In
early Russia, dogs weren't just man's best friends - they were also a crucial
step in an ancient initiation rites that turn boys into warriors:
At the age of eight, the boys were sent to ritualists, who bathed them,
shaved their heads, and gave them animal skins to wear. Eight years
later, the initiates underwent a midwinter ceremony in which they ritually
died and journeyed to the underworld. After this, the boys left their
homes and families, painted their bodies black, donned a dog-skin cloak,
and joined a band of warriors.
Brown and Anthony think that similar rites may have taken place at
Krasnosamarskoe at the onset of the raiding season, which ran from the
winter solstice to the summer solstice. And they speculate that part
of the ceremony required the boys to kill their own dogs. The dead canines
ranged in age from 7 to 12 years, suggesting that they were longtime
companions—possibly even hounds raised with the boys from birth.
"That makes a lot of sense," concludes Brown. To take on
the mantle of a warrior, an innocent boy had to become a killer.
National Geographic News has the story:
Here.
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