Demon game
Demon play is the name for a form of play with a magical character in which gods, god-like beings, spirits and personified forces of nature appear. The transitions to the religious mystery play are fluid. Similar to the mystery play, scenes of ancient myths and folk tales are usually presented to an audience in certain traditional rites .
term
The word demon comes from the Greek ( ancient Greek δαίμων daímōn ). The Greek mythology understood it to be a god-like spirit being, which in popular religion played a role as mediator between gods and humans. It could prove helpful or hostile, it could take on the traits of a guardian spirit , but also those of a diabolical being . For the ancient philosopher Socrates , the demon appears as a “daimonion”, as a god-sent inner voice, as a conscience that showed him the ethically correct way of behavior.
Concepts of good and evil spirits, which one feared and had to agree to mercy, grew up in the most diverse natural religions and cultures. They led to ritual events in which the dreaded beings were honored with sacrifices, dances and demon games. In highly developed cultures, various forms of mystery plays emerged from them , in the Christian area for example the passion plays .
Meaning
A clearly recognizable especially among primitive peoples emergence reason tried on the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud declining, theory of defense against anxiety 'with a need for protection against the intangible forces of nature and its importance to explain the fate of the people: "This explanatory model also meets the game thoughts and Games of ancient cultures who try to tame and banish their fears of the mysterious forces of nature and the magic of ghosts and demons with magical mask dances and gruesome god rituals. Mystery games transform the intangible forces of nature and fear-inducing creatures of the imagination into visible shapes that can be dealt with playfully, courted, mocked or symbolically driven away or destroyed by stronger protective deities. "
Folk belief personified the forces of nature in its myths into tangible figures, and the basic principles of protective good and threatening evil were given a visible expression in symbolic figures, in order to be able to deal with them in a sacred way:
Egypt
Thousands of years before the turn of the Christian era, the pharaohs and their priests in ancient Egypt were celebrating demon or mystery games in honor of their numerous deities, from whom the well-being of the country, such as the eagerly anticipated annual flooding of the Nile Valley, had to be wrested. They explained to the people the worldview of the time, the origin of the cosmos, the deeds of the deities and the divine rank of ruler. Figures of light such as Isis and her husband Osiris are in a permanent battle with the forces of evil, who are embodied in figures such as the devious fratricide Seth or the wild lion goddess Sachmet . The ruling pharaoh is usually at the center of events in the cult of the dead and sacrificial ceremonies.
India
In Indian mythology and the epic and folklore that portray it, demons like the Rakshasas play an important role. Once gods themselves, they became their opponents. They are spirits of darkness who can take the form of various animals such as owls, vultures or tigers and feed on blood and human flesh. Equipped with several heads, arms and legs as well as mostly large fangs, they have a horrific and terrifying effect on the people they are hostile to. The demon kings Ravana and Kamsa are in a bitter battle with the king's son Rama , the philanthropic incarnation of the god Vishnu . In the ceremonial game, they symbolize the powers that are conflicting in world affairs, their varied victories and defeats.
Indonesia
In the demon games in the cultural area of Indonesia, for example in Bali , legendary events come on the stage that have already come from pre-Hindu animistic times and are still ritually celebrated in festivals today:
The good-natured Barong , principle of the good and caring, depicted as a lion-like colossus, and his helpers, the Kris fighters, are in a dramatic primal feud with the mighty adversary Rangda , queen of demons, who dominates world affairs and wants to harm people . Both have magical powers that they use alternately against each other and play in games and dances in front of spectators. It is about the staging of the eternal struggle of the forces of good and evil. The masks are considered to be sacred objects that are blessed by a priest with consecrated water from Mount Agung before each use .
Europe
In the European game culture , demon games have established themselves in various forms and in some cases have a long tradition. They range from the ghost games popular with children to the carnival games widespread throughout Europe , the youthful witch-magic and voodoo rituals celebrated in cellar and hut parties to the devil cults of esoteric secret circles with exorcism practices . In the voodoo tradition inherited from West Africa, mysterious spirit beings are conjured up in ritual games, which are supposed to enable access to supernatural experiences. In doing so, the believer can turn to the good-natured Rada spirits , “spiritual guides” who grant wishes. In addition, he has to do with the Petro spirits , aggressive demons, whose destructive character disturbs the mental balance, but can also be used for the magic of black magic . Alcohol, drum music, singing and dancing put you in a trance state when conjuring up spirits .
The blind cow game is now a simple children's game with the game idea of teasing, hiding and searching, after the once cultic background was forgotten over time: "The eyeless (hidden behind a mask) demon tried to who approached him disrespectfully to seize and demonize themselves. "
Behind this ritual play of symbols was the idea that whoever mocks a blind person will be blinded by contact with him and the magical effects triggered by it, while the blind person will experience release from his suffering. This latent layer of symbols, that demons hide their identity behind a mask and punish the discoverer with eternal blindness, has remained alive in the Hindu tradition and in the performances of the Indian Mahabharata epic up to our time.
literature
- Felicitas Goodman : Ecstasy, obsession, demons - the mysterious side of religion. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1991, ISBN 3-579-00282-1 .
- Walter Scherf: The Demon's Challenge: Form u. Function of gruesome children's fairy tales . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2011.
- Rüdiger Thiele, Konrad Haase: Devil games . Urania, Leipzig, Jena, Berlin 1991.
- Rainer Warning: Rite, Myth and Spiritual Play. In: Poetica. Journal for Linguistics and Literature Studies. Volume 3, 1970, pp. 83-114.
- Siegbert A. Warwitz , Anita Rudolf: The theory of fear defense . In: Dies: On the meaning of play. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 , pp. 11-12.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: The theory of fear defense . In: Dies: On the meaning of play. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 11–12.
- ↑ Richard H. Wilkinson: The world of the gods in ancient Egypt. Faith – Power – Mythology , Theiss, Stuttgart 2003.
- ↑ Frank Teichmann: The Egyptian mysteries, sources of a high culture . Free Spiritual Life, Stuttgart 1999.
- ↑ Anneliese Keilhauer, Peter Keilhauer: The visual language of Hinduism. The Indian world of gods and their symbolism. Dumont, Cologne 1986.
- ↑ J. Slattum: Balinese Masks. Spirits of an Ancient Drama . Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd. 2003.
- ^ Susan Greenwood: The Illustrated History of Magic and Witchcraft . Lorenz Books 2011, pp. 46–48.
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. Explanatory models for cross-border behavior. Publisher Schneider. Baltmannsweiler 2016. p. 13.
- ↑ Heino Gehrts: Mahabharata. The happening and its meaning . Bouvier-Verlag, Bonn 1975.