Published according to a chapter from Erich von Däniken's book The Legacy of the Gods.
It is hardly possible to find such an area of culture in which occult beliefs, supernatural beings, celestial aliens, legends, traditions, etc. would not be present in one way or another. Many legends tell about amazing events and mysterious attributes that the "gods" themselves once possessed … Memories of the phenomena of unknown messengers of heaven have come down to us in all kinds of legends, cults and rituals
In the photo: A strange, nowhere else found in the world, ritual mask for dancing of the Dogon tribe.
For example, they are alive today among a number of primitive peoples in the form of the so-called living mythology and the cult of goods (cargo). On closer examination, it turns out that these almost forgotten traditions should by no means be considered "primitive art." On the contrary, they reflect phenomena that may well be interpreted in the spirit of the hypothesis of searching for traces of paleocontact.
What exactly do the "spirit figures" of Enpel-lee in Northern Australia represent? What is the significance of the ritual dances and masks of the Dogon tribe? What secrets are hidden behind the wooden figures found in the Congo, the appearance of which more than resembles the very creatures about which witnesses who have become victims of “abductions” by UFO crews tell? What is the original meaning behind the mysterious funerary attributes, such as the cult objects from Saqqar, which are more than five thousand years old and which are very similar to a propeller? How could he end up in the grave and what was his purpose?
In the jungles of Brazil, material traces of a mysterious indigenous culture, which is at least two thousand years old, have recently been discovered and which turns all previous ideas about the time of settlement of the American continent upside down. Where did its first people come from? Previously, all history textbooks said that the first inhabitants of America were immigrants from Asia, who passed through Alaska and, settling further and further, gradually settled the entire American continent. However, the highly developed culture of the Amazonian Indians does not fit into such a scheme. The fact is that these people were contemporaries, and not the descendants of prehistoric mammoth hunters. What culture appeared in America first? Rock paintings depicting figures standing on the head and skulls surrounded by a halo of rays,very similar to the drawings of the aborigines of Australia - drawings that are 40 thousand years old. How did they get here? Perhaps they had common roots?
What's going on with dating? Why do they disagree with previous estimates? It is quite clear that the previous dating should be revised towards increasing age. Geological studies show irrefutably that such ancient monuments of building art as the Egyptian pyramids or the megalithic sanctuary of Stonehenge are actually much older than previously thought. According to the latest research conducted by the University of California researchers, the age of the so-called Peking man, the predecessor of the modern species Homo sapiens, whose remains were found in 1921, is not two hundred thousand years, but at least twice as old - four hundred thousand years.
Why is the famous ancient Egyptian symbol "Winged Sun" found in completely different cultural circles, up to the North American Indians of the Cuakiutl tribe? What mysterious mysteries lie behind the ritual deformation of the skulls of babies found in Chile, as well as in other parts of the world - in Egypt, Turkey and Austria? Perhaps our ancestors tried to imitate the appearance of the skulls of aliens in such images? So, there are a lot of mysteries and unanswered questions that literally fill the history of mankind.
"God's stall"
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A somewhat unusual fact, which has not yet found support in the circles of researchers of traces of paleocontact, is associated with little-studied ceremonies carried out by representatives of more than twenty clans of the Dinka tribe living in the open spaces of the savannah in southern Sudan, the largest swampy region in the world. In the life of the Dinka, who are distinguished by their excellent physique and growth (they are considered the tallest people in the world), the bull occupies a key position, which from time immemorial has been revered as a mediator between people, "spirits" and God the Creator. It is truly surprising that in the language and thinking of the Dinka tribe, almost all words and formulas are somehow associated with the bull. It is about the ideas and methods by which the people of the tribe perceive and describe the world.
All this far exceeds the practical, utilitarian benefits of bulls. Therefore, there must have been some special circumstances associated with this animal.
And one more curious detail: in one uncomfortable and deserted place, located a few kilometers from the tribe's territory, there is the largest Dinka sanctuary, the so-called "stall of the god." Here a round is arranged for the bull, approx. 12 m, a hut (by the standards of a Dinka - a huge building), which was always empty. The English writer John Riley, who visited Sudan in 1976, received the rare honor of entering the Dinka sanctuary. In his book, Warriors of the Nile, he describes the amazement that gripped him when the guards opened the gates of the sanctuary for him. “We immediately noticed,” Ryle writes with surprise, “that the building inside turned out to be completely empty, except perhaps for the sacred drum and spear-spear, which the Dinka revered as symbols of spiritual power and authority, the true religious meaning of which had been lost in the darkness of the distant past.”
Especially mysterious is the purpose of the spear-spear for fish, since the Dinka since ancient times were a tribe of cattle breeders, the main source of livelihood for which was the breeding of livestock. Perhaps special studies could clarify the question of whether there is a connection between the Dogon myths and the legend of Oannes, widespread in the Middle East. These legends tell of the fish-people who, at the end of time, will sail with heavenly barges.
1 The cult of the bull and the cow is by no means unique to the Dinka people. On the contrary, it was very common among most archaic peoples. Suffice it to recall the cult of the bull Apis in Ancient Egypt, the worship of the Minotaur bull in Crete, accompanied by human sacrifices, the mysterious mysteries associated with the bull in Sumer and Phenicia, the mysterious and multi-level role of the bull (calf) as a substitute victim and object for worship (golden calf) in Old Testament, and the special position of cows in India. {Approx. per.)
The Dinka people themselves consider themselves to be the direct descendants of their ancestor father named Mayual. This ancestor descended from heaven to earth many generations ago. God Mayual took a Dinka girl as his wife, and she conceived a child. But before the child was born, Mayual returned to heaven in flames and smoke, assuming the form of a huge serpent god, and turned into a rainbow. His son, who received the name Chikom, eventually became the elder of the tribe and decided to erect a magnificent sanctuary in honor of his father, the heavenly god.
The sanctuary was built on the very spot from where Mayual returned to the stars. This place, which, according to the hypothesis of paleocontact, should be considered a "launch pad for an alien ship", is identified with the previously mentioned "stall of God." It is held in the same veneration today as it was many hundreds of years ago. The leaders of the tribe, direct descendants of the divine Mayual, have since invariably held the title of "prison elders".
The legend of the Dinka people (and this is another amazing aspect) echoes many traditions of completely different cultures and regions. So, for example, almost the same legend is told about a Polynesian god named Oro, who descended to Bora Bora by a rainbow to marry an earthly girl.
In memory of the visit of guests "from above", the people of the Dinka tribe every year organize two-day festivities and ceremonial sacrifices near the "stall of the god" The bull is ritually slaughtered, and its carcass is positioned in a certain way, being oriented relative to the sky. While singing mournful chants addressed to the "spirits", the sacrificial bull becomes an intermediary between people and the god Mayual. At such festivals, it almost always happens that their participants, who have fallen into a trance, fall to the ground and begin to writhe in convulsions. Their eyes rotate wildly, arms and legs make involuntary movements, their lips whisper something. As soon as one of the people of the tribe falls into a trance, this, according to the Dinka, means that he was "overwhelmed by the creator" or he came into contact with an unearthly creature. At the same time, the individuality of the contactee himself is suppressed,and the "spirits" of his ancestors enter his body. So, certain paranormal abilities are perceived by the Dinka, like many other primitive peoples, as a kind of divine revelation.
The famous masked dance of the Dogon tribe (West Africa). Perhaps their culture was influenced by alien guests?
The art of ancient peoples
It cannot be considered a simple coincidence that we still have to face the myths of primitive peoples preserved in living existence, which originate from aliens from the stars, like the Dogons from West Africa, the Hopi Indians living in the west of North America or the tribe kayapo who lives in Brazil. The fact that this belief has survived to this day in the form of living mythology, that even the location of the launching and landing site of the "gods" is known, and this information is jealously guarded by certain cults to this day, should lead the historian to the most serious reflections.
If you were interested in my opinion on this matter, I would advise you to consider a variety of clan cults under a scholar's magnifying glass, compare them with each other, evaluate them from mythological and technical points of view and try to identify common points in them. The cult of the bull is found in almost all peoples of the Earth. Their true meaning and content are often quite unclear. Bull sacrifices were not always associated with the cult of fertility. So, for example, the ancient Egyptians under the "heavenly animal" mentioned in the "Pyramid Texts" meant the vehicles of the "gods", which echo the legend of the phoenix and the idea of a flying "benben stone".
This example from the life of the Dinka tribe clearly testifies to the supernatural nature of many clan cults. Mentioned in ancient texts, a huge set of all kinds of oracles, mystical practices and examples of veneration of "sacred relics", as well as the rituals and mask dances that have survived to this day, in the vast majority, are practically not studied. True, experts often try to find their hidden meaning, but they usually settle for superficial symbolism, talking about the "worship of the gods" that arose from certain natural philosophical myths, mentioning the "cult of ancestors" and "spirit beings" and not giving themselves the trouble to try to find a plausible explanation the true causes and meaning of these phenomena.
Cult objects that do not fit into the usual picture of "scientific ideas" are usually characterized as "decorative art" or "symbolic artifacts." But this is incomprehensible if we take into account that works of art in our understanding of this term (namely, objects created for contemplation and for the sake of obtaining purely aesthetic pleasure) are absolutely alien to ancient cultures and living primitive peoples. Meanwhile, it is clear that most of the cults and traditions, in fact, boil down to the personification of heavenly beings and characters in legendary legends.
For the hypothesis of paleocontact, such incomprehensible relics, called the neutral formula “works of art”, are of great interest, since they are directly related to the worship of “gods”. Examples of this kind are especially common in Polynesia and in the highly developed ancient cultures of Central and South America. Cult objects and masks today perform a special, supernatural function among primitive peoples, demonstrating a connection with the extraterrestrial sphere, since their power is largely based on the belief that some supernatural forces live in them. “At this stage,” the anthropologist H. Reeds insightfully notes, “there is a serious difficulty in distinguishing between art and religion”. And his colleague I. Bernal emphasizes: "Art is in the reminder of the gods."
Nevertheless, the scientific world, as they say, is both hands and feet against the fact that the cult of the clan, mask dances and legends that have come down to us through many generations are a reminder of a really experienced reality, that is, evidence of real facts. As for the “divine” origin and meaning of the cult of the genus, the writer and popularizer of science Georg Lucas speaks of it as follows: “These works of art reflect not some objective reality: they reflect not really existing relationships between nature and society, but some erroneous ideas about them.
Misconceptions?
Indeed, these monuments do not reflect the real reality. But do they express misconceptions? How can we know this? None of us was present and could not be present at the initial event that contributed to the establishment of the later sacred cult, or the formation of religious myth-making. In my opinion, a lot speaks in favor of the fact that masks, rock paintings in caves and cult objects, in fact, were the starting points of the cult, depicting the appearance and details of the behavior of the "gods" who, according to the hypothesis of paleocontact, were aliens from space.
Many primitive peoples today perceive a mask or a statue not as a symbol, image or a conventional portrait of unearthly guests - "gods", but as "a real, actual presence of the supernatural in a visible and tangible form," writes ethnologist A. A. Gerbrands. He gives two examples: “Njama dwells in the big mask of the Dogon”, that is, the soul of the gods - the ancestors of the clan in the form of an invisible serpent. And for the priests of the tribe in Liberia, "the ancestors, through their masks, are actually present in the shaman's hut."
If the “gods” were in fact astronauts, these rituals can be interpreted as one of the manifestations of the cult of goods (cargo), which has come down to us from the distant past, through many generations, like a tradition that allows us to convey the memory of heavenly beings. To the same category should be attributed and misinterpreted technical means, which through magical practices can be returned to "life". This is especially clearly seen among the Brazilian Kayapo Indians, who wear ritual robes made of straw at ceremonies in honor of their god Bep-Kororoti. The optical and visual image of the "gods" presented in the dance of masks very, very much resembles the space suits of astronauts of our day and echoes the legend about the god of the Kayapo tribe, who returned to heaven in a kind of "flying house" surrounded by a roar,flames and clouds of smoke.
Similar rituals in honor of the heavenly teachers, which exist today, include rhythmic dances of masks of the Dogon people (West Africa), winter ceremonial performances of the Haida and Kuakiutl Indians (North America), religious mystery performances of the Tibetan highlanders, mask dances of the inhabitants of New Guinea, cults of sacrifices on about. Sulawesi or "masks of spirits" of the culture of the Karaya people (Brazil).
In our cultural area, there are also masquerade outfits, very reminiscent of the ritual attire of the Kayapo Indians. So, for example, in Obersteier-mark (Austria) "purification processions" are organized from year to year. Strange images of spirits, dressed in straw outfits with huge meter-long "tentacles" on their heads, flapping and snapping whips, symbolically clear the way for the "gods".
Some of the most famous and impressive ceremonies include the rituals of the Hopi Indians of Arizona (USA), as well as the rituals of the Pueblo tribes living in the southwest of North America. At a certain point in the ceremony, the men of the tribe don the robes of the "gods". These sacred dances feature the Kachinas, who are worshiped by the divine protectors of the Hopi tribe. The images of the Kachin carved out of wood should reflect the incredible diversity of the Hopi “world of spirits and gods”, which every Indian should be able to recognize at first sight. These wooden figures, dating back to time immemorial, are images of heavenly messengers, while masks and people who wear them during ritual dances, on the contrary, symbolize living incarnations of unearthly beings. Many of the cult rites, as well as objects,works of art and decorative symbols are very close to the mainstream of the paleocontact hypothesis.
Let's give just one example. On a special earthen vessel are depicted the so-called "rain clouds", which outwardly have nothing to do with them. According to the legend of the Hopi Indians, the Kachinas, who wore special masks in Life, are able to return to the living in the form of spirits, as well as in the mask of a living dancer. Every inhabitant of the village where the Kachina lived could return from heaven to earth on such a "cloud of spirits". The so-called "clouds" seem to have served as vehicles for the aliens that appear in our world. “The one who has never in his life took part in dances and did not see them,” says the legend, “will be alone in heaven, will be a“false”cloud that does not bring rain.” The most striking thing about this description is its undeniable resemblance to the chariot described by the biblical prophet Ezekiel.
Former NASA chief engineer Joseph Blamrich was able to prove that there is a very concrete reality behind the so-called "vision" of Ezekiel. Could the Hopi flying "cloud spider" be a reflection of the same spaceship motif?
Even if most ceremonies imply the presence of ancestors, including the dead, in connection with rituals and the cult of the clan, of course, we can not talk about some abstract and unrealistic ideas. Let's take a closer look at the most ancient cave paintings. We recognize in them an accurate reproduction of hunting scenes, as well as images of people and animals. There is no question of any symbolism here. For example, the ancient artist depicted a herd of wild bulls on a rock wall in an extremely naturalistic way, with all the anatomical details. No researcher of antiquity would dream of seeing anything in this drawing other than these animals.
And only when we see drawings with clearly alien plots and "spaceships", our prudent reason refuses to see the fidelity to nature in the images carved in stone, or in the same rituals. At this point, arguments about "spirits", "misconceptions" and "humanization of divine forces" begin immediately.
An unsolvable puzzle seems to many researchers to be geographic uniformity, on the one hand, and the interdisciplinary diversity of cultural mysteries, on the other. Whatever region they come from - and these are very often very distant lands from each other - every legend and ceremonial action telling about "aliens from outer space" and their "supernatural power" are very close to each other. Many legends and cult mysteries, separated from each other by continents and oceans, undoubtedly have a common source. That is why the thought naturally suggests itself that behind all of them, probably, there is some very real event or phenomenon.
Gods masks
Many written sources and cultural attributes that could contain important indirect evidence of the "appearance of aliens from outer space" have been destroyed without a trace over many centuries and millennia. Suffice it to recall the Library of Alexandria or the books and writings of the Maya, Aztecs and Incas. True, the surviving legends are quite enough to convey to us evidence of the visits of aliens that took place in ancient times. The same can be said about the knowledge of primitive peoples, the amazing cosmology of the already mentioned Dogon tribe. They could reproduce a modern astrophysicist's pocket guide from memory.
Thank God, Christian missionaries, in their impulse to church everything and everyone, have not achieved such all-encompassing successes as they would have liked. Any missionary who followed in the wake of the Spanish conquest of Mexico and South America did not experience any particular difficulties in the good cause of converting the Indians - inhabitants of the conquered regions to Christianity. However, in essence, the matter was not reduced to the conscious acceptance of a new faith (Christianity), but to an intensive mixing of Christianity and elements of Indian beliefs. Before the conquest by the Spanish conquerors, the Indian peoples worshiped many "gods" who, according to legend, descended directly from heaven. Having been forcibly converted to Christianity, the Indians did not abandon the veneration of the old "gods." They worshiped their ancient guardians, giving them new names for Christian saints,the commemoration of which took place on the days established by the church.
In other words, the Indians continued to honor their ancient ancestors and "cultural heroes", perpetuating their memory in magical rituals, partially preserved to this day. Although the ancient legends and cults of the "gods" were still numerous, over the course of subsequent history they underwent significant changes, were subjected to falsification, and their purpose and meaning were often forgotten. Thus, in the Dictionary of African Mythology, among other things, it says: “In the museums of Europe and North America in previous years, many statues and statues were exhibited, which were considered images of gods and ancestors, until anthropologists proved that behind each of these carvings hiding mythological characters, whose names and functions are in most cases unknown. The vast majority of mythological texts and traditions were destroyed by missionaries,so that the functions of these sculptures have sunk into oblivion forever."
Even for scientific research carried out in the framework of the search for traces of paleocontact, it is not so easy to get to the very origins of mythology. This is all the more true since the original idea of many rituals and cults, despite the fact that many of them are still preserved in living existence among primitive peoples, is increasingly receding into the past and forgotten. However, something similar happens with our Christian customs. If I were asked about the earliest origins of our cult of the Christmas tree, I'm afraid I would not be able to answer that question. Some researchers believe that the sparkling tree goes back to the "visions of the Mother of God." I am at a loss to answer whether this is so or not.
The fact remains: memories and information. sometimes simply amazing knowledge, passed down from generation to generation, can perish without a trace for a number of reasons. Here, something similar to a game of "broken phone" happens: participant A whispers something in participant B's ear, he retells what he heard to participant C, C does the same for D, and so on. In the end, after passing through a good hundred ears, the information ends up sounding very differently than at the beginning. Therefore, it is so necessary to re-analyze the most ancient cultural traditions, including myths and textual sources, and it is desirable to consider them in the spirit of the views of Erich von Dany-ken, taking into account technical and sometimes frankly fantastic details.
The study of such a phenomenon will be greatly hampered by the confusion of a variety of concepts, for example, "demons", "ancestral spirits", "curses of the dead", "rituals associated with fertility", "trance states", "religious mysteries" and the many times mentioned prayers to heaven "To the gods." At a superficial glance, it may seem that these descriptions are generally associated with belief in otherworldly forces, on the basis of which the critics of the paleocontact hypothesis came to the conclusion that this is not about aliens at all, but about belief in rebirth (incarnation).
To me personally, such arguments seem completely unconvincing, for although primitive peoples are aware of a certain closeness between the "cult of the gods" and the "cult of ancestors", on the other hand, they also see clear differences between them. The most important of these differences is that “spirits,” however powerful they may be, are not accepted to pray. “Spirits” are trying to appease, to appease with all kinds of offerings, even to influence them in some magical way, which is what all kinds of priests and healers do, but one should not actually pray to the “spirits”.
The reason for the confusion of "gods" and "spirits" is that Christian missionaries (and in Africa and Islamic mullahs-preachers) in their practice admitted that creatures revered by the so-called pagans as "gods" are worthy of the attribute "divine" … When borrowing pagan customs, the acuteness of this term sounded much less harsh. However, one difference still persisted: the so-called "gods" were considered beings of a much higher rank. They had a higher status, being more powerful, insightful and versatile than "spirits." “Ancestral spirits”, on the contrary, were closer to the images of angels common in our cultural area: they acted as intermediaries between people and “god” or “gods”.
Another barrier to scientific research is the points of contact with other phenomena and areas of research, including in such areas as parapsychology, spiritualism, magic, shamanism, messages from the subconscious, reincarnation and belief in otherworldly forces, modern studies of the UFO phenomenon, problems related to abductions, and the concept of parallel universes. One gets the impression that there is some common source behind all these forms and phenomena, isn't it?
The question of mimicry
If we turn to the hypothesis of mimicry put forward by Johannes Fibag, we must admit that behind all these mysteries there may be some highly developed mind unknown to us, which, quite possibly, has had a manifold influence on us for many millennia. In this case, images of gods and deities that are similar for all their foreignness and often very different from each other, masks and statues can be just different forms of expression of the same phenomenon. A phenomenon that is directly related to our ideas, fears and fantasies. Fibag called such a change in the appearance of aliens mimicry, since this phenomenon invariably adapts to us, and the guests skillfully hide their true essence behind their appearance.
In fact, traces of such mimicry are present not only in modern UFO studies and ancient European legends about kobolds and fairies, but also in ancient texts dating back to the distant past. For example, in the famous Sumerian epic about Gilgamesh it is said: “No mortal can climb the mountain where the gods dwell. He who sees the gods in person must die. " Or in the biblical Book of Exodus (Ex. 33, 20 et seq.), Where “the glory of the Lord” speaks to Moses and declares to him the following: “And then He said: You cannot see My face, because a person cannot see Me and to stay alive … When My glory passes, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I pass. And when I take off My hand, you will see Me from behind, but My face will not be visible."
Why were the gods of hoary antiquity so much afraid to be recognized by man? Maybe the whole point is that if people saw their true appearance, this would immediately entail the fall of the masks and the collapse of the myth of unearthly creatures? Or a similar masquerade, on the contrary, served to protect the earthlings themselves? Or maybe the truth hidden behind such actions lies beyond all our earthly ideas?
The hypothesis of mimicry, according to which the alien mind, by adapting to our myths, controls everything that happens and thereby influences the deep psychological field that determines our faith and all our other ideas, is undoubtedly a valuable tool. There is ample evidence that clearly shows that modern UFOs are modernized versions of the "flying chariots" of the "gods" of antiquity. In fact, both in ancient times and today we are dealing with the same phenomenon, which in different epochs before us are really different, independent from each other phenomena, just as we cannot confidently assert that UFOs really exist. The extraterrestrial origin of these objects is the most probable, but far from the only way to explain their appearance.
What methods should be used to find convincing evidence of the reality of the existence of a highly evolved alien intelligence?
How can we verify the thesis about the arrival of guests from space to Earth? There is a serious problem that, to a certain extent, affects all phenomena from the field of the inexplicable and mysterious: this is the question of the possibility of verification and falsification. According to Karl Popper, any hypothesis can turn out to be both true and an obvious falsification. When I argue that a solar eclipse occurs as a result of the sun being covered by the moon's shadow, then such a hypothesis should be recognized as amenable to falsification. I can check from the point of view of this aspect as many solar eclipses as I want and, since this hypothesis is correct, I cannot find a single case that a solar eclipse occurs without the effect of the Sun overlapping with the Moon's shadow. As for testing the hypothesis of mimicry, then,no matter how tempting it may seem, its verification will be even more difficult.
Nevertheless, I believe that a scientist who is really striving to find the truth will not categorically reject the study of alien phenomena just because "previous research excludes the very possibility of the existence of such phenomena." What does this actually mean? The fact that people often simply believe in science and everything that appears to be science.
Nothing that does not look scientific is not taken on faith. Even our very existence has to be proved by means of historical science, in particular - by documents. If I, Reinhard Habeck, cannot show either a passport or a birth certificate, I simply do not exist, even if I poke my finger in my chest a thousand times. No one wants to draw attention to such an unscientific argument. The few who believe in a scientific discovery as such, without other evidence, are the scientists themselves, who in most cases are diametrically disagreeing. A quick glance at the history of science and great discoveries shows that all scientific theories, without exception, are constantly undergoing changes, and this is the only thing that is permanent in them.
Traditional rituals, trance experiences, and all sorts of cult rituals practiced today by primitive tribes demonstrate, similar to the experience of UFO eyewitnesses and abduction victims, that our modern models of reality are outdated and obsolete. A fantastic journey to our mythological roots clearly shows that the changes in our Western scientific worldview are long overdue. This scientific expedition to the roots of some other reality, previously incomprehensible and inaccessible to us, has just begun. We can only guess what the deepest discoveries and stunning finds await us in the near future.
As one old African prophecy says: "The dream that we dream has not yet receded!"
