In this blog post, we will examine how the beginning of agriculture led to changes in religious worldviews through Eliade’s perspective.

The beginning of agriculture and changes in religious concepts – from Eliade’s perspective

For a very long time, humans have sustained themselves through hunting and gathering. In those days, when people lived by observing the flow of nature and the habits of animals, they were in constant tension and communication with the world around them. However, as time passed, humanity chose to settle down and adopted a new way of life called agriculture. This did not only mean a change in the economy and way of survival. The beginning of agriculture was a major transformation that profoundly shook the perspective on human existence, the relationship with the world, and even religious awareness.
The nature of this change can be understood more clearly through the insights of religious scholar Mircea Eliade. Eliade analyzed the religious structures contained in the myths and rituals of ancient societies and explained how humanity’s relationship with nature was sublimated into religious symbols and belief systems. According to Eliade, the religious sensibility of hunting societies was rooted in the mysterious relationship between humans and animals.
Hunting was not simply an act of obtaining food, but was considered a sacred ritual involving death. Hunters had to sacrifice other lives in order to survive, and this act, repeated over and over, gradually became combined with mythical thinking. Hunting became a kind of ritual, and the belief spread that the souls of dead animals entered the human world, or conversely, that human souls moved into animals.
In particular, the relationship formed between humans and certain animals went beyond simple ecological interaction and developed into a belief in guardian deities. People regarded the bones and teeth of certain animals as sacred, and the act of carrying or storing them symbolized a spiritual bond with animals. This belief was embodied in hunting rituals and sacrificial offerings, and the boundary between humans and nature became blurred in these solemn rituals.
Ultimately, religion in hunting societies was structured around three key concepts: death, sacrifice, and survival, reflecting the inner feelings of humans who humbly bowed before the power of nature. However, the beginning of agriculture, known as the Neolithic Revolution, caused a major shift not only in the way humans lived but also in their religious worldview.
The sacred bond that had been formed with animals was now transferred to a new relationship with grains and the earth. The process of sowing seeds, letting them rot in the ground, and eventually being reborn as new life allowed humans to experience the profound principle of death and rebirth. This cyclical change went beyond simple farming techniques and became a religious symbol.
Observing the life cycle of grains, people began to express the concepts of life, death, and resurrection in mythical language. The myths of grains that appear in various cultures are an extension of this belief. For example, stories of a god who died and grew grains from his body, or legends that grains originated from the sacrifice of a god, show that humanity interpreted the growth of plants as a sacred sacrifice and the birth of life. Grain was not merely food for survival, but was accepted as a symbol of the cosmic cycle and the mystery of existence.
Amidst these changes, the role and sacredness of women also changed significantly. Women were inherently endowed with potential sacredness as beings responsible for the miracle of life through childbirth. However, this sacredness became even more dramatic in agricultural societies.
The fertility of the earth and the fertility of women were closely linked, and women were recognized as responsible for the harvest of grain and the regeneration of life. This was because the mystery of creation and the birth of life was believed to be revealed to the world through women. Furthermore, with the advent of the plow, the act of plowing fields began to be interpreted in connection with human sexuality.
The process of sowing seeds in the ground and nurturing them into life symbolized the union of men and women and was used as a symbol of the harmonious integration of nature and humans. In this context, ancient myths and folk tales often depict scenes of humans being born from the earth or newborn babies being laid on the ground. These acts suggest that the earth was not simply a resource but was regarded as a “mother.” The belief that humans are born from the earth and eventually return to it after death, living in a cyclical structure, was one of the fundamental worldviews of agricultural societies.
The sacredness of women and motherhood existed even in the Paleolithic Age, but the beginning of agriculture elevated this sacredness to a symbolic system throughout society. The female body and sexuality, closely linked to the birth of life, were combined with the mystery of creation and reproduced in various symbols and myths in religious imagination. The connection between femininity and nature, especially the cycle of the moon and the vitality of plants, enriched the way humanity discovered itself in nature and sought the meaning of existence.
In this context, Eliade summarizes the religious ideas developed and experienced by agricultural societies as the concept of “cosmic religion.” He believed that humans did not merely cultivate crops, but intuitively understood the essence of existence through the cyclical changes of nature and sought a harmonious relationship between God, the world, and humans.
The cosmic religion presented by Eliade is a religious way of thinking that is rooted in a deep insight into the ontological situation, as well as an attempt to perceive the rhythm of the universe and interpret one’s own life and death within it. One of the symbolic expressions of this concept is the “cosmic tree.”
The cosmic tree is described as a sacred tree located at the center of the world, with roots extending underground and branches reaching up to the sky. This tree is a symbol of how humans and the universe interact within a single divine order, serving as a medium connecting the underground world, the earth, and the sky. The cosmic tree is not merely a mythical imagination, but a product of long-standing wisdom that allows humans to understand the order of nature and position themselves within it.
In this way, agriculture not only fundamentally changed the way humans survive, but also brought about profound changes in the way humans relate to the world, view life and death, and perceive and interpret the divine order. Eliade’s analysis provides insight into the nature of these changes through the lens of mythology and religion.

Conclusion

Agriculture was not simply the introduction of a new technology, but a revolution that fundamentally shook the human cognitive system. With the transition from the death-centered religion of hunting societies to the religion of regeneration and abundance of agricultural societies, humans changed their very view of the world. Even today, we are still amazed by the cycles of nature and the mysteries of life. Through Eliade’s perspective, we can realize that our lives are connected to the expectations and prayers of ancient farmers as they sowed seeds, as well as their reverence for life.