Where is Kalinov Bridge located? Where is the fabulous river currant

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Many Russian folk tales and epics mention a certain river Smorodina, the bank of which is covered with human bones. The heroes come here to protect their native land from attacks by monsters. The generally accepted opinion expressed by the authoritative researcher of fairy tales V.Ya. Propp that the legendary river is nothing more than the border of life and death, the place of transition between worlds, the border of Yavi and Navi. Without intending to argue with this, I will still risk suggesting for discussion the question: why exactly was it called that and what power did it have?

The most common meanings are: fiery, smoky, stinking, fetid, filled with sewage. In addition, the root is associated with the concept of pestilence, death. Proponents of this approach emphasize that the Smorodina River has nothing to do with its plant namesake. On the one hand, indeed, when describing “currants,” V. Dahl notes, first of all, the meaning: “strong stuffiness, stinking, suffocating odor, burning, fumes, fumes, stinking spirit, especially burnt.” On the other hand, he mentions currants as a bush and a berry (the name of which comes “from its suffocating smell”), and on the third, he refers to the concept of the queen bee (!).

It would be useful to remember that the bee in the tradition of our ancestors is associated with cosmogony, in particular, with the image of the World Tree and the origin of people (according to mythology, the goddess Lada gave birth to the Russians from the vibrations of the Heavenly Beekeeper). Among the Slavs, it was a symbol of the soul (among other things, it was related to the cult of the dead), and in Christian symbolism it personifies the resurrection and immortality of the soul, and appears as attributes of Saints Yegor and Elijah.

In addition, the same V. Dahl, in another dictionary entry, calls currants a berry - a river, that is, growing along the banks. Let’s turn to this article, it’s about self-sufficiency. It is known that in the ancient writing of the Slavs, vowels were omitted, so it is quite reasonable to assume that currants could originally have been a native land. Then the river of the same name could mean an ancient stream, counting its existence from the primary forces of the universe.

At the same time, the semantic closeness of the word to the concept of nugget, which has long been understood as natural as opposed to artificial, and also allegorically denoted the bearer of special talents and qualities, is clearly visible. Needless to say, the Smorodina riverbed is an unusual, iconic place, and it’s not for nothing that it was here that epic heroes and fairy-tale heroes fought the monsters that threatened Holy Rus'.

From the end of the 19th century to the present day, enthusiastic researchers have been looking for it on the map of the European part of Russia, the Caucasus and Ukraine. Toponymic landmarks, i.e. geographical names close to the plots of epics and fairy tales are found, in particular, in the Kursk, Smolensk, Leningrad regions, in the Elbrus region and in Moscow.

It is curious, for example, that the name of the Sestra River, which is near St. Petersburg, is of Finnish origin: Sisterjoki (“sister” - currant, “joki” - river). Please note that we mean vegetable currants. And according to the “Pantheon of Russian Sovereigns”, Prince Oleg in 880 arrived on the Moscow River, which was then called Smorodina (or Samorodina). Indeed, to this day, in the southwest of the capital, in the Troparevsky forest park, a river flows, the name of which has two transcriptions: Smorodinka and Samorodinka.

Not at all in order to insist on the “Muscovite” priority of the geographical location of the mythical river, but to characterize its image, it is worth turning to the texts of ancient historical songs. Thus, in the recording of the legendary Kirsha Danilov “A young soldier drowned in the Moscow River, Smorodino”, the hero, going to the royal, military service, arrives on the shore and addresses:

And you, mother, are a fast river,

You are fast, river Smorodina!

Do it to me, fast river,

You're talking about horse fords,

About viburnum bridges,

Frequent transfers!

Miraculously, he receives this answer from her:

The fast river will be cleared

And a red maiden at heart:

“I will tell you, the river is fast,

Good fellow,

I'm talking about horse fords,

About viburnum bridges,

Frequent shipments:

From the horse ford

I take the horse kindly,

With frequent transportation -

According to the Circassian saddle,

From the Kalinov bridge -

According to the daring young man,

And you, timeless young man.

I’ll let you through anyway.”

Having safely reached the other bank and driven off a couple of miles, the unlucky traveler began to boast “in his stupid mind” about how successfully he had crossed, and instead of gratitude he compared Smorodina, which had the reputation of an impregnable obstacle, with a rain puddle. Then the river called the braggart back, citing insufficient weapons and predicting a quick meeting with the enemy, and when he began to return, he found himself in a pool... The poor fellow prayed and heard in response:

I'm not the one drowning you

Timeless young man,

Drowns you, well done,

Your boast is ruin!

This plot clearly demonstrates not only the magical properties of the river, but also its powers in deciding the issue of life and death, and also shows both its generosity and the severity of punishment. Note that the hero did not at all doubt the predictive abilities of his interlocutor, and he addresses her respectfully, calling her “mother is a fast river.”

In the narrative “And Prince Roman was losing his wife” (actually he killed her), it says:

He lost his wife: he tormented his body,

Tormented the body - threw it into the river,

In the right river to Smorodina.

There is clearly a mythology here associated with death, and violent death, but again there are no direct references to fire, etc. Perhaps this refers to the ability of the sacred water stream to cleanse the unfortunate soul, directing it to the appropriate place for further existence?

Finally, people turned to Currant for a prediction. Here, for example, is a fragment of the poetic text “Prince Roman and the Livik brothers”:

He gathered forces of nine thousand,

He came to the river to Currant

He himself said these words:

“Oh, you good friend!

Do what you are told:

Cut the linden lots,

Throw it on the river at Smorodina...

Which power to be killed.”

Here we have confirmation that the river was a thing. It is also mentioned in a number of epics (“The First Battle of Ilya Muromets”, “Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber”), but they again do not talk about the fiery nature. Judge for yourself: “...the Smorodina River is stormy, swamps, deep swamps...”; “So Ilya reached the Smorodina River. The river flows wide, turbulent, rolls from stone to stone... And in the fairy tales “Ivan Bykovich”, “Ivan the Peasant Son and the Miracle Yudo” there is no fiery characterization.

All this indicates that stench is fiery, etc. as the leading characteristics of the image of Smorodina, no matter how stable they seem, still cannot be considered the only version that claims to be true. At the very least, it is worth admitting its ambiguity as an ancient symbol.

This is appropriate, if only because over time it happened that images that were initially independent became mixed up. This happened even in ancient times: in their late period, the Greeks and Romans confused the river Styx (through which the souls of the dead were transported) with two others that flowed from Hades: Lethe (the river of oblivion) and Acheron (the river of sorrow). So Smorodina is sometimes called either the Forget River or the Puchai River, although there is no sufficient evidence that they are one and the same.

Valentina Ponomareva

Imagine a fiery river, along the banks of which lie human bones and skulls, and the waters themselves not only boil terribly, but also exude an unbearable stench. This almost insurmountable barrier often appears in legends, fairy tales, epics and conspiracies of ancient Rus'. Since oral folk art often mentions real cities, historical figures and battles, it can be assumed that the Smorodina River also has its own geographical coordinates. So where does it flow?

What kind of river is this?

Currant (another name for the Puchai River) is the mythical border between the world of the living and the kingdom of the dead. As you know, our ancestors called objective reality Reality, and the abode of otherworldly forces – Navya. So, Smorodina was a kind of boundary between them. Being pagans, the inhabitants of Ancient Rus' believed that the souls of the dead pass through this river, and only a true hero with a pure heart and thoughts can get into another world and come out of there alive and unharmed.

In different epics and legends, the description of Smorodina differs from each other. Some sources call it a black river with fetid waters, identifying them with cadaveric decomposition and the rot that occurs with bodies after death. Other legends and traditions speak of a fiery river seething with pure flame, which makes Smorodina an almost insurmountable obstacle on the path of Russian heroes.

The berry of the same name has nothing to do with the name of the river. This hydronym, according to most scientists, comes from the ancient Russian word “smorod” (stench) - a suffocating stench, a strong unpleasant odor. This version is also confirmed by those epics where Currant is called a fetid river.

However, there is another hypothesis, according to which the name of the river comes from the word “native”, since the disappearance of vowels is a characteristic feature of the Old Russian language, noted by many linguists. In this case, the hydronym denotes a native (primordial) river, such a primordial stream that arose from the ancient forces of existence.

An alternative name for Currant is Puchai River, although not all folklorists believe that this is the same thing. Perhaps the two mythical rivers merged over time in the popular consciousness. Or that’s what they called Currant because its waters swell. That is, they are constantly seething.

According to legends, the Kalinov Bridge is located above this mythical river. And the berry has nothing to do with it either. The bridge is called so because it is heated to the limit by the fiery waters of Currant. It is impossible for an ordinary person to walk along it. And the epic hero, as a rule, is forced to sacrifice something to the river. At the same time, Smorodina often speaks in a female voice, letting through only the most worthy travelers and cruelly punishing those who have sinned in some way or allowed themselves to mock the river, which in itself is unacceptable. The border between Yavi and Navi aroused sacred awe among the people.

Epics and legends

In Russian epics, despite a fair amount of artistic fiction and fantastical plots, there are also historically reliable facts. For example, no one will doubt the existence of the capital city of Kyiv, Prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich (popularly nicknamed the Red Sun), and the village of Karacharovo, where Ilya Muromets is from, is actually located near the city of Murom.

If we take the legend about the legendary hero, then the Smorodina River is the third obstacle encountered on Ilya’s path from Chernigov to the capital Kiev City. The hero successfully overcame the first two, which were impenetrable forests and black, marshy mud. The villain Nightingale the Robber sat by the mythical river; only after defeating him was Muromets able to pass through Smorodina.

In various epics and fairy tales, the passage between the world of the living and the kingdom of the dead - Kalinov Bridge - is guarded by a certain mythical creature: the Serpent Gorynych, the miracle Yudo or the Nightingale the Robber. The hero needs to prove that he is worthy to go through Currant by defeating his antagonist. In a sense, the opponent of the Russian hero symbolically coincides with Cerberus - a huge three-headed dog who guards the gates of Hades (the ancient Greek kingdom of the dead). And Currant itself can be compared to the River Styx, through which the souls of the dead were transported by the legendary boatman Charon.

However, ancient Russian legends are no less figurative. Our ancestors believed that the goddess of winter and death Mara (Morena), who is the wife of Kashchei the Immortal himself, rules in the afterlife. Therefore, the epic heroes often had to fight him in the kingdom of the dead. And the role of the carrier Charon among the Slavs was played by the god Veles, who, among other things (like caring for the offspring of livestock and a bountiful harvest), transferred the souls of the dead to the world of Navi.

Where does Currant flow?

If we consider Smorodina as a mythical border between the real and other worlds, then it can hardly be found on the map of Russia. But if you look for the river that Ilya Muromets crossed on his way to Kyiv, then such a task is quite feasible. The most reliable candidate for the role of obstacle encountered by the hero is the Smorodina River (same name), flowing through the territory of the Bryansk region near the city of Karachev.

However, in our country several rivers have similar names. Thus, the hydronym Smorodina is found in the Leningrad, Smolensk and Nizhny Novgorod regions, and Smorodinka flows in the Troparevsky forest park (Moscow region), Vladimir, Kursk and Tver regions, in Transbaikalia. In the Northern Elbrus region there is the Smorodinovaya River.

If we remember the second name - Pochay River, then the name of a small channel flowing into the Dnieper between Desna and Vyshgorod (Kiev region of Ukraine) is very similar. The length of the Pochayna River was only 8 kilometers. According to legend, it was in this reservoir that the first mass baptism of the people in Kievan Rus took place, which took place in 988. At the beginning of the 18th century, Pochayna disappeared from the map, becoming part of the Dnieper after the construction of a shipping canal.

Interestingly, the name of the Sestra River, which flows through the Leningrad region, in Finnish sounds like “Siestar-joki”, which translates as “Currant River”. However, there are researchers who consider the Neva or even the Moscow River to be the legendary border between worlds.

Of course, the search for the mythical Currant is an exciting activity to which various folklorists, historians and geographers have devoted a lot of time. It is possible that someone will be able to reliably prove where the epic river is located. After all, Troy was once considered just a myth.

The Smorodina River is practically one of the main symbols in Slavic-pagan mythology. The River of Fire, which is crossed by the Kalinov Bridge, is the subject of endless discussion. They looked for currants among real rivers and even found some matches; she is credited with exclusively fairy-tale origins; it is considered a river around the world of the dead; the Smorodina River is considered a transcendental, mystical manifestation, and so on. But first things first.
Smorodina River- this is the Fire River. The name “Currant” itself has an ancient interpretation. Currants are red or fiery in color. There is another interpretation of the etymology of the word “Currant”. There is an assumption that it came from the ancient Russian word “currant”, which meant a strong and pungent smell, sometimes stench, stench, and sometimes a very pleasant strong smell; for example, even incense was called “currant”. Dahl in his notes calls the currant berry a river berry, that is, growing along the banks of rivers. The same applies to Kalinov Bridge. Viburnum is a bright red color, fiery, incandescent. Both viburnum (berry, shrub) and Kalinov bridge have the same origin and refer to the word “heat”, “heat”, “heat”, i.e. something very hot and red-hot. Thus, the bridge can be called that because it is red-hot, and because it is red-hot, and because it is thrown over a hot or red river. In addition, in conspiracies the bridge over the river is also called copper.
Academician Boris Rybakov put forward a different point of view. In his opinion, the Kalinov Bridge was called such not at all because it was red-hot, red-hot or red, but because it was made of viburnum branches. Rybakov justified this version by the antiquity of the myth, which dates back to the times when people hunted mammoths and set pit traps, covering them with a thin layer of branches. The mammoth did not see the threat and fell down, becoming trapped. The mammoth, or another large animal, also became the prototype for the mythological monster, which is always present near the Kalinov Bridge. Boris Rybakov also founded the Fire River here, because mammoths were driven into traps using a fire chain, which was arranged by beaters from grass or bushes.
Smorodina River separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. It is possible to overcome it only by crossing the bridge, which is called Kalinov. It is worth saying that the river of the dead exists in other ancient beliefs. For example, in ancient Greek paganism there was the River Styx (the river along which souls are transported to the kingdom of Hades), which the dead crossed not on a bridge, but in the boat of the ferryman Charon, as well as Leto (the river of oblivion) and Acheron (the river of sorrow). At its core, the river, which is called fiery, is an obstacle on the path of the soul, which it must overcome in order to leave the border of the world of the living and enter the world of the dead, separated from each other by an insurmountable wall of fire.
There are a lot of references to the Smorodina River and the Kalinov Bridge. These names appear in fairy tales, epics, and conspiracies. “Just as a red-hot bridge is thrown across a river of fire, so I will walk across that bridge, lead the illness-illness by the hand, send the illness-illness to the dark shore, say goodbye to it with strong words: you, illness, leave the body (the name of the patient), get out , illness, to your dark shore. " In these ancient Russian legends and magical conspiracies, the same river is often called the Puchai River, that is, seething and swelling from the heat.
As mentioned above, the Kalinov Bridge connects two worlds. However, overcoming it is not so easy. On the way to the kingdom of Morana, fairy tales often depict the most dangerous obstacles. One of the most common is the terrible guard - the Serpent. In fairy tales and epics, heroes and heroes often fight with this snake. Such legends include: “The Battle on the Kalinov Bridge” (otherwise “Ivan the Peasant Son and the Miracle Yudo”), “Ivan the Peasant Son and the Little Man with a Mustache for Seven Miles”, “Ivan Bykovich” (otherwise “Ivan - son of a cow"), "The First Battle of Ilya Muromets", "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber" and others. In these folk tales, which are very ancient myths, interpreted in a new way under the influence of time, the main enemy of the heroes is a many-headed snake, which is also called “Miracle-Yudo”, sometimes “Snake-Gorynych”.
In epics and fairy tales, Baba Yaga is often mentioned, who lives next to the river and bridge, and is probably a later replacement for the Serpent or Miracle Yud. Although, it may be that everything is quite the opposite, and initially it was the goddess, who is popularly called Baba Yaga (a kind of fairy-tale version of Morana), who guards the Kalinov Bridge or helps the soul pass from the world of the living to the world of the dead.
Kalinov Bridge symbolizes not only physical death, as the transition from earthly life to the afterlife, but also symbolic death. For example, Kalinov Bridge was often used in ritual wedding songs: the bride symbolically died, leaving her old life behind, crossed the symbolic Kalinov Bridge and entered into a new life, as if being reborn, having overcome the River of Fire.
There were traditions associated with the Smorodina River, and in funeral rites ancient Slavs. Performing special funeral rituals, people symbolically crossed the Kalinov Bridge. In addition, another fire was lit around the funeral pyre, which covered the central fence. It is this engulfing fire that researchers attribute to the beliefs about the Smorodina River and its importance in life after death. The ancient tradition of burning the dead in boats and boats also relates to crossing the afterlife river after death.
Many researchers have tried and are still trying to find in the Smorodina River and Kalinov Bridge not just a mythological image, but a real hydronym, that is a real river, which served as the basis for the creation of myths. For example, there is an assumption that the Smorodina River refers to one of the rivers in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, which is called the “Sister” river. The fact is that the original name of the river is Sisterjoke, which is translated from Finnish as the Currant River, Sister - currant, yoke - river. This assumption is also confirmed by a message from legends that the Smorodina River is turbulent, and there are marshy swamps around it, which we can observe on the Sestra River. Another version of the real prototype of the legendary river is the Pochayna River in Nizhny Novgorod and Kyiv. Researchers came to the conclusion that they are identical because in many epics and myths Smorodina is referred to as the Puchai River, which is very close in similarity to Pochaynaya. There are also opinions that the real Smorodina: the Kyzyl-su river in the Elbrus region, on the banks of which there is even a Kalinov bridge; the Smorodinnaya River in the Bryansk region near the village of Nine Oaks; Sneporod (left tributary of the Dnieper); Moscow River (in the recording of Kirsha Danilov (XVIII century) the hero of the song “A young soldier drowned in the Moscow River, Smorodin”) and so on. Be that as it may, none of these assumptions could take a strong position and so far they exist only in the form of versions. It cannot be ruled out that the names of real rivers (due to certain characteristics - stormy, dangerous, deep, etc.) could be derived from the name of a mythological river.

In Slavic mythology one can hardly find a more famous river than Smorodina.
The River of Fire, which is crossed by the Kalinov Bridge, is the subject of endless discussion. They looked for currants among real rivers and even found some matches; she is credited with exclusively fairy-tale origins; it is considered a river around the world of the dead; the Smorodina River is considered a transcendental, mystical manifestation, and so on. But first things first.

The Currant River is the Fire River. The name “Currant” itself has an ancient interpretation. Currants are red or fiery in color. There is another interpretation of the etymology of the word “Currant”. There is an assumption that it came from the ancient Russian word “currant”, which meant a strong and pungent smell, sometimes stench, stench, and sometimes a very pleasant strong smell; for example, even incense was called “currant”. Dahl in his notes calls the currant berry a river berry, that is, growing along the banks of rivers. The same applies to Kalinov Bridge. Viburnum is a bright red color, fiery, incandescent. Both viburnum (berry, shrub) and Kalinov bridge have the same origin and refer to the word “heat”, “heat”, “heat”, i.e. something very hot and red-hot. Thus, the bridge can be called that because it is red-hot, and because it is red-hot, and because it is thrown over a hot or red river. In addition, in conspiracies the bridge over the river is also called copper.

Academician Boris Rybakov put forward a different point of view. In his opinion, the Kalinov Bridge was called such not at all because it was red-hot, red-hot or red, but because it was made of viburnum branches. Rybakov justified this version by the antiquity of the myth, which dates back to the times when people hunted mammoths and set pit traps, covering them with a thin layer of branches. The mammoth did not see the threat and fell down, becoming trapped. The mammoth, or another large animal, also became the prototype for the mythological monster, which is always present near the Kalinov Bridge. Boris Rybakov also founded the Fire River here, because mammoths were driven into traps using a fire chain, which was arranged by beaters from grass or bushes.

Styx, Charon
The Smorodina River separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. It is possible to overcome it only by crossing the bridge, which is called Kalinov. It is worth saying that the river of the dead exists in other ancient beliefs. For example, in ancient Greek paganism there was the River Styx (the river along which souls are transported to the kingdom of Hades), which the dead crossed not on a bridge, but in the boat of the ferryman Charon, as well as Leto (the river of oblivion) and Acheron (the river of sorrow). At its core, the river, which is called fiery, is an obstacle on the path of the soul, which it must overcome in order to leave the border of the world of the living and enter the world of the dead, separated from each other by an insurmountable wall of fire.

There are a lot of references to the Smorodina River and the Kalinov Bridge. These names appear in fairy tales, epics, and conspiracies. “Just as a red-hot bridge is thrown across a river of fire, so I will walk across that bridge, lead the illness-illness by the hand, send the illness-illness to the dark shore, say goodbye to it with strong words: you, illness, leave the body (the name of the patient), get out , illness, to your dark shore. " In these ancient Russian legends and magical conspiracies, the same river is often called the Puchai River, that is, seething and swelling from the heat.

As mentioned above, the Kalinov Bridge connects two worlds. However, overcoming it is not so easy. On the way to the kingdom of Morana, fairy tales often depict the most dangerous obstacles. One of the most common is the terrible guard - the Serpent. In fairy tales and epics, heroes and heroes often fight with this snake. Such legends include: “The Battle on the Kalinov Bridge” (otherwise “Ivan the Peasant Son and the Miracle Yudo”), “Ivan the Peasant Son and the Little Man with a Mustache for Seven Miles”, “Ivan Bykovich” (otherwise “Ivan - son of a cow"), "The First Battle of Ilya Muromets", "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber" and others. In these folk tales, which are very ancient myths, interpreted in a new way under the influence of time, the main enemy of the heroes is a many-headed snake, which is also called “Miracle-Yudo”, sometimes “Snake-Gorynych”.

In epics and fairy tales, Baba Yaga is often mentioned, who lives next to the river and bridge, and is probably a later replacement for the Serpent or Miracle Yud. Although, it may be that everything is quite the opposite, and initially it was the goddess, who is popularly called Baba Yaga (a kind of fairy-tale version of Morana), who guards the Kalinov Bridge or helps the soul pass from the world of the living to the world of the dead.

Kalinov Bridge symbolizes not only physical death, as the transition from earthly life to the afterlife, but also symbolic death. For example, Kalinov Bridge was often used in ritual wedding songs: the bride symbolically died, leaving her old life behind, crossed the symbolic Kalinov Bridge and entered into a new life, as if being reborn, having overcome the River of Fire.

There were traditions associated with the Smorodina River in the funeral rites of the ancient Slavs. Performing special funeral rituals, people symbolically crossed the Kalinov Bridge. In addition, another fire was lit around the funeral pyre, which covered the central fence. It is this engulfing fire that researchers attribute to the beliefs about the Smorodina River and its importance in life after death. The ancient tradition of burning the dead in boats and boats also relates to crossing the afterlife river after death.

River "Sister"
Many researchers have tried and are still trying to find in the Smorodina River and Kalinov Bridge not just a mythological image, but a real hydronym, that is, a really existing river, which served as the basis for the creation of myths. For example, there is an assumption that the Smorodina River refers to one of the rivers in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, which is called the “Sister” river. The fact is that the original name of the river is Sisterjoke, which is translated from Finnish as the Currant River, Sister - currant, yoke - river. This assumption is also confirmed by a message from legends that the Smorodina River is turbulent, and there are marshy swamps around it, which we can observe on the Sestra River. Another version of the real prototype of the legendary river is the Pochayna River in Nizhny Novgorod and Kyiv. Researchers came to the conclusion that they are identical because in many epics and myths Smorodina is referred to as the Puchai River, which is very close in similarity to Pochaynaya. There are also opinions that the real Smorodina: the Kyzyl-su river in the Elbrus region, on the banks of which there is even a Kalinov bridge; the Smorodinnaya River in the Bryansk region near the village of Nine Oaks; Sneporod (left tributary of the Dnieper); Moscow River (in the recording of Kirsha Danilov (XVIII century) the hero of the song “A young soldier drowned in the Moscow River, Smorodin”) and so on. Be that as it may, none of these assumptions could take a strong position and so far they exist only in the form of versions. It cannot be ruled out that the names of real rivers (due to certain characteristics - stormy, dangerous, deep, etc.) could be derived from the name of a mythological river.

11.10.2015

In Russian folk tales, the Kalinov Bridge on the Smorodina River occurs more than once, where a battle between the hero and the monster takes place: “The Battle on the Kalinov Bridge”, “Ivan Bykovich”, “Ivan, the peasant’s son and a peasant himself with a finger, a mustache for seven miles”, etc. With the light hand of the scrupulous researcher of fairy tales V.Ya. Propp, it was customary to believe that the Smorodina River represents the border between worlds. Therefore, the bridge across it is a transition from one world to another.

Bridge as a symbol of unity

The bridge (like the rainbow) in many cultures symbolized the transition between worlds - between Earth and Heaven.

The Kalinov Bridge in ancient Russian epics connects the two banks of the fiery Smorodina River. On one shore is the world of the living, on the other is the kingdom of the dead. The bridge is guarded by the personification of evil - the Three-Headed Serpent, with whom the epic heroes fight for the triumph of Good.

The rainbow bridge Bifrost in German-Scandinavian myths connects the world of people (Midgard) and the world of gods (Asgard). The god Heimdall protects him from the ancient giants. When he blows the horn, then the last battle between the gods and giants will begin, which will end one stage of the life of the world and begin a new one.

In China, the bridge symbolized the union of heaven and earth. The Islamic tradition describes a bridge leading to heaven, which is located over hell; by the will of Allah, the souls of the dead cross it or end up in the underworld. For the ancient Jews, the bridge acted as a sign of the Covenant made by God with His people. In Finnish mythology, a rope bridge or a thread bridge leads across the river separating the lands of the dead from the lands of the living.

In Iranian mythology, the Bridge of Separation (Chinvat Parvata) between the world of the living and the world of the dead is thrown over the Darkness and leads to the Heavenly Kingdom of Garodman. It is made of light and is like a multifaceted ray. Along its wide edges, righteous people pass into the Heavenly Kingdom, and from its narrow and sharp edges, like a dagger blade, sinners are cast into Darkness.

Japanese myths tell: standing on the Sky Bridge, the spirit of air Izanagi and the goddess of clouds Izanami create the world. In search of land, they lower a spear into the swirling clouds and discover the ocean below. The water flowing from the spear freezes and the first island is formed, on which the gods settle and create the rest of the world.

In medieval knightly legends, Lancelot must cross a “smooth sword sparkling in the sun” - a bridge - to the place of Guinevere’s imprisonment. Crossing this bridge is “full of torment and suffering.” But as soon as the knight fearlessly passes the test - he crosses the bridge to the other side, the ferocious lions waiting for him there disappear or turn into harmless lizards.

Smorodina River and Kalinov Bridge

The Currant River is one of the main symbols of our Ancestors. The River of Fire, which is crossed by the Kalinov Bridge, is the subject of endless discussion. They looked for currants among real rivers and even found some matches; she is credited with exclusively fairy-tale origins; it is considered a river around the world of the dead; the Smorodina River is considered a transcendental, mystical manifestation, and so on. But first things first.

WITH. Panasenko "Bridge over the Smorodina River"

Fire River

The Smorodina River separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. It is possible to overcome it only by crossing the bridge, which is called Kalinov. It is worth saying that the river of the dead exists in other ancient beliefs. For example, the ancient Greeks had the river Styx (the river along which souls are transported to the kingdom of Hades), which the dead crossed not on a bridge, but in the boat of the ferryman Charon, as well as Leto (the river of oblivion) and Acheron (the river of sorrow). At its core, the river, which is called fiery, is an obstacle on the path of the Soul, which it must overcome in order to leave the border of the world of the living and enter the world of the dead, separated from each other by an insurmountable wall of fire.

So, Kalinov Bridge connects two worlds. However, overcoming it is not so easy. On the way to the kingdom of Morana, fairy tales often depict the most dangerous obstacles. One of the most common is the terrible guard - the Serpent. In fairy tales and epics, heroes and heroes often fight with this snake, which is the personification of the battle of good and evil.

And in the battle between the hero and the monster on the border of the worlds of Life and Death, and during the transition from girlhood to marriage, the death of the previous state and the birth of a new one took place. Both a feat of arms and a wedding are initiation, dedication.

Geographical search for the Smorodina River

Many researchers have tried and are still trying to find in the Smorodina River and Kalinov Bridge not just a mythological image, but a real hydronym, that is, a really existing river, which served as the basis for the creation of myths. For example, there is an assumption that the Smorodina River refers to one of the rivers in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, which is called the “Sister” river. The fact is that the original name of the river is Sisterjoke, which is translated from Finnish as the Currant River, Sister - currant, yoke - river. This assumption is also confirmed by a message from legends that the Smorodina River is turbulent, and there are marshy swamps around it, which we can observe on the Sestra River. Another version of the real prototype of the legendary river is the Pochayna River in Nizhny Novgorod and Kyiv. Researchers came to the conclusion that they are identical because in many epics and myths Smorodina is referred to as the Puchai River, which is very close in similarity to Pochaynaya. There are also opinions that the real Smorodina: the Kyzyl-su river in the Elbrus region, on the banks of which there is even a Kalinov bridge; the Smorodinnaya River in the Bryansk region near the village of Nine Oaks; Sneporod (left tributary of the Dnieper); Moscow River (in the recording of Kirsha Danilov (XVIII century) the hero of the song “A young soldier drowned in the Moscow River, Smorodin”) and so on. Be that as it may, none of these assumptions could take a strong position and so far they exist only in the form of versions.

Inner battle

To look for a fiery river and a bridge across it as some kind of symbolic boundary, overcoming which one can find oneself in a completely different world-space, is meaningless in geographical latitudes, because they are located in the consciousness of every person and all nationalities. And each hero has his own hour of battle with the monster in an attempt to move to a new side of existence. Our past mistakes, our bad habits of thinking have tenacious paws and toothy jaws - they will fight us to the death. It's an internal battle. And it will happen over and over again, either increasing the intensity, or weakening its grip, giving a respite - an opportunity to comprehend what is happening, until you become a winner in it.

Thus, the Kalinov Bridge over the Smorodina River is a mandatory test that all travelers undergo who want to go beyond the veils of this world... Not in the sense of getting from the world of the living to the world of the dead, but, having overcome a certain personification of evil within themselves, to reach a new level existence, understanding, vision...

Good luck.

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