page 175–185 RUS
ÓÄÊ 392 EDN: YOCWXC
Traditional practices of deity punishment among the Ob-Ugrians: from the 18th to the early 21st century
Aleksei A., Rud’, Candidate of Historical Sciences, researcher, Tyumen Scientific Centre SB RAS, Tyumen, Russia, raa@bk.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0438-8159
Summary
This study examines practices of deity punishment documented in written sources from the 18th to 20th century, referred to as «bozhki», «dukhi» («spirits»), «idoly» («idols»), «kumiry», «ñhurbany» and «bolvany». The research area is located in the taiga zone of Western Siberia and covers the territories inhabited by the Khanty and Mansi. The aim of this work is to study the specifics of the practices of punishing deities among the Khanty and Mansi, from the 18th century to the present. The research tasks include correlating the examined practices with contemporary beliefs and rituals of the Ob-Ugrians, and analyzing the relationships between the Ob-Ugrians and their venerated deities within the framework of Marshall Sahlins' reciprocity concept. The research revealed that these practices of punishing deities have been repeated in the Ob-Ugric culture for the past 300 years, encompassing all figures of the Khanty pantheon — from supreme deities to individual human patrons. In terms of human communication with deities, most of these practices are consistent with the logic of negative reciprocity.
Keywords: Surgut Khanty, traditional beliefs, cult figures, negative reciprocity.
© Rud' A.A., 2026
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Received 17.01.2026
Accepted 02.03.2026
Article is published: 15.06.2026
Funding. The study was conducted within the framework of the research project of Tyumen Scientific Centre SB RAS no. FWRZ-2026-0031, reg. card 126022618031-4
References
Andreev, A.I. (1947). Description about Life and Activity of Various Types of Yasak Inorodtsy Inhabiting the Turukhansk and Berezovo Districts. Sovetskaya etnografiya, (1), 84–103. (Rus.).
Belyavskiy, F.M. (2004). A Journey to the Arctic Ocean. Tyumen: Mandr i K. (Rus.).
Bulychev, A.A. (2005). Between Saints and Demons: Notes on the Posthumous Fate of the Disgraced Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Moscow: Znak. (Rus.).
Gemuev, I.N. (1990). The Mansi worldview: Home and space. Novosibirsk: Nauka. (Rus.).
Glavatskaya, E.M. (2005). Religious traditions of the Khanty in the 17th–20th centuries. Yekaterinburg; Salekhard: RA ARTmedia. (Rus.).
Godelier, M. (2007). The enigma of the gift. Moscow: Vostochnaia literatura. (Rus.).
Golovnev, A.V. (1995). Speaking cultures: Traditions of the Samoyeds and Ugrians. Yekaterinburg: UrO RAN. (Rus.).
Golovnev, A.V. (2009). Anthropology of movement (Antiquities of Northern Eurasia). Yekaterinburg: UrO RAN. (Rus).
Gondatti, N.L. (1888). Traces of paganism among the natives of Northwestern Siberia. Moscow: Typ. E.G. Potapova. (Rus.).
Karchina, V.V., Obirina, A.E., Ernykhova, O.D., Sopochina, A.S., Dinislamova, O.Yu. (2022). The Tale of Two Hearths: Khanty fairy tale (Surgut Dialect). Khanty-Mansiysk: Pechatnyy mir. (Rus.).
Karjalainen, K.F. (1995). The Religion of the Yugra Peoples. Vol. 2. Tomsk: Tomsk University. (Rus.).
Kulemzin, V.M., Lukina, N.V. (1973). Legends and tales of the Khanty. Tomsk: Tomskii universitet. (Rus.).
Malinowski, B. (2004). Selected Works: Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Moscow: ROSSPEN. (Rus.).
Martynova, E.P. (2021). The Institution of Gift Exchange among the Ob-Ugrians in Anthropological Discourse. Vestnik ugrovedeniya, 11(3), 546–555. (Rus.). https://doi.org/10.30624/2220-4156-2021-11-3-546-555
Martynova, E.P. (2022). “Give, and It Shall Be Given unto You”: Reciprocity in Cultic and Religious Practices of the Ob-Ugrians. Tulskiy nauchnyy vestnik. Seriya Istoriya. Yazykoznaniye, 9(1), 13–22. (Rus.). https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2022-1-13-22
Mauss, M. (2011). Essay on the gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. In: Obshchestva. Obmen. Lichnost': Trudy po sotsial'noi antropologii. Moscow: KDU. (Rus.).
Mayzuls, M. (2017). Punishment of the Saints: Pious Blasphemy in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Gosudarstvo, religiya, tserkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom, 35(2), 15–51. (Rus.). https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2017-35-2-15-51
Minenko, N.A. (1975). Northwestern Siberia in the 18th — First Half of the 19th Century: A Historical and Ethnographic Sketch. Novosibirsk: Nauka. (Rus.).
Nosilov, K.D. (1904). Among the Voguls: Sketches and Outlines. St. Petersburg: Typ. A.S. Suvorina. (Rus.).
Novik, E.S., Lukina, N.V. (Eds.) (1990). Myths, legends, tales of Khanty and Mansi. Moscow: Nauka. (Rus.).
Novik, E.S. (2004). Ritual and Folklore in Siberian Shamanism: An Attempt at Structural Comparison. Moscow: Vostochnaia literatura. (Rus.).
Novitskii, G. (1884). Brief Description of the Ostyak People (1715). St. Petersburg: Typ. V.S. Balasheva. (Rus.).
Ogryzko, I.I. (1941). Christianization of the Peoples of the Tobolsk North in the 18th Century. Leningrad: Uchpedgiz. (Rus.).
Ostroumov, I.G. (1904). Voguls-Mansi: Historical and ethnographic essay. In: Materialy po izucheniyu Permskogo kraya, (1). Perm: Permskiy kray. (Rus.).
Rud’, A.A. (2011). Information about anthropomorphic images on trees in the Surgut Ob region. In: Khanty-Mansiyskii avtonomnyi okrug v zerkale proshlogo, (9), 339–354. (Rus.).
Rud’, A.A. (2016). Modern Processes in the Religious Beliefs of the Eastern Khanty. Ezhegodnik finnougorskikh issledovanii, 10(2), 108–124. (Rus.).
Rud’, A.A. (2021). Alcohol and its functions in the culture of the Khanty of the Surgut Ob region. Vestnik arheologii, antropologii i etnografii, 55(4), 224–234. (Rus.). https://doi.org/10.20874/2071-0437-2021-55-4-19
Rud', A.A. (2023). Deities and spirits in the ideas of the Khanty of the Surgut Ob region (based on materials from 2002 to 2017). Vestnik arheologii, antropologii i etnografii, 63(4), 210–219. (Rus.). ttps://doi.org/10.20874/2071-0437-2023-63-4-17.
Sahlins, M. (1999). Stone Age Economics Moscow: OGI. (Rus.).
Smilyanskaya, E.B. (2003). Wizards. Blasphemers. Heretics: Popular Religiosity and “Spiritual Crimes” in 18th-Century Russia. Moscow: Indrik. (Rus.).
Vasil'ev, V.V. (1929). The Dem'yanka River: An Economic and Ethnographic Sketch. Tobolsk: Tobolskaya gostipografiya. (Rus.).
Wiget, A. (2002). Economy and traditional land use of the Eastern Khanty. In: Ocherki istorii traditsionnogo zemlepol'zovaniya khantov (materialy k atlasu). Ekaterinburg: Tesis, 169–222. (Rus.).
Wiget, D.A. (2025). “Those Who Have no Barriers”: Mayachki in the Cultural Landscape of the Yugan Khanty. Tulskiy nauchnyy vestnik. Seriya Istoriya. Yazykoznaniye, 21(1), 76–88. (Rus.). https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2025-1-76-88
Zen'ko, A.P. (1997). Representations of the supernatural in the traditional worldview of the Ob Ugrians: Structure and variability. Novosibirsk: Nauka. (Rus.).
Zuev, V.F. (1947). Materials on the Ethnography of Siberia in the 18th Century (1771–1772). Moscow; Leningrad: AN SSSR. (Rus.).
