Pages: 435-575

This article is in Russian
The article examines the snake as a mythological character of folk traditions of Europe, Western and Southern Asia and Africa, in the aspect of their sex and marital connection with a person, idea of the relationship of man and snake, as reflected in the fairy-tale and folklore. Fairy tales and ethnographic evidence reveal a snake as a human counterpart (both living and dead), the connection with the birth of the human snake, the reincarnation of the deceased into a snake and the snake — into a newborn. Special attention is paid to the idea of the snake as a tribal ancestor (totemism), and how the snake is related to male and female initiation. The article addresses the relationship of the snake with the elements (fire, water, earth, air), parts of the home (fireplace, oven), the world of plants, the world of the dead.

Keywords: European traditional beliefs, serpent worship, sexual intercourse in traditional beliefs, magic tale, genius loci, reincarnation, chthonic beings, ancestors, animal bride

Information about author:

Andrei Behr-Glinka (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences
E-mail: [email protected]
Academia.edu: https://independent.academia.edu/AndreyBehr