Character History
Hamayun is a fictional character that originated and spread in Russian culture in the XVII-XIX centuries. This is a paradise bird without legs and wings, which flies using only the tail, and its fall from the sky foreshadows the death of statesmen.In the XIX-XXI centuries, the image was transformed through art and was perceived in two ways: as a bird from Paradise, which symbolizes bliss and happiness, or as a mythical being foreshadowing. The appearance of the birds of Gamayun and the appearance of the birds: first the character "acted" the limbs, and eventually a female face appeared. In this form, it appears on the famous picture of Viktor Vasnetsov.
History of the character of the character
The image of a character in Slavic mythology has developed on the basis of Arabic and Iranian folklore, where there were ideas about the magic bird Humai. She is akin to Phoenix, which foreshadows people happiness. If Humai drops on someone shadow, this man will become king. Translated from the Persian meaning of "Khoman" close to the words "royal", "happy", "blessed".
In addition, various speculations about the paradise birds were common in the XVI-XVIII centuries as a zoological family, whose representatives live mainly on the islands of New Guinea. According to the descriptions, stuffed these creatures allegedly began to bring to Europe in the XVI century, where they caused a lot of surprise, as people could not discover the wings and legs. The stories of Novogvinetsev were added to this impression that the paradise birds arrive from heaven.
On this basis, a common misconception that heavenly birds move in the air with a tail and never sit on the ground, and to relax, cling to the tail behind the trees branches. These bikes willingly supported merchants, and even the naturalists of those times did not dispute this opinion.
In the late XVIII century, it turned out, finally, that the legs and wings of the paradise birds were cut off the Novogvinets themselves when they were stuffed. However, by that time, the legends have already influenced the formation of the image of the bird of Gamayun.
Gamayun in myths and legends
The view that Gamayong has long existed in mythology and folklore of Slavs, erroneously, although widespread. For the first time, the character is mentioned in the Russian translations of the "Christian topography" of the Kozma Indicoplov, in a number of other fictional birds - Pinik and Harad. It was believed that they wonderfully fragrant and are able to fly to the mythical oriental islands, located near Paradise. However, in those days, the image of Hamayun remained unnoticed and in the culture and folklore did not penetrate.The next time, the mention of the character is found in the sources of the XVII-HVIII centuries, where Hamayuna describes as a paradise bird size with a sparrow. This character is found in biographies and other artistic literature under different names, it can look different, and the place of origin is called India, the Maldives.
With any situation, the main features of appearance are preserved - this bird is always worn in the air, flies, using only the tail, and either never landing, or rests on the trees, hacking behind them with feathers.
Gamayun in culture
In the XVII-XVIII centuries, the image of Bird Hamayun was reproduced in the subjects of decorative and applied arts, which were created for the royal yard. Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich at the beginning of the 20th century bought from one Moscow merchant the vessel in the form of a Hamayun, inlaid by pearls. The character was depicted on banners and guns.
In the XIX-XXI centuries, the image in art is romanticized. The bird appears in the works of poets and writers. For example, Konstantin Balmont Gamayun delightes the human hearing singing, similar to "the ringing of gentle strings", and one of the heroes of Turgenev calls her "sweet-haired" and dreams of visiting those paradise where it is found.
In 1897, the famous picture of Viktor Vasnetsov "Gamayun, a Bird thing" appeared. This canvas gave impetus to the formation of a new idea of a character in Russian culture. In the picture Vasnetsov, Gamayun is little similar to the book image already established by that time. This is a bird with black wings and a face of a woman who gave children's features and anxiety expression, fright. This picture, made in purple-pink and black and gray tones, has become an embodiment of alarming premonitions and apocalyptic sentiment, which dominated in society at the time.
In 1908, the poet Alexander Block, impressed by the picture Vasnetsov, wrote a poem "Hamaun, a Bird of Bird," where he created the tragic image of the beast of trouble. Block Gamayun prophesies enemy yoke, bloody executions, fires, hunger, "death of the right" and "villain power." On the mouth of the predictor - the blood-buried blood, the expression of horror was frozen on a beautiful face. The poem has become a sign for Russian culture and the history of the twentieth century. Later, the composer Dmitry Shostakovich laid this poem to music.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the image of Gamayun "pops up" in the works of Akhmatova, where the character turns into a bird of sadness, which knocks on the right path, the personification of tragic love. The name of the mythical mutter was called magazines and circles of emigrant poets. In the poetic work, Hamayun became a symbol of death and expulsion, cruelty and injustice.
By the end of the twentieth century, the image of birds "mutters" again and becomes a symbol of the revival and hope for the awakening of the country, for example, in the songs of Vladimir Vysotsky and Boris Grebenshchikov.
The name of the bird is a character in the 80s of the twentieth century "State Border" series - Sailor Ivan Trofimovich Gamayun. The role of executed actor Alexander Denisov.
In 1992, the book "Songs of the Birds of Gamayun" was published. She wrote A.I. Ass under the pseudonym Bus Sressers. In it, the heroine of myths is described as a messenger of God's God; Gamayun is the keeper of secrets of the past and a prunerator that opens the favorite people to the truth about the coming. Despite the fact that the book is written in the genre of pseudoistoria and cannot claim scientific accuracy, sending it is often found in serious sources and even school textbooks.
Gamayun is a popular image in Heraldry. There, it means the desire of the people to happily and peaceful existence, the patronage of the Higher Forces. It is depicted on the coat of arms of the Smolensk region - a yellow bird with raised wings is sitting on the barrel of an old gun. Sometimes it is confused with a Phoenix bird, which, resting from the ashes, symbolizes the revival and update.
Interesting Facts
- Images of mythical bird is in the painting of the Kolomna Palace in the Moscow region. Wall-mounted "paradise landscapes", among which the mysterious looting creation is drawn, created in 1664-1666.
- In the "Wizard", compiled in 1664, it was mentioned that the hundredth banner of the royal sokolnikov and the steady stitched from black and white taffeta and was decorated with in the middle of the embroidery in the form of the "Bird of Hamaun". Historians believe that this is the favorite Hunting Garde of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
- Bird without wings, reminiscent of hedgehog, is in the old Russian edition of 1694. The author of the image is the famous Russian engraver Leonty Bunin.
- In Slavic neomi phology, Gamayun is a light antipode of the bird Sirin. She lives on the island in the Alakra Sea, but often visits people to pass it from the gods.
Bibliography
- 1992 - "Birds of Gamayun"
- 2001 - "Slavic Bestiary: Dictionary of Names and Symbols"
- 2014 - "Anthropomorphic Birds, Simurg and Semargl"