Second article dedicated to the Carnival of Castelnuovo al Volturno, on the Molise Apennines, and to the main figures of the pantomime: βGl'Ciervβ, Martino and the Hunter.
di Maximilian Palmesano
Research in the territories of the magical world of janare led us to discover the ritual ofDeer man of Castelnuovo al Volturno [1], a ritual that is renewed every year on the last Sunday of Carnival and that it brings with it needs and beliefs of the archaic agricultural-pastoral communities ofMolise Apennines. "Gl'Cierv" (Il Cervo) of Castelnuovo embodies, within what is called one "pantomime", the rituality and spirituality of a world extra-historical ed extra-temporal: the rite, on the contrary, represents (and invokes) the eternal renewal of nature, which from the cold of the winter months is about to welcome spring and its awakening, or better still, its regenerative power.
"Gl Cierv" between hypotheses and "illustrious relatives"
Undoubtedly the ritual ofDeer man communicates what has just been said and exorcises the prolongation of the frost by invoking the Sun, of which the deer, entity male and horned, is an unequivocal symbol. As well as for the cyclical regeneration of its antler stage [2], which is renewed every year, almost an archetype of the continuous cycle of the seasons and the wheel of the year, a phenomenon that will surely "Fascinated" (in the magical sense of the term) the psyche and consequently the spiritual and symbolic vision of the ancient Europeans.
It is also possible that the rite may have more or less verifiable connections with the celebrations of the Lupercalia Romans [3]However, in our opinion, this hypothesis is weak. Certainly i Lupercalia e "Gl'Cierv" have the same basis "Spiritual feeling", the same fears to be exorcised, the same demons to be cast out, are therefore placed on the plane mythogonic, on more than contiguous territories. There are evident isomorphies: starting from disguise with goat skins and running wilderness e furious, the fact that they are renewed cyclically in the same period of the year; it is also probable that the celebrations of Lupercalia of ancient times had even more similarities with those ofDeer man, but this is not enough to establish direct connections between the two phenomena. We certainly cannot establish with certainty whether it is a native myth or it came from outside, but one fact is certain: the symbolism expressed in the rite of the Deer Man is ancient, very ancient and has "relatives" of great prestige: lo sorcerer di Arieges, Actaeon, Sarasvati which takes the form of Rohit, Cernunnus and dozens of horned beings and deities around the globe.
"Gl'Cierv" theriomorphic myth
The oldest image that we can find relating to a real man-deer, is the so-called sorcerer di Arieges in the Caverne des Trois Freres in France, which dates back to approx 13000 years before the Christian era [4]:
« The painting depicts a man dressed in a deerskin and with his head surmounted by the branched antlers of the deer. The skin of the animal covers the whole body of the man, but the hands and feet have been painted as if they were seen through a transparent fabric; in this way we want to suggest to the viewer the painting that it depicts a human being in disguise. [β¦] Apparently the ceremony consists of a dance involving movements of the feet and hands Β»
Margaret Murray assumes a disguise, but the scene, which represents a dance in the presence of numerous animals, rather suggests a theriomorphic myth: the sorcerer is he disguised, or has he temporarily changed into a deer, acquiring all its magical characteristics? There is a theriomorphism clear that places the figure in clear relationship with the animal world, a real mutation therefore: not a disguised man or even an anthropomorphic animal, but a Deer man.
A being quite similar to "Gl'Cierv" of Castelnuovo, who, within a magical ritual space, temporarily ceases to be a man, to become a symbol of the fury of the deer and of the winter that is about to end, a mythical being imbued with the deepest prerogatives of cyclical process of regeneration of nature. The practice of sewing the leather dress at the moment on the person who interpreted theDeer man in use until the 60s, it handed down a form of ancestral and magical rituality, in which we do not try to instill the power of the animal in man, but rather a magical type procedure for the creation of an ebe other: an attempt is made to establish in this way a material and palpable connection with the imperishable world of myth. It is in this type of theriomorphic myths that the most ancient and true root of the de rite must be sought "Gl'Cierv" of Castelnuovo, in forms of archaic religiosity and with profound connotations shamanic: theDeer man, during his trance, inhabits both dimensions, that of the square of Castelnuovo and that of the world of spirits and the magical forces of nature, makes them meet in a frameΒ out of time and out of space, nothing more and nothing less than what the shamanic traditions of every place and time pass down.
So he writes Eveline Lot Falck, in a meaningful passage for our case [5]:
Β« In the age of myth,Β that the peoples of the Northeast call the time of Big Crow, men were capable of transforming themselves into live animals. Transformation is a misnomer. In reality, although there is passage from one world to another, there is no distinction between humans and animals. The phrase: "They became demons of the forest or of the sea or 'men' of the mountains", frequent in the tales of the Ghiliachi, does not imply the idea of ββmetamorphosis, but that of a passage into the world of supernatural beings. More precisely, there is coexistence of forms. The being is projected simultaneously into the two worlds, here in its anthropomorphic aspect, there in the zoomorphic one. Neither personality precedes the other: they are both authentic and simultaneous. "
"Gl'Cierv" hunting rite
Theriomorphic myth, therefore, but not only. Equally ancient within the myth ofDeer man, is the unequivocal coexistence of hunting rite, another prerogative that strengthens the hypothesis of an archaic root de "Gl'Cierv" of Castelnuovo. In particular, this type of ritual is embodied by the other two characters who take part in the pantomime since the most remote times: Martino and the Hunter.
Su Martino it is necessary to pause: it is in fact he who succeeds, following a real ritual dance, a harness the deer with its rope, in a scene full of magical-symbolic meanings. First color: Martino is completely white, white, color of the light and of the forces of the coming spring which, after a bloody struggle, manage to bind the deer; the rope and the noose are other elements of strong magical value that refer to some particular shamanic practices and to the so-called magic of knots and ligaments. The white pointed hat completes the figure, almost a candle, whose light illuminates the dark winter of the Castelnuovo square; but the most interesting thing is the connection, indicated by many studies, of Martino with the figure of Pulcinella.
Indeed, Martino is even referred to as il "Pulcinella Molise", and the juxtaposition is by no means unlikely. In fact, Pulcinella has an ancestor just as illustrious as those of theDeer man and it's il Kikirrus of comedy Atellana, theatrical form in which the Oscan language was used improvising on mostly licentious canvases. Kikirrus, the rooster (still today in Campania a particular species of cockerels are called little talkers, with evident homophony), is the only theriomorphic mask (theriomorphism returns) of the comedy Atellana and the same etymology of the term Pulcinella, brings us back to chick, that is, to a small rooster.
Now the rooster not only is it a symbol of wheat and harvest, but it is above all one of the most powerful morning archetypes, "mature" in Oscan, a form from which the theonym matuta: la Mother Matuta revered by the Oscan-speaking people, she was the goddess of the morning, of births, but above all of rebirth and eternal cyclic regeneration darkness / light. Precisely because of this connotation, the rooster is an ancient symbol, a vivid reminiscence of pre-Indo-European forms of cultism linked to the figure of the so-called Great Mother:Β same Mother Matuta it is part of that type of mythical and cultic reminiscence, and we find the rooster, a symbol of wealth and prosperity, on numerous Campania coins, especially from Cales and Suessa.
Finally, even the name, Martino, turns out to be a very clear reference to the god Mars e Β«originally, Mars was not the god of war but of vegetation. In fact, the farmer turned to Mars, praying for the prosperity of his wheat and his vineyards, his fruit trees and his woods "Β [6]. A further element, therefore, which sees in Martino a protector of spring nature and a bearer of light.
But let's go back to the hunting ritual and above all to the figure of the hunter who, today with a rifle, in ancient times perhaps with a spear or with a bow and arrow, manages to kill the Deer and the Doe, but then, assuming a completely shamanic prerogative (and using a technique completely shamanic), approach the two animals that lie lifeless on the ground, blow their ears and magically give them back life. The scene would not need comments: the ancestral, magical and shamanic ritual comes out in all its power, the vital breath - and imbued with magical power - is an element that recalls ancient times and forms of profound respect between man and the animal, the same form as "Thoughtfulness" which we find in the figure of the hunter who, after having in a certain sense "tamed" the fury of winter embodied by the animal, pays him a form of maximum respect, bringing the inscrutable forces of magic to the field to bring him back to life.
It is in this particular moment of the pantomime that takes place the celebration of regeneration, within a ritual moment in which not only the figure of theDeer man but the whole scene. Always borrowing a beautiful passage from Eveline Lot-Falck [7]:
"What does man think of animals, these mysterious beings with whom he finds himself living?" Does he see them only as prey, a means of guaranteeing subsistence? Certainly not. Such a materialistic conception is completely foreign to the primitive mentality, which moves in a world steeped in religiosity, in which nothing is inanimate., in which everything, even the stones, is endowed, if not with a soul in the strict sense, at least with life. The primitive does not classify, it does not order beings and things into categories. Nothing is ever acquired, definitive. In accordance with the cyclical conception of time, the past is always present, becoming is an eternal beginning. [..] In this changing universe no barriers have yet been erected between the animal, vegetable, even mineral kingdoms; there are only different aspects, changing appearances. [β¦] Everything that exists lives, everything that lives is united by strong bonds of solidarity. [β¦] Among hunting peoples, such as the Siberians, man feels intimately linked to animals. Between human and animal species it is not a question of superiority, there is no essential difference. The hunter considers the animal at least as an equal to him. [β¦] In the sphere of magic, he attributes to the animal a power not inferior to him. On the other hand, the animal is superior to man in one or more aspects: for physical strength, agility, finesse of hearing and smell, all qualities appreciated by the hunter. He will place even greater value on the spiritual powers associated with those physical gifts. Like man,Β the animal has one or more souls and a language. What's more: it often understands human language, while the reverse is true only for shamans. "
This long passage by Lot-Falck, albeit with a different field of investigation, seems to speak to us of the same type of rituality, but above all of spirituality, which is at the basis of the rite of "Gl'Cierv", just when it is there the encounter / confrontation and regeneration final between the deer and the hunter. These three characters: Deer Man, Martino and Hunter are, in unanimous opinion, the essential and most archaic root of the rite of "Gl'Cierv", the elements that leave more than open the conjectures relating to a very ancient foundation of the rite.
"Gl'Cierv" scapegoat and Carnival Death
It is on this ancestral core that the myth as we know it today has gradually been built over time, it is starting from this type of practices and forms of rituality, which human beings have practiced since time immemorial, from this spirituality that is profoundly different from the concept of spirituality of contemporary man, which has taken root in the very long history ofDeer man. At this core, we said, then they are "Attack" over time other forms of rituals, other cultic elements, sometimes syncretizing, other times hiding, and allowing, thanks to these phenomena of cult mimesis, to make the rite resist attacks brought by the "De-paganization"Β [8] occurred starting from the Christian era, on all the myths relating to the scapegoat and the so-called Death of the Carnival.
The so-called scapegoat it is a cultic practice, also very ancient that served in a certain way to exorcise and drive away negative energies from within the community circle, usually celebrated in periods of transition such as the end of winter, just like in our case , and just as in the case of an ancient Roman scapegoat namely the figure of Mamurius Veturius [9]:
Β«Every year, on March 14, a man dressed in skins was led through the streets of Rome, beaten with long white poles, and expelled from the city. He was called Mamurius Veturius, that is, βthe old man Mars"; and, since the ceremony took place the day before the first full moon of the ancient Roman year (which began on March XNUMX), the man covered in skins was to represent the Mars of the previous year, cast out at the beginning of the new one.Β Β»
The eternal cry of "Gl'Cierv"
The ancestral deer, the shaman of remote times "relative" to that of the cave of Ariege, the magical rite of hunting and exorcising the scapegoat, have evidently cloaked themselves, in order to survive, in the carnival celebration and in this Carnival Death with connotations more popular but equally evocative. This proposal of a possible evolutionary trajectory of the rite leaves the field to dutiful and further investigations, but precisely outlines a possible diachronic way for a more complete decryption of the rite de "Gl'Cierv" of Castelnuovo.
There are still many considerations to be made. L'Deer man, through these interpretative lenses, we are presented stripped of every cloak, anchored to an archaic time without history, alive in the worlds of myth and not at all scratched by modernity, ready to embody, in the final analysis, a pure and primal symbol of the eternal and cyclical regeneration of nature: a real celebration of this regenerative and magical aspect, which brings together the fury of winter, the ancestral and chaotic powers of nature, the most ancient rites of hunter peoples and the magical shamanic breath, which connects man to everything that surrounds him, cyclically restores his role, places him part and parcel of the eternal magic of regeneration.
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