The word "belief" is often found in literature and cinema. Its meaning is clear. But explaining in detail what a belief is is sometimes difficult. If you want to understand the issue, our article will help.
Let's look in the dictionary
The answer to the question of what belief is is suggested by the dictionary. Modern sources give the following definition: “Belief is a folk tradition based on faith in the connection between the destiny of a person, random events and natural phenomena.” Simply put, in olden times people had mystical ideas about the world, trying to see signs from above in the surrounding reality. Our ancestors believed that a careful attitude to these messages and their analysis can help to avoid danger, not to miss a happy chance, to insure yourself against failure.
How did popular beliefs appear?
Where did the belief that a god rode in a rattling chariot during a thunderstorm come from? Everything is simple: that which a person could not explain with the help of exact sciences was overgrown with legends and myths. What else could the heavenly roar seem to someone who did not have knowledge from the field of physics?
Other beliefs formed in a similar way. Some of them formed the basis of folk tales, signs, proverbs, traditions and legends.
Common synonyms
Modern sources not only suggest what a belief is, but also list similar words. There are many synonymous words in the Russian language, but each of them has its own semantic load. For example, superstition is not just a belief, but a strong belief in a causal relationship between two events. The most striking example is sprinkled salt, which certainly promises failure.
Myths, traditions and legends are also synonymous. But for the most part they are narrative. Often they describe the origin of the world as a whole, as well as the emergence of certain customs, rites, traditions. Often in such beliefs, the forces of nature are personified, represented in human guise, endowed with characters and fate. For example, in the worldview of the ancient Slavs, Heaven appeared to be a man, and the Earth - a woman, and all life was once born from their love.
