nujno narejen iz materialne substance. Za Durkheima je kolektivna zavest v pravem pomenu besede samostojna dru.bena entiteta in je kot taka od posameznika loeena. Posamezniki so prisiljeni nositi breme lastne kulture in ne morejo ube.ati dru.beni prisili. Druga generacija kulturologov (neoklasicisti, kot so Berger, Luckmann, Bellah in Geertz) si je prizadevala povrniti ustrezno zvezo med subjektom in objektom. V skladu z njihovo namero so lansirali idejo dru.bene konstrukcije realnosti, deloma navdihnjeno z idejami fenomenologa A. Schutza (Luckmann in Berger 1991) in deloma z interpretativno sociologijo Maxa Webra (Geertz 1993). Kulturni pomen je dobil mesto temeljnega koncepta v teoriji neoklasicistiene paradigme, in ker je bila njihova teoretiena pozornost usmerjena k dru.beni konstrukciji realnosti, so veliko pozornost posveeali polo.aju jezika v vsakdanji komunikaciji. Kulturni objekt ni nekaj, kar bi bilo zunaj posameznikovega horizonta. Nie eudnega torej, da so si svojo najbolj priljubljeno metodo izposodili od fenomenologov in hermenevtikov. Naslednja stopnja v razvoju kulturologije je poststrukturalizem (Habermas, Foucault, Lévi-Strauss). Ee neoklasicisti .e vedno verjamejo v aktivno vlogo posameznikov v procesu nastanka kulturnega smisla, pa so se poststrukturalisti odpovedali aktivni vlogi akterja. Vse svoje moei so vlo.ili v razlago temeljnih principov dru.be in kulture s pomoejo vloge jezika in komunikacij med posamezniki. Tako se je kulturni objekt ponovno zna.el onkraj dosega posameznikov. Na koncu svojega elanka Wuthnow ugotavlja, da je vpliv posameznikov na kulturni smisel .e vedno potrebno upo.tevati, ee .elimo ustrezno razumeti delovanje elove.ke dru.be. Na .alost pa njegova teorija ne more zadovoljiti na.e intelektualne radovednosti. Ne glede na to, da so kulturni pomeni dru.beno konstruirani, vendarle menimo, da mora obstajati svet onkraj dru.benega in kulturnega pomena, ki nam pomaga le-taga Koko., cachiru in druga leteea bitja konstruirati, pa eeprav se tega morda sploh ne zavedamo. Predlagamo torej, da resno upo.tevamo mo.nost, da kulturni predmeti obstajajo neodvisno od elovekovega uma1 . Kulturni objekt razumemo kot materialni predmet, ki pa ima v procesu do.ivljanja kulturnega izkustva to lastnost, da deluje kot nosilec dru.beno konstruiranega kulturnega pomena. Zaradi doloeenih razlogov, ki pa zaradi vsebinskih omejitev tega eseja ne morejo biti nataneno pojasnjeni, bomo razdelili kulturne objekte v dva tipa kulturnih objektov: telesa in kulturne predmete2 . Metodolo.ki okvir, ki bo omogoeal na.e razmi .ljanje, pa si lahko ogledate na spodnji sliki: Slika .t. 1: Razmerje med akterji v kulturni produkciji in percepciji (mikro nivo) Zgoraj opisani metodolo.ki okvir za preueevanje kulturnih pojavov (glej sliko .t. 2) bomo uporabili na predhodno dobljenih podatkih. Pri tem moramo odgovoriti na naslednja vpra.anja: Kateri je kulturni objekt v na.em primeru? Kako pri tem pravilno razumeti vlogo telesa? In nenazadnje, kak.no vlogo ima socialno kognitivni horizont pri nastanku specifienega kulturnega pojava, v na.em primeru razumevanju smrti? Slika .t. 2: Metodolo.ki okvir za preueevanje kulturnih fenomenov Preprieani smo, da je potrebno pristopiti k analizi kulturnih fenomenov s stali.ea njihovega izkustva. V primeru smrti pa treimo ob skorajda neprehodno oviro, kajti smrti ne moremo izkusiti vee kot enkrat, ee sploh lahko oznaeimo te vrste dogodek z besedo .izkustvo.. Ee si ogledamo pojav smrti z znanstvenega vidika, ne moremo vedeti, ali nemara obstaja .ivljenje po smrti. Morda obstaja, morda ne. Hipoteze, ki bi vsebovala bodisi prvo bodisi drugo trditev, ni mogoee znanstveno preveriti. Zato je edino smiselno, da se v polju znanosti odpovemo tak.nim hipotezam3. Toda v realnem .ivljenju je 1 Spomnimo se, kako je na.a ideja o samostojnosti kulturnih predmetov v nekaterih niansah zelo podobna Popperjevi ideji Sveta 3 (Popper 1997). 2 Novi pristop v razumevanju nastanka kulturnega smisla se moeno naslanja na delo Strauss in Qiunn (1997) ter na metodolo.ki model, ki ga je razvila Wendy Griswold (1987). 3 Zahteva je v skladu s Popprovimi metodolo.kimi tezami, razvitimi v njegovo knjigi The Logic of Scientific Discovery (Popper 1992). Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie situacija mnogo bolj zapletena, saj oseba, vpletena v fenomen smrti (najsi bo umirajoea ali pa zgolj prisotna pri umirajoeem), obieajno nima ustreznega znanja in metod, da bi tak.no znanstveno odloeitev sploh lahko sprejela. .e bolj pomembno pa je, da posameznikom v vsakdanjem .ivljenju tak.ne odloeitve sploh ni potrebno sprejemati, kajti naein delovanja vsakdanjega .ivljenja je znaeilno drugaeen. Njegova prisotnost in oblika sta posamezniku kot taka dana (glej Schutz in Luckmann 1974). To, kar posamezniki v takem trenutku potrebujejo, je uporabno znanje, na podlagi katerega lahko delujejo. Ee se posameznik znajde v situaciji, ko mora poskrbeti za truplo pokojnika, mora biti seznanjen s posmrtnimi obredi. Vedeti mora, kako obrede pravilno izvajati in kaj je potrebno storiti s truplom pokojnika, da se ne bi zgodilo, da bi bila du.a pokojne 266 ga prekleta ali kakorkoli drugaee pogubljena. Seveda pod pogojem, da posameznik, ki je postavljen pred tak.no nalogo, verjame v posmrtno .ivljenje. Telo pokojnika je lahko pokopano, upepeljeno ali izpostavljeno na odprtem prostoru, kjer ga lahko pojedo divje .ivali, itd. V skladu z na.im metodolo.kim okvirom, razvitim za potrebe raziskovanja kulturnih fenomenov, moramo poiskati tri elemente, iz katerih je kulturni fenomen sestavljen (glej sliko .t. 3). Ob smrti nekega posameznika je mrtvo telo edino, kar ostane za njim. Nemara se sli.i nenavadno, toda v primeru kulturnega fenomena smrti je edini resnieno obstojeei kulturni predmet truplo umrlega. Razlika med mrtvim in .ivim telesom je vse prevee oeitna, da bi jo lahko zanemarili, zato so si ljudje prisiljeni izmisliti primerno razlago za nastalo spremembo. Tak.na razlaga lahko nastopi kot zgodba ali mit, v katerem obieajno najdemo tudi navodila glede postopanja v primeru smrti. Vsebuje lahko tudi odgovor na vpra.anje, kak.en je pomen smrti ali kam se preseli du.a umrlega in druge podrobnosti glede obstoja posmrtnega .ivljenja. Tretji element, ki nastopa v na.em modelu, pa je telo posameznikov, ki fenomenu smrti prisostvujejo. Delovanje slednjega je uganka posebne vrste. Zakaj? Slika .t. 3: Mikro situacija v primeru fenomena smrti Med iskanjem odgovora na zgoraj postavljeno vpra.anje moramo izpostaviti eno izmed najpomembnej.ih dru.benih znaeilnosti. Kultura in dru.ba ne moreta uspe.no trajati, vsaj ne prav dolgo, ee znanje in vedenje nista relativno uspe.no prenesena iz ene v drugo generacijo. V primeru prena.anja obredov, povezanih s smrtjo, z ene v drugo generacijo, je vsakdanja izku.nja smrti obieajno omejena na opazovanje nakljuenih smrti v neki skupnosti. Ni obieajno, da bi neko osebo ubili, pa eeprav nakljueno, z namenom, da bi s tem nazorno prikazali smrt in poueili potomce, kaj smrt je in kako iz Koko., cachiru in druga leteea bitja gleda. Vsekakor bi bila to draga odloeitev, saj ima posameznikovo .ivljenje vrednost za skupnost, v kateri biva. V preteklosti je bil posameznik .e posebno dragocen, saj je ekonomija temeljila predvsem na fizieni moei elove.kih bitij. V moderni dobi pa je posameznik dragocen predvsem zaradi obeutja svoje enkratne individualnosti. Drugi razlog, zaradi katerega je bilo ubijanje ljudi v veeini kultur omejeno le na religiozni obred, pa tiei v slabi razvitosti izobra.evalnega sistema. Le od easa do easa so se v elove .ki zgodovini pojavili svetli otoki sistematienega ueenja. Prevladujoea strategija v prenosu znanja med generacijami je bila utemeljena v osebni izku.nji ueeeega. Ee je situacija, v kateri se je posameznik zna.el, zahtevala neko doloeeno znanje, da bi lahko svojo nalogo dobro opravil, potem si je potrebno znanje najveekrat zagotovil neposredno4. Seveda je od tistih easov preteklo mnogo vode in dru.bena struktura se je spremenila 267 tako temeljito, da neposredno prene.eno znanje ni vee najpomembnej.a oblika ueenja (glej Schutz 1975). Praktiene te.ave, ki spremljajo socializacijo posameznikov v primeru fenomena smrti, zahtevajo re.itve, ki jih lahko razdelimo v dve kategoriji. Temelj, na katerem sloni na.a odloeitev, je prvi del na.ega eseja, v katerem smo se ukvarjali s konkretnimi primeri .ivali, ki simbolizirajo smrt. Najbolj primerno se zdi, da zamenjamo kulturni objekt, ki neposredno simbolizira smrt, s tak.nim kulturnim objektom, ki predstavlja smrt le simbolieno. Ee si izberemo primeren kulturni objekt, ki za povrh .e dejansko obstaja (glej sliko .t. 4), bomo morda lahko zgradili zanimivo zgodbo, kjer bo na novo izbrani kulturni objekt lahko dobil ustrezno mesto, s katerega bo uspe.no simboliziral fenomen smrti. V primeru, ko pripadniki neke skupnosti razumejo smrt kot skrivnosten pojav, je fenomen, s katerim si ga posku.ajo razlo.iti, prav tako zavit v taneico skrivnosti. Vzemimo na primer zgodbo o koko.i. V primeru, ko koko. brez pravega vzroka zakikirika, kar se prieakuje le od petelina, velja, da je gospodar hi.e v smrtni nevarnosti. Glavo si lahko re.i edinole tako, da koko. nemudoma zakolje. Kje v tej zgodbi je primeren prostor za skrivnost? Ta tiei v razliki med obieajnim obna.anjem izbranega kulturnega objekta (koko. vali jajca in kokodaka kot koko.) in njegovim spremenjenim naeinom obna.anja (koko. kikirika, kot da bi bila petelin). Slika .t. 4: Kulturni fenomen v katerem je kulturni objekt zamenjan z resnieno obstojeeim bitjem 4 Lep primer tak.nega obna.anja lahko vidimo v razmerju med srednjeve.kim mojstrom in vajencem (Hanawalt 1993). Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie Rekli smo .e, da je tretji element v na.em metodolo.kem modelu telo, v tem primeru telo uporabnikov kulturnih pomenov in smislov. Kak.ne vrste telesa lahko prieakujemo v tej kulturni situaciji? V tem primeru prieakujemo normalno delujoee telo. Ko pravimo normalno delujoee, imamo pri tem v mislih telo, ki omogoea njegovemu uporabniku jasno percepcijo. S eistostjo percepcije pa se bomo v nadaljevanju .e sreeali. Toda, kaj bi se zgodilo, ee bi zamenjali dejansko obstojeei kulturi predmet (mrtvo telo) s popolnoma izmi.ljenim kulturnim predmetom, kot je na primer Cachirú (glej sliko .t. 5)? V tem primeru bi se situacija spremenila, kajti posameznikova pozornost bi se obrnila od dejanskega k izmi.ljenemu liku, v tem primeru k zgodbi. V uvodu v na. esej smo poudarili, da elove.ka zavest vedno potrebuje za svoj obstoj neki predmet zu 268 naj sebe, da bi si s tem zagotovila normalno delovanje. Izguba konkretnega predmeta ima zanimive posledice za delovanje posameznikove zavesti. V primeru, ko mo.gani posameznika ne dobijo zadostnega vzburjenja iz okolice, si izmislijo svoj lasten svet na podlagi predhodno uskladi.eenega znanja, spominov in hotenj (Dennett 1991). Iluzije in halucinacije predstavljajo splo.en simptom v laboratorijskih raziskavah, povezanih z izpostavljanjem posameznikov nizki stopnji senzorne percepcije (Zubek 1969). Delitev kulturnega objekta v dva razliena tipa (primarni in sekundarni tip) se poka.e kot zelo koristna. Jasno je, da um za svoje delovanje potrebuje neki svet onkraj sebe. Ee mu je odvzet primarni kulturni predmet, potem se razum zateee k edini mo.ni re.itvi. Svoje telo uporabi kot kulturni predmet, saj drugaee ne more delovati dobro. Telo nam je vendar vedno na razpolago, saj je z umom neloeljivo povezano. Toda na .alost lahko umu zagotovi le tiste informacije iz okolja, ki so .e vskladi.eene v spominu in genih. Telo je brez svojega okolja pravzaprav nemoeno, in prav zaradi te svoje obeutljivosti nam pogosto zagotovi .napaene. informacije. Slika .t. 5: Kulturna situacija, v kateri je obieajni kulturni predmet zamenjan z izmi.ljenim primerom .ivali Pomanjkanje senzornih dra.ljajev (kulturni predmet) je le eden od naeinov, da pride pri posamezniku do pojava iluzij in halucinacij. Druga pot za dosego tega cilja le.i v namerni izpostavitvi posameznikovega telesa napaeni percepciji zaradi specifienega delovanja posameznikovega telesa. V zgodovini elove.tva je bilo nemalo tak.nih primerov, ki na.o trditev dobro ilustrirajo. Veasih je nadnaravnim videnjem botrovala splo.na podhranjenost neke populacije. Posamezniki s posebnim polo.ajem v dru.bi so se namenoma izpostavljali uporabi halucinogenih substanc (glej Huxley 1979; Eliade 1985). Znanje, pridobljeno s pomoejo telesa, je za nekatere kulture in dru.be bistveno. Za srednjeve.ko Koko., cachiru in druga leteea bitja dru.bo je to vsekakor kljuena oblika védenja, toda kasneje je z upadom njegove pomembnosti na plano pri.la nova oblika védenja: kognitivno razumetje (Mellor in Schilling 1997). Kulturni predmet v primeru smrti (truplo in proces samega umiranja) je bil potisnjen v posebna dru.bena polja (bolni.nice in sanatorije). Za moderno telo se poskrbi s posebnimi oblikami tretmaja (sistematiena zdravni.ka nega in .portno udejstvovanje posameznika), vsako njegovo zanemarjanje pa sprejmemo z neodobravanjem. Kognitivna struktura modernega posameznika je .polna. mladih teles, medtem ko je smrt in z njo povezano staranje potlaeeno v globine elovekovega modernega mi.ljenja. Ali je za mite in zgodbe, ki so nastali na podlagi narave, ob koncu iztekajoeega se tisoeletja .e kaj upanja? Prav gotovo perspektive niso dobre. Preprieani smo, da jih posameznikova moderna kognitivna struktura ne odobrava. Pa ne zaradi tega, ker bi bila 269 slednja v primerjavi s tradicionalnimi pogledi mnogo bolj racionalna (glej Luckmann 1997). Poglavitni razlog za to le.i drugje. Elove.ko okolje se je v zadnjem stoletju dramatieno spremenilo. Danes je narava prav tako dalee stran od elovekovega pogleda kakor tudi sam mistieni svet. Iz pepela starih mitov pa se je dvignil nov, moderen mit. Slednji je mit o eude.nih ozdravitvah, ne pa o smrti (bioenergija). Modernega mita posmrtno .ivljenje pravzaprav sploh ne zanima vee. LITERATURA BALTRU.TAITIS, Jurgis. 1991. Fantastieni srednji vek. Sarajevo: Svjetlost. BELLINGER, Gerhard J. 1996. Leksikon mitologije. Ljubljana: DZS. BERGER, Peter and Luckmann Thomas. 1991. The Social Construction of Reality. London: Penguin Books. BIEDERMANN, Hans. 1989. Knaurs Lexikon Symbole. Münchenn: Droemer Knaur. BORGES, Jorge Luis. 1990. El libro de los seres imaginarios. Barcelona: Emecé editores. CAVENDISH, Richard and Trevor O. Ling. 1988. Mitologija. 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Sensory Deprivation: Fifteen Years of Research. New York: Appl. Century. THE HEN, CACHIRU AND OTHER WINGED CREATURES Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie Key words: death, mythological flying creatures, human body, cultural object, cognitive mindscape Foreword One of the most surprising characteristics of the human mind is how human thought cannot exist without some fixation on external objects. That does not mean that the object of fixation always has to be a material one. It can also be a mental picture in the human mind, although in this case it needs to be understood as something separated from what is experienced in that moment. This mental picture originates in the past and it looks like it has its own will to influence on our way of thinking. Nevertheless, our lives are generally filled with all kind of material stuff, because for a person it is normally much more simple to attain relationship to material world than to reach a complex state of reflection inside the human mind. Some might express regret. But being realistic, for an average person the everyday reality is mostly material. Beside all other reasons why human mind is mostly oriented toward material world, especially one is important. If the connection between individuals through the material world is interrupted, social world simply falls apart. And since everything is basically social (see Mead 1962, Schutz 1967) the science is also the part of society. For that reason social science should not neglect the material dimension of social life. For then we are no longer capable of proper scientific explanation of how interpersonal contacts in everyday life are possible at all. Preliminary condition for sociological or anthropological investigation is quality knowledge about material world. In other words: the explication of specific social or cultural phenomenon depends on how skilful we are when we trace down cultural object. For someone whose primary intention is to elaborate cognitive conditions of human mind, this demand may sound odd. Nevertheless, we believe it is more than just necessary. Our first goal is to find as many examples of different animals that symbolize death as possible and classify them into different categories. Our second goal is to show how individuals through culture use their bodies and carefully choose among different types of objects that could be properly used as cultural object in the matter of death. Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie A classification of the animals This essay is a product of an enthusiasm caused by The Book of Imaginary Beings by J. B. Borges, a book with no ambition to classify or systematize in which the author collects those beings that turn the zoological garden into a mythological one. Like the author says, the book will never be complete, the same goes for this survey of the winged creatures that man has in this way or another connected to the death. The symbolism of the animal world is closely interweaved, therefor this essay collects beings and deities with no regards to historical or geographical frame. It does not include angels and dragons, which should be dealt with in a special chapter. Symbols usually have 272 double meaning and obviously, in this essay only the darker ones are discussed. Why wings and death? A flying creature does not leave behind a solid trace like footprints in the sand, a tunnel in the ground or stirred water surface. The flight makes a tiny little breeze like a cool shiver that dash through us in the moment when we become aware of death. Many winged creatures do not have flying ability or they lost it long ago. By pinning wings to a creature we elevate it amongst spiritual beings. In the spiritual world, it is possible to fly with stone wings. The meaning of flying lies in freeing from gravity why gravity is the cause of most troubles in this life and beyond it. If we believe in life after death, the death is only an obstacle which an individual must overcome to achieve immortality or resurrection. The easiest way to overcome an obstacle is to jump over it, or even better, fly over it. Palaeolithic graves contain remainders of animal bones and antlers. That can only give us an idea about spiritual rituals of the ancient undertakers (a child surrounded by steinbock horns from a site in Uzbekistan or a woman.s skull placed onto a jaw and antlers of a reindeer in Mas d.Azil). It is not yet known whether these are remainders of funeral feasts or an actual equipment of the deceased which would confirm the belief of the life after death. In any case, the relation man - death - animal was established in the very beginning of the human awareness of existence and its end. The major principle of the Palaeolithic art is: in the world there are only people and animals - hunters and their prey - nothing in between matters and does not belong into the imaginary space as seen by the eye of an artist. And the point in which the hunter and the animal meet, is death. The ideology of the hunting cultures is actually shamanic. Only a shaman with his supernatural power is capable of penetrating into the very source of animal life. It is confirmed that the shamanic ecstasy existed as early as in Palaeolithic. This ecstasy suggests the believing in the soul that is capable of leaving the body and wandering freely. On these wanderings it can meet supernatural beings and ask them for help. (In a cave in Lacaux there is an image of a man that seems to be dead - a shaman in a trance, with a beak on the face, with a bird on the top of a stick, probably representing his protector). Very often, we can meet a soul in the form of a bird, as well as a bird as the leader of souls. The Egyptian Book of the Dead describes the dead man as a hawk that flies The Hen, Cachiru and other Winged Creatures away, in prehistoric monuments in Europe and Asia we can see birds on the branches of the Cosmic tree, which probably symbolize the souls of the ancestors and also in Mesopotamia the dead appeared as birds... Only death can transform a man into a bird and thus can shamans with supernatural powers experience the destiny of the soul, to other human beings accessible only in the moment of death. Shamanic ecstatic ascensions bring about a feeling of transcendence, elevation and, with its symbolism of the flight give an imaginary experience of the height as the liberation from gravity (Eliade 1987, 1996). The animals that really exist ARA . Colombian Indians use a red Ara as guide for the death person. The Bororo Indians believe in complicate migration cycle of souls, where souls are temporarily embodied in the Ara birds. SCREECH OWL - .He will not last long - the screech owl called him tonight.. or: .The screech owl cried him out.. This is the wisdom of old ladies when they stick their heads together and say these unbecoming words, and unfortunately men as well. And thus the poor screech owl, due to its sad voice, became notorious as the death bird. Many people get the creeps when they hear it screech. A fool is guessing for whom it hoots. If then nobody wants do die, nobody thinks of the death messenger any more. If somebody really dies in the neighbourhood, the superstitious women will forever be convinced that the screech owl.s screech brings death. A screech owl is also called the death bird. If it stops close to a house, it is said that somebody who lives there will soon die. The same thing threats to us if we hear it sing or even cry at night. Almost everywhere in Slovenia, people are afraid of its sound. This lively type of owl tends to dwell close to people.s homes - under roofs, in orchards and churches, therefore superstitious people often get some grey hairs. The screech owls do not announce death only in Europe, they are also mentioned as the messengers of the chieftains of Xibalba, Maya.s land of the dead. In the second part of the holy book of the Indians Quiche POPOL VUH we meet 4 screech owls: Chabi-Tucur - quick as an arrow Huracan Tucur - the one-legged screech owl Caquix Tucur - screech owl makao with red wings Holom Tucur - screech owl with a head and wings and no legs Two guardians of gardens in Xibalba were screech owls. They did not do their guardian job properly, so their masters cleft their beak and since then the screech owl has a cleft beak. At night the screech owl is attracted by illuminated windows that were often a sign that people watch over a sick person or the deceased. It is said that its unfortunate Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie connection with the death comes from this. The physiognomy of its head with enormous eyes reminds us of a skull. Its restless flight is applied in human conception of the nearness of death. HEN - Like most domestic animals, the hen also made a pilgrimage from the sacrificing bowl into the kitchen pot. In the Ancient Greece the hen was frequently sacrificed by poor people. Even Romans strictly and superstitiously followed the prephecies of the hen oracle. In Black Africa the hen sacrificing is common, necessary for the communication with the deceased. When a Lulu shaman woman undergoes the experience of death and rebirth, she is hanged a hen around the neck to attract the souls of the deceased 274 mediums in the bush. Fear from the hen crowing is very spread. The feminine with male characteristics has always caused uncomfort and fear. Here the two principles and powers are united in one. This kind of union does not have a future, it is both and nothing at the same time. It cannot go on and therefore death or even extinction is inevitable. If a hen starts to crow like a rooster, the master of the house is bound to die. A .rooster hen. had to be slain at once. If a black hen crows, it cries out the master of the house. A white hen, on the other hand, cries out the housewife. The crowing of the black hen means bad luck for the house, the crowing of the white one death and the crowing of a brown one fire. HUMMINGBIRD . Aztecs believed that the souls of dead solders return beck to the earth as hummingbirds or butterflies. RAVEN - Black feathers, hollow croaking, insatiable ravenousness and predatory boldness make him mysterious, awful and monster like. That is why to all nations it means unfortunate and foretells death. (Erjavec, 1995, p. 398). The Raven became a negative symbol not long ago and almost exclusively in Europe. (...) It is general knowledge that the raven does not promise anything good, that it is a herald of misfortune and that it foretells death. In the Celtic tradition the raven is a bad sign as well. Its image was adopted by Morrigan, the queen of fear, the queen of war and underworld. Morrigan appears in two other forms - as Nori and Dispirited crow. Before the battle, she washed the equipment of those who were to die and thus determined the loser. .The raven is the black bird of the romantics which flies over the battlefield and pecks the corpses.. (Chevalier - Gheerbrant, 1993, p. 285). It is true that the raven smells carcass from a great distance and feeds on it. Thus it really feels death at a distance. This death is his everyday bread, its actual existence. In Greece, the raven had the function of a prophet, along with the eagle and the swan. In Slovenia it is said that if a raven flies over a house, we can expect one of the feminine members of the family to die, whereas if a couple of ravens flies over the house, we can expect the death of a male. Sailors believed that three ravens bring death. The Hen, Cachiru and other Winged Creatures In Mahabharata ravens are compared to the heralds of death. In most religions, the raven is a sun sign, a demiurge, a leader of souls on their last journey. It reveals the secret of the darkness. Nomadic, fishermen and hunting communities attach positive meaning to it, whereas agricultural and permanently in habited peoples attach a negative meaning to it. Alchemists name the phases of rotting a .raven.s head.. COOKOO - Cookoo is a bird, connected with spring and the awakening of the nature, therefore it helps Siberian shamans to revive the dead. In the Veda tradition, a cookoo is a symbol of the human soul before the incarnation and after it. The body is like a strange nest in which comes the soul. If a cookoo sits on a dry branch and cries there, soon somebody in the house will die. 275 The cookoo brings death into the nest where it leaves its egg, for it throws out the already existing life. Therefor it needs death to exist. SWALLOW . If swallow in the spring built the nest near the house and later abandoned it, someone living there will pass away soon for sure. Swallow symbolises loneliness, migration and separation, for it is a migratory bird. BAT - With the people of Maya, the bat was one of the deities which incarnated the underworld forces. In Popol Vuh a bat.s house is one of the underworld places through which leads the way to the land of the dead. The bat is the master of fire, destroyer of life, swallower of the light. It is an emblem of death. They call him .the one that tears heads.. The bat is depicted with dead eyes. It is a god of death with the Mexicans. They connect it with the North. The bat is often depicted with an open jaws or with a sacrificing knife instead of the jaws. A duplicity of the hybrid nature, the mouse and the bird, in the alchemist tradition explains the ambivalence of the bat symbolism: the bat represents the androgyne, a winged dragon, a demon. Its wings are those of a creature from the hell (the devil has blue wings, similar to the bat.s). The bat must wave with wings therefore it cannot rest during the flight. A nature seeks for a wing, but finds only an ugly hairy membrane which, nevertheless, functions as a wing. ROOSTER - Like the hen, the rooster is also believed to bring bad luck. If it is 7 years old, it lays an egg out of which the devil - Baselisk hatches. The rooster was used as a protector against Basilisk on shields, amulets and tombstones. On rare occasions, the rooster too foretells death - for instance, if he crows just before midnight. In Greece it announces the arrival of the soul on the other world and then take it there. The soul would open its eyes to a new light, a new birth. The rooster was assigned to Hermes, a herald that travels in three levels of the cosmos, from hell to heaven. Germanic nations believed that a bright rooster greets heroes on the bridge to Walhala, whereas on the door to the underworld there waits a black rooster. During purification and exorcism ceremonies after death some Altay nations tie a rooster to the bed of the deceased. The rooster represents death which a shaman expels. Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie NIGHTINGALE . it is common believe that the singing nightingale helps dying person to passing away easier. The nightingale reminds us on the transitoriness of life and in connection with this on the thin line between love and death. HAWK - The image of the hawk connected with death is found mostly in the old Egypt. It mostly appears as BA, representing a spiritual power, a soul. Ba has hawk-like body, human head and godlike beard. When the body is redeemed in the posthumous ceremony, ba leaves it and then moves freely. During the day, it follows the sun on the horizon, at night it returns into the underworld, into its body which is its real residence, and there it feeds with funeral gifts. OWL - .Owls are quick-tempered, timid, stupid and greedy birds. The captured 276 owls bite and eat one another. Except from some smaller species, they never tolerate people. They are always wild and choleric. And if we only thought about their unpleasant look, on their silent flight in the night, not to mention their awful sound they produce, we could understand easily why owls are detestable to ordinary people. For unschooled and superstition person the owl is something mysterious and monstrous (Erjavec 1995, 470). The owl is a night bird, and as such it is usually connected with the appearance of moon, for owl do not suffer the day light well. It flights low and silently and also very slow. Its capability of seeing in the dark made of owl the symbol of the clear-sightedness and it is an attribute of fortune-tellers. The owl is also a symbolic animal of hellish divinities, worship by the Indians of Middle and South America. It is showed in Aztecs books as guardian of earthy dark house. It is connected with dark forces and it is also avatar of the night, rain and stormy whether. This is its connection to the death. On the artefacts of pre-Inca of Chimu civilisation, it can be seen well the knife using for sacrifice with an owl depicted over it in the shape of half human, half animal creature. The symbol, obviously bind with the notion of death and sacrifice, is ornamented with the necklaces made out of pearls and shells. Their breasts are purple, and there are some dogs lying by it. The owl sometimes holds a knife in one hand and a jar for victim.s blood in the other hand. Owls are still divine creatures now days. They are guards of the graveyards by many Indian people (Chevalier . Gheerbrant 1993, 564). Using an .owl. as a symbol for announcer in the matter of death is well known fact, for owl usually live solitary life and at the same time owl produce dull sound. As such the owl can call a misery upon the house if owl sing near it. The situation is even worst if there is more then just one owl in the nearness. Small wonder than that people sometimes call it the dead person.s hen. WOODPECKER . someone will pass away in the nearness of the place where a singing woodpecker is seen if this is happening several times. That is why the woodpecker is often called a mortal bird. The Hen, Cachiru and other Winged Creatures Fictitious Creatures BASILISK - is a supernatural mixed creature of Jewish Christian origin. Most frequently depicted as a rooster with the tale of a dragon or as a serpent with rooster.s wings and a bright crown-like spot on the head. The number of legs varies from two to eight. At the beginning of the Middle Ages it was depicted as a four-legged rooster with a little crown, yellow feathers, large spike - like wings and serpent tail that sometimes has another rooster had at the end of it. It was conceived in a rooster.s egg put into dung, without a mother and brooded by a toad or a frog. It dwells in fountains and cellars, and according to certain sources in the desert which is created by Basilisk itself. Namely birds fall dead in front of it. All fruit around it rots and the rivers from which it 277drinks remain poisoned for whole centuries. It embodies death and the evil. Its evil look kills. The only things that can kill it are the smell of a weasel, a rooster.s crow or the look in its own face in the mirror. It represents life danger of which one cannot be aware in time. Travellers took alive roosters with them when passing through unknown territories. Borges quotes Queved.s ballad: If the one that has seen you still lives Your whole story is a lie For if he had not died, he did not see you and if he is dead he cannot confirm that. CACHIRÚ (also Cachurú) - An evil deity known in the region of Santiago del Estero, Argentina. It is depicted as an unusual owl with huge claws and a sharp beak. Its feathers are dark grey and coarse and become bristles towards the legs. Its immense phosphorescence eyes radiate like fires in the dark. This light and his mischievous shrieks are the only thing that reveal its inaudible flight. It is said that it can heave a man into the sky or tear him apart in an instant. Preferably, it captures the soul at the hour of death and turns it into a horrible apparition. It dwells in the most inaccessible parts of the forest where a man cannot penetrate. Because the forests reduce, its kingdom is getting smaller or has almost disappeared. CHONCHÓN (also Chonchonyú) - A deity of the Mapuche Indians. An evil spirit, actually a human head with enormous ears used as wings. It circles around sick people and waits for a chance when nobody is around. Then he kills them and sucks their blood. This bizarre monster may seem less strange to us if we mention that long-eared demons can easily be found in medieval sculpture and graphics. Such .earheads. often flutter around the dying person. Eary demons are also known in the Far East as grave guardians. Their vast ears are like wings or shells, echoing the noises of the world. GORGONS - monsters from the Greek mythology. 3 sisters with dreadful faces. Looking at them, everyone petrified. They lived in the extreme West of the Earth. They call themselves Stena, Euriala and Medusa. They are depicted with golden wings, bronze hands and hissing snakes for their hair and fangs of a boar. Around the temples and tombs, a Gorgon.s head chases away the evil powers. Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie HARPIES - demonic storm goddesses of the Ancient Greece. Winged creatures, mixed creatures with the body of a bird, head of a woman, long and loose hair, sharp claws and plague breath. They are scavengers in the feminine form. They devour everything they see and disgrace it with their excrements. The most frequent are The Stormy One, The Fast-flying one and the Dark one. The Harpies personify greedy hunger. They torture souls and constantly annoy them. They are a satanic part of cosmic energy and fill the hell with the unexpectedly dead. The wind that can chase them away is the breath of the spirit. KERONKEUKEN (also Keronkenken, Kerol Kenk) - mythic animal of the Tehuelche Indians. It does not have a certain form but is usually described as a big black 278 tailed bird, similar ass the owl or even stallion. Keronkeuken is very evil, also considered as the magician.s messenger. If it circles around a house at night, it would like to take life from somebody in it so that he or she would fall ill at dawn and die in the afternoon. It can be compared to a raven. LASE - Etruscan group of young goddesses servants guarding mostly graves. They are depicted mostly with wings and naked. Their attributes are wreath and mirror. MANTUS - Etruscan leader of the dead and guard in the underworld. On sarcophagi it was depicted as a stout man with wings, wild facial features, satyre-like ears and a big hammer. NASU - Persian demoness of inanimate substance, corpse and profanation. Immediately after a man.s death she flies in the shape of a fly and infects the neighbours with a disease. She penetrates the pallbearer through one of nine bodyholes. NAVJE - Preslavic name for the dead after the acceptance of Christianity, the meaning was narrowed to the souls of yet unbaptized children. Sometimes navje appears like big birds attacking pregnant women. In certain places navje means the land of the dead. The word originates in the stem .naHu. - ship - a notion of the land of dead somewhere beyond the sea, where one has to sail to. PAZUZU - acad. evil spirit which brings fever and shivers and personifies the Southeast wind. It is depicted with 4 wings, deformed face, long hair, lion paws, bird claws on the legs and scorpio sting. PIHUCHEN (also Piguchen, Pihuechengu) - Mythical creature of Arawakans with a snake-like trunk, covered with feathers. It has wings and sometimes two snake heads. It flies only at night and during the flight whistles or produces thrilling whistles. In the heat, it is attached to the bark of the tree and leaves a red trace of blood he sucks from people and animals as long as it sucks them dry. Pihuchen.s whistle is a reliable announce of death, except if we see the monster before it sees us. It is said that people cover their ears not to hear it and in order not to see it, it is recommended to moist the ground. SPHINX - 1. Egyptian monster and mixed creature of mostly masculine gender with a human head and the body of a lion. 2. Greek, monster and demonic mixed creature with a woman.s head and breasts and winged lion body. Sitting on a cliff near Tebe it posed a riddle to passer-bys and ate everyone that could not solve it. The Hen, Cachiru and other Winged Creatures SIRENS - Gr. 2 to 4 demonesses of harm, mixed creatures with woman.s head and birdlike body. They live in the Hades, on Paradise fields or on an island, and with their seducing singing attract sailors and eat them in the end. .KOPNIK - flying demon from the Alps. If flies like a burning bale of straw or a broom and forces its way into a house through a chimney. Similar to the goblin. .TRPED - a dormouse with wings instead of the front legs. Ash leaves grew out of its ears. Its eyes were those of a hawk its hair white (the good .trped) or black (.trped who brought misfortune and death). It hatched every 7 years with the help of the moon and the goldbeaked hawk named Lunj. A very timid animal. Everything it touched vanished. TANATOS - Greek god and impersonation of natural and violent death. It carries 279the deceased into the Hades. It is depicted as a winged demon with a lowered torch. TIFON . gr. 1. a gigantic monster living in the underworld. It has hundred dragon-like heads and snakes instead of its legs. It is the incarnation of devastating forces of nature. 2. horrible monster with legs replaced by snakes and with wings, which can cover up the sun. TOT . he helps Osiris with judgement in the underworld court, so he is the God of dead persons. He supervises the balancing of the hearts and he write down the judgements. While the path to Osiris leading by him, he helps the dead one and leads them. He is depicted with the head of Ibis or as Ibis him self. TURMS . he is the messenger of God and leader of the dead person to the underworld, depicted with winged shoes and the stick of announcer. VANTH . Etr. the demon of the underworld and death. She is depicted as winged creature, with snake, key and torch. VELES . Slavic God of herds, property and underworld. In the empire of Veles the souls are settled and also the birds in the winter. A few theoretical conclusions What can be said on the basis of our previous assignment? Above all, we should find the cultural meaning of animals signifying death. Can we assume that the animals are in fact cultural objects? For anyone who devoted their life to illuminating a way for proper understanding of the human culture, this statement might sound as some sort of a bad joke. We shall remind all those anthropologists and sociologists of an essay written by Robert Wuthnow where he elaborated the historical development of the notions .culture. and .meaning. (Wuthnow 1987). In his opinion the difference between three stages of that development must be drawn. At the first step the attention of classical social theorists (Durkheim, Marx and also Weber) were pointed toward the division between subject and object from where the meaning originated. Although culture object is independent, it is not made only of material substance. For Emile Durkheim collective consciousness was literally a social entity and it was in some way separated from individuals. Persons are forced Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie to carry the burden of their culture, but they cannot do much to reduce its power. The second generation (neoclassicists like Berger, Luckmann, Bellah and Geertz) endeavoured to bring back the notion of united object and subject. In accordance with their intention, they launched the idea of social construction of society, partly inspired by the phenomenology of Alfred Schutz (see Luckmann and Berger 1991) and partly by interpretative sociology of Max Weber (see Geertz 1993). Meaning became an important element of neoclassicists. interests, but while their theoretical attention was pointed toward social construction of reality, they paid a lot of attention to symbolic language and its use in everyday life. The cultural object is no longer something outside the human mind. No wonder the preferred methodological approaches that emerged within the neoclassical tradition 280 were phenomenology and hermeneutics. The next stage in the history of cultural theory is called poststructuralism (Habermas, Foucault, Levi-Strauss). If neoclassicists still believed in important role of the individual in the construction of society, the poststructuralists rejected the idea of the author. They put all their efforts in demonstration how the basic principles of society and culture can be uncovered in language, communication, speech and discourse. Once again the cultural object was put beyond the reach of human individuals. At the end of his article, Wuthnow concludes that the influence of individuals on the origin of meaning is still necessary for understanding the human society. Unfortunately his theory would not satisfy well our intellectual imagination. In any case, meaning is socially constructed, but we still think that the world outside the meaning which helps us construct it is necessary, irrespective of the fact that we might not be well aware of it. So I suggest we seriously take into consideration the possibility that cultural object exist independently from the human mind1 . In this example we understand the culture object as something material which in the process of experiencing culture is able to carry socially constructed meaning. For the reasons that cannot be explained here more precisely, the cultural object will be divided into two kinds of cultural objects (the body and other objects)2 . The picture of our methodological framework should be like it is depicted in the picture below (see Figure 1). Figure 1: The relationship among actors in cultural production and reception (micro level) It is time we used this methodological framework (see Figure 2) on our previously got data, so the next few puzzles should be solved: What is cultural object in our situa 1 Later on we remembered, how close our idea of cultural object is to the notion of the world 3 in the philosophy of Karl Popper (see for instance Popper 1975). 2 Our new approach towards understanding the constructig of meaning in culture and society is rudimentary the same as it has been shown by Strauss & Quinn (1997). The Hen, Cachiru and other Winged Creatures tion? How should the role of the body be understood? And last but not least, what is the function of social cognitive mindscape in the origin of the cultural phenomenon of the death? Figure 2: A methodological framework for cultural sociology We believe the cultural phenomenon should be studied first from the point of its experience. In the matter of death, we collide into an insurmountable barrier, because death can be experienced only once, if we dare to label such phenomenon with the word .experience. at all. Looking from the scientific point of view, we do not know if there is life after death. Maybe there is, maybe there is not. Hypotheses that contain whether the first or the second idea, cannot be tested scientifically. The only proper conclusion would be to eliminate such hypotheses from the area of science3. But in real life the situation is much more complicated, while the person involved in the process of death (whether dying or just looking at someone dying) usually does not have an adequate knowledge and methods to make such a scientific decision. And even more important is that people in everyday life do not have to make such a decision, while the logic of the everyday situation is characteristically different. Its presence and form are .taken for granted. (see Schutz and Luckmann 1974). What individuals need is a useful knowledge on the basis of which an applicable action can be carried out. If someone finds himself in a situation to find a dead body, that person should know which rituals must be properly executed and what should be done with the dead body, unless the soul of the dead is cursed or in some other way condemned. Of course, if that particular individual believes in the supernatural world. The body can be buried, burnt or exposed in the open to be eaten by animals, etc. In accordance with our methodological framework developed for cultural investigation, we must take into account three elements of culture (see figure 3). When someone dies, the other members of a group or a society are brought face to face with the corpse. No matter how odd this might sound, in the matter of death, the dead body is the only real cultural object. People notice very well the difference between alive and dead person. They are forced by cognitive process in their mind to generate necessary explanation. This explanation might have the form of a story or a myth in which some basic knowledge about what should be done in the matter of death, or what is the essential meaning of the death, or where the soul of a dead person goes after the death, or if there is any .life. after death, should be proposed. The third element in our cultural 3 In accordance with methodology presented in Popper.s book The Logic of Science Discovery (1992). Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie model is the body of the participant in the cultural phenomenon of death. It remains the key puzzle. Why? Figure 3: Micro situation in the matter of death When we try to find the solution to this particular question, one specific element of the nature of society must be taken under scrutiny. Culture and society can not successfully endure, at least for a long time, unless the knowledge is transmitted from one generation to another. In the case of transferring rituals of death from one generation to another, the everyday experience of passing away is limited to accidental death among the population. It is not usual to subordinate a person chosen at random to execution with intention to teach youngsters what death is or what it looks like. This would be a costly decision, because the individual.s life has a specific value for society. In the past, the life of the individual was precious, because the economy was mostly based on physical power of human beings. Modern society is now concerned for the individual on account of a higher self esteem. The second reason why the sacrifice of people in most cultures and societies was restrained to religious rituals, is revealed if we take into consideration the level of development of the educational system. Although only from time to time, in the history there appeared a few bright islands of systematic teaching and learning. The prevailing strategy in transferring knowledge from one generation to another was basically forced by the structure of experience. If a situation required a specific knowledge for accomplishing a task, the individual was given this knowledge directly4 . Well, from those times social structure has changed a lot. And the directly transmitted knowledge is no longer the most important form of learning (see Schutz 1975). The practical problems that accompany the socialization of individual person in the matter of death demand solutions, which can be classified into two different categories. These two categories can be drawn on the basis of our inquiry presented in the previous chapter of this essay. An elegant solution would be to change the cultural object that directly presents death, with such cultural object that represents death only symbolically. If we choose an object that really exists (see figure 4), maybe we will be able to build a nice story where the selected cultural object can find a nice place for signifying the death. If the members of a society comprehend the phenomenon of death as something mysterious, the proper cultural object signifying death should also be a mysterious object or process. For example, the story of the hen. If a hen suddenly, without any reasonable cause, crows like a cock, it means that death will come and take 4 Like in such social institution as it was relation between master and apprentice. The Hen, Cachiru and other Winged Creatures the life of the master of the house, unless the hen is killed immediately. Where in this story is the place for mystery? The mystery rises out from the difference between what is the primary role of the cultural object (hen hatches eggs, and cackles like a hen) and what is the secondary role of the cultural object (hen crows like a cock, and thus symbolizes death). The third element is the body of the users of cultural meaning. What kind of body is desired in this cultural situation? We believe that the body should be the normal functioning body, and when we say normal functioning body we have in mind a body with clear perception. We are going to explain more precisely why in the continuation of our essay. Figure 4: Cultural situation, when the cultural object is replaced by a real existing animal But what would be the result if we changed our cultural object (the dead body) with fictitious cultural object, like for example Cachirú (see figure 5)? Then the situation changes, while the centre of gravity is moved from a really existing cultural object to fictitious cultural object, in this case to the story. In the foreword of our essay, we assert how the human mind always needs a concrete object for its concentration in order to assure its normal activity. The lack of a concrete object causes interesting consequences in the case of the human consciousness. When the brain cannot get enough stimuli from the outside, it produces its own world on the basis of previously stored knowledge and aspirations (Dennett 1991). Illusions and hallucinations are general symptoms in the experiments where the individual is subject to sensor reduction in laboratory tests (Zubek 1969). The division of the cultural object into two separated kinds of cultural objects (primary and secondary) is now showed as a very fruitful idea. Obviously, our mind for its acting necessarily needs an object outside the mind. If the primary cultural object is taken, the mind helps itself with leaning on the only possible solution: the mind desperately looks for the body, otherwise it cannot function right. The body is always here associated with its mind, but unfortunately it can provide only the information about its environment which is already stored in the memory or in the genes. The body is helpless without an environment, and sometimes because of its vulnerable position the body provides the .wrong. data. The lack of the sensory stimuli (cultural object) is only one mode to get the experience of illusions and hallucinations. Another way to get a mystical situation is to deliberately manipulate the function of the body with the intention of wrong perception. Through the history of the human mind, there have been a lot of examples that are good illustrations of what has been just said. Sometimes a general deficiency of nour Maja .ubic, Toma. Krpie Figure 5: A cultural situation when the cultural object is replaced by a fictitious animal 284 ishment helps to cause a supernatural seeing. Individuals with a special position in the society were deliberately exposed to hallucinogen substances (see Huxley 1979; Eliade 1985). The knowledge, acquired through the body, is essential for some cultures and societies. The carnal knowledge was significant for medieval culture, but later with its decline, the shift from carnal to cognitive comprehension can be traced (Mellor and Schilling 1997). The cultural object (the process of dying and the dead body) was pushed to a specific area of society (hospitals and sanatoriums). The modern body is taken care of with special treatment (systematic medical care and participation in sport). Its negligence should be disregarded. The cognitive structure of modern individuals is occupied with pictures of young bodies, while the thought of death is being oppressed deep in the human mind. Are there any good prospects for myths and stories founded on nature at the end of the millennium? It does not look good, that is for sure. We believe that the cognitive mindscape of modern individuals does not permit it. Not that modern strategy of thinking is so much more rational in comparison to traditional (see Luckmann 1997). The main reason lies somewhere else: the environment of human race has been drastically changed in the last century. Today, the nature is as far away from human eyes as the mythological world itself. A new kind of myth has been born from the ashes of the traditional believing. The story of the modern myth is the story of miraculous recovery from illness (bioenergy). Modern myth is no longer interested in posthumous life. BIBLIOGRAPHY see page 269 BESEDA O AVTORJIH Maja .ubic, akademska slikarka, deluje kot svobodna umetnica. Toma. Krpie, sociolog, mladi raziskovalec na In.titutu za dru.bene vede Fakultete za dru.bene vede Univerze v Ljubljani. Ukvarja se s problematiko kognitivne sociologije, metodologijo dru.boslovnih znanosti in kulturo poznega srednjega veka. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Maja .ubic, painter, holds status of an artist. Toma. Krpie, B.A. of sociology, working as researcher at The Institute of Social Science, Faculty of Social Science, Ljubljana University. He is working mainly in the field of cognitive sociology, methodology of social science and culture of the late Medieval Ages.