3 The origins of etiquette

Back in the period of primitive society, when humanity was just beginning its history and taking the first steps to separate itself from the animal world, some behavioral patterns began to emerge that can be viewed as the beginnings of subsequent moral relations and etiquette norms. Among the primary stereotypes of behavior among Neanderthals are: conscientious work, submission to elders, child protection, burial of the dead. The beginnings of moral relations were manifested in the friendship and mutual affection of individuals in the herd. Respect for the elderly and the burial of the dead are the first signs of a sharp separation of man from the animal world, for the animal kingdom does not know the “funeral instinct”, and the treatment of the old men in the first human herds was not surprising - they ate the old men.

Later, primitive herd groups of people began to merge spontaneously. From them began to form human groups, consisting of blood relatives and possessing cohesion, organization and social stability. Formations of these were given the names of genera. Their history is the history of the tribal system of humanity.

Primitive tribalism began to take shape along the maternal line. The following factors contributed to this:

1. The economic importance of women in primitive society. Sources of human existence were hunting and gathering (picking up eggs, mollusks, mushrooms, edible roots and fruits). As a rule, men were engaged in hunting, and women, teenagers and old men were engaged in gathering. Hunting was the main way to feed. But it happened that the hunters returned empty-handed. Then the main food was mushrooms, roots, etc., which are less nutritious than meat, but they were collected in large quantities and could be stored for a relatively long time. In addition, it should be added that women were the hostesses of the fire-hearth, which was the center of the human collective, to heat and light.

2. Due to the erratic nature of sexual relationships in primitive human herd groups, the fathers of the children remained unknown, but the maternal kinship relationship was reliable and indisputable. This led to a maternal affinity account. Matrylinearity put a woman-mother in the center of a team of blood relatives, creating an atmosphere of respect for the parent and progenitress. The concepts of "race", "ancestor", "homeland" are derived from the verb "give birth". It is known that the Tasmanians, who are the most ancient of all the peoples described by ethnography, did not have the word "grandfather", but the word "grandmother" had long been common. That serves as evidence of the mother’s kinship reference.

3. Due to the division of labor for women and men, women were the founders of a number of achievements in material culture: needles, sewing and thread, spindles and accessories for weaving, shoes and clothing, pottery and baskets of branches and bark. Taming wild pets and turning them into pets is also a woman’s merit.

4. The woman was engaged in education, care for the offspring.

5. Collected and stored positive knowledge related to the treatment of diseases.

Thus, in the maternal clan structure, the woman belonged to spiritual and, in particular, moral authority.

In the development of matriarchy , two stages are quite clearly distinguished : early and late.

For the early stage, it is typical that people are engaged in the appropriating economy (that is, they use mainly finished products of nature) - hunting, fishing and gathering. Marriage at this time is group in nature, that is, men of one kind cohabit with a group of women of another kind. Marriages within childbirth are strictly prohibited. Spouses live separately: husband in his own way, wife in his own way. At the end of the first stage, the group marriage gradually turns into a pair.

For the second stage of matriarchy, the development of hoe agriculture, the breeding of domestic animals, and highly productive hunting and fishing are characteristic. Pair marriage becomes the dominant form of family relations; separation of spouses in their childbirth is replaced by the resettlement of her husband in the tribal community of his wife. And, as the husband joins the household of his wife's clan community, there is a gradual elimination of the production relationship from the relationship of blood relationship. The principles of ancient collectivism and equality in this system for a long time preserved. But this is a late decaying matriarchy.

As for the moral standards of matriarchy, the main regulator of moral relations at this time is a female mother, who is revered as the ancestor: there is a civil cult of the mother during the parental order, which later becomes religious-mystical.

The life and moral life of the clan society were strictly regulated by both positive regulations and prohibitions. Each member of the clan knew how to act in various everyday situations: the elders must obey unquestioningly, the mother must be respected, in battle with the enemies of the clan and tribe not to be afraid and not to spare your life, to be abstinent and unpretentious in the diet, not to be idle at work, to stand firmly and without whining, etc. At the same time, a prohibition system (taboo (or taboo)) was developed in the clan society.

The list of taboos is many thousands of bans, which can be divided into several groups:

1. Protection of employment;

2. Protection of fire and dwelling;

3. Conservation of tools and weapons;

4. Protection of the weak - women, children and the elderly;

5. Protection of important persons - leaders and priests;

6. Protection against the dangers of touching a corpse;

7. Protection against hazards associated with the use of certain types of food;

8. Restrictions on certain types of food;

9. Prohibitions and restrictions related to particularly important acts of personal life and social life: initiations, marriage, sexual intercourse and childbirth;

10. Protection of public and personal property. In primitive peoples, taboos are deeply rooted in consciousness and in many cases determine the behavior of the individual, both in personal and in public life.

The leader of one of the tribes of New Zealand once threw the rest of his lunch on the way. A passing young man ate them. As soon as he finished his meal, he was told that the chief’s taboo lunch had been eaten. The young man fell to the ground, he began agonizing convulsions, and he soon died.

Lighter chief Maori once ruined several of his fellow tribesmen. The leader lost it, the tribesmen found and began to use it. When they found out who owned the lighter, they died of fear.

There are many similar facts. They show that the well-known rules of behavior formulated and enshrined in taboos are understood by primitive man as immutable laws, the violation of which entails the heaviest punishment - the death penalty or a public boycott, which is tantamount to the death penalty.

Collective work and collective consumption have formed a very attractive moral feature of ancient people - hospitality. For example, the Iroquois, considering food to be the primary need of a person, diligently and disinterestedly regaled it to any random person who happened to be in their place of residence, regardless of whether he was a tribesman or a foreigner.

Under the maternal tribal system, a well-designed system of education (including moral) of the younger generation was created. The essence of this system was as follows. As soon as the boy reached a certain age, he had to undergo a long series of training sessions and tests for endurance and will, as well as comprehend and apprehend the traditions of the clan and tribe: study the corresponding traditions and myths. The ceremony of transition to the adult age group is called "initiation" (or the initial rite). The meaning of initiation was as follows:

1. Training young men in hunting techniques and the ability to wield weapons.

2. Hardening of a young man and raising his stamina in him through more or less prolonged hunger strike and various physical tests such as knocking out teeth, making cuts on the skin, pulling out hair, smoking smoke in the smoke of a fire, etc.

3. Education discipline, impeccable obedience to elders, the observance of tribal customs and moral rules, the supply of senior food.

4. The assimilation of tribal traditions.

Different peoples and tribes initiate from several months to one and a half to two years: it is a kind of primitive university. To initiate, young people who have reached the appropriate age are isolated from women and children and live in some remote and remote area where a special camp is set up. Here, young people communicate only with adult men and old people, and all the training, physical tests and sciences take place. Some tests (for example, smoking a young man in the smoke of a fire) are so hard in nature that they sometimes lead to the death of subjects. This is how the semi-natural-semi-social selection of individuals capable of living in a clan society is carried out.

After the young man has endured all the trials and proved that he is a disciplined member of the clan, a courageous warrior and a clever hunter, he is subjected to the last operation - circumcision and branding, after which he can become a husband and a father.

In general, the transition from one group to another is always associated with certain ceremonies: each age group has its own distinctive external features: details of clothing, jewelry, hairstyles, behavior. The division by age groups is especially noticeable during important social events: at a wedding, a funeral, etc.

Some features of the maternal clan system are reflected in Buryat mythology. Here there is a very respectable image of the mother-builder of the Buryats, who was especially revered by women. Buryat religion and mythology preserved ideas about female deities and spirits who held a high position in the shaman pantheon. For example, the gray-haired old woman was considered the mistress of the earth; Baikal - the goddess Aba-Khatan. Upstairs, on the 18th sky, there lived an old woman Beyin-Khatun, kind to the human race.

Images of revered women are rich in Buryat folklore, legends and legends. Even in riddles, where we are talking about the most common objects, animals or phenomena of nature, they are often found. "Apar maids - 10 above, 10 below" (teeth), "Three women are fried in the liver" (tripod), "A yellow maid with fire inside" (Russian samovar).

The remnants of the maternal clan system are firmly preserved in the languages ​​of all peoples of the ancient culture. The remnants carry very extensive information about primitive social institutions, and, in particular, about moral standards, dating back to ancient antiquity, to the maternal gender. On the basis of the division of labor between a man and a woman, in the primitive society, specialized male and female languages ​​arose, and women were strictly forbidden to use the male language. In turn, women kept secret their language associated with picking up plant foods and, in particular, medicinal herbs. Deep female secret consisted of all sorts of conspiracies, spells and other techniques of verbal magic, the author of which was probably a woman.

Norms of behavior (obedience, modesty, and unloving) were obligatory only among "friends", that is, among relatives and compatriots. As for the behavior outside the clan and the tribe, that is, among the "alien", there were completely different moral principles and standards. Since primitive and wild times, the individual received a dual moral orientation.

The second orientation was the exact opposite of the first: brought up a suspicious, insidious, malicious, vengeful, cruel and ruthless individual in relation to foreigners. Primitive religion in the form of so-called malicious magic had a huge impact on stirring up intertribal hostility.

In the Russian term "divination" contains a direct explanation of this side of malicious magic: the root of the term "divination" is the concept of "the enemy", that is, the enemy. So, the fortunetelling is an action directed against the enemy. On the one hand, magic contributed to incitement of tribal enmity, on the other hand, enmity nurtured malicious magic. Any illness and death, if their cause is not sufficiently obvious, the primitive man attributed to witchcraft, that is, to the fortune-telling of foreigners, and this forced him to live in constant fear of an outsider.

Did even the most elementary rules of politeness exist in a primitive matriarchal society? Is it even possible to talk about the rules of politeness in relation to such remote savage antiquity? It turns out, yes. The rules of conduct, which can be said to be primitive etiquette and politeness, have already taken shape in a matriarchal society and have acquired sufficient stability and commitment in the moral sense.

To begin with, among the rules of primitive politeness must be attributed respectfulness in the treatment of young people to older persons. This rule was instilled in young people with all the initial rites, when the slightest disobedience of initiates was punished by their elders with inexorable cruelty.

Further, the rule of so-called "avoidance" undoubtedly refers to primitive politeness. This rule is known from many nations. The rule of avoidance prescribes the mutual avoidance of certain relatives, etc., that is, it prohibits any kind of communication between them. For example, some Australian tribes believed that it was indecent for the mother-in-law to even hear her son-in-law's name. A woman is likewise limited in her relationship with her father-in-law. There are people whose rules of avoidance apply to cousins ​​and siblings, as well as to their brothers and sisters. The rules of avoidance have a deep moral content: with the help of them the regulation of marital relations was carried out - the possibility of incestuous marriages and casual relationships was prevented.

Finally, primitive politeness also includes the rule of congeners and fellow tribesmen to greet each other at a meeting. This rule also has deep antiquity, and for the first time traces of it appear in the matriarchal society. Mutual greetings at a meeting are, in essence, a kind of sign language, supported by some formulas of oral speech. Greetings from primitive peoples can be divided into three typical groups:

1. Greetings expressing sympathy and companionship: the most common gesture, with a mutual handshake. In West Africa, for some tribes, repeated finger clicking is also added to the handshake.

2. Symbols of closer friendship - hugs, which in Central Asia and Australia are the most common form of greeting.

3. Kisses (characteristic, however, not for all nations), expressing a special mutual affection and tenderness.

Later, with the breakup of tribal relations, there is a differentiation of greetings. Purely friendly greetings are decent only among their own, that is, equal in position. And in the interbreeding, other beginnings begin to act: the lower ones, greeting the higher ones, want to express in their greetings not friendship and goodwill, but humility, devotion and reverence.

In the matriarchal clan society, the following norms of behavior were formed:

- selfless attitude to work and to the combat protection of the clan and relatives;

- resignation and modesty;

- mutual greetings of relatives and compatriots at the meeting;

- initial rituals, with the aim of training and moral education of the younger generation;

- taboos, aimed at protecting vital customs and rules;

- the preference of women's initiative in establishing a marriage union;

- aversion to incestuous marriages;

- blood feud;

- hospitality;

- strictly regulated funeral rites.

With the beginning of the maternal tribal system, moral attitude towards sexual relations gradually took shape. Apparently, the case began with the concealment of sexual intercourse. In the early human herd, as in the animal world, in general, sexual intercourse was not hidden. But later, when marital relationships became overgrown with various taboos, the right to possession became associated with constant terror and the threat of death. This threat aroused a sense of fear in a woman and oriented her to extreme caution in sexual relations, to hiding them strictly. This circumstance led over time to the emergence of a specifically feminine reflex, which is now called modesty.

So, in the era of the matriarchal system of primitive society, there were several very progressive moral standards:

- respect for women, especially for mothers;

- moral awareness of kinship;

- modesty and shyness;

- aversion to incest (incestuous marriages).

The moral norms that arose in that remote era when group marriage existed include sororat (from the Latin "soror" - sister).The essence of this provision was that one man was allowed to marry the sister of his deceased wife; and if this sister was free, then she was obliged to marry him. The meaning of this rule is to strengthen the existing family and keep the primate man in the family.

Еще один интересный обычай древности – кувада (происхождение термина неясно). Кувада означает комплекс действий, которыми мужчина достаточно выразительно показывает или доказывает свою причастность к родовым мукам его жены. Когда у караибов родится ребенок, то роженица вскоре принимается за свои домашние занятия; отец же ложится в постель, стонет, его навещают, как больного, соседи и родственники; в продолжение месяца он выдерживает диету. Когда жена обипонца (племя аргентинских индейцев) родит ребенка, то муж ее ложится в постель, укутывается циновками и кожами, чтобы на него не пахнуло холодным ветром; кроме того, он соблюдает пост.

В 80-е годы XIX века обычай кувады, как полустершийся след дремучей старины, был зафиксирован в быту крестьян Смоленской и Черниговской губерний. Так, в селе Рудне, на Смоленщине, муж во время родов жены обязан стонать и охать; в селе Юриновке, на Черниговщине, во время родов жены муж должен развязать воротник рубахи и пояс (очкур) на шароварах и в таком виде сидеть около жены до рождения ребенка.

Обычай кувады сопровождался различными дополнениями, смысл которых состоит в том, чтобы дать почувствовать мужу, какие муки переносит роженица. Так, еще в прошлом веке, среди крестьян Костромской, Орловской и Харьковской губерний существовал обычай, по которому отцу новорожденного на крестинах давали есть что-нибудь малосъедобное, например, кашу с хреном и уксусом. В этом обычае угадываются отголоски древних обрядов, когда при помощи различных ритуальных истязаний мужчины придавали публичность и значительность факту его отцовства, чем укреплялась его кровная связь с родом жены.

В раннюю эпоху материнского родового строя, когда еще не были изжиты своеобразные нормы группового брака сложился обычай, согласно которому вдова обязана или имеет право выйти замуж за брата своего умершего мужа, а этот брат, если он свободен, либо имеет право, либо обязан жениться на ней.

При переходе от матриархата к патриархальному строю сложилась нравственная норма, известная под названием авункулата (от латинского "avunculus" – дядя по матери). Суть этой нормы, закрепленной в обычаях многих народов, состоит в некоторых нравственных обязанностях дяди по матери в отношении его племянников и племянниц. Согласно норме, материнский дядя начинает играть свою покровительственную роль уже с момента рождения ребенка его сестры. Обычно дядя выбирает имя новорожденному, если это мальчик (девочке дает имя бабушка или мать). Первое пострижение мальчика считается привелегией дяди. Ему же принадлежит важная и иногда решающая роль в заключении браков племянниц и племянников.

Нравственный смысл авункулата состоит в следующем. При материнском родовом строе узы, соединяющие отца с детьми, не были достаточно прочными. Дети, как правило, были теснее связаны с матерью и ее родственниками. Позднее, при патриархальном строе, произошло замещение дяди так называемым крестным отцом или кумом. Любопытно, что при этом считается, что кумом должен быть опять-таки тот же дядька по матери Христианская церковь попыталась приспособиться к этому древнейшему обычаю, и постаралась придать ему значение таинства.

Рассмотренные нравственные нормы матриархата – сорорат, кувада, левират, авункулат – показывают, что в свое время они содействовали решению главной задачи: воспроизводству и укреплению рода. Процесс этот протекал стихийно, этической теории первобытное общество не знало. Никакого отношения к этому религия также не имела.

Из нравственных отношений , сложившихся в период матриархата, стоит выделить следующее:

· исключительно прочная кровнородственная дружба, осознание которой происходило и через каждодневную житейскую практику (коллективный труд, коллективное потребление, коллективное воспитание молодежи), и через устное предание об общем родовом предке-тотеме ( в образе которого могло быть животное или растение), через почитание этого тотема;

· формирование устойчивого парного брака, основанного на нравственном равенстве супругов брака, основанного на нравственном равенстве супругов и их взаимной привязанности;

· замкнутость различных половозрастных групп;

· вычленение воспитания в самостоятельный род деятельности.

Основными нравственными принципами матриархата были коллективизм, а также долг, честность и совесть по отношению к своим соплеменникам.

С переходом к патриархату совершился переворот в нравственных нормах . Высшей добродетелью стало преклонение перед властью отца. Вместо счета родства по материнской линии с точки отсчета от мифического родового предка из мира животных или растений начался счет родства от реального отца – главы семейства, родоначальника. Этот переворот в нравственных ввоззрениях и нравственных отношениях к матери и к отцу запечатлен в произведениях народной изустной поэзии, в частности, в греческой мифологии, так называемой “героической эпохи”. В древнегреческой литературе также отражены указанные события. Так, в трагедии “Орестея” знаменитого греческого драматурга Эсхила сам Бог Аполлон провозглашает перед изумленным миром новый нравственный закон:

“Дитя родит отнюдь не та, что матерью

Зовется. Нет, ей лишь вскормить посев дано,

Father will give birth. And the mother, as a gift from the guest, the fruit

It keeps when God does not harm her. ”

В предшествующую эпоху женские божества в греческой мифологии занимали более свободное и почтенное положение, а в героическую эпоху женщина уже принижена господством мужчин и соперничеством рабыни. В эпической поэме Гомера “Одиссея” описаны неслыханные ранее дерзкие поступки сына по отношению к матери: Телемах разговаривает со своей матерью Пенелопой непочтительно и грубо, обрывая ее речь. Особенно сурово новая форма семьи проявила себя в Греции. Захваченные в плен молодые женщины становятся жертвой плотской страсти победителей: греческие военачальники по очереди, в соответствии со свои рангом, выбирают себе самых красивых из них. При каждом сколько-нибудь значительном гомеровском герое упоминается пленная девушка, с которой он делит родину и супружеский дом. От законной жены требуется, чтобы она мирилась со всем этим, но сама же строго соблюдала бы целомудрие и супружескую верность.

При патриархате женщина становится предметом меновых сделок и грабежа: женщин похищают из родительского дома, их захватывают в плен как военную добычу. Позже в обществе вызревает мысль о необходимости крепкой семьи и вырабатываются ряд установок с целью утвердить нравственный авторитет отца и мужа как единственной главы семьи. Брак становится гражданским и нравственным долгом , ибо он укрепляет мощь семьи как основной ячейки общества, а позднее – как опоры государства. Брак приводит в дом новых работниц – жен, и тем самым является условием продолжения семьи и укрепления ее хозяйства. В Древней Греции безбрачие считалось преступлением ; в Афинах по закону Солона, и в Спарте безбрачные подвергались наказанию. При патриархате браку придается характер важнейшего нравственного деяния и главного события в жизни личности. Возникает обычай торжественной свадьбы.

При матриархальном строе свадебные обычаи отличались скромностью; они были неприметными и бесхитростными. Как правило, браки заключались по инициативе женщин, а не мужчин. Например, у алгонкинов (племя североамериканских индейцев) девушка сама начинала свататься к понравившемуся ей молодому человеку через какое-либо третье лицо. Если юноша был не против брака, она ежедневно носила ему пищу в течение примерно одного месяца. Затем, после несложных церемоний, мать невесты сооружала для новобрачных отдельную хижину, рядом со своей, и муж, переселялся к жене. Столь же несложным был свадебный обряд у североамериканского племени чокота, у некоторых меланезийских племен и вообще у племен и народов, где сохранились пережитки матриархата.

Другое дело, свадьба при патриархальном строе, когда женщина переходит в собственность мужа.

All nations under the patriarchal system established a meaningful wedding ceremony, which depicted edifying moral symbolism. For example, among Eastern Slavic tribes at the beginning of the 10th century, the joining of young hands meant the transfer of the girl to the property of the bridegroom; the groom's blow on the back of the bride with a whip symbolized the unlimited power of the husband over his wife; stripping the bride off of the bride is the obedience of the wife to her husband. Along with moral symbolism, in the patriarchal Slavic wedding ceremony there were numerous ceremonial actions of a mystic-magical character, for example:

- feeding the young with bread and honey, which should contribute to the well-fed and sweet life of the spouses;

- the transition of young people through a lit fire in order to cleanse them from the wiles of evil spirits;

- shedding of young grain and money to the young, so that the family was large and rich;

- the device of the marriage bed on the unmolted bread sheaves, so that the young one is healthy and prolific.

Under the patriarchal system, marriage acquires the character of an economic transaction between spouses and their relatives: the ransom (kalym) and dowry institutions emerge, which creates the basis for turning a marriage into a source of profit and gross violence against a woman.

Marriage by purchase, by paying for the ransom-kalym wife, is characteristic of the era of patriarchal relations and is directly related to the existence of a large patriarchal family, although its origin dates back to an earlier period.

A common occurrence in mountainous Tajikistan was the marriage of the poor to the elderly or women with a particular physical disability.

In case of impossibility to pay the kalym, there was another system of payment for the wife - working off. Marriage by working was relatively widespread; the period of working out ranged from three to seven years. Along with kalym in Tajikistan there were dowry institutions. It was small and usually consisted of several sheep or goats. In any case, the value of the dowry could not be compared with the amount paid for the girl kalyma.

The bride's family had significant material benefits from marrying the girl, receiving for her comparatively more material values. Marriage was essentially a buying and selling girl.

Kalym and dowry represent special independent institutions that arise at different stages of social development. In their moral content, they are deeply different. Kalym arises earlier. This is the sale of the bride, the sale, where the laws of supply and demand, and even competition, both among the commodity owners and buyers. Caucasian traditions are characteristic in this respect. Here, in some nations, the feces were excessively high, which led to the secret and forcible removal of girls and that, in turn, caused clashes between entire clans. Therefore, local civilian authorities have repeatedly tried to set the maximum size of the kalym, that is, the fee for the bride.

The dowry is a later and more complex institution; It is enshrined in the civil law of many nations and states.

In the patriarchal clan society, a woman, regardless of whether she is abducted as a wife, or acquired in exchange, say, is the property of a man for life. And if the husband dies, then she becomes the property of her husband's heir, even if it was her son. The epic poetry of the ancient Greeks and the Old Testament biblical tales tell of such morals. The son of Odyssey Telemach claims to domination in his mother's house, based on his father's right. The son of the Israeli king David Absalom, who rebelled against his father and drove him out of the capital, hurries, above all, to seize his father's harem. For some peoples, the unlimited power of the father in the family and the right of his ownership of his wives took on a bloody form: during the burial of the deceased head of the family, all his wives were killed and buried in a common grave with him.

The patriarchal law is claimed by many folk customs. Such are, for example, the rituals associated with the naming of the name of the newborn. Aborigines of New Pomerania to newborn girls are addressed with the following words: “Prepare crops, give birth to children, bite off a liana for stringing shells on it, bring bread ...” To a newborn boy turn differently: “Show your contempt to strangers, pull your beard and grind your teeth , decorate your neck and carry your fighting club with you, even when you make your way through the thicket; be a warrior. ”

With matriarchy, collective consumption corresponded to collective production. Things are quite different under the patriarchal clan system. Between individual families, as a result of emerging private ownership of domestic animals and land, property inequality is deepening.

In some families, all great wealth accumulates, in others they are not. On the one hand, ancestral nobility is being formed: rich patriarchal families. On the other hand, the number of poor is multiplied. Society continues to live without a state, but the tribal nobility is already taking steps to create it. The tastes and habits of the rich are increasingly becoming the norms of moral being. In this regard, there are unprecedented moral norms: contempt for the poor, arrogance and arrogance of the rich. Obesity, pussy, swaggeriness of the head of the family become fashionable. In Polynesians and Kaffirs, the extreme degree of obesity of the head of the family is considered a sign of his piety and virtue. The Chinese tribal elders differed extraordinary obesity and long nails on his hands, which indicated that they were not involved in physical labor.

Drastic changes are occurring in the field of education of the younger generation. Previously, with the maternal tribal system, the education of youth was the work of the whole clan and tribe. With the transition to the patriarchal system, the upbringing of the younger generation becomes the business of the family, as a result of which there are significant differences in the content and level of education of people. On this basis, contradictions in tastes and moral values ​​are deepening. For example, in the moral evaluations of labor and wealth, enrichment methods, attitudes toward women. Diligence ceases to be a virtue, as it was in the parental clan society, and becomes “the lot of the mob” and “the curse of fate”. In relation to the woman begins to dominate the “consumer” approach.

Religion arose and was fully affirmed under the maternal tribal system, as early as the ancient Stone Age. It was the elemental cult of nature; This cult did not know any moral teachings, and there was no need for them, for the moral authority of a woman did not need any special justification and justification: it follows naturally from the very fact of motherhood.

Another thing is the primitive patriarchal system with its economic inequality and rivalry between individual families, with the despotic power of the patriarch - householder and the beginning of the formation of state power in conjunction with the power of the becoming institution of the church. It was at this time that the priesthood began to develop the edifying concept of posthumous rewards and punishments: heavenly bliss for the submissive and hellish torment for the recalcitrant.

With the assertion of the patriarchal system and paternal law, sacralization (consecration) of all patriarchal institutions and patriarchal moral laws occurs. And, on the contrary, the profanation of institutions of matriarchal origin. A woman is declared “the devil's vessel”, female magic is treated as a devil, etc.

First and foremost, the despotic power of the father is sacralized, in connection with which a cult of the forefathers is created, which are portrayed as righteous, and pantheons are created with male gods at the head (Zeus, Jupiter, Perun, Savaof, Allah).

At the same time, private ownership of livestock, slaves and wives was sacred. This process is very clearly captured in the commandments of the Mosaic Code of Ethics: “Do not desire your neighbor's house; Do not desire the wife of your neighbor ... neither his slave, nor his slave, nor his ox, nor the donkey ... nothing that your neighbor ”or“ do not steal. ”

At the same time, the sacralization of the family takes place with the primacy of the husband and the unconditional obedience of the wife. In the Bible, this process is recorded in the legend of the creation of a woman from a man’s rib. A magnificent and solemn wedding ritual is created, the purpose of which is to emphasize the irreversibility of marriage for a woman and the sovereignty of her husband and father.

Under maternal tribalism, a woman performed an honorable public function — a priestly function. Female deities constituted the ancient pantheon of gods. With the collapse of the maternal tribal system and the establishment of the patriarchal system, the situation in this area also changes dramatically. A woman loses priestly functions. They become the exclusive right of men. Moreover, later the priestly functions are given an official character and the position of a priest becomes an important state activity: the church is connected to the state. And what is especially important: in the priestly activity moral teaching comes to the fore. Formed religious ethical doctrines, that is, moral codes.

The first five biblical books (the Old Testament) depicted the manners of that distant pore when the patriarchal structure of the Jewish tribes collapsed and the semi-slave-owning semi-feudal despotism of the Jewish and Israeli patriarchal masters, like the mythical Noah and Abraham, grew on its ruins. In this respect, the Torah (the Pentateuch of the Bible: “Genesis”, “Exodus”, “Leviticus”, “Numbers”, “Deuteronomy”) is a valuable historical source for the study of morals, as well as a unique monument of ancient culture. The Torah contains many regulations that give a fairly definite and clear idea of ​​the moral norms of the era of the collapse of the clan society and the formation of a class society.

“And if one strikes his servant, or his servant with a staff, and they die under his hand, he shall be punished; but if they survive a day or two, they should not punish him. ” (Exodus 21, 20, 21).

“Do not leave the Pitheaters alive” (Exodus 22, 18).

“Do not revile the judges, and do not disgrace the leader of your people” (Exodus 22, 28).

The Old Testament morality sanctifies the unlimited power of the head of the family — the patriarchy in the family, right down to the right of sonish killing: “God said: take your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac; and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will tell you ... And they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham made an altar there, laid out the wood, and bound Isaac his son, laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife, to slaughter his son. ” The murder of Isaac did not take place, because at the last moment the angel, at the direction of God, stopped Abraham: “Do not raise your hand to the lad, and do not do anything to him, for now I know that you are afraid of God, and did not spare your son, your only one, for me ” (Genesis 22, 2, 9, 10, 12).

Moral norms are merged with religious and receive divine sanction in the era of the collapse of the tribal system.

The oldest part of the Bible was written by the Jerusalem priests, who brought folk traditions, legends and myths into the book of Genesis — these works from oral folk art.

Moral and legal relations developed in a very similar way in pre-imperial Rome, in the 7th - 8th centuries. BC. Here in this epoch also paternal authority acted - “patria potestas”; it came to the fact that the head of the family had the right to expel any of his children from the house, and also had the right to try and execute them and, finally, the right to sell children. We learn about the existence of these norms from the laws of the imperial epoch, when remnants of primitive patriarchal mores were gradually removed from the life of Roman society.

The emperor Adrian (76 - 139 years) banned the heads of families of the unauthorized killing of sons, even if they committed crimes, establishing a criminal punishment guilty. Emperor Alexander Severus (205–234) left for fathers only the right of light punishments of sons, and for heavier punishments ordered fathers to go to court. Constantine the Great (274–337) equated the murder of a son with an ordinary murder, reinforcing, together with him, the punishment for patricide. Later, in the imperial era, the sale of children to parents was prohibited. The meaning of their innovations was that emperors limited the power of the householder to strengthen their own dominion.

To understand some of the features of the morality of this era, it is worthwhile to dwell on the features of its economic structure. The main cell of the patriarchal society was the family community, or the home community, or a large patriarchal family. It consisted of 3 - 4, sometimes up to 7 generations of descendants of one father. Such a large patriarchal family led a common collective farm, had common ownership of the land and means of production. The number of the family community reached several hundred people.

With the collapse of the primitive communal system, the large family also breaks up. There is a new public cell - small. Or individual, a family consisting only of parents and children. It differs from a large family not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively.

The head of the patriarchal family is the eldest man. Among the southern Slavs, this is a house, an uncle, a bash, a ruler, a keshtovnik, a leader; in Russian, this is the Bolshak, the Bolshoi, the Elder and the Dad.

The function of the head of the family was the observation of the morality of its young members. The head of the family was also the head of the family cult, enjoyed great respect and honor. In general, the family dwelling he occupied the central or the best room, sat at the common table in a place of honor and headed the meal, often had his own special place for sitting, etc.

Along with the older man, the family was headed by the older woman: a housewoman or a domokini — among the southern Slavs, a ruler — among the Slovenes, a bolshaha or older — among the Russians. The domain of this “senior” was home or “female” household. In the “senior” position undoubted remnants of matriarchy, sometimes the “senior” was the true head of the family.

In a large family, the desire of married men to create their own separate farms and individual families develops; in this they are supported by wives. At first, such a family received “its own corner” in its own dwelling, then received a separate residential structure on the family-wide manor.

In a large patriarchal family, some negative moral norms were cultivated: tyranny of elders in relation to the younger ones, and servility of the younger ones in relation to the elders. Especially difficult was the situation of a young and middle-aged woman. She was at the same time at the disposal of her mother-in-law, and had to obey the Bolshak. The specific moral deformity of the most family life was “daughter-in-law”.

Having emerged in pre-class society, patriarchal mores not only survived in feudal society. But they got stronger in him, having received a religious justification and justification in the basic religious terms: God is “heavenly father”, the head of the church is either “father” or “patriarch”, the priest is “royal father” or simply “father” major church leaders are the “fathers of the church”; Finally, one of the main Christian prayers begins: “Our Father ...”

Thus, the patriarchal principles of social earthly being are projected onto heaven.

The patriarchal clan system, with its moral principles and norms, is very thoroughly enshrined in our everyday speech, in the name of settlements, in the name, indicating a common ancestor in the male line, contributes to the awareness and strengthening of kinship unity. But at the same time, kinship and clan unity have stable negative sides:

· Blood feud;

· The suppression of the creative potential of youth;

· Conservative commitment to antiquity;

· The low status of women;

· Unrestrained autocracy of tribal elders;

When the patriarchal social system is already at the level of

The pre-class formation has undergone a radical upheaval in some important moral relations, customs, activities, and in moral and immoral views.

Typical customs of the patriarchal system:

· Patrilineal, i.e. paternal kinship account;

· Father’s self-rule - the patriarchal householder;

· Polygamy;

· Indecency of women's initiative in courtship in the marriage union;

• abuse of female sexual freedom and the termination of it as debauchery and dishonor;

· Kalym, dowry;

· A magnificent wedding with a symbolic ritual, which asserts the unlimited power of a husband over his wife and the uncomplaining obedience of his wife;

· Reverence of paternal ancestors;

· Derogatory form of greeting to the rich and noble poor and slaves;

· Adding the patronymic name to the person;

· Permissibility of exploitation of a person according to debt bondage;

· Slavery.

From the moral relations established under the patriarchal system, we note the typical ones:

· A large family with the despotic power of a householder patriarch and a younger generation under his control;

· Strict hierarchical relations between patrilineal age groups;

· Monogamous marriage with the rule of the husband.

· Motivation is exalted to the level of the most important public activity and merges with religion.