Interestingly, in different languages ladybug is called differently, but her name is always connected with God in one way or another. Among the Latvians, she - "marite" - is named in honor of the virgin deity Mara, who is in charge of earthly elements; the Germans - "Marienkaefer" - the bug of the Virgin Mary; the French say - poulette a Dieu, which literally translates as "god's chicken"; and in English-speaking countries - Ladybug (bee of the Mother of God), Ladybird (bird of the Mother of God) or Lady-beetle (bee of the Mother of God).
Why "God's"?
As they say, the legends that have survived to this day, the ladybug lives in the sky, and not on Earth. Each time she comes down just to convey a message. As a rule, this is good news, for example, about the birth of a child, about rains for good harvest, about luck in the business started. If someone found a ladybug on their clothes, they would definitely transplant it onto their right hand, and while the insect crawls, they told about all the wishes, in the hope that the creature would transfer them to Heaven. In no case should it be wrong to offend and even more so to kill a ladybug, firstly, it can cause trouble, and secondly, this is a living defenseless creature.
In one Slavic legend, the god Perun turned his unfaithful wife into a ladybug. Being insanely angry with her, he threw lightning after the insect and exactly 7 times he hit, leaving burnt marks on the back. But apparently he was very fond of the traitor, since he still fulfills the requests of her descendants brought by her.
Another explanation lies in the peaceful appearance insect, its gullibility towards people and the absence of any aggression.
Although in fact this is a cute creature a predator, and what a one! An adult insect eats about 3000 aphids, and a ladybug larva eats about 1000 small green pests during its maturation. A real ecological weapon against aphids! No wonder there are farms where ladybirds are bred. For example, in France you can even buy them at retail with mail delivery. Red ladybirds planted in fields and gardens are a guaranteed protection of plants from annoying aphids, and this, in turn, could also cause the insect to be compared with God's grace.
What about the "ladybug"?
It should be noted some similarities of this insect with a cow. Its bright color, red to black dot, resembles the color of the spotted cows, which have long been common in Russia. But besides this, the insect can also give milk, really yellow color, bitter and poisonous. Even the tarantula, known for its omnivorousness, bypasses the ladybug.
That night, Cat Noir, as always, roamed the city streets in search of these strange robbers who took the girls' handbags from passers-by. Shaking out the contents on the asphalt in front of the victim, the robbers packed their bags into bags and disappeared ... Cat Noir guessed that this was the work of the ugly Hawk Moth - it was him that the gray masked men were carrying stolen bags ... a handbag ... a pirate coin burned in the high heavens full moon , and Cat Noir, sliding down the fire escape, climbed onto the roof of a five-story building covered with pigeons. It was quiet around, not a soul, not a sound, when suddenly ... - Aaa! Save! Help!! - the silence of the night was blown up by a woman's screeching, twisted with horror, and Cat Noir understood: the mysterious robbers had attacked again. The hero rushed headlong to the heartbreaking cry, gliding noiselessly between the rooftops, and now, in a littered dead end, he noticed them. The unhappy girl pressed her skinny back against the fetid and rude tank, and the broad-shouldered man obscenely unbuttoned her purse with his leather-gloved hands and treacherously shook out all the pink ladies' belongings. - Come on, stop, bandit! - Cat Noir bravely rushed down, snatched the purse from the bandit's hands, thrusting it into the girl's cold fingers, and immediately kicked the snarling robber with all his might. The bandit turned out to be unexpectedly, criminally strong - he resisted, having received a terrible blow from the Cat, and immediately rushed into a frenzied fight. Having received a fist in the jaw, the hero, writhing in pain, crashed into the wall and crashed onto the asphalt. Losing consciousness, he saw how the girl hastily raked the little things back into her purse and evaporated without even saying "Thank you" to him. - Rrr! - an angry growl was heard over the bat's head, and the Cat, barely opening his swollen eye, saw how an unshaven, grinning type with a black mask in front of his eyes was stepping on him, trying to crush him with his knives, thrust into heavy ankle boots. The cat tried to jump up and fight, but felt pain ... And suddenly, from somewhere above, an incomprehensible heavy sound was heard, forcing to raise his eyes ... him ... Babahh !! - a terrible hulk of red, speckled with some black circles, harshly cut into the asphalt in front of the nose of the defeated Cat Noir and buried the robber under it, leaving him no chance. - Meow ... - Cat Noir dropped his jaw in amazement, which responded to him with acute pain ... In front of him, on the squeezed, cracked asphalt, sat a gigantic creature: a spherical head, equipped with two thin black pigtails, swinging on a spherical body, on a cheeky face there was a tiny red mask. The creature was pulled from head to toe in a scarlet tights, painted with black circles like a ladybug, and smiled sweetly from under the overhanging cheeks. Cat Noir found it difficult to blink because of the blackheads, overcoming the pain, he barely sat down ... - Hello! - the strange creature sloshed, swaying, rising on its legs, which turned out to be thick and short. There was a hole in the asphalt under the creature, in which the outlines of something flattened, smeared were guessed ... Some broken parts were lying around ... - Ab-ba ... aching jaw, and the creature, smiling again, seized him with a thick hand, placing him on shaky legs, and chuckled subtly, looking down tiny eyes: - My name is Wonderful Lady Cow, and who are you? - K-cat Noir ... - barely mumbled the Cat, whose throat seemed choked with cat food from pain and extreme amazement. Gears, straps, anchors, worm gear ... Stop! The robber was not human: the Miraculous Lady Cow crushed an ordinary robot with her weight! “Thank you,” the Cat hissed, realizing that the robot could completely kill him, and this overweight lady miraculously saved him. - Yes, not at all, Kitty-Baby! - Coquettishly giggled the Miraculous Lady Cow, gave Cat Noir a kiss and disappeared at night, developing fantastic speed with her heavy legs. Cat Noir dragged himself home with great difficulty, barely crawled through the window of his room and fell on his stomach across the bed, feeling the pain of his bruises more and more. Pulling out secluded place a packet of Whiskas Hearty Lunch, he opened it and scooped up a handful of cat biscuits, sending it all into his mouth. He used to haul food from Buffle's cat, but his mother noticed the loss of food from the pet. Then Cat Noir turned down the thieves' "shop" and began to buy food with his pocket money. Previously, this was not the case with him: Cat Noir ate ordinary food, like all people ... But now, to recuperate, he needs more and more food ... The Miraculous Lady Cow did not go out of his head - the hero had never seen her before on city streets. But something told him that they would meet again ... *** Adrian Agrest was very disappointed to see the new one. - Meet Marinette Dupin-Chen! - solemnly announced the elderly teacher, and the black-haired girl standing beside her smiled, for a moment stopped chewing on a thick sandwich. Under her weight, a wooden chair creaked, sagging, cheeks hung over a soiled sauces, long ago not a white blouse, and the eyes were not visible because of the cheeks and comical round glasses. The class exploded with disgusting laughter, many spat out offensive words, and the immense fat woman, it seems, was not a bit offended: she just wiggled her pleated skirt, which looked very much like a parachute, and surreptitiously showed everyone her tongue, after which she continued to chew calmly. - Sit down, please, on an empty desk, - the teacher recommended to her, and Marinette, gurgling in a sated voice: - Aha! - stomping and making the unfortunate floor screech loudly, she marched to the back desk with an elephant. She smelled unbearably of ramen *, and Adrian almost suffocated when the new girl shuffled past him, and even sat down right behind him ... Moving behind her desk, she bent a sturdy bench, and with dignity laid out in front of her her hearty sandwich, teeming with pieces smoked sausage, fiddled with one of her two liquid plaits. And only then she pulled off a pink backpack with butterflies from her swollen back and began to lay out textbooks and notebooks, completely ignoring any jokes that fell on her from all sides. Not so long ago, Marinette Dupin-Chen was anorexic, swallowing pitiful crumbs a week, meticulously counting quarters of calories. She carefully weighed a glass of water before drinking it, and immediately rushed to the scales to see whether she was fat from the water or not. Everything changed when, during the fourth day of jogging in the park, a thirty-kilogram Marinette was bitten by a mosquito ... She immediately rushed home and frantically emptied the refrigerator, cracking even the frog legs that rested on the deep-freeze shelf. Forever swaying in the wind, Marinette suddenly felt titanic forces and a terrifying urge to absorb. She had been doing this for the last three months and recovered three and a half times ... However, this was far from the last secret of Marinette ...
- 12695Cow Zemun
(the sacred Heavenly Cow), like the Sedun Goat, was created by Rod at the very dawn of time. She is the mother of Veles from the Vyshnya clan. Therefore, Veles is often depicted as a bull or a man with a bull's head and is called Veles-Korovich.On the day of Veles, it is customary not to eat dairy products in honor of the veneration of Veles-Korovich and his mother, Cow Zemun. At the beginning of time, the Sacred Cow lived on the island of Berezan, but then moved to the Upper World of the Gods. According to various sources, the Milky Way or our galaxy was created from the milk of Zemun or the milk of the Goat Sedun. Others suggest that this process was created by both goddesses. A milk river flows through the garden of Iriya (Slavic paradise) directly from the udder of Zemun.
This Goddess is revered both on Veles Day and on April 10, when the Cow Zemun herself is honored. It is believed that this deity protects travelers and helps those who have lost their way.
In the "Veles Book" it is written: "We are the Slavs, the descendants of Dazhdbog, who gave birth to us through the cow Zemun, and therefore we are Kravenians: Scythians, Antes, Rus, Borusins and Surozhs." Cow Zemun (sacred Heavenly Cow), like the Goat Sedun, was created by Rod at the very dawn of time. She is the mother of Veles from the Vyshnya clan. Therefore, Veles is often depicted as a bull or a man with a bull's head and is called Veles-Korovich. (according to another version, Veles appeared in the world before Vyshnya, and was the Descent of the Most High. Vyshen then came to people, and incarnated as the Son of Svarog and Mother Sva. As the Son who created the Father. And Veles was the Descent of the Most High for the entire living world (for people , magical tribes and animals), and incarnated as the son of the Heavenly Cow and the Family. And therefore Veles came before Vyshnya and cleared his way, preparing the world and people for the coming of Vyshnya). On the day of Veles, it is customary not to eat dairy products in honor of the veneration of Veles-Korovich and his mother, Cow Zemun. At the beginning of time, the Sacred Cow lived on the island of Berezan, but then moved to the Upper World of the Gods. According to various sources, the Milky Way or our galaxy was created from the milk of Zemun or the milk of the Goat Sedun. Others suggest that this process was created by both goddesses. A milk river flows through the garden of Iriya (Slavic paradise) directly from the udder of Zemun.
Creator cows are found in many religions. Parallels of the Heavenly Cow Zemun can be found in Egyptian beliefs (cow-sky), in Indian beliefs, where cows are still a sacred animal, among the Laks and Lezghins, the cow is the patroness of the clan. This Goddess is revered both on Veles Day on February 11, and on April 10, when the Cow Zemun herself is honored. It is believed that this deity protects travelers and helps those who have lost their way. In India, the calm, balanced character of the cow probably coincided so closely with the idea of a godly life that she became the most revered and sacred animal.
The main deity of the Hindus is called Govinda. This name corresponds directly to our Veles ... Govinda = Veles. The Old Russian word GOIT meant "to live", "to fast". Hence GOVinda is the Aryan god, identical to Veles, from where the familiar unexpected word GOVIADIN comes from. What does the cow have to do with it? It turns out also as "moreover". Not simple, but heavenly. (most likely figuratively, as usual. Constellation Taurus ??). We read: In the beginning Veles was born by the Heavenly Cow Zemun from the god Rod, which flowed from the White Mountain with the Solar Surya, the Ra-river.
In Sanskrit there is a word homa-dhenu, that is, "sacrificial cow." Cows are considered sacred by Hindus, and it is certainly forbidden to kill them. At Bombay Airport, they use tape recording of a tiger's growl to scatter cows off the runway - no Indian touches a sacred animal.
Among the ancient Egyptians, the symbol of the cow was associated with the idea of vital warmth. She was the personification of Mother Earth. In Egypt, Hathor, the goddess of heaven, joy and love, the nurse of all beings on earth, in the most ancient period had the appearance of a cow.
The cow has been central to pastoralists around the world for millennia. And even now, at the dawn of the new millennium, in many African tribes, the cow is the main symbol of wealth and prosperity. In Near Eastern and Greek mythologies, there are stories about a god falling in love with a cow. A number of cattle-breeding tribes associate the cult of the cow with the mythological and ritual role of milk as a sacredly pure drink. Representing both the Moon (many moon goddesses have cow horns) and the deities of the earth, the cow is an animal, both heavenly and chthonic. In contrast to the duality of the meaning of the image of the bull, the cow (like a tamed cattle) is endowed with positive symbolism. Basic meanings: Great Mother, goddess of the Moon; Moon, lunar world; The "nourishing aspect" of deities, the productive force of the earth (the motherly nourishing forces of the earth); plurality, procreation, maternal instinct. In many ancient and archaic religions, the cow is a symbol of fertility, abundance, prosperity. The image of milk abundance, characteristic of the common Indo-European mythological tradition, is reflected in numerous metaphors of Vedic poetry and in etymology: Old Irish. duan - "song, verse"< тот же корень, что и duha, ---; в «Ригведе», гомеровском эпосе и латинском языке слово «вымя» означает в то же время «изобилие, плодородие»: - др.-инд. вед. udhar, - лат. uber. коровы и быки правят миром
"Apart from the king, there is nothing more important than the cow" is an African proverb. The symbolic archetype of the nursing cow, the progenitor cow, has deep roots. One of the main gods of the Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon, Enlil, was revered as a divine bull, and his wife Ninlil as a divine cow. It was believed that their union gave Mesopotamia fertile soil. In Scandinavian mythology, a magic cow fed the first person with her milk. In the Russian folk tale "Kroshechka-Khavroshechka" a poor orphan is helped by a "mother-cow." In a similarly meaningful tale "Burenushka" also tells about a magical cow that gives an orphan girl food, drink and a nice dress. In the fairy tale "The Tempest the Hero Ivan the Cow Son", the bogatyr born of a cow is smarter, stronger and braver than the sons of the queen and the little girl born at the same time.
"Little Havroshechka" is an amazing book of wisdom of the Russian people. Like any other fairy tale of our people, "Little Havroshechka" presents information about the life and beliefs of ancient people. And in order to guess at least some of the secrets, you just need to thoughtfully read the fairy tale "Little Havroshechka". After all, Russian folk tales were created for you and me. Ancient people honored their ancestors and took care of their descendants. Therefore, they left us their works, in which they tried to explain in the most accessible way all the delights of life on Earth.
What is the fairy tale "Tiny Khavroshechka" "Tiny Khavroshechka" the best way shows the most ancient ideas about the beliefs of the Slavs.
First, in the fairy tale "Little Havroshechka" metamorphoses are shown: the cow transforms into an apple tree and continues to help the girl. If we associate all this with the belief of people of that time, each family has its own totem animal, in other words, an ancestor. The cow is the very ancestor who came to help the girl in the earthly world. That is why the cow tells the girl not to eat her, because she is a totem animal for her. With the help of a cow, Tiny Khavroshechka copes with the most difficult tasks of her stepmother. Reincarnating from an animal into a magic tree, the cow continues to help the girl and thanks to this help the girl finds a worthy betrothed. The fairy tale "Little Havroshechka" ends with the creation of a new prosperous family.
Secondly, according to the ideas of ancient people, wisdom can only be obtained from ancestors. But they are also found in another world. That is why in folk tales there are so many transitions to the symbolic “other world” (forest, meadow, etc.). You will find examples of this in fairy tales: "Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Tale of 12 Months", "The Frog Princess" and many other fairy tales.
Thirdly, ancient people believed in the elements. That is why, in good old tales, the forces of nature help people. It could be the Month, and the Sun, and Morozko, and Water, and other characters (see "The Flying Ship", "The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Heroes", "Frost's Tale", "The Little Humpbacked Horse" tale).
Fourthly, people believed that the images of the natural world are reincarnated people, which is why Tiny Khavroshechka so easily finds a common language with a cow and an apple tree. And when Tiny Khavroshechka climbed into a cow's ear and crawled out into the other, she gained strength from the ancestor and became invincible - another of the Slavs' beliefs.
Fifth, the ancient people knew the power of words. Therefore, in the fairy tale "Little Havroshechka" only by the power of the words "Sleep a peephole, sleep, another!" (quote, fairy tale "Little Havroshechka") an orphan lulls One-Eye, Two-Eye and Trig-Eye (for 2 eyes). But these are just some guesses and interpretations of the tale "Little Havroshechka". We also invite you to read a work of Russian folk thought in a cozy atmosphere. Who knows, maybe just for you, the mysterious tale "Little Havroshechka" will tell all its secrets.
- Heavenly cow in India
- Heavenly cow in India
- Heavenly cow in Egypt
- Veles son of a cow Zemun
- Cartoon "Tiny-Khavroshechka"
The ladybug is an arthropod insect that belongs to the order Coleoptera, the family of ladybugs (Coccinellidae).
Where did the name ladybug come from?
The ladybug got its scientific name due to its unusually bright color - the Latin word "coccineus" corresponds to the concept of "scarlet". And the common nicknames that were presented to the ladybug in many countries of the world speak of the respect and sympathy of people for this insect. For example, in Germany and Switzerland it is known as the "Mary's bug" (Marienkaefer), in Slovenia and the Czech Republic the ladybird is called "Sun" (Slunecko), and many Latin Americans know it as the "Vaquita de San Antonio".
The origin of the Russian name for ladybug is not exactly known. Some researchers are inclined to believe that this is due to the insect's ability to release "milk" in case of danger - a special poisonous liquid (hemolymph) that scares away predators. And "God's" means meek, harmless. Others believe that these insects got the nickname "ladybugs" due to the fact that they destroy aphids and help to preserve the harvest.
However, some ladybugs only eat plant foods. Their diet includes fungal mycelium, pollen, leaves, flowers and even fruits.
How do ladybugs breed? Development stages of a ladybug
Individuals of ladybirds reach sexual maturity between 3 and 6 months of age. The breeding season for ladybirds begins in mid-spring. Having gained strength after coming out of hibernation or flight, they start mating. The male finds the female by the specific smell that she emits during this period. The female ladybug lays eggs on plants near the aphid colony to provide the offspring with food. Ladybug eggs, attached to the underside of the leaves, are oval in shape with slightly tapered tips. Their surface may have a wrinkled texture and may be colored yellow, orange or White color... The number of eggs in a clutch reaches 400. Unfortunately, after the mating season, female ladybirds die.
Ladybug eggs
After 1-2 weeks, variegated oval or flat ladybug larvae appear from the laid eggs. The surface of their body can be covered with fine bristles or hairs, and the pattern on the body is formed by a combination of yellow, orange and white spots.
In the first days of their life, the larvae eat the shell of the egg from which they hatched, as well as unfertilized eggs or eggs with a dead embryo. Having gained strength, the larvae of ladybugs begin to destroy the colonies of aphids.
Ladybug larva
The larval stage of insect development lasts about 4-7 weeks, after which pupation occurs.
The pupa is attached to the leaf of the plant with the remains of the exoskeleton of the larva. During this period, all parts of the body characteristic of the insect are laid. After 7-10 days, a fully formed adult individual emerges from the cocoon.
Ladybug chrysalis
The benefits and harms of ladybugs
The gluttony of predatory ladybirds and their larvae has long been beneficial to gardens, vegetable gardens and crops of cultivated plants in many countries of the world. If the larva of a ladybug is able to destroy about 50 aphids per day, then an adult ladybug can eat up to 100 aphids per day. To clear agricultural land from pests, populations of cows are specially bred in special enterprises and, with the help of aircraft, are sprayed over fields and plantations infected with pests.
However, herbivorous species of ladybirds, which live mainly in the subtropical and tropical regions of South and Southeast Asia, are capable of causing great damage to agricultural crops. On the territory of Russia, there are also several types of ladybirds that destroy potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, as well as sugar beets.
- Since ancient times, people have idolized and worshiped the ladybug. The ancient Slavs considered her the messenger of the sun goddess. With her help, they predicted the coming weather. A bug flying away from the palm promised a good clear day, and an insect that wanted to stay on the hand foreshadowed bad weather.
- In some of the world's cultures, it is forbidden to harm and even more so to kill these insects, so as not to incur trouble.
- For a long time in Western countries, people believed that the ladybug is a symbol of good luck. The image of a red bug on clothes or various jewelry was considered a talisman.
- Many signs associated with this insect have survived to this day. They always portend only good events. A ladybug sitting on a hand, clothes, hair cannot be driven away so as not to frighten off fortune. A ladybug that has flown into the house brings peace, harmony, tranquility to it, and for childless families also the appearance of a child soon. By counting the number of spots on the elytra of a ladybug, you can find out how many successful months there will be next year.
- For scientists, the annual flight of ladybirds for the winter is still a mystery. The bugs always return to the once chosen location. It is impossible to explain this phenomenon by the insect's good memory, since due to the short duration of their life, new generations return to the old wintering places.
- A hungry ladybug larva, carried away by the search for food, can overcome the "huge" distance for insects - 12 meters.
- The larvae of these cute bugs can be cannibals, eating their relatives, who have not yet hatched from eggs.
Along with the cult of bulls, there was also a cult of cows. Goddess Heaven Nut (see Nut) took the form of a cow, raising the sun god Ra, tired of being on earth with people, into the sky: "When dawn came ... the cow Nut, with Re sitting on her back, rose and became the sky." This myth, known as the "Book of the Cow", is written on the walls of the tombs of the pharaohs. XVIII, XIX and XX dynasties, It was first discovered on the walls of Seti's tombs. I and Ramesses III ... Next to the entry was a picture of a heavenly cow. The sky cow concept dates back to prehistoric times; according to ancient texts, it rose from the original ocean. The drawings depict the Heavenly Cow, whose belly is adorned with a line of stars, and four legs are supported by eight deities - heh... A boat is depicted along the line of stars, in which the sun god floats. "The idea that Nut carried with her the boats of the gods when she was lifted up, and that they became stars, is attested very early" ( Pyr. 785).
The idea of a primordial ocean that originally existed on earth, and the heavenly ocean as its reflection, was very ancient, but it is not known when the idea of a cow that rose from the ocean to the sky arose. Since the sky was also a stream of water, and sometimes the body of a cow was covered with lines representing water, and in this form the divine cow was called Mehet-Urt or "Great Stream" and already in III millennium shewas also known as Metuer "the great cow in the water» ... The idea of a heavenly cow seemed to have left a mark on her name - " Gold "," Gold"By which it was called in the thickets of the Delta. It was usually said that on the day of its creation, the sun was born in a "Great Stream" and climbed onto this cow, settling itself between the horns. "Even when the primordial or daily birth of the sun was described as originating from the blue lotus flower in the heavenly or earthly ocean, he was called the" child of Metuer. "
WITH III millennium Metuer was regarded as a deity patroness of lovers... Later she was identified with Hathor (see Hathor), the goddess from Dendera, "whose symbol in the beginning was the head or skull of a cow, which was nailed over the temple door or on a column." Hathor very early turned into the goddess of the sky in the form of a cow, which was usually depicted carrying the sun between the horns among flowers and plants, "similar to the foliage of the Heavenly tree, which sends the sun on its way in the morning and hides it in the evening." It was also believed that in the evening the sun enters the cow's mouth and hides during the night in her body, and in the morning it is reborn from her womb. The goddess appeared to be living in the mountains of Upper Egypt, where she received the dead at their burial, emerging from the mountain in the form of a cow. The drawings depict a funeral procession arriving at the tomb, and the goddess who, in the form of a cow, meets the arriving deceased, pushing"Thickets of papyrus, miraculously grown on these barren rocks. " Hathor was depicted as a cow or a woman with cow horns on her head, between which the sun disk was located. "And many other female deities associated with the sky - especially Isis - indicated in the drawings their heavenly nature by wearing horns or even the head of a cow."
The goddess Isis, mother of Horus and consort of Osiris, was often depicted with cow horns. The myth tells how, in the competition between Horus and Set for power in the form of hippos, Horus became angry with his mother, who took the harpoon from his brother Set and cut off Isis's head. Perhaps it was then that the gods gave her a cow's head. A special sacrifice of the bull was associated with Isis. Thanks to Herodotus, we have his description: When sacrificing to Isis, they rip off the carcass of a bull and make a prayer and then take out the whole stomach, but the insides and fat leave in the carcass... Later cut off the thighs, upper thigh, shoulders and neck... Thereafter fill the rest of the carcass of the bull with clean bread, honey, raisins, wine berries, incense, myrrh and other incense... Having filled the carcass with it all, they they burn it, and when the victims are burned, all participants indulge in sorrow. Then, having stopped crying, they have a feast of the remaining [unburned] parts of the victims. The Egyptians sacrifice "pure" [unmarked] bulls and calves everywhere. Against, they are not allowed to sacrifice cows: they are dedicated to Isis e. After all, Isis is depicted as a woman with cow horns (similar to the image of Io among the Hellenes), and all the Egyptians likewise revered more than all animal cows. " Unlike bulls, dead cows are not buried, but "thrown into the river."
In the image in the tomb Nespnefkhora, the priest of the god Amun in Thebes, whose burial dates back to XXI dynasties, the priest and his wife place gifts on three altars, set in front of the cows, the heads of which are crowned with three different crowns. This image serves as proof that the Egyptians worshiped the cow as a sacred animal at all times. The son of Cheops, Mikerin, grieving over his early dead daughter, "ordered to make a hollow [statue] of a cow out of wood, gilded and then put in her deceased daughter." This cow was standing in the royal palace in Sais. “Every day they burn all kinds of incense around her, and all night long they light a lamp. ... the cow is almost entirely covered in purple clothing, except for the neck and head, which are gilded with a thick layer of gold. Between the horns there is an image of the solar disk, also made of gold. ... Every year she is taken out of peace, on the very day when the Egyptians beat themselves in the chest in honor of a god whom I do not want to name out of awe. They say that before her death, her daughter asked her father to let her see the sun once a year. "
A large stone altar was discovered in Hierakonpolis with an inscription dating back to the reign of Sheshonk I , which reported on the restoration of daily sacrifices in a local temple. “Everyone pledged to supply a certain part of 365 bulls per year, starting with the" general "[Nimrat] himself, who was credited with donating 60 bulls, his wife (3 bulls), senior military and clerical dignitaries (10 bulls each) and ending with officials of the second rank, urban communities of the region and workers. " In the rite of "opening the mouth and eyes""first the priest touched the mouth and eyes of the statue with the bloody foot of the sacrificial bull, then - an adze, a second adze, a sculptor's chisel and a bag with a red mineral, from which paint was extracted. Of all this set, only the bleeding leg of a bull played a purely witchcraft role, quite understandable in the light of widespread primitive beliefs in the life-giving power of blood. It remains to add that the constellation Ursa Major was formerly called "The thigh of a cow", but later it began to be correlated with the bull and called "meshtv", "The leg of a bull", aThe adze - an instrument for opening the mouth of a statue or mummy - had the same shape as this constellation.