Priest-King of the Warriors and Witch-Queen of the Others: Cargo Cult and Witch Hunt in Indo-European Myth and Reality
Priest-King of the Warriors and Witch-Queen of the Others: Cargo Cult and Witch Hunt in Indo-European Myth and Reality

Author(s): Michal Cigán
Contributor(s): Jana Horáková (Editor), Katarina Petrovićová (Editor), Vendula Hromádková (Editor)
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Customs / Folklore, Geography, Regional studies, Sociology, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Studies in violence and power
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Indo-Europe; myths; Ritual Against the Brother; War Against the Witch; interpretation;
Summary/Abstract: In this book an interpretation of two Indo-European mythological themes within their complex context is presented. Considered are especially historical and socio-cognitive aspects of their background. By means of this approach an innovative interpretation of an otherwise traditional mythological structure is proposed as well as a new one introduced. In the first part of the book the matter of well-known Indo-European creation myth is discussed. It is hypothetically concluded that Proto-Indo-European cultural area originated in prehistoric Cargo Cult. Certain motives and themes of Indo-European creation myth are interpreted as possible semantic relics of Pre-Proto-Indo-European Cargo Cult ideology. In the second part an attempt to present the brand new Indo-European mythological structure, so called witch-hunting myth, is made. Analysed are various local manifestations of narrative dealing with the conflict of elites with the demonic army led by a female witch. A basic sujet pattern is identified and then interpreted as an outcome of archaic Indo-European societies’ social and gender setting.

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