The proto-indo-European religion indicates the religion formerly practiced by the Proto-indo-Europeans, the people which, by definition, spoke the language-mother from where all the Indo-European languages result. The anthropologists think of being able to reconstitute it by comparing the modern religions. It is with that Georges Dumézil stuck which emitted a theory headlight on this subject (see the article: Indo-European tripartite Functions). All the religions known as “pagan” of Europe (put besides that of the Finno-ugric ) were its heiresses. She survived in Iran under the name of Zoroastrisme and in India, where she preserved her character polytheist, but did not evolve/move less considerably of it. The gods currently venerated in India are not any more those of the Védisme, but this religion itself came from a degradation of the old proto-indo-European religion. It seems that it was well preserved at the Celtes and the Tokhariens.

Three functions

Recognized by Georges Dumézil, they were in connection with the Three Worlds, the Sky, the Earth and the Hells:

1. With the Sky, corresponded the religious and political function. They were the peaceful relations controls by the gods: either of the relations between the men and the gods, or of the relations of the men between them, but under the glance and the guarantee of the gods. Under the second aspect, this function comprised sovereignty as well as the right. The knowledge and all the mental activities were attached to him, and they were incarnated by the word. She played an absolutely fundamental part. The knowledge, in particular, was held in the form of poetry. The priests incarnated the first function.

2. With the Earth, corresponded the force physical, brutal, which intervened especially in the war. As it was female, the Earth took the shape of a large goddess of the War. The kings and the heroes, representatives male of the second function, owed him their existence. It was incarnated, in a real or mythical way, by the wife of the king, who was thus equipped with important functions although the women were always relegated to the second plan among Proto-Indo-Europeans.
3. With the Hells, corresponded fertility-fruitfulness, the seduction related to the reproduction and the richness. The latter was consisted gold, the money, the invaluable stones, like by the cattle. One can as suppose as the men and the women captured by the warriors during their raids and used as a servile labor constituted a sign of richness. The warriors flew besides also of the cattle, and a bringing together was carried out between men and pets. All the producers, farmers and craftsmen, were representatives of the third function, which corresponded to the human masses.

The sacerdotal class

Proto-Indo-Europeans had a class of priests, who opposed to the warriors. The druids at the Celtic , the flamines with Rome, the Brahmans in India, the magi in Iran are its heirs. It is also known that the Tokhariens had preserved their sacerdotal class: the Chinese compared their priests to the Brahmans. At fifth century BC, the historian Hérodote spoke about people which it named Argippéens (Argippaioi in Greek). They lived in Central Asia with the foot of high mountains. The men and the women were bald people of birth; they had the impressed nose and the prominent chin. They spoke a language which was clean for them, but they got dressed like the Scythes. They lived with the foot of a tree, surrounded by an impermeable white felt hanging in winter and without this felt in summer. “Nobody thinks of harming to them, because one holds them for crowned; they do not have any weapon of war; their neighbors call upon them to settle their disagreements, and whoever takes refuge near them is safe from any insult”. Bernard Sergent recognized that they were in fact Indo-European priests. Undoubtedly they of Tokhariens were.

The characteristics noticed by Hérodote were to already exist among Proto-Indo-Europeans: these priests lived with the variation of the world, in wood and the mountains. The gods were never venerated in built sanctuaries, but into full nature. The priests exerted legal functions. They were also, like the druids, the agents of the knowledge. Their presence was essential at the time of the sacrifices, but they did not play of active role. They took care only of the respect of the ritual, essential condition to the success of the sacrifice, and corrected the made faults. They were themselves to respect the strict prohibited ones during their daily life. The white was the color of their clothes.

Gods

The existence of at least four gods is now recognized in the Indo-Europeans. Two of them are projections in the divine world real characters: the king and the priest. It would be thus possible to call them the God-King and the God-Priest. But they have the characteristic cannot be immortal, contrary to “truths” gods: they know a life cycle and of death. The second was a man who could have had a place among the gods, but having finished by being deposed. He was in fact considered as a historical character, and one could see his tomb in various places. It is thus preferable not to call it the God-Priest, but *Neptonos, which was probably one of its names. It was a simplified form of * H₂epom Nepots , the “Nephew of Water”.

The god of the luminous Sky

Representative of the first function, it was called *Dyēus. He was it guaranteeing about the world and the Master of the lightning, but he also played a part in the culture of the ground. It was him which provided to the men their cereals. He was a king with the political and nonmilitary direction of the term. He was also known to be a father (undoubtedly the father of all the gods): *Dyēus Ph₂tēr. Its name related with the other god nomination, * deiwos , was built on the root * dei - “to shine”. It is found in that of Zeus, of Jupiter (*Dyēus Ph₂tēr), of the Lithuanian god Dievas, the Germanic god *Tiuz or the Indian god Dyauh.

The God-King

He was the son of *Dyēus Ph₂ter and to some extent his armed wing. Just as the human kings, it was anchored in the second function, that of the physical force and in particular of the war, but it “overflowed” on the two other functions. Its principal weapon was the Foudre, materialized by an arrow, a cord or perhaps a weapon of jet. It caught its enemies with a lace. It also undoubtedly had a shield.

It was called *Perk^wunos, because it was closely related to the Cosmic Tree connecting the Three Worlds, * perk^wus . One cannot exclude that it had other names, because its attributes were very numerous. During the afternoon or the summer, it had a residence at the top of a mountain located at the center of the world, from where four rivers went down and moved towards the four cardinal points. These rivers were not other than the Large Goddess, without whom the God-King could not exist. It had four faces, which enabled him to supervise the four cardinal points simultaneously. It could thus exert its function of guard of the cosmic order.

The God-King was civilizing: he cleared the forests and founded villages. He intervened in the marriages, but only like person in charge of their legal aspect. It is a task which concerns the first function. He was a priest. Of a very great intelligence, he was a brilliant poet and a Master of the Knowledge, as well as a magician and a soothsayer. He had a relationship with the winds, probably related on the magic and the divination.

Overflowing on the third function, he was a producer: he was Pasteur and a farmer who made grow the herds and brought abundant harvests. He was also a doctor. He controlled all arts (within the meaning of craft industry).

Most important of its functions was to be responsible for the movement of all the stars: the Sun, the the Moon and stars. It had a relationship with its function of guard of the cosmic order. At the same time diurnal and night, it was responsible for the flow of time.

Its heirs are called Lugh at the Celtes, Apollon at the Greek , Wotan at the German , Odin at the Scandinaves, Perkūnas at the Lithuania NS, Perun at the Russian , Mithra at the Iran iens or the god of the Storm at the Hittites and Ylaiñäkte at Koutchéens (of the Tokhariens). In India, according to François Cornillot, it burst in three gods called Mitra, Varuna and Aryaman.

• Neptonos

It was attached to the first function during the morning or spring, in which case he was a priest. Its color was then the white. One however regarded it also as a child. Having acquired the universal Knowledge, he was the inventor of the divination. The right was its speciality. It was compared to sacrificial Fire, like with the Rising sun, and it had the shape of a bird or a fish (perhaps a salmon). In spite of its nature of legislator, the Proto-Indo-Europeans not fearing contradictions, he was a Master robber and a character crafty one. Liking the laughter, it had an aspect buffoon.

It was attached to the third function during the night or the winter. He thus became a producer, even a servant, in which case its color was the black or the green In the capacity as craftsman, he manufactured weapons. The appearance of the metallurgy among Indo-European people made of him a blacksmith, in a all the more natural way as it was related to fire. Within the framework of the third function, it was about the fire which the men used in their daily life, in particular in their houses. Guard of the human masses, it brought the richness to them and it was a domestic genius. He also lived with the variation of the world, in the deep forests and the mountains, where he raised oxen, sheep and goats. He nourished milk of his herds. The sleep was one of its preferred occupations. It had the shape of snake, pet or wild animal (stag, deer or wild boar). Lastly, he was the god of the Hells. Those being watery, like the Sky, this god was marked enough watery. For this reason, it could be regarded as the evil spirit.

This character corresponds to Hermes, Pan (moreover wire of Hermes) or Dionysos in Greek mythology, Faunus and Picus in that of the Romans. In its shape of priest, the Hittites called it the “god Sun of the Sky” and regarded it as the sovereign of justice. In India, Manus kept its aspect of legislator. At the Celtic insular, the druids or bards Taliesin, Merlin or Tuan Mac Cairill preserved the myths relative to *Neptonos rather well. As a Sun, it was called Hélios by the Greeks and Sûrya by the Indians. Under its night or winter aspect, the Gallic ones called it Cernunnos and identified it with a stag. It became Poséidon in Greece, Neptune in Rome, Nechtan and Ireland and Apam Napat at the Indo-Iranian ones. In Scandinavia, the god Loki gathers his aspects malefic, but also buffoons.

Unequal twins

It is necessary to stress the importance of this concept. The twins in question were not other than *Perk^wunos and *Neptonos, but considered as brothers. They were in particular associated with spring, period during which they carried out an itinerant life, until in becoming gods of the ways. These two characters had important common points: they were young people, beautiful and luminous, Masters of the winds, the poetic inspiration and the knowledge, doctors, pastors and craftsmen. They thus met on the first and third functions. Their association reproduced that, fundamental for the Indo-European company, of the king and the priest. They did not remain less different about it, *Perk^wunos being wire of *Dyēus and *Neptonos being of human origin.

These twins are Romulus and Remus with Rome, the Dioscures in Greece and the Nâsatya in India. In Scandinavian mythology, they are Odin and Loki, considered as sworn brothers.

The Large Goddess

She was closely related to water of the Earth: those sources, of the rivers, the rivers and the lakes. Goddess of the Destiny and source of any prophecy, it accompanied each man by the cradle to the tomb, but it was not regarded as a Mother and it remained virgin during most of its “life”. Anchored in the second function, it “overflowed” like the God-King on the two other functions. This last maintained with it a symbiotic bond, but it could be to him inaccurate and bind with *Neptonos. The afternoon or the summer, it was comparable with the Sun going down towards the Earth. Hittites thus called it the “goddess Sun of the Earth”. It was similar to Paramount Fire, that from of which all other fires resulted. Like the God-King, it was a civilizing goddess, founder of villages. At the end of the night, it was the Dawn, *H₂ausos, and it made it possible the Rising sun to fly away towards the Sky after having purified it by fire.

It seems that all the principal Indo-European goddesses are its heiresses. It is the case of Athéna in Greece or Brigit in Ireland, of the goddess-river Sarasvatî in India and Anahita in Iran. As an igneous goddess, it was called Hestia by the Greeks and Vesta by the Romans; the Vestals were its priestesses. Like goddess of the Dawn, it bore the name of Éos to Greece and Ushas to India.

The symbolism of the Dragon

The god *Neptonos and the Large Goddess incarnated opposed virtues, initially by their sex: the first was related to the Sky square and male and the second was related to the round and female Earth. To the Sky, the spirit, the passivity, peace, the joy and immortality stick. To the Earth, the force, energy, the war, the suffering and mortality stick. But during the night or the winter, these two opposite divinities amalgamated to give rise to the Dragon, which represented the Hells. The Large Goddess passed to the third function and became a goddess of fertility-fruitfulness. *Neptonos made in the same way. In Scandinavia, they were called Freyr and Freyja. In tombs of the area of Tourfan, in field tokharien, images of two divinities with tail of snake were placed. They were accompanied by two suns and intertwined by the tail. The Chinese know them under the name of Fuxi and Nüwa, but like showed it Serge Papillon, they are the Chinese who borrowed them from Tokhariens, and not the reverse. Hittites in the same way placed representations of the god Sun of the Sky and the goddess Sun of the Earth in tombs.

These images reflected a belief according to which the hearts of certain people could go up to the Sky and to reside at it among the gods: the goddess Sun of the Earth opened the door of the Hells to them and purified them by fire and by water (it had the face of the Dawn then) and the god Sun of the Sky allowed them to go up to the Sky.

Characteristics of the Dragon

It frequently had a body of snake and a human or animal head. It could also have several heads, in which case it became a hydre. Its body of snake was obviously related to its character chthonien. It is especially with the pets that it was related: horses, dogs, pigs, as well as the sheep and the goats. It often had a beard (that of a goat?) and a little less often of the horns, and it had the possibility of acquiring feet of goat. A certain tripleness characterized it: it sometimes happened to him to have three heads, three bodies or to be entire geared down by three.

It affectionnait only the forests and the mountains, as well as water, that of the rivers or the marshes. It was identified with certain rivers. One thus found it in the Ocean, since it was essentially infernal and that the Hells (as the Sky) were maritime. Its bond with water did not prevent it from having another with fire of them. In fact, it was associated with all the paramount elements of the universe. In addition to water, fire, wood or the forests, one can still quote the stones or the rocks, the thunder, the wind and the colors.

Its fundamental characteristic was to associate the opposites. It could be a giant or a dwarf, be pleasant or inspire a terror mortal, be associated with peace and prosperity as with the war and the destruction, be a king for the human masses or devour the men. In the same way, he was Pasteur who raised his animals in the forest, but also a monster devourer of herds. Regarded as a swallower, one represented it with an enormous mouth, as large as a door. It sometimes happened to him to drain rivers or marshes by drinking all their water, whereas in other times, it caused floods. Though having a solar nature, it was likely to swallow the Sun, thus besides that the Moon and the stars. It had even the capacity of ingurgiter all the elements of the universe, since its dimensions could be cosmic, but it could as well dégurgiter all as it swallowed.

As a malefic creature, it had hypostases (i.e. forms) completely remarkable: they were halves of beings, with an eye, an arm and a leg, which were deformed. Their single leg was twisted. These creatures, of especially watery nature, were anthropophagous. As the Dragon was hermaphrodite, they were male or female. They gathered all the defects of the human spirit: spite, cheating, jealousy or anger. And yet, since the Dragon incarnated the third function, they could bring the fertility and fruitfulness and they were excellent craftsmen. Being essentially infernal, they were comparable to phantoms.

The Fomoire in Ireland, the Cyclops and the Telchines in Greece, just as Python and Typhoon, are heirs to the Dragon. In the Germanic world, they are the Giants. In India, they are the Râkshasa, as well as the snake Vritra, which blocked water of the goddess-river and retained the Sun.

The carnival

At the end of the winter, or perhaps this season, the world of the men was invaded by the armies of the Dragon: creatures representing at the same time death and sexuality, with animal form, human or monstrous, mimes by individuals carrying of the masks or even of the complete disguises and carrying out endiablées dances. They are called demon-masks. These individuals were men and women, in accordance with the character androgyne of the Dragon. There existed even a habit according to which men and women taking part in the carnival exchanged their clothing.

The carnival was also marked by a social inversion: the servants and the Masters exchanged their places. With Rome, that occurred during the Saturnales, from December 17th to 19th, which were the festival of the winter solstice. If were thus, it is because the Dragon could have row of servant (or even of slave), and that during the carnival, it dominated the world. One cannot regard it as a festival strictly speaking religious, the Dragon being a perfect anti-god. Truths gods were to be dissimulated during this period.

The carnival was moreover high importance for the women: it was for them one period of marriages or engagement. Admittedly, the men also married, consequently occasion, but the beginning of the married life was a rupture much more important for the women than for them. They became adults and left their families to enter those their husbands. For the men, it was not the marriage which marked the passage at the adulthood, but an initiation in warlike matter. The Dragon, incarnation of the third function, was responsible for the emotional and sexual aspect marriages, thus of course that fruitfulness. Its male part was moreover one joint owner of the body of the woman, a rival, so that the husband was to draw aside it to be able to enjoy its wife. In a certain manner, each woman had two companions: the man who became her husband in a legal way and the Dragon, which brought fruitfulness to him. While the legal marriage brought the women to civilization, the other union drew them towards brutality.

During the carnival, the demon-masks thus tried to remove been engaged, and they had to be driven out. At the end, all were expelled. These rites of expulsion formed integral part of the carnival. Hypostases of the Dragon were returned in their element of origin, water. It was also the victory of the God-King against the Dragon which was mimée. The carnival announced the return of the Sun and spring.

The various carnivals celebrated in Europe between Christmas and Easter are all the heirs to this very old festival. It was anchored so much in mentalities which the Church did not succeed in eliminating, even after a period of domination reaching the two millenia in certain countries.

The cycle of the life

A correspondence was established between the day, the year, the human existence and the Three Worlds. The day, the year and the life were thus divided into three times:

1. At the beginning of the night or winter, *Neptonos amalgamated with his/her sister, the Large Goddess, to constitute the Dragon. the young king undertook to dissociate them before the point of the day or the New year. For that, it launched the lightning on the Dragon, which fled by taking various forms. Finally, this one was reached and the goddess escaped in the form from an odd number of rivers downward of a mountain to form the circumterrestrial River-Ocean. By doing this, it drove back and drowned Darkness, which was not other than itself under its night aspect. The gushing of its water explained the auroral light. The goddess was regarded as the Dawn: an young girl who showed her sublime body. In addition, the lightning acted like a seed and inséminait another goddess, the the Moon seems it, regarded as sister of *Neptonos and the Large Goddess. She generated a divinity also called *Neptonos (the “Nephew”, because he was wire of the sister of *Neptonos and the Large Goddess) who was identical to the Rising sun. The Dawn purified it by fire, then it took its take-off towards the Sky. For the men, the morning or spring was the period of the celibacy.

2. *Neptonos stole drink of Immortalité of the gods to give it to the men. The gods thus declared the war to him but the God-King was estropié and captured by *Neptonos. The Nephew released it and the Large Goddess allowed him to be regenerated, then the combat began again. Overcome, *Neptonos wandered in nature. The Nephew came to find there, fought in duel with him and decapitated it. It became only the *Neptonos then, intended to be in its turn killed by its nephew the following day or the following year. The head of its adversary was buried under a funerary hillock compared to a celestial mountain. The remainder of its body was cut of pieces and evacuee towards the four cardinal points by the rivers of blood escaping from its body. This flow caused a true flood. In an amplified version of this myth, all the elements of the Universe were set up (it is the myth of the Purusha in India or of the giant hermaphrodite Ymir in Scandinavia). In addition, *Neptonos built for the God-King, in only one night, an enclosure located at the top of this mountain. In reward, it received a wife who was not other than the Large Goddess incarnated in a clay statuette. It was the beginning of the afternoon or the summer, the period of the married life.
3. In the twilight or the beginning of the winter, the Large Goddess was removed by *Neptonos, transformed into watery god of the Hells. This removal at the same time voluntary (the goddess became amante of the god of the Hells) and was forced (she was violated by him). Assassinated by the god of the Hells and his amante, the God-King went down in the Hells along the Cosmic Tree. Become a little boy, it was high with the variation of the world by the two lovers. Childhood was associated with the Hells. The boys, intended to become warriors, learned how to drive out. They became adult thanks to a initiatory test, which consisted of an exploit Cynégétique. The winter was thus a period of hunting.