The vessel in mythopoetic tradition: God’s attribute and protagonist initiation actor

The paper reveals the multifunctionality and polysemantic nature of the vessel imagery in mytho-poetic tradition. Examines its content in a culturally and religiously global paradigm. The vessel’s predominant attribution to celestials or heroes is emphasized. Such sacred functions of the vessel as an attribute of the Deity, a tool for the creation of the world, a marker of sacred space are highlighted. In the first case, the imagery combines the sacred and the profane in a mythopoetic world. Participation in acts of creation as an object of application of the Gods’ will is evidence of the vessel’s high status in human consciousness, of the equivalence of “thingness” and “semantics” in its interpretation. To this extent, the vessel can be seen as both a world symbol and its embodiment. The authors come to the conclusion that for protagonists, the vessel’s functionality is more extensive: the object actively participates in the rite of the protagonist's initiation, determining its course by controlling the human being’ acquired qualities, being the engine of his actions and, at the same time, an instrument for their realization. Reportedly, a household object of utilitarian use takes on sacred meanings in mythology, and hence in the minds of people as well, carrying unique culturological information