Ethnology 

Pashkova T.V.

Religious and mythological ideas of Karelians about smallpox, rubella, measles and chickenpox diseases

Traditional medicine has always triggered genuine interest among researchers. It reflects not only medical practice, rational and irrational, but also prognostics of diseases, beliefs, conspiracy traditions, ritual magic, etc. Mythology occupies a significant place in ethnomedicine as well, affecting not only the cause-effect relationship between the occurrence of an ailment and abolition of it, but also the designation of some diseases, the nomination of which is motivated by the mythological perceptions of the people. Christianization of Karelians, which took place in the 13th century, had a major influence on the Karelian culture. Christian and pagan views became closely intertwined, making a dual impact on such cultural layer of the ethnic group as traditional medicine. The problematics of scientific research is determined by the lack of a complex analysis of the issue. The information about the ethnomedicine of the proper Karelians, Livvik Karelians and Ludikov Karelians was collected from published sources (Karelian speech samples, dialect dictionaries of the Karelian language, periodicals) and by the means of gathering materials from respondents living on the territory of the Republic of Karelia. The author addresses the religious and mythological ideas of the Karelians on the example of such diseases as smallpox, rubella, and chickenpox. The identification of an entire complex of common ideas about these diseases — their personification, family relationships, methods of treatment and nomination of diseases — became the main result of the research. Karelians believed that smallpox, measles, rubella and chickenpox are related, they are sisters. The reason of their invasion was seen in not honoring them or insulting them with an action or word. When patients with these diseases appeared in the house, various forms of coaxing were used towards them, and a solemn reception was held, aiming at propitiation of these ailments. In the treatment of smallpox, rubella and measles, the main emphasis was placed on the use of red matter in healing rituals, as this color was believed to have protective function. Probably, this method was based on the “like cures like” or “like repels like” principle, typical for Karelian folk medicine. Engaging the data on folk medicine of Vepsians and Russians showed the similarity of the religious and mythological ideas of these peoples with Karelians, which is explained by their long-term contact and interinfluence of cultures while living on the same territory.

Keywords: Karelian traditional culture, folk medicine, healing rituals, beliefs, personification of diseases.

Khasanova Z.F.

Ornamental design of textile elements in the wedding decoration of horse among the Bashkirs

The area of this study includes the south-east of the Republic of Bashkortostan (Abzelilovo, Burzyan, Baimak, Beloretsk districts) predominantly inhabited by the Bashkir people. The chronological framework of the research spans the 20th and early 21st centuries, i.e. the time when horse wedding decoration was still used by the Bashkirs in some locations, attesting to preservation of long-standing ethnic traditions. The aim of this study is to analyse decoration elements of horse in the wedding ceremony among the south-eastern Bashkirs in the 20th and early 21st centuries, including caparisons, saddle blankets, breastplates, bellybands, and cruppers. The source basis includes author’s fieldwork materials collected during in 2010, 2017–2019 and 2023, as well as archival materials, museum collections in the city of Ufa and rural school museums preserving rare exhibits. Standard scientific methods, such as comparative historical research, scientific description and analysis, have been used. During the collection of field materials, traditional ethnographic research approach was also used, including observation, photofixation and in-depth interviewing conducted in the Bashkir language, which allowed us recording local names of the wedding horse decoration. Analyzed were ornamented caparisons, saddle blankets, breastplates, bellybands and cruppers as attributes of the Bashkir wedding ceremony in the south-east of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The festive horse decoration was part of a bridal dowry; the bride herself participated in its making. The bridal horse decoration in the wedding ceremony performed social, sacral and aesthetic functions. It was enriched with sacral signs and symbols to protect from bewitching and evil spirits. A young wife moved to husband’s house on her horse decorated for wedding accompanied by her husband, girlfriends and close relatives. Until the 19th century, the bride would have ridden astride, but already at the turn of the 20th century that would be quite a rare phenomenon. However, in some villages there were single cases of the observance of this rite even in the mid-20th century. It has been found that in the 20th century in the south-east of the Republic of Bashkortostan several types of wedding caparisons, different in their ornaments, materials and techniques, were used. There were several types of appliqué and kuskar embroidery. The altered form of the wedding horse decoration has been preserved until the early 21st century.

Keywords: Bashkirs, Bashkir wedding, horse decoration, saddlecloth, decorative applied arts.

Kolomiets O.P., Nuvano V.N.

Reindeer herding of Chukotka ethnicities in the end of the 20th — first quarter of 21st century

In Chukotka, reindeer herding is the most important element of traditional subsistence for the Chukchi, Koryak, Even and Yukaghir peoples. Despite substantial changes in reindeer herding, associated with modernization and commercialization of the industry, the herders of Chukotka were able to preserve their traditions, rituals and ethnic celebrations, associated with nomadic culture. The purpose of this work is to characterize contemporary reindeer herding as the most important component of ethnic culture in Chukotka. The article is based on the authors’ field materials collected in 1999–2023 among the reindeer herders of Anadyr, Bilibinsky, Iultinsky, Chaunsky and Chukotsky districts of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, interviews with agricultural specialists, statistical and analytical documents, scientific literature on the history and ethnography of reindeer herding. Chukchi reindeer herding developed on traditional basis until the first third of the 20th century. Then, under the influence of political and economic changes, a sharp transformation and breakdown of traditional management occurred among the indigenous peoples of the Northeast. Such intervention into the centuries-old system of nature management resulted in significant changes in the lifestyle of the Chukchi reindeer herders, system of their values, and brought significant social consequences. Nowadays, reindeer herding in Chukotka is vital and the most important agricultural sector that provides food security for the region; it is also the element of traditional subsistence management, which preserves and develops the ethnic culture of the indigenous minority peoples of the North. Together with all the positive changes in reindeer herding during the Soviet era, it is worth emphasizing that during the crises periods of the 1990s and early 2000s, the herding enterprises with strong cultural traditions, such as social organization of camps, preservation of a nomadic family, development of riding reindeer husbandry, preference for the “old” nomadic way of life and its attributes – dwelling, fur clothing, vehicles – proved to be the most stable.

Keywords: Chukotka, indigenous people, traditional reindeer herding, modern nomadic culture, social consequences.

Shershneva E.A., Dashkovskiy P.K.

Muslim mosques of the Yenisei province in the legal framework of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th — early 20th century

In this article, the functioning of Muslim parishes in the Elysee province in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries is being examined. The paper has been prepared using archival materials of the State Archive of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Central State Historical Archive of the Republic of Bashkortostan, many of which are being introduced into scientific discourse for the first time. The archival materials are presented by petitions from Muslims of the Yenisei Province, and the associated correspondence from provincial departments and the Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly. Based on the analysis of the source base, it has been established that the active construction of religious buildings on the territory of the Yenisei Province by Muslims only started in the beginning of the 20th century. Mosques performed not only a religious function for Muslims, but also a public institution uniting representatives of the Islamic tradition. Despite the fact that the community was obliged to cover all construction and maintenance costs itself, the process of obtaining such permissions was quite lengthy. For example, in the city of Yeniseisk, it took several years for the Muslim community to obtain the permission and build a mosque. The first petition for the permission to build a mosque in Yeniseisk was sent to the Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly in 1865, and the mosque itself was built only in 1906. To obtain the permission to build a religious building, the Muslim community had to prove its worth, both before provincial authorities and the Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly. A separate decision on the possibility of building a mosque in the region was given by the diocesan authorities in order to establish the fact that a religious building built by Muslims would not infringe on the interests of the Orthodox population, as well as attract the newly baptized people. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the increase in the number of immigrants in the region, there was a discernible trend towards the larger number of Muslim communities in the Yenisei Province, and at the same time of the construction of mosques. Furthermore, during this period, there were certain relaxations in the requirements for religious construction for Muslims. However, all these changes, as well as active position of the Muslim population in the region still required lengthy correspondence with government officials, as well as spiritual departments, both of the Muslims themselves and the Russian Orthodox Church. One of the main problems, which remained intractable even in the beginning of the 20th century, was concerned with the compliance with norms of the Construction Charter regarding the size of the parish. The Yenisei Province remained being a multi-confessional region, where the Muslim community was not always dense.

Keywords: Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly, religious construction, Muslims.

Stasevich I.V.

New secular holidays in modern Kazakh culture. Westernization of everyday life and transformation of family rituals

The growing attention to processes related to the revival of Islam throughout Central Asia leaves in shadow some no less interesting tendencies associated with the westernization of the daily life. These processes have been recorded across the entire Central Asia but presently they manifest themselves to the greatest extent specifically in Kazakhstan, where interweaving of traditional elements of the East and the West created a remarkable distinctive culture of the 21st century. The voluntary or involuntary neglect of these processes undoubtedly leads to serious misrepresentation in our understanding of further routes of development of the traditional rites. Equally important is the fact that problems of Islamization itself undoubtedly appear more prominent when taking into account factors linked with the new ‘westernized daily routine’. In this regard, very interesting are the new secular rituals and festivities which appeared in modern Kazakh culture not long ago: gender reveal party, baby shower, tilashar (Kaz., literally ‘opening of the tongue’), constituting the subject of this research. This study employs methods of historico-cultural and ethnographic approaches, and it is based on fieldwork data obtained during the ethnographic studies in Western Kazakhstan in recent years and data from monitoring personal profiles of users of social networks and services. Gender reveal parties and baby shower celebrations are widespread in the entire world, and they are of a secular nature. The analysis of evidence from Kazakh culture shows an example of how modern Kazakhs attempt to fit the ‘westernized’ practices into the universal matrix of present-day Kazakh ritual activities based on three constituents: a repast with an indispensable national dish of ‘meat in Kazakh style’, a symbolic exchange of presents between members of socially kindred group, and bata beru i.e. ‘best wishes from senior relatives’. This is also supported by the search for parallels in the rites, conventional synonymity of the new practices and established family rites. Thus, the secular celebrations of gender reveal and baby shower are acquiring a national colour. The culture is adapting the ‘westernized’ practice; copying of the original example and its re-interpretation at a new level is taking place. In contrast to family rites, the gender party and baby shower are not obligatory; following of such practices is rather a fashion of its kind — a response of the modern Kazakh young people to cultural globalization. The author is trying to find an answer to the question: why indeed the Kazakh culture is so readily accepting and adapting practices of this kind? The answer seems to lie in the specifics of the social organization of the Kazakh society, in the emergence of new channels for storing and broadcasting of information, and in the overall orientation of modern Kazakhstan towards globalization.

Keywords: Kazakhs, family rituals, ‘gender reveal party’, ‘baby shower’, adaptation of a tradition.

Voldina T.V.

Khanty urban women in the second half of the 20th — early 21st century: continuity of ethnocultural traditions, a view from the “inside”

Ethnicity is a dynamic category based on ethnic background. Most clearly it is expressed in the traditional environment, natural for the preservation of cultural traditions, which is associated with ancestral places, rural areas. In recent years, the number of representatives of indigenous peoples of the North living in the cities of Yugra has increased significantly. The main force of national intelligentsia is concentrated in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk, public institutions have been created there that became a part of the modern ethnic culture of the Ob Ugrians. The most representative part of this community are women, they clearly show their creative nature. The purpose of this work is to capture the features of the expression of ethnicity among Khanty women of different generations living in urban conditions, to trace its changes and continuity using the example of resi dents of Khanty-Mansiysk. To assess this topic, a “look from the inside” is characteristic, the author places herself in the center of the study, as she belongs to this community. The stories of famous Khanty women who were born in the 1930s in a traditional environment but became citizens, as well as stories of their daughters and granddaughters born in the city, serve as a “reference”. The author concludes on the natural “blurring” of ethnic identity in city environment. This is a natural process caused by the environment itself, as well as by metisation of urban residents. The process of assimilation of ethnic cultures in urban conditions is faster. The “true” representatives of traditional culture in urban environment are those born in rural areas. The first generation of urban women (“mothers”) keeps in touch with the traditional environment, usually speaks their native language and appears as representatives of ethnic culture. The second generation (“daughters”) takes a marginal position in relation to their native culture and the urbanized environment, they are able to perceive their native culture, but at a different level; they rather carry a universal identity. Representatives of the third generation (“granddaughters”), as a rule, are not speakers of their native language and bearers of the culture, and their ethnic identity is expressed in preserving the memory of their ancestors.

Keywords: Yugra, Khanty-Mansiysk, ethnicity, autoethnography, urban environment, Khanty women, XX–XXI centuries, urban women in the first generation, assimilation.