In very many legends, there is a mention of a certain older race that once inhabited the Earth.
Most of the Western European peoples called them elves, the Scandinavians - the Alvam, the Celts - the tribes of the goddess Danu and the Sids, the Bretons - the Corrigai, the Slavs - the Divine people, the Indians - the Gandharvas and Apsars. Remained about this mysterious people and material evidence. So who are they - the senior inhabitants of the Earth?
Strange find
About ten years ago, in the Alpine mountains in the permafrost zone, scientists found a frozen corpse of a man. Due to the fact that the body was constantly at sub-zero temperatures, it was perfectly preserved. Scientists believe it was a man about 40 years old who froze to death on a mountain pass … several thousand years ago.
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However, was the victim human? His clothes, shoes and personal belongings could not be identified with any of the known cultures. The appearance of the deceased was also surprising: he was amazingly proportionally complex, with perfectly correct facial features, as it was possible to find out using computer modeling. But the most striking thing was discovered when scientists examined his bone tissues using modern technology. Despite the fact that he was about 40 years old at the time of his death, he was a young man.
His bones and skeleton were still at the stage of formation, like a modern sixteen-year-old adolescent. Comparing these data, experts came to the conclusion that he had to reach maturity at the age of more than a hundred years, and live much longer. Perhaps it was then that scientists seriously thought about the ancient legends about the forever young elves.
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Handsome men and artisans
The descriptions of the older people in the legends and myths of different cultures are extremely similar. Firstly, the older race differed from humanity in growth: its representatives were either giants, like the Celtic Sids and Indian Gandharvas, or, conversely, babies, like elves and Scandinavian alves. But in any case, they were slim, graceful and amazingly beautiful.
According to some legends, they were distinguished by their longevity - they lived up to five hundred years or more. In other myths, the older people are endowed with immortality at all. By the way, children of its representatives were born very rarely.
The older race settled far from people - in caves, inside hollow hills, in dense forests, on secluded islands. The Sids and other representatives of the older people were skillful craftsmen: their products were many times superior in beauty and quality to items made by human hands. Elves, for example, were especially renowned as wonderful weavers.
In the myths of absolutely all cultures, the older race is endowed with innate magical abilities. In addition, her sons and daughters were distinguished by extraordinary talents that fascinate the audience in music, singing and dancing. In India, such music is still called the "art of the Gandharvas". And the melodies of the elves, who loved to dance in the moonlight, made even inanimate nature dance.
Alves (elves) in early Germanic-Scandinavian mythology are an ageless, magical, beautiful race that lives like people on Earth, or in the "elf-world", which was also described as physically real (since according to legends, people get there and return from there alive). This idea of the elves, partially preserved, reached even the Middle Ages, remained imprinted in the language, names, culture and genealogy.
Contacts with people
Despite the fact that the older people lived in isolation, they had numerous contacts with people, about which a lot of evidence has been preserved both in legends and myths, as well as in medieval chronicles. The relationship between the two intelligent races evolved in different ways.
Often, the older people acted as mentors, teaching their "younger brothers" various arts and magic techniques. Often, its representatives presented people with wonderful objects, predicted the future, or endowed with any out of the ordinary ability.
So, in England, the legend of Thomas Lermonte (by the way, the distant ancestor of our great poet Mikhail Lermontov) and the queen of the elves is very popular. Having visited her, Thomas acquired the gift of clairvoyance and bewitching eloquence. And Oisin from the tribe of the goddess Danu told the founder of the Irish Church, St. Patrick, about all the features of the relief of Ireland, its rivers and lakes.
However, the older brothers hated it when the younger ones were uninvited guests to them. Bystanders of their secret gatherings and rituals were often killed mercilessly. Anyone who sees the ghostly "city of Gandharvas" in the mountains, according to Indian legends, was threatened with misfortune or death.
In all legends, there is a statement that representatives of the older people love to steal human children, sometimes leaving their own in return. Indian researcher Krishna Panchamukhi, who was engaged in a comparative analysis of Celtic and Hindu mythology, writes that this ancient Kidneping cannot be viewed as a manifestation of hostility. Due to the low birth rate, the older people, apparently, constantly needed an influx of fresh blood, otherwise they would be doomed to extinction.
There were even marriages between older people and people. From them were born children with longevity and many talents. As they matured, they often became rulers or great sages, such as the legendary Irish seer Finn, who in the 3rd century A. D. led detachments of warriors who lived in the forests and dedicated themselves to war and hunting.
Slavic divas
The Slavs also believed in the older people, calling them “divas”, “samovils” or “samodivs”. They are mentioned in “Words” - teachings against paganism and even in “The Lay of Igor's Host” (“divas cries at the top of the tree”). It is clear that this name comes from "miracle" - "miracle". Unfortunately, before the arrival of Christianity, myths and legends in the Slavic regions were not recorded, so there is much less evidence of the Samsdiv than of the Sids, Elves and Gandharvas.
It is known that divas were distinguished by their beautiful appearance, their women had hair down to the toes, which they wore loose. They lived in the mountains or built their own houses in trees. According to legend, divas could levitate, but sometimes, for some reason, they suddenly lost this ability (in the same "Lay of Igor's Campaign" - "the divas had already crashed to the ground"). A distinctive talent of the divas was the ability to find water - apparently, they were the first dowsers in Russia. Divas also knew how to heal, predict death, but they themselves were not immortal.
The samodivs treated people friendly, helped the offended and orphans. However, if the diva was angered, he could severely punish, even kill with one glance.
One of the last mentions of divas dates back to the 20s of the last century. It is contained in the records of the traveler Mikhail Belov, who studied the wilderness of the Urals. He argued that the locals deeply believe in the existence of divine people who live in mountain caves. These creatures are very beautiful, wise and have the gift of foresight. Sometimes they come to villages and talk about what is happening in the world. The traveler wanted to laugh at "grandma's tales," but then realized: is it not strange that the inhabitants of a mountain village, completely cut off from the world, are well aware of the change of power in Russia and what its leaders want?
Material evidence
With a serious approach to the topic, relying only on myths and legends would, of course, be unreasonable. Fortunately, several material evidences of the culture of the older people have survived to this day.
The Lancaster Museum (England) contains a bowl of the XM century. As the researchers note, at that distant time, the British did not possess the technologies that would allow them to do such a thing. At best, this item could have appeared several centuries later, when blacksmithing and metal engraving advanced significantly. However, a physicochemical analysis shows that the bowl was made precisely in the XII century, and its history is directly related to the older people.
According to legend, a peasant, returning from his guests late at night, walked along the hills. In one of them, he saw an open door and heard the sounds of music and singing. When he looked inside, he saw the feasting. They were all young and extraordinarily beautiful. Seeing the guest, the company presented him with a cup of wine. Having received the precious cup, the peasant, without thinking twice, rushed to his heels. They chased him, but the peasant was quicker. The lord, whose serf was this peasant, saw this cup from him and, amazed at its beauty, took it away. Then he presented a magnificent vessel as a gift to the king. The chalice was inherited by the English monarchs for some time, and then ended up in the museum.
Another amazing find was made on the territory of Ukraine: oracular bones, whose age scientists determine at about 17 thousand years. The lunar calendar is applied to the bones with pinpoint accuracy, which can only be analogous to modern astronomical calendars. Scientists have no doubt that this calendar is evidence of the existence of a culture older than all known, since the semi-wild nomadic tribes that inhabited the territory of modern Ukraine at that time had no idea about astronomy.
Who are they?
Experts build a variety of hypotheses about who the representatives of the older people really were. There is a version that these were people who from the very beginning went not along the technological path of development, but along the path of unity with nature. This explains their innate extraordinary abilities, as well as the desire to live away from settlements, among mountains and forests. Then biologically, elves, divas and sids are no different from us, and children could well be born from marriages with them.
However, the more popular hypothesis is that it was still a slightly different type of intelligent life. After all, it has been scientifically proven that Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, that is, our ancestors, are completely different types of living beings, although very close. The same can be assumed in the case of the older people.
The most incredible version was put forward by the famous scientist, author of the sensational film "Memories of the Future" Erich von Deniken. In his opinion, the older people are aliens who have settled on Earth. However, von Deniken also admits that these could be descendants of alliances between aliens and earthlings.
Where did the older people go?
By about the 17th and 18th centuries, evidence of meetings with representatives of the older people faded away. And if every third medieval legend told about elves and forces, then they were completely forgotten. It turns out that they no longer exist on Earth. Where could they have gone? English legends tell about the magical land of Avallon, where the older people left. It is believed that the legendary King Arthur sailed there. Most experts believe that the older people simply assimilated with the people, because due to the low birth rate, they could not maintain their identity.
However, adherents of the theory of a plurality of parallel worlds believe that the older people originally lived and continues to live in another dimension. It is their homeland, and on Earth they appeared only occasionally on their own, we do not really understand things. In confirmation, experts cite numerous legends about the land of elves, in which time flows in a different way. Often the hero of the legend, having stayed with the older people for only a couple of days and returning home, learns that ten years have passed. So the ability of the older people can be added to the ability to travel between worlds.
Descendants of the older people
Recently I was surprised to learn about people who are seriously convinced that they are carriers of the blood of the older people. They have nothing in common with the Tolkienists playing elves. These people even organized their own club, whose members are scattered in different cities of the near abroad, but the backbone of the club is in the Crimea.
They claim to have a slightly different blood composition than ordinary people. Some drugs work differently on them or have no effect at all. The “descendants of the elves” are looking for their fellow tribesmen based on the only known signs, which they keep secret, saying only that they are judged by a number of features of their appearance, as well as answers to some questions.
Members of this club maintain close ties with their Irish brethren. All of them believe that in the generation born at the turn of the 70s and 80s”, the gene of the elder blood made itself felt. For better or for worse, time will tell. On their website I was able to see photos of club members. Most of them are really tall and very beautiful …
A. Soloviev
“Interesting newspaper. Magic and mysticism №2 2013