A riddle is something mysterious and inexplicable, enticing and bewitching - if it is a natural or social phenomenon; the experience of wisdom accumulated over the centuries - if it is oral folk art.
The biggest secret
According to explanatory dictionaries, a riddle is an allegorical, metaphorical statement containing a description of one object through another, similar to it. On the basis of similar traits or properties, a person must guess what, in fact, is being discussed. It is these verbal formulas that children love so much! With this, everything is clear. But quite often the word riddle has nothing to do with folk art. This concept is resorted to in order to emphasize the mystery, incomprehensibility of a particular phenomenon. What are some examples of riddles in a figurative sense? Well, here's at least the following: "There must be some kind of mystery in a woman …". It seems that there is no need to explain the meaning of this well-known phrase. The highlight in the fair sex is those qualities that make her unpredictable and at the same time attractive to men. The "elasticity" of women's consciousness, the ability to find a compromise in situations on the verge of survival, as well asthe desire to keep a loved one close is what creates the notorious female mystery.
Secrets and puzzles of nature
What is a riddle? It can be some kind of miracle of nature, for example, the northern lights. Once bright flashes in the sky, painted in different colors, caused mystical horror and at the same time admiration for the forces of nature, their power and diversity. However, there are fewer and fewer unexplained phenomena in nature, because science seeks to explain the world. Sometimes she succeeds, and sometimes not so much. And then the pundits sigh, shrug their shoulders and say: “This is a riddle for science!” Well, for example.
There are several versions of the origin of life on Earth, the disappearance of mammoths, giant lizards that once inhabited our planet and were masters on it. The appearance of man - a being physically weak and therefore unnecessary, but eventually transformed the world and actually subjugated it to himself - has become one of the serious mysteries for scientists. The theories of Darwin and Marx appeared.
But theories are subject to regular revisions due to the fact that they are not confirmed by practice. For example, not a single monkey in millions of years has become a man for the second time. But on the contrary - please (in a figurative sense, of course). Moreover, it turned out that the animal closest to Homo sapiens in terms of genotype is a pig. As for K. Marx, then … the theory of communist society collapsed with the collapse of the USSR.
Because most of the quirks of nature cannot be fully understood. Therefore, the valuethe words riddle can be interpreted in this way: it is a mystery that a person is able to comprehend over time.
Mysteries of history and religion
The paradoxes of history will also help explain what a riddle is.
The most popular mystery since the end of the 19th century has been the location of Atlantis - a fabulous country of abundance, whose inhabitants were incredibly rich, so much so that even their houses were built of gold and silver. The first mention of it dates back to the 4th century BC. e. ("Dialogues" of Plato). Since then, people have been looking for a sunken island where an ancient civilization could once exist.
Presumably Atlantis was located in the Aegean Sea, not far from Crete. In the northern part of the island, ancient buildings of the Minoan culture, which revered bulls, have been preserved, as described in Plato's description. Perhaps the descendants of the great inhabitants of Atlantis, who escaped during the catastrophe, settled in this territory.
Or part of Atlantis was Troy, also considered a myth until the German scientist Schliemann excavated in Turkey. Already in the 20th century, scientists discovered in the Bermuda region a mysterious structure made of stones tightly fitted to each other, of the same height and smoothly polished, laid out in the form of a fragment of the letter G. There was a version that this was a road that went to the bottom along with the island.
The truth is just around the corner
So what is the riddle? These are phenomena that the most talented researchers are not yet able to explain. secrets,which modern science is working on are connected with the knowledge of the human soul. Faith in the gods has always helped people survive in the most difficult conditions. Faith made a person almost invulnerable. Yogis walk on hot coals. Shamans, putting themselves into a trance, predict events to the nearest minute. The saints are resurrected to guide the disciples on the true path.
No matter how science resists the miracles shown by the church, it cannot explain the origin of the Holy Fire. He descends from heaven on Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the place where Christ was allegedly buried. Every year, the church fathers are suspected of fraud, and the patriarch and the representative of the Armenian Gregorian church entering there are subjected to a thorough search. The area around the Holy Sepulcher is carefully guarded - both before and during the ceremony of the descent of the Holy Fire. But no deception has yet been discovered. In the midst of prayer, blue lights appear on the stone bed of Christ, from which the patriarch lights the torch and carries it to the world. The Holy Fire is a divine miracle and one of the mysteries for science.
The Riddle of the Sphinx
In ancient Greek myths, a winged monster called the Sphinx blocked the path of wanderers heading to Thebes. It asked them a question, and if the answer was not received, the travelers were waiting for a terrible death. Many must have heard a similar expression - the riddle of the Sphinx. Its meaning is very simple - a tricky task, which only a smart one can cope with. By the way, according to legend, only Oedipus correctly answered the tricky question, and the monster, notendured disappointment, committed suicide. Now even children know this answer well (“Who walks on 4 legs in the morning, on 2 in the afternoon, on 3 in the evening?”). Of course, human!
A giant stone sculpture of a lion with a human face has been located for many centuries in Giza, next to the pyramids. This sphinx was built presumably in the era of the Old Kingdom of the fourth dynasty of the pharaohs. The length of the sculpture is 73 meters, the height is about 20 meters. The paws and torso are made of limestone, and the head is made of solid stone.
There is an assumption that it was carved from a rock that previously served as a quarry. Obviously, nature tried to place it so that once a year the shadow of the sphinx at its top coincides with the top of the main pyramid at sunrise.
The statue is also interesting because it resembles the face of Pharaoh Khafre, opposite the pyramid-tomb of which it is located. The whole complex, together with the sphinx, makes up a kind of hieroglyph that stores a message that has not yet been unraveled by science. Why is the giant holding a stone temple in his paws? Why did Thutmose IV dug up this giant from the sands in the era of the New Kingdom and landscaped the area around it? Is it true that the sphinx helped him become the ruler of Egypt for this? Riddle!
Smart games
As mentioned above, children just love to guess and solve riddles. This is a great way to have fun and have fun. And how nice it is to confuse parents with some kind of "complex -"complicated" question! The significance of riddles for children is enormous! First of all, they develop logically, learn to think outside the box. In addition, oral folk art contains social experience accumulated over many centuries. They reveal the meaning of simple things, forcing them to think about their content on their own. riddle!
