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REFLECTION OF THE MULTICOMPONENT CULTURE OF THE KAZYM KHANTS IN FOLKLORE MATERIALS O GODDESS VUT IMI // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2021. Issue 4 (34). P. 111-123

The most important component of the traditional culture of the Ob Ugrians are the cults of patron spirits-outstanding heroes-ancestors. In ancient times, the deified person gradually turned into a means of existence of society, the organization of its life. The cult of the ancestor can be considered as a cultural factor and even a cultural model of traditional society, which served the goals of survival and adaptation of people to new historical conditions, building relationships with the surrounding world. The article considers the image of one of the patron spirits of the Khanty people-the Kazim warrior goddess (also known in literature as Vut-imi or Kasum-nai, etc.), reflected in the folklore of the Kazim and other Khanty groups, Sosva Mansi and Nenets. The “history” of her life points to constant migrations and the development of new territories in ancient times, explains the contacts of the ancestors of the Kazim Khants with neighboring ethnic groups. The purpose of the work is to reveal the nature of interethnic and intraethnic relations of the Kazym Khants on the basis of folklore texts about the Vut by them, based on cultural-historical, descriptive, functional-semantic and typological methods, taking into account existing developments on this topic. As a historical and ethnographic source containing information about the intercultural communications of the Kazym Khants, the author considers both previously published songs, legends and legends about the Vut-im, including information about its zoomorphic images, attributes, epithets; as well as new material recorded by the author from informants. The author notes that the image of the main patron spirit of R. Kazym shows Permian features. Stable contacts with the Mansi territory are clearly expressed in the language, folklore, and cultural traditions. Khanty legends also indicate a significant influence of the Nenets culture (primarily in the field of reindeer husbandry). The mythology of the marriage relations of the goddess with the Khanty heroes reflects the kinship and nature of the intra-ethnic relations of the Khanty: the Kazim group with other local formations (Irtysh, Pim and other Khanty).

Keywords: Kazym goddess, Kazym Khanty, Sosva Mansi, Nenets, patron spirits, interethnic contacts

The Transformation of the Folklore and Ritual Traditions of the Nenets and Khanty of Lake Numto in the First Quarter of the XXI Century // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2023. Issue 4 (42). P. 95-102

About 1.5 thousand forest Nenets live in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug–Yugra (KhMAO-Yugra). This ethnic group includes smaller local groups with their own dialect and traditions. As they have mixed with the neighboring Khanty, who outnumber them and with whom they now have much in common culturally, they have retained their ethnic self-consciousness and parts of their worldview. In March 2023, the author traveled to the village of Numto, located on the shores of the lake of the same name - one of the most revered sacred sites of the indigenous peoples of Yugra and Yamal and the area where there is close interethnic interaction between the Forest-Nenets and the Kazym-Khanty. The collected data testify to the active existence of folk traditions in this area and provide an opportunity to observe their changes, especially in the sacred sphere, which has a relatively conservative character. The folkloric materials are based on various legends about the origin of this “heavenly, divine” lake and its sacred island. The mobility of the folkloristic representations is due to the variable character of folk art. The author’s field notes and those already recorded by other researchers were used for the study, making it possible to trace the variability of the legends about Numto. Interesting is the sequence of transformations from the second half of the 20th century to the present day, the folk tale about the sacrifice of young men on the sacred island, which testifies to the smoothing of interethnic contradictions between the intermarried groups: the Numtov-Nenets and the Kazym-Khanty. Their cultural rapprochement was also facilitated by the cult of the Kazym goddess, whom both groups worship. In the Numto area, the sacrificial ritual plays an important role, performed by the locals and representatives of other Nenets and Khanty ethnic groups who come to pray at the local shrines. At present, the ban on visiting the sacred island has been somewhat relaxed and even lifted for Nenets and Khanty women who are related to the Nenets. The reason for this is that they have been assigned one of the tasks when butchering a sacrificial deer. Among the Kazym-Khanty, the taboo on visiting the sacred island, which used to apply to everyone regardless of gender, has also lost its force. In the cultural symbiosis between the Khanty and the Nenets under consideration here, the changes in the traditions of the Nenets are the most conspicuous, while they are more hidden in the culture of the Kazym-Khanty.

Keywords: Forest Nenets, Kazym-Khanty, interethnic relations between Khanty and Nenets, changes in traditions, folklore stories about Numto, sacrificial rites at sacred sites