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Snakes in the Ritual Systems of Various Peoples

The article deals with the place of ophiolatry (the cult of snakes) in zoolatry and early human (primordial) worldviews, as well as in myths and rituals. Themes include the relation between the snake as a symbolic caretaker of water sources and a symbol of fertility, the images and sacral character of snake-wrestlers, and the role of ophiolatry in rites of passage. Connections of the cult of snakes with the cult of ancestors are discussed. The social position of snake-wrestlers is assessed; their names, with traces of totemism and ancient linguistic substrates, are analyzed. The serpent as a domestic cult, an individual totem, and as a snake spirit are used to illustrate the transition from totemism to animism. On the basis of broad linguistic and anthropological comparisons, the author reconstructs the common origin of snake mythology in the East, Southeastern Europe, and the Caucasus.