Sacrifices at home take place at the left-hand back corner of the hearth-stone, where the coals are heaped up ; or at the stone in the middle of the courtyard — kardo syarko. Under it there was a pit for the blood of the animals killed on the occasion. Even when one was slaughtered for ordinary purposes it was customary to raise the stone and let the blood run into the pit below. It was regarded an unpardonable sin to allow the blood of any creature but a bird to flow into any other place. Such an offence placed the whole household under a curse.
As the Mordvins had no priestly class, prayers and sacrifices at home or at the graves of ancestors were performed by the oldest man — in some cases the oldest woman — of the house. At the village and parish festivals they elected each time by common consent some old man held in honour to perform these duties. They were termed ate poksh tei, or the good men. Generally, one of them was the reeve or headman of the village or parish, and was termed by the Ersa and Teryukhans, pryavt[1] (head), by the Moksha, inyatya (great father). He acted as priest, judge, protector of public property, and as responsible man to the government. His office was for life, though it might terminate from old age, blindness, or other cause. He could also be deposed by common consent, if he had forfeited the confidence of the villagers.
The pryavt was not a genuine priest. He did not perform the sacrifice or announce the festival ; he was simply the senior official. The first piece of sacrificial flesh and the first ladleful of beer was given to him. He summoned and dismissed the people, but did not perform the ceremonies. At his house the sacred ladles, bars, pails, knifes, &c. necessary for the festival were kept. It was his business, too, to fix the day for holding it.
The Mordvins never appear to have possessed a special calendar of feast-days. They ask the pryavt on each occasion what day he will fix upon for holding a festival in honour of this or that divinity.
- ↑ Prya prea is the Moksha and Ersa word for head, and pryaft must be a derivative.
