MYTHOLOGEME “BAKING OR BATHING IN A CAULDRON” AS A SYMBOL OF SACRED INITIATION

The paper deals with a typological series of mythological images associated with rites of passage or initiation in the history of religions. Thus, using the example of various mythologies and cultures of ancient peoples, the sacred symbolism of the furnace and boiler used in the initiation ceremony is highlighted and analyzed. A comparative and comparative religious analysis of the initiation rite is carried out. Based on an array of examples in various cultures, are identified and analyzed the stages, symbolism and functions of the initiation rite, meaningfully described in the works of V. J. Propp, Arnold van Gennep, J. Fraser, E. S., Kotlyar, Neil Price, Mircea Eliade, and others. In our opinion, the sacred symbolism presents in the rites of passage associated with liminal (liminar) experience is often constituted in archaic mythology into a mythological and artistic symbol of “baking in the oven or bathing in the cauldron” systematically appealing to the sacred symbolism of death and new birth as a symbol of initiation.