The Golden Woman is a mysterious northern idol who could move and kill with her scream. Where is the Golden Woman located? Where to look for the Golden Woman

And this name is not accidental. Seven bizarre stone figures rise on the flat surface of the ridge. One resembles a petrified woman, the other a lion, the third a wise old man with his hand raised.

Tourists from different cities Russians are in a hurry to see the famous Pechora “boobs” and hastily pass by the lonely high conical peak of Mount Koyp. In Vogul, Koyp is a drum. One of the legends of the Mansi people connects this peak with its famous neighbors.

Once upon a time, seven Samoyed giants walked through the mountains and Siberia to destroy the Vogul people. When they climbed the Man-Pupu-Ner ridge, their leader-shaman saw in front of him the sacred Yura of the Voguls, Yalpingner. In horror, the shaman threw his drum, which turned into Mount Koyp, and he and his companions froze in fear and became stone blockheads.

But there is another legend that can also be heard from Mansi, but much less often. Koyp looks like a conical mountain from the side of the stone blocks. But if you look at it from a small nameless ridge located to the west, you will clearly see a woman with sharp facial features lying on her back.

This is a petrified shaman, punished for trying to insult one of the most ancient idols, once revered by all the peoples of the north - Golden Baba. When the golden idol was crossing the stone belt of the Ural Mountains, the shaman, who considered herself its owner, wanted to detain the Golden Baba. Screamed in a terrible voice , and every living thing for many miles around died of fear, and the arrogant shamaness fell backward and turned to stone.

The screams that the Golden Baba makes are evidenced not only by Mansi legends, but also by the memories of foreigners who have visited Rus'. Here, for example, is what the Italian Alexander Guagnini wrote in 1578: “They even say that in the mountains next to this idol they heard a sound and a loud roar like a trumpet.”

We will return to her screams closer to the end of the story, but for now about something else. It is generally accepted that the Golden Baba is a pagan idol of the peoples who inhabited a vast territory from the Northern Dvina to the northwestern slopes of the Ural Mountains. This territory was called differently at different times - Biarmia, Ugra Land, Great Perm.

The first mentions of the so-called Golden Woman in historical documents appeared more than a thousand years ago in Icelandic and Scandinavian sagas telling about the Viking campaigns for the Golden Woman in 820, 918 and 1023.

For a thousand years, the Golden Baba “made a journey” from the banks of the Northern Dvina to the banks of the Ob. According to researchers, she traveled such a fantastic route because she had to be rescued all the time - either from Norman robbers or from militant Christian preachers. But where is the birthplace of the idol, where did it come from in ancient Biarmia, Ugra and Perm and where did it disappear at the end of the 16th century is unknown.

As he writes in the article “Where is she, Golden Woman?” Boris Vorobyov, all available descriptions of the idol lead to the fact that it “is not the work of the masters of ancient Perm, since, firstly, in its appearance it is sharply different from the pagan deities of the northern peoples, which included the Ugra, Voguls, and Ostyaks; and secondly, the creation of such a metal sculpture was impossible due to the lack of appropriate technology among the Ugra tribes” (“Technology for Youth”, 1997, No. 11).

Many articles and books have been written about the Golden Baba. The main sources that those trying to unravel its secrets turn to are the following documents: the essay of the founder. Roman Academy Julius Pomponia Leta (1428-1497) “Comments on Florus”, “Treatise on the Two Sarmatias” by the Polish historian and geographer Matvey Miechovsky (1457-1523), “Notes on Muscovite affairs” by the Austrian baron Sigmund von Herberstein (1486-1566) . In Russian documents, the first evidence of the Golden Baba is contained in the Novgorod Sofia Chronicle, and it dates back to 1398.

It turns out that the golden idol had many names: Yumala, Golden Baba, Golden Old Woman, Kaltas, Guanyin, Copper Statue, Golden Lady, Golden Woman, Golden Maya.

The appearance of the Golden Woman is also, according to the descriptions, very different: now a standing female statue, now a woman with a cornucopia, now Minerva with a spear in her hands, now a sitting woman, very reminiscent of the Madonna, with a child in her arms, now a sitting naked woman and also with child.

In Russia, another written mention of it is the Novgorod Chronicle of 1538. The chronicle talks about the missionary activities of Stephen of Perm. Stefan walked across the Perm land, destroyed ancient sanctuaries and erected Christian churches in their place. The chronicle says that Stefan sowed the faith of Christ in the Perm land among the peoples who previously worshiped animals, trees, water, fire and the Golden Baba.

At the end of the 15th century. Moscow governors Semyon Kurbsky and Pyotr Ushaty tried to find the Golden Woman. When it became known that the idol had been moved to Asian part continent, Kurbsky and Ushaty, at the head of an army of four thousand, crossed the Urals and began searching for his temple. Many Ugra villages were captured and many hidden places were searched, but neither the idol nor the temple treasures could be found.

In 1582, almost 100 years after the campaign of Kurbsky and Ushaty, the trace of the main deity of the Permyak-Ugra land was finally found. In the autumn of the same year, the Cossacks unsuccessfully stormed the so-called Demyansky town in the lower reaches of the Irtysh for three days.

When they had already decided to postpone the offensive, a defector appeared who said that in the town there was an idol made of pure gold. Hearing about this, the leader of the Cossacks, Bogdan Bryazga, ordered the assault to continue. The town was taken, but there was no trophy there: the idol’s servants managed to get out of the encirclement and take it with them. Bryazga and his squad rushed in the footsteps of the disappeared idol. In May 1583, the Cossacks were already on the Ob, in an area called Belogorye.

Here was the Golden Baba’s prayer site, sacred to the Ostyak aborigines, protected by a kind of spell, according to which anyone who disturbed the peace of the great goddess had to die. Despite all the prohibitions, the Cossacks thoroughly searched the prayer site, but they never found the Golden Woman. Somehow, mysteriously, she disappeared again. Returning from a campaign, the Cossacks were ambushed and all died. Perhaps the spell has come true?!

Some time later, the idol that had disappeared from Belogorye appeared in the basin of the Konda River, the left tributary of the Irtysh. All the surrounding tribes flocked to his temple, as had happened before. Rich offerings were brought to the deity in the form of sable skins and overseas fabrics purchased at auctions in the vast Permyak-Ugra land.

At the beginning of the 17th century. Missionary Grigory Novitsky tried to find the Golden Woman. He collected interesting information about the sanctuary, where the idol was secretly kept and where only the tribal leader and the shaman had the right to enter. Apart from this information, Novitsky was unable to find out anything else.

A hundred years later, traces of the Golden Woman seemed to be found on the Northern Sosva River, which flows into the Ob on the left side. According to modern researchers, the location of the idol is moved even further - to Taimyr, in the Putorana mountains.

At the end of the 20th century. Attempts were still being made to find the Golden Woman. The latest information about her dates back to the summer of 1990. They were delivered by ethnographic expedition Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who visited Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. A small number of northern Khanty live there to this day, who, according to legend, were responsible for the inviolability of the Golden Baba.

In 1933, dispossession began in these parts. The NKVD authorities arrested the shaman and found out from him the way to the sanctuary. However, the Khanty, defending the shrine, offered armed resistance to the security officers. As a result, four NKVD employees died, which led to immediate repression: almost all adult men of the clan were killed, and many children, old people and women died out over the winter, since they were practically unable to hunt and get food - their guns were confiscated. Even now, after so many years, the surviving Khanty are reluctant to talk about past events and ask that their names not be used.

As for the Golden Baba, who was kept in the sanctuary, she disappeared. There is an assumption that it was melted down. However, members of the expedition spoke about one thing interesting fact: V local history museum Khanty-Mansiysk contains many exhibits for which there was previously no museum passport. As the members of the expedition found out, these things came from the storage facility of the local KGB department. This raises another question: if the Golden Woman was not golden, isn’t she currently in some special storage facility?

Regarding the question of where the golden statue on Perm land came from, opinions differed. Biarmia history researcher Leonid Teploye suggests that the golden statue could have been taken away from the burning sack of Rome in 410. AD during the attack of the Ugrians and Goths. Some of them returned to their homeland to the Arctic Ocean, and an antique statue brought from distant southern city, became the idol of the northern people.

The supreme goddess of the Ugrians was known under different names. This progenitor of the human race endowed newborns with souls. The Ugrians believed that souls sometimes take the form of a beetle or lizard. Their divine mistress herself could turn into a lizard-like creature. And this is a very remarkable fact of her “biography”.

Bazhov's wonderful tales describe the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. The mistress of the underground storerooms of the Urals often appeared before people's eyes in the form of a huge lizard with a retinue of colorful lizards.

The hostess appears before us primarily as the owner of copper ores and malachite. She herself wore a malachite dress, and her name was Malachite. The idol of the Golden Woman, from whom the fairy-tale Mistress of the Copper Mountain originated, was made of copper. The green dress appeared because over time copper becomes covered with a green oxide film. Short line

The ancient goddess of Belogorye was a copper statue turned green by time. It becomes clear why the chronicler kept silent about the material of the idol and did not call it the Golden Woman. In fairy tales we also find memories of the golden Russian God. In the Urals they knew the golden Great Snake, that is, the Great Snake. He already lived underground and could take the form of both a snake and a human. This creature had power over gold.

Today, among the inhabitants of the Urals there lives a legend about Yalpyn-Uy, giant snake, which still sometimes appears “in public”, like a Mansi anaconda. Maybe this is connected with the legend of the Golden Baba?

The key to unraveling the mysterious appearance is given by Bazhov’s tales. In them, the Golden Snake is a golden man with a beard twisted into such tight rings that “you can’t straighten it out.” He has green eyes and a hat with “red gaps” on his head. But this is almost exactly an image of green-eyed Osiris!

The beard of the Egyptian god was pulled back into a narrow, tight bun. The pharaohs who imitated him had the same beard. It is enough to recall the famous masks of Tutankhamun from his golden sarcophagi to understand what the rings on the beard of the golden man looked like. A hat with “red gaps” “pschent” is the white and red crown of a united Egypt.

The wife and sister of Osiris was the green-eyed Isis - the goddess of fertility, water, magic, marital fidelity and love. She patronized lovers. In the same way, the Ural goddess is the goddess of waters, closely associated with the theme of love and marital fidelity.

So, does the image of the green-eyed Mistress of the Copper Mountain go back to Isis? Today we can tell what the copper statue of an Egyptian woman looked like. Let us remember that the Golden Woman was depicted as a Madonna. The image of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus arose under the influence of the sculptures of Isis with the baby Horus. One of these idols is kept in the Hermitage. Naked Isis sits and breastfeeds her son. On the goddess's head is a crown of snakes, a solar disk and cow horns.

Egyptian myths help us understand a lot in our tales. Here, for example, is a magic green button. It was given to Gornozavodskaya Tanyusha by the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, and through the gift the girl communicated with her patroness. The Egyptian gods had the wonderful eye of Wadjet (“green eye”). It also provided the owner with protection and patronage. Isis-Hathor was the guardian of the Eye and its embodiment.

The Egyptians themselves called Isis Iset. Iset, the “river of Isis”, has its source near Gumeshki? Through this river, Ural copper entered the forest Trans-Urals. The name of the town of Sysert may have come from the sistrum, an ancient Egyptian musical instrument.

There are a great many such parallels here...

The fact that the Golden Baba is Isis was said by the old author Petriy (1620). But no one believed him. The appearance of Egyptian trends in Siberia seemed too surprising... But this is a separate big problem.

According to legend, the metal Golden Woman seemed to have fallen from the sky. Or maybe she really fell? This version of the origin of the golden idol was put forward several years ago by ufologist Stanislav Ermakov. He believes that the Golden Baba is an alien robot, for some reason, perhaps due to a partial malfunction, left on Earth by its owners.

For some time, the Golden Baba could move, and it is with this property that the Mansi legends about the “living” golden idol are associated. Then, it seems, the robot began to gradually fail. At first he could still emit infrasounds, and then he finally turned into a golden statue.

Where is the idol or broken robot now? As final resting place Three remote, hard-to-reach corners of Russia are traditionally called the Golden Baba: the lower reaches of the Ob River, the upper reaches of the Irtysh in the Kalbinsky Range and the impassable gorges of the Putoran Mountains on the Taimyr Peninsula.

Mount Otorten

But perhaps the idol with the terrible, deadly voice is much closer. And hides somewhere in the triangle between the Koyp mountains, and Manya-Thump. This assumption is more logical if you believe the legend that the Golden Woman “screamed” at Otorten.

One way or another, the hunt for the Golden Woman continues: some are looking for a priceless historical relic, others for gold, and others for a treasure trove of alien technology.

From the book "100 Great Disappearances"

The idol was made of pure gold, weighing three tons, and sat on a mound made of precious gifts. The ancients believed that the Golden Baba could reward those praying with her mercy.

Have you ever heard of the Golden Baba? This is a legendary idol, an object of worship for the population of North-Eastern Europe and North-West Siberia. Sometimes she is also called the Siberian Pharaoh. Until now, the mystery of the origin and disappearance of the Golden Woman haunts many researchers.

The legend of the Golden Baba was born in Rus' in the 14th-15th centuries, when the Moscow state began to expand its possessions in the northeast. The idol was first mentioned in the Sofia Chronicle of 1398. It tells about one of the Orthodox missionaries - Stephen of Perm. The chronicle speaks of the countless deeds of Stephen, who sowed the faith of Christ where animals, trees, water, fire and the Golden Woman were once worshiped.

For a thousand years the legendary one has been hidden from human sight. For centuries, its zealous guardians killed anyone who could encroach on the treasure, and if necessary, then themselves, just to protect the shrine. Eyewitnesses described the Golden Baba in different ways. Some said that it was the figure of a pregnant woman, others claimed that it was a mother with a baby in her arms, and others were sure that the idol was a matryoshka doll made of golden bells. Some even adhered to the version that the Golden Baba was the Tibetan goddess Guan Yin, whose statue belonged to the ancient Aryans who came from the Arctic islands. The Slavs considered the Golden Baba their goddess. According to numerous reports from the Khanty, Mansi and Russian old-timers, the Golden Baba was kept for a long time in Belogorye, not far from the Ob River, at its confluence with the Irtysh. Today, debates about the real whereabouts of the Golden Woman do not subside even for a day. The map of Gerard Mercator, published in 1595, depicts the legendary country of Hyperborea, which could have existed in the northern modern Russia. Not far from the mouth of the Ob, there is an inscription on this map: “Golden Baba”.

In any case, the idol was made of pure gold, weighing three tons, and sat on a mound made of precious gifts. The ancients believed that everyone who came to worship her had to bring something in return, and she would reward you with her mercy. “Offer even a tuft of hair from your head, otherwise the goddess will punish you with death.” Ufologists believe that the figure of the Golden Woman was made of metal alloys that have no analogues in earthly metallurgy. However, anything is possible.

The Golden Baba has not yet been found. Although under this name one could note several idols and statues that could be called the Golden Woman. For example, researchers in the 19th century allegedly followed the trail of the Golden Woman in the Northern Urals region, but found only a silver copy of her. And in 2000 on Kola Peninsula was discovered stone statue, which could be a Hyperborean goddess. But it is impossible to say that this was the same legendary statue. It is quite possible that the Golden Woman never existed in the form in which she appears in the legends and traditions of the peoples of the north.

The Golden Baba today appears only in myths and legends. Presumably, it was she who was the main idol worshiped in ancient times by the peoples of North-Eastern Europe and North-West Siberia.

Myths about the golden idol

The earliest mention of a golden idol is found in the 13th century in the Scandinavian “Saga of Saint Olaf,” part of Snorri Sturluson’s “Earthly Circle.” The saga tells that around 1023, the Norwegian Vikings, led by the famous Thorir the Dog, went on a campaign to Biarmia (Bjarmaland) - that was the name of the legendary state, which spread in the 9th-12th centuries in the region of the Northern Dvina, Vychegda and the upper reaches of the Kama. In Rus' it was called Perm the Great. They managed to secretly penetrate the Bjarm sanctuary - Yomali, guarded by six shamans. There they saw many treasures and a large gilded statue. The idol had a precious chain around its neck and a golden crown decorated with twelve different images on its head. On her lap lay a bowl filled with silver coins mixed with soil. The Vikings took with them as much money and treasure as they could carry. Finally, one of them, Carly, cut off the head of the idol, seduced by the chain. But on the way back, the Vikings were met by the guardians of the sanctuary, and they had to flee, leaving behind all the loot.

We also find information about the cult of worship of the Golden Woman in the Sofia Chronicle for 1398 in connection with the death of Bishop Stefan of Perm. It says that Stephen sowed the faith of Christ on those lands where they had previously worshiped animals, trees, water, fire and... the Golden Woman.

In the 15th century, the Novgorod Ushkuiniki, having visited the Ural lands with goods, brought news of "unknown people in Eastern country, growing small, eating each other and praying to the golden idol".

A lot of legends about the Golden Woman circulate among the Komi, Khanty and Mansi. So, Mansi reindeer herders tell this legend. The golden woman was alive and could walk on her own. When she crossed the Stone Belt, as they used to call Ural Mountains, a local shaman tried to detain her, since she considered herself the local mistress. Then the idol screamed in a terrible voice, and from its screams every living thing for many miles died. The daring shaman fell backward and turned to stone.

The Yakut epic describes a copper statue standing in the middle of impassable swamps. When enemies approached, she allegedly began to make a sound reminiscent of the chirping of many crickets, and also emitted a blue glow into the sky.

The Nenets have a myth that once a year, when the Great Sun appears in the sky, the Solar Woman rises from under the frozen ground, carrying a baby in her womb.

The cult of the “golden goddess” among the Slavs

It seems that the Golden Woman was worshiped in Ancient Rus'. In the pagan legends of the Slavs, the Temple of the Golden Baba is mentioned, located “in the country of Obdorsk, at the mouth of the Obigo River”(probably referring to the Ob River). She was considered the patroness of pregnant women and midwives. Gold, silver and furs were sacrificed to her. Even foreigners came to worship the idol. Researchers of ancient Slavism believe that the Golden Baba was the main one among Rozhanitsa - goddesses responsible for human destiny.

According to most researchers, we were talking about the Mansi goddess Sorni-ekva, whose name translated means “Golden Woman”. Prince N.S. Trubetskoy, who was engaged in ethnography, believed that this was Kaltash-Ekva, the wife of the supreme Khanty-Mansi god Numi-Tarum, who patronizes all living things and determines the fate of every person.

Where to look for the Golden Woman?

It is assumed that with the advent of Christianity, the pagans began to hide the statue so that it would not be destroyed. Enough detailed information You can read about this in books about Rus' by European travelers of the 16th century. True, information about the location of the sanctuary of the Golden Baba is quite contradictory. For example, M. Mekhovsky in his “Essay on Two Sarmatias” (1517) writes that the idol is located beyond Vyatka "on penetration into Scythia". But S. Herberstein in 1549, A. Guagnini in 1578 and D. Fletcher in 1591 indicate that it is hidden near the mouth of the Ob.

In his notes made during a trip to Russia, the Roman envoy Sigismund Herberstein reports: “They say, or, to be more precise, they fable, that the idol of the Golden Old Woman is a statue in the form of an old woman holding her son on her lap, and there is already another child visible there, about whom they say that this is her grandson. Moreover, it was as if she had placed some instruments there that produced a constant sound, like trumpets. If this is so, then I believe that this is due to the strong and constant wind blowing on these instruments.".

On one of the maps of the medieval cartographer G. Mercator, published in 1595, near the mouth of the Ob River, a statue is depicted with a child in her arms and the signature “Golden Woman” (Slata baba).

In the Uvat Local History Museum “Legends of the Gray Irtysh”, located in the Tyumen region, you can see an exhibition dedicated to the Golden Woman. The exhibits include the Kungur Chronicle, according to which 400 years ago the idol was in the Demyansk town on the territory Uvat district, however, after the capture of the town by the Ermakov Cossacks, led by Ataman Bryazga, the statue mysteriously disappeared. In the center of the museum hall there is a reconstruction of the altar with a gilded figure of the goddess, reproduced from the drawings of the chronicler S.U. Remezova.

In 1961, the statue was allegedly discovered in the vicinity of the village of Yuilsk in the upper reaches of the Kazym River, approximately 270 kilometers north of Khanty-Mansiysk. But it turned out to be not gold, but wooden, covered with silver on top. Therefore, there were rumors about a substitution. However, everyone who dealt with the idol died one after another. Although it is clear that the information is completely unverified... Moreover, the “Idol of Yule” soon disappeared.

Where the mysterious Golden Woman is now, if she really exists, is unknown. Maybe the idol is hidden in one of the hidden Ural caves, waiting in the wings...

Golden idol

https://ficbook.net/readfic/2597147

listokklevera (https://ficbook.net/authors/10561)

Betas (editors):

berlina (https://ficbook.net/authors/157167), Slavyanka (https://ficbook.net/authors/184574)

Fandom:

Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles (crossover)

Genres:

Slash (yaoi), Romance, Sci-Fi, Action, AU

Size:

Maxi, 99 pages

Number of parts:

Status:

finished

Description:

Jensen has dreamed of adventure since childhood, and when a treasure map fell into his hands, he immediately set out to fulfill his dream, without even knowing what treasure he would find there.

Dedication:

kiraj, thank you for your wonderful submission on my favorite topic. Forgive me, my dear, that this is not the original, but I’m still so involved in this fandom that I can’t imagine other heroes.

Publication on other resources:

This is a complete AU, so people unfamiliar with this fandom can read it as an original, it’s just that the GGs look like the named actors and some facts are taken from their real life, may they forgive me for that.

Warning for Jaredotopes: Jensen is on top most of the time!

Ater Katta, thank you for checking chapters 4-7!))

Cover http://s019.radikal.ru/i604/1505/d3/2e84475af57f.jpg

from wonderful.sometime. http://ficbook.net/authors/1091855

Thank you very much for such a gift!!!

Chapter 1

Perhaps the death of Lord Eccles, Earl of Surrey, hit his middle grandson, Jensen, his most beloved and most loving, hardest. In his grandfather, Jensen found real consolation from family problems, which, naturally, did not lie in plain sight, but were felt by him from an early age in the coldness of his father and the busyness of his mother. Jensen didn’t have much of a close relationship with his older brother, and his younger sister generally seemed like an alien with her girly quirks like dolls and dresses; they have grown, but even after a few years the priorities have not changed much. Now the sister was chatting not about dolls, but about boys, and the brother - already too serious - became even more serious and boring and became more and more deeply involved in the family business, coached by his father.

Therefore, it was quite natural that Jensen spent his entire childhood in his grandfather’s castle in Surrey, and since his parents did not want to accompany him there, and his grandfather thought that a child of four years old did not have enough just a nanny and a driver, they hired sixteen-year-old Henry Audley, son of cooks So Jensen got a personal valet, which even his father didn’t have; after all, they don’t live in the nineteenth century. No, there were plenty of servants in the house, but the valet was something completely different, it was like a living magic wand.

Looking back on his childhood years, Jensen was surprised to note how Henry immediately blended into his surroundings, an invisible shadow, and more often a visible one, being present nearby. Instead of, like all teenagers, striving to communicate with peers, he gave all his attention and time to little Jensen, playing with him, walking, entertaining him as best he could, helping him get dressed and even putting him to bed, only instead of fairy tales, telling exciting stories about his great-grandfather, also a valet, Jeeves. And only at the age of eleven, having stumbled upon a series of books by Wodehouse in the library about the adventures of the young English aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves, Jensen understood where Henry got his “true” stories from. He was very far from Jeeves; Henry was not distinguished by his intelligence or erudition, but in terms of devotion to Jensen, he could give odds even to the entire royal guard guarding Queen Elizabeth.

At home, his grandfather taught him everything that could be useful, in his opinion, to his grandson, who came from an eminent, aristocratic family. He hired the best teachers in a variety of subjects, including horse riding, fencing and boxing. Jensen studied, rode with his grandfather across the heather-filled moors and hills, and read. He simply read books by Louis Boussenard and Henry Haggard, sitting in the library in the evenings or on stormy days; Allan Quartermain, a gentleman, hunter and lover of adventure, became his favorite character. Jensen imagined himself on the Dark Continent in search of treasure.

One fine day, the first day of spring, to be more precise, the grandfather ordered their horses to be saddled and, with a somewhat mysterious expression that was unexpected to see on his usually imperturbable face, offered to go for a ride. They galloped to the border of their grandfather's lands - a small river, the opposite bank of which was covered with a narrow but long forest. With surprise, Jensen watched as his grandfather led his horse into the water and walked along the ford to the other side. Jensen also silently followed him, wondering how his grandfather could even know that there was a ford here. Along the only paths he knew, he led Jensen through the forest, and they came out into an open space with a small castle standing on it, about five hundred yards from the forest, the existence of which Jensen did not even know.

Having galloped in a race to the yard lined with gray stone, they dismounted, handing over the reins to the running groom, their own groom, who, it is not clear how he ended up here. In the castle, which only looked like an ancient one, but in fact was completely modern inside, stuffed with the latest technology and every conceivable convenience, they were greeted by the same familiar faces. Jensen, holding the stamp, did not show surprise, but looked questioningly at his grandfather, who smiled at the corners of his lips and said:

Happy birthday Jensen. This is for you.

Thank you,” Jensen thanked, not understanding what he was talking about.

They went into the office, almost the same as in the old castle, where the grandfather, pressing simultaneously on two curls at opposite ends of the bookshelf, opened the hiding place, which turned out to be a completely modern safe. Having entered the code, he opened the safe door and took out a folder:

Jensen, here is a deed of gift for these lands and, accordingly, the castle. Your parents know nothing about this acquisition, the land was purchased with my personal finances, and this house was also built with them. Your elder brother, as heir, will one day receive Surrey Castle, but I wanted you to also have your own home and, no matter what happens, you would not depend on anyone for anything. To secure this castle, I have opened a special account in your name.

Where is the Golden Woman located?

Some Siberian and especially Ural legends are full of mystical mysteries. Despite the fact that these legends sound fantastic, many still perceive them as historical facts. Such stories include the legends about the “Golden Woman” or “Golden Goddess”.

They say that somewhere in the Urals or other places Russian North hidden is a golden statue of a pagan goddess. This legend has been around for many centuries, but even today there are those who are trying to find the mysterious statue. What kind of goddess is this?

Sorni-Equa

We are talking about the supreme Finno-Ugric goddess, whom the Khanty and Mansi call Kaltas-Ekva. She is the wife of Num-Torum himself, the most important Khanty-Mansi deity. Sometimes she also acts as the sister of Num-Torum. This is the mother goddess, who is usually represented as a young girl or woman with long golden hair. It is also believed that she personifies the morning dawn. She has many epithets, one of which is most famous - Sorni-Equa, that is, Golden Woman. Kaltas patronizes childbirth and is associated with the emergence of new life, while it is related to both the earthly sphere and even the underground. Where the Mansi built places of worship for women, statues of Kaltas-Ekva were always present. Apparently, this is one of the reasons why she is associated with the mentioned “Golden Woman”. Under her nickname Sorni-ekva, this goddess is familiar to many other Finno-Ugric peoples - in particular, the Komi and Komi-Permyaks.

Scandinavian sagas

It is curious that the first mentions of the “Golden Woman” are contained in the ancient Scandinavian sagas. Some of these stories were cited in his book “The Circle of the Earth” by the Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson (13th century). One of them tells how the great Norwegian Viking leader Thorir the Dog went with his squad to Biarmia - legendary country, located, according to the opinion of that time, on the territory of the Russian North. There, near the Dvina River, they found a sanctuary in which there was a wooden statue that had a golden crown on its head and held a bowl of silver coins in its hand. True, this sanctuary was dedicated to Yumala, a Karelian-Finnish deity. However, later the “Golden Woman” was mentioned in Russian chronicles telling about the Komi people and the biography of Stephen of Perm.

Mentions of foreigners

Medieval people repeatedly wrote about the “Golden Woman” European travelers who visited Russia. This includes Herberstein, Guagnini, Maciej Miechowski, and a number of other famous Europeans. Each of them placed the “Golden Woman” in different places North - from the Urals to the lower reaches of the Ob. Many of them describe the statue as an image of an old woman with a child in her arms or in the womb, and next to her is another child - her grandson.

Opinion of Russian scientists

In the 18th century, the history and customs of the northern peoples were described by such Russian scientists as Lepyokhin and Miller. They assumed that the “Golden Baba” was a pagan statue that was taken with them to the Ob by representatives of the Komi people who did not want to accept Christianity.

Does the “Golden Woman” really exist?

Researchers and enthusiasts searching for the legendary statue rely only on medieval stories and the mythology of the northern peoples. The very identification of the statue with Sorni-equa seems unconvincing, because the Khanty-Mansi goddess was a young girl, not an old woman.

Interesting is the testimony of the Russian scientist of the 17th - 18th centuries, Semyon Remezov, who explored Siberia and compiled a richly illustrated “Chronicle” - a historical work about the Russian North. It tells that the Golden Baba is a Khanty idol that was located in the Demyansk town, but mysteriously disappeared from there after it was conquered by Ermak’s troops. The book also contains a drawing of this idol. Currently, in the village of Uvat (Tyumen region), in the famous local history museum, there is a reconstruction of the altar along with a statue made on the basis of this drawing.