Evil Santa Claus. Christmas Monsters

For those who have not believed in Father Frost for a long time, you can tell the unpleasant story of this now fabulous character, who owes his appearance to a real person - St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia (the ruins of his residence are located near the village of Demre in modern Turkey). U different nations he fixed himself under different names: Nicholas of Myra, Nicholas the Wonderworker, Nicholas the Pleasant, Baba Noel, Pere Noel, Santa Claus.

Apparently, the dark deeds of Nicholas, which are so strongly etched in the people’s memory, consisted of a control trip through the territories of his subjects in the autumn-winter period to collect tribute/taxes. In those days, if tribute was not paid, the completely normal practice of penalties was to take children 7-12 years old into slavery. Of course, we didn’t hold a candle, but the ears stick out so much from all the cracks that it took many years to repaint the black image of St. Nicholas of Myra white and fluffy.

Here is one of its options modern image. By the way, Catholic Church Unlike the Orthodox Church, it not long ago prudently decanonized Nicholas of Myra, excluding him from the list of saints.

Until about the middle of the 19th century, Père Noel, Santa Claus and others who appeared in winter were clearly perceived as evil characters, who take small children with them and from whom nothing good can be expected, i.e. we were happy when he left and we could live in relative peace whole year, so every year “new happiness” is possible.

In the second half of the 19th century, according to all the rules of political correctness (this is actually an old technology of distorting the essence), a change in the image began positive side so that nothing reminds us of slavery. And by our time, the terrible tax collector has simply turned into a touching grandfather, from whom everyone only expects gifts.

These were isolated attempts that did not take root. In 1886, “Morozko” first appeared, and by the beginning of the twentieth century, the familiar image of Father Frost was already taking shape. But then the revolution of '17, bans on everything church holidays, and Santa Claus as an obligatory character of the New Year - and not Christmas - holiday was revived already in Soviet times and dates back to the late 1930s, when, after several years of ban, the Christmas tree was allowed again.

Let's go back to the 19th century and see what remains of the dark prehistory of Santa Claus-Nicholas. In Russia there is a certain “babai” who is dangerous and takes away small children. Father Nikolai in Turkish is Baba Noel. In Turkish the stress is on the second syllable, and V.I. Dahl notes what has already been transformed: “Children are frightened by the woman and the old woman, and here the productions from the woman and from the woman converge.” In Germany, the equivalent of Babai is Krampus.

He walks with Santa Claus and picks up naughty children. “Another creature found in the Alps on Nicholas Day is the krampus. It is scary and shaggy, with horns, long teeth and a tail. According to legend, Nicholas rewards good children, and krampus punishes the bad ones.

With long rods, cow tails and bells, Krampus walk in groups and alone along the streets of villages and cities and scare passers-by." An analogue of Krampus in terms of the tasks performed is the image of the Christmas soldier Ruprecht, who also walks from house to house with rods and flogs or takes small children with him .

It’s interesting that if initially Krampus (Rupprecht) is an assistant to Santa Claus-Nicholas and a convenient distribution of roles “White Knight-Black Knight” = “ good king and bad boyars", then the images are completely separated - the black forces seem to exist on their own, and the "good king" gains points for himself positive character. However, divide consciousness and conquer...

Here they are together:

In older versions of the legends, Krampus kidnaps especially naughty children, takes them to his scary castle and throws them into the sea, which is consistent with the role of his assistant Santa Claus - Nicholas of Myra, who is the patron saint of sailors. Indeed, slaves were sent to their destination by sea.

Here Krampus is already operating as if on his own, but the goal of the actions is still clearly visible - children in shackles are being taken into slavery:

Then, gradually, the image of Krampus degenerates into a kind of scarecrow, which itself is shackled, that is, the chains turn into a neutral attribute like some “metalhead”.

Instead of kidnapping children, he only punishes them - flogs them with rods or just scares them.

Previously, he was a creepy character who took children with him. In the second half of the 19th century, the transformation of the image began in a positive direction - he whips only bad children with rods and takes them into a bag. And by our time, the sadistic beast has simply turned into a touching grandfather, from whom everyone only expects gifts.

For those who have not believed in Father Frost for a long time, you can tell the unpleasant story of this now fabulous character, who owes his appearance to a real person - St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia (the ruins of his residence are located near the village of Demre in modern Turkey). He was recorded among different peoples under different names: Nicholas of Myra, Nicholas the Wonderworker, Nicholas the Pleasant, Baba Noel, Pere Noel, Santa Claus.

Of course, we didn’t hold a candle, but the ears stick out so much from all the cracks that it took many years to repaint the black image of St. Nicholas of Myra white and fluffy.

Here is one of the options for his modern image. By the way, the Catholic Church, unlike the Orthodox Church, not long ago prudently decanonized Nicholas of Myra, excluding him from the list of saints.

It’s interesting how fate disposed of his “relics” - his head is in Italian city Bari, and in Venice already full set along with another head. And the most interesting thing is that both heads are considered authentic! Here is such a two-headed saint. In Venice, all his bones were broken, allegedly some sailor trampled on them, which is not surprising given his deeds.

Until about the middle of the 19th century, Père Noel, Santa Claus and others who appeared in winter were completely unambiguously perceived as evil characters who took small children with them and from whom nothing good could be expected, i.e. they were happy when he left and it was possible to live relatively calmly for a whole year, so every year “new happiness” is possible.

In the second half of the 19th century, according to all the rules of political correctness (this is actually an old technology of distorting the essence), the image began to change in a positive direction, so that nothing would remind of slavery. And by our time, the terrible tax collector has simply turned into a touching grandfather, from whom everyone only expects gifts.

In Russia, in the second half of the 19th century, under Alexander II, the first attempts were made to create an original “Christmas grandfather” who would give gifts to Russian children, like their Western peers; “old Ruprecht” was mentioned in 1861 (we’ll explain about him a little later ) and in 1870 Saint Nicholas or "Grandfather Nicholas". These were isolated attempts that did not take root. In 1886, “Morozko” first appeared, and by the beginning of the twentieth century, the familiar image of Father Frost was already taking shape. But then the revolution of the 17th year, bans on all church holidays, and Father Frost as an obligatory character of the New Year - and not Christmas - holiday was revived already in Soviet times and dates back to the late 1930s, when after several years the ban was again allowed Christmas tree.

In Bulgaria, Father Frost is called Uncle Mraz; in the Czech Republic there is a variety of ice cream called “Morozko” (in Czech “Mrazík”).

In Germany, the equivalent of Babai is Krampus. He walks with Santa Claus and picks up naughty children. “Another creature found in the Alps on St. Nicholas Day is krampus. He is scary and shaggy, with horns, long teeth and a tail. According to legend, good children are rewarded by Nicholas, and bad children are punished by Krampus. With long rods, cow tails and bells, krampus walk in groups and alone along the streets of villages and cities and scare passers-by.” An analogue of Krampus in terms of the tasks performed is the image of the Christmas soldier Ruprecht, who also goes from house to house with rods and flogs or takes small children with him.

It is interesting that if initially Krampus (Ruprecht) is the assistant of Santa Claus-Nicholas and a convenient distribution of roles is obtained “White Knight-Black Knight” = “good king and bad boyars”, then then the images are completely separated - the black forces seem to exist on their own , and the “good king” gains positive character points. However, divide consciousness and conquer...

Here they are together:

In older versions of the legends, Krampus kidnaps especially naughty children, takes them to his scary castle and throws them into the sea, which is consistent with the role of his assistant Santa Claus, Nicholas of Myra, who is the patron saint of sailors. Indeed, slaves were sent to their destination by sea.

Here Krampus is already operating as if on his own, but the goal of the actions is still clearly visible - children in shackles are being taken into slavery:

Then, gradually, the image of Krampus degenerates into a kind of scarecrow, which itself is shackled, that is, the chains turn into a neutral attribute like that of some “metalhead.” Instead of kidnapping children, he only punishes them - flogs them with rods or just scares them:

Currently, the role of Krampus is gradually decreasing, remaining only in some areas of Bavaria and Austria, where a special “Krampus Day” (Krampustag) is celebrated on December 5th. On this day, residents dress in such scary costumes and scare passers-by and neighbors without the risk of getting hit in the head with a bottle in response. Krampus does not give gifts; he specializes in punishing naughty children by scaring them:

And now the image of an almost funny, decoratively scary Krampus appears, with all the attributes remaining - a basket with children, shackles, rods, but now this is not a kidnapping, but a sledding ride:

We watched as the image of Santa Claus's evil assistant slowly degenerated into some kind of funny scarecrow, a reason to fool around and make fun. What about Santa Claus himself? He, having separated from his evil assistant, also gradually changed his image towards a good-natured old man with gifts.

In this postcard on the left, Santa Claus seems to be doing the same thing as his assistant Krampus on the right, but somehow in a kinder way, as if he’s scaring him. The plot is the same, but the essence has disappeared:

And here everything becomes a toy - both the saber and the child:

And finally, we get almost a wandering monk. Where are the original bishop's outfits, where is the assistant devil, where are the kidnapped children in a bag or in shackles? The plot is indicated, but distorted beyond recognition. Learn how to properly correct your image...

The same story happened with " Good Santa Claus"from Lapland - Jollupukki and his image strongly resembles the already familiar Krampus:

Few people know, but the kind Father Christmas who lives in Lapland is actually a rather dubious character in mythology. One of its historical names is Joulupukki, which means “Christmas goat” in Suomi.

In general, the image of a good-natured, rosy-cheeked old man in a red caftan appeared relatively recently. Also in XIX century he was portrayed as an evil creature in a goatskin with horns, who comes into the house solely to demand drinks from the owners and scare the children. He boiled naughty children alive in a cauldron, and used red deer as the main food for the winter.

Physician and archaeologist Vera Tisler explores how human body was woven into religion, tradition and politics in Mayan culture.

The Autonomous University of Yucatan in the Mexican city of Merida boasts one of the richest libraries on Earth. However, on the shelves on the lower floor of the building that houses the Department of Anthropological Sciences, you will find quite a few books as such. The entire laboratory is lined from floor to ceiling with boxes labeled "Calakmul", "Pomuch" or "Xcambo" and other names of the ruins. ancient civilization Mayan. Inside each box is a set of human bones.

Bodies from approximately two thousand burials are stored here, and another ten thousand units are registered in the database. The remains of a whole series famous kings The Mayans walked through this university room. Beggars, warriors, priests, scribes, lords, ladies and artisans of ancient times were all the subject of study in this laboratory.

And in the very center, surrounded on all sides by the remains of long-gone civilizations, sits bioarchaeologist Vera Tisler. Over the past quarter century, Tisler has built a reputation as the world's leading expert on ancient Mayan remains, helping her uncover the secrets of their life and culture. On a cloudy November day, she takes out one of her favorite bones - a flat plate no bigger than a finger - and places it under a magnifying lens. Before us is the chest bone young man, which was probably sacrificed. The scientist points to the deep V-shaped cut running down the center of the chest and admires the skill of the person who made it.

“To do this you need to have remarkable strength and know exactly where to strike,” she says. “Because after several unsuccessful attempts it would be a mess.”

Trained as a physician and archaeologist, Tisler reads the history of the region through the bones. By exploring the ancient Mayan civilization from a medical point of view, she is changing the way the scientific community perceives this world. Tisler puts into context some of the most unusual Mayan traditions and sheds light on the lives of key figures in that civilization.

After studying thousands of bodies, she realized how the Maya's knowledge of human physiology became an integral part of their society - from birth to death. How they shaped the skulls of their children sheds light on their family traditions and spirituality. And her research into numerous deaths suggests that the ritual of sacrifice was elevated to the rank of high art- a hypothesis that challenges common views of the Mayan civilization as a society of peace-loving stargazers. Tisler opens everywhere rich culture, in which the human body was deeply conditioned by religion, tradition and politics.

“I always look at things from a different angle,” Tisler says. - This way they never lose their appeal. This serves as something of a call to action for me. I think this is in highest degree fascinatingly".

Tiesler is an anomaly in Mexican archaeology. She was born in Germany and studied in Mexico, where she has lived for several decades. Teasler's multiculturalism helps her create partnerships and discoveries in the study of one of the most famous ancient civilizations.

“There are very few people with these qualifications,” says Stephen Houston, an archaeologist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. - It represents a kind of global approach to knowledge in which best conditions so that people work together and everyone tries to show their best side.”

Power of love

Growing up as a quiet, bookish girl in a small German village near the French border, Tisler had a constant feeling of being out of place. She just saw things differently. While her friends went to see James Bond at the movies and admired his heroism, she was more interested in his steel-toothed antagonist, Jaws. And she dreamed of going on a trip.

That's why Vera attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She managed to escape the stormy student life, and just a year later, in 1985, she graduated with honors. After this, Tisler took some of the money she won at art competition, and flew to Mexico City for two weeks before returning to Germany to complete her medical degree. In Mexico City, she met a young doctor, a lover of archeology, who invited her to go with friends to the ruins of Teotihuacan, located near the city. Things broke out between the young people strong feeling, and they spent the whole week traveling thousands of kilometers across the Mayan region to visit all the sights - although the girl forgot to tell her parents about this, who after several days in a panic turned to Interpol.

“My introduction to Mexico was such that I couldn’t help but fall in love with it,” she says.

The young people planned to get married, but Vera's fiancé died suddenly in 1987 - at that time Tisler was studying medicine in Germany. She vowed to go to Mexico and do what her lover had always dreamed of - archaeology. Against her parents' wishes, she entered the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City and has lived in Mexico ever since.

Tiesler graduated from medical school in Mexico and then received a doctorate in anthropology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. Back then, few people were interested in the bones of the ancient Mayans; Mexican archeology paid more attention to temples, pottery, and jade masks. Those who studied the bones usually collected only the most basic information.

“They felt they had done everything they could. They measured them, they recorded them,” says Manuel Gándara, an archaeologist who supervised Tiesler’s work at the time and today collaborates with National school monument protection, restoration and museography in Mexico City. “And then all of a sudden this lady says, ‘Oh, but we didn’t take tissue samples for analysis.’”

Tisler developed scientific direction, which was gaining popularity in Europe at the time and went beyond the simple classification of bones by attempting to reconstruct the body that was once composed of them. It's about about taphonomy. However, this practice was never applied to the ancient Mesoamericans. Tisler began looking through various collections of skulls collected in Mexican museums - it was this part of the body that she considered the most interesting. She was struck by the custom of giving a person’s head the necessary shape: for this, mothers tied planks to the heads of their small children in order to influence the growth of the skull.

This procedure did not cause any harm to the child and, most interestingly, was a widespread practice throughout the world. Archaeologists who study the Maya have speculated that the practice had something to do with religion, but that's about as far as their knowledge goes.

Temple of Kukulcan in the pre-Columbian city of Chichen Itza of the Mayan civilization in Mexico

Tisler noted that individual regions have their own special forms skulls After looking through several hundred skulls, she discovered that people who lived during the classical period(250-900) along the coast of modern Veracruz, as a rule, had vertical pear-shaped skulls, while the inhabitants of the lowlands had sloping and cylindrical shapes, and off the coast Caribbean Sea the heads were wide and flat. Over time, this form became popular and dominated the late classical period.

By studying the drawings and bas-reliefs of the time and comparing them with the shapes of the skull, Tisler came to the conclusion that a particular style was chosen in accordance with the tradition of the mother's line: as a rule, children followed the mother's style. Tisler, along with other scientists, identified a possible cause for this phenomenon, drawing on Mayan traditions during colonial times. According to the scientist, the ancient Mayans considered children inferior people who risked losing their essence through several points in their skulls. Giving the head the desired shape allowed the Maya to hold this entity in place.

Life of Kings

By the time Tisler defended her doctoral dissertation in 1999, she had studied in detail most ancient culture Maya and soon began excavating royal tombs. The ancient Mayan civilization stretched from the northern Yucatan Peninsula south to modern-day Honduras (an area the size of today's Egypt), and Tisler has examined many of the important royals found over the last hundred years. She was part of a team of scientists who, between 1999 and 2006, studied the remains of Pakal the Great (or K"inich Janaab "Pakal) of Palenque and his companion, the Red Queen. Tisler discovered that their relatively luxurious lifestyle caused premature osteoporosis, which is evidenced by thinning bones. Meanwhile, the soft, delicious food they ate throughout their lives kept their teeth in excellent condition.

Tisler unearthed the bones of a king named Lord of the Four Sides of Flint (or Ukit Kan Le"k Tok) Ek Balam, depicted in a drawing with a double lip in her richest treasury. She discovered that the king had a mutilated upper jaw and teeth were displaced and healed at different angles.The king may have been hit in the face during the battle - after all, he clearly showed off this injury.

Tisler's favorite kings are those whose excavations she oversaw from start to finish. For example, Fire Claw (or Yukom Yich"ak K"ahk) from the classic Serpent dynasty.The Serpents were a royal dynasty that moved into the Mayan world in 560 and within 150 years created the most influential empire in Mayan history.

Mayan Indians ritually mutilate themselves during a bloodletting ritual.

The first of these, the Heavenly Witness, was found in a rather modest grave, which he shared with a handful of other chosen warriors who died in battle. Tisler had very little time to examine it, but she discovered that the king's skull was riddled with deep wounds- some of them appeared on top of previously healed ones. His left hand was mutilated by numerous heavy blows, and by the time of his death, when he was just over thirty, he could hardly use it. All this fits the image of a brilliant military leader who took the royal city of Tikal and established the dominance of the Serpents in the region - we know about him from many written fragments.

Now compare this find with the Fire Claw, who came to power at the end of the Serpents’ dominance in the region. When Tisler and other researchers unearthed the king, they found him comfortably seated in his palace with a jade mask on his face, and a young woman and child were found nearby, sacrificed at the same time. After examining his bones, Tisler discovered that he was a portly man, almost obese, who died at the age of 50. As with Pakal, his teeth indicated a lifetime of eating soft foods like tamales and drinking the chocolate-and-honey drink popular among the elite. In one of the bas-reliefs he appears as an athletic man playing a Mesoamerican ball game. Meanwhile, Tisler discovered that Fireclaw suffered from a painful disease in which several vertebrae fuse, meaning that this game was extremely dangerous for him and the image most likely served propaganda purposes.

Sacrifice as a spectacle

Such details do not change the main historical story of the Maya, but they complement the characters of its characters and help to better understand their way of life.

Since 2000, when Tisler became a professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatan, she has established herself as a leading bioarchaeologist in Mexico. Her laboratory has a database of 12 thousand burials, 6,600 of which she and her colleagues worked directly with. The University of Yucatan alone houses the remains of more than two thousand people from ancient, colonial and modern times, and Tisler was directly involved in finding most of them.

Vera Tisler occupies a unique position in the Mexican scientific community. After centuries of local antiquities - and with them scientific laurels - flown north, authorities became reluctant to allow foreign archaeologists to carry out large projects in the Maya region. But Tisler readily works with specialists in the United States, Europe and Mexico and publishes widely in English and Spanish.

She combines multiculturalism, a thirst for exploration and boundless energy. This combination came in especially handy when Tisler delved into her favorite topic: human sacrifice.

In 2003, while working in Champoton, on the coast Gulf of Mexico, three of her students discovered a group of bodies that had apparently been thrown away. When Tisler examined the bones, she found a sternum with deep, clean tracks from cuts, which indicated a deliberate intervention done with almost surgical precision. The cuts were horizontal, unlikely to have been inflicted in combat, and were later found in the same location on other bodies.

Tisler turned to her knowledge of the medical field. An experienced person who knew what he was doing and acted quickly could cut open the chest, spread the ribs and remove the heart while the victim was still alive. “Then the heart will jump out on its own and bounce,” she says.

Leftovers ancient city Mayan Indians in Mexico

In Tisler's opinion, these cuts represented more than just a grisly murder. Most likely it was a spectacle, a ceremony of sorts. Her observations echo a number of written accounts of the sacrifices of the Aztecs, who lived 1,300 kilometers from of this region, they date back to the period of the Spanish invasion in the 16th century. This led her to the surprising and perplexing problem of understanding the physiology of human sacrifice. How was this done? And for what?

Tisler and her colleagues began to notice cuts on other remains that seemed too precise to be considered random. Collecting them and comparing them with illustrations, the scientist began to notice similar precisely located marks on other bones - Tisler saw in them signs of sophisticated rituals.

Images carved into stone at places such as the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza indicate that captives were beheaded in front of crowds. If you cut off the head a few seconds before removing the heart, the organ will continue to pump blood as long as you hold it, Tisler says. If you do the opposite, you can feed the heart to its owner, a practice also hinted at in ancient texts. Another procedure, which leaves cut marks on other parts of the chest, can create a pool of blood in the victim's chest cavity that looks almost like a lake.

Tisler's ideas are not universally accepted - there are those who consider the killings less staged - but Tisler says they fit the Mayan worldview. As she sits at her desk in a secluded corner in the center of the lab, surrounded by three-meter-tall shelving stacked with boxes of bones, she has no aversion to the practice. On the contrary, she is in admiration. These executions required practice and precision - perhaps perfected over several generations - and were intended to carry deep meaning.

According to her, the method of sacrifice was extremely important. At that moment, the victim acts as a kind of deity: this refers to a glimpse of the divine in the human shell - this idea was characteristic of Aztec culture and is documented. Thus, the executioners did not feed it to the victim. human heart, but the heart of God.

Tiesler is not the first scientist to put forward this hypothesis. Sacrifice leading to divinity (expressed in either the executioner or the victim) is well known in other Northern and South America. But her work reinforces the religious ideas that characterize the so-called Hipe Totec sect, named after the Aztec god who is said to wear human skin over his own.

During the Postclassic period (950 to 1539), Mayan people practiced a variety of human sacrifices and body treatments, including creating walls of skulls called tzompantlis and removing human skin for wearing on the body.

No matter how disgusting these murders may seem, they were flowers compared to other practices of the time. According to Tisler, the wheeling practiced in Europe, which allowed torturers to break the bones of a criminal one by one before putting the victim on public display, looked much more terrible.

True, the descriptions of sacrifices offered by Tisler do not suit everyone. Anthropologists once described the Maya as a purely peace-loving civilization, and although this view has largely run its course, many scientists are reluctant to imagine them as so bloodthirsty.

The history of archeology is filled with misrepresentations of ancient cultures promoted by scholars from powerful countries, and modern researchers approach issues such as sacrifice and cannibalism with great caution. “It was common among colonialists to portray members of other communities as committing the most unimaginable atrocities - this was another argument in their favor,” says Estella Weiss-Krejci of the Institute of Oriental and European Archeology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. “You always have to consider all possible scenarios, especially when you are not sure what exactly happened.”

Weiss-Krejci believes that human sacrifice was an extremely rare occurrence in the Mayan world and that the woman buried next to Fire Claw was in fact a member of his family and died later. If the sacrifices described by Tisler were so common, why, Weiss-Krejci asks, do we not find hundreds of breast bones with similar cuts. In her opinion, sacrifices were relatively rare, varied and almost never repeated. In response, Tisler points to numerous examples from her extensive burial database, but she says, given the number of post-mortem mutilations and the wet soils, we are lucky to have at least these available.

Scientists respect each other, but Tisler argues that Weiss-Krejci is following a prudent, if misguided, path. She says the local Mayans were not affected by the terrible reality of their ancestors - at least no more than the descendants of the ferocious Romans or Vikings. Understanding another culture means studying its history as it is, without embellishment.

“In the absence of understanding, we may believe that they are crazy or different from us. But they are just like us. We're all alike,” says Kadwin Pérez, a Mayan and graduate student in the Tisler lab who grew up in a Mayan-speaking family.

Heads separated from the body

Walking among the monuments of the ancient Mayan civilization with Tisler is like being backstage at a magic show; everything you thought you understood before begins to look different. This is exactly the feeling that never left us during our visit to Chichen Itza last November. Just beyond the iconic step pyramid of El Castillo is the famous tzompantli, a carved stone platform featuring hundreds of skulls and whole line various half-dead monsters of the underworld.

Tsompatli were racks for skulls in the form of several horizontal beams, stacked one above the other, like a ladder. Decorated with skulls, they were popular among the Aztecs. Many experts have suggested that the Tzopatli depicted in Mayan culture are metaphorical in nature and do not refer to real event. Some go so far as to say that the Mayans did not take part in this practice at all.

Tiesler stops and examines the carving. In Spanish paintings from colonial times, Tzopatli are often depicted with pure white skulls. Tiesler narrows his eyes. These are not clean skulls at all, she says, but heads that have been recently cut off and to which the flesh has adhered. The sculptor even added cheeks to some skulls and eyeballs, while others seem more decayed. In addition, the head shapes vary greatly, suggesting that most of the victims were foreigners, likely captured on the battlefield. Being sacrificed was not considered an honor, as some scholars have suggested. That's how classic example Tisler's work, which returns lost flesh to bones.

Chichen Itza has been the subject of countless studies, more than two million people visit the site each year - every detail of its structures has been recorded, analyzed and discussed by experts - and yet no one has thought to look at these carved skulls like this done by doctor Tisler.

Then we sit down in a small hut to eat traditional corn pie, stuffed with chicken and spices and cooked in the ground, and drink a hot chocolate drink that has changed little since it was sipped by local kings two thousand years ago. Tisler is working with a local university to try to promote eco-tourism that benefits local communities. Maria Guadalupe Balam Canche, who prepared this dish as part of a month-long celebration Day of the Dead, says he doesn't feel a direct connection with the builders of the nearby pyramids, which attract tourists. This feeling is shared by many here. These were the ancient Mayans - alien, distant and, perhaps, unnecessarily cruel.

Tisler sees things differently. Cutting a piece of pie, she notes that eating meat cooked in the earth echoes ancient ideas about the kingdom of the dead. Locals usually remove the bones of their family members and clean them - just as Fireclaw once did. And during rodeos, it is often customary here to rip out the heart of a dying calf as part of the show.

Centuries of Spanish and Mexican rule have influenced the culture here, but the bones remain the same. Tisler, who also works with more modern burials, sees a long arc of history that few people see. In her library of bones, she can trace the rise and fall of empires, the successive famines and plagues, and can tell the stories of many, many lives.

When Europeans arrived on these shores, their priests burned Mayan writings and their diseases spread through the population. Almost everything that the people who built these pyramids wrote down was lost, their libraries were destroyed. This is a gap that archaeologists are now trying to fill. And although we will never regain their lost libraries, at least one woman in the world hopes to restore full picture of how these people lived using the only libraries left at our disposal.

Our New Year We cannot imagine without the kind Father Frost and his granddaughter Snegurochka. None Western Christmas(Europe, England, USA and others) cannot do without the most important character - Santa Claus. But who is this kind-hearted gift-giver? This real character or fictitious? Why was he called that and where does he live? I will try to answer all these questions for you today. Santa Claus I can definitely say that Santa Claus is quite a real man who lived in ancient times. True, his name was different, he looked different and he was born not in Lapland, as is commonly believed, but in the town of Myra Lycia in 253 AD, on modern territory Turkey. And then his name was Saint Nicholas. He was a simple bishop who was ready to accept death for his faith and always fought for good.

There were legends that Saint Nicholas himself was very wealthy, but not greedy. He helped all the unfortunate and poor, at night he quietly threw coins into their shoes, which they left at the doors, and put delicious pies on the windows. So Saint Nicholas became the children's favorite. However, merchants, bakers, prisoners and sailors also chose him as their patron and saint.

But how did it become a symbol of Christmas? St. Nicholas Day is celebrated on December 6th. In the 10th century, in the cathedral of the German city of Cologne, students of a Christian school began to be given out pastries and fruit on this day. Very quickly this tradition became widespread in other cities and countries. Remembering the legend, people began to hang up special holiday stockings or shoes at night so that Nicholas would place his gifts there.

It is generally accepted that the Saint, who enters houses at night and descends the chimney, brings gifts to obedient children, and rods to naughty children, naughty children and pranksters. Therefore, children try to behave well long before the holiday, and parents bad behavior they immediately remind you that you can receive rods as a gift. Sometimes, even along with gifts, children are given small twigs.

How did Saint Nicholas become Santa Claus? This character came to the USA from Holland in the 17th century. In 1626, a frigate of several Dutch ships arrived in the New World. On the bow of the main ship “Goede Vrove” stood the figure of Nicholas, who, as I already said, was also the patron saint of sailors.

The sailors bought land from the indigenous people of America - the Indians - for $24 and gave the settlement the name “New Amsterdam”. Today this “village” has become the largest city in the USA and one of the most famous cities in the world - “New York”. The Dutch removed the saint’s figurine from the ship and moved it to the main square so that Nicholas could defend the village.

Only the Indians and new residents spoke some kind of their own language, and not English. They could not clearly pronounce the name of the saint and the phrase sounded like “Sinter Klas”, then it was transformed into “Santa Klas”, and over time into the familiar “Santa Claus”. This is how Saint Nicholas miraculously transformed into Santa Claus, who delivers gifts home on Christmas Eve.

However, the story of Santa Claus's transformation does not end there. Clement Clarke Moore's poem The Parish of St. Nicholas, published on Christmas Eve 1822, became important stage reincarnation. 20 quatrains describe a child’s meeting with Santa Claus, who brought him gifts. In the poem, practically nothing remained of the former saint; he was completely devoid of rigor and seriousness. Santa on a Sleigh By K. Moore, Santa is a cheerful, cheerful elf with a pipe in his mouth and a round belly. As a result of this metamorphosis, Nicholas forever lost his episcopal appearance and switched to a team of reindeer. In 1823, the poem "The Night Before Christmas" listed the names of Santa's 8 reindeer:

Blixem (Lightning)
Dunder (Dumb)
Cupid (Cupid)
Comet (Comet)
Vixen (Vicious)
Prancer (Prancing)
Dancer (Dancer)
Dasher (Awesome)

It was not until 1939 that the ninth reindeer, Rudolph, appeared with a large and shiny reddish nose. Rudolf Meanwhile, illustrator Thomas Nast refined the image of Santa Claus in detail in 1860-1880. in Harper's magazine. Santa now has such irreplaceable attributes as a list of good and bad children, North Pole. But this is not the end of the transformation.

Klaus, completely devoid of a holy halo, was dressed up in all sorts of colorful clothes. But in 1931 famous brand Coca Cola launched advertising campaign, whose face was Santa Claus. Haddon Sundblom - American artist- portrayed a white-bearded, good-natured old man in red and white clothes and holding soda in his hands.

As a result, Santa Claus acquired the image that we can all see today. This is a plump, cheerful old man delivering gifts on Christmas night. He must have a red jacket or short fur coat, a white beard, a red hat and trousers with white trim. Santa Claus rides on a sleigh pulled by 9 reindeer and brimming with gifts for obedient children around the world.

In the UK it is usually called “Father Christmas”, which means “Father Christmas”. But our Russian Father Frost has nothing to do with Saint Nicholas. Our Grandfather Frost is a folklore ritual character who lives in the forest or, as today is believed, his residence is in Veliky Ustyug. Winter is his wife. Together they rule the earth from November to March. In very old fairy tales he is sometimes called Morozko or Grandfather Treskun.

Where does Santa Claus live today?

The closest relative of Father Frost is Yolupukki, who lives in Lapland, where Santa Claus also lives. Since 1984, by decision of the UN, Lapland was officially proclaimed the Land of Father Frost. Santa's residence is also located here, where he lives with the gnomes and elves all year round. It is there that children from all over the world write letters with wishes to the address: Arctic Circle, 96 930, Finland or to the website: santamail.com.

The Finnish government elevated Santa Claus to a cult status, built him a house on the slope of Mount Korvatunturi, made advertising, created a website and announced him email address to the whole world. It is Jolupukki from Lapland (Finland) who receives the most letters every day from adults and children from all over the world.

Every year on December 24 at noon, he rides his reindeer to the oldest Finnish town of Turku, accompanied by a tontu, his young assistants - girls and boys in red overalls and caps. Here, from the city council building, the arrival of Christmas is announced and New Year's songs are sung.

But thanks to American advertising and persistence, Western Santa Claus gradually replaced the English Father Christmas, the Finnish Jolupukki, and the French Father Christmas. And even our beloved and dear Grandfather Frost. I will say even more, the Turks erected a monument to St. Nicholas in the city of Demra, but it is not a bishop who stands on the pedestal, but a cheerful bearded man with a huge bag of gifts!

However, apparently, these are not final changes in the image of the saint. For example, in Israel, where religious traditions, Christmas is not celebrated. And if you want to buy Christmas cards or other accessories there, you will have a hard time finding them.

But that’s why they are Jews - they will find a way out of any situation! On the shelves of Israeli stores on Christmas Eve, postcards with the image of Santa Claus, wearing a Jewish kippah instead of the traditional red cap, began to appear on his head. There are no holiday greetings on the cards yet, but something tells me: Tolya will be there again!

For those who have not believed in Father Frost for a long time, you can tell the unpleasant story of this now fabulous character, who owes his appearance to a real person - St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia (the ruins of his residence are located near the village of Demre in modern Turkey). He was recorded among different peoples under different names: Nicholas of Myra, Nicholas the Wonderworker, Nicholas the Pleasant, Baba Noel, Pere Noel, Santa Claus.

Of course, we didn’t hold a candle, but the ears stick out so much from all the cracks that it took many years to repaint the black image of St. Nicholas of Myra white and fluffy.

In Germany, the equivalent of Babai is Krampus. He walks with Santa Claus and picks up naughty children. “Another creature found in the Alps on Nicholas Day is the krampus. It is scary and shaggy, with horns, long teeth and a tail. According to legend, good children are rewarded by Nicholas, and the bad ones are punished by the krampus. With long rods, cow tails and bells in groups and in Krampus walk alone along the streets of villages and cities and scare passers-by." An analogue of Krampus in terms of the tasks performed is the image of the Christmas soldier Ruprecht, who also goes from house to house with rods and flogs or takes small children with him.

It is interesting that if initially Krampus (Ruprecht) is the assistant of Santa Claus-Nicholas and a convenient distribution of roles is obtained “White Knight - Black Knight” = “good king and bad boyars”, then later the images are completely separated - the black forces seem to exist on their own , and the “good king” gains positive character points. However, divide consciousness and conquer...

Here they are together:

Here Krampus is already operating as if on his own, but the goal of the actions is still clearly visible - children in shackles are being taken into slavery:

Then, gradually, the image of Krampus degenerates into a kind of scarecrow, which itself is shackled, that is, the chains turn into a neutral attribute like some “metalhead”.

Instead of kidnapping children, he only punishes them - flogs them with rods or just scares them:

And here everything becomes a toy - both the saber and the child:

Addition dated January 13, 2013:

It turns out that the same story happened with the “Good Santa Claus” from Lapland - Jollupukki, and his image strongly resembles the already familiar Krampus: “Few people know, but the good Christmas grandfather who lives in Lapland is actually a rather dubious character in mythology.One of its historical names is Joulupukki, which translated from the Suomi language means “Christmas goat.”

In general, the image of a good-natured, rosy-cheeked old man in a red caftan appeared relatively recently. Back in the 19th century, he was portrayed as an evil creature in goat skin with horns, who comes into the house solely to demand drinks from the owners and scare children. He boiled naughty children alive in a cauldron, and used red deer as the main food for the winter.

The initially pagan custom gradually became “Christianized,” became more humane, and recently has completely turned into an advertising character for Coca-Cola. The horned villain from Lapland was forever replaced by a “laughing” lout with a bag of gifts. Judging by the surviving illustrations, the ancient prototype of Santa was much more colorful and the children definitely obeyed him..."