What is syncretic art? Primitive culture: syncretism and magic. B) myths about the structure of the Universe

Cultural studies and art history

Syncretism of primitive culture. Syncretism is the main quality of culture that characterizes the process of transition from the biological form of existence of animals to the sociocultural form of existence of Homo sapiens. The syncretism of this first historical state of culture is natural and logical, since at the initial level the integrity of the system is manifested in its amorphous indivisibility. Associated with this identification is totemism, characteristic of primitive culture, from the language of the Ojibwe Indian tribe, its kind of belief in an ancestor who may be...

CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) 40 thousand 12 thousand BC

Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) 12 thousand 8-7 thousand BC

Neolithic ( New Stone Age) 7 thousand 2 thousand BC

Bronze Age about 2 thousand BC

Syncretism of primitive culture.

Syncretism the main quality of culture that characterizes the process of transition from the biological form of existence of animals to the sociocultural form of existenceHomo sapiens. The syncretism of this first historical state of culture is natural and logical, since at the initial level the integrity of the system is manifested in its amorphousness and indivisibility.

Syncretism and synthesis are not the same thing, since synthesis is the merging of independently existing objects, and syncretism is a state that precedes the splitting of the whole into parts.

Firstly, syncretism manifests itself in the fusion of man and nature. Primitive man identifies himself with animals, plants, stone, water, sun, etc.

Associated with this identification is the characteristic feature of primitive culture. totemism (from the language of the Ojibwe Indian tribe his family ) belief in an ancestor, which can be an animal, a bird, a tree, a mushroom, etc.

This explains the primitive animism (from Latin soul ) animation of everything that surrounds a person: things, natural objects, animals. What primitive man does (hunting, gathering, reproduction, intertribal wars) is thought of by him as a product of nature. This worldview was very stabletraditionalist. Only the development of crafts, which separated man from the animal world and gradually became a dominant feature of production, helped man to realize his significant difference from nature, but this already happens outside of primitive culture.

Despite the syncretism of production activities primitive man, the forms of this activity were different in their focus and methods of implementation. The cultural practice of primitive man is a tripartite systemic new formation that combines 1) hunting, 2) gathering, 3) making tools:

Practical activities of primitive man:

1. inherited from animalsways to consume nature: flora gathering; fauna hunting;

2. invented by manway of transforming nature craft .

Secondly, syncretism is manifested in the inseparability of the material, spiritual and artistic subsystems of culture.

Spiritual (ideal) in primitive culture is represented by two levels of the work of human consciousness: mythological and realistic.

Mythologicalthis is an unconsciously artistic way of working of consciousness. Mythological thinking was expressed in the practice of deification of animals ( totemism).

Realisticspontaneous materialistic consciousness. Thanks to him, primitive man distinguished the properties of natural realities (stone, wood, clay, useful and poisonous plants, etc.). This type of consciousness is also called practical, everyday. Some (B. Malinovsky, M. Shakhnovich, P. V. Simonov) believe that such consciousness can be called a scientific attitude towards the world, others ( V.P. Stepin ) is considered a pre-science.

Thus, primitive consciousness has a two-level structure, itpractical-pre-scientific (practical) And scientific-theoretical (mythological).

In epistemological (from Greek. cognition ) aspect, two types of consciousness oppose each other: mythological consciousness is dogmatic and conservative, it seeks to perpetuate cultural ideas about being, and practical consciousness contributes to the development of human cognitive (epistemological) abilities and moves it forward. But in the axiological aspect (from the Greek. valuable ) both varieties were identical: both the mythological and practical types of consciousness are antinomic, i.e. based on the contradictions (oppositions) of positive (useful) and negative (harmful).

The third manifestation of primitive syncretism is artistic activity, which was inextricably woven into material and production processes. Hunting turned into a poetic sublime action and vice versa hunting game turned into a bloody and cruel ritual. Hence the practicesacrifices. The more difficult and dangerous the hunt, the more valuable the prey is considered. It is precisely the risk that human hunting initially differs from animal hunting: an animal hunts a weaker one, and a person began to hunt an animal that is significantly stronger than him. In addition, people hunt collectively.

Food how a collective meal signified victory in the hunt and acquired a festive character. Precisely because meals and funeral feasts are the most important rituals on calendar, wedding and funeral ceremonies, in Russian “a word of high style priest and a low style word grub one root, and the paintings of Greek tombs and sarcophagi depict funeral meals" ( E.E. Kuzmina ). The measure of a person's religious zeal and material expenditures had to be equal to the measure of gifts and benefits that God bestowed upon man. Therefore, it was necessary to share the most precious food (sacrifice) with God.

“Artistic and ritual packaging was a universal technology of all significant production processes» ( M.S. Kagan).

The most significant ritualspregnancy and childbirth, birth and childhood, initiations, engagement and wedding, funerals.

A symbolic designation of syncretism can be the image on the walls of Paleolithic caves hands as a bearer of physical and technical culture and acquiring increasing general cultural and aesthetic value. The image of a hand is at the origins of image formationcreative person.

The fourth manifestation of syncretism morphological indivisibility, i.e. undifferentiation of genera, types, genres of art. Primitive artistic creativity is a “song-tale-action-dance” ( A.N. Veselovsky).

The unity of all things, the identification of different things, has formed one of the main units of artistic thinking metaphor.

Traditionality of primitive culture

Primitive culture first historical form traditional culture. Tradition dominates in all types of activities and in culture as a whole. Because of this, all structures of life and everyday life, tastes, rituals, etc. were stable and passed down from generation to generation as an absolute law. The problem that nature solves by genetic means is solved in primitive culture by tradition, thereby becoming a victory of culture over time. Submission to the norm, fixed by tradition, has become a cultural form of hereditary transmission of information. The tendency to get rid of the shackles of tradition increases as civilization progresses.

The traditionalism of primitive culture appears in the identification not only natural and human, but also social and individual. A member of a primitive community is equal to its whole. All members had one common group name, all wore the same tattoo or body paint, the same hairstyle, and sang a common song. Psychologists call this situation identity me and us . Even much later, in Ancient Egypt, word People denotes only Egyptians, and in Russian the word Germans for a very long time meant all foreigners (not us = dumb). It is significant that a stranger is designated as they, and nature like you, i.e. like yours.

From the identity of one and all, the custom of blood feud and vendetta is born, which later develops into national conflicts.

Identity I and we gives grounds to characterize primitive culture ascollectively anonymous.

There are two reasons for the emergence of identity me and us:

1) the mythological nature of thinking, in which a single worldview is imposed on all members of the community, the absolute truth of which is guaranteed by its divine origin;

2) identification of cultural and public (social).Sociality will begin to separate from culture when the structures that organize the life of society begin to acquire independence (institutionalize): the state, the court, marriage, etc.

The traditional nature of primitive culture determined its long existence, longer than all subsequent ones. historical types culture. Subsequently, forces began to emerge that turned out to be more powerful than the power of tradition.

The main features of the culture of nomadic pastoralists.

The problem of the transition from ancient cultures to civilization is one of the least studied.

A new way of organizing life various peoples nonlinear process. It is determined by the objective possibilities that each population has (from French. population ) located in a given natural and climatic environment. The specific set of these possibilities depended on the material and production practices of the primitive collective (for example, the “choice” of cattle breeding or agriculture).

Archeology has evidence of the slow but steady development of technology and technology of material production during the period of collapse of primitive culture. This process is proceeding unevenly: gathering changes the least, hunting changes the most (from attacking animals with clubs and torches to using spears, bows and arrows), craft changes the most profoundly (not only changes its technical and technological structure, but also ensures gathering and hunting with digging tools, spears, shovels, etc.). The development of craft provokes the development of thinking and imagination. This process is called “ideal”, i.e. "constructing in the head" an object before actually building it ( K. Marx ), "creating models of the required future" ( N.A. Bernshtein ), "advanced reflection" ( P.K. Anokhin ). The main thing is that the productive industry (craft) is ahead of the consuming industries (gathering and hunting) in development, and the force that ensures this process is human intelligence.

These changes led to radical changes in all life - culturalNeolithic revolution(approx. 7 thousand BC). As a result, gathering and hunting are gradually being replaced by cattle breeding and agriculture . The “Iron Age” (began around 1000 BC) has a turning point in the history of material culture.

Pastoral nomadic cultureplayed a huge role in the culture of the Ancient World. Ethnographers consider the culture to be a nomadic type of culture Scythians and Sarmatians (Sauromatians), Jews, Mongols, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Arabs and many other ancient peoples. For a long time The Scythians included the tribes that lived in the steppes of the Black Sea region. Now the boundaries of the “Scythian world” are defined more broadly: it is a “conglomerate of different tribes” that had economic and cultural commonality and lived in the vast territory of the Northern Black Sea region, the Azov region, and the North Caucasus ( B. Piotrovsky).

Archaeologists find the first traces of cattle breeding at the turn of the 1st-Uth millennium BC. in the territory of Southern Egypt and among the inhabitants of the Fayum oasis.

The main difference between nomadic and agricultural cultures is in their relation to space and time.

G. Gachev : “A nomadic collective differs from an agricultural one, like an animal that has self-movement and is free from environment, is different from a plant, which is forever chained to its place."

But the freedom of the nomadic people is at the same time Not freedom and slavery. He moves because he has nothing. This is movement in space and not in time, i.e. displacement, not development. Therefore, agricultural life turned out to be more progressive than pastoral life. The nomads defeated sedentary peoples, but, having won and remaining in the conquered territory, they adopted the lifestyle of the vanquished, assimilated into sedentary peoples and retained their nomadic lifestyle only in the army.

Character traits nomadic pastoralist cultures:

1. In the lifestyle of nomads, the model of life, consciousness, and behavior that developed in primitive culture is firmly preservedzoocentric and zoomorphic (an animal for a nomad is like the sun for a farmer). It is characterized by syncretism, polysemanticism, belief in magical actions and rituals, fetishistic worship of individual objects and animals.

2. Technology communication with animals was extremely simple . The thinking of the nomadic pastoralist in organizing the “human-animal” relationship is conservative and does not require developed intelligence. Communication skills with animals can be transmitted orally, which is why writing did not originate in them.

3. Visual forms of artistic and craft creativity expanded the scope of their presence in culture.Aestheticization of the entire subject environmenta universal feature of all nomadic pastoralists.

4. The structure of the home had to provide mobility yurt, hut, wigwam. The Scythians lived in carts and wagons.

5. Sculpture existed in miniature forms (jewelry and applied arts), was used in the design of weapons, warrior clothing, and horse harnesses.

6. Dominance of military lifeover peaceful conditions determines the relative aggressiveness of nomadic peoples. The impossibility of an isolated existence led to regular military raids on agricultural oases. Hence the huge role of the horse as a means of transportation and, therefore, an object of worship (ritual burials of horses). The relic of the totemistic relationship with the horse lasts for a very long time. The horse is the most revered sacrifice.

The formation of civilization in agricultural societies

The second path that peoples took in the conditions of the crisis of the primitive communal system is the transformationagriculture as the basis of production activities. Conditions most favorable for this have developed in Mesopotamia, India, China, Indonesia, and South and Central America. The main determinants of the process of formation of agricultural crops are the state of material culture, practical production activities of people.

Characteristic features of agricultural crops.

1. If nomadic peoples were focused on mastering the animal world, then agriculturalists onmastery of the plant world. Irrigated agriculture required the combined physical strength of a huge number of people. This could be achieved by 1) slavery and 2) new forms of harsh social organization. Thus, two mechanisms arosestate-political and cult.

2. In this regard, a new type of legal form has arisen written laws , which were not of a religious nature, but secular

3. The need for such legal and ethical actions is connected with the fact that a large city , which was a “concentrate” of various types of activity: state-bureaucratic, religious, craft, trade, scientific, educational.

4. The city was a carriernew attitude of farmers to nature: 1) the nature of mythology changed and 2) forms appeared outside mythological relationship to reality. The central place in consciousness was no longer occupied by the beast, but by the deified Sun (Surya - in Indo-Iranian mythology; Utu - in Sumerian, Shaman - in Akkadian, Ra and Aten - in Egyptian). The sun played not only the abstract role of the general condition of life, but also the concrete, utilitarian-practical, economic role of the force that ensures the harvest, i.e. life. In connection with the cult of the Sun, an extensive solar-meteorological mythology will be formed in the future, and cyclic concepts will develop.

5. Due to the fact that agricultural cultures have a different psychological model of attitude towards nature, theyless belligerent and aggressive. Participation in war is not a spiritual need, but a social duty. This also explains the fact that if in the culture of nomads the ritual of sacrifice is preserved, then in agricultural cultures one of the moral commandments will be “Thou shalt not kill!”

6. The layer of realistic consciousness is changing. Changes occur at three levels: theoretical-scientific, emotional-aesthetic, artistic-figurative. The development of practice required the deepening of practical, everyday knowledge. Henceformation of scienceas a fundamentally different way of cognition from mythology. Science in different regions develops in different “proportions”: in India, humanities (grammar) predominate, in China natural Sciences(astronomy, medicine), in Babylon and Egypt mathematics, medicine, geography, practical chemistry, in the culture of the ancient Mayans very complex system accounts and the concept of zero.

7. A change in the way of thinking led to the invention of a new way of storing and transmitting information writing , which should be considered one of the attributes of that stage in the history of culture called “civilization.”

8. Consequence of the appearance of writing school development (Sumerian culture).

9. Aesthetic perceptionbegins to separate from the utilitarian-mythological attitude to things, the concept of “beauty” appears, which is associated with the concepts of “joy”, “pleasure” and is interpreted in the aspect of selflessness.

10. Art becomes the self-awareness of agricultural culture.

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syncretismus- connection of societies) - a combination or fusion of “incomparable” ways of thinking and views, forming a conditional unity.

Syncretism in art

An excerpt characterizing Syncretism (art)

As soon as the curtain rose, everything in the boxes and stalls fell silent, and all the men, old and young, in uniforms and tails, all the women wearing precious stones on their naked bodies, turned all their attention to the stage with greedy curiosity. Natasha also began to look.

On the stage there were even boards in the middle, painted paintings depicting trees stood on the sides, and a canvas on boards was stretched behind. In the middle of the stage sat girls in red bodices and white skirts. One, very fat, in a white silk dress, sat separately on a low bench, to which green cardboard was glued to the back. They were all singing something. When they finished their song, the girl in white approached the prompter's booth, and a man in tight-fitting silk trousers on thick legs, with a feather and a dagger, approached her and began to sing and spread his arms.
The man in tight trousers sang alone, then she sang. Then both fell silent, the music began to play, and the man began to finger the hand of the girl in a white dress, apparently again waiting for the beat to begin his part with her. They sang together, and everyone in the theater began to clap and shout, and the man and woman on stage, who were portraying lovers, began to bow, smiling and spreading their arms.
After the village and in the serious mood in which Natasha was, all this was wild and surprising to her. She could not follow the progress of the opera, could not even hear the music: she saw only painted cardboard and strangely dressed men and women, moving, speaking and singing strangely in the bright light; she knew what all this was supposed to represent, but it was all so pretentiously false and unnatural that she felt either ashamed of the actors or funny at them. She looked around her, at the faces of the spectators, looking for in them the same feeling of ridicule and bewilderment that was in her; but all the faces were attentive to what was happening on the stage and expressed feigned, as it seemed to Natasha, admiration. “This must be so necessary!” thought Natasha. She alternately looked back at those rows of pomaded heads in the stalls, then at the naked women in the boxes, especially at her neighbor Helen, who, completely undressed, with a quiet and calm smile, without taking her eyes off, looked at the stage, feeling the bright light poured throughout the hall and warm, crowd-warmed air. Natasha little by little began to reach a state of intoxication that she had not experienced for a long time. She didn’t remember what she was, where she was, or what was happening in front of her. She looked and thought, and the strangest thoughts suddenly, without connection, flashed through her head. Either the thought came to her to jump onto the ramp and sing the aria that the actress sang, then she wanted to hook the old man sitting not far from her with her fan, then she wanted to lean over to Helen and tickle her.
One minute, when everything was quiet on the stage, waiting for the start of the aria, the entrance door of the stalls creaked, on the side where the Rostovs’ box was, and the steps of a belated man sounded. “Here he is Kuragin!” Shinshin whispered. Countess Bezukhova turned to the newcomer, smiling. Natasha looked in the direction of Countess Bezukhova’s eyes and saw an unusually handsome adjutant, with a self-confident and at the same time courteous appearance approaching their bed. It was Anatol Kuragin, whom she had seen for a long time and noticed at the St. Petersburg ball. He was now in an adjutant uniform with one epaulette and a bracelet. He walked with a restrained, dashing gait, which would have been funny if he had not been so handsome and if there had not been such an expression of good-natured contentment and joy on his beautiful face. Despite the fact that the action was going on, he, slowly and slightly rattling his spurs and saber, smoothly and high holding his perfumed beautiful head, walked along the carpet of the corridor. Looking at Natasha, he walked up to his sister, put his gloved hand on the edge of her box, shook her head and leaned over and asked something, pointing at Natasha.
- Mais charmante! [Very sweet!] - he said, obviously about Natasha, as she not so much heard as understood from the movement of his lips. Then he walked to the front row and sat down next to Dolokhov, giving a friendly and casual elbow to Dolokhov, whom the others were treating so ingratiatingly. He smiled at him with a cheerful wink and rested his foot on the ramp.
– How similar brother and sister are! - said the count. - And how good they are both!
Shinshin began to tell the count in a low voice some story of Kuragin's intrigue in Moscow, to which Natasha listened precisely because he said charmante about it.
The first act ended, everyone in the stalls stood up, got confused and began to walk in and out.
Boris came to the Rostovs' box, very simply accepted congratulations and, raising his eyebrows, with an absent-minded smile, conveyed to Natasha and Sonya his bride's request that they be at her wedding, and left. Natasha talked to him with a cheerful and flirtatious smile and congratulated the same Boris with whom she had been in love before on his marriage. In the state of intoxication in which she was, everything seemed simple and natural.
Naked Helen sat next to her and smiled equally at everyone; and Natasha smiled at Boris in the same way.
Helen's box was filled and surrounded from the stalls by the most distinguished and intelligent men, who seemed to be vying to show everyone that they knew her.
Throughout this intermission, Kuragin stood with Dolokhov in front of the ramp, looking at the Rostovs’ box. Natasha knew that he was talking about her, and it gave her pleasure. She even turned around so that he could see her profile, in her opinion, in the most advantageous position. Before the start of the second act, the figure of Pierre appeared in the stalls, whom the Rostovs had not seen since their arrival. His face was sad, and he had gained weight since Natasha last saw him. Without noticing anyone, he walked into the front rows. Anatole approached him and began to say something to him, looking and pointing at the Rostovs’ box. Pierre, seeing Natasha, perked up and hurriedly, along the rows, went to their bed. Approaching them, he leaned on his elbow and, smiling, spoke to Natasha for a long time. During her conversation with Pierre, Natasha heard a man’s voice in Countess Bezukhova’s box and for some reason learned that it was Kuragin. She looked back and met his eyes. Almost smiling, he looked straight into her eyes with such an admiring, affectionate look that it seemed strange to be so close to him, to look at him like that, to be so sure that he liked you, and not be familiar with him.
In the second act there were paintings depicting monuments and there was a hole in the canvas depicting the moon, and the lampshades on the ramp were raised, and trumpets and double basses began to play, and many people in black robes came out to the right and left. People began to wave their arms, and in their hands they had something like daggers; then some other people came running and began to drag away that girl who had previously been in a white, and now in a blue dress. They didn’t drag her away right away, but sang with her for a long time, and then they dragged her away, and behind the scenes they hit something metal three times, and everyone knelt down and sang a prayer. Several times all these actions were interrupted by enthusiastic screams from the audience.
During this act, every time Natasha glanced at the stalls, she saw Anatoly Kuragin, throwing his arm over the back of the chair and looking at her. She was pleased to see that he was so captivated by her, and it did not occur to her that there was anything bad in this.
When the second act ended, Countess Bezukhova stood up, turned to the Rostovs' box (her chest was completely bare), beckoned the old count to her with a gloved finger, and, not paying attention to those who entered her box, began to speak kindly to him, smiling.
“Well, introduce me to your lovely daughters,” she said, “the whole city is shouting about them, but I don’t know them.”
Natasha stood up and sat down to the magnificent countess. Natasha was so pleased by the praise of this brilliant beauty that she blushed with pleasure.
“Now I also want to become a Muscovite,” said Helen. - And aren’t you ashamed to bury such pearls in the village!
Countess Bezukhaya, rightly, had a reputation as a charming woman. She could say what she did not think, and especially flatter, completely simply and naturally.
- No, dear Count, let me take care of your daughters. At least I won't be here for long now. And you too. I will try to amuse yours. “I heard a lot about you back in St. Petersburg, and I wanted to get to know you,” she told Natasha with her uniformly beautiful smile. “I heard about you from my page, Drubetsky. Did you hear he's getting married? And from my husband’s friend Bolkonsky, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky,” she said with special emphasis, thereby hinting that she knew his relationship to Natasha. “She asked, in order to get to know each other better, to allow one of the young ladies to sit in her box for the rest of the performance, and Natasha went over to her.

Syncretism

Syncretism

SYNCRETISM - in the broad sense of the word - the inseparability of various types of cultural creativity, characteristic of the early stages of its development. Most often, however, this term is applied to the field of art, to the facts of the historical development of music, dance, drama and poetry. In the definition of A.N. Veselovsky S. - “a combination of rhythmic, orchestral movements with song-music and elements of words.”
The study of S. phenomena is extremely important for resolving questions of the origin and historical development of the arts. The very concept of “S.” was put forward in science as a counterweight to abstract theoretical solutions to the problem of the origin of poetic genera (lyrics, epic and drama) in their supposedly sequential emergence. From the point of view of the theory of S., the construction of Hegel, who affirmed the sequence: epic - lyric - drama, and the construction of J.P. Richter, Benard and others, who considered the original form to be lyric, are equally erroneous. From the middle of the 19th century. these constructions are increasingly giving way to S.'s theory, the development of which is undoubtedly closely connected with the successes of bourgeois evolutionism. Already Carriere, who generally adhered to Hegel's scheme, was inclined to think about the initial indivisibility of poetic genera. G. Spencer also expressed the corresponding provisions. S.'s idea is touched upon by a number of authors and is finally formulated with complete certainty by Scherer, who, however, does not develop it in any broad way in relation to poetry. The task of an exhaustive study of the phenomena of poetry and clarification of the ways of differentiation of poetic genera was set by A.N. Veselovsky (see), in whose works (mainly in “Three chapters from historical poetics") S.'s theory received the most vivid and developed (for pre-Marxist literary criticism) development, justified by a huge factual material.
In the construction of A.N. Veselovsky, the theory of poetry basically boils down to the following: during the period of its inception, poetry not only was not differentiated by genre (lyrics, epic, drama), but in general it itself did not represent the main element of a more complex syncretic whole: The leading role in this syncretic art was played by dancing - “rhythmic orchestious movements accompanied by song-music.” The lyrics were originally improvised. These syncretic actions were significant not so much in meaning as in rhythm: sometimes they sang without words, and the rhythm was beaten out on a drum; often the words were distorted and distorted to suit the rhythm. Only later, on the basis of the complication of spiritual and material interests and the corresponding development of language, “an exclamation and an insignificant phrase, repeated indiscriminately and without understanding, as the support of a chant, will turn into something more integral, into an actual text, an embryo of the poetic.” Initially, this development of the text was due to the improvisation of the lead singer, whose role was increasingly increasing. The lead singer becomes the singer, leaving only the chorus for the choir. Improvisation gave way to practice, which we can now call artistic. But even with the development of the text of these syncretic works, dance continues to play a significant role. The choral song-game is involved in the ritual, then combined with certain religious cults; the development of the myth is reflected in the nature of the song and poetic text. However, Veselovsky notes the presence of non-ritual songs - marching songs, work songs. In all these phenomena are the beginnings of various types of art: music, dance, poetry. Artistic lyrics became isolated later than the artistic epic. As for drama, in this matter A.N. Veselovsky decisively (and rightly) rejects the old ideas about drama as a synthesis of epic and lyric poetry. Drama comes directly from syncretic action. The further evolution of poetic art led to the separation of the poet from the singer and the differentiation of the language of poetry and the language of prose (in the presence of their mutual influences).
There is a lot of truth in this entire construction by A.N. Veselovsky. First of all, he substantiated with vast factual material the idea of ​​the historicity of poetry and poetic genera in their content and form. The facts of S., attracted by A.N. Veselovsky, are beyond doubt. With all this, in general, the construction of A.N. Veselovsky cannot be accepted by Marxist-Leninist literary criticism. First of all, in the presence of some individual (often correct) remarks about the relationship of development poetic forms with the social process, A.N. Veselovsky interprets the problem of socialism as a whole in isolation, idealistically. Without considering syncretic art as a form of ideology, Veselovsky inevitably narrows the field of syncretic art to the phenomena of only art, only artistic creativity. Hence not only a number of “blank spaces” in Veselovsky’s scheme, but also the general empirical nature of the entire structure, in which the social interpretation of the analyzed phenomena does not go further than references to class-professional, etc. moments. Essentially, questions about the relationship of art (in its initial stages) to the development of language, to myth-making remain outside the field of view of Veselovsky; the connection between art and ritual is not fully and deeply considered; only a passing mention is made of such an essential phenomenon as work songs, etc. d. Meanwhile, S. embraces the most diverse aspects of the culture of pre-class society, by no means limiting itself only to the forms of artistic creativity. Taking this into account, it is possible to assume that the path of development of poetic genera from syncretic “rhythmic, orchestic movements with song-music and elements of words” is not the only one. It is no coincidence that A.N. Veselovsky blurs the question of the significance of oral prose legends for the initial history of the epic: while mentioning them in passing, he cannot find a place for them in his scheme. It is possible to take into account and explain the phenomena of S. in their entirety only by revealing the social and labor basis of primitive culture and the various connections connecting the artistic creativity of primitive man with his labor activity.
G.V. Plekhanov went in this direction in explaining the phenomena of primitive syncretic art, who widely used Bucher’s work “Work and Rhythm”, but at the same time he argued with the author of this study. Fairly and convincingly refuting Bucher’s propositions that play is older than labor and art is older than the production of useful objects, G.V. Plekhanov reveals the close connection of primitive art-play with the labor activity of pre-class man and with his beliefs determined by this activity. This is the undoubted value of G.V. Plekhanov’s work in this direction (see mainly his “Letters without an address”). However, for all the value of G.V. Plekhanov’s work, despite the presence of a materialistic core in it, it suffers from the defects inherent in Plekhanov’s methodology. It reveals biologism that has not been completely overcome (for example, imitation of animal movements in dances is explained by the “pleasure” experienced by primitive man from the discharge of energy when reproducing his hunting movements). Here is the root of Plekhanov’s theory of art as play, which is based on an erroneous interpretation of the phenomena of the syncretic connection between art and play in the culture of “primitive” man (partially remaining in the games of highly cultural peoples). Of course, the syncretism of art and play takes place at certain stages of cultural development, but this is precisely a connection, not identity: both are different forms of displaying reality - play is imitative reproduction, art is an ideological-figurative reflection. The phenomenon of S. receives a different light in the works of the founder of the Japhetic theory (see) - Academician. N.Ya.Marra. Recognizing the oldest form human speech language of movements and gestures (“manual or linear language”), Acad. Marr connects the origin of sound speech, along with the origin of the three arts - dancing, singing and music - with magical actions that were considered necessary for the success of production and accompanying one or another collective labor process ("Japhetic Theory", p. 98, etc.). So. arr. S., according to the instructions of academician. Marr, included the word (“epic”), “the further development of the rudimentary sound language and development in the sense of forms depended on the forms of society, and in the sense of meanings on the social worldview, first cosmic, then tribal, estate, class, etc. » (“On the Origin of Language”). So in the concept of acad. Marra S. loses its narrow aesthetic character, being associated with a certain period in development human society, forms of production and primitive thinking.
The problem of S. is still far from sufficiently developed. It can receive its final resolution only on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist interpretation of both the process of the emergence of syncretic art in pre-class society and the process of its differentiation in the conditions of social relations of class society (see Poetic genera, Drama, Lyrics, Epic, Ritual poetry).

Literary encyclopedia. - At 11 t.; M.: Publishing House of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Fritsche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .

Syncretism

SYNCRETISM poetic forms. This term was introduced by the late academician A. N. Veselovsky, who shook before him the prevailing theory of the stepwise development of poetic forms. Based on the continuity in the development of poetic forms in ancient Greece , expressed in the fact that the poems of Homer and Hesiod preceded the lyrics of Archilochus and Tyrtaeus, and the latter preceded the dramas of Aeschylus and Sophocles, learned researchers believed that the order of development of forms that was laid down in Greece was applicable to the literatures of all other nationalities. But after the folklore of uncultured peoples was brought into the study, and the very poems attributed to Homer were subjected to more detailed study, it turned out that singers existed before Homer. Demodocus and Thamir are mentioned in the Odyssey. There is an indication from Greek prose writers and philosophers that before Homer, various singers composed hymn songs in honor of Apollo, and the hymn is already primarily a lyrical work. Much more information has been revealed for resolving the question of the primary form of a poetic work by studying the creativity of uncultured peoples, and it turned out that the poetic work of many peoples is preceded by a song without words, consisting of only interjection exclamations (see Glossolalia), each time newly created and strictly subordinated a peculiar rhythm. This song was associated with actions and rituals that reproduced various kinds of activities characteristic of a primitive or uncultured person and explained by the conditions of his life. This action or ritual was of a mimic nature. Hunting for animals, buffaloes, boas, elephants, etc., was imitated; the life, voice and movements of those animals that were tamed or not tamed by man were depicted in pantomimes. Among the agricultural tribes, sowing grain, reaping it, threshing, grinding, etc. were reproduced in games. Hostile clashes with other tribes also found an echo in special war games-actions that imitated war with all its consequences. All these action games, or rituals, as Veselovsky calls them, required a whole group or even several groups of characters. The performers were in most cases men, and the spectators, but also active, were women. Play and action were expressed in dancing, facial expressions and various body movements, in accordance with the content of the action. Women, as well as other spectators, watching as the game progressed, beat time with their palms or percussion instruments like a drum. This primitive conducting brought harmony and order to the game. The beats varied according to the progress of the game. From here we draw the conclusion that rhythm precedes meter, because such a complex game, which we just talked about, cannot allow for a one-dimensional meter. In the most pathetic places the spectators shouted their approval or disapproval. Thus, we see that in a primitive game, dialogue and action, what belongs to the form of drama, were expressed by facial expressions and dancing, and lyrics by interjections. An epic in the sense of a story was also conveyed through various body movements. Some of these games, especially among agricultural tribes, were timed to a certain time of year, and the games themselves were calendar games. At the next stage, games related to melody appear, thanks to the replacement of percussion instruments with strings and winds. The melody should have arisen as a result of the weakening of affectivity in the game, due to its frequent repetition. The very content of the game could gradually change due to changing living conditions. In the absence of musical instruments, as well as in joint work, the melody was expressed through vocal means, the voice in singing. And here the words often have nothing to do with the content of the ritual: the same text, but in a different melody, supports a wide variety of games and works. Finally, at the last stage in the development of syncretic play, a song appears with content that reveals the meaning of the game. Among the participating persons, the singer-poet stands out, improvising the course of the unfolding game. The role of the lead singer was thus the role of the librettist. Particularly pathetic parts of the librettist’s song were picked up by the audience, from which a choir subsequently emerged. The first poet was the spokesman for the entire mass of the population; he was a tribal poet, and therefore the personal assessment characteristic of individual creativity was absent. The lyrical element in these improvisations was expressed very weakly, because the poet was obliged to conform in his work to the mood of the crowd. The epic element had to be consistent with the content of the actions themselves and therefore be stable. The dramatic element could develop under special conditions, with the differentiation of the choir, which could manifest itself in warlike rites, where the very meaning of the game required the division of those participating into two groups, into two choirs. Such differentiation appeared in wedding songs, where the relatives of the bride perform on one side, the groom on the other, or, as can be seen from the song: “And we sowed millet, we sowed,” girls participate in one choir, and boys in the other. Naturally, when another choir was singled out, another singer also stood out. Thus, before the differentiation of poetic forms comes the complication of this syncretism.

Special mention must be made about work songs. Work differs from play in that all movements in it must be proportionate and conditioned by the tact of work, which requires a certain uniformity. When dressing stone tools, when crushing grain in a mortar, when hitting a hammer on an anvil, and other work, a meter is developed, like a song pattern. Let us give as an example one Russian phrase:

I sow, I sow, I sow, I sow

I sow, I sow white lenochek (2)

White lenochek, white lenochek

A white lenochka in tynochek.. .

A strict trochee is maintained here. With differentiation and especially with the stratification of the population into classes, songs with their own specific content are distinguished. The songs of the Rig Veda accurately reproduce the entire process of pounding and squeezing grass to prepare the Indian deity Indra soma, a special intoxicating drink: “Although you are found in every house, O mortar, yet you sound most cheerful here, like the beat of a victor’s kettledrum. And here, oh pestle, the wind blows in your face; squeeze soma for Indra’s drink, O mortar.” Thus, with the division of labor, songs took on a more stable form and at the same time the song content diversified. These professional songs, in turn, were part of the content of the ritual-game and complicated it.

Under certain conditions, the ritual turned into a cult. This evolution of the ritual did not cause the cessation of the ritual itself. The ritual continues to exist along with the cult. Syncretism of forms could remain in both cases; only two forms of it were obtained: 1) ritual syncretism and 2) cult syncretism. The cult was developed during evolution religious beliefs. The cult could not develop under feshitism, due to the fact that the fetish was a family deity or even the deity of an individual. A cult developed only in cases where faith in a well-known deity was shared by an entire tribe or a significant group of it. In many cases, the rite itself already contained the features of the cult. Games that depict the worship of an animal after a successful hunt for it, for example, the worship of a bear carcass among Siberian foreigners, associated with its glorification and propitiation, are not far from a cult, but they are not the cult itself, but a transitional step to it. The most important thing in the cult is the mystery and incomprehensibility of some actions and the stability of the song text, turning into religious formulas and, finally, greater detail of actions with less content of a separate religious plot compared to the ritual. And the most important thing in a cult is the combination of actions with a certain verbal text. Here the melody and the word are of equal importance. Therefore, the natural question is why the cult ceased to be content with interjections alone and demanded a verbal shell for its further life? In French and German folk poetry Some works are performed through a story told in prose and singing in verse (singen und sagen, dire et chanter). Prose usually precedes verse and has the same content as verse. The same features are also found among uncultured peoples, for example, among the Kyrgyz and Yakuts. Based on this, we have the right to conclude that the same prose text, preceding the poetic one, appeared as a result of the desire to more fully and accurately introduce the poetic text and the former song text, because the song text is not always perceptible to the ear. During the ritual performance of various subjects, facial expressions and actions could not always be understandable, due to the complications of the ritual with new details and due to the survival of actions in the ritual that lost their meaning in the conditions of the new life. An excellent example illustrating our situation are many Russian conspiracies, in which the actions that must be performed are described in verbal form in the conspiracy: I will wash myself, dry myself with a clean towel, cross myself, go out to the east, bow in all directions, etc.

Differentiation of syncretism of forms appears very early even before the stratification of the population into different classes. But this separate existence of various poetic forms still has very narrow boundaries and is determined by various phenomena family life. First of all, lamentations and funeral songs appear. It takes some talent to praise the deceased and to express feelings of grief over his death. Hence, the natural appeal of the relatives of the deceased, if among them there are no talented performers of the song ritual, to outside experienced persons. This is how professional mourners arise among various nations, but among us there are mourners. Thanks to these professional mourners and their communication with each other, a kind of literary school appears, developing its own style, its own techniques and its own scheme for a funeral song. Thus, simultaneously with differentiation, the integration of the song occurs in the sense of the development of a stable form in it. The funeral song is a lyrical-epic work in its content.

Before the division of the population into classes, singers had to sing in their works related to the ritual only those events and express those feelings that worried the entire mass of the population, therefore the epic and lyrical elements were distinguished by their schematicity and generality. With the division into classes, class psychology is distinguished by greater definiteness. Those events and feelings that were not interesting to one part of the population become interesting to another. When different classes competed with each other, their own class ideology had to be developed. This, in its entirety, as well as many other conditions, brought forward the emergence of their own special singers, exponents of the worldview of the class to which the singer himself belonged. Already in Homer's Iliad, representatives of not only the aristocracy, but also the demos, the people, are identified. Thersites should be counted among these. And in any case, he was a strong personality, otherwise Homer would not have called him Contemptuous, and therefore we classify him among the ideologists of his class. The Song of Roland, without a doubt, arose in the princely milieu, just like our “Tale of Igor’s Campaign”; epics about the guest Terentishche, Stavr Godinovich, Sadka the rich guest came from among the bourgeoisie. Those songs about Ivan the Terrible, in which the handsome features of this king are sung, came from the people's zemstvo environment. Professional singers were not alienated from the life of other classes. At the wedding of his wife, Dobrynya Nikitich appears to Vladimir as a buffoon, a special professional folk singer, wandering kaliki, representatives of wandering religious Rus', find shelter with the same Prince Vladimir. These singers, alien to any class, could be actors in the performance of one or another ritual, and the content of the song in the ritual was thus deepened, and at the same time its very forms were developed. With the deepening of content and form, the song became interesting in itself, apart from the ritual, and therefore it stood out and received a special existence. Thus, lyrical-epic songs of predominantly warlike content are distinguished from the ritual. From the cult, with the advent of priesthood and the deepening of mythology, religious songs also of lyrical-epic content emerge - hymns. When a lyric-epic song is passed on to different singers and different generations, the effectiveness disappears and the song becomes purely epic. These are our epics, historical and even wedding songs. The song, separated from the ritual, is integrated in terms of form and content, thanks to the individual creativity of class singers. Along with a purely epic song, a lyrical-epic song can also exist. Such are the Little Russian thoughts and many of our spiritual poems.

The development of new forms in the epic continues with the development of tribal consciousness and the emergence of statehood. In the early stages of its existence, a lyrical-epic song depicts any particular moment in the life of the hero, which is of great importance from the point of view of the emerging nation. The emerging state, pursuing its own interests, collides with the interests of neighboring tribes and nationalities. As a result, wars arise between neighboring tribes. Both hostile camps have their own heroes. Given the duration of hostilities, the exploits of heroes become varied. At the end of hostilities, these exploits are sung by various singers, and everything is grouped around one main, outstanding hero. The same poetic transmission about the most important moments military actions are also carried out among a hostile tribe. When peaceful relations are resumed, songs about the same war pass from one tribe to another. Subsequently, all this is cyclized and united, and thus an epic, or heroic poem, arises. The Trojan War was sung by both the Achaeans and the Trojans. The Achaeans had Achilles as their main hero, and the Trojans had Hector. In the same way, a mythological epic, like Hesiod’s “Theogony,” is composed of individual lyrical-epic songs dedicated to the cult.

It is much more difficult to indicate the path of formation of a fairy tale from the syncretism of poetic forms that we have we're talking about. One must think that fairy tales are different in origin. Some stood out from the ritual. These can be considered tales about animal epics. Others could develop independently of ritual and cult within the close circle of the family and for the family. In cases where the ritual reproduced the hunt for various animals, for example, bison or seals, those participating in this ritual disguised themselves in the skins of the depicted animals, imitated their screams, movements, etc. Among the actors in the ritual, they stand out, as already mentioned said individual performers, singers and storytellers. These singers or storytellers, as professionals, when the opportunity arises, separately or together with another singer, reproduce the ritual, eliminating actions from it due to the impossibility of reproducing them, due to the lack of the mass of characters required for the ritual execution of the plot; Overdressing can also be eliminated. The entire course of the ritual is conveyed in this way in verbal form. From here the animals speak and become humanoid, and thus the tale of the animal epic has already begun. The further path of its development is already simple. The same path must be indicated for isolating conspiracy from the cult, at least some of its types. The conspiracy was brought from the cult, but developed outside the cult for the family and in the family, as can be seen from the analysis of conspiracies. And here the action is very often depicted in verbal form due to the impossibility of performing it.

Proverbs and riddles emerged from ready-made forms - from fairy tales-songs, in modern times from fables, etc. The proverb “the beaten is lucky for the unbeaten” is borrowed from the fairy tale about the fox and the wolf, “Marco the yak stalks through the heat” (malor.) from the fairy tale about Mark the Rich, “the legend is fresh, but hard to believe” from Griboedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit.” On this basis, one must think that such proverbs as “a jug gets into the habit of walking on water, and there you can break its head”, “where a horse has a hoof, there is a crayfish with a claw” and many others. others are fragments of previous ones fairy tales that have come down to us in destruction. The same must be said about riddles and sayings.

Like the epic, lyric poetry also emerged from syncretism. In a ritual that foresaw a series of events, with the goal of preparing the tribe for war or hunting animals, naturally, the singer had to somehow evoke a certain mood among the participants. This mood, while the ritual was wordless, was expressed in shouts, and when the ritual was combined with a verbal form, then in corresponding verbal pathetic exclamations, which were picked up by all participants in the choir, and which formed a chorus - refrain, schematically expressing in the form of a formula the effectiveness of the entire group of participating persons . At the earliest stage of its development, refrain consists of the repetition of the same word or several. It is further complicated by the figure of psychological parallelism. An example of repetition from the war song of the Otonis: “Have fun with me, dear friends, have fun children, and go to the battlefield; be cheerful and joyful in the midst of these shields, the flowers of the bloody battle” (Letourneau. Liter, development. P. 109). An example of psychological parallelism: “You can’t pour water out of Volkhov, you can’t knock people out of Novgorod.” Refrain, the most striking in its expressiveness, often breaks away from its song and moves into another, sometimes changing the very content of another song, examples of which we can see in many Russian songs. With the appearance of two singers in the chorus, the lyrical element of the song becomes more prominent due to the dialogical development of the song itself. This is where the stanzacity characteristic of lyricism comes from. So, the form of the lyrics is predetermined by repetition, parallelism, i.e. comparison inner world a person with externality and strophicity. With the advent of class poetry, lyricism develops even more due to the sharp division of interests of one class from another, and thus gnomic, instructive and satirical lyricism arises, and at the same time its forms naturally differ.

At first, poetic works of syncretic form are distinguished by the expediency of their content, that is, by their utilitarian character. Ritual and cult always pursue some goals.

The cult appeases the deity, the ritual prepares for battle or hunting. Once ritual and cult have lost their purpose, they naturally turn into drama and its ramifications. This transition is facilitated by the emergence of professional performers, first singers, and then buffoons, as artists in their field.

Iv. Lyskov. Literary Encyclopedia: Dictionary literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925

Syncretism is a combination (syncretismos - mixing, merging) of heterogeneous elements. A concept from the field of psychology, culture and art. Most often you can hear about the syncretism of children's, religious (and religious cult) and primitive thinking (and

Children's syncretism

In the psychology of preschool children, syncretism is the ability for integrated perception various concepts and categories that are not related to each other in any way. Due to lack of information about the world around him, the child builds his own models. In these constructions, objective connections are replaced by subjective ones, and impressions are used instead of knowledge. In the first years of life, the child is not yet accustomed to logical constructions, so his reasoning is sometimes illogical even for his own conceptual system.

Religious syncretism

In relation to religion, syncretism is the combination in one consciousness of dogmas (often mutually exclusive) from different religious schools, as well as objective ideas about reality with a mythological description of the world. Less syncretic are teachings that have existed for centuries without outside influences. Christianity is syncretic, in which the Old Orthodoxy is canonized on an equal basis, and Russian Orthodoxy, where Christianity is closely fused with pagan ideas, is even more syncretic. Mixing of peoples and as a consequence cultural traditions in the modern world does religious ideas increasingly syncretic. The emergence in the last hundred years of a huge number of various sects, schools, and occult movements is partly explained by the desire of religious people prone to reflection to create a consistent, logical description of the world and resolve internal conflict.

Artistic syncretism

The fusion of cultures and traditions also gives rise to syncretism in art, which over the course of many centuries has moved towards increasingly narrow specialization. A modern artist/writer/musician is limited by one form, one genre. New works are born at the intersection of different cultures, different genres and types of art.

Primitive syncretism

It is not entirely correct to liken children's thinking to primitive thinking. In the absence of objective knowledge, it is common to mythologize reality, but otherwise his thinking is much more rational than that of many of our contemporaries. Otherwise he simply will not survive. In primitive thinking, syncretism is an integral perception of the world, in which the individual does not distinguish himself either from his own community or from nature in general. Hence the most ancient prototypes of religions - animism, totemism. There is practically no division of functions within the community, no professional specialization. Each is multifunctional. An illustration of such multifunctionality is the syncretism of dance, singing, playing a musical instrument, cult drawings are combined in a single ritual action that is performed by the entire tribe, inseparable from mythology and from the decision practical problems(healing a sick person, good luck on a hunt, etc.).

The surrounding world represents a certain integrity. At the same time, the objects of this world are relatively independent systems that have their own structure, functions, development trajectories, and ways of interacting with other objects. A person’s perception of the world depends on his worldview, life experience, training and upbringing, as well as many other factors.

An individual’s relationship with the world is also influenced by the features of life and everyday life characteristic of a particular historical era. In the early stages of human development, people's worldview was characterized by syncretism, which was reflected in works of art and religious cults.

What it is

This concept is used in cultural studies, psychology, religious studies, and art history. According to scientists, syncretism is a lack of differentiation characteristic of the undeveloped state of a phenomenon. Culturologists and art historians call the combination of different types of arts syncretic. In religion, syncretism means the merging of heterogeneous elements, movements and cults.

From the point of view of child psychologists, syncretism is a characteristic of the thinking of a child of early and preschool age. Toddlers do not yet know how to think logically, establish genuine cause-and-effect relationships (“The wind blows because the trees sway”), or make generalizations based on essential features. A two-year-old child can use the same word to name a fluffy kitten, a fur hat, and other similar-looking objects. Instead of looking for connections, the baby simply describes his impressions of things and phenomena in the world around him.

The syncretism of a child’s thinking also manifests itself in creativity. Also K.I. Chukovsky wrote that preschoolers simultaneously rhyme, jump and select “musical accompaniment” for their poetic experiments. Children often use their own drawings for games, and the drawing process itself often turns into fun.

Origins of syncretism

Cultural objects of primitive society are considered a classic example of syncretism in art. During this period, a person did not yet perceive the world dismembered, did not try to analyze the events taking place, did not see the difference between what was depicted and the real. In primitive society there was no separation of spheres human activity for science, art, labor, etc. People worked, hunted, painted on the walls of caves, made primitive sculptures, performed ritual dances, and all this together was a way of existing in the world, understanding it and interacting with it. Cultural artifacts (masks, figurines, musical instruments, costumes) were used in everyday life.

Primitive culture is also notable for the fact that people of that time rarely painted themselves. The explanation for this is the previously mentioned integrity of perception of the world. If the person himself and his image are one and the same, then why detail the drawing? It is much more important to depict a hunting scene, to show the key moment of the action - the victory over the beast.

The syncretism of primitive culture is also manifested in the identification of a person with members of his community. There was no “I” system as such, but instead there was a “we” phenomenon.

In the depths of syncretism, fetishism arose - the idea that the names of people, objects used by fellow tribesmen, have magical powers. Consequently, through a thing one can harm an aggressive neighbor or, conversely, make a worthy member of the family successful. Therefore, syncretism is also the beginning of the formation of magical cults. His name was also considered part of primitive man.

Syncretism of other eras

Manifestations of syncretism took place in ancient world, Middle Ages and later periods of history. Homer's poems describe folk festivities, during which people sang, danced, and played musical instruments. A striking example of syncretism - ancient greek theater. IN Ancient Rome Religion was syncretic, since during the conquests the Romans borrowed and adapted the religious beliefs of other peoples.

Primitive syncretism also influenced the development of art Ancient East. People already knew about the existence of artistic reality, mastered the techniques of fine and other types of arts, but cultural artifacts were still created to solve utilitarian problems or to perform religious rituals. Thus, in Ancient Egypt, the alley of sphinxes decorated the road to the temple.

In the Middle Ages, syncretism manifested itself in the unity of spheres human life. Politics, law, scientific research and art were one whole, but religion, of course, remained the fundamental principle of all teachings and the regulator of people’s lives. In particular, mathematical symbols used to interpret divine truths Therefore, medieval mathematicians were also theologians.

The Renaissance and Modern times are characterized by the differentiation of science, religion, art, and the emergence of specializations. Syncretism in the art of those times was reflected in music (opera), architecture (buildings in the Baroque style), painting (synthesis of intellectual and sensory principles in the work of N. Poussin), etc.

Syncretism today

Contemporary art is characterized by a tendency towards synthesis, the unification of various types of art, as well as the emergence on this basis of a qualitatively new product. In theatrical productions vocal parts alternate with recitatives, stage actions are combined with video demonstrations, and installations are shown at exhibitions. Dance moves magical meaning is again given, and the dance itself represents a theatrical performance.

Television and advertising are syncretic in nature. Modern syncretism is the blurring of boundaries between high art And everyday life, author and consumer, performer on stage and spectators in the hall.

Probably, a person’s desire for integration is due to the awareness of himself as a member of a certain community, a representative of a clan. Also, in the conditions of post-industrial society, syncretism in art is due to the need to comprehend new reality(economic and political crises, the spread of information technology, changing views of people, society) and adapt to it.

Religious syncretism

Syncretism in religion is based on the desire to unite all faiths, taking the best from each of them. Such beliefs include Baha'iism (a synthesis of Christianity and Islam), voodoo (contains features of Negro beliefs and Catholicism), Won Buddhism (the penetration of ideas of other religions into Buddhism), etc. Followers of traditional religious teachings believe that such associations are unfounded and therefore doubtful from the point of view of true faith.

Syncretism is also called a combination of different views, opinions, beliefs, the need to search for their unity, which is also characteristic of our time.