Tukh Manuk

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Tukh Manuk Chapel in the old cemetery of the village of Oshakan , Aragazotn Province . Next to it is a large Khachkar

Tukh Manuk (more rarely Tux Manuk , Armenian Թուխ Մանուկ , "dark boy", transliteration T'owx Manowk , German transcription cloth Manuk ) is a cult of a partly helpful, partly malicious mythical figure in the form of a black youth, preserved in Armenia from pre-Christian times , which continues to exist on the fringes of the Armenian Apostolic majority religion, occurs in many folk tales and is venerated in shrines in the countryside.

Cultural environment

In the Transcaucasia region , the settled farmers and cattle nomads who belonged to the Kura Araxes culture worshiped the early Bronze Age in the 3rd millennium BC. According to judging by a mother goddess, small female statuettes . In the Middle Bronze Age (end of the 3rd millennium to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC), the previously rather peaceful living conditions changed due to nomadic warlike tribes who often settled on mountain slopes and left them covered with stone slabs and stones, as in Zorakar stone chamber tombs. From the middle of the 2nd millennium, the mother goddess was worshiped in temples and the stone setting received reliefs of fish, dragon and snake-like beings. These stone marks may have been associated with buffalo sacrifices. Today they are called Vischap stones and are considered to be dragons protecting springs and, figuratively, symbols of fertility. The dragon-snake stones of the Urartians in the 1st millennium BC BC were models for early Christian stone workings, from which the khachkars developed in the 9th century , which are among the essential religious symbols of the Armenian Christians. The Armenians adopted the Urartian religion, which was later joined by elements of Iranian Mithraism .

Sacred places in pre-Christian times, the importance of which was preserved in the cultural memory of the Armenians, include Vishap stones, gardens with grapes, which, according to Urartian inscriptions, the king had to donate on special occasions, and holy forests. Both were thought of as mythological gardens of paradise, described in legends and depicted in sculptures. Ararat , revered as a national mountain, is considered the home of the dragon king Azdahak in Armenian mythology , which is why “black water” flows down from its volcanic peak.

In the Christian folk religion and cult practice, the prehistoric myths can be found in an adapted meaning. In the eternal struggle between good and evil, Christ appears as the heavenly blacksmith who defeats the underworldly serpent-dragon. On the Khachkar reliefs, the cross rises triumphantly over the spiraling serpent. The cross surrounded by a pagan tree of life also has a magical meaning and can be used in healing rituals like the Armenian script invented in the 4th century .

The mutual penetration of ancient Armenian and Christian ideas also includes the cult of Tukh Manuk, neglected but not damned by the official church. Today's apostolic church is critical of sectarian tendencies and evangelical groups who are missionary, but remains tolerant of pagan traditions. Shrines in which Tukh Manuk is venerated are as holy places for the faithful as churches or like the stove in the kitchen of the traditional house ( glkhatun ) until the beginning of the 20th century . Many living rooms had a second sacred area, which was filled with relics ( tan surb , "saint of the house") - handwritten paper amulets, iron crosses, the fragment of a kachkar.

myth

The name Tukh Manuk, "dark-haired / dark-skinned boy", probably refers to the black hair color of the beautiful young man. In the 19th century, there were chapels in which Tukh Manuk was worshiped, on hilltops, at springs or in sacred groves in practically all Armenian-inhabited areas in eastern Anatolia and the southern Caucasus, where they were mostly in a neglected state. The shrines were visited by women who said simple prayer formulas every Saturday evening ("May God have mercy on the souls of our ancestors") and lit candles and incense. There were also annual festivals with music, dancing and banquets at the shrines.

Today, Tukh Manuk shrines are common in many rural areas of Armenia. The shrines are located in isolated places outside the villages or in the middle of houses. The places of worship are in the form of small one-room houses with a gable roof, correspond to devotional chapels or, as in the village of Mastara, are located within a Christian chapel. There a shapeless stone painted with red paint is worshiped on the ground. The shrines are visited as places of pilgrimage from which a magical healing power is said to emanate.

Tukh Manuk is presented as a blood-drinking lower deity and a beautiful black youth. Red wine is a sublime substitute for blood and connects Tukh Manuk with the Greek Bacchus , whose cultic intoxication seems to have been imported from India. The American religious scholar James Russell connects the character of Tukh Manuk with the youthful Hindu god Krishna and with Melanthos ("the dark one", from Greek melas , "black") of Greek mythology . Russell sees in them the mythical figure of a black boy of beautiful shape but cunning nature, who is associated with sources, purity, love games and fertility. For this hypothesis, a common early Indo-Iranian-Greek cultural layer must be taken as the basis and Armenia must be seen not only geographically in the middle between India and the Mediterranean. The myth could have been spread by peoples ( Roma ) migrating westward from India or it could be part of a universal Indo-European folk tale developed in different places.

In ancient Greece, the function of the mythical narratives changed, which in the classical period acquired a socio-political level of meaning. For example, the mythical horse-mixed creature Centaur, characterized as wild and passionate, appears disturbing at a wedding, so that it can be overwhelmed by the founders of the city of Athens, who have been introduced as a power of order against the chaos. Russell sees a comparable double role in the Indian Gandharva , who is known for his wildness, his creative streak above all as a heavenly musician, who has a musically beguiling effect like the Greek siren and at the same time acts as a kind of third force in human reproduction. In Iranian mythology, Yushkaparik is a being in the form of an ibex, whose ferocity and sexual permissiveness an Armenian historian of the 8th or 9th century compares with the Centaur. In a later medieval Armenian text, this mythical figure was assigned a function in the Christian worldview by declaring it to be the origin of heresy .

In this context there is Melanthos, in Greek mythology a youthful outsider, whose growing up and integration into society was retold in the Apaturia ritual. A role comparable to Melanthos takes on Tukh Manuk, who in Armenian folk songs from the wild mountain forests reaches the people downstream and seduces young girls at the watering holes. In India, the young Krishna puts the cow girls ( Gopis ) under his spell on the riverbank and thus becomes a symbol of mystical love.

Tukh Manuk is the main character in numerous medieval and modern folk poems and is mentioned in the Armenian national epic David of Sassun . Its stories are based on oral traditions from the 8th to 10th centuries and are about a Christian King David in the city of Sassun , who heroically fights against the infidel Arab invaders. In addition, several geographical locations bear the name: There is a Tukh Manuk pass, which at 1795 meters forms the border between two provinces on the road between Ararat and Areni , a river and a fortress of the same name, and a village of Tukh.

cult

Simple new shrine at Dvin

Tukh Manuk chapels are still venerated in many places today. They consist of a rectangular room with a prayer corner. The cult objects and images of saints also displayed in the room do not differ from those of a decorated altar in the church. A stone setting or a stone tomb often represents the black youth. As is also the case in the Christian cult in Armenia, animal sacrifices ( matagh , original meaning “sacrificial lamb”), mostly in the form of chickens, pigeons or sheep, are offered to him according to old tradition . The meat of the matagh must be eaten with the family on the day of slaughter. Christian offerings usually take place at Easter or at family celebrations such as baptisms and weddings.

The believers walk around the shrine seven times in prayer before offering the animal sacrifice. Candles are lit for every occasion. As in other magically holy places, a wish-fulfillment tree can be placed next to the shrine , which is hung with scraps of cloth by supplicants.

Tukh Manuk Shrines in Aragazotn Province :

  • Oschakan , village near Ashtarak on the southern slope of Aragaz . The chapel, made of red and gray tuff , stands on a small hill in the old cemetery next to a large Khachkar monument, near the tomb of St. Mesrop from the 4th century, who is venerated as the inventor of the Armenian script.
  • Agarak , village north of Oshakan on the Amberd River. A stone building, newly built in 1999 on the remains of a pre-Christian Tukh Manuk shrine, stands near the Georgskirche.
  • Tegher, village also on the southern slope of Aragaz, between Bjurakan and Kosch . The small church, dating back to the 5th century, is dedicated to Tukh Manuk and the Mother of God ( Surb Astvatsatsin ).
  • East bank of the Aparan reservoir, southeast of Aparan . The saddle roof of a shrine made of large tuff blocks is covered with corrugated iron. The entrance is on the south side and the altar, as in Christian churches, in the east, whereas in pre-Christian times it was in the west. Further shrines from early Christian times have been preserved in the area east of the reservoir.
  • Mastara in the west of the Aragaz. The early Christian shrine is hidden between trees and houses a few meters south of St. John's Church.

Tukh Manuk Shrines in Armavir Province :

  • Arevaschat, village southeast Echmiadzin . There is a 19th century basilica and a Tukh Manuk shrine.
  • Aghavnatun north of Echmiadzin. The village, which already existed in pre-Christian times, is home to two Tukh Manuk shrines and two early Christian church ruins. The highly revered Karmravor Tukh Manuk is the only remnant of an earlier monastery complex and may have been a side room of the former church.
  • Assaluys west of Echmiadzin. There are two shrines outside the village. They once belonged to a monastery, one of which is richly furnished with cult objects.
  • Aknaschen south of Etchmiadzin. The restored Surb Sarkis Tukh Manuk one kilometer outside the village is surrounded by Bronze Age Vishap stones.

Tukh Manuk Shrines in Vajoz Dzor Province :

  • Areni . One of the revered rock caves near the village ( Surb Grigor Nahatak ) is dedicated to Tukh Manuk.
  • Arkaz Monastery ( Arkazi Surb Khach ), three kilometers east of Tanahat . The church, which was rebuilt around 1870 on the site of a medieval monastery, is a place of pilgrimage, especially on the annual festival of the Exaltation of the Cross in September. The monastery was probably built on the site of a Tukh Manuk shrine, the ruins of which are still venerated.
  • Here, in the mountains north of Vayk. Two kilometers from the village is the former hermitage of Chiki Vank from the 13th century with a single-nave church that is venerated as the Tukh Manuk shrine.

Tukh Manuk Shrines in Sjunik Province :

  • Angeghakot, village northwest of Sisian . One of the three churches, which date back to early Christian times, is a small Tukh Manuk chapel, in whose walls some khachkar stones are built as a sign of their religious significance. Another nearby shrine was set up in a stone chamber tomb dating from the Bronze Age.
  • Werischen . On a hill north of the village bordering Goris is a shrine in a cave, surrounded by medieval khachkars. A wall niche inside belonged to a holy spring, which gave the place its name Nora Knunk ("new baptismal font").
  • Artsvanik northeast of Kapan . About two kilometers south of the village is a Tukh Manuk shrine on the road, which consists of two small rooms. A Khachkar stone is venerated in each chamber.
  • Vahravar on the border with Iran and Nakhichevan . The 10th century Karmravank Monastery was built on the site of an earlier Tukh Manuk chapel.

literature

  • James R. Russell: The Armenian Shrines of the Black Youth (t'ux manuk) . In: Le Muséon 111.3–4 , 1998, pp. 319–343 ( abstract )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hamlet Petrosyan: In the Beginning . In: Levon Abrahamian, Nancy Sweezy (Eds.): Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity . Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2001, pp. 6-10
  2. ^ Religion. In: Rouben Paul Adalin: Historical Dictionary of Armenia . Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2002, p. 322
  3. ↑ Hamlet Petrosyan: Symbols of Armenian Identity . In: Levon Abrahamian u. a., p. 25
  4. ↑ Hamlet Petrosyan: The Sacred Mountain . In: Levon Abrahamian u. a., p. 35
  5. ↑ Karine Ter-Saakian: Armenia. Pagan Games . In: Caucasus CRS Issue 247 , August 19, 2004 (IWPR Institute for War and Peace Reporting)
  6. ↑ Harutyun Marutyan: Home as the World . In: Levon Abrahamian u. a., p. 93
  7. ↑ Rick Ney: Aragatsotn March . Tour Armenia, 2008, p. 90
  8. ^ Alain Daniélou : Gods of Love and Ecstasy: The Traditions of Shiva and Dionysus. Inner Traditions, Rochester (Vermont) 1992, p. 154
  9. ↑ James R. Russell: Early Armenian civilization . In: Edmund Herzig, Marina Kurkchiyan (Ed.): The Armenians: Past and Present in the Making of National Identity. (Caucasus World: Peoples of the Caucasus). Routledge Curzon, Oxon 2005, pp. 28f
  10. ↑ David of Sassun . In: Grikor Chalatianz: Fairy tales and legends . Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich, Leipzig 1887, pp. 80–83 ( online at Zeno.org )
  11. ↑ Photos. ( Memento of March 1, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Naregatsi Art Institute
  12. ↑ Rick Ney: Aragatsotn March . Tour Armenia, 2008, p. 29
  13. ↑ Rick Ney: Armavir. Tour Armenia, 2008, pp. 59f, 63, 85
  14. ↑ Rick Ney: Vayots Dzor. Tour Armenia, 2009, pp. 4, 16, 25
  15. ↑ Rick Ney: Siunik . Tour Armenia, 2009, pp. 4, 28, 33, 43