The sacred animals of ancient Hungarians

There are certain animals that are considered sacred in certain religions. For instance, the cow is a sacred symbol in India and several Middle Eastern ethnic groups respected sheep as gods. But did you know that there were also three sacred animals in the ancient Hungarian belief?

According to erdekesportal.info, the sacred or respected animals played an important role in the life of most Eurasian nations. The names of sacred animals couldn’t be pronounced. They could only be referred to through their characteristics.

There were two such animals in the ancient Hungarian culture: the deer and the wolf. The deer (szarvas) is an animal that has horns/antlers (szarv), wolf (farkas) is an animal that has a tail (farok). Based on the usage of names, it is quite sure that these two animals were highly respected (in a positive or negative way).

The deer and the wolf are counterparts: the deer symbolised femininity (due to its tameness and herbivore nature), while the wolf was the symbol of masculinity (due to its bravery and predator nature).

The deer

According to Gyula László, the influence of the Scythian traditions is detectable in the case of both the Onogur-Avar-Hungarian nation and the Hungarians of Árpád. Our ancient goddess was a deer, similarly to Scythians.

In the famous “The Legend of the Wondrous Hunt”, the deer was the leader and the symbol of fertility at the same time. It helped Hunor and Magor to find the princesses, and this is how the story of the Huns and Magyars starts in the chronicles.