Studies in Siberian Shamanism No. 4 9781487589509

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ARCTIC INSTITUTE OF NORTH AMERICA ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE NORTH: TRANSLATIONS FROM RUSSIAN SOURCES

Editor: HENRY N. MICHAEL

Advisory Committee CHESTER s. CHARD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. ROBERT c. FAYLOR, Arctic Institute of North America, Washington, D.C. LAWRENCE KRADER, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio HENRY N. MICHAEL, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. HUGH M. RAUP, Petersham, Mass. DEMETRI B. SHIMKIN, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. MARIE TREMAINE, Editor Arctic Bibliography, Washington, D.C. HENRY B. COLLINS, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (Chairman)

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ARCTIC INSTITUTE OF NORTH AMERICA ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE NORTH: TRANSLATIONS FROM RUSSIAN SOURCES/NO. 4

Studies in Siberian Shamanism Edited by HENRY N. MICHAEL PUBLISHED FOR THE ARCTIC INSTITUTE OF NORTH AMERICA BY UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS

Copyright, Canada, 1963, by University of Toronto Press

ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE NORTH:

TRANSLATIONS FROM RUSSIAN SOURCES

is supported by National Science Foundation grants 18865 and GN-212

EDITOR'S PREFACE SIBERIAN SHAMANISM is a complex subject and by presenting the reader with five articles we can but hope to provide an introduction to this facet of the spiritual life of some Siberian peoples as it was practiced up to very recent times. At that, all of the articles do not deal directly with shamanism, although all contain materials important to the practice of it. The authors of the articles presented here have done field work among many of the peoples they describe. This is not unusual but rather a prerequisite. What makes their experiences more interesting and useful is the fact that they were gained during the years before the policies of the then newly established Soviet state were felt to a decisive degree. Most of the field work was done in the late 1920's and in the 1930's. Valeriy Nikolayevich Chernetsov, the author of "Concepts of the Soul among the Ob Ugrians," is a specialist in the ethnography of Ugrian peoples and an archaeologist who has excavated numerous sites in northwestern Siberia. He was born in 1905 and is a senior member on the scientific staff of the Institute of Archaeology in Moscow. His major contributions include articles concerned with the early cultures of the Yamal peninsula (1936), the penetration of Persian silver artifacts to the Ob region (1947), and the early history of the lower Ob region (1955 and 1959). Glafira Makarevna Vasilevich (born in 1895) specializes in the languages, ethnography, and folklore of the Tungus peoples. She is attached to the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. Her major publications are: "Collection of Evenk Folkloristic Materials" (1936), "Essays on Evenk Dialects" (1948), "The Tungus Robe" (1958), and, above all, "Evenk-Russian Dialectal Dictionary" (1958). The article presented here, "Early Concepts about the Universe among the Evenks," draws upon her rich experiences, linguistic and ethnographic, among the widespread Evenks. Arkadiy Fedorovich Anisimov obtained his doctorate in the historical sciences. His specialty is the history of religious beliefs among the Evenks. In 1936 he published "The Social Organization of the Evenks," in 1958 "The Religion of the Evenks in its Historical-Evolutionary Aspects and the Origin of Primitive Religions." Two of his works are presented in this volume: "The Shaman's Tent of the Evenks and the Origin of the Shamanistic Rite," and "The Cosmological Concepts of the Peoples of the North." Both contain a wealth of new material (including field notes) hitherto unpublished in English. As is to be expected in the particularly sensitive field of religion, Anisimov's premises and conclusions are based on ideological concepts now prevalent in Soviet social sciences. A. F. Anisimov was born in 1912. He is a senior member of the State Museum of Ethnography in Leningrad. Yekaterina Dmitriyevna Prokofyeva (born in 1902) specializes in the language and ethnography of the Selkups. She is on the scientific staff of the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Ethnography. Besides detailed descriptions of the

iv Editor's Preface material culture of the Selkups, she has written on the social organization of the Selkups ( 1952 ), and on the religious concepts of the Enets ( 1953 ). As in previous issues of this series, transliterations of most names and place names have been rendered according to the system recommended by the United States Board on Geographic Names with the exception that the Russian "soft sign" is not transliterated with an apostrophe. Names of non-Russian authors who have published in the Russian language have been transliterated directly, e.g. Videman, not Wiedemann. Different spellings of tribal and clan names are often encountered in the originals and they are transliterated accordingly—for instance, Yerbogachen, Yerbogochen, Yerbogochen. Throughout these texts, any words or sentences appearing in square brackets are those of the Editor unless specified as the Translator's. Explanatory words and sentences are those of the Russian author and are usually indicated with the word "Author." With few exceptions initial letters of native terms have been left in lower case or capitalized in accordance with the original. Usually, when a general name or term takes on a specific meaning, its initial letter, which was formerly in lower case, is capitalized. Since no ordered or accepted translation of the general terms for the various administrative areas, districts, or regions exists in English, the pertinent terms are merely transliterated ( as in previous issues of the series ). A kray is a very large administrative unit, usually of "pioneer" aspect. There are seven krays in the Soviet Union, the majority in Siberia. Each kray and each of the fifteen Union republics contain oblasts of various sizes and within the latter, or as separate administrative units, there may be national (ethnic) okrugs. Autonomous republics (always within a Union republic) contain a large ethnic group, autonomous oblasts smaller ones. Each oblast is divided into rayons and each rayon has its soviet (council). Some of the administrative and judiciary divisions of the past were known under such names as guberniya, uprava, uyezd, ulus, volost, and sloboda. They are also transliterated. The translation and editing of the articles presented special difficulties because of their complex linguistic content or technical language. Chernetsov's article on the concepts of the soul among the Ob Ugrians and Anisimov's on the shaman's tent of the Evenks were translated by Dr. and Mrs. Stephen P. Dunn with the sensitive feel of trained anthropologists. Mrs. Rainey's extensive ethnographic experience in the field is reflected in the excellent translation of Vasilevich's "Early Concepts about the Universe among the Evenks." Mrs. Barbara Krader and Mrs. Lilian Ackerman ably translated Anisimov's "Cosmological Concepts of the Peoples of the North" and Prokofyeva's "Costume of an Enets Shaman," respectively. In editing the translations I was helped in no small measure by Mrs. Natalie Frenkley of the Arctic Bibliography staff, who examined, completed, and standardized, as much as possible, the bibliographic references attached to each of the articles and also offered valuable suggestions for the wording of some of the difficult passages. To Dr. Henry B. Collins of the Smithsonian Institution go my thanks for the critical reading of the text and for his constant encouragement. November 1963

HENRY N. MICHAEL

CONTENTS EDITOR S PREFACE

Concepts of the Soul among the Ob Ugrians. v. N. CHERNETSOV

111

3

Early Concepts about the Universe among the Evenks ( Materials ). G. M. VASILEVICH

The Shaman's Tent of the Evenks and the Origin of the Shamanistic Rite. A. F. ANISIMOV

46

84

The Costume of an Enets Shaman. YE. D. PROKOFYEVA

124

Cosmological Concepts of the Peoples of the North. A. F. ANISIMOV

157

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STUDIES IN SIBERIAN SHAMANISM

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V. N. CHERNETSOV

CONCEPTS OF THE SOUL AMONG THE OB UGRIANS* Introduction THE STUDY OF primitive views on the beginning of life and the spiritual nature of man, which form a basic part of animistic concepts, is undoubtedly of great interest both for its analysis of the development of primitive thought, worldview, and belief, and for its treatment of the separate tasks relating to the ethnography and ethnic history of a particular people or a group of related peoples. This is precisely the goal of the present work, which concerns itself with an analysis of primarily ethnographic materials of the Ob Ugrians relating to the prerevolutionary period. The concepts of the soul among the Khanty and Mansi, which on the basis of the available data seem at first sufficiently clear and precise, upon closer examination show themselves to be extremely complex and diffuse. This may be explained in many ways but chiefly, in my opinion, by the fact that those views of the spiritual nature of man which we can observe at present are a complex combination of concepts, much varied in their times and circumstances of origin and also, judging by what we know of the provenance of the Ob Ugrians, in their ethnic derivation. In the course of the long and multifarious processes which led to the formation of the Ob Ugrians, those concepts and ceremonies became stratified and interacted with one another, some of them dying out and being forgotten under the influence of gradual changes in social structure, and others, although preserved, often having their meanings changed. In a number of cases, by comparing data gathered among various Ob Ugrian tribes, and adducing comparative ethnographic and archaeological material, we may be in a position to unravel this complex tangle of primitive beliefs, though certainly still not completely. In the voluminous literature on the ethnography of the Ob Ugrians, the question of their concept of the soul has received its share of attention and the present work is by no means the first on the subject. Besides separate articles and chapters in descriptive monographs, in which we find a number of very valuable observations, two special studies have been devoted to this theme. One of these comes from the pen of the noted Hungarian linguist B. Munkácsi. This talented researcher, who worked among the Mansi at the end of the last century, gathered voluminous folkloristic and, incidentally, some ethnographic material. Among numerous works concerning the Mansi language, folklore, and ethnography, he published a study entitled "Concepts of the soul and the cult of the dead among the Voguls."1 This work is marked by Munkácsi's characteristic thoroughness and contains a number of extremely valuable observations and remarks. Nevertheless, at present-day standards it is already quite antiquated, primarily because of the research method and the approach to the evaluation of the material adduced. "Translated from Trudy Instituía etnografii Akademii nauk SSSñ, vol. 51, 1959, pp. 114-156.

4 V. N. Chernetsov Using folklore, and particularly myths and epic tales, as his basic source, Munkácsi did not [fully] appreciate both their chronological diversity and the presence in them of numerous borrowings, especially Turkic and Iranian, even though he himself mentions these in his notes to the texts and individual papers.2 It is possible that his evaluation of the material was also influenced by the inadequate development of the general problems of ethnography at the time he was analyzing his field materials. In any case, one may note in his studies a somewhat uncritical approach, and a tendency to "modernize" them. In the above-mentioned work, he expressed the opinion that the religious concepts of the Ob Ugrians, particularly in some cases, reached "higher degrees of religious-philosophical thought."3 Thus, for example, Numi Tirum, a "spirit of the upper world"—which in fact is not far removed from its earlier totemic bear form—appears in Munkácsi's interpretation as "the god of gods, the most gracious heavenly father of all being, the omnipotent creator of the world, who manifests justice in this world, who rewards the meek and the pious and punishes the evil. . . ." In his opinion, we find here "a concept very close to the ideal of the god of the biblical prophets, and if along with it we find a whole host of less powerful deities, these are distinguished only in non-essentials from the angels, saints, and demons of the higher religions."4 Munkácsi's unevenness of evaluation of the Ugrian material was noted also by K. Karjalainen, who wrote that "Munkácsi, with the liveliness and wealth of imagination characteristic of a Southerner, . . . with regard to the character of the religious life of the Ugrians arrived at an alien concept, borrowed from outside."5 In view of this, it is entirely natural that Munkácsi was not able to decipher the very complex ideas of the Ob Ugrians on the multiplicity of souls, even though this phenomenon had been noted by several earlier investigators, e.g., Gondatti and Patkanov. On the whole, the concept set forth by Munkácsi is no longer of any scientific significance, although the material gathered and presented by him is certainly extremely valuable. Another author who studied extensively the question which interests us was K. Karjalainen.6 In his detailed, three-volume monograph "Die Religion der Jugra-Volker" [The religion of the Ugrian peoples], the first volume is given over entirely to concepts of the soul. Karjalainen based his work both on published materials (which he surveys thoroughly), and on his own observations concerning almost exclusively the Khanty—observations which he made in the course of his five-year expedition. In his study Karjalainen proceeds from a general premise based on the concept of W. Wundt, according to which the most usual conception among primitive peoples is that of three souls: the body-soul, the breath-soul, and the shadowsoul. The last two of these are pictured only as variants of a more general idea of the free soul, and Wundt contrasts them with the body-soul indissolubly connected with the body, the concept of which he considers, quite justly, to be the more ancient. However, Karjalainen departs in many particulars from Wundt: If we pass from these general ideas to the concept of the soul among the Voguls and Ostyaks, we may, perhaps, assume as a general proposition that the idea of the triplicity of man's spiritual part—the separate existence of body-soul, breath-soul, and shadowsoul—is not reflected in their contemporary views or in the more ancient ones which underlie them. Likewise, nothing indicates an ancient unity of the breath-soul and the shadow-soul. In these peoples' view, "the soul" appears as one of two parts. The first is the quality and power which distinguishes the living from the dead and the visible

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 5 indication of this power is the breath. We give this power, taking account of its popular designation, the name "breath-soul," but by no means exclusively in the sense which Wundt renders it; rather we include here both his "body-soul" and "breath-soul." The "shadow-soul" is distinguishable from the "breath-soul." We may say that the former is a spiritual part of man capable of independent life, probably originally reflecting the personification of the spiritual power of man, or better, his consciousness.7 The reason which induced Karjalainen to alter the content of the terms proposed by Wundt apparently was that, among the terms used by the Mansi and Khanty to designate souls, the clearest and most precise are (Mansi) lilt, (Khanty) lil^tit, "breath," and is, "shadow," although a more thorough analysis will allow another designation, one which we shall introduce below. Not having penetrated deeply enough into the content of the Ob Ugrian concepts of the soul, and having adopted as a criterion the most common designation—a purely formal element, taken rather superficially—Karjalainen, in working over the material further, ran into the impossibility of accommodating all the varieties of concepts about the spiritual companions of man within the "dual" soul which he had postulated and which, moreover, had a tendency, "although under Russian influence," to transform itself into a single one. However, from the term which Karjalainen introduces as a designation for this "double," it appears that we are concerned here with the second soul ( gone into the other world ), which, after a man's death, is actually called urt—urd. Karjalainen did not at all gain an understanding of the concepts about reincarnation of the breath-soul or the name, even though he introduced the sufficiently clear data of Gondatti bearing on this phenomenon; nor did he understand the nature of the preparation of representations of the dead, which he considers only in connection with mourning rites and memorial activities. Following the viewpoint, widespread in his time, that totemism was absent among the peoples of Siberia, Karjalainen also falls into an error in this regard, confusing the zoomorphic aspect of the soul with the zoomorphic aspect of the clan ancestors. On the whole, despite the great amount of material introduced by Karjalainen in his study, it does not at all reflect the real picture of the concepts which exist among the Ob Ugrians. All the considerations introduced here have persuaded me to take up once more the task which Munkácsi and Karjalainen set for themselves. To what degree I have succeeded in resolving it, I hesitate to say. Even now I find in my own work a number of deficiencies, and I suppose that in the future I shall have to return to this theme.

Concepts of the Soul among the Ob Ugrians In its most general form, the concept of the nature of man among the Ob Ugrians is the following. A person consists of a body and souls. In men there are five of these souls, in women four. The causes for the difference in number between the two sexes are not entirely clear to me. Despite the fact that the numbers four and five are quite unanimously indicated, it is almost impossible to obtain an answer when the question as to which of the souls is lacking in women is posed. Sometimes it is answered that in men there are two reincarnating souls, or that the fifth soul is "strength." Apropos, this explanation agrees with one given by the Asiatic Eskimos, among whom the number of souls is likewise four

6 V. N. Chernetsov and five.8 The unequal number of souls for the sexes is also found among the Gilyaks. Among them "the soul which survives man, his double, is also present in triple number in men [whereas] in women there are only two such souls.7'9 The connection of the numbers four and five with women and men, respectively, can be traced in many Ugrian rites and concepts. Thus, in the rituals of the bear festival, we find that the she-bear has four and the he-bear five clasps on the fur coat; they "play" at being the she-bear four nights and the he-bear five; four or five songs, respectively, are sung at the beginning of each night's activities, and so on. It seems to me incorrect to explain all this as proceeding from the number of souls, the more so since it is precisely this fifth soul that is the least clearly defined and since the semantics of numbers as they pertain to sex—even numbers being female and odd numbers (usually those greater than one) male—occurs rather widely the world over. I consider it out of place to embark here on an analysis of this question since it has no direct relationship to the theme and [such an analysis] would inevitably take us very far from it. I confine myself to adding one more to the examples cited above, taking it from a geographically very distant region, namely Java, where the female number is two and the male three.10 I think that in our case it will be more correct to consider the concept of four female and five male souls not as a primary one which later entered into numerical symbolism, but, on the contrary, as a secondary concept conditioned by this unclear but apparently sufficiently universal symbolism. The shadow-soul is thought to be the most material soul and the concept of it is connected with the visible shadow cast by every object. This shadow-soul is called, among the northern Mansi, is, is~xor, i.e., "soul-shadow," "aspect of the soul" (the word xor signifies "aspect," "form"), and, among the northern Khanty, is, is-xôr (cf. Ob dialect, is, is-xus, "shadow," "apparition," "spirit"). This word appears in the same sense and with a few morphemic variants in other dialects of the Khanty and Mansi languages.11 Munkácsi, in the sense of "soul," introduces along with is also the word jis (old, ancient), not differentiating between them; in this connection he suggests that "the original meaning of the term was probably 'old/ 'elderly/ and in a narrower sense, 'elders/ 'ancestors/ hence 'the dead/ "12 In Ob-Ugrian languages it took on a still narrower sense, namely, "souls," "spirits of the dead," whose bodiless but still visible apparitions are comparable with shadows. Thus, the word jis, signifying "souls of the dead," may also be used in the sense of "shadow." This etymology was challenged by Paasonen, who quite justly stated that "Munkácsi, in adopting as primal, basic the meaning 'old/ 'aged/ thereby identifies the word is (soul, shadow) with the adjective jis which has the abovementioned meaning. These words, however, must be distinguished, since the adjective is pronounced, in all Ostyak dialects (according to Karjalainen) with the initial /', while the word 'soul' everywhere has the initial vowel i."13 What Paasonen says about Khanty applies completely to Mansi, and the words is (soul) and jis ( old ) should never be confounded. Among the eastern Khanty, according to Karjalainen, the word ïfas, ïfes, Ht is also found. Not having observed these tribes, I cannot make any definite judgment about these terms, though I think we cannot exclude the possibility of some influence from the Samoyed languages (the Selkups are near neighbors here), where we find: il'qo (Selkup), jiles (Nenets), "to live," jile, "life." The concept of the shadow-soul, as Karjalainen states,14 is very uniform among all Ugrians and in its basic features comes down to the following. The shadow-

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 7 soul, is, is-xor, janiyis, that is, "big soul," is present not only in people and animals but also in "inanimate" objects [lit. "object without a soul"]. This soul is "plainly visible" to all and during the course of life is attached to a person, apparently never leaving him. After death, the is follows the body to the grave, where it remains. The Mansi say: "elmyphos sorumpatnete jui palt is-^pre sawzTj kant 5Z¿," that is, "after the person's death, the is lives in the graveyard." Similarly, Paasonen relates: "When a person dies, no essential change takes place in the relation of the soul to the body. The soul remains, as a rule, in constant connection with the body and follows it to the grave, where both find new places of sojourn."15 According to the Ugrians, the shadow-souls in the graveyard continue an existence similar to that of men. The deceased person is not conceived of as definitely dead, at least not in our sense of the word. Like a living person, the deceased consists of bodily and spiritual elements whose separation is not entirely possible. Thus, the concepts of the shadow-soul ( also called the "grave" or "buried" soul ( Mansi, jol-ramme is ) ) which picture it as more or less fleshless or half-material are closely entwined with the concepts of the "living" deceased who leave the grave by night. Evidently even here the boundaries are not clear and the shadow-soul is conceived of not as some spirit existing apart from the body, but as the body itself, possessing, in spite of death, some sort of vitality, at least as long as it exists physically. Karjalainen was similarly impressed during his observations of the Ugrians.16 The question of the separability or identity of the grave-soul and the corpse is apparently extremely unclear to the Ugrians; as a result of this we encounter both in the folklore and in personal statements the preponderance now of one, now of another view. If it so wishes, the grave-soul may, as a bodiless spirit, abandon the progressively decaying and doomed body and, if it desires, it may return to it.17 It may leave the graveyard and appear near the house as an apparition, seeking an opportunity to penetrate into a habitation. "And [even] if the window through which the body was taken out is closed and the shadow finds the threshold unclean or is filled with suspicion by it, there is still another opening in the house, . . . the smoke hole."18 Having penetrated to the living, the shadow-soul ( s empr^lta^ti ) comes to people in dreams and presses on them so that they see the dead person as he was before his death. They are tormented by nightmares and moan in their sleep (Yarkin, Ob). Moreover, in individual cases the grave-soul may leave the body entirely and move to another place. At least Munkácsi reports the concept that souls follow people who have moved to other living quarters.19 Also, if a person dies somewhere in strange territory, his fictitious funeral is held in the clan graveyard so that his shadowsoul may settle among his dead fellow clansmen.20 At the same time, however, the idea of the complete materiality of the soul can be gained clearly from ceremonies and verbal testimony. The soul feels cold and hunger and suffers, at least at first, from its former earthly attachments.21 It does not even refuse liquor, on which, like people, it may get drunk. When gravesouls or "the living dead" (we repeat, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish which one is involved ) come out of the grave, they may cause physical harm to the living. This idea is excellently reflected in the following pofer (tale, story): A man in Jalp-us (the yurts of Vezhakorsk on the Ob) went on a trip. On the way he visited his wife's mother. She was sick. When he was about to travel farther, his wife's mother said: "When you come back, whether I am sick or well, stop by." On the way back he stopped. When he walked into the house, a coffin was there.

8

V. N. Chernetsov

He returned to his boat to get food. He took a bottle of spirits. He re-entered the house. "My wife's mother, when she was alive, fed me good food, gave me good liquor. I'll give her the bottle of spirits." He does. The coffin opens. The dead woman is covered over with a curtain. The wife's mother rose, sat down, tore away the curtain. "So, dear son-in-law, you came?" The son-in-law pours the liquor for her. She drinks and finally she gets drunk and begins to reel. "Now," the man thinks, "this one will kill me tonight. Anyway, I still have a home. I'll go to my father-in-law." He jumped up and ran to his father-in-law's house. He came to it. He went into the house. He glanced into the front room; his father-in-law was covered with a thin cloth (i.e., he was dead). "What misfortune! This night, this will be my last night! But wait, I'll just rekindle the fire." He does so, the fire flames up. The man cowers. The wife's mother can be heard walking on the road, in pursuit of him. She enters the house. At that moment, his father-in-law in the front room rose with a noise. Then the man completely lost consciousness, the light went out of his eyes, and he fell down. What happened afterwards he doesn't know. In the morning he came to; as he sat on a bench he suddenly fell flat on his face. He looks into the front room. His father-in-law is not there. He goes out of the house and his wife's mother (lies) torn in two, right down to her hips, right down to her boots. He thought it was his father-in-law lying in the front room, but it was the "Old Man of the Sacred Village" (the bear), his ancestor, who was there. This one kept (saved) his life for him. (Told by ANNA SAMPILTALOVA, Yanyg-paul.) As we see from this excerpt, the dead person appears here as a being not only alive but entirely material, even capable of getting drunk. The way of life of the dead also remains very close to that of the living. They form a world in all respects similar to the world of the living, in whose immediate neighborhood they are located. In this world they "live," like people, in clans, and the person who has died in strange territory strives, if the opportunity is given him (if his body is taken home), to take his place among the deceased members of his clan. The world of the dead is the same as the world of the living, but transferred, if we may so express it, into some "fourth dimension" and, therefore, usually invisible and imperceptible. One elderly woman of the Anemkhurov clan once expressed the opinion that "the souls of the dead who are in the graves live the same as people. If you go to the graveyard, you can hear the souls cry, sing, and talk together. If you go there, you will see how they rise. I have heard them many times; they live there like people." The concept of the life of the dead is still more clearly expressed in the following tale: A man rode somewhere. On the road back, it got dark (i.e., he got caught in the darkness). He remembered that to the side of the road there was a village. "Let me just ride to that village." He rode there. He went into one house; the people were beating the drum ("shamanizing"). The house was full of people and they all [were] kastejdt.22 He goes in and says: "Hello." The people do not answer. One man is beating the drum. Again he says: "Hello." Nothing (they do not answer). The man beating the drum says: "[Someone] is making the fire whistle.23 The spirit that eats us has come." That man turns to the door. Now the man beating the drum says: "I now call upon my smaller [lesser] spirit."

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 9 The visitor went out and rode away. The road was soft and snowy. He came close to the main road. At that moment he turned—a worn-out parka was coming after him.24 The being in the worn-out parka, overtaking him, jumped at him from the back of the sledge. [The man] arrived at the main road and poked backwards with the reindeerdriving pole. Then that being fell off [and] remained where it fell. He came to the village [and] went into a house. "Hello." The people said: "Hello." He asked: "Which way to the moss-pile?" He let the reindeer go and said: "There's a village here, but I only just came across one." "Where were you?" "There (off to the side), there's a small village." "There is no village there." "What is there then?" "A graveyard." "I came (there) and they were beating the drum. I went into a house. I said: 'Hello/ They said: 'Someone is making the fire whistle; I shall call my lesser spirit/ Then I ran outside. Afterwards a being in a worn-out parka caught up with me. When I came to the main road, I poked it with my reindeer-driving pole." The people said: "You have been in the graveyard, among the dead people." (ANNA SAMPILTALOVA.) The similarity of the world of the dead to that of the living extends even to the point that the dead have their shamans and spirits. Moreover, people are invisible to the dead and the appearance of a living person among them is detected only by the whistling of the fire. The fire, as the incarnation of the soul of an ancestor, warns the dead of the arrival of teñe kul\ "the spirit that eats them," that is, a man for whose expulsion the shaman calls on a special spirit-helper. Thus, the world of the dead is, as it were, a mirror-image of that of the living, reproducing it in all its details. The invisibility of people to souls helps us, in particular, to penetrate into animistic psychology and to explain the nature of the concept of materiality of the grave-soul and of spirits in general. If, for the dead, or what is the same thing, for grave-souls, man is an invisible spirit (which he is not from his own point of view), then the spirits also are invisible to man, not because they are immaterial and fleshless, but only because man is not in a position to see them or be aware of them. In all probability, the question of materiality and incorporeality does not interest primitive man, who reacts to it with indifference, proceeding from the purely materialistic, empirically-arrived-at position that not only what we see exists but also what, for one reason or another, we cannot see or discern. Thus, in drawing a tent, a man indicates the poles, which he afterwards shades over completely. He knows that the poles are there, although they are not visible because of the tent covering. In depicting animals, he draws the skeleton and the internal organs because he knows that they exist, although covered with skin. In this regard, the Mansi term for spirit is very indicative: samsaj, "absent," that is, located in a place inaccessible to sight, or sas xal'p saft ^Ine mâxum, that is, "the people who live beyond the birch-bark tent wall." The world of spirits coexists with that of men, but, as it were, partitioned off from it by a thin wall through which human sight is not able to penetrate. Only very few people possess the capacity to see spirits, and these they see in the form of vague apparitions. Such people are called sam-pal' wops^rj yptpa, that is, "a person to whom something is visible and audible/'25

10 V. N. Chernetsov We have come now to the question of the relationship of people to the gravesoul and of the latter to people. A definite dualism can be observed in the manifestations of these relationships. In spite of the fact that the exit of this or that person from among the living sometimes calls forth deep grief, the deceased himself and the whole complex of concepts connected with him inspire fear. Elements of love for the dead and fear of him in his new condition are so closely intertwined that it is frequently difficult to say which of these motives brings about a particular manifestation of feeling. Lamentation, mourning, the effort to establish him in the best and most pleasant way in his grave—all this may be called forth either by the feeling of love or by the desire to protect oneself against the possible return of the dead. In any case, from the very moment of death, activities reflecting grief and those reflecting preparation for the removal of the deceased, with his possibly harmful influence, from among the living begin simultaneously and immediately. "As soon as the last breath leaves the lips of the sick man and he dies, the wailing and lamentations begin in the dead man's tent or yurt. . . . While the Ostyak women are wailing around the dead man by turns, changing off, they are already preparing him for his distant journey. First of all, a small scrap of prepared reindeer skin is brought and the head of the dead man is covered with it, hair side down."26 This scrap or burial mask, wilt lops (Mansi), is to separate the deceased from the living and to prevent him from seeing them. Great care is taken also as to the place of burial of the dead. Each clan has its own graveyard, which is jealously guarded from strangers, both living and dead.27 Death places no limit on the kinship of living and deceased clansmen. The latter continue to place themselves under the protection of the clan, which takes revenge for any damage to the interests of the dead—for profanation and robbery of graves.28 Every member of the clan must be buried "at home," in the clan graveyard. Even if a person dies at some distance, his body, if at all possible, is brought back to his native village. And only in a case where it is impossible to obtain the corpse is the matter confined to holding a fictitious funeral in the clan graveyard, as noted, for instance, by Gondatti in regard to the Voguls.29 Evidently the breakdown of clan structure may explain the appearance of the compromise ceremony during which, when a person dies far from home, he is asked if he wishes to be brought back home. Thus a Khanty from the Pentakhov clan (village of Mozyamy on the Kazym river) died at Lorba (west of the Ob, a distance north of Kondinyyka ). The relatives went to get him and, when they had brought him as far as Sherkaly (the first Khanty village on their journey), they performed the ritual of divination over the coffin (see below). As a result of this divination, the deceased answered that he did not wish to burden them with such a long journey to Mozyamy and asked to be buried in Sherkaly. But, I repeat, such cases probably should be viewed as a phenomenon of the new order. According to the Ugrians, grave-souls also honor clan ties and even try to follow the clan if it migrates to another place. When the Voguls of the upper Lozva migrate [in pursuance] of seasonal economic activity to the Sosva [river] in Yanyg-paul, the ghosts of the dead run after them like little children after the mothers. Nevertheless, their company is not accepted by the people (because they [plan to] ride only for awhile). In order to chase back the ghosts of their kin (who truly fear that their families, riding away, will abandon them forever), the people use the following means. At a place on the road near Sarma ja-nkzlma riar (10 versts from the village of Yanyg-paul), they carve fearsome images of animals

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul

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out of wood. These images are very primitively executed, but since they, like scarecrows, are reinforced by posts driven into the ground, they are suitable to frighten the shadows (is) and scare them back to Lozva if they follow the riders. The Sos vans also make analogous images when they ride to Lozva, so that in the course of time these images have accumulated in numbers, piled up in large quantities, and they occupy a considerable area at this place.30 But together with the care for the dead, the consciousness of the common bond between living and dead clansmen, we see a whole group of measures intended to isolate the shadow-soul from people, beginning, as we have seen above, at the very moment of death. The window through which the body was taken is closed, the road leading to the graveyard is barred, the legs of the corpse are tied together, and a stone is laid on its chest or mouth, and so on. In the pofer quoted above, we see that the deceased is conceived of as a terrifying being, capable of causing harm, regardless of kin relations. The other story reflects the idea that a man provokes precisely the same fear among grave-souls. For the expulsion of the man from their midst, they even have recourse to the assistance of their own spirits. This idea is evidently not specifically Ugrian. In the beliefs of the Nenets, the soul of the dead man goes into the next world, "where, together with other souls, sailing in a copper boat on the 'sea of ooze/ it defends its new home, bow in hand, against the intrusion of the living."31 In Selkup folklore (according to E. Prokofyeva) even one touch of a man who has come into the afterworld to the dead is fatal to the latter. Analogous data are given for the Chinese by De Groot, who relates the legend of the people who penetrate into the country of ghosts and cause horror there by their very presence.32 Obviously we are dealing here with nothing other than the transfer into the world of the dead of feelings and perceptions found among the living. What sort of danger can a man expect from the dead? From the preceding exposition it is clear that since the grave-soul is imagined as rather material or, what is the same thing, the dead person is imagined as rather alive, this danger may take the form of purely physical force—a person may be torn apart or killed. Moreover, the grave-soul may steal one of a person's souls, thus bringing fatal illness and death. The Mansi express it thus: Is-xor—jol—ramne is—tow porat is jot-toti, that is, "the shadow—the grave-soul—sometimes carries with it the soul (of a living person)." On this foundation there is built a magical murder called Sepan. It consists of the placing of some object belonging to the person who is to be carried away in the coffin of the dead. Such objects are: rags of clothing, hair, toys (if a child is involved). Such action leads to immediate death: lilirjxotpa purjk-at, dñ¿'am ulamane sorumnpatum yptpa jot toloypan punawd, 5s wos sorumnpati, that is, "the hairs and the clothing of a living person are laid in the coffin of the dead one, that the living one may also die"—thus a Mansi of Yarkin described the content of this activity, showing that death proceeds from the fact that, since it possesses the person's personal things, the grave-soul also attracts his soul. The souls of children are especially defenseless before the dead: There once lived a man. His wife died. Their little boy and girl survived. Then the boy and the girl suddenly got sick. A shaman was called. The shaman said: "Their souls are living with the mother, that's why (the children) do not get well. The spirit (puph) may come and take (the souls). The souls were eaten." The dead woman was raised by the spirit and her mouth torn open. Her guts were taken out with a hook and cut up. One female and one male doll were taken from

12 V. N. Chernetsov them and brought home to the boy and girl. The shaman said: "When tomorrow dawns, go to the graveyard. Go and see what happened." At dawn they went to the graveyard. When they got there (the dead person) indeed was out of the grave and sitting up; her mouth had been torn open and her guts pulled out. (ANNA SAMPILTALOVA. ) What is it, in the Ugrian view, that causes such relationships between men and grave-souls? The answer to this question follows partially from the preceding exposition. "Despite all the efforts of the living to satisfy the soul in all its demands, and to establish it comfortably in its new dwelling-place (the coffin), the soul at first finds no peace." The grave-soul not only feels the need for warmth, food, and so on, but suffers from its former earthly attachments.33 For this reason the shadow-souls are pleased when someone of those remaining among the living dies and joins their company. "At the death of a person, the shadow-souls of the graveyard of that village rejoice. They wait for the new shadow-soul and rejoice that another member has been added." ( Soynakhov. ) In fact, the grave-souls are irritated by the fact that they have passed into another condition and are powerless to return to their former lives and habits. As we shall see later, in relation to the second soul, this annoyance is the more intense the younger the dead person was. And the most terrifying of all are the souls of children. Hence the effort of the grave-soul (though not only of this soul) to attract the souls of other people and to vent its vexation and animosity on people. In this regard, the grave-soul is dangerous because it "possesses great experience and knows all the insidious and crafty tricks of the living."34 However, the concept of dissatisfaction, restlessness, and resentment of the dead person, even though it serves as a rather widely used explanation for the fear of him, and even though it may satisfy the animist, is hardly primary and suitable for scientific works. Later on, I shall touch upon the question of the origin of the fear of the dead, but now I return to the exposition of the material. The materiality of the interred soul and the similarity of its existence to that of man also condition, in the Ugrian view, the limited nature of its life. "Like people, grave-souls are not immortal. They continue to exist only as long as something remains of the body: jol-ramne is ñdwle-luwe yplne mus tot dli tuwsl ta S'ëlati; usum xotpa nvwle-luwe yplne mus ta S'elamti—kerdrj ^pmla^ jëmti, that is, 'the buried soul lives there until the flesh and bones have disappeared and then it is transformed. With the disappearance (decay) of the flesh and bones of the dead it is transformed and becomes a ker^r¡ xomlax (little beetle)/" (Yarkin.) The idea of the final transformation of the grave-soul into a ker^r¡ xom^aX (kër-xomlax) is found universally among the Ob Ugrian tribes, and we find references to it in the statements of a number of authors. But in this regard, the lack of understanding of the concept of multiple souls resulted in the author's not interpreting the transformation into a beetle quite correctly. Thus, Karjalainen states that the transformation is "an accidental phenomenon, to which not all souls are subject." Citing the story of an Ostyak from Kazym, Karjalainen adds that sometimes such a dead person, being changed into dust, is transformed into a burncow (Goldkafer), a species of greenish ladybug [ladybird], and in this form may appear to his relations. According to other data, dead persons may be changed into water beetles.35 Gondatti also mentions the transformation of the soul into a beetle, but in doing so confuses the fates of the grave-soul and the afterworld-soul. Describing the existence of the latter in the afterworld, he states

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that "the shadow-soul then begins to diminish little by little, to the size of a small beetle—a ker khomlakh ([or] in the words of others, is transformed into it [directly] ) ."36 According to Roslyakov, the northern Ostyaks "say that a person after his second death is changed into a carabide"37 ( a small, black aquatic insect of the genus of water scavengers [Hydrophilidae], living in small lakes and marshy waters). Munkácsi, confirming Gondatti's statement, adds that the kérxomlax should most probably be identified with the water beetle (Dysticus)— the diving beetle.38 According to our observations, ker^rj xomlax can hardly be connected with any definite species. We have often heard contradictory opinions from the Mansi, stating as the habitat of ker^Tj xomlax now water, now dry land. Probably this designation extends to the Coleóptera in general, and only in its local variants is the idea of the transformed soul connected variously with the diving beetle, the water scavenger, and the burncow.39 The origin of this concept of the transformation of the grave-soul into a beetle is probably connected with nothing other than the appearance around graves of various beetles of the grave-digger type, as known to us from the materials of many other peoples. But even after the transformation of the soul into a ker^y ypmlay¿ it is still not considered to have disappeared. This is apparent from the attitude of the Mansi and Khanty towards these [above-mentioned] insects. Roslyakov mentions that among the Ostyaks, it is considered a sin to kill a water scavenger,40 and analogous ideas can also be found elsewhere among the Ugrians. Besides, the fact that the images of kewr) ypmla^ are frequently found on Ugrian articles, mostly on tut&ar), that is, bags for women's needlework, also speaks for the existence of a not indifferent attitude towards them. The Ugrians do not say how long the soul stays in the form of a beetle, but in any case its existence is not prolonged. Moreover, the ker^rj xo^nl^x appears to be the last stage in the transformation of the grave-soul, and with its death, any possibility of [further] existence is cut short. We find this view universally among the Ugrians, and Gondatti and Roslyakov also speak of it. The latter, quoting the words of the northern Ostyaks, states that "after the third death in the form of this animal, the person finally disappears without trace."41 Another soul, lor¡xal' minne is, "the soul that goes down (on the river)/' appears primarily only after a person's death. During his life, although it is visible, in the opinion of Ugrians, it is "less so than the shadow-soul." It can be seen especially easily at night by moonlight. In its outward aspect "the second soul appears now as a person, now as a bird, and among the eastern Khanty (of the Trom-yugan river) sometimes also as a "mosquito" (kair¡i), located from birth to death in the head of the person or animal, which may by chance leave the body of its master during life but without which the person cannot live long. This [latter] soul looks like an insect but can be seen only by shamans."42 As regards the bird which is the aspect of the second soul, the data are rather various. Sometimes it is a worSik (wagtail), Pa^kiS* (titmouse), or swallow, sometimes a magpie, and, as we shall see later, rather often a cuckoo. The head is frequently cited as the dwelling-place of the soul, but in general this is rather vague. According to Karjalainen, "an Ostyak from Kondina said that the is of a sick man upon its return sits down on his brow, which is smeared with sacrificial blood. According to the Trom-yugan Khanty, the ihs lives in the head, and when the shaman brings back in his clenched fist the rescued soul, he blows it in through the patient's right ear."43

14 V. N. Chernetsov Parallel with this, the opinion is quite widespread that souls (the second and apparently also the third and fourth) live not inside but on the surface of the person: ëlmxolas aine pâlit isane taw paite ôleyzt, ulamane pailt dleyzt. Tan rídWdl' kiw^rt at dleydt, ost dleydt, that is, "a man, in the course of his life, his souls with him live, in the clothing live. They inside the body do not live, on the surface live." ( Ob, village of Nyary-Khumit. ) In the course of life, as long as the person is well, the second soul is with him, regularly leaving him only during sleep. Hence the use of the passive form of the verb oj ( northern Mansi ), "to run away/' "to fly away," "to leave," meaning in its various aspects "to fall asleep," "to plunge into sleep," becomes understandable. Thus, for example, ojwzs (northern Mansi), or more frequently jol-ojwzs, "he plunged into sleep" (lit. "he leaves," "he departs below"). Another aspect of this verb may also be used: ojilmat, "to free oneself," "to tear oneself away," ojilmatwzs, "he fell asleep rapidly." Likewise vajemdâjem (Kazym Khanty),44 voijem-tlajem (northern Khanty),45 "I fall asleep" (lit. "leave," "depart"). Having left the body, the soul visits various places and meets other souls, entering into one or another relationship with them, either peaceful or hostile. It may happen that, seeing a stronger antagonist, the soul is afraid to leave the body, as a result of which the man cannot fall asleep. If two people sleep in the same place and one person sleeps all night while the other does not fall asleep [and] (if) during the following night the latter slips a knife under his pillow, then he will fall asleep too (he will depart). One man (has) a strong soul (urt, the second soul which leaves the body) and another a weak soul (urt). The two souls wrestle together, (then) the weaker soul cannot fly away. If he slips in an iron knife, they cannot fight through the iron. Fearing hostile souls or souls preparing to go to the world of the dead, the soul of the sleeper runs away from them, which may be an indication of an oncoming illness or death of a person, seen in sleep: "If you dream of someone and do not let him go home, this means that that person will get sick." In its wanderings, a soul may even visit a place like the world of the dead; this is considered an evil omen. The father of my informant, a Mansi from the Lyapin river, ". . . once dreamed that he died and his soul went down-river to the sea. There on the ice he saw a big opening into which people were entering. He went to it but became afraid of going down and turned back. He explained his dream thus: if he had gone down he would have died immediately, but even the fact that his soul went there was bad enough." It is still worse "if someone dreams of his close dead relatives in the afterworld and they invite him and he eats. In such a case he dies right away." As a consequence of the idea that the soul is in some other place during sleep, possibly a distant place, one avoids waking a person suddenly. If the soul is not able to return, the person gets sick. Hence, if someone arrives during the night, he does not talk loudly or make noise on going into the house, so that the people will not be awakened suddenly. It is still better if one lights a fire before they awaken. Apart from sleep, only shamans, whose is^ilt leaves them during a kamlaniye [shamanistic performance],46 and the heroes of tales can part from their second soul without harm to themselves. For ordinary people even the brief exit of the soul (discounting sleep) is accompanied by various kinds of trouble. The souls (the second and fourth) are shy and easily frightened and in a moment of sudden fright experienced by a person, istf jol-rayateyzt, that is, "the souls fall down and collapse from him." Cold produces the same effect. A shiver repre-

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 15 sents the rush of the soul jumping away. In the bylina [heroic tale] of the champions of the town of Emder, taken down by Patkanov at Konda, the hero receives a blow on the head from the hilt of a sword. "The light faded in his eyes therewith," and his soul rushed towards heaven but was not admitted to the afterworld by his brother who had died earlier, since he was not dead but only in a faint.47 The role of fright here is played by sudden shock. A temporary exit of the soul from the body causes lethargy and illness in a person: isxor ojas, tona aymzl jêmtes, that is, "the soul ran away, that's why he got sick," the Mansi say.48 It is thought that deep somnolence, weakness, and unconsciousness are connected with the exit of the second soul. A Kostin woman from the village of Bezhakory on the Ob related that during childhood she was seriously ill—her soul flew away and she slept all the time. She recovered only when her mother succeeded in bringing the soul back. The mother of this woman dreamed that she met her daughter on the street and, seizing her by the hand, led her home. Having torn itself from the body, the soul rushes about looking for the way back to its master or even to the body of some other person. "During fear the souls fall down (and) the man then begins to be tormented. The displaced soul begins to rush around. It rushes around and attacks (people). It attacks a sleeping person. The sleeping person begins to groan, begins to dream. When he gets up he says: Truly somebody's soul is here.' Then the sick person calls the shaman. The shaman puts the displaced soul back in its place." ( Yarkin. ) If he does not succeed in setting the soul in its place, and its absence becomes prolonged, the person's death may follow. Fear lest the soul should be lost even temporarily calls forth corresponding precautionary measures. For the Lyapin Voguls clothing made from squirrel skins is such a measure: Lër^y^n saw masnut ke 5n^' eyzn, jan** isxor at kwâlapi, that is, "if you wear clothing of squirrel skins the *big soul' (as they call the second soul) will not jump out," they say. On the Ob, the skin of a hare serves as such protection, "the hare-skin is soft and the soul does not slip away." The idea that some souls (apparently the second and the third) live on the surface and even supposedly in the clothes (see above) naturally gives rise to the opinion that the clothing should not be shaken suddenly or roughly in order not to shake the soul out, and also should not be thrown just anywhere, especially not old clothing or that of dead people. Some other precautionary measures connected with clothing are explained in the same way, as for example cutting the laces off when it is sold. One of the strongest means for holding the soul was apparently tattooing. Figures of birds which were to hold the soul close to the body were tattooed: is ul wos ojiylas, that is, "so that the soul does not run away," explained Soynakhov, a Mansi from the Lyapin river. "When the soul has comrades, it starts to stay at home more." Unfortunately, I have only very limited material on this question at my disposal, since tattooing, like everything connected with the treatment of the soul, is kept a strict secret and is usually accessible only to old women, who are very disinclined to speak of this to anyone, let alone a man. Thus the same Soynakhov, mentioned above more than once, happened to hear old women talking among themselves, as far as he could understand, about such tattooing. But, when he tried to ask explanations of them, or even of his own mother, they got angry and forbade him even to speak of this subject, or pleaded ignorance. "On old people," Soynakhov related, "you often see figures of birds, but they answer questions very evasively, claiming that the tattooing was done for medical purposes." Kát aymzl 51s, tai mayzs xansima, "the hand hurt, so they painted it,"

16 V. N. Chernetsov which is certainly a pretext, since for pains (rheumatism, for example) they do a completely different kind of tattooing. Investigators who have touched on the question of tattooing among the Ugrians give us no data relative to tattooing as a magical means of holding the soul. Only N. F. Prytkova, who devoted many years to the study of the Khanty, succeeded in making a number of valuable observations. According to her data, among the Kazym Khanty, an image of a small bird, a vursik ( [in the language of the] Kazym Khanty wursik or lilin woj xor "°f the soul," that is, "representation of birds"), is tattooed on each person's shoulder. The "office" of this image is to guard the soul of the person during life and to accompany it after death into the afterworld. This is done at a mature age, but if a person leaves his native place for a long period, this precautionary measure is applied to young people also. Thus, for example, girls who went from Kazym to study in Leningrad were thus tattooed.49 If even a minor shock—cold, injury, etc.—causes a temporary exit of the soul, so much the stronger is the effect on it of a deeper affliction of the organism (in an animistic understanding). For example, such afflictions may arise when a disease spirit takes possession of the person and preys upon his body or his first soul, or when the external soul is abducted or killed by spirits and so on (see below). In such a case, the second soul begins to leave the body more and more frequently, and finally abandons it altogether since it has become untrustworthy for it. The idea of a possible exit of the soul before death (due to the causes mentioned) evidently gave rise to the concept that the soul, in general, leaves its master at a definite period before his death. Thus, among the Mansi and Khanty living on the Ob up-river from Berezova, the belief is widespread that "the xom-ñoln minne is, 'the soul that goes to Cape Khom,' leaves the body a year before the person's death, but lives in the course of this period near his home. During this time the person is sick." The Mansi of the upper Sosva express their beliefs in the very same words. The soul, having left the body, is usually invisible, but sometimes becomes accessible to human sight and frequently to that of its former master. To see one's own soul is an evil omen. The Mansi Soynakhov told how his father, "a year before his death, standing on the bank of a river, saw on the other shore his own self in his everyday clothes. He explained that this was his soul and that probably he would die soon." It is especially bad to see the soul in the nar x^tal jatt, at raw noon" (that is, in broad daylight); this portends imminent demise. Among the Vasyugan Khanty the appearance of the soul is also looked upon as an indication of approaching death. "When the cups begin to ring, this indicates that the shadow-phantom (Schattengestalt) has begun to wander. It (the soul, the shadow) may show itself to the bodily eye and always exactly in the image of its master, with its face covered by the kerchief vafem kora (the burial mask) as it is placed on the dead person's face." "Very strangely they suppose," adds Karjalainen, "that the shadow begins to grow with the approach of death; 'your shadow is growing, your coffin is growing/ they say. A man's shadow grows for seven years and a woman's for six. In the course of the same period the mask on its face also grows. When the mask reaches the ground, death ensues."50 The soul may appear not only in the form of a man but also as a bird, which in this case is called isxor uj, "the bird-soul." Thus, according to the Mansi, "it happens that a man by night meets a bird which isn't sleeping, and causeless fear falls on him. This means that the man met his own soul, which portends for him

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul

17

a quick death. If a person returns home pale and agitated, he is usually asked: isxor^n xonfesan?, 'did you meet your own soul?' " There is a widespread belief that the soul, having left the body, exists in the form of a cuckoo. "When the cuckoo cuckoos, they say: am isxorumke, pojten!, 'if you are my soul [then] be quiet!' " If the cuckoo is the soul of the person, then it hears and falls silent, which indicates his imminent death, since the soul leaves the body approximately a year before the end. If the causes which brought about the exit of the soul are not removed, or if the soul itself is not found in case it ojas, "tore itself away," "ran away," then death ensues, and the soul begins to prepare itself to go into the afterworld. The ZoTjxfl/' minne is (the soul that goes down-river) does not set out on its journey immediately. In the course of the period during which the body lies at home, it wanders over the whole earth. It goes to those places where it used to be. Only afterwards does it go down forever (that is, in the direction of the lower Ob). The second soul, after leaving the body of its master, is most frequently called the urt. Elm^plas sorumpatnëte jui palt lorjxal' minne is urti7 làwawe, that is, "after a person's death, the soul that goes down is called urt." Elm^plas bínete sis ise urtiy at lâwawe, "during the life of a person his soul is not called urt." The wandering soul, having left the body, is also called uras uj (uj, "being," in this case a bird) or isxor uj, that is, "bird-soul." "Uras ujit, these are the birds that portend death," the Lyapin Mansi say. "These are the souls of people. When many of them appear it means that many people will die that year." The uras uj, as mentioned earlier, are often thought of as cuckoos, but also as certain species of sandpipers, xars~xars uj> loS'uj, and "some kind of bird not known to anyone." They may be distinguished by their cry, which is sometimes heard at night. This cry, beginning with low tones, ascends, and having reached the known limit, breaks off and then begins again. We find mention of the urt in the works of various investigators of the Ugrians, but in a number of cases it is difficult to take advantage of the information, since in it the urt is clearly confused with other souls and, in particular, the third, "external" soul. Munkácsi cites the best example, taken down textually from the upper Lozva Vogul woman Sotinova: The urt lives in the woods. If a person is about to die, the urt screams. If a little child dies, it screams with the voice of a child; if an adult dies, it screams with an adult's voice. Its aspect is that of a great grouse with wings resembling those of a bat. The shaman can call it. If anyone hears it, it cries: "If someone of my near relations must die, let him draw near." Then if it is its relative, it comes close, but if it is an outsider, it will skirt to the side.51 Among the Irtysh Khanty, the expression urt or xadaj urt, "the urt of a dead person," is also used for the wandering soul. The word urt, in one variant or another but apparently with a wider meaning, is also found in the languages of the Volga and Perm groups. Among the Mari, in the form ort, it signifies the soul, the exit of which causes the death of a person. The word also exists in an identical sense among the Zyryans [Komi]. The ort is the shadow of a dead person, a guardian-spirit, apparition, specter, ghost, concerning which Videman [Wiedemann] cites the following: "The ort lives in the air and predicts its charge's death, most frequently to his close relatives and friends and also to himself by appearing in visible form."52 The Zyryans also explain that "the soul of the dead

18 V. N. Chernetsov goes into the ort." Among the Udmurts, urt appears in the sense of soul, spirit of tibe dead, ghost, apparition.53 Proceeding from the resemblance of the words urt (Mansi, Khanty) || urt (Udmurt) II ort (Mari) II ort (Zyryan), and their meanings, Paasonen thinks it possible that urt is a borrowing from the Permians.54 However, this position has no serious foundation, and it is not possible to adopt it. Karjalainen also rejects it.55 With the urt there is connected the idea of something terrifying, dangerous. In saying that the soul which goes into the afterworld is called an urt, the Mansi Vingalev added: pîTuptan ut ta!, "this is a most frightful being!" As with the grave-soul, the danger of the urt consists in the fact that it carries away with it the souls of the living. This may occur especially easily if the urt is irritated about something, or if the deceased left a vengeance unfulfilled during life: kanfen ke, mot x°tpa is jot toti, that is, "if it is angry, it carries away with it the soul of another person"—thus Vingalev explained why the urt was considered frightening. Some investigators give to the malevolence of the urt the meaning that the natives tended to apply the term urt only to angry souls, but such a limitation on its meaning is not correct. The urt is dangerous not only for the people to whom the deceased was hostile. It longs for its surviving relatives and friends: "If many children of a dead person remain, the urt walks about howling and weeping at length." At this time it may carry with it the souls of surviving close relatives, as we have seen in connection with the grave-soul. The urt carries away from a person (although there is no full agreement on this point) his second soul, the one which is like itself. The people who, at a given moment, are outside the protection of a house or the society of the living are subject to the greatest danger: A person has died. If on that or the following night one of his acquaintances is in an open place or (generally) outside a house, the urt of the dead person comes to him to carry his soul away with it. The person to whom the urt has come then feels illness or heaviness. Then a shaman is called. The shaman begins to divine with an ax and finds out. Then the person calls upon the shaman as a sorcerer more strongly. The shaman then takes the soul which has come to the living person. The shaman beats the drum and rubs with the drum the person to whom the soul has come, then says: "Well, now it's been shaken off." After this the soul of the dead person goes to Cape Khom alone. The urt may also attach itself to a person who has met it accidentally on the road. "The person, if he can, must tear the burial mask off its face. Then the urt loses its strength and remains there. The person, when he arrives at the village, throws the mask away, after which the urt continues on its way." ( Yarkin. ) The soul travels to the afterworld either in its anthropomorphic form or in that of a bird. Both these ideas exist as parallels in the views of the Ob Ugrians. Only occasionally, obviously in those cases where they had become aware of the contradictory nature of this concept, was it modified, yielding an image of the anthropomorphic soul, traveling by boat or by sled, with the bird flying in front. Both of these variants find their place in the explanation of the bird tattoos, which are seemingly analogous in form to those mentioned above but directed towards a somewhat different goal, namely, to help the soul reach the afterworld. These tattoos were apparently executed not long before death and almost at the same time that it was established that the soul had already left the body. In any case, depending on the time when, "in the opinion of the people who know, the person's death was imminent," in winter or summer, some sort of bird was chosen

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul

19

for representation. "If a person was about to die in summertime, they drew a duck, a crow, a wagtail, a goose, and, if in the winter, a blackcock or a great grouse. Only one representation of a bird was selected for the person and it could not be the one associated with the sacred ancestor of the clan/*56 The role of these tattoos consisted in strengthening the bird-soul and giving it greater powers to reach Cape Khomanël. According to another explanation reflecting a still later [chronological] stratum, the image of the bird acts as a guide, showing the way to the soul going to the afterworld in its anthropomorphic form, with the face covered by the burial mask. "In the summer the soul rides in a boat, in the winter with the reindeer. This is why they bury a dead person in a boat." "Once, when in the village of Oltotump," recounted a Mansi, "I heard a weeping woman going down the river in a boat. There were many people on the shore, and suddenly they all fell silent. Then they explained that one of their relatives had died and her soul was now going below ( loriyfiïmini )." An analogous story was recorded from another Mansi: He was riding down in the direction of the Khurympaul yurts. The reindeer, which up to then had been going well, suddenly balked and began to throw themselves to one side. He looked, but there was nobody in front. The reindeer became even more disturbed. Suddenly he saw old man Semyen riding up to him with two reindeer. One of them had a white nose, the other had big antlers. He called out to him: "Where are you going?" But that one did not answer, and when the sleighs had passed each other, and he turned around, he didn't see anything. Then the reindeer once again went well. When he got to the yurts, he asked: "Where was old man Semyen riding?" "Old man Semyen," they said, "he just died." "That was his soul, I think," added the narrator. "His soul was going down [on the river] to the sea, to the lower world. The entrance to the lower world is somewhere around the sea." Souls going to the afterworld react variously to their lot. If they are the souls of people who have lived out their time, they go satisfied and gay, but the younger the dead person was, the more his soul suffers and the more malevolent it is: The souls of children who died at an age when they were still lying in the apa (cradle) drag it with them on the way to Khomanël. They drag it for awhile, then lie down in the âpa and rest. Then they get up again and drag it after them. Reindeer see the souls of the dead, and when they meet a soul, they throw themselves to the side. If they encounter the soul of an apa-n nawram (infant), then the reindeer are so frightened that they break the reins and upset the sled. (ANEMKHUROV, village of Vissum sunt.) This view is well illustrated in the following pofer (story, event) : A man went to check the snares. When he started homeward, it was already evening. The soul of an âpay nawram was coming the other way. It crept forward, dragging its cradle after it. The man had a shovel. He threw the shovel to the side and himself went farther. After he had gone some distance he heard the dead child saying: "With a big spade In the back of the head I was struck Little mother what singing (inexpressible) Torment I endured. "I left behind a dear mother with milk in her breast. Then [she] put the cradle with me. Where is my strength to carry it?"

20 V. N. Chernetsov The man walks farther. Three women, holding each other, are complaining and weeping: "The things which we were doing are not half done, the road which we were traveling is not half traveled." The man listens and stands at the side of the road. Then once again he goes on. Two old women approach. With a song they approach: "This is how we are. We have lived out our time. In happy places where little ducks [swim] We made merry. The things which we were doing Are all done. In happy places where little geese [swim] We made merry. The roads which we were traveling Are all traveled." (A. SAMPILTALOVA.) On the road to Khomanël, the souls feel the need for warmth and food, with which the living must take care to provide them. Hence one leaves a supply of firewood in the graveyard, and besides this, whenever anyone lights a fire in the open, he must, on leaving the place, leave a small quantity of firewood beside the campfire. Otherwise, the soul going to the lower world would find no firewood on its way and would cry. During clan sacrifices, pieces of the sacrificial food are put out for the soulbirds. At the village of Suri on the Ob, at the time of the clan sacrifices, after the sacrificial animals have been killed and the meat cooked, an old man—the keeper of the clan's sacred place—takes three birchwood sticks (this clan belongs to the moS9 phratry), sharpens them, and places several pieces of meat on each. At first they are set up around the n5rma, that is, the sacrificial table, but afterwards they carry them some distance away and place them around the campfire. These pieces are set out for the ujriS'zt, "the little birds," that is, souls. "This is an ancient custom," the old man said. "We offer sacrifices and put out pieces for the little birds. You saw, when we called (a triple cry uttered at the killing of the sacrificial animal and after the food had been put out) they came flying!" (At that moment a big flock of black grouse came flying.) The image of souls feeling hunger is also reflected in folklore.57 As we have seen earlier, it is thought that the grave-souls live in their clan graveyard like people in a village. The yearning to reach the places where the person lived is also felt by the second soul, which visits them before its descent into the world of the dead. The soul returns home to its native village, even when its master died in some other place. In the legend taken down by Patkanov in Konda, the two heroes who have gone out to avenge the death of their fellow clansmen say: . . . wait for us there. [But] if we do not get there, then When the leaves from the trees fall on the dead, leathery, mossy ground, Then wait for our souls who . . . master the hands and feet of us, men. (PATKANOV, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 2, Russian text, p. 16.) Even if a person has lived all his life in another place and is buried there, his soul, nevertheless, yearns for home. At least one Mansi of Surgut explained to

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul

21

Sirelius that "the soul of a woman after her death goes to the place where she grew up and that of a man to the place where his father lived/'58 According to a most widespread concept among the Ob Ugrians, the soul spends in the afterworld a time exactly equal to that which the person lived on earth,59 and lives exactly the same life, hunting and fishing, except in reverse, so that it becomes younger every day. It wears the same clothing the person wore in life, but wears it inside out. Also, the soul does everything with the left hand. The nails and hair which the person cut off in the course of his life must be placed with him, otherwise the soul will lack nails and hair and be compelled to walk on earth in search of them.60 Living in the afterworld, the soul makes itself ever smaller and smaller, and finally, always diminishing, is transformed into a ker^rj xomlax, exactly like the grave-soul. Its subsequent fate is unclear. The third soul of Ob Ugrian concept has the aspect of a wood grouse (northern Mansi, xansar¡ Popzr, locally, a blackcock) and lives a considerable part of the time outside the person, in the woods. It comes to the person only during sleep, and for this reason is called ühm is, "the dreaming soul" or "the soul of sleep/' or uhm uj, "the bird of sleep." When this soul flies away, the person does not sleep, and if it leaves him for long, then he suffers from sleeplessness the whole time. Hence, so that children may sleep better, a blackcock (which in this case is called ühm uj) is drawn on the back of the day-cradle, opposite the back of the baby's head [see Fig. 1]. This image supposedly keeps the soul with the child and does not allow it to fly too far. The aim here is double—to make good sleep possible and to protect the soul as much as possible from those dangers which it might encounter in the forest. The connection between the third soul and sleep is diametrically opposite to what we saw in regard to the second, and just as clearly reflected in the language. Thus, parallel to the expression considered above, ojwes, "to fall asleep" (lit. "to be abandoned"), there is another ulumn

(2)

(1)

(3) FIGURE» 1. Representations of blackcocks on cradles: (1) on a boy's cradle (Mansi), KhorymPaul village, Lyapin river; (2) on a girl's cradle (Mansi), Ali-Nyalkhlang village, Sosva river; ( 3 ) on a cradle of unknown origin.

22 V. N. Chernetsov joxtuwes, "to be overtaken by sleep (by the soul)"; Ulme jis, "his sleep (his soul) has come." The concept of the third soul approaches most closely what is known in ethnography by the name of external or forest soul.61 The death of a person is almost inescapable if his external ( third ) soul perishes. It may perish from many causes. It may be caught by the elm^olas teñe kul'it, that is, "the spirits who eat people," who carry the soul away with them, kill, roast, and eat it. If the shaman, with the assistance of his spirit-helpers, succeeds in recapturing it in time, the person recovers; if not, he dies within a short time. Since, while a person is awake, this soul lives in the forest in the shape of a blackcock, it may fall victim to a hunter, or even be shot by its own master: A man from the village of Shekuri, returning from the hunt, told how he had met in the woods a blackcock, which raised itself from the ground with great labor. Nevertheless, he could not shoot it at first, and when he finally killed it, he felt badly. He did not bring it back, for he saw that there was something bad about it. "What have you done?" they said to him. "You have killed your own soul. Now you will die." The man went home and died. (Lyapin river.) Two men went into the woods. When they got there, they built a balagán (a temporary hut, a shalash) out of branches and began to gather provisions. One man sleeps the whole time. His sleep (ülme) is so sound that even when the other man cooks the pot (food), he does not hear. The other man began to get angry: "When there's work to be done, you should sleep a little less." The sleepy man began to think: "What shall I do? Indeed, won't my soul fall into a snare?" Once they went hunting together by day. The sleepy man came back earlier. Hurrying to his sleeping-place, he set a trap. Then they ate and lay down to sleep. The other man knew nothing. The [erstwhile] sleepy man woke early, got the pot (food) ready, while his companion was still sleeping. The pot was ready, and he decided to look at the trap. A speckled blackcock was in it. Then he burned the blackcock in the fire. His companion got up and they began to eat. "How come you got up so early?" that man asked. He said: "I set a trap at my sleeping-place, and a blackcock fell in." Then his companion said to him: "What kind of a blackcock? Let's see it." The sleepy man said: "I burned it in the fire. The fire ate it up/' "You shouldn't have burned it in the fire," his companion said. "You should have eaten that blackcock (¿Toper). Then your soul (isxor) would have come to you. Now you will die soon." He said: "Why should I die when I'm not sick?" They went on living. Now the sleepy man is not left (does not go to sleep) any more. They began to go home and he became weak. He is not left (at ojawe, that is, does not go to sleep) any more. Then they reached home and his father said: "When spring comes, your soul will be raised (saved); now your soul does not appear. When spring comes, if you look for a blackcock's egg and drink it down raw, your soul will be raised (restored)." "How do you know this thing?" the son said. "This way," he said. "When you eat the blackcock's egg, then a blackcock's chick will grow up inside you and make itself your soul." He had just uttered these words when his son died. He did this thing for the sake of a test; he should have slept less. (I. SOYNAKHOV, Lyapin river.)

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 23 Thus, the ÜLum is, the "soul of sleep," having the form of a blackcock is not, strictly speaking, an individual soul, since it can be exchanged with any blackcock's egg. Whether we should see in this a reflection of a totemic concept—at least in that developed form which can be observed among the Ob Ugrians— seems to me doubtful, although we should note the distant resemblance between the words for wood grouse, mansin (northern Mansi), and for blackcock, S'opzr (northern Mansi), with its synonym man$' and the word S'ipzr^&epzr, which appears in the folklore as a general name for the Ob Ugrians. Without going into detail here on the question of the origin of the idea of the external soul, I wish to call attention only to the existence of a close resemblance between the words "sleep" and "life": Sleep—(Northern Mansi) ul-um (verbal root ul-); (northern Khanty) ol-zm ul-zm (Ahlqvist, Ueber die Sprache der Nord-Ostjaken, p. 114); (Konda Mansi) fiZ-am (Ahlqvist, p. 630); (Konda Khanty) ot-zm; (southern Khanty) ull-^m, uL-mzm (Paasonen, 1562); (Hungarian) álom (al-om), "dream." Life—(northern Mansi) 5Z-wm, "life" (verbal root 5Z-); (Konda Mansi) ul-i (M.Sz., p. 430), "to live"; ulnzm0, "dwelling-place"; (Him Khanty) üd-em, ut-em, "to live" (first person; Patkanov, p. 183); (northern Khanty) oil-em, Ull-em (Ahlqvist), "to live," "to live for awhile"; (Hungarian) élni (ël-ni), "to live"; (Komi) ol, "to live." What happens to the external soul if a man dies but not because of its death? This question is as yet very unclear to me. One sometimes hears the belief that in this case the soul continues to live in the clothes of the deceased, which are hung or fastened to a tree somewhere not far from the village or the graveyard. xurmit is ulamane palt 5Zi ulamane jol-at-ramawe, jiwn TIDTJX tayatawe. ti is rak-S' Sxi-tuSf-^Sx^ tot ta mini, that is, "the third soul lives in the clothing. The clothing is not buried [in the grave], but hung on a tree. This soul goes out ( dies ) with the wind and the rain." In any case, the existence of the third soul after the person's death is extremely short, and the person's death, in the final analysis, also causes the death of the third soul. The fourth soul is the reincarnation soul. "The natives believe," Gondatti writes, "that in every man besides the body there is also the shadow, is, and the soul, Mi khelmkholas; the latter, after the death of a person, passes into the body of a newborn child belonging to the same clan of which the dead person was a member."62 Belyavskiy63 and Munkácsi mention this, although the latter, not being in a position to bring together all the functions of the soul known to him, supposed that not all souls possess the capacity for rebirth.64 Karjalainen notes the existence of this idea among the Mansi and northern Khanty. According to my observations, the concept of the fourth soul is rather uniform. This soul is associated with the breath, for which reason it is called by the Mansi lili~lélëG5 (for details on dialects, see Keleti Szemle, vol. 6, pp. 68-69), "breath," "soul"; (northern Khanty) Rljtl (Ahlqvist, Ueber die Sprache der Nord-Ostjaken), "breath," "life," "spirit"; (Konda Khanty) Ul (Papaj), "soul"; (Him Khanty) tit, "spirit," "breath"; (Hungarian) lelek, "soul," "spirit," "courage"; (Udmurt) lui, "soul," "spirit," "life";_(Estonian) leil, "steam," ["exhalation"]. Also (Mansi) lilt; (northern Khanty) l'ail, "to breathe." Lili or man is, "little soul," is as a rule always with the person, and if it leaves him temporarily, the person becomes powerless and feels fatigue and timiditv. In the opinion of some Mansi, the fourth soul gives a person strength and courage. The attempt of the little soul to tear itself out of the body produces sneezing and

24 V. N. Chernetsov coughing. Others, however, consider that this soul leaves the person during sleep: man is nlmajan porat akwab jalasi. saka pelup. man is nomt jot jalasi, that is, "the little soul during dreams is moving all the time. [It] is very swift. The little soul moves with the mind." (Soynakhov, Lyapin river.) The dwelling-place of the fourth soul is usually thought to be the head, and particularly the hair. In this connection, the words of the shaman Nakhrach Evplayev, warning the Konda Mansi, according to the testimony of Grigoriy Novitskiy, are very interesting: "Beware, friends, of this, when you cut your hair you will tear the souls right out of you."66 Doubtless such epithets of the soul as saiy lili, at lili, "the locks of the soul," "the hair of the soul,"67 are connected with this idea. Hence the custom of scalping, which had general distribution among the Ugrians judging by the folklore and historical data, can be understood as an attempt to destroy the soul of the enemy and hence his possibility of rebirth. "When we were still in Bascardia," relates Brother Julian, who between 1235 and 1236 made a journey into Great Hungary, "some emissaries arrived from the lands of Sibur which is surrounded by the Northern Sea. . . . That people takes the skin and hair off the head of a dead person, and considers it a god, and the skin stripped from the face they keep in their houses and honor as a domestic god."68 The fear of scalping is reflected in folklore. In one of the heroic tales recorded by Patkanov, we find a beautiful description of how, even after the hero's death, an effort is made to save his scalp from the enemy.69 As far as we can judge by some data which will be touched upon below, the same belief is connected also with the skull. In its aspect "the little soul" is most frequently represented as a bird—and such folklore epithets as $'ar¡$'i-liliy wôrès-lili, "little bird of the soul," "falcon of the soul,"70 and the designation of the scalp as arjxa sow, &ira sow, "partridge skin/' "gull skin." The soul-bird, living on the head (or in the head) often appears in aid and defense of its master. Such, for example, is the "cuckoo on the top of the head," which the hero sends as a messenger in a moment of danger. "The cuckoos on the tops of your heads went to the little father," says one warrior to another. "We do not have sufficient strength for the fight against the Kaman Samoyeds. They are killing us here." "The cuckoo from the crown of his head flew off and said to the old man by the Vershina river, 'your grandsons are now close to death/ "71 Analogous to this is also the bird in a woman's hair. In the tale of Skis with Crane-Skin Lining (one of the names of the younger son of the spirit of the upper world), the hero in the form of a goose (his totemic aspect) flew to the bird country of Morta, where he met the daughter of the mistress of the birds: . . . he came there. In a little house a woman, so it happened, was sitting with hair untied; she had untied her hair and was braiding it anew. Her knees were covered with a kerchief and under the kerchief something was moving. Ski-Lining says, "I came so far, I thought to find a respectable woman with seven goldeneyes* in her locks, with seven sea gullsf in her locks. I speak, I look, and there are no goldeneyes there, there are no sea gulls, only a restless child crawling on her knees." Then she pulled off the silken kerchief and seven goldeneyes and seven sea gulls flew out, and they scratched his eyes, and they scratched his ears.72 Relative to the quoted passage the storyteller explained to Munkácsi that *[Ducklets, Amos fuligulas.] f [Avlik, (old squaw), Harelda glacialis.]

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul

25

73

"women wear decorations at the ends of their braids : at the end of one braid they wear seven goldeneyes and at the end of the other seven sea gulls."74 As we may note, the concept of the soul-bird, the bird at the end of the braid, almost imperceptibly blends here into the concept of the bird-image. Such bird and beast representations in the form of pendants for attachment to braids were widely distributed in the Ob region, as is evident from archaeological and ethnographic data. In this regard we may suppose that they were not only decorations but perhaps also means of guarding and holding the soul, and, as we shall see later, possibly indicators of affiliation with one or another totemic clan. In any case, the relation to these images, as we can see from the excerpt adduced below, is far more important than the relation to mere decorations, and is not to be distinguished essentially from the relation to soul-birds living at the ends of braids. The tale of the Great Woman (ancestress) at the headwaters of the Kazym river, which I recorded on the upper Northern Sosva, begins with the following episode: In (the village of) Nyaksimvol there lived seven brothers. The eighth [sibling] was a sister. The sister had at the ends of her braids images of blackcocks. The ends of her braids are beings. Once they came home to the village. The oldest brother took an arrow, threw it—one blackcock was hit. The sister discovered (that) one blackcock, one being from her braids' ends, was killed. She became angry. . . . The consequence of this act was that the brothers could no longer bag either bird or beast. Not limiting herself to this punishment, the sister continued to torment the brothers, feeding them on Nentsy whom she had killed. This episode takes on still greater interest when we consider that the totem of the Nyaksimvol Mansi—from whom the heroine's clan originated—was the blackcock. The connection of the above-mentioned zoomorphic images not only with the ideas about the fourth soul but also with the clan totemic cults is easily traced in the ethnographic data. Karjalainen, reporting on the existence of ideas about "the beings at the ends of the braids" among the eastern Khanty, writes that . . . such animals at the ends of the braids, for women deriving by clan from Tromyugan and Agan, are two crows; for women from the vicinity of Surgut, they are two magpies; for Yugan women, two hawks, two snakes, or two frogs (on the Yugan data, Karjalainen is not positive). A woman (entering upon marriage—Author) keeps the images of these animals made by her father or brother in a box, and after her death they are laid on her bosom (in den Schoss) and follow her into the grave.75 The connection of the zoomorphic images with the clan totemic cult is explained by the fact that the fourth soul is the reincarnated soul, inherited from generation to generation. The concept of the rebirth of the soul in its general features is as follows. After the death of the person, his fourth soul, lili, lives in the grave or in a special image, which will be described presently. Among the eastern Khanty, its dwelling-place apparently is the above-mentioned zoomorphic figurine, buried, according to the data of Karjalainen, along with its master. Belyavskiy states that the place of refuge of the soul before its transfer to another body is the pot, "which the dead person wears on his head."76 The soul lives in the grave not less than three years, that is, until the body is decomposed. In the opinion of some Mansi this period varies according to the sex of the dead—four years for women, five for men: yurum, man nila—at tal porat usum yptpa laytyoti- \urum tal ke ÍTJ atim, sis wafi, "after three, four, or five years the dead person moves. If, after three years there is still nothing, the time is too

26 V. N. Chernetsov little." But there is also another limit to the extracorporeal life of the fourth soul. According to Karjalainen's statement, the northern Khanty believe that rebirth can take place only within the period after death which corresponds to the dead person's earthly life. If, in the course of this time, the soul is not reborn, then it dies finally.77 Within the limits of this period, the soul moves into newborn children of the same clan, and some people think that the soul of a woman moves into four and that of a man into five infants, while others78 say that there are two possible reincarnations for a woman and three for a man.79 By using the words "migration," "rebirth," "reincarnation," I only render a very loose translation of the term layi^ati^ since its more precise meaning could not be given without a preliminary explanation. The verb laytyati constitutes a reflexive form of the verb Taxti, "to catch"—mater puwurjkwe os taj^riarfkwe, that is, "to catch and hold something."80 Thus the word Itaytyati may be most closely translated by the expression "to seize, to grasp something." In this connection Vaytyati is used equally in relation to the soul, for example, xum °t man liaytyati, that is, "[the soul of] a man takes hold in five places"; a£e laytytâas> a$'e ndvjx-jalfes, that is "his father (in the sense of his father's soul) took hold, his father came to life anew"; ise narjxTaxtxatas, "his soul took hold anew (i.e., was reborn)"—as well as in relation to the child: nawram usum xotpa nupdl laytyati, "the little child grasps in the direction of the departed (that is, the soul of the dead person)"; ne nawram ne xotpa nupzl I'axtxati, xum hawram yum yppta nupzl liaytyatii "little girls seize [the soul of 1 a woman; little boys seize [the soul of] a man." Thus, each child that comes into the world constitutes the reincarnation of one of his dead relations, or at least fellow clansmen. For this reason one of the first tasks after the moment of birth is to determine which of the ancestors has returned to life. This rite is carried out soon after the cutting of the umbilical cord, while the mother, having passed through the period of purification, is in the so-called little house, to which the men have almost no access. The women gather for the carrying-out of this rite, but only elderly and old women participate directly in it. The newborn is laid in the night-cradle and then a knife is put under the cradle. Without iron it is bad. Then an old woman from among the relatives—the [child's] father's eldest sister, the [child's] father's eldest brother's wife; the [child's] father's mother—begins to weigh, to lift the cradle a little. The others at this time mention the names. At the moment when the name of the person whose soul has been taken hold of is mentioned, the cradle sticks to the floor. From that moment the child doesn't cry any more. Boys take hold in the direction of the father's clan. My elder sister took hold in the direction of her father's father's wife. My mother took hold in the direction of my daughter's or my sons' daughters; my father took hold in the direction of my sons or my grandsons. (Yarkin.) It is thought that with the soul the child also takes over all the distinctive marks of his dead ancestor, including, according to some statements, even his "press." The child is sometimes designated not by the proper kinship term but by a term corresponding to the reincarnation. Thus, N. Bakhtiyarov, speaking of his younger brother, explained to me that this was his uncle, since his uncle's soul had moved into him. Similarly, K. Sampiltalov said that his son was actually his elder brother, and so forth. It is entirely natural that together with the soul, the child also receives the name of the deceased, as some other investigators have already noted. In this connection we should note that the number of names, and

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 27 consequently of souls, within the clan is limited. At the present time, as a result of the general distribution of Russian names, the degree of retention of this phenomenon is practically impossible to determine, but its existence at the beginning of the 19th century is mentioned quite distinctly by Belyavskiy. "Each clan or generation has its peculiar names, given by nomination of relatives or in memory of the dead; to appropriate names from a strange clan or without agreement is considered the greatest offense."81 This phenomenon is sufficiently clear. The concept of name-souls, which are reincarnated from generation to generation, is essentially nothing other than an expression of the history of the clan (in its animistic interpretation), and since the clan, counting its members as a quite definite number, traces its origin from a single ancestor, the name-souls too are direct descendants of this ancestor. Naturally, they are like him in appearance, and since the ancestor as a rule is zoomorphic, the clan name-souls also have a zoomorphic aspect corresponding to the image of the totem ancestor. We may suppose even à priori that in the presence of a phratrial system there must exist phratrial totem-souls. Actually, we find echoes of this idea in folklore. In the tale of the creation of the earth and people, it is told how, in back of the house of the Master of the Upper World (Numi T5rwm) 82 and the Great Mother ( KaltaS' ) there is a golden-leaved birch : On the golden-leaved, golden-boughed birch Seven golden-winged, golden-tailed Cuckoos sit. Seven nights they sing, Seven days they sing . . . On the whole earth living Men thanks to their power To this day endure.

Parallel with this, her brother calls from the bottom of the sea seven goldenbacked beetles, x0^1^1 From the depths of seven rivers, of seven seas Seven golden-backed xomlax Are raised. His locks warm their backs . . . Men thanks to this (thanks to their power) To this day endure. . . .

Further it is narrated how KaltaS' and her brother revive their mother and father, enclosing the former in a cuckoo and the latter in a beetle, xomfox-83 It becomes clear that each of the phratrial ancestors is vitally connected with a definite being: KaltaK with a cuckoo and Numi To rum with a yonúa^ which latter is pictured in the aspect known to us as the creature "at the top of the locks." In these creatures, which make possible the existence of men, we may easily discern the inherited souls, which are subsequently the clan's, although their totemic aspect is obscured by cosmogenic symbolism. In returning to the problem of names, I quote Belyavskiy's statement that "the Ostyaks give names to the children not before the fifth year, which they afterwards retain only until the age of fifteen and then replace with permanent names retained until death."84 This extremely interesting and valuable statement is somewhat in error in its first part, since, as we already know, the name is determined shortly after birth by finding out whose soul has moved into the child. However, since the name and the soul are inseparably connected, being

28 V. N. Chernetsov only different manifestations of one concept, it is entirely natural that its utterance is dangerous. Moreover, the mere taboo of the name is insufficient to protect the child's life, especially during the time when his hair is not yet grown. It is safer to put the soul in some guarded place. One such ceremony is known to me. Shortly after the determination of the name, the mother and child go from the "little house" to the general one. There the old women again gather and with thread they tie some hairs to the child's head. For girls, four such knots are made, and for boys, five. These knots are then cut off and put in a box, where various sacred objects and gifts to the clan idols are kept and where the soul will remain under sufficiently safe guard. Even before all this, usually immediately following birth, the child is given some name, boys' names being given by the father and girls' by the mother. Novitskiy writes: When a child is born the Ostyak, at a loss how to give a name to the infant, goes out of his house seeking the path of Christians traveling in the vicinity . . . asks them to name the newborn with some name, and therefore in many cases we see Russian names given them out of superstition. When, in case of bewilderment, he cannot find people to help give the child a name, he takes the name of the first thing he sees when going out of his house—birds, beasts, or anything—and calls the newborn by that name.85 A similar arrangement is described by Patkanov for the Irtysh Khanty as late as the end of the 19th century: "Some children receive their nicknames from the first people whom their parents happen to meet at the time of birth or shortly afterwards, or from some object on which the glance happens to fall at that time."86 Thus, the choice of the child's everyday name was either accidental or made by a chance stranger, as Novitskiy reported. The thought here, however, was not what Novitskiy supposed. The Ostyaks were not seeking wisdom from chance-met Christians, but only wished to conceal the child under an accidental or more alien name, such as a Russian name was at that time, and by this to divert from him the influence of hostile spirits. In some cases, however, this measure was insufficient. Patkanov writes: "If a child of one of the Ostyaks dies, then he prefers to choose for a newly-born a nickname from among the hostile or annoying animals and useless objects, supposing that the child will thus live longer. Thus, for example, they call the child 'Blowfly' or lay rubbish on his head for one or two hours and call him 'Rubbish.' "87 Such a name, given with the aim of fooling the spirits and thus guarding its bearer, the child kept over the course of several years. Some Mansi explain that actually the spirit moves into the child only after the passage of three or four years. This explanation agrees with the rite described earlier, the laying of the spirit in the sacred box until such time as the child's hair grows out and for the period cited by Belyavskiy. What the second name (borne from five to fifteen, according to Belyavskiy) was, we do not yet know, and we can only assume that it was also fictitious, and was borne by the youth until he became a fully qualified member of the clan. Only insignificant survivals of the initiation ceremonies have been retained to this day, of which two in all are known to me. Concerning one of them we may relate the spectacle performed on the final night of the bear festival, which consists in staging the murder of a youth with the showing of a bloody knife to the audience, and the subsequent resurrection of the dead. More interesting is the second case, since it has a clearly expressed clan character. This ceremony took place in the clan of the Winged Old Man (the eagle) on the Ob, and consisted in the following: A youth, on reaching a definite age (by my observation somewhat later than Belyavskiy states), was brought to the clan's

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 29 sacred place, where he was made to climb into a tree in which the winged ancestor of the clan lived. While the candidate was in the tree, the old man below uttered spells, consisting basically of good wishes, after which the youth returned to the ground already a full member of the clan.

Burial Rites Since the burial rites are described in sufficient detail in the literature and a comprehensive survey of these descriptions is given by Karjalainen, I shall be brief here. Among the Khanty and Mansi, the moment of death is connected with the last breath, and with its approach "a stick is placed in the dying man's mouth which prevents him from clenching his teeth strongly,"88 which might hinder the fourth soul from leaving the body in time. After death they proceed immediately with preparations for sending the deceased on his last journey. His hair is carefully cut and someone, not a close relative, cuts one lock for the subsequent preparation of his image. On the face of the dead a mask is laid made of a scrap oí reindeer skin or cloth, onto which opposite the ears, nose, mouth, and especially eyes, copper buttons or disks are sewn. The deceased is decked out in his best clothes, all the tie-strings being tied with the special "knot of the dead." On the Trom-yugan, the arms are positioned at the sides and the body is tied up with cord in four places for women and five for men. Elsewhere (among the Vakh, northern Khanty, and northern Mansi), the arms and legs are tied separately. On the Konda, according to Patkanov's data, "the body of the dead person over its entire length is wrapped in red woolen thread, which remains the whole time it lies in the house."89 On the Salym the thread is merely laid along the body. For the reasons set forth above, the deceased constitutes a danger to those present and particularly to children, so that the latter must not come near him. At this time, a sudden fright of one of the onlookers indicates that his second soul has been seized by the dead person90 and that measures must be taken immediately to free it. Earlier the body remained in the house only for the time it took to prepare the coffin, and the next morning, or, at the latest, the morning after that, it was taken to the cemetery. Now, apparently under the influence of Russian customs, it is often kept in the house for three days. After being dressed and tied up, the deceased is put in the place where he usually slept, but in Surgut rat/on, according to Karjalainen, on the ground (where hay or a reindeer skin is spread for this purpose) with head towards the threshold.91 The coffin is constructed or mortised, frequently from a larch, or a dugout is used with the prow and stern removed, the cuts being carefully boarded. When the coffin is ready, the dead man is laid in it, together with his clothing and effects. Without fail all the things are marred or broken. Before the cover is nailed, the very important ceremony to determine the cause of death is carried out. A pole is laid along the top of the coffin, which protrudes one-fourth to three-fourths beyond the end of the coffin at which the head of the deceased is. One of the men leans as heavily as he can on the pole and the surrounding people ask the dead man questions. Roslyakov states: In enumerating the causes, the physical causes, that is, diseases, etc., are usually completely ignored. First of all they pose these questions: "What are you angry

30 V. N. Chernetsov about? . . . Were you displeased with your wife? . . . Perhaps you went away from us because you were displeased with your children? . . ." Those present also in turn ask whether they themselves were not, for some reason or other, the cause of his death. If in this case also there is no favorable answer, then they seek the reason in the absent acquaintances of the deceased . . . who themselves could have been displeased with him and in consequence put death on him by some sorcery. If they do not receive an answer in this case, it means that the deceased himself committed some crime, for example, a false oath to the fire or nonfulfillment of some promise given to some spirit which called forth retribution on its part; if the . . . deceased drank water or ate fish from some sacred lake or felled trees in a sacred forest, then he also drew upon himself the vengeance of the spirit by such an act. . . . Most often the answers of the deceased are to questions of this last category.92 With every question a man, standing at the end of the pole, tries to raise the coffin. After a pertinent question the coffin is as if stuck to the floor, and the man, in spite of every effort, cannot raise it.93 When an answer has been received, and when it is ascertained by the same procedure whether the deceased has any particular desires, and also what sacrifices should be offered and to which spirit, the lid of the coffin is nailed down, the red thread having been removed beforehand. They then cut the thread into pieces, and all the relatives tie these pieces around their wrists or ankles, first threading beads on them. They wear these threads until they fall apart, which serves as an indication of the end of the period of mourning.

(2)

(3)

(1)

FIGURE 2. Figures on the bottom plank of a coffin: (1) s'crqkas', a tomtit; (2) the moon; ( 3 ) the sun. Drawing by the Mansi T. Kostina, village of Yalp-us on the Ob.

Before they close the lid, a copper disk, more rarely a ring, is put on the body on top of the clothes, opposite the place where the heart is. According to Karjalainen, they put a stone [over his heart] and in those cases where there are grounds especially to fear the dead man, they put a stone over his mouth too. These measures serve the same end as the tying, namely, not to give the deceased opportunity to wander and thereby disturb the living. Judging from Yanovich's collections from a Khanty burial mound from the Island of the Dead down-river from Sale-Khard, they place a knife or an ax on the legs, with the same aim. Also, on the middle Ob, they paint with charcoal or chalk on the

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul

31

inside of the coffin cover a sun, a moon, and a bird—a blackcock, a bird from the sparrow family (¿'ayfee'), a wagtail, and so on. They draw the sun and the moon so that the dead man, having them with him, will not attempt to come out of the grave, and the bird in order to bind his soul more strongly to the place of burial and to limit its possibility of wandering around. After this they "sweep" the coffin. Among the northeastern Khanty, according to Karjalainen,94 they use for this purpose a squirrel's tail and in other places sweetbrier. One of the women takes a twig of the plant, opens the door, touches the dead person with it, and then, running from the house, throws the twig somewhere as far as possible. This act is repeated seven times, after which it is considered that the souls of the deceased have been led out of the building. Besides the things he wore and used, they put with the dead man the dolls with which he had played as a child and which have been preserved during his life, and if the deceased is a child, then there are his other toys. As a defense against mice they place beads in the grave, since it is thought that when a mouse finds beads placed there for it, it will not touch and gnaw the deceased. Only a part of the clothing is put in the coffin; the other part is hung or tied to a tree somewhere in back of the village. To all appearances these clothes are considered the posthumous dwelling-place of the third ( external ) soul. All the rites described do not apply to stillborn children and to children who died at a very early age before the rite of determining the soul and name had been performed. Having as yet no connection with the clan, they can therefore after death exert no beneficent influence, and become only evil beings, dangerous for all the living. Such dead infants are wrapped in birch bark or a piece of material and stuck somewhere in a hollow as far as possible from places frequented by people. A piece of stone, usually flint, is put in the infant's mouth, and often they put a stone over the heart also in order to prevent it from coming out of the grave. After all rites have been performed over the body, it is carried from the house. Sometimes this is done through the window; in light summer dwellings, it is through a special breach in the wall; and in places, through the door. In the last case a knife or ax is put on the outer side of the threshold, which serves as protection against the shadow of the dead person and does not allow it to return to the house. In the course of carrying the coffin out of the house, they raise it slightly on the threshold, "in order that the deceased might for the last time touch the threshold and the ceiling."95 As soon as the body has been carried out, those in the house "smoke out" the premises, producing in the process the greatest possible noise; they also shake up and "smoke up" all the objects. This "fumigation" is conducted with a resin torch and has the very same aim as many of the preceding rites—to drive out the grave-soul and urt if they, in spite of the sweeping and defenses, still remain in the house. The structure of the grave varies rather greatly in the various localities of Khanty and Mansi settlements. To the north, on the lower Ob, the grave is made almost on top of the soil. The depth is negligible among the northern Mansi also. Here the pit is dug only deep enough to have the surface of the soil even with the corpse's shoulders as it lies on its back in the boat [coffin]. Among all the northern Khanty and Mansi the coffin or boat is carefully covered with birch bark and a peaked roof is raised over it, also made of thin logs and birch bark. All this is surrounded with a rectangular frame with a flat or peaked roof. A very good description of burial among the Lozva Mansi is found in the manuscript "On the Voguls," kept in the Archives of Academician Kupfer,96 an excerpt of

32 V. N. Chernetsov which may be usefully quoted here, since it has never been published. The author of this manuscript writes: The funerary rite is carried out simply, without special ceremony. The body of the dead man is wrapped in the skin of an elk or reindeer and laid in a box, a cavity hollowed out of a log, or in a boat, cut across, where all his effects are put with him— pot, cups, spoons, fur-cap, weapons, tobacco, sometimes money, etc.—after which the coffin is either lowered half an arshin [ca. 1 foot] into the ground or is laid on the surface where a small wooden framework has been built. On the coffin are laid a bow, arrow, skiis, all covered with birch bark and a thin layer of earth over which they lay small logs in a single layer with a sled on them for men and, for women, a reindeer made out of bread; besides this, there is still the custom of interring a dog and the skins of favorite reindeer with good hunters in the same grave and beside the dead man himself.

The method of shallow burial described existed among the Mansi and Khanty, as we may suppose, until comparatively recent times. Among the Lyapin Mansi there is a tradition according to which "in the old days, when we still lived in earthen huts, we buried in pits which are still visible to this day." Actually burials dating from the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries in this territory are quite rarely distinguished in type from present-day ones. In the old graveyard on the Lyapin river which I excavated, skeletons were found at the depth of one to one-and-one-half meters, the body having been covered with, or wrapped in, birch bark to judge by the remains of it. Traces of planks and timber covering were found in the pits. Graves of a similar construction are found, at present, on the Konda river. As can be seen in the picture [Fig. 3], they are built in rather deep pits, the bottom of which is covered with boards. Sometimes the walls also are reinforced with boards. At the bottom, posts are placed in the corners, and on these rest crossbeams which serve as a base for the flat

FIGURE 3. Mansi grave, village of Yaktel-ya-vat-paul on the Lozva river.

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 33 flooring on which the coffin or the boat rests. Over the coffin, across the pit, are reinforced timbers serving as beams for the layer of planks or blocks which constitutes the ceiling of the burial chamber. Over the ceiling of the pit, earth is strewn, and then over the pit a peaked roof is built. Evidently a similar type of grave is encountered among the eastern Khanty, as far as we can judge from Karjalainen's remark that on the Trom-yungan sometimes "the coffin is made in the form of a blockhouse immediately in the pit itself."97 The graveyard is usually situated not far from the village, somewhere on an elevated place. Only in rare cases is it at a distance, and this is usually because the village was once transferred, while the graveyard remained in the same place. It always has a clan character, since the more closely related families place their dead next to each other. If, as sometimes happens, people of other clans than the basic clans live in the village, then the former bury a little to the side. In the past, as far as we can judge from the data of folklore, evidently the graveyards were located not far from villages, and in individual cases the dead were buried even within the village boundaries.98 In the depths of the taiga, among the hunters living in small settlements of one to three houses scattered at a great distance from one another, one encounters abandonment of the house and even of the whole "village" after a death, especially of one of the old people in the clan. Infantyev tells of this in regard to the upper Konda; I happened to observe this on the Lozva river; and Startsev writes of the same thing in regard to the Vakh Khanty.99 At the end of the burial a sacrifice is offered, which has been described in some detail by Karjalainen. I shall refer here only to Vitsen's statement, which is probably in reference to some of the southern Khanty or Mansi, that one or two horses were killed at the grave—a tradition evidently retained into the 17th century from nomadic times. On the return from the graveyard, the road to it is fenced off, and the Vakh Ostyaks, according to Karjalainen, put an ax on the road with the blade turned towards the place of burial.100 On returning home they carry out various cleansing rituals—wash their hands, fumigate with a torch, jump across the fire. In the course of the period immediately following the funeral, a whole series of activities are carried out at home. I shall not enumerate them here in detail, since they are very well described by Karjalainen. The basic ones are the preservation of the fire for several nights, the securing of the house at night, the placing of sharp metal objects or pieces of flint and whetstones on the threshold and lintel. During these nights people must not sleep, and when they congregate at this time, they must not sing or play and are allowed only the telling of tales. At Tromyugan, for a week after the death of a relative, one may not go barefoot. Of the external signs of mourning we may mention the unbinding of the hair by the relatives of the dead: if a woman has died, the hair is left loose for four days; if a man, then for five. After this, for four or five weeks men wear their braids in front, not tying the ends, and women cover their heads with a kerchief turned wrong side out. Patkanov introduces very interesting data to the effect that among the Irtysh Ostyaks in the old days a woman was supposed to visit the grave of her husband in the course of the first five nights after his death. Correspondingly, a man was supposed to spend four nights at the grave of his wife.101 As was mentioned earlier, beliefs about the afterworld among the Ob Ugrians have been rather poorly analyzed. Judging from folkloristic data, we may suppose that the habitat of the dead, in a number of cases, was thought to be on the

34 V. N. Chernetsov surface of the earth and somewhere not far away. Thus, according to Munkácsi, the southern Mansi placed the land of the dead at Lake Leush on the Konda river.102 From data on the northern Khanty and Mansi, it is on the lower Ob, sometimes on an island situated in the Arctic Ocean. The dead lead lives basically similar to those of living people, inhabiting villages corresponding to the clan graveyards. Just as people do, they fish and hunt animals, and the only différence from our world is that in the land of the dead the sun and the moon are only halves (see Fig. 2). Apparently the idea of an underground world of the dead appears rather later, the entrance to which is on Cape Khomanël on the lower Ob. Even the very term designating the underground world of the dead, namely x^maZ, comes from the word xom^ (Khanty), "grave," xom> "hollowedout tree," "coffin"; (Suomi) /como, "hollow," "cave," "cavity"—that is, it is clearly derived from the original meaning "hollow," "hollowed-out," "coffin."103 A detailed analysis of beliefs about the afterworld should go back to an analysis of cosmological ideas in general; here I limit myself to the statements adduced and to noting once more the apparently later origin of the concept of an underground afterworld. When the deceased is still lying in the house, his image is prepared. Among the Ob Ugrians the methods of preparation are different and vary regionally: [The Ostyaks] make, right after the death of anyone in the family, a wooden block figure to honor the deceased. This block figure is made by women, who, for the period of three years, have it as their pénate and give it every honor belonging to a god; further, for every breakfast and dinner they give it everything that they have prepared for themselves, and they leave this food in front of it for as much time as it can use it; then they take the food and eat it themselves or give it to the poor. At the end of the three-year period, they bury the figure. If a shaman dies, they make a block-figure in honor of his memory too, and not only the women of his clan but also the men related to them by marriage worship it from generation to generation as a god.104 G. Verbov has shown that among the Khabi clans, i.e., among the Khanty who have been much influenced by the Nenets,* after the death of a person they prepare a sideraj]. It is made of aspen and is pasted over with birch bark; sometimes eyes of copper buttons are added. The figurine is dressed and kept in the sleeping-part of the dwelling (chum). Three years after the death of the person, the image is buried, but apart from the grave. Among the present-day Nenets a similar image is not made.105 According to Bartenev, a figurine is made also by women not long after the deceased is carried from the house. For the figurine a stick is used and the head is made from a button. Karjalainen introduces similar data: "In the Obdorsk region, the sorpi or is-xor is made of wood and placed in a conspicuous spot. If the figurine represents a man, they keep it for five days and if it represents a woman, for four. After the expiration of this period, the image is placed in the grave of the deceased. Up-river on the Ob, the image is hidden in a box and preserved at home."106 In contrast, Kovalevskiy and Shukhov state that the image is not put into the grave but into a specially built small house. On the Kazym, according to Karjalainen, the image is made partially of the hair of the deceased and is kept by one of the female relatives; after some time it is burned. Among the Sos va Mansi such a figurine is called mo^ar or iforma; *[In the original onenechivshikhsya khantov, i.e., "nenetsized" or "samoyedized" Khanty.— Editor.]

FIGURE 4. Figurines representing the dead.

36 V. N. Chernetsov

FIGURE 5. Figurines representing the dead.

". . . the ifarma is made by old women. For a man it is made in the form of a man; for a woman, of a woman. Then it is kept by the old women. It is fed with what food there is. In this iterma the person, as it were, lives again." (Vingalev.) According to Startsev, among the Khanty of the middle and upper Ob, . . . the women make a doll out of wood for the dead person. If the dead is a male, reindeer or squirrel skin is sewn on the doll. For women the doll is dressed in rags of printed cloth. The doll is placed in a birch box and put on the dead person's bed. At night it is moved to the fireplace. At mealtime it is moved to the eating-place, and pieces of meat, fish, and the like are set before it on a chip—the doll being given first choice. As long as steam is rising from the pieces of food, the doll is not moved away. The doll remains in the house for about six months; then it is carried to the graveyard and put within the dead person's grave-frame. During the funeral feasts they take it from the frame and again give it the first pieces of food. After a year they usually bring it into the house again and keep it in a birch-bark box or in a kornovatik, a small chest or box made from the roots of a cedar tree, with [other] things.

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The doll is the double's opposite. The double can do the dead man's family much harm, but the doll, the Ostyaks believe, is attended by good things. Besides, the doll carries on a struggle with the double and guards the yurt from its incursions.107 Among the Irtysh Khanty, according to Novitskiy, the image is dressed with the clothing of the deceased. "When her husband dies, the wife takes some of his clothing, fashions out of wood an idol resembling a human, puts on it her husband's clothes, and puts gear with the dead man's image, putting it in the very place where her former husband usually sat."108 Finally, on the Konda, according to Patkanov, after a man's death, . . . the deceased's linens remain on his bed and are usually kept under the pillow. Each time during the remembrance feasts they are taken out and put on the bed. A little pillow is put in the middle of it, which perhaps represents the deceased. In former times, after the death of a relative, the southern Ostyaks made his image out of wood and put it on his bed. If he had a wife, she slept with the doll. During the meal it sat at the dead man's place, and after three years had elapsed, the doll was also buried in a grave, which ended the period of mourning.109 As we have seen, the ways of keeping the dead man's image are rather various. Among the northern Ostyaks, it is buried or placed in a special house after the expiration of a known period; among the Sosva Mansi, it is as a rule kept in the house and inherited in the female line. Only after the death of the last female representative of the family lineage are the accumulated images buried with her. Among the Khanty on the Ob below the Irtysh, the images are also kept in the house but are inherited in the male line. On the Ob, in Berezovsk and Mikoyansk rayons, after the expiration of 40 or 50 days ( depending on the sex of the dead

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

FIGURE 6. Representations of guides for conveying the souls to the afterworld: (1) a duck; (2) a figurine representing the dead; (3) the pillow under the figurine's head; (4) a little hut, shalashik. "The soul goes to the sea on the back of the duck, to the cold sea." Drawing and explanation by the Mansi T. Kostina, village of Yalp-us on the Ob.

38 V. N. Chernetsov person), the image is carried to the edge of the settlement, where a small hut is built for it. At the entrance of the hut a sacrificed duck is laid, head northwards. The doll is placed in the hut. The hut is burned with the doll, and the relatives cook and eat the duck. If the man died in late fall or in winter the image is kept in the house until spring—when the ducks return. The ceremony of burning the doll is carried out without fail during an "up-river," i.e., south, wind. The terms for the image of the deceased are rather varied. This variety is explained partly by the fact that in many places this or that name is forbidden for men, and in such a case, some provisional or circumscriptive designation is used. Thus, for example, on the Northern Sosva, the word moyar is forbidden for men, and they are compelled to say n^rj^al warim tit, "the object to be made in the future." In other places on the Sosva, the men use the term iferma, possibly borrowed from the Nenets, where we find rjiforma, which according to Castren signified a "shaman after death." According to my own data from the Yamal r¡it means "shamanistic power," whence rjiterma, "something retaining shamanistic power." The word mo^ar does not lend itself at present to analysis. The term akan (Mansi),agan (Khanty), distributed on the middle Ob, means "doll." The word ¿OTpi, "deceased," "dead person," "image of a dead person," and also "skull," has a still wider distribution, especially among the Khanty, as expressed on the Kazym in the combination mojbzr Soy^t (the "moyber sankt" of Shukov), "bear's skull," and on the Sosva in amp Sorjzt, "dog's skull." The moyar, Soyst, akan is thought of as the dwelling-place of the fourth soul, which explains the use of hair in its preparation. Vingalev indicated that it was the good soul that lived in the image. Startsev reported the same about the beliefs of the Ob Khanty. Putting together all the data, and especially that the fourth soul lives in the person's body after his death, recalling Belyavskiy's statement that the pot is put on the dead person's head so that his soul may have a refuge, recalling also the meaning of the word sorj^t^So^at as "skull," "dead person," "image of the fourth soul," we arrive at the conclusion that the sorpf is nothing other than a substitute for the dead person's body, a substitute for the dead person himself. The abovementioned custom of the Konda Ostyaks may be looked upon as a transition from it to the image. Karjalainen comes partially to the same conclusion: he states that the image in which the dead person's hair and clothes are sometimes included, and in which his soul lives, is, in the opinion of the Khanty, the dead person himself. The ideas set forth above undoubtedly merit careful criticism and analysis; however, this is inconceivable without the introduction of wide comparative material, which is quite impossible to do within the limits of a short conclusion. To this analysis and to questions of the genesis and development of ideas concerning the soul among the Ob Ugrians, one should no doubt return in a special article; here, however, I limit myself only to most general, preliminary considerations. One must admit that at the dawn of human history death was understood quite differently than we understand it now. Primitive man did not consider death a natural and inevitable phenomenon. As a rule, death was explained as the consequence of a forcible external cause. This view is illustrated by countless facts collected among peoples of the world, too generally known to repeat here. We have seen that the Ob Ugrians divined after the death of a man, as Roslyakov observed, explaining the causes which provoked it in a manner which completely ignored physical causes. The fact of death itself, so similar to sleep and faint, is

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 39 unconvincing to primitive man. He tries in one way or another to rouse the deceased and bring him back to life. Until comparatively recent times, he was called, tempted with his favorite foods, and even beaten in order to bring him back to life. All these facts are also so universally and generally known that there is no reason to cite them here. It is sufficient merely to mention that we find survivals of these ideas and rites even among such highly cultured people as the contemporary Jews (the ceremony known as abrufen110) or among the Chinese. One of the strongest means used to bring the dead back to life was almost everywhere thought to be the offering to the dead of blood and hair, those "basic elements of life," as Shternberg calls them. Red dye, widely used in burial rites during antiquity, appears as a substitute for human blood or that of a sacrificial animal. Attempts at reviving the dead continue until clear signs of death appear—outward changes in the body. "The Negroes of the west coast of Africa call loudly to the dead, beseeching him not to leave them. They do this except when the dead person during his life was deaf. Burial takes place only when decomposition begins/'111 Thus, the actual sign of death is not death itself, in the contemporary sense of the word, but only the physical destruction of the body, that is, its decomposition. This idea, apparently one of the oldest, and probably belonging to the pre-animistic stage, is also reflected in the relations of the living to the dead person. Strictly speaking, the latter is not dead for them; hence there is no reason, for the time being, to exclude him from among the living. The dead person remains in the place where he lived and died. Such a relation to the dead survives among a number of peoples, even today. The dead remain in the house, both among the tribes of Melanesia and Micronesia and in Africa. Thus, for example, Finsch observed that among the natives of the Gilbert Islands, "the body lay in the middle of the dwelling in a shallow grave, covered only with mats; the women sat around the grave and everyone ate and slept in this place, where the food was also prepared."112 A similar form of ceremony apparently existed in the [Siberian] Paleolithic settlement of Malta and perhaps even later (e.g., the Panfilovsk site). I present the thought that at this stage in the development of human ideas, the dead person did not arouse fear for the simple reason that he was not considered dead as yet. Fear is a phenomenon appearing at a later time. The cult of the hearth and the threshold—places thought to be inhabited by the ancestorspirits—is a survival of a custom of burial in the house. Among the Mansi and Khanty, the above-mentioned placing of the body on the floor at the threshold, the maintenance of the fire for some days after a death, and the spending of a few nights at the grave of one's spouse should apparently be placed in the same category. However, the dead person's remaining in the house could not fail to influence the living. The harmfulness of the dead, taking this word in its most direct and, so to speak, sanitary sense, must have caused the spread of all kinds of infections and must have led in a number of cases to new diseases and deaths. Gradually, with the accumulation of experience, this must have led to consciousness of the harmfulness of the dead, but understood in the beginning in an animatistic and later in an animistic sense. The deceased, who was on the one hand a member of the clan and perhaps a person to whom all the norms of clan protection were extended, on the other suddenly became, as it were, harmful and dangerous to his fellow clansmen. In the majority of cases, his harmfulness is explained by the fact that his soul or shadow, regretting to part with its dear ones, carries them away with it, thereby provoking new deaths. Defensive measures appear. The

40 V. N. Chernetsov dead person's eyes are covered, a mask is put on his face, his arms and legs are tied. He is put on the floor of the dwelling, and the house in which he lies is abandoned; finally, he is put in a temporary dwelling outside the house on a platform, that is, all those methods [were introduced] which now are retained to some degree among many peoples of the world. Thus, for example, the Veddas of Ceylon, the Todas and certain peoples of Africa, and also of Siberia, abandon the house and even the village where the dead person remains. Krasheninnikov writes: "The Kamchadals leave those dwellings in which someone happened to die and settle in new yurts, which they build a specific distance from the former ones.113 According to Strahlenberg, the Yakuts in former times abandoned the house forever, leaving the corpse in it with the property which belonged to him. In the Kolyma region this custom was preserved to some degree even in Seroshevskiy's time. As we have seen, survivals of this custom exist among the Ob Ugrians too. Thus, Startsev writes that "an Ostyak, an inhabitant of Laryakh village, after the death of his father abandoned a new wooden hut and settled 120 kilometers down-stream on the same river; an Ostyak from Panaskino yurt, after the death of his wife, abandoned a hut with tin roofing and moved seven kilometers."114 Still more widespread was the building for the deceased of a special house, more or less similar to those existing in a given locality, often in the immediate vicinity of the village, or even within it. From archaeological sites we have information of a similar custom at Volodara, Vladychino, Beloomut, and other places. The placing of the dead on a platform was also common, the platform evidently being one of the variants of a temporary dwelling. Such open-air burials are known in Australia, North America, and in survival form among the Yakuts, Evenks, Nenets, and Ob Ugrians. Vitsen reports, in relation to the Verkhotur Mansi, that for the burial of a dog they construct a little wooden house on posts, a sagene* [sazen] high, and there they put the dog. After the house collapses, they bury the dog in the earth.115 In most cases of surface burial, the body remains on the platform, or in the labaz^ only until such time as the covering rots or the whole structure collapses. After this, the bones are either buried or kept in the house or in a place specially designed for them. The skull is preserved frequently, being the most important part of the skeleton, since the chief reincarnation soul dwells in it. The skulls of dead people who, during life, were the most important members of the clan are most often preserved. Comparing all the present-day beliefs concerning the death of a person, we may establish three basic features. The first, still relating to the person's life, that is, to the time when, according to the existing beliefs, his soul leaves the body and he becomes nothing other than an "inwardly living dead man"—lihrj ontev kali, as the eastern Khanty express it. In the tale Pro Sovu [For the owl], the Spirit Master of the Upper World asks: "Of whom are there more on the earth, the living or the dead?" The owl answers that there are more dead. "Since when," says the spirit in surprise, "was it a success to die?" "It is this way," answers the owl, "those people who have a sickness inside them, I consider already dead. The tree whose pith is rotting, I consider already dried." Thus, in spite of the fact that a man walks, talks, he is already to some degree dead. His soul, the second soul, has left the body and is preparing to go into the region of the dead. The second stage of death occurs when his fourth soul, the breath-soul, abandons him. None*[Ca. 7 feet.—Translator.] f [A structure of woven branches.—Translator.]

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul

41

theless, the man is not yet dead. All the above-mentioned concepts and rites testify that final death begins only when the body decays. After his second death a man goes into some other state. To the same degree that his body gradually changes, his soul changes, turning from a visible shadow into an invisible urt, which is especially dangerous for relatives and friends, whom it tries to carry away with it. This dangerous condition of the soul persists until the third and final death supervenes. The harmfulness to the living of those who have died the second death occasions a further isolation of them—burial in the ground at the edge of the settlement, in Khanty folklore at the edge of the town, at the town walls, and finally in a special cemetery more or less distant from the homes of the living. Basic types of burial were also developed; depending on the conditions of economic life and social relations, a specific type of burial became most customary. Among the nomads of the steppes, and seminomadic hunters, the leaving of the dead in the dwelling, or in a structure imitating it, was most widespread. Such is the disposition of corpses in burial mounds, the leaving of the dead in the tent among the Nenets, or in houses with all the property belonging to them among the Yakuts, the Kamchadals, and some of the Ugrians. A population not strongly connected with a definite locale went on with its nomadizing or moved to a neighboring stream and thus felt no discomfort from the proximity of its dead. In the wooded steppes, in places most favorable for the early development of agriculture and settled life, the custom of cremation appears as early as the end of the Bronze Age or the beginning of the Iron Age. We may project that in the beginning, the basic aim of this ceremony was not the complete destruction of the body but only its purification by fire, just as at the present time the relatives of the dead subject themselves to purification by fire. Finally, among the settled fishermen of the wooded zone, the placing of the dead in separate houses, both surface and subterranean (in those cases where the typical dwelling in the particular locality was the earth hut), was developed. In connection with the removal of the cemetery from the village, there gradually developed the idea of the world of the dead, located in some other place, although on the surface of the earth. When the belief in the world of the dead, the afterlife, took hold, the concept of a second soul appeared. We have seen earlier how often the aspect of the first and second souls coincided, so that in some cases it was difficult to distinguish them. In all probability the second soul is no more than a somewhat metamorphosed idea of the first, occasioned by the development of the concept of its going out of the grave somewhere into the afterworld. The isolation of the dead from the living meant the disturbance of old traditions, which in turn necessitated the substitution of the dead person by his image. The latter remained in the house and all the ceremonies existing earlier were gradually transferred to it. Such images are widely known. In some places they are made of wood (e.g., by the Nanay of the Amur); among the Mongols they are prepared from clay mixed with the ashes of the body; among the Ob Ugrians, as we have seen, from clothes, the hair of the deceased, and wood. The meaning of the term ¿oydt, "dead person," "skull," "the image in which the fourth soul lives," shows that the original abode of the latter after the third and final death was precisely the skull. Bear skulls, after the completion of the ceremonies of the bear festival, were brought to a special place, where they were hung on a tree. Every clan, or at least every village, had a place for keeping these skulls. It is possible that the sorjzt, i.e., "the images of the dead," were originally kept also in the clan's special places. Such finds, consisting of dozens of very unique images, as the Lozva repository, Sapogovo, Murlinka, and Azov mountain116 lead

42 V. N. Chernetsov us to such thoughts, the more so since especially the Lozva and Murlinka figurines are characterized by a mixture of anthropomorphic and bird features. With the decline of the matriarchal clan and the division into families, the preservation of these figurines evidently became familiar. In places, as, for example, on the Sosva, this was combined with the surviving inheritance of them in the female line. In the ways of keeping the soT/ai, the moyar, used today one may see the reflection of various, partly modern and partly earlier, ways of interment. Thus, the leaving of the image in the house possibly corresponds to the leaving of the dead in the house, with the abandonment of the house by its inhabitants —survivals of which were cited earlier. The keeping of the figurines, and their inheritance in the female or even the male line, evidently reflects the cited ways of clan preservation of the image, and in the more distant past, perhaps even of the skulls in the place which was at the same time the dwelling-place of the clan's fourth souls. The burning of the figurine corresponds to the once-existing cremation in the southern parts of Ugrian territory, as documented for example, in the burial mound near the Malaya Kirgizka river near the Arkhiereysk farm settlements. According to Florinskiy, in this burial mound there was discovered a bronze image of a bird stuck by the tail into the earth in front of a bronze cup in which lay the charred bones of a human skull. The head of the bird was oriented to the southwest and the back to the cup.117 As we see, the position of the charred bones and the bird is identical with the position in burning the moxar on the Ob, with the duck, head turned north, placed before it. The bird as a carrier of the soul to the afterworld that we have seen in the form of a tattoo, as an image, and in the form of a killed duck is as often encountered among the archeological finds in Ugrian territory. Evidently even then there were special places for conducting the souls into the afterworld. Such, for example, is the burial ground on Karaul mountain, where about 30 bronze bird figurines were found. Among them one larger bird figure stood out and "as were two of the smaller, it was found standing vertically in the earth" in the western raised portion of the burial ground.118 Also in the Urals, on Azov mountain, figures of birds were placed upright at the foot of a cliff.119

Notes and References 1. B. Munkácsi, Seelenglaube und Totenkult der Wogulen, Keleti Szemle, Budapest, 1905, vol. 6, no. 1. 2. B. Munkácsi, Vogul népkoltési gyüftemény (Collection of Vogul folk poetry), Budapest, 1892-1921, vols. 1, 2, nos. I, 2; idem, Todesdaemon Aina der AltaierTodesdaemon xin der Wogulen, Keleti Szemle, 1900, vol. 1, pp. 158 et al. 3. Munkácsi, Seelenglaube . . . , p. 65. 4. Ibid. 5. K. F. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Vôlker, vol. 1, Folklore Fellows Communications, no. 41, 1921, p. 21. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 27. 8. Personal communication, A. Forshteyn. 9. L. Ya. Shternberg, Pervobytnaya religiya v svete etnografii; issledovaniya, stati, lekksii (Primitive religion in the light of ethnography; research, papers, lectures), Nauchno-issledovatelskaya assotsiatsiya Instituía narodov severa, Materialy po etnografii, Leningrad, 1936, vol. 4, p. 315. 10. W. Skeat, Malay magic, London, 1900, p. 545.

Ob Ugrian Concepts of the Soul 43 11. See also: Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 32; S. K. Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken und ihre Volkspoesie, St. Petersburg, 1897-1900, pt. 1, p. 145. 12. Munkacsi, Seelenglaube . . . , p. 102. 13. H. Paasonen, Über die ursprunglichen Seelenvorstellungen bei den finnischugrischen Vôlkern und die Benennung der Seele in ihrer Sprache, Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne, vol. 26, no. 4, 1909, p. 8, note. 14. Karjalainen, Die Religion der jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 32. 15. Paasonen, Über die ursprunglichen Seelenvorstellungen . . . , p. 4. 16. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, pp. 178-179. 17. Munkacsi, Seelenglaube . . . , p. 102. 18. Ibid., p. 103. 19. Ibid., p. 105. 20. N. L. Gondatti, Sledy yazychestva u inorodtsev Sever o-Zapadnoy Sibiri (Traces of paganism among the natives of Northwest Siberia), Moscow, 1888, p. 43. 21. Munkacsi, Seelenglaube . . . , pp. 102-105. 22. Kasteyzt (sing, kasti), "to cover the face" (said primarily of women) in the presence of older brothers and other elder male relatives of the husband and of sonsin-law and other members of groups forbidden them as sexual objects. A woman performs kasti also before spirit-images. In this case we should bear in mind that the face of a dead person is covered by a special burial mask. 23. According to the Ugrians, the fire of the hearth warns by its whistle of coming misfortunes and the appearance of evil spirits. 24. An evil being, paúl jorut, which devours people comes out of old, worn clothing, out of discarded socks and ragged shoes. A similar being, apparently, is involved here. 25. From the verb wopsi, "to flash," "to loom" (to be barely visible or audible). 26. I. Roslyakov, Pokhoronnyye obryady ostyakov (Funerary rites of the Ostyaks), Yezhegodnik Tobolskogo gubernskogo muzeya, vol. 5, pp. 3-4. 27. Only with the breakdown of the clan structure were members of alien clans admitted to the graveyard, but special plots were allotted to them. 28. V. Chernetsov, K istorii rodovogo stroya u obskikh ugrov (Contributions to the history of clan structure among the Ob Ugrians), Sovetskaya etnografiya; Sbornik statey, vols. 6-7, 1947, p. 178. 29. Gondatti, Sledy yazychestva . . . , p. 43. 30. Munkacsi, Seelenglaube . . . , p. 104. 31. Personal communication, G. Verbov. On the Evenks, see G. M. Vasilevich, Trudy instituía etnografii Akademii nauk SSSR, vol. 51, 1959, pp. 157-192. 32. J. M. de Groot, The religious system of China, Leyden, 1892-1910, vol. 2, p. 802. 33. Munkacsi, Seelenglaube . . . , pp. 102-105. 34. Ibid., p. 102. 35. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 196. 36. Gondatti, Sledy yazychestva . . . , p. 39. 37. Roslyakov, Pokhoronnye obryady ostyakov, p. 2. 38. Munkacsi, Seelenglaube . . . , p. 124. 39. In confirmation of this we may cite both Karjalainen's statement mentioned above and the data of Munkacsi, who, in one of his works, attaches the meaning "beetle" to kër xomlax (cf. Munkacsi, Todesdaemon . . . , p. 124) and in another "diver" (B. Munkacsi and M. Szilasi, Vogul Szójegyzék (Vogul glossary), p. 39). 40. Roslyakov, Pokhoronnyye obryady ostyakov, p. 2. 41. Ibid. 42. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 36.

43. Ibid., pp. 43, 45.

44. S. K. Patkanov, Irtisi-Osztják szójegyzék (Irtysh-Ostyak glossary), Budapest, 1902, p. 191. 45. A. E. Ahlqvist, Ueber die Sprache der Nord-Ostjaken, Helsingfors, 1880, p. 156. 46. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 38. 47. The concept of "heaven" is obviously a later or borrowed idea. See ibid., p.

44 V. N. Chernetsov 179; Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 1, pp. 148-149; pt. 2, pp. 31-32, Russian text, p. 15; Paasonen, Über die ursprunglichen Seelenvorstellungen . . . , p. 4. 48. See also Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 38. 49. I wish to express my deep gratitude to N. F. Prytkova for permission to use these valuable data. 50. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 46. 51. Munkácsi, Vogul népkôltési. . . , 1896, vol. 4, p. 409. 52. Paasonen, Über die ursprunglichen Seelenvorstellungen . . . , p. 17. 53. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 47. 54. Paasonen, Über die ursprunglichen Seelenvorstellungen . . . , pp. 20-21. 55. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 48. 56. Just as there cannot be put in the grave any object relating to the clan cult with which neither the first nor the second soul has any direct connection. It is even possible to suggest, by analogy with the sepan, that the burial of any object or symbol of the clan cult must have a harmful influence on the condition of the clan. Thus, for example, only after the death of the last female representative of a family lineage is the domestic fire buried in her grave. On the other hand, the fourth soul, which is connected with the clan, is in essence immortal, as we shall see later. 57. Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 2, Russian text, p. 41, lines 89if. 58. S. M. [probably Sirelius] 1903, p. 36. Quoted from Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, pp. 181-182. 59. Roslyakov, Pokhoronnyye obryady ostyakov, p. 1; Gondatti, Sledy yazychestva .. ., p. 39. 60. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker . . . , vol. 1, p. 195; G. A. Startsev, Ostyaki (The Ostyaks), Leningrad, 1928; and also the author's findings. 61. E.g., M. Kingsley, West African studies, 1899[?], pp. 200-206. 62. Gondatti, Sledy yazychestva . . . , p. 39. 63. F. I. Belyavskiy, Poyezdka k Ledovitomu moryu (Journey to the Arctic Ocean), Moscow, 1833, p. 126. 64. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 107. 65. Munkácsi, Seelenglaube . . . , p. 107. 66. G. I. Novitskiy, Kratkoye opisaniye o narode ostyatskom (A brief description of the Ostyak people), St. Petersburg, 1884, p. 102. 67. Munkácsi, Vogul népkôltési . . . , vol. 2, p. 365. 68. Istoricheskiy arkhiv (Historical archive), vol. 3, 1940, p. 93. 69. Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 2, Russian text, p. 30, lines 480ff. 70. Munkácsi, Vogul népkôltési . . . , vol. 2, p. 187, line 96. 71. Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 2, Russian text, p. 10, line 57. 72. Munkácsi, Vogul népkôltési . . . , vol. 1, p. 29. 73. (Northern Mansi) saiytaïax uj, "the being at the top (end) of the braid." The word uj may also mean either a bird or an animal. 74. Munkácsi, Vogul népkôltési . . . , vol. 1, p. 196. 75. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 45. 76. Belyavskiy, Poyezdka k Ledovitomu moryu, p. 126. 77. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 54. 78. Ibid. 79. The variation in the numbers 2-4, 3-5, it seems to me, has no essential significance. The concept of the soul's ability to be reborn in several places apparently reflects the idea of the multiplication of the clan, while the variation according to sex, 2-4 for women and 3-5 for men, only corresponds to the idea, cited above, of the evenness of feminine and the oddness of masculine numbers. 80. For example: sâli-uj sali ïaxtzs, "the wolf caught the deer." 81. Belyavskiy, Poyezdka k Ledovitomu moryu, p. 122. 82. In the text published by Munkácsi, sorni 5f3f (Mir Susne xum) is incorrectly mentioned, appearing as the son of Kaltas'. In the folklore and beliefs of the Ugrians, Numi Tarum and Kaltas9 appear simultaneously as brother and sister and as man and wife. For more details on this question see V. N. Chernetsov, Fratrialnoye ustroystvo

Ob Ugñan Concepts of the Soul 45 obsko-yugorskogo obshchestva (The phratrial structure of Ob Ugrian society), Sovetskaya etnografiya; Sbornik statey, vol. 2, 1939, pp. 31ff. 83. Munkácsi, Vogul népkoltési . . . , vol. 1, p. 39. 84. Belyavskiy, Poyezdka k Ledovitomu moryu, p. 122. 85. Novitskiy, Kratkoye opisaniye . . . , p. 30. 86. Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 1, p. 154. 87. Ibid. 88. Gondatti, Sledy yazychestva . . . , p. 44. 89. Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 1, p. 144. 90. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Vôlker, vol. 1, p. 92. 91. Ibid., p. 96. 92. Roslyakov, Pokhoronnyye obryady ostyakov, p. 6. 93. Roslyakov reports a diametrically contradictory phenomenon—with a correct question the coffin easily, as if by itself, came off the ground. If there is no error in his observation, it is possible that the means of divination varies in this according to locality. 94. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 122. 95. Ibid., p. 112. 96. Arkhiv Akademii nauk SSSR, f. [collection] 32, op. [list] 1, d. [report] 14. 97. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Vôlker, vol. 1, p. 98. 98. Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 2, Russian text, p. 41. 99. Startsev, Ostyaki, p. 127. 100. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 128. 101. Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 1, p. 144. 102. Munkácsi, Seelenglaube . . . , p. 116. 103. J. Budenz, Magyar-Ugor osszehasonlító szótár (Hungarian-Ugrian comparative dictionary), Budapest, 1881, p. 110. 104. V. N. Shavrov, Kratkiye zapiski o zhitelyakh Berezovskogo uyezda (Brief notes on the inhabitants of Berezovo uyezd), Chteniya v Ob-ve istorii i drevnostey rossiyskikh, Moscow, April-June, 1871, bk. 2, pp. 1-21. 105. Personal communication, G. D. Verbov; [data] collected by him on the Taz river. 106. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Volker, vol. 1, p. 144. 107. Startsev, Ostyaki, p. 124. Startsev uses the word "double," for urt, in the sense of the German Doppelgànger. 108. Novitskiy, Kratkoye opisaniye . . . , p. 46. 109. Patkanov, Die Irtysch Ostjaken . . . , pt. 1, p. 145. 110. Shternberg, Pervobytnaya religiya . . . , p. 205. 111. A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa . . . , London, 1890, p. 106. 112. O. Finsch, Ethnologische Erfahrungen una Belegstücke, Vienna, 1893, p. 46. 113. S. P. Krasheninnikov, Opisaniye zemli Kamchatki (Description of Kamchatka), St. Petersburg, 1755, vol. 2, p. 136. 114. Startsev, Ostyaki, p. 127. 115. N. C. Witsen, Noord en oost Tartaryen . . . , 2nd éd., 1785, p. 734. Cited in: N. M. Yadrintsev, Kult sobaki (The cult of the dog), Etnograficheskoye obozreniye, vol. 4, 1894, p. 157. 116. V. N. Chernetsov, Bronza ustpoluyskogo vremeni (A bronze of the Ust-Poluysk period), MIA, no. 35, pp. 150ff. 117. V. M. Florinskiy, Pervobytnyye slavyane (The aboriginal Slavs), vol. 2, Tomsk, 1890, p. 284. 118. D. N. Anuchin, K istorii iskusstva i verovaniy u priuralskoy chudi (Contributions to the history of the art and beliefs among the Ural Chuds ), Materialy po arkheologii Vostochnykh guberniy, vol. 3, Moscow, 1899, p. 127. 119. N. N. Bortvin, Nakhodka na gore Azov na Urale (The find on Azov mountain in the Urals), Kratkiye soobshcheniya IIMK, vol. 25, Moscow, 1949, p. 118.

G. M. VASILEVICH

EARLY CONCEPTS ABOUT THE UNIVERSE AMONG THE EVENKS (MATERIALS)* THE MATERIAL presented here has been recorded directly from the people, either in the form of answers given by the Evenks to questions, or from the stories called nimngakan.1 An analysis of the term nimngakan ~nimngakavun is of historic and ethnographic interest. At present it is usually translated by the Russian word skazka (tale). However, in the Evenk and other Tungus languages the word nimngakan is used to designate various folkloristic genres: tales of the three worlds (the origin of the earth—the middle world of man, of animals, and of plants), myths, heroic tales, historical accounts of events that took place before the 12th century, and other types of tales. At the same time the historical accounts of later events are called ulguril (western dialects) or ostoriyal (eastern dialects). The term nimngakan also has other meanings. Thus in the expression tar—nimngakandu bichen (frequently used among the Podkamennaya [Stony] Tunguska group), "this was in the nimngakan" the word nimngakan denotes that long period in the existence of the Evenks when their ideas about the world surrounding them and their social standards were being formulated, the period during which the various ethnic groups of Evenks were being formed. Among the eastern groups of Evenks ( the Aldan, Chumikan, Amgun, Bureya, Urmi, and the related Sakhalin Evenks ) the word nimngakan means "to put on a shamanistic performance," while nimngakavun means "legend." Nimngan^nimngala in all dialects means "to put on a shamanistic performance," "to shamanize"; nimngamat, "to induce spirithelpers to enter one's body" (in reference to a shaman); nimngangki, "shaman's drum"; nimngavka~nimnganmuka (Nenets) "to ask to shamanize," "to ask to sing a ballad; nimngakan~nimngakat, "to report, narrate a nimngakan." These two meanings: (1) to "report" ideas accumulated by generations, and historical facts, and (2) to "perform shamanistically," to "shamanize," can be traced in all Tungus languages except Manchu, also in Negidal nimngakan, "tale," "legend," "story," and in Evenk nemkan^nimkan, meaning the same, [Evenk] nemkan~ nemkalan, "to narrate," nemkalan, "storyteller"; Oroch nimachi~nimmachi~ nimanu, "tale"; Ulch ningman, "legend," "tale," ningman, "to shamanize"; Nanay ningman ~nengma, "tale," nengmaty, "wake," "funeral repast" (with a shaman), nengman^ ningman, "to tell a story," "to sing" (referring to the shaman); Udege nimnganku, "tale," nimngas, "to shamanize," "to tell a tale." The same word with a slight phonetic change occurs in the Chukchi-Koryak languages: lymngyl, "tale"; lymngylkyn, "he tells a tale." The two meanings of the stem of this word in the Tungus languages suggest that it was introduced into Chukchi-Koryak from Tungus and was transformed according to the phonetic rules for these languages. The two meanings for this word in the Evenk language also indicate that the perpetuation of accumulated knowledge and ideas from ^Translated from Trudy Instituid etnografii Akademii nauk SSSn, vol. 51, 1959, pp. 192.

157-

Evenk Concepts about the Universe 47 the beginning of shamanism became one of the functions of the shaman. This special function is emphasized by the universality of certain details in the process of transmitting the nimngakan and in the shamanistic performance. For example, ( 1 ) the performance and narration were produced in the evening or at night by a low fire; (2) the manner of narrating the legends and the singing of the shaman during the performance were identical: during the narration the listeners sometimes joined in the singing of the storyteller; during the performance the audience likewise repeated the singing of the shaman; both the storyteller and shaman imitated the voices of the various people and animals they were singing about; the storyteller and shaman both had need of a keen memory. It is probably a survival of this tradition that at the beginning of the 20th century the good storytellers still came from the clans and large families which had produced the shamans. The stem nimngan ("to relate legends" or "to perform shamanistically") exists along with other stems which have the meaning "to perform shamanistically"; e.g., yaya, "to perform by the campfire" (common to Tungus-Manchu, Chukchi, and Koryak); sevenche, "to perform," "to deal with helper-spirits" (common to all Tungus-Manchu); and samaldy, "to perform shamanistically," "to go through various body motions" ( common to all Tungus-Manchu ). The material presented here is divided into two sections: concepts about the universe, and concepts of the origin of our earth, man, and the animals. The nimngakan of this kind were narrated in everyday language. The sentence structure was usually simple, and the complicated sentences with many subordinated phrases, so characteristic of epic tales, were customarily not used. Words without meaning [interjections], expressing various types of exclamations, were rarely met and [when used] did not confuse the meaning. Not only children and young people but also adults listened to these tales with pleasure and occasionally added some detail forgotten by the narrator. Often they were told as fairy tales are told to children, with answers to the innumerable questions children habitually ask. Sometimes the beginning of the story was converted into a conversation: "Grandfather, where do the reindeer come from?" "From the bear's fur." "But the bear, where is he from?" "The bear was a man." "But where was the man from?" And there followed the story ( Podkamennaya Tunguska Evenks ). In the years 1935-36, pupils of the Evenk district school, when talking with me, often asked me questions about the origin of some phenomenon and then immediately told me one of their stories. In 1947, I noticed the same pattern among the adults, with the Evenks, after asking me a question, immediately answering it briefly with a story. This made me think that perhaps this technique, a question and story-answer explaining some phenomenon of surrounding nature, might be traditional. In that case the stories are close in form to riddles, the principal purpose of which was training in quickness of wit and testing powers of observation.2 The simplicity and clarity of language and the brevity of exposition of these nimngakan naturally made an impression that lasted a lifetime. Questions about the structure of the solar system, the origin of the earth, man, and animals, kept arising among adults of the taiga Evenks throughout the years I visited them. At first they wanted to know: "How is it where you come from?" Later they merely asked me to "give them a lecture on this subject." This was perfectly natural. The "learning" they had acquired in early childhood from the nimngakan, although it did not satisfy them, still left them with a clear and concrete idea. In school they acquired new knowledge, usually in the Russian tongue of which they had an imperfect command, so that they did not understand all of it. Scat-

48 G. M. Vasilevich tered bits of new knowledge mixed with the old, without however crowding out the old. Moreover, the Evenks, though working for the first time in brigades [teams], retained their former living environment. As of old, the brigades of one or two families lived with the reindeer in the taiga; the brigades husbanding the meat animals consisted of two or three men and those husbanding the fur animals of three to five men. As formerly, a hunter was alone all day in the taiga, sometimes until nightfall. Political agents attached to the brigades often were not sufficiently well prepared to give convincing explanations of the origin of the universe, man, and the animals. Conditions were somewhat different in places where the Evenks lived together with Russians, Yakuts, or Buryats. Here a number of generations lived in different surroundings; many were born of parents of different nationalities (the father or mother being Russian, or sometimes Yakut or Buryat). The Evenks of these regions had long ago exchanged their chum [tent] for a wooden house, their costume for Russian or Yakut clothing; many of them had taken up farming. All had become bilingual, some gradually became Russian, Buryat, or Yakut in language. Here, naturally, the nimngakan no longer formulated concepts about the universe; it became transformed into fairy tales for children. The materials we are about to present, although collected in the Soviet period, represent survivals of very ancient beliefs of taiga hunters which may be of interest not only to Tungus specialists, but also for the history of the early stages of the world-view held by hunting peoples.3 Very helpful in clarifying the changing stages of these beliefs are the names applied to them, with all their variations of meaning and synonyms ( as they are preserved in the various dialects). An analysis of these variations in the languages of the Tungus-Manchu group defines for us the time at which some of these ideas appeared in the Tungus-speaking area.

Concepts about the Universe The whole universe, according to Evenk concepts, consists of three earths or worlds: the upper, middle, and lower. They are all alike, as the upper and lower worlds are copies of the middle one, the earth.4 The earth, or world, is rendered in all dialects as buga (phonetic variations: buva~bua~ba~boga~bova~ noises, and the like, that it startled and amazed even this far from superstitious onlooker. The tempo of the song became faster and faster, the shaman's voice more and more excited, the drum sounded ever more thunderously. The moment came when the song reached its highest intensity and feeling of anxiety. The drum moaned, dying out in peals and rolls in the swift, nervous hands of the shaman. One or two deafening beats were heard and the shaman leaped from his place. Swaying from side to side, bending in a half-circle to the ground and smoothly straightening up again, the shaman let loose such a torrent of sounds that it

102 A. F. Anîsimov

FIGURE 10. A shaman sending his spirits into the lower world.

seemed everything hummed, beginning with the poles of the tent, and ending with the buttons on the clothing. Screaming the last parting words to the spirits, the shaman went further and further into a state of ecstasy, and finally, throwing the drum into the hands of his assistant, seized with his hands the thongs connected to the tent pole and began the shamanistic dance—a pantomime illustrating how the khargi, accompanied by the group of spirits, rushed on his dangerous journey fulfilling the shaman's commands. The drumstick in the skillful hands of the shaman's assistant beat out a furious roll. The accompaniment reached its highest point. The voices and snorts of beasts and the like were heard in the tent. Under the hypnotic influence of the shamanistic ecstasy, those present often fell into a state of mystical hallucination, feeling themselves active participants in the shaman's performance. The shaman leaped into the air, whirled with [the help of] the tent thongs, imitating the running and flight of his spirits, reached the highest pitch of ecstasy, and fell foaming at the mouth on the rug which had been spread out in the meanwhile. The assistant fanned the fire and bent over the shaman's stiffened, lifeless body. The latter, representing at this moment his khargi in the land of the khergu (the world of the dead), was outside of this seeming corpse. The assistant, fearing that the shaman might not return to the land of dulu (the middle world), persuaded him to return as

The Shamans Tent 103 quickly as possible from the lower world, orienting himself by the light of the fire which he (the assistant) had kindled in the tent. The shaman began to show signs of life. A weak, half-understandable babble was heard—the barely audible voices of the spirits. This signified that the khargi and the spirits accompanying him were returning to the middle world. The shaman's assistant put his ear to the shaman's lips and in a whisper repeated to those present everything that the shaman said was happening at the time to the khargi and his spirits. The shaman's weak, barely audible whisper changed into a loud mutter, unconnected snatches of sentences, and wild cries. The helper took the drum, warmed it over the fire, and started to beat it, entreating the shaman (that is, his khargi) not to get lost on the road, to look more fixedly at the light of the tent fire, and to listen more closely for the sound of the drum. The drum sounded faster and louder in the hands of the assistant; the shaman's outcries became ever clearer and more distinct. The drum sounded still louder, calling the shaman, and finally became again the accompaniment of ecstasy. The shaman leapt up and began to dance the shamanistic pantomime dance symbolizing the return of the khargi and his attendant spirits to the middle world (dulu). The shaman's dance became more and more peaceful, its movements slow. Finally, its tempo slowed, the dance broke off. The shaman hung on the thongs, swaying from side to side in time with the drum. Then, in recitative, he told the onlookers about the khargi s journey to the other world and about the adventures that had happened. Freeing himself from the thongs, the shaman returned to his place. He was given the drum. The shaman's song was again heard. The shaman transmitted the advice of the ancestor-spirits as to how the evil spirit of the disease should be fought, put the drum to one side, and paused. Someone from among the onlookers offered him a lit pipe. Pale and exhausted, the shaman began avidly to smoke pipe after pipe. With this the first part of the performance ended. When he was rested, the shaman again took the drum and began to expel the spirit of the disease. At first he tried to persuade it to leave the patient's body voluntarily. The spirit refused. The long-continued discussion between the spirit and the shaman irritated the latter and turned into irrepressible outbursts of anger, cries, and threats. The sound of the drum again gathered strength. The shaman threw the drum to his assistant, leaped from his place, seized the thongs attached to the center-pole of the tent, and began to whirl around in a furious dance beside the patient, attempting to expel the spirit of the disease. Tired and powerless, the shaman returned again to his place, took the drum, and again struck up the song, asking his spirit-helpers what he should do next. On the advice of the khargi ( the chief soul of the shaman, his animal-double ), he began to expel the disease by fanning and rubbing the place of the illness with various parts of the bodies of animals and birds—hair from the neck of a reindeer, a piece of skin from the snout of a Siberian stag, a bear's forehead, the antler of a wild deer, skin from the forehead of a wolverine or a wolf, eagle feathers, and the like. But this also clearly showed itself to be insufficient. The irritated shaman denounced all manner of disease-spirits, sat down again, beat long and indignantly on the drum, and then, softening the blows, passed over to the usual melody and began to consult with his spirit-helpers on what he should do next. On the khargi s advice he proposed that the disease-spirit pass into a sacrificed reindeer. Between the shaman and the disease-spirit there began again a long dialogue; the shaman praised the flavor of the reindeer's meat, of the different parts of its body, and derogated the body of the patient as much as he could.

104 A. F. Anisimov The disease-spirit held to the opposite opinion. Finally, the shaman succeeded somehow in persuading the disease-spirit to accept the ransom. The sacrificial reindeer was brought into the tent. The sacrificial rope was fastened around the reindeer's neck and the loose end of it put into the patient's hand. To the sound of the drum, the patient, turning the end of the thong over in his hands, began to twist it. At the moment when the twisted rope pulled the reindeer's head, one of the men standing beside it killed the animal with a knife-blow. This meant that the disease-spirit ran across the twisted rope into the reindeer and struck it. The reindeer was skinned. The skin was hung up as a sacrifice to the supreme deity; the heart was given to the shaman, who seized on it and avidly bit into it. The shaman spat out a piece of reindeer heart into a hole made in one of his spirit-images, stoppered the hole with a wooden plug, and carried the image into the onang, ordering his spirit-helper to take the captured disease-spirit into the abyss of the lower world. But often the disease-spirit fooled the shaman and remained in the patient's body. Then the shaman spread out the skin of the killed reindeer under the patient, smeared the blood of the reindeer on the diseased part, and began to wheedle the disease-spirit out with the scent of blood. As soon as the spirit crawled out, wishing to taste the reindeer's blood, the shaman threw himself on the patient, licked off the smeared blood from the body, and spat it into the hole (cavity) in one of his spirit-idols, which took the diseasespirit into the abyss of the lower world. At other times, complicating the circumstances of the action, the shaman said that the disease-spirit would not come to this bait. Then the shaman, annoyed, once more threw himself on the drum. It sounded loudly in his hands, deafening the disease-spirit with abuse and threats. The shaman gathered all his spirit-helpers. These surrounded on all sides the disease-spirit residing in the person. The shaman began an account, fascinating for its fantastic content, of the battle between the shaman's zoomorphic spirit-helpers and the disease-spirit. The latter hid itself in the contents of the stomach. Then, the most cunning of the shaman's spirits, the goose, pushed his beak into the patient's stomach and with it caught the cause of the disease. The shaman and his spirits celebrated. The joyful, deafening sound of the drum rang out. The clansmen attending the ceremony sighed with relief, but the joy showed itself to be premature. The disease-spirit tore itself from the goose's beak and threw itself in the direction of the onlookers. They were stunned with horror. However, another of the shaman's spirits, the splintered pole symbolizing the shamanistic tree, was in the runaway's path. The pole seized the disease-spirit, squeezed it into its wooden body, and under guard of two wooden watchmen (koto) came over to the shaman. The third and most fascinating part of the performance began. The shaman's spirits, as followed from his songs and actions, were surrounding the captured disease-spirit in a dense ring, showering it with the most malicious jokes, ridicule, profanity, and threats. The spirits pinched it, nibbled at it, pulled at its legs, spat; the most irritated of them urinated and defecated on it, and so on. The tent rang with the sound of the drum, exclamations, the wild cries of the shaman imitating the voices of his spirit-helpers. The sound of the drum again reached a peak of intensity. The shaman tore himself from his place, seized the thongs attached to the tent pole, and threw himself into a dance frantic in its rhythm and intensity. Behind him two men held the thongs. The drum in the hands of the shaman's assistant groaned and died out in a thunder of beats. Wild screams, the snorting of beasts, bird voices rushed about the tent with the shaman. From under his feet flew brands, coals, hot ashes, but no one paid atten-

The Shamans Tent 105 tion to this. With their cries the onlookers tried to help the shaman. The ecstasy of the shaman and the onlookers reached its highest pitch; the captured diseasespirit was taken into the lower world by the shaman's spirits to be thrown into the abyss. On the brink of the lower world, the loon or another of the shaman's spirit-birds swallowed the disease, flew with it over the abyss, and there expelled it through the anal opening. After this the shaman and his spirits returned to the middle world, barricading as they went all the passages from the lower world. When they reached the middle earth (dulu), the shaman's dance ended. The shaman returned to his place. He was given the drum. To its sound he recounted to those present all the particulars of the expulsion of the diseasespirit into the abyss of the buni (world of the dead). A pause ensued and the shaman and his spirits rested. The fourth part of the performance represented the clan vengeance of the shaman and his spirits on the shaman of the hostile clan. The shaman's khargi learned from his ancestor-spirits who had sent the evil spirits to the clan. Exclamations of indignation and threats descended from all sides onto the evil alien shaman. The shamanistic spirits of the clan made up a group of zoomorphic monsters and under the leadership of the shaman's khargi set out to avenge themselves on the clansmen of the shaman who had sent the disease-spirit. The following and concluding part of the performance was dedicated to the gods of the above. A reindeer was offered them in sacrifice. The skin of the sacrificed animal was hung on a long, thin larch at the altar (turn) and its meat was eaten by all of those present. In a special song addressed to the gods, the shaman thanked the protectors of the clan for the help received. He then performed a special dance symbolizing his journey to the gods of the upper world. He climbed up, supposedly, by the turn into the upper world and walked along the earth of the upper world, passing the heavens one after the other, to the Amaka sheveki, the supreme god. The shaman gave him for safekeeping the soul of the patient—a small wooden image of a man attached to the top of the turn larch. The Amaka entrusted the guarding of the patient's soul to the spirit of the shaman. The shaman's return journey to the earth of the dulu (middle world) was represented in the form of a strenuous, joyous, noisy dance of ecstasy. Then the shaman went to the altar, stood beside the spread-out skins of sacrificed reindeer, and pronounced a long moliurtyn—an improvised prayer to the Christian deities. Having arrived back in the tent, the shaman, at the request of those present, began to divine by means of his rattle and a reindeer scapula. The clansmen, in turn, set forth their desires. The shaman threw his rattle up in the air and, from the way it fell, determined whether or not the desire would be fulfilled. Then he took the shoulder blade of the sacrificed reindeer, laid hot coals on it, blew on them, and predicted according to the direction and character of the cracks in the bone what awaited his clansmen in the future. At the end of the performance the shaman's tent was abandoned. The reindeer-skin covering (lap rug) was taken from it but everything else remained in place. Figure 11, drawn by an old Evenk from the Yudukon river, Vasiliy Sharemiktal, shows how the shaman of the Nyurumnal clan sent disease to the Momol clan. The world of the numerous spirits reflecting the importance of man in his struggle with nature was divided, in the beliefs of the Evenks, into three classes.

106 A. F. Anisimov

FIGURE 11. Drawing by an aged Evenk, Vasiliy Sharemiktal, from the Yudukon river (Baykit rat/on, Evenk National okrug, Krasnoyarsk kray) indicating separate features of a shamanistic performance for a sick person: (1) Podkamennaya Tunguska river; (2) its tributaries; (3) the lands of the Momol clan; (4) sacred clan tree, the locality at which the clan's religious ceremonies take place; (5) the spirit of the clan territory, the mistress of the clan lands; (6) the patron-spirit (bugady) of the clan; (7) the clan marylya (stockadefence) formed by shamanistic spirit-watchmen; (8) the lands of the Nyurumnal clan; (9) the place of their clan cult; (10) the patron spirit of the Nyurumnal clan; (11) their clan bugady; (12) the marylya of the Nyurumnal clan; (13) the Nyurumnal shaman's tent; (14) the shaman of the Nyurumnal clan; (15) his assistants; (16) the track of the shamanistic spirit sent by the Nyurumnal shaman to the Momol clan in order to destroy the Momols; ( 17 ) having penetrated unnoticed through the marylya of the Momol clan, the spirit changes into a wood-boring worm and enters the entrails of one of the members of the Momol clan and begins to destroy his corporeal [body] soul; ( 18 ) the tent of the sick member of the Momol clan; (19) his wife; (20) the Momol shaman's tent; (21) the Momol shaman begins to shamanize in order to find out the cause of his fellow clansman's disease; his spirits tell him and his clansmen what has happened; (22) the clansmen who have attended the shamanistic performance; (23) a shamanistic spirit, the goose; (24) a shamanistic spirit, the snipe; these spirits are sent by the shaman to the sick man with orders to expel the diseasespirit; the goose and the snipe poke their beaks into the sick man's entrails and try to catch the disease-spirit; (25) the track of the shamanistic spirits; (26) the disease-spirit jumps out of the patient and tries to escape; the shaman's spirit-helpers, the splintered pole and the knife

The Shamans Tent 107 To the first class belonged the evil spirits. These were the kamaga, the spirits of the diseases (kama literally means "to oppress," "to hinder"), and the butyle (spirits of death; from bu, "to die"; butyle, "causing dying"). The second category was made up of the mws/mn-spirits—the ruling spirits, the lords of nature. To the third class belonged the sheveki (~seveke~kheveki), the "supreme rulers," deities to whom all other spirits were thought to be subordinate. In this regard the Evenks supposed that spirits of disease and death were sent to people by shamans alien to the clan. For this purpose the alien shamans called up their clan shamanistic spirit-helpers and sent them to another clan (hostile to them) to bring to its people disease and death. The spirits sent by the shaman penetrated into the territory of a given clan and began to eat the souls of the people. In order to avoid an unexpected attack by such spirits, each clan shaman fenced in the clan lands with a special mythical fence (marylya) consisting of the shaman's spirit-watchmen. To penetrate into the territory of an alien clan, hostile spirits had to force their way through the mobile shamanistic marylya surrounding it, or they had to fool the spirit-watchmen and steal through unnoticed by means of some clever stratagem. In case they succeeded, illness and death occurred among the clansmen. The clan shaman and his spirit-helpers entered into a struggle with the trespassing spirits, expelled them, re-erected the clan marylya, and set out to avenge themselves by the same means on the clan of the shaman hostile to them. In the shaman's performances, these fantastic wars of shamans and their spirits were described with unusual vividness, in fascinating plotted form with all the crafty means of concealment, attack, and pursuit of the enemy known from the experience of interclan war and military skirmishes of the clans, even to the institutions of blood vengeance and ransom for the murder of clansmen's souls. Thus evil spirits, the spirits of disease, are in Evenk beliefs nothing other than the shaman's spirits of a hostile clan. As regards the nature of the spirits, we have characterized them above as totems of the ancient Evenk matriclans. It may be asked: In shamanism how can totem-spirits become evil spirits causing disease and death? The tribe, the clan, and their institutions, according to Engels, were the confines for man in relation to aliens of other clans and tribes. Everything which was outside the clan and the tribe was outside the law. "In the absence of fixed peace terms, war reigned between tribes, and this war was waged with the brutality which distinguishes man from the other animals and which was somewhat moderated only later under the influence of material interests."10 From this point of view, everything which was outside the clan, not connected with it by blood bonds, was hostile to it or might be harmful. Naturally, the totem-spirit of another clan might always prove to be a hostile spirit, just as the people of another clan might be enemies, attack, and cause wounds and death. For this [palma], catch the disease-spirit; the splintered pole clutches the spirit and holds it; the knife stands guard; (27) on the Momol shaman's orders, one of his spirits, the owl, swallows the disease-spirit and carries it to the abyss of the lower world in order to release it there through the anal opening; (28) entrance to the lower world; (29) the Momol shaman sends his spirit, the two-headed pike, to take vengeance on the Nyurumnal clan; (30) the track of the two-headed pike; (31) the tent of a member of the Nyurumnal clan; (32) the pikespirit tears the corporeal soul out of the sick person; (33) the pike-spirit takes away the person's corporeal soul; (34) the corporeal soul; (35) the Momol shaman builds a fence out of larch-spirits at the place where the alien spirit penetrated; (36) over the track of the alien spirit he puts watchmen—splintered poles, khichupkan; (37) the skins of animals hang on the idol; ( 38 ) the hanging skin of a reindeer sacrificed to the supreme deities.

108 A. F. Anisimov reason, the nevi and ilyady—Uie souls of clansmen expelled from the clan and buried in alien ground—were counted among the evil spirits. A very special category of spirits was comprised of the ruling spirits of waters, mountain ridges, forests, various species of beasts, and others. There were whole tribes of these, the Evenks thought. In every [natural] phenomenon there were special rulers resident in the various conspicuous features of the locale, the river, the taiga. The beasts, fishes, and birds which man hunts in order to live are for the spirits the same kind of herds as tame reindeer are for men. The specific feature of this category of spirits is the patriarchal coloration, common to all of them, in which the way of life of these spirits and their relationship to people are represented. According to ancient Evenk beliefs, these spirits were the rulers of the earth and the water, masters of the animal herds, fishes, and birds. In their hands were all the sources of man's life. In order that man might exist, the spirits gave him a sufficient part of their innumerable herds of beasts. For this, man (said the shamans) must entreat the spirits and make sacrifices to them. Thus, we see that the herds of beasts were the property of the ruling spirits just as tame reindeer were of men. Of course, such a concept could not originate before a similar but real relationship had developed among men. Such beliefs, with their pronounced features of patriarchal clan society, are not characteristic of the economic and social way of life of matriarchal clans. Their bases must be sought, evidently, in later forms of social organization—in patrilineal ones. Engels, in characterizing the development of religious beliefs, wrote: ". . . side by side with the forces of nature, social forces also appear—forces which oppose man, which are just as alien and originally just as inexplicable to him as the forces of nature and which rule over him with the same seeming natural necessity as the latter. The fantastic images, in which originally only the mysterious forces of nature were reflected, now also assume social attributes and become representatives of historical forces/'11 The category of spirit-rulers, masters of the earth, waters, beasts, birds, and fishes, represents the initial step of this false reflection in man's recognition not only of "the mysterious forces of nature" but also of the "social forces which oppose man and rule over him." The most completed forms of these concepts are found in the images of the supreme deities. The supreme deities are thought of as anthropomorphic, in the image and likeness of the Evenks themselves, living in the upper world (ugu dunne). There, the shamans said, are several lands (heavens). In the uppermost of them lived the Amaka sheveki (amaka, "grandfather"; sheveki^seveki^kheveki, "supreme deity"); in the second there was eksheri sheveki, supreme lord of animals, birds, fishes, and plants; in the rest of the heavens were the other inhabitants of the upper world: delyacha, "the sun"; bega, "the moon"; agdy, "thunder"; asiktal, "stars"; tukse, "clouds"; sunset and daybreak. The light-blue canopy of heaven is the taiga of the upper world, the Milky Way is the tracks of the heavenly people's skis, the constellation Ursa Major is the scene of the heavenly people's collective hunt. This pantheon of supreme deities is one of the stages of development of polytheism, one of the stages of transition of a nature-cult to polytheism characteristic of the epoch of disintegration of primitive social organization. Thus, the very character of the concepts about spirits and deities which figure in shamanistic performances clearly shows that these spirits and their place in the shamanistic ritual differ chronologically in origin: the shaman's spirit-helpers originated as totem-spirits; the phenomena of spirit-rulers and masters of nature bear distinct vestiges of a patriarchal clan organization; the supreme deities

The Shamans Tent 109 represent the initial stage of polytheism and are characteristic of the decay of clan organization, and corresponding to this, the collapse of the ancient clan and tribal communal beginnings. Being different in times of origin, these forms of beliefs could not enter into shamanistic ritual simultaneously. They flowed into it as into some common riverbed, as the process was completed by which special servants of the religious cult—shamans—were appointed from among the clan leaders, as the norms of the new shamanistic ideology absorbed the preceding forms of belief and cult, correspondingly reworking and transforming them. Thus, extremely varied religious concepts and rites flowed into shamanism. The idea of the shamanistic world-tree and the ceremonies connected with it originates in the totemistic beliefs of the matriarchal epoch. All this is interwoven into the fabric of developed animistic concepts, and finally merges with the mythical world of the numerous spirits. Among these spirits, clan spirits and deities common to the whole tribe are especially distinguishable. These deities, retaining numerous features of the former totemic deities and personifying the forces of nature, gradually acquire social attributes and thus become reflections of man's impotence in the struggle not only with nature but with social oppression ( [during the] epoch of the decay of clan structure, the development of patriarchal slavery, and others). The elements of the shamanistic ritual are also varied in their time of origin. The most ancient element is the magic conjuring rite of drawing the game within range of the hunter and thus ensuring its slaughter. The magical pantomimes of the shamanistic ceremonies, shingkelevun and girkumki, correspond to this.12 "Curative'' shamanistic magic and the heterogeneous material objects connected with it (primarily parts of the bodies of animals and birds), these objects figuring in shamanistic ritual as inseparable attributes of this magic, are reflections of the same concepts. The magical pantomimes of the shingkelevun and girkumki rites are more ancient than shamanism. The terminology of shamanism also indicates the same thing; samal-mi khamal-mi in the Evenk language means "to jump" (in relation to the shaman, a ritual pantomime dance); khamat-mi "to catch up with," "to overtake" (in relation to the shaman, the special dance for attracting game and securing success in the hunt, executed by the shaman in pantomime form during the completion of the shingkelevun and girkumki rites); samaldy-mi~khamaldy-mi means "to shamanize," "to leap," "to leap while shamanizing"; sama~khaman means "shaman." Carrying out the magical rites for attracting game and ensuring the success of the hunt, as we have seen,13 the ancient hunters strove to make themselves resemble beasts: they disguised themselves in their skins and later for the same purpose wore special ritual costumes resembling the animal in form—special caps with horns, jackets made of wild-reindeer skins, and others. In this connection the following remarkable terminology deserves attention: samna-mi, "to move one's feet"; samnasin-mi, "to stir," "to move"; samngan~khamngan, "the skin from the legs of a reindeer"; samasik~khamashikshamashik, "a shaman's robe." As a result of interpreting the world-view of ancient magical rites in terms of clan norms, there arose concepts of mythical progenitors as the subjects and active personages in the rites. These totemic progenitors, half-human and halfanimal, were later transformed into the figures of shamanistic ancestor-spirits— the shamanistic mother-beasts and the shaman's animal-doubles—and became in the concepts of the shamanists the active personages of the shamanistic rite. The totemic centers—sacred groves of the clan around which the magical totemic ceremonies of the clan were conducted—were the basis of the concept of the shamanistic world-tree and the totem-spirits gave rise to ideas about shamanistic

110 A. F. Anisimov spirit-helpers.14 The origin of animistic ideas, in particular the notion of the multiplicity of souls in man, gives rise to the multiplicity of other worlds. Since one of the souls—the khanyan (shadow), independent of the body—is recognized as being capable of separating itself from the body even during life and of living for an extended period of time outside it, the phenomena of death are not connected with it. Death is associated only with the body-soul (been [beyen]). From this the conclusion of the immortality of one of the souls, the khanyan, naturally follows. Corresponding to their diametrically opposed natures, the concept of three worlds is formed: the lower world, the dwelling-place of the dead; the middle world, the land of the living Evenks; and the upper world (omi), the residence of the immortal khanijan-souls. This concept of three worlds later becomes the basis of shamanistic myth-making about the lower, middle, and upper worlds inhabited by diverse supernatural beings, spirits.15 In the process of dissolution of the matriarchal clan, the decay of old, and the formation of new tribal units, individual clan totems are raised to tribal ones and grow into spirit-lords and supreme deities, while others decline to the status of local spirit-masters of various landmarks, rivulets, mounds, and so on. Among the generalized totemic figures, predecessors of the supreme deity among the Evenks were the Siberian stag, the elk, the bear. With the establishment of the institution of shamanism, the ancient totemic rite was transformed into a shamanistic performance and the figures of tribal totemic deities became the chief spirit-helpers of the shaman. This is shown most clearly in the following set of shamanistic terms: sevekechen, "Siberian stag"; seveki, "supreme deity"; seven, "shaman's spirit-helpers"; sevenche-mi, "to shamanize"; sevenchevke, "shamanistic performance"; lyaki, a metal figure of an elk on the shaman's robe; lyakit-mi, "to divine or hang"; nimat, the totemistic rite of the giving of a killed bear to a member of another clan; nimnganivka, "shamanistic performance." The establishment of the patriarchal clan meant the loss of mother rights. The ideological reflection of this socio-historical process was an overthrow of the ancient matriclan deities and totem-spirits and their transfer to the world of the dead. The deities of the matriclan were transformed into mistresses of the road to the world of the dead, rulers of the subterranean world, and heads of the settlements of the dead. The ancient totemic deities—the elk, Siberian stag, bear—having become the shamistic ancestor-spirits and beast-mothers of the shaman, moved to the roots of the shamanistic world-tree and became the shaman's spirit-helpers. The upper world was occupied by patriarchal deities, the over-all rulers of living and dead nature, with appropriate social attributes as expressions of the ideology of a patriarchal society. The figure of the shaman, the sorcerer, the servant of the religious cult, became the subject and the active personage in the ritual. The development of ideas about the mythical shamanistic clan-river, conditioned by the growing importance of fishing so characteristic of the Kitoy and Glazkovo stages* of patriarchal clan society among the predecessors of the Evenks, united the various conceptual elements mentioned above into a unified, harmonious system of three shamanistic worlds, connected by one clan road, the river. The symbolic expression of this mythical shamanistic clanriver was the shaman's tent, described above. In proportion to the further development and increasing complexity of animistic beliefs, the shamanistic ritual took on more and more the specialized form of a cult activity, accessible only to one shaman, the master of the clan spirit-helpers. With the appearance of *[Late Neolithic periods of the Lake Baykal region, dated to approximately 1800-1300 B.c. —Translator.]

The Shamans Tent 111 specialized servants of the cult, set off from the society, communication with the clan spirits became their privilege, and they were the elect of the spirits. The ancient totem-spirits became the shamanistic spirits of the servants of the cult and the ancient clan rites were transformed into various forms of shamanistic activity, more and more removed from their original basis. In order to understand, on a historical plane, the origin of the shamanistic rite, and shamanism as a peculiar form of priesthood, it is necessary to examine the special social position of the shamans and the evaluation of shamanism by the society. From this point of view, the especially notable features are those concepts of the Evenks by which this special position of the shaman in the clan was maintained and reinforced as a norm of clan ideology. The most essential of these in this respect were, on the one hand, the idea of the clan marylya and, on the other, that of the mythical shamanistic clan-river. The concept of the marylya among the Evenks, as we have shown earlier, referred to the mythical shamanistic fence or stockade made out of spirits, with which the shaman supposedly fenced in the clan so as to protect its members from the designs of evil spirits. The shaman, carrying out the functions of this peculiar defender-leader of the clan, set up to this end the spirits subordinate to him around the clan lands, forming from the spirits a special shamanistic stockade-fence protecting the clan from as many misfortunes as possible. In the shamans' tales, such a marylya extended invisibly on the taiga as a long, impenetrable stockade from one ridge to another, from rivulet to rivulet, from one mountain to the next, enclosing everything in the clan lands in one isolated clan microcosm, the guarding of which was centered in the shamanistic spirits, that is, in the end it was thought to be in the hands of the shaman. Everything which was within this mythical clan stockade—the taiga, mountains, rivers, animals, fishes, tame reindeer, and man himself (the clansmen)—had to be considered as being secure, since day and night the shaman's spirit-watchmen guarded it by surrounding the clan lands. In the air various shamanistic bird-spirits guarded the clan lands; in the taiga there stood, for the same purpose, the shaman's animal-spirits, and in the water swam the shaman's fish-spirits, all protecting the clan territory. In this mythical clan isolation, which reflected the actual former clan separateness, the clan opposed all the rest of the world as a complete, special microcosm at the head of which stood the shaman. However much the shaman and his spirits protected the clan, diseases and other misfortunes did not bypass the Evenks. However, this did not discountenance the shamans. In their opinion this was not astonishing. In the taiga, since it was the taiga, anything could be expected. The taiga is great, the earth mountainous, the rivers full of rapids. It is difficult for the shaman's spirit to guard all the passages and approaches to the clan lands. Besides, though the shaman's spirits were mighty, even they were not without deficiencies. They had their own characteristic weaknesses; the spirits might not be watchful and resourceful enough, they might tire and be inattentive, or, finally, they might prove to be less strong in an encounter with the foe. In all these cases, the result was that the disease-spirit penetrated unnoticed into the clan lands or broke through the shamanistic clan-fence by force, and began to destroy either people or tame reindeer or wild animals. If the evil spirit succeeded in slipping past or breaking through the shaman's marylya, the spirit-watchmen notified him of this and he began to expel the mythical enemies, that is, to shamanize. Having expelled the pernicious spirit and thus removed the cause of the mis-

112 A. F. Anisimov fortune, the shaman began to rearrange his mythical collection of spirits, changing weak or careless spirit-watchmen for stronger and more industrious ones, strengthening the guard where he thought the passages and approaches were most vulnerable, and so on. Such activity [connected with the rearrangement] was carried out by the shaman during a mass performance at which his fellow clansmen were not only active participants but also an inspired audience, capable of seeing in waking hallucination everything that the shaman saw and said. It is, of course, difficult for us not only to conceive of but even to understand the power and influence which this kind of Weltanschauung exerted in the psychology of the Evenks. If we could put ourselves in their place even for a brief moment and look at all this through the eyes of their clan ideology, we might be startled by the socio-ideological significance which the privileged position of the shaman would present to us. In attempting to interpret psychologically these norms of Weltanschauung, Suslov wrote: The most terrifying moment in the life of the Tungus was that of the death of their shaman, who, with the help of his etan (shamanistic spirit-watchmen—Author) protected the clan. According to the Tungus, a shaman was always murdered by another shaman, that is, an evil spirit sent by one shaman killed the other. And when the shaman dies, all of his etan also die, that is, abandoning hitherto living objects, they go with the shaman's souls into khergu (the lower world, the world of the dead— Author). Thus at the same time the marylya is destroyed. The evil spirits lying in wait for such an event throw themselves into the clan territory and may destroy it utterly. In such cases, another shaman, a kinsman of the deceased, appears on the scene, sets up a new marylya, and with the spirits who have made an appearance begins the shamanistic reprisal.16 No doubt, beliefs about the mythical clan-fence, the marylya, not only maintained but also reinforced the position of the shaman, and further, not only reinforced but also established shamanism as a socially indispensable phenomenon, without which the clan could not exist. In this case, the shaman, having usurped from the clan the right to conduct the clan cult, and thus standing above the clan, represented not a usurper but a person who suffers in a special way in the interests of the clan; this idea was reflected in the prerevolutionary ethnographic literature, which was predominantly of a subjective-idealistic, populist tendency. Even more significant in this connection were the ideas of the Evenks regarding the mythical shamanistic clan-river, the so-called numengi khokto bira, literally "watery river-road." According to ancient Evenk concepts, there was a special river-road for each clan, and also a large clan world, distinct from the marylya, one that embraced not only the middle earth, the taiga (i.e., the middle world), but also the upper (heavenly) and the lower (underground) worlds. All three worlds were thought of as situated along this river and were identified conceptually with it: the upper world with the upper reaches of the river, the middle world with its middle course, and the lower world with the mouth. Along this clan river-road, the Evenks supposed, the whole life of the clan in all its manifest forms proceeded. The latter were thought of as successive stages of reincarnation and were conceived in the form of a closed circle. On the upper part of the river live the immortal souls (omi) in one great tent, the so-called omiruk, literally "storehouse, receptacle of souls." On the middle course of the river is the middle world, the taiga where the Evenks and other peoples live; at the mouth of the river is located the land of the dead clansmen, who live in

The Shamans Tent 113 a great camp, headed by an old woman, the mistress. On the road to the world of the dead (the lower course of the river) lived old women, the mistresses of the clan river-road and the guardians of the path of clan life. When a man dies, his corporeal been also dies. The shaman lays the corporeal soul of the deceased on a raft and takes it along the mythical clan-river to the world of the dead. On the road to the world of the dead, the shaman calls on the old women, the mistresses of the mythical clan-river, and with their help finally reaches the land of the dead. Having arrived at the shore, the shaman begins to shout across the cove, asking the mistress of the land of the dead to receive the dead clansman in her camp. When the shaman's voice reaches the opposite shore, activity begins there. At the shout, the mistress of the land of the dead comes out of the tent and orders one of the men to cross the river and take the deceased from the shaman. Having given over the raft (funeral dais), the shaman returns by the same road to the middle world, carefully barring the passages from one world to the other. Meanwhile, the dead man's shadow-soul (khanyan) has received a new substance, emphasized by its new name, omi (from o-mi} meaning "to do," "to create," "to originate," "to initiate"), and has gone to the top of the mythical clan-river and settled in the clan omiruk. At the end of a definite period of time the omi return to the middle earth among men and supposedly give rise to a new generation. This great clan world, embracing all three worlds of the universe, stood isolated from all others, being sealed within its clan boundaries. Other clan worlds, also conceived figuratively in the form of river-roads of life, were thought of as being located next to it as actually neighboring clans were. Like real clans, which might stand in a relationship of either kin or alien, friend or enemy, these mythical clan worlds were thought of as being either inimical or benevolent in their relationships. In case of hostility, alien spirits penetrated to the river-road of a given clan and caused death, disease, and other misfortunes. The Evenks supposed that hostile spirits penetrated to the clan by way of the lower world. In the lower world were the mouths of all the clan rivers of life. There, according to the shamans, were several lands; in each land lived special shamanistic spirits. If an alien shaman decided to cause harm to another clan, his spirit-helpers penetrated through the lower world to the mythical shamanistic river of [the selected] clan, made their way against the stream into its middle world, and attacked the clansmen, causing disease and death. If alien hostile spirits succeeded in getting to the upper course of the river, a most dire threat hung over the clan; the hostile spirits could destroy the clan storehouse of souls and carry the immortal souls of the clan into the world of the dead; in this case, the Evenks believed that the clan would inevitably die out. In order that this should not happen, the clan shaman barred all the approaches to the upper part of the clan river of life in a most careful way. At every tributary, ridge, and crevice, the shaman set up numerous gates of watchmen-spirits. In the air, at the head of the river, were the shaman's bird-spirits. The dry-land approaches to the clan storehouse of souls were guarded by a whole herd of shaman's animal-spirits. At the mouths of tributaries and on the river itself stood the shaman's fish-spirits in the form of a weir. The passage from the lower world into the middle world the shaman barred with an impassable weir resembling a fishing seine, in the middle of which he placed an ingenious snare from which the pernicious spirit, he thought, could not escape once it had entered. Thus, from the point of view of shamanistic ideology, the fate of the clan was wholly in the shaman's hands, and, standing above the clan, the figure of the shaman was, for his fellow clansmen, not only

114 A. F. Anisimov full of social significance but also an actual force with which they could not fail to reckon in their personal and social life. In the course of time a certain amount of material goods was accumulated by the shamans. Shamanism as the primary archaic form of a developing religious organization, in order to keep these goods for itself and reinforce its high social position and privileges, had to justify ideologically both one and the other in the eyes of the clansmen. This function, it would seem, was fulfilled by the idea of the selection, "calling," so to speak, of the shaman by the spirits and the inheritance of shamanizing ability. In the first instance, it was asserted that the shaman was the "chosen one" of the spirits, and that the functions fulfilled by him were sacred and inseparable from his person; in the second, that the transmission of these functions and the social position and privileges connected with them could be perpetuated only hereditarily. According to the prevalent ideas on this matter, the spirits who [later] appeared in the role of the shaman's helpers went of their own accord to the future shaman, and forcibly chose him for service to the clan. In those cases where the young person chosen attempted to refuse, the spirits supposedly threatened him with death, and in order to back up their threat, condemned him to a long illness (a special form of Arctic hysteria and functional neurosis expressed by vertigo and giddiness). From the point of view of these ideas, the shaman was not a usurper seizing into his hands the sole right to carry out the ritual of the clan cult, but a clansman named by the clan's ancestor-spirits to defend his clan. Thus the shamans interpret, on the level of this social illusion created by them, the preparatory period preceding the official introduction of the shaman into the role of the cult-servant. The ancestor-spirits of the clan supposedly come to the future shaman and ask him to take on the duties of defender of the clan. The future shaman refuses. The spirits tease, threaten, and torment him, abduct him into the forest, drive him out of his mind, and so on. Noting these signs of the shamanistic calling [initiated] by the spirits, the family appeals for help to the old clan shaman. The latter shamanizes in the presence of the clansmen and reveals that the clan ancestor-spirits have chosen the new shaman for service to the clan, but that he finds this calling difficult, and that the spirits are taking revenge for his refusal. Then the shaman and the clansmen begin to persuade the chosen one. The matter ends by his agreeing with them, and, supposedly fearing his own death and that of the clansmen (the spirits threaten not only him but also the clan), he accepts the call of the spirits. The conclusion then is that the shaman suffers for the clan and its interests. These questions were treated in just this way in the time of populist ethnography, represented by Shternberg, Bogoraz, and others, who, following this social illusion, were inclined to believe that the shamanistic "gift" was not a privilege but a misfortune for the shaman. Connected with this complex of concepts are views about the subsequent division of the shaman's body among the spirits (they supposedly tear his body apart, temper it in fire, forge it, anneal it, beat it for strength, and so on), and also about the reincarnation of the shaman's soul into a spirit—his animal-double—which represent the person of the shaman as sacred and inviolable and the social position occupied by him as a logical result of his supernatural qualities. On the strength of this, the shaman appears to his fellow clansmen in the role of a person of most unusual qualities. Although the shaman appears before the other members of the clan in the usual anthropomorphic form, it is, nevertheless, not an ordinary one but divided among the above-mentioned spirits. The soul of the shaman is zoomorphic; his birth

The Shamans Tent 115 is connected with a mother-animal, his upbringing with the shamanistic world-tree of life, wisdom, and sorcery, in which the future shaman (or, more exactly, his soul) grew up, swinging in an iron cradle. From this, naturally, the conclusion could be drawn that only the shaman, endowed with these supernatural characteristics, could fulfill those social functions which were assigned to him by the society in the course of socio-historical development. From this point of view, the shaman's prerogative of carrying out the ritual of the religious cult is an entirely natural phenomenon, conditioned in the first place by the fact that such was the decision of the clan's ancestor-spirits, and in the second by the fact that to this end the spirits had endowed the shaman with special supernatural qualities which did not and could not belong to any other member of the clan. From the point of view of the norms of clan ideology, the shaman, to whom supernatural characteristics are thus ascribed, appears before the clan as a direct personification of its happiness, its welfare, and indeed its very life. Astonishing testimony of this is reflected in the Evenk concept according to which the shaman does not cut his hair because, supposedly, it is the dwelling-place of the souls of the clansmen. The custom of giving the shaman for safekeeping a lock of hair, in which one of the souls of the person is supposed to reside, has the same significance. Thus, not only the welfare of the clan but its very life was thought to be connected with the shaman. Consequently, the tendency to guard this high social position and privilege within a single family, for its descendants, become understandable. The ideas about the inheritabilty of shamanistic ability also reflects this social tendency. According to these views, not any clansman could be a shaman, but only a person among whose ancestors in the maternal or paternal line there had been a shaman. Such persons were considered of shamanistic descent and, by virtue of this, hereditary candidates for the receipt, from their ancestors, of the shamanistic "gift." In such cases, the descendants were thought to share the qualities of their ancestors and thereby to be distinguished from their fellow clansmen. If their ancestors had been chosen by the spirits, if they had been given by them special, supernatural characteristics, and served as the reflection of the will of the spirits, then the descendants also may and perhaps will be chosen by the spirits, since they potentially possess the qualities through inheritance of the shamanistic gift. Thus, the title of shaman, putting the shaman above the clan and granting him very real social privileges, had a clear tendency to be retained hereditarily within a family which was considered shamanistic in origin. This tendency towards hereditary retention of the title of shaman by an individual family, hiding within itself the seeds of a priestly caste, is evidently a relatively late phenomenon. Its origin and consolidation in ideology and social life took place in the context of opposition from the old democratic tradition of the clan, which knew nothing of the hereditary choosing of shamans by the spirits and regarded the post of shaman as accessible to any clansman. A striking proof of this is the Evenk view of the so-called passive and active means of obtaining the shamanistic gift. That means of receiving it—the spirits themselves coming to the shaman and persuading him by force to agree to shamanistic service—is usually called "passive" in the literature. All of the features which we have mentioned above are characteristic of it: the coming of the spirits to the future shaman in the line of direct inheritance; persuasion and threats; the receipt of the shaman's agreement; and finally the dividing up of the shaman's body by the spirits and the subsequent reincarnation of one of his souls. All this in turn is possible only for people who are descendants of a shaman, since only

116 A. F. Anisimov descendants of shamans (people of shamanistic origin) are thought to possess the qualities of their shaman-ancestors. Besides this there is also another means of receiving the title of shaman. For this, one had to go for several days into the forest, reproduce there all the features characteristic of the shamanistic choosing, acquire by long fasting and physical exhaustion an appropriate patron spirit ( the latter usually appeared in the dream) and then one could be considered capable of shamanistic service. The patron spirit who appeared in the dream (most frequently an animal or a bird ) taught the person wishing to become a shaman all the particulars of the shamanistic ritual and provided the requisite number of spirithelpers. After this the future shaman returned home and took the necessary instruction under an experienced old shaman, mastering the rather complex procedures of the shamanistic performance. This form of receipt of the shamanistic gift shows strikingly that in the past the title of shaman and the conducting of cult ceremonies were not prerogatives of the shaman and could be filled by any member of the clan. However, the fact that in the recent past the "active" means of obtaining the shamanistic gift was considered by the Evenks not as effective and shamans of this type as weaker than, less valuable than, and, furthermore, unequal in rights to shamans of the first type (for they could not be chosen to the position of clan shaman), indicates clearly that under the conditions of the disruption of the clan structure, the ancient democratic principles of acquisition of the shaman's title did not prevail, but the new social tendency towards hereditary maintenance of this title in an individual family did. Just as the ancient primitive-communal relations yield place to those of private property, the democratic clan principle of performance of religious ceremonies yields place to a hereditary one, which later (in Polynesia, for example) develops into a class principle, and still later into a priesthood. The opposition and struggle of these two social principles is shown with special force in those ceremonies of the shamanistic cult connected with the receipt of the shaman's equipment, the drum, the robe, and other things. The following eight remarkable features are essential to these ceremonies: (1) they have the character of clanwide ceremonies, obligatory for every member of the clan; (2) the performance of these ceremonies constitutes the care and duty of the whole clan in general; (3) the clansmen collectively prepare the equipment for the shaman; (4) this collective preparation of the shaman's equipment is a specific festivity for the clan, with which the concept of the clan's common origin is connected; (5) the concepts of the rebirth of nature, the multiplication of animals, and the insurance of success in future hunts are also connected with these ceremonies; (6) every member of the clan, without exception, is permitted to use the equipment; (7) the right to use shamanistic equipment during these ceremonies and to enter into shamanistic activity (to shamanize) with its aid is an obligation for every clan member; (8) this right is exercised by the clansmen before the equipment is turned over to the shaman. At the ceremony of renewal or consecration of the drum, all those present shamanize in turn with the drum, which had been prepared collectively, singing shamanistic songs and imitating, to the measure of their powers and skill, all the other shamanistic activities. The last person to shamanize in these rites is the consecrated shaman himself. However, as soon as the shaman's equipment is put into his hands, it becomes untouchable to the clansmen and they have no right to use the equipment to carry out shamanistic activity. This is motivated by the fact that the shaman, having taken the shamanistic equipment into his hands, plants in it his own spirit-helpers, who are subject only to him, and who strictly chastise

The Shamans Tent 117 the person who, not being a shaman, that is, not possessing the supernatural qualities proper to the shaman, dares to conduct shamanistic activity with the help of this equipment. Even if the spirits are not angered by the witless daredevil who uses the shaman's equipment, his ruin would still be inescapable; the shamanistic spirits called forth by these activities enter the body of the shamanizing person, as they always do during a performance, and the ordinary, mortal body cannot tolerate their presence and perishes. This is why, after the shamanistic spirits settle in the equipment, it becomes, equally with the shamanistic activity, the sole prerogative of the shaman. In one case, this was effected at the moment of the coloring of the images of the shamanistic spirits, for instance, on the drum, on the hem of the shaman's robe, etc., in others with the attaching of the spirit-images and other pendants to the shaman's apron, robe, drumstick, or other things. If we bear in mind that the character of these rites involved the entire clan, that they were connected with ideas about the revival of nature, the multiplication of animals, and the success of the hunt, and were basically magical rites in which the desired thing was represented as having been actually accomplished, then we must recognize that shamanism, in the strict sense of the term, was preceded by cult-forms which were not, like the [present] shamanistic ceremonies, divided and set apart from the clan. The division into two parts (clanwide and reserved to the shaman) of the above-mentioned rites connected with the receipt of shamanistic equipment—of which the first was not immediately connected with the shamanistic spirits and the second was characterized by possession by the spirits—is seen to be the result of the consolidation of shamanism as the first form of religious organization and of the shamanistic worldview as the first form of class-caste ideology. The fact that the first part of the rites is carried out by all the clansmen and the second by the shaman only shows no less clearly that the clan rites which preceded shamanism were the affair of the whole clan. If the right to beat the drum, to wear the shaman's vestments, to sing shamanistic songs, and so forth, could in this case be exercised by any of the clansmen, this means that in the past the right to conduct the ceremonies of the clan cult could be granted to any member of the clan. Finally, if this provision of customary law was binding on all members of the clan, this means that in the distant past the performance of religious rites was not a prerogative of the shamans, but was monopolized by them only later. On the other hand, if in the second part of the rites (of receipt and consecration of the shamanistic equipment), this right to use the equipment and perform religious ceremonies with it is reserved for the shaman, it means that the transfer of religious functions from the clan to the shaman is the result of selection from the number of clan members of particular specialists in the religious cult. Further, if this contrast between shaman and clan is connected in certain ceremonies with concepts about shamanistic spirits and the supernatural qualities of the shaman which are based on very definite social motives, connected, as we have seen, with the reinforcement of the shaman's privileged position, then this means that the causes of such contrasts should be looked for not in the norms of ideology, but in the immediate conditions of social existence and particularly in the processes of disintegration of the clan. Some indications in this direction are seen in the functional semantics of the shaman's accoutrements and in certain ceremonial shamanistic activities. As to the semantics, it is important, first of all, to note their well-known contrariety and duality. On the one hand, the shaman's drum is thought of as an animal (a

118 A. F. Anisimov wild deer), on the other as the shaman's boat and as his weapon. The shaman's robe is thought of as an animal (wild deer, elk, bear) or as a bird (eagle) and at the same time as the shaman's armor. The shaman's apron, gloves, and shoes appear in the same guise—as armor—although all of them have in turn a more archaic meaning connected with parts of the body of an animal or bird. While the first semantic designations have their sources in totemic ideas, the second bear the clear impression of military organization. This appears most clearly in the meaning attached to the shaman's headgear: it is thought of as both the head or antlers of an animal, since it is furnished with the representation of reindeer antlers, and as a helmet protecting the shaman's head. The historical connection of the process of development of shamanism with a military clan organization can be traced still more clearly in the semantics of individual facets of the shaman's activity. The shaman's spirits, going back in origin to the world of totemistic norms and the ancient clan totems, appear in the shamanistic ceremonies in the guise of a military detachment led by the shaman. From this point of view, the shamanistic activity is represented as a wholly military campaign. When the shaman, having completed a performance, sets out to do battle with pernicious spirits or a hostile alien shaman, scout-spirits precede him— the swiftest and nimblest playing the role of the head of the detachmentthen come the strongest and most awesome, the basic striking force, so to speak, and last the shaman's guard. While shamanizing, he tells the onlookers in recitative how his invincible detachments of spirits move forward in the taiga, how they stealthily approach the enemy territory, ambush, attack, and destroy him. In these tales, full of thrilling expressions and dramatic effects constructed with everyday primitive realism, a panorama of interclan warfare is opened before the onlookers. Our observations in this regard are not an exception. S. V. Ivanov, who studied Evenk religious art, reached the same conclusion, and presented it at one of the meetings of the Siberian Branch of the Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. Before him, a number of collectors and ethnographers (Vasilyev, Rychkov, Ostrovskikh, and others) had remarked on the same thing in one context or another. The same phenomenon was clearly and strikingly shown by E. D. Prokofyeva while citing Selkup material in one of her reports at a meeting of the Siberian Branch of the same Institute. It will be asked how we should regard and treat these facts in the context of the question in point. Is this connection accidental or not? A mass of materials allows us to be positive that it is not accidental. In the legends about interclan warfare and military campaigns of the "left-bank," "marshy" Evenks, (that is, those living to the west of the Yenisey) and the "right-bank," "rocky" ones (those east of the Yenisey), it is related that the military detachments were frequently led by shamans. More detailed material pertaining to this question was gathered by the well-known student of the culture and life of the Evenks, N. P. Nikulshin, during a 1936 expedition and later reported in a meeting of the Historical and Ethnographic Section of the Scientific Research Association of the Institute of the Peoples of the North. In the poem "Gegdallukon and Ulgorikson" by the Evenk poet Aleksey Salatkin, written on folkloristic themes from the tales of old people, the following appears: And on their journey they were led by The shaman himself, the clan's eldest, Making signs upon tree trunks, That they might go unimpeded.

The Shamans Tent 119 According to Gmelin, one Evenk shaman known to him was simultaneously the leader of his clan. The same occurrence is also reported for other peoples. P. Tretyakov reports that Tynta, the elder of the Vadeyev Samoyed uprava,* was simultaneously shaman and leader. The coincidence of the functions of clan chief and shaman is reported also for the Buryats, the Mongols ( end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century), the American and Asiatic Eskimos, and numerous other peoples. Among the American Eskimos, for instance, we see this coincidence in the term angakok, "shaman," and angaygok, "leader." According to V. G. Bogoraz, persons with the double position of leader and shaman were also found among the Asiatic Eskimos.17 The facts recounted above suggest that the process of selection of shamans as specialists of the religious cult, and the consolidation of these functions in them—and also of their privileged position in the clan—took place as a result of the deterioration of the clan structure, particularly with the evolvement of interclan warfare, the formation of military groups, the strengthening of the role of the military chieftain, the formation and consolidation of clan leadership, the characteristic of which was evidently the mixing of the functions of leaders of the clan, including military chieftains, on the one hand, with the functions of the cult specialist on the other. The first invested the representatives of the clan aristocracy with de facto power, the second served as an ideological foundation for their rule over the clan. In the legends of the Podkamennaya Tunguska Evenks relating to the procedure of selection of clan chieftains and their consecration to this post by the shaman, and also in a cycle of other legends connected with interclan warfare, in the existence of blood vengeance, ransom for the murder of a clansman, military training, and so forth—in all these, the clan leaders, in spite of the power of the ancient primitive-communal tradition of the clan (election of chiefs and of clan shamans, decisive role of the clan council, and so on), appear nevertheless as a well-defined group. Power over the clan becomes more and more concentrated in their hands. The functions of rule are already differentiated; the military chief of the clan and the shaman are independent social figures. In historical perspective, the military ruler (head, leader, princeling) probably evolved first, the priest second. The process of Russian conquest and tsarist colonial policy which followed it disturbed this development and threw it out of historical perspective. The military clan leaderchieftains, whom 17th-century documents designate as princelings, later became clan elders of very indefinite social function; the shamans became specialized sorcerer-soothsayers with the characteristic curing function. Although shamanism among the Evenks was not destined to grow into a priesthood, those features which in their social tendency can be characterized as germs of a priesthood appear with sufficient clarity. Besides the facts cited concerning the position of the shaman, the beliefs about his being chosen by the spirits (by way of the hereditary appropriation of the shamanistic "gift" by an individual family), views on the shaman's supernatural qualities, and so on, we must consider the following circumstances: first, the special ritual of consecration of the neophyte as shaman, and later, the ritual of the shaman's entrance into the successive degrees of the shamanistic office. In this context in the consecratory rite the following were essential: (1) this rite was conducted in the presence of the whole clan and had the character of an attestation of the power and capabilities of the future shaman's supernatural qualifications; the clan sha*[Judiciary or administrative district.]

120 A. F. Anisimov man who conducted the consecration told about these qualities in his songs; (2) the rite of consecration was carried out by the clan shaman who had been his mentor and teacher, and with whom the neophyte had pursued the study of the shamanistic craft; (3) the rite represented official recognition by the clan of the neophyte in the capacity of shaman; (4) his special position and consequently his inclusion in the ranks of shamans, "the chosen ones of the spirits" as distinguished from other members of the clan, was approved. The consecratory ritual consisted of a number of performances which were carried out by the clan shaman together with the neophyte, successively in all three shamanistic worlds (upper, middle, and lower), and were thought of, in the understanding of the clansmen, as a common journey over the clan's mythical river-road of life, during which the old shaman showed the new one all the secrets and mysteries of the clan's "other world." If, as I am inclined to think, the marks of a developing religious organization (priesthood) appear in the above-mentioned features of the ceremony consecrating the shaman, the presence of an audience—the clansmen before whom this rite was conducted—indicates that the democratic tradition in the religious life of the clan, opposed to this social tendency of shamanism, was still strong. This tradition was reflected in the fact that the rite of consecration was for the clansmen a form of confirmation of the authenticity of the shaman's vocation and at the same time an examination for the young shaman. The clansmen appraised the shaman's performance in this capacity and demanded from him practical confirmation of the actuality of his shamanistic powers and capabilities. To this end, the young shaman uttered in a condition of trance some prophecy or other which was then confirmed by his fellow clansmen. The clan shamans, present on this occasion, gave help to their beginning colleague in this regard, but occasionally, because of envy or competition with him, might place him in difficulties and thus mar his future career. Besides the above-mentioned rites, there existed also rites for the consecration to the lesser degrees of shamanism. They were carried out on the receipt, by the shaman, of individual equipment—drumstick, drum, apron, shoes, mittens, staff, robe, cap (originally of sueded elk- or reindeer-hide, later of iron, wreathed with images of reindeer horns). The shaman received this equipment gradually, over several years. Beliefs about the growth of the shaman's supernatural powers and qualities were connected with this, and in social life this meant the shaman's transition from one rank to the higher one, and, correspondingly, the raising of his authority and influence in the clan. Evenk shamanism was characterized by such phenomena as the institution of apprenticeship, the presence of various specialized assistants, a special shamanistic language, numerous and extremely effective pieces of equipment, a complex ritual of shamanistic activity with a marked tendency towards formalization, the existence of a special tent—the future priestly temple. All this and much more—in particular the virtuosity in the execution of shamanistic activity, the scope and complexity of shamanistic ceremonial, the deliberate affectation, the wide use of various tricks in the process of shamanistic activity, and so on— gives us a basis for proposing that the characterization of Evenk shamanism as a priesthood in embryo (which we have given above) accords fully with reality from the point of view of its past historical tendencies and perspectives. Something else is also essential in this context—the presence, among Evenk shamans, along with the neurotic hysterical types, of a large number of extremely sober individuals. The latter were cold-blooded, determined types, by nature not only cold but often skeptical; for such shamans, shamanism was only a cere-

The Shamans Tent 121 monial form and a means of obtaining the material and social rewards consequent to the position. As distinguished from the first type—the eccentric prophetsoothsayers, in most cases petty shamans of small influence in social life—this second type was cunning, masterful, and sober in disposition, most clearly resembling the priest in character. Additionally, he was distinguished from the first type by his great fund of positive knowledge and his higher level of culture. Knowing well by personal experience the value of shamanistic soothsaying, and not wishing to let their authority fall too low in the eyes of their fellow clansmen, shamans of this type carefully observed and tried to understand everything of socio-historical nature which could enhance their practice, beginning with the study of localities, of hunting conditions, the habits and peculiarities of animals, and ending with the psychology of the people who made up their audiences. They listened attentively to the tales of old, experienced hunters, observed animal migrations, watched where the cedar and larch cones (the basic food of the squirrels) and berries (the basic food of the pine-forest game) grew most profusely. This type of shaman made his predictions taking all of this into account, in order to err as little as possible and thus support his authority. Clothing his practice with a mystical shamanistic form, he was able to give the clansmen fully practical instructions—which furthered in no small measure his authority and social position. In his shamanistic practice, he made deft use of virtuoso trickery, magical and mystical charlatanism, [his] knowledge of the psychology of the clansmen, and of successful practical experience. From this point of view, the shamans, in an embryonic way, were in many aspects similar to priests. While on the subject of the social significance of shamanism, we should note that the Evenk shamans were surrounded by a well-known cult. The figures of ancestor-shamans were kept by the shamans among the other sacred objects of the clan, and were regarded as the defenders and protectors of the clansmen. The figures were made from metal (sheet iron and copper) and also from wood. They were in the form of human faces, flat, with faint indications of the eyes, nose, and mouth. Wooden figures of ancestor-shamans were usually made more expressively, often with natural teeth in the mouth, taken from the grave of a shaman. One such figure is kept in the Evenk collections of the State Museum of Ethnography at Leningrad. Various figures and pendants from the shaman's equipment were also used by the Evenks as guardian-spirits of the family and the clan (for example, the robe, the apron, the drum). The grave of a shaman was considered sacred, with no hunting permitted near it. In Evenk life, the shamans enjoyed pronounced respect and many very substantial privileges. They were treated with great deference, sat in the place of honor, and were treated to the best food available. In conversation with a shaman, in case of difference of opinion, he was not contradicted. Shamans were spoken to very deferentially, and at social gatherings only the oldest and most important of the clansmen were allowed to speak with them. One was supposed to sit at a respectful distance from the shaman. One might not say anything prejudicial about him, even behind his back. Each member of the clan considered it his duty to help the shaman in some way—by pasturing his reindeer, by providing food for him, and so on. The clan gave the shaman the most productive areas. When laying out the spring and summer camp, they assigned to him the brook with the most fish and built a fish-dam for him. In the fall they helped him round up his reindeer and in the winter to hunt, particularly by driving large, hoofed game over the frozen, crusted snow—game which the sha-

122 A. F. Anisimov mans themselves seldom hunted, alleging prohibitions in this regard. So that the shaman would not forget to protect the welfare and health of the family and its members, presents were offered him from time to time, usually valuable furs. For a shamanistic performance he was paid: by poor families with one reindeer, by rich ones with two to four. Rich families were more friendly with the shaman, benefiting in their mercenary interests by his influence upon other members of the clan. This social adhesion of the shamans to the propertied clan aristocracy appeared and revealed itself with particular clarity in the first years of Soviet rule, when the shamans appeared as the direct defenders and supporters of the kulaks, trying to retain for themselves and the wealthy members of the clan their previous privileged position. The shamans, together with the holders of large reindeer herds and trader-middlemen, actively opposed Soviet power. In conducting shamanistic performances they introduced anti-Soviet propaganda into them; they forcibly attempted to resurrect old clan traditions, using them as a cover for their anti-Soviet activity; they persuaded the clansmen not to send their children to school, to use hospitals or veterinary aid, and so on. In a number of cases, the shaman's agitation took on extremely clear-cut offensive forms. The Evenks who had fallen under their influence came to the schools and removed their children. Under cover of clan principles and clan solidarity, the shamans tried to conceal the property and social differentiations among their clansmen and to muffle the growing class struggle. When the shamans and the kulaks realized that it was impossible to defeat the Soviets, they tried to conquer them from within, by introducing their own people into the clan councils. Opposing the march of the socialistic elements, the shamans and kulaks actively struggled against collectivization. In the struggle against Soviet power and socialist [social and economic] construction, the shamans widely used not only the means of undercover anti-Soviet agitation, but also open insurrection and wrecking, even to the point of burning down schools, dispersing and destroying kolkhoz [collective] herds. Thus, the toiling Evenks, in building a socialist society, had to conduct a struggle not only with the kulaks but also with their class supporters, the shamans. Thus prevailing over the kulaks meant at the same time the downfall of shamanism as a social institution.

Notes and References 1. I. M. Suslov, Shamanstvo i borba s nim (The struggle against shamanism), Sovetskiy sever, Moscow, 1931, nos. 3-4, pp. 89-152; idem, Shamanizm kak tormoz sotsialisticheskogo stroitelstva (Shamanism as a hindrance to social construction), Antireligioznik, Moscow, 1932, nos. 7-8, pp. 16-21; nos. 11-12, pp. 24-30; no. 14, pp. 15-23; nos. 17-18, pp. 19-24. 2. A. F. Anisimov, Shamanskiye dukhi po vozzreniyam evenkov i totemicheskiye istoki ideologii shamanstva (Shamanistic spirits in the beliefs of the Evenks and the totemistic sources of the ideology of shamanism), Sbornik Muzeya antropologii i etnografii Akademii nauk SSSR, vol. 13, 1951. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid. 5. A. F. Anisimov, Kult medvedya u evenkov i problema evolyutsii totemicheskikh verovaniy (The bear cult among the Evenks and the problem of the evolution of

The Shamans Tent 123 totemistic beliefs), Collection: Voprosy istorii religii i ateizma, Izd. Instituía istorii Akademii nauk, SSSR, 1950, pp. 303-323. 6. Anisimov, Shamanskiye dukhi. . . . 7. Ibid.; also, A. F. Anisimov, Semeynyye "okhraniteli" u evenkov i problema genezisa kulta predkov (Family "guardians" among the Evenks and genesis of the ancestor cult), Sovetskaya etnografiya, no. 3, 1950, pp. 28-43. 8. L. Ya. Shternberg, Lektsii po evolyutsii religioznykh verovaniy (Lectures on the evolution of religious beliefs), Collection: "Pervobytnaya religiya v svete etnografii" (Primitive religion in the light of ethnography), Nauchno-issledovatelskaya associatsiya narodov Severa. Materialy po etnografii, vol. 4, Leningrad, 1956. 9. B. Pilsudskiy, Na nedvezhyem prazdnike aynov ostrova Sakhalina (At a bear festival of the Ainus of Sakhalin Island), Zhivaya starina, nos. 1-2, 1914, pp. 120-121. 10. F. Engels, Proiskhozhdeniye semi, chastnoy sobstvennosti i gosudarstva (The origin of the family, private property, and the state), Moscow, Gospolitizdat, 1947, p. 111. 11. Idem, Anti-Dyuring (Anti-Diihring), Moscow, Gospolitizdat, 1938, p. 333. 12. A. F. Anisimov, Predstavleniye evenkov o shingkenakh i problema proiskhozhdeniya pervobytnoy religii (The Evenk concepts about the shingken and the problem of the origin of primitive religion), Sbornik MAE, vol. 12, 1949, pp. 160-194. 13. Ibid., pp. 180ff. 14. Anisimov, Shamanskiye dukhi. . . . 15. For details, see A. F. Anisimov, Predstavleniya evenkov o dushe i problema proiskhozhdeniya animizma (Evenk concepts of the soul and the problem of the origin of animism), Collection: "Rodovoye obshchestvo" (Clan society), Trudy Instituía etnografii Akademii nauk SSSR, vol. 14, 1951, pp. 109-118. 16. Suslov, Shamanizm kak tormoz . . ., nos. 11-12, p. 26. 17. V. G. Bogoraz, Shamany i bezbozhniki u amerikanskikh eskimosov ( Shamans and atheists among the American Eskimos), Arkhiv Akademii nauk SSSñ, coll. 250, inv. 1, p. 2.

YE. D. PROKOFYEVA

THE COSTUME OF AN ENETS SHAMAN* THE ENETS ARE a small group of eastern Samoyeds, which according to the 1926 census, numbered about 400 people. In pre-Soviet literature they are called Khanty or Karasin Samoyeds. They live on the right bank of the Yenisey to the eastf of Dudinka, on the shores of Yenisey Gulf, near Golchikha. Part of them nomadize in the summer to the river basins of the Agapka [InkakhuAgapa], Khura [Pura], and Mokhovaya. The basic economy is reindeer herding and fishing. Up to the time of the socialist revolution the Enets preserved remnants of a clan-tribal organization. They were divided into three groups: the Maddu, Bay, and Moggodi. These names are encountered in old [Russian] chronicles: "To the east, beyond Yugorsk land, people live along the sea, who are Samoyeds called Mogonzey"; and further: "In the same country, in the upper great Ob river there is a land, Baid by name/'1 These references as well as toponymie studies of the regions about the mouths of the Ob and Yenisey allow us to establish the former area of settlement of the Enets. Thus, the name of the territory, and even that of the wooden fort Mangazeya constructed there by Russian Cossacks in the 16th century is derived from the term mongkasi y a, which means "the land of the Mongkasi group" (in Enets, the Moggodi). In Enets legends memories are preserved of the time when the Enets lived to the south and west of their present-day territory (i.e., the right bank of the Yenisey), from which after long wars with the Nenets and Selkups, they were displaced. The Nenets and Selkup legends also abound with motifs of battles with the Vay (Bay), i.e., the Enets. As one of the Samoyed groups, the Enets have much in common with other Samoyed groups—the Nenets and the Nganasans. Similar features are found in language, material culture, as well as in religious beliefs. Up to our times the Enets have preserved in their religious beliefs ancient animistic concepts. According to these concepts, as well as those of the Nenets, the entire world (i.e., the sky and the earth) was populated by various spirits, who were responsible for good luck in hunting, health, and the life of man. The shamans served as "mediators" between the people and the spirits. Depending on the particular category of spirits with which the shamans were "dealing," their function, clothing, and equipment changed. There existed three categories of shamans: (1) budtode, "having power to contact celestial spirits," had a special costume, drum, and staff; (2) dyano, "defending people from malicious spirits," had only a drum; (3) savode, "communicating with the world of the dead" and participating in burial rituals, had neither [a special] costume, drum, nor staff. *Translated from Sbornik Muzeya antropologü i etnografii, Akademii nauk SSSR, vol. 13, 1951, pp. 125-153. f[Other Enets groups live north and southwest of Dudinka. See I. M. Teplyalcov (Ed.), Karta Narodov Sibiri (Map of Siberian peoples), Moscow, 1956.—Editor.]

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 125 The data about the Enets published here present materials for the study of religious beliefs, social organization, and material culture. In the description of the costume of the Enets female shaman given here, we shall enter, whenever possible, comparative material from other Samoyed groups. This shamanistic costume was acquired by G. D. Verbov in 1938 from the female shaman Savone.2 She was the Enets shaman and belonged to the Bay group, which nomadized near the community of Potapovskoye-Igarka [68° 40' N.; 86° 00' E.]. Here is what Savone related about how she became a shaman. Once, when she was a young girl, she went with some of her girl-friends into the forest to pick cloudberries. While picking the berries, Savone became somewhat separated from her friends. And there Varuchi (Barochi, the forest spiritmonster) fell upon her. She lost consciousness. Several days later (according to her, a month), her kin found her in the forest, naked. How she lived and nourished herself all this time she did not know; she remembered nothing. She said that she lived with Varuchi in his forest dwelling. After some time she gave birth to an infant-monster (supposedly fathered by Varuchi). The child was stillborn. After delivery Savone was in torment for a long time, and acted as one demented. She was treated by Enets shamans but to no avail. Then she appealed to the celebrated Ket shaman of that time, Sessak from Kureyka.3 He [apparently helped her and] also taught her to shamanize "a little," as she put it. Apparently, the Ket shaman was her teacher, leading her through the initiation rites. However, her marked nervous condition did not disappear in spite of the fact that Savone began to practice shamanism. She did not want to be a shaman; she hoped to recover. But then she became reconciled with her fate and accepted the hereditary shamanistic calling of her mother (her mother also was a shaman). By 1938, Savone, who belonged to the category of budtode, had a complete costume. It was acquired by G. D. Verbov and donated by him to the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. The fact that Savone had a complete costume indicates that she proved herself as a "strong," experienced shaman.4 The costume consists of the following articles: (1) a shaman's parka (robe); (2) mittens; (3) breastpiece; (4) eye band; (5) shaman's cap; (6) boots; (7) mat [platform]; (8) drum; (9) drumstick. 1. The SHAMAN'S PARKA (in Enets, pagge, Nenets, samburts) has the conventional name kopy, meaning "hide." The garment [cf. Fig. 1] is sewn from a single summer deer hide with the hair on the inside.5 The flesh side is painted red. The cut of the clothing is that of a slit robe. The flaps [front] are a little shorter than the back, the length of the flaps being 67 centimeters in front and 80 centimeters in back. Along the front slit (of the flaps) and along the hemline the costume is edged with a narrow strip of white, sheared deer fur. Along this border, the hide is dyed black, forming a strip 1 centimeter wide. All the seams are faced on the outside with deer hair* [which is looped under the stitch and tied].6 The neck edge of the garment is bordered by a strip of deer hide, with its flesh side out, folded double and forming a low (1.5 cm wide) collar. A leather strap is drawn through the collar, the ends of which are to be tied in front, at the neck. A strap is sewn to each flap at the waist-line, these straps serve as tiestrings. A belt (nida in Enets) consisting of four strips is attached to the garment in several places. The two outer strips are of white deer fur; the two inner are of deer skin with the flesh side out, the upper one being dyed black, the lower pink.7 To the lower edge of the belt is sewn a hanging fringe of soft leather, *[The long hair from the "bell" of the deer.—Editor.]

126 Je. D. Prokofyeva

FIGURE 1(0). The front view of the shaman's coat.

80 centimeters long, rose-colored, arranged in ten equally spaced bunches of two ribbons each. Onto the belt are sewn ten small metal buttons, and also seven straps with strings with little pieces of fox fur, separated by small black rags twisted and attached to the straps. In the middle of the back of the parka, from the shoulder blades down to the hem, runs a narrow black strip tapered at its upper end. Seven centimeters below the upper end of the strip, cutting across it, a trapezoidal piece of soft leather is sewn to the parka. By means of a soft leather strap folded in two, a brass ring is fastened onto it. To this ring, at the time of the shamanistic performance, is tied a strap or "rein" (in Enets, makha bine, in Nenets, makha iynya), by which the assistant holds the shaman, not allowing him to fall, since this could be disastrous for him. The Samoyeds formerly believed that any fall experienced by the drum or the shaman himself at the time of shamanizing was

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 127

FIGURE 1 ( b ). The back view of the shaman's coat.

a bad omen, which portended the approach of death or, at the very least, a serious illness for the shaman. The Enets further stated that it is necessary to hold the shaman at the time of the performance since he could "fly away upwards." The hem of the garment is edged with a double row of fringes of soft leather about 45 centimeters in length, red in color. On each twelfth ribbon of the fringing are strung five small pieces of krestovatik,* polar fox fur. Braids with crosspieces of fox fur, fastened to the belt, are the places to which the spirit*[A four-month-old, or August, polar fox, characterized by having a brown cross (krest) at the end of the spine and across the scapulae.—Editor.]

128 Je. D. Prokofyeva assistants from the lower world go. It is the belt with which the apprentice shaman shamanizes and to which the spirits fly. It is in this role that it becomes part of the shaman's parka. The Nenets male shamans had on their robes a special, separate, belt with pendants and braids, evidently having the same significance as a gathering-place for spirits. The fringing of the garment symbolizes feathers. The center portion of the back hem forms three wedge-shaped projections (see Fig. 2), bordered with white deer fur and dyed red like the rest of the garment. The length of the central projection is 19 centimeters; the lateral ones

FIGURE 2. Pattern of a shaman's parka without pendants.

are 16 centimeters each. The edges of the projections are also trimmed with a thin soft leather fringe, up to 10 centimeters in length. On the very point is sewn a bundle of fringing somewhat longer, 17-20 centimeters. This entire triple projection is called the "bird's tail," in Enets soddaky, murtyta. Fringing, similar to that on the hem, occurs also on the elbow side of the sleeve with the same meaning of "feathers" (Fig. 3). Thus, the Enets (the Selkup and, as we shall see later, the Nganasan) parka symbolizes a bird. The same way of portraying the bird form (more accurately, the skin of the bird), which is present in the Selkup and Ket shaman's costume, is also brought out clearly in the costume of the Enets and Nganasans. In cut, the Nganasan parka is almost the same as that of the Enets, the one distinction being that the Nganasan parka has almost the same length in back and front (the length of the back is 76 centimeters, the front, 72 centimeters). Along the hem, the flaps, and the sleeves, in place of the continuous black bands of the Enets costume, the Nganasan [costume] has ornamental bands consisting

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 129 of black and red triangles. The principal difference of the Nganasan parka is in its pendant adornment. In the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography there is a Nganasan costume (collection no. 5657-488, collected by A. A. Popov) significantly poorer in pendants than the Enets costume of Savone. On the Nganasan costume braids are absent, while they occur in large quantity on the Enets costume, and it also lacks a belt. The Nganasan parka has a similar triple projection, a tail, and fringes along the hem and sleeves.

FIGURE 3. Pattern of sleeves. The fringe represents bird feathers.

Thus, in all of the three shaman's parkas, the Selkup, Enets, and Nganasan, we find the same concept: that of portraying a bird (i.e., the skin of a bird), and striving to get closer to the actual image of the bird by the cut of the parka, the long and short feathers, and bundle of feathers over the tail. Even the braids of the Enets costume with the polar fox crosspieces to which, according to Enets belief, the lesser spirits fly, do not spoil the image of the shaman-bird which the Enets aspire to create in the parka. Selkup shamanistic songs describe how and where the spirits fly in the following manner: At the invitation of the shaman, who is shamanizing towards the upper world8 (the costume under discussion belongs to a shaman of this, the budtode, category), the principal spirit-bird, the eagle (or crane), arrives; behind it fly the lesser spirit-birds, a number of which enter the tent through the smoke from the fireplace, and a number hide themselves under the wings of the large [principal] bird, some perching on its wings, and with it they soar over the tent. This image of a large bird with small spirit-birds in its wings and feathers is imitated in the costume of the Enets shaman, where the braids evidently also are feathers (we do not know their Enets name). The braids are a finishing touch in no way characteristic of a Samoyed shaman's costume; it may be supposed that this type of pendants was borrowed by the Enets from the shamans of their neighbors, the Evenks, who gave shaman's belts with braids and chains as presents to Enets and Nenets shamans. The concepts about these straps and chains as paths of the shaman are absent among the Nenets and Enets. Thus, the shamanistic attribute was borrowed, but its alien semantics were not taken over by the Enets and Nenets. Of these similar Samoyed parkas, the clearest and most careful portrayal of a bird's likeness is found in that of the Selkups9; very similar to it is the shaman's parka of the Kets.

130 Ye. D. Prokofyeva Besides the fringes and belt braids with the polar fox crosspieces, there are a large number of soft pendants on the back of the Enets parka (Fig. 4): (1) braids of twisted strips of red and black cloth, stitched with "bell" deer hair; (2) soft leather straps similar to those attached to the belt and described supra with tufts of polar fox fur ending in soft leather ribbons, cloth strips, bells, beads, and other small decorations; (3) combinations of cloth braids, tied together, braids of cotton fabric, and so on, of differing length of from 30 to 74 centimeters. All these pendants are presents from grateful patients of the shaman. Several of the pendants have the role of guarding the shaman and her wellbeing. Thus, the wolfs claw suspended on a braid (Fig. 4, item 7) and the front

FIGURE 4. Items 1-6, types of braids on a shaman's coat; item 7, a pendant—a wolf's paw.

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 131 paw of a she-wolf symbolize the spirit-helper of Savone, the she-wolf which not only helps her clients at her instructions, but first of all guards her mistress* well-being. According to Savone, not once have the wolves killed her reindeer and they have never bothered the herd. This Savone attributes to the work of her assistant, the she-wolf. Besides the soft pendants, there are iron, brass, and copper pendants, bells, jingle bells, and buckles on the parka. The last three types of pendants have the same role as rattles, that is, frightening evil spirits by their ringing and rattling. The tubular pendants were made by the Enets themselves. The jingle bells and bells were usually bought or received as gifts. The metal plates and buckles they made themselves or they made use of archaeological finds (Fig. 5).

FIGURE 5. Pattern of the distribution of the basic pendants on the coat.

On the back of the parka there are figures of deer fashioned from iron (Fig. 6). Similar representations of deer are found on Selkup and Dolgan shaman's costumes. On the Enets costume they symbolize deer-spirits, "the heavenly deer," on which the shaman makes his journey to the sky (Fig. 7). In the "first sky" live nga kaza, "the heavenly people," and they have herds of 'Tieavenly deer." The figure of the crane (in Enets, nekhuy; Nenets, kharyu) fashioned of iron, 21 centimeters in length, symbolizes the heavenly spirit-bird. It is very similar to the crane of the Kets and Selkups, appearing in the concepts of the shamans of these people as the radiant, heavenly bird (Fig. 8). The representation appearing in Figure 9 is called "minley with nest" (Enets, niukhu; Nenets, nuvnyu, "god's son"). At the same time it is called libbe, "eagle." Thus, it becomes clear that the mythical bird minley, which plays such an important role in the religious concepts of the Enets, is an eagle. The tie between the minley

132 Ye. D. Prokofyeva

FIGURE FIGURE FIGURE FIGURE

6. 7. 8. 9.

Representation Representation Representation Representation

of a shamanistic deer ( cf. Fig. 5, item 1 ). of the heavenly deer ( cf. Fig. 5, item 5 ). of a crane ( cf. Fig. 5, item 3 ). of the "minley with nest" ( cf. Fig. 5, item 2 ).

(eagle) and fire, sky, sun, and deity becomes clear. In connection with Enets concepts about the eagle it is necessary to take into account analogous concepts of the Selkups and Kets in whose shamanism (especially that of the Kets) the eagle played an exceptional role, appearing as the principal helper of the shaman. The eagle and its nest constantly figure in Selkup folklore and fairy tales. The hero of a tale is carried away by the eagle10 to its nest, where he is transformed from a simple mortal into a man possessing miraculous powers (ability) to communicate with the spirit-world, and endowed with other unusual qualities. But in the concepts of the Selkups, although the eagle was not connected

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 133 as intimately with the supreme deity, it nevertheless appeared as a strong, radiant spirit. Judging by the term "first progenitor" it is possible that in previous times it was honored as a deity. Among the Enets, however, the eagle minley was called "son of god," "sovereign of the wind," "Keeper of the fire," "the main intermediary between people and Nga (Num), the sky spirit." According to G. D. Verbov, minley, in the concept of the Enets, could take the shape of a man. In the costume described, the attempt can be seen to portray an eagle with several wings, which corresponds to the Enets concept about "the seven-winged minley." The Enets and Nenets made an image of minley (in Nenets, yalya pya, "with seven notches") in their places of prayer. The eagle with the nest evidently is a very complex and ancient shamanistic symbol, connected with the ceremony of initiating a shaman. On the parka there is a representation of a loon (Fig. 10). The loon is a spirithelper of the lower world, and was a participant in the creation of the universe. On the loon, the shaman flew to the lower world. Allegorically, it is called pyya tudut'o, "thick-nosed." On the front of the garment, below the belt, are fastened the following pendants: fastened to a strap is a copper tube of unknown purpose, but very similar to the needlecases used in everyday life by Enets women (Fig. 11); next comes an iron ring. A length of a thick iron wire fashioned into a figure and with three iron ringlets is also attached to the strap. This pendant is reminiscent of the type of thimble used by Enets and Selkup women, and carried on the belt. It is possible that the tubular needlecase and thimble appear as typical of the female shaman's pendants, for a woman among the Samoyeds was not thought of without her sewing appurtenances. She always had them about her. They were even put into her grave. In folklore, a hero, in abducting his girl-bride, never took any of her clothing or property but without fail, he would say: "Take your sewing pouch and come with me." On the costume there is a representation of an otter (in Enets, edyudo'o; Nenets, iynuney; Selkup, ungyndy), which is also an animal of the lower world, a spirit-helper of the shaman. On the left shoulder of the parka is sewn a double figure, of a man and woman, made of sheet iron, with iron eyes riveted on it. A representation of a human figure, of the same material, is also on the right shoulder. Similar representations, but single ones, are found also on the Nganasan shaman's costume, on both shoulders. The significance of these figures has not been determined. The sleeves of the parka are somewhat narrower than in the usual cut. Strips of deer hide with sheared fur are sewn at both ends to the right and left sleeves, along the elbow side. Each strip has a length of 22 centimeters and consists of three parallel bands sewn together with flesh side uppermost. The middle one is dyed pink, the side ones black. Around the entire strip is a border of sheared deer fur with the fur showing. To one of the long sides of each strip is sewn a soft leather red-colored fringe with pieces of polar fox and squirrel fur, representing bird feathers, i.e., a wing (to). To each sleeve are fastened with two straps two iron bands of irregular shape, each with seven holes along one edge. These portray wings also, as is clearly indicated by the very name of the iron bands, to, "wing" (in Nenets, sari) (Fig. 12). But the loss of the understanding of the significance of this pendant permits, in spite of its name, an explanation of its purpose as protection from blows of hostile spirits. The same is also found on the Nganasan costume. The iron pieces found on the sleeves of the costume take the form of wide plates and are thought of as

134 Ye. D. Prokofyeva

FIGURE 10 (right). Representation of a loon (cf. Fig. 5, item 4). FIGURE 11 (left). Pendant of unknown purpose.

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 135 armor, protecting the arms from blows of hostile spirits.11 It should be noted that in the Nenets, and still more noticeably in the Nganasan costume, the bones of a bird wing on the sleeves (while retaining the name of "wing") are depicted much less realistically, more schematically, than in the Selkup costume, where there is an approximately exact representation of the bones of a bird wing, also made of iron (Fig. 13). In the State Museum of Ethnography in Leningrad, in the "Ostyak" collections, there is a Selkup shaman's costume for which the wing bones attached to the sleeves are [actually] made of bone.

FIGURE 12 (top and center). Pendants on sleeves. FIGURE 13 (bottom). Representation of a bird's wing bone on a Selkup shaman's costume.

2. Onto the sleeves of the Enets costume are sewn GLOVES12 with slits left open for withdrawing the hand (similar to the arrangement on the malitsa*}. The left glove has three fingers, symbolizing the hand of the three-fingered mythical forest creature, the monster Varuchi (Barochi). In the concepts of the Enets and Nganasans, he has one leg and one three-fingered hand ( Barochi uda, "the hand of Barochi," or Varuchi noba, "the mitten of Varuchi"). The right glove has five fingers and is called kaya uda, "the sun hand" (in Nenets yalya noba, "the sun mitten"). The fingers of the glove are open at the ends. The gloves are dyed and decorated on the back with embroidery of "bell" deer hair (pemde). The Nganasan costume has the same type of gloves, each with the same meaning; they are embroidered on the back with glass beads. According to the notes of the collector A. A. Popov, this pattern symbolizes the blood vessels of the hand. *[A shirt-like garment reaching to the knees; made of deer-skin with the fur inward. Worn under heavier furs.—Editor.]

136 Je. D. Prokofyeva Besides these gloves, Savone had several other pairs of similar appearance, but not sewn to a garment. These separate gloves were not used but were kept in her sacred sledge. They are made from the hide of a wild deer and were received by Savone as payment, or a gift of gratitude, from women patients. On the backs of the gloves are fastened imitations of the right and left hand made of copper. (See Fig. 14.)

FIGURE 14. Gloves—gifts of women patients.

The significance of the other pendants is not clear. Thus, the meaning of two "store-bought" decorations, fastened to the right and left shoulder of the garment, or the representations of human faces, twin and single, is not known. This is a substantial gap in a description of the Enets parka. 3. The BREASTPIECE of the Enets women shaman (Fig. 15) is called perosi (in Nenets, palsy a). The conventional name is oddo, "boat"13 (in Nenets, ngano). At the same time the breastpiece symbolizes the breastbone of a bird, the carina, "keel" (in Enets, peduo; Nenets, khuda). In this second meaning it shows analogies to Selkup and Ket breastpieces. In these [languages], the names for the breastpiece did not indicate a connection to the "bird" symbol (kutyn);

FIGURE 15. A shaman's breastpiece.

138 Je. D. Prokofyeva however, in thé principal ornament sewn onto the breastpiece, the breastbone of a bird (in Selkup, limbyrte) is portrayed. The conventional name of the Enets breastpiece, "boat," probably arose through association of the similarity of the prow of a boat and the breastbone of a bird; but it is possible that there is a more profound meaning to the association of a boat and a bird, one for which it is difficult to account. The decoration of the prow of a boat with representations of waterfowl is common to many peoples. The breastpiece is made of soft white deer leather of a trapezoidal form, with the sheared fur on the inside. The length of the breastpiece is 51 centimeters, its [average] width 15 centimeters (the greatest width being 26 centimeters). It is trimmed along the edges in white fur with the hair outside. The outer side

FIGURE 16. Outline of the breastbones of a bird, embroidered on a shaman's breastpiece.

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 139 of the breastpiece is dyed red, with a black strip at the edges and another bisecting it longitudinally, along the median. This central strip is intersected in four places by strips forming crosses with slightly sloping ends. The second strip from the bottom is interrupted (as is also the vertical) by a black circle. This design appears to be a portrayal of the bony part of a bird's breast. ( Figure 16 is a Selkup breastpiece of comparable design, embroidered with deer hair.) On the upper left corner of the breastpiece is a loop of deer skin, on the right a strap with an incised [fretted] copper fastener. With these the breastpiece was secured around the neck. A similar loop and fastening arrangement is found at the waist of the breastpiece. At the lower edge is sewn a soft leather fringe dyed red—the "feathers." At the lower corners bells are sewn on. The pendants fastened to the breastpiece consist of five crescent-shaped plates from 14 to 23 centimeters in length (Fig. 17). Two of them (one of iron, the other of copper) have seven projections, portraying the seven faces of seven "sky people" (nga kasa, kikho). Three pendants are of brass with stamped ornamentation.

FIGURE 17. Pendants on the breastpiece.

In the middle of the breastpiece, fastened over the black circle [vide supra], there is an iron disk with a copper [nail] head in its center. The disk and head are decorated with stamped ornamentation. The disk symbolizes the navel of the shaman (Enets, syu; Nenets, sundya).1* Below the iron disk is fastened with three straps the representation of the tawny owl (Enets, koddeo; Nenets, nanivtso). Its eyes and beak are rendered by indentations. The tawny owl (or owl) plays an important role in shamanism, appearing "as the assistant of the shaman in the struggle with evil spirits." It readily sees danger "in the dark world of evil spirits," for it sees by night better than by day; it was never killed. There is on the breastpiece a representation of a human face made of tinplate. This is poza, the spirit-protector from illness, mainly from anthrax. In addition, representations of a hatchet and small shovel made of brass are fastened to the breastpiece. The shovel is symbolic of the one with which the shaman covers his track, guarding himself from "bewitchment" by other shamans. The hatchet symbolizes the weapon with which the shaman fights his enemies. The significance of other pendants has not been determined. These are copper tubes strung on a strap, one with a ring at the open end, another with a round decoration representing a circle within which there is an eight-pointed star. [See Fig. 15.] There is also a soft leather case with an iron thimble. 4. The EYE BAND (Enets, seyde, "her eyes"; Nenets, sevdya) is made in the form of a flattened oval, with almost sharp corners, of deer hide with the flesh

140 Ye. D. Prokafyeva side out (Fig. 18). The band is dyed red and bordered in black. The outer edge of the border is trimmed with white deer fur. In the middle of the red band two half-obliterated black spots represent the eyes. At both ends of the [eye] band are sewn tie-strings of deer skin. The length of the band is 26.5 centimeters, the width 9 centimeters. During shamanizing, the band is not placed over the eyes, but attached to the parka by one of the straps. These "her eyes" [the eye band] symbolized "the eyes of the soul" of the shaman (just as did

FIGURE 18. Eye band.

the cloth placed over the face of the dead), which were capable of seeing the other world of spirits unseen by mortals (as were also the eyes of the soul of the dead). These eyes "see the road to the other world, where the shaman often goes to save stolen souls, to enter in the struggle with the evil spirits emuke, and even with Todote himself." 5. The shaman's CAP (Enets, totado) was traditionally called tay (Fig. 19). It is made of deer hide with the sheared fur inside. It looks like a diadem consisting of a headband and four strips converging at the crown of the head. The strips are ornamented with black and red lines and triangles. This design is edged with stitching in which are sewn [long] deer hairs. On the sides of the headband, under copper buttons (Enets, kobeze, "ear iron") two pairs of "earrings" are fastened to strap loops. The earrings consist of little pieces of dog and polar fox fur tied to the straps. On the front of the headband is fastened by three straps a decoration of red copper and brass consisting of a bow-shaped curved plate with nine projections, "faces" (Enets, kekho aburi). They represent the spirit-helpers of the shaman (analogous to the Selkup representations of spirit-helpers on the soft leather cap), scouts, "heavenly people, seeing into the future for the shaman."15 Onto the front of the headband is fastened an L-shaped brass projection representing "the forward point of a deer's antler" (Enets, puelyu; Nenets, puyadi). This point of an antler corresponds to the "shaman's saber" (Selkup, sompyl kita) on the Selkup iron caps of shamans. The purpose of the Enets antler and Selkup saber is the same—[a weapon] for the struggle with hostile shamans, a weapon for cutting through storm clouds. Under the iron [sic] plate, along the lower edge of the headband, over the eyes, is sewn a soft leather fringe (Enets, sey terua), which covers the eyes of the shaman. Among the Nenets shamans the fringe is replaced by a piece of material, the shaman's mask (Figs. 20, 21, and 22). It symbolizes the attributes of non-seeing and invisibility of the shaman in relation to objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, his isolation, and also the concept of his corporeal absence from the real [human] world. The same concept was manifested in Selkup shamanism by putting out

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 141

FIGURE 19. Shaman's cap.

the fire ( the shamanistic performance taking place in full darkness ) or by blindfolding. The blindfolding is explained by the investigators as being conducive to concentration by the shaman. The face, "curtained" by the fringe, the eye band, the covering of the eyes, the darkness in the tent, suggest the desire to present the idea of blindness to the surrounding world, the attributes of non-seeing and invisibility characteristic of beings of a different world, who are not seen by mortals and do not see mortals—a state in which the shamans seem to be during shamanizing. All the shamanistic concepts of the Samoyeds, and also of other peoples, present the idea that the shaman becomes a being of a different order than ordinary mortals. For instance, the shaman could not be disturbed at the time of shamanizing.

FIGURES 20-22. Masks of a Nenets shaman.

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 143 Anyone violating this taboo would fall ill and, might even die. Why? Not because the shaman is "impure," but because he is a being of a different world at that moment. The Khanty, Mansi, and Selkup shamans, as well as all spirits, "fear" metal. During the performance, the shaman sat on a box from which all metal objects had to be withdrawn, be it but a needle. The presence of metal pendants on the costumes does not contradict the above. Metal pendants appear comparatively late, as an overlay on earlier shamanistic beliefs (such as the fear of metal) but do not dislodge that fear completely. A confirmation of this is seen in the simultaneous presence on the Selkup and Enets costumes of representations of the same spirit-helpers in embroidery or paint and also in iron or copper, and in the existence among the Selkups of a now disused soft leather costume with painted images of the spirit-helpers and without a single metal pendant. Finally, during the period of initiation, novice shamans used paraphernalia without iron pendants. In this article we are not ready to present exhaustive verification of the above; the question demands careful study. But one thing is clear: the study of shamans' costumes, their development in regard to the depictions of spirit-helpers, offers rich material for the study of the stadial development of shamanistic religious concepts. The costumes are live, palpable books, in which it is possible to read the history of the development of shamanism. 6. The shaman's BOOTS (Enets, pimy; Nenets, pivy) are made of deer hide with the fur inside (Fig. 23). The fur is closely trimmed. The soles are also made of sheared deer fur. Onto the rim of the upper part of each boot, at the front, are sewn thin straps for tying the boots to the belt. In the middle part there are two straps for tying the boot under the knee. The right boot is called kaya fe, "the boot of the sun." On the front and sides are painted straight vertical black stripes. At the level of the knee, the middle strips expands into a circle. All tracings on the boot are trimmed with long deer hair [from underneath the animal's neck]. The tracings depict the bones of the leg. At knee-level are fastened two metallic circular plates. These plates depict the bones of the knee joint, the kneecap. Below the knee, along the middle of the boot top, is fastened a rounded bar of iron, 27 centimeters long, with its lower part broadened and cut out in the shape of a deer hoof, i.e., the entire bar represents a deer leg with hoof. The bar is ornamented and has filler of red copper and brass. The design (Fig. 24), in the flattened middle portion, represents the bone marrow of the leg bone (Enets, khevo). The left boot is called Varuchi fe (Barochi f e ) , "the boot of the forest spiritmonster." On the central part of the boot top there is painted a black vertical stripe, 1 centimeter wide, beginning at the knee with a black circle. This tracing also is edged with long deer hair. At knee level, fastened one atop the other, are three metal disks evidently depicting the bones of the knee. The differentiation of the right and left hands, the right and left legs, the difference between the figures on the right and left shoulders, imply a division of the shaman's costume (and consequently the image [which he represents] into a bright, "sun" side and dark, barochi, "monster" side. A similar division is perceived also in the Selkup costume and the religious concepts of the Selkups. But there the division occurs in a different plane. The upper part of the costume, from the waist up, is light, the lower part is dark. On the upper part are the representations "of the spirits of the bright world" and the costume is trimmed with deer fur. On the lower part are representations of "the spirits of the dark world" and

FIGURE 23. Shaman's boots.

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 145

FIGURE 24. Representation of the tibial bone marrow.

the trimming (for instance, on boots) is done with bear fur. The same occurs also on the drums. The upper part is the "sky world," the lower part is the "entrance to the dark world." This explains the images (among the Selkups) of mythical beings who guard the dwellings of "the powerful old woman" (ylynda kota). These are two half-ragged bears. They are ragged up to the waist, i.e., they are half-bears. This recalls the concept of the Selkups that the bear was once a man, and that man also now lives in the bear. Here, then, we have the concept of half-man, half-bear. Because great significance is attached to the exact definition of the various halves of the body, the Selkup language contains two terms for "half": one expressing a longitudinal half, pelak, the other a transversal (upper or lower) hah0, kesh ( t y ) . The origin of such a division possibly arose from the peculiar ideas about the physiological functions of the upper and lower parts of the body. The head, eyes, heart, and lungs, the most important and "clean" organs, are all

146 Ye. D. Prokofyeva

FIGURE 25. Platform made of salmón trout [carvings].

FIGURE 26. Representation of a salmon trout.

in the upper part of the body. The excretory and sexual organs are "unclean" and are in the lower part of the body. The division into right and left sides is expressed in the Selkup costume rather weakly. Thus, the breastpiece and drum have the image of the sun on the right, the moon on the left. On the obverse side of the drum, there are sometimes drawings depicting reindeer on the right half, and bears on the left. In this way, the drum as well as the Enets shaman's costume is divided into a right side, that of the sun and light, and a left, dark side (the bear is an animal of the 'lower world"). 7. In addition to the costume kept in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography there is also a small PLATFORM or plank seat: in Enets, naro'o; Nenets, naro (Fig. 25). The platform served the shaman as a seat at the time of shamanizing. It consists of seven wooden representations of salmon trout (Enets, teyi; Nenets, nyangekhey). The fish are made of spruce (or birch) and each is 62 centimeters in length. Through each holes are drilled. Thongs are passed through these holes and secured with knots. The width of the platform (with straps) is 47.5 centimeters. During the shamanizing the heads of the fish are always turned towards the fire. Similar fish, made of wood and also usually depicting salmon trout (Fig. 26), were used by the shaman during his treatment of the sick. During the shamanizing the shaman touches the patient with such a fish and strikes him lightly. The representation of a fish in the role of a spirit-helper during shamanistic rites is rare. All the clothes and paraphernalia of a male shaman among the Enets were sewn by his wife in accordance with his instructions. It is not known whether the process of sewing was accompanied by specific rituals. It is only known that the deer [the skin of which was used] for the clothing was killed by the shaman

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 147 himself. The woman who made the clothes had to be in a "clean" period. Having sewn the clothes, the wife of the shaman usually concealed them not far from the tent. The shaman had to find them. While he looked for them he was very "worried." If a [novice] shaman was looking for the clothes for the first time, and did not find them, he could not, as a rule, become a shaman. For the female shaman, the clothes were sewn by another woman instructed by the female shaman. These clothes were not hidden. Among the Enets, the male and female shamans not only did not sew their shamanistic clothes themselves, but also never made images of the spirits (syadey), drums, and any other things that had to do with shamanistic rituals. Others always did this, according to instructions from the shaman. The representation of the spirits, the wooden parts of the drum, its painting, and the fashioning of the metal pendants were always done by men. The stretching of the hide onto the drum frame and the trimming were done by women. Among the Nenets (according to information from G. D. Verbov), a young shaman could make his own drum if he knew how. According to G. N. Prokofyev, the Nenets shamans of the Bolshezemelskaya [Big Land] Tundra and Yamal peninsula always made their own drums. The deer from the hide of which the drum was made was sacrificed to the principal god of the category to which the shaman belonged. A vydutana shaman (Nenets and Enets, budtode) sacrificed to the supreme deity Numu, a dijano or sambana shaman (Enets, savode) sacrificed to an evil god. If a young Nenets shaman did not know how to make a drum for himself, then another shaman made it for him. After a new shaman's costume was made, smoke was blown on it. There is no information regarding a ceremony of "vivification" of parts of the costume and drum among the Nenets and Enets. 8. The DRUM was an indispensable attribute for shamans of all categories. In Enets it was called peddi, in Nenets, penzer, pender (Fig. 27). However, the drum was rarely called by these terms. For the drum and the most esteemed animals, there were a number of substitute names which alone were used in everyday speech.16 For the drum these are the following: (1) kharv nyn (Nenets) and kamo iddo (Enets), "the larch bow"; (2) Nuv'nyn (Nenets), na iddo (Enets), "the sky bow"; (3) minutya pya (Nenets), "the curved tree"; (4) kharv pud tayomaav, "the covered hoop of the larch," and others. In the substitute names for the drum, the bow is often mentioned, while the semantics of the [word for] drum do not coincide with this terminology. The shape of the drum is round. Its frame is made usually of larchwood; this is reflected in the substitute names 'larch bow," "the larch-covered hoop." The drum of the female shaman Savone is covered (because it was intended for a woman-shaman) with the hide of a doe. The "male" drums of the Enets are covered with the hide of a buck. For covering the drum, they took the forward section of the dorsal part of the deer hide (Nenets, pirbya), without the neck. The skin was prepared in the following manner. First it was soaked in water, then rolled into a tube and exposed to the sun for some time. The hair fell out easily. After it was scraped clean, a piece of desired shape was cut out. In the center of the piece a coin or small metal disk was tied. After the drum was covered, the coin or disk was removed, leaving a slack, so that with a rise of temperature the drum would not split. Then the drum was dried in the sun and finally the drying of it was finished on the hearth poles (ti). Among the Nenets the drum was not always covered with the hide of a wild

148 líe. D. Prokofyeva

FIGURE 27. Drum.

deer. Sometimes they used the hide of a domesticated young buck or doe, but they never used the hide of an aged deer or castrated deer. The deer for the drum could be offered for sacrifice by a patient or taken by the shaman from his own herd. On the frame are fastened wooden lugs (Nenets, khenor'-nytor; Enets, dervadervi, "the one who pulls the bowstring"), which permit tighter stretching of the drum skin. Only among the shamans of the category of vydutana (Nenets) or budtode (Enets), instead of wooden derva (kheinntor), bear teeth are used. On Savone's drum there are eight lugs. Generally their number is not limited or defined. The outer edge of the drum between the lugs is called in Enets figuratively dedi (Nenets, yen), "bowstring." The slack inside edge of the drumskin is perforated with many small openings, through which a thin cord made of twisted deer sinews is stretched. At the very rim of the frame, this inside edge is fastened to the frame with a thick, double thread, sewn through the frame. Inside the drum is fastened a crosspiece (Enets, neychinda), consisting of four pieces of iron wire, the distal ends of which are fastened to the frame with small thongs. In each of the four sections formed by the crosspieces shaped wire loops ( on Savone's drum one had been lost) with pendants are fastened to the

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 149 frame. The crosspieces serve as a handle. The significance of the shaped wire loops is as follows: two of them are symbols for the femur bones of a deer (Enets, siode; Nenets, syudi), and the other two the haunches of a young buck, (Enets, modyuggy; Nenets, monzang). The drumhead is covered inside and out with drawings in red and black colors. These are rather faded and consist of: a large circle (Enets, dya boko; Nenets, yavar, "the edge of the earth"), protrusions (Enets, dya makha, Nenets, yya makha, the "spine of the earth"), the sun (Enets, kayo), and the moon (Enets, yirio). There are [also] representations of nga kasa, the "sky people." The width of the drum is 32 centimeters, its length 41 centimeters, and the height at the frame is 7 centimeters. Nenets drums have a somewhat rounder shape and differ from those of the Enets mainly in the construction of the inner parts. Instead of the crosspieces, the Nenets drum had a wooden handle, a crosspiece bifurcated at the upper end (Nenets, nyamorts'), made of any kind of wood. Between the points of the bifurcation, jingle bells were hung. The shaman's first drum was given to him seven years after the first night of apprenticeship (dedication). It differed from the drums of old shamans by the absence of the iron pendants and bells. Several years after the presentation of the first drum, the old shaman-teacher tried out the drum of his student and usually ordered him to obtain a new drum—one with pendants. After ten years of shamanizing with this drum (or with the one obtained at the direction of the teacher), after he attained the title of "wise," "learned," the [novice] shaman had the right to order his own drum independently without the direction of his teacher. If the shaman died, his drum remained in the family and could be used, for instance, by his youngest son. At other times, after the death of a shaman the drum was put in a sacred place, after it was first pierced. Sometimes only the pierced skin of the drum was put in the sacred place, while the frame was preserved in the sacred sledge and a new drum was made with it when a new shaman, who had received the shamanistic gift as a legacy from the dead one, appeared in the family. The Enets shamans of the budtode category often had two drums: one for shamanizing to the "upper world," the other for the "lower world." The first drum was called nano peddi, "the sky drum," the second dyano pedal, "the earth drum." The latter appeared to be a required item of a shaman of the dyano category who shamanized in the "world below." Shamans of the dyano and savode categories naturally never owned a nano peddi. Shamans of the budtode category, during treatment of the sick, began with dyano peddi, as the illness of a man "depended" on Todote or amuke, "Who lived in the lower world and answered only to the call of dyano peddi." Only when the sick person began to recover, i.e., when "the evil influence of Todote was broken and stopped," the budtode [shaman] took nano peddi, "the sky drum," and shamanized to the "upper world" and the "sky god," whom he asked "to blow away with a heavenly wind from the convalescent the unclean breath of this [evil] spirit." Thus shamans of the budtode category were able to fulfill the tasks of dyano shamans. Some of the Nenets who were not shamans had in their sacred sledges drums for the occasions of visits of shamans of the budtode category, but did not shamanize themselves. Besides shamanistic drums, the Nenets and Enets made the so-called kekho peddi ( Enets ) or khekhe penzer ( Nenets ). These are, properly, symbols of the drums of the "sky" shamans, whose representatives appear to be the "earth"

150 Je. D. Prokofyeva shamans. The dimensions of these drums were smaller than those of the usual [shaman] drums and they were carelessly made. They were never used for shamanizing and were kept in the sacred sledge. From this account it follows that the semantics of the Enets shaman's drum is different from that of the Selkup drum. The complex semantics of the Selkup drum expressed, in the main, the idea of a drum as a living deer (revived by a lengthy ceremony). With the Enets drum the idea of a drum-deer (in the information at our disposal) is conveyed very weakly. In the [substitute] name for the drum, "bow," and the names for the parts of the drum, "bowstring" and others, are preserved traces of the use of the bow as one of the attributes of the shaman. This ties in with the belief expressed by L. P. Potapov that, prior to the use of the drum, the primary "instrument" during a shamanistic performance was the bow. In Enets shamanism the idea of the drum as a symbol of the universe is advanced more clearly. Naming parts of the drum (drawings) "the edge of the earth" and "the spine of the earth," the presence on the drum of the "sun" and "moon" and even "the sky-people," expresses this. Evidently, the idea of the drum as a symbol of the universe is present not only in Selkup and Ket shamanism, but as we shall see, also in eastern Samoyedic groups ( and judging by the existing terminology, also among the Nenets) and the Altayans. The use of the drum during shamanizing among the Enets and Nenets differs little from its use among the Selkups. At the start of the performance, the shaman's helper (Nenets, teltana) heated the drum, and put it on a crossbeam of the hearth poles, ti. Then, at a sign from the shaman, he sat down to the left of it. The shaman, at the time of the performance, sat at the simzy,17 in the place which the Enets call si, facing the fire. No one sat behind him. He sat on the platform, and while the helper heated the drum, he [the shaman] put on the costume. The helper, after testing the sound of the drum, gave it to the shaman. The shaman took the drum with his left hand, with the right he gave the drum the first halting, hesitant blows, the summons. The first part of the performance began—"the call of the spirits." Hearing the call of the master, the spirit-helpers assembled, flew down, met him, sat on the belt of his costume, inside the drum (the obverse side), and hovered over the tent. At the arrival of each principal spirit, the shaman gave a strong blow on the drum and announced: "(My) friend has arrived." Whenever the shaman took in hand some other shamanistic object (for instance, images of fish or the staff),18 or when he performed a "miracle," the drum was passed to the hands of the helper, who beat it. After the performance, the drum was wrapped in a piece of cloth and placed in the sacred sledge until the next performance. Among the Nenets and Enets shamanizing was always done with the fire burning. Shamanizing in "the dark tent" (without fire), similar to that of the Selkups, was not known to the Enets and Nenets. 9. The DRUMSTICK (Enets, peto'o; Nenets, pengabts) was usually made of birch (Fig. 28). It is slightly curved. On the handle a representation of a head is carved, with incisions depicting the eyes and mouth. This is kua kaza, "the birchman," the spirit of the drumstick. On the narrow handle are seven transverse notches, symbolizing the windpipe of kua-kasa* (Enets, kuggida; Nenets, khunguda). The back of the drumstick is painted red and decorated with black *[The variable spelling kua kaza and kua kasa appears in the original.—Editor.]

FIGURE 28 ( l e f t ) . Drumstick. FIGURE 29 ( center). Bag for shamanistic paraphernalia. FIGURE 30 ( right). Representation of the "father" and "mother" of fire.

152 Ye. D. Prokofyeva narrow stripes, symbolizing the branches of the birch (Enets, kualyu; Nenets, khomo ). On the convex side of the drumstick are glued strips of hide from the forehead of a wild buck. The length of the drumstick is 27 centimeters, its width 7.5 centimeters. Among the Nenets it was made of the same material as the drum frame—larch. It is covered with the hide from the forehead of a male deer calf. The head (of the "master" of the drumstick) was greased, that is, "it was fed" before a performance. In Savone's collection there is also a special bag in which she usually put and kept her shamanistic paraphernalia (Fig. 29). It is made of deer hide of light color (from the leg). The upper edge of the bag is bordered with a strip of soft leather, 5.5 centimeters wide. The bag is tied with two pairs of thongs. Besides the objects belonging to the costume of Savone, which have just been described, there are in the collection of G. D. Verbov shamanistic objects not directly associated with the costume, but which [also] belonged to Savone, having come to her through inheritance from her shaman-mother "along with the shamanistic gift." These objects were used by Savone during shamanizing. Among them is a piece of ermine fur, which she used for frightening the diseasespirits. Savone also received, through inheritance from her mother, a figure called in the Enets language sedu or tuyatoma (Fig. 30). It was kept in the tent and not in the sacred sledge. It is similar to a two-headed representation of tu nisya and tu nebya ( Nenets for "father of fire" and "mother of fire"), i.e. such figures existed also among the Nenets. Savone's mother made this figure for her tent long ago, in the year during which an epidemic of smallpox raged among the Enets. Many Enets died, among them also the relatives of Savone's mother who had lived in her tent. In order that "the fire in the tent does not die out," i.e., that death would not take all, that someone would remain "to keep the fire," Savone's mother called for help from the protector-spirit of the tent fire, the "father" and "mother" of the fire. She kept this figure all her life, and it then passed on to Savone. Savone also had a metal representation of a crane (Nenets, khokhorey; Enets, dyadu), "the sky bird," the protector of her shaman-mother. According to the notes of Verbov, these objects were not sold to him with the costume, probably for the same reason that the Selkup shaman keeps his hereditary pendants on the drum and parka, since according to shamanistic beliefs, in selling them or giving them away, he loses not part of the costume or its ornaments, but the very spirit-protectors received by him from his father, mother, or grandfather. According to the report of Verbov the Enets costumes of male shamans did not differ from those of the female shaman either in cut or in principal pendants. As a general rule, the number of pendants on the Samoyed shaman's costume (and also on the drums) is not defined. Each shaman who had the right to [wear] pendants used the amount he wanted. The representations of the chief "helpers" of the shamans—the loon, crane, eagle, otter, deer—are of the one type, and variations were not permitted. On the male costumes there were often pendants of ganno oddo, "the sky bow" (Nenets, nuv'nyn). (See Fig. 31.) The shamans of the highest category had also a staff or wand (Fig. 32), which was forged of iron. At the tip of the handle a face was depicted—the "master" of the staff. The lower end usually was fashioned like a deer hoof. The staff was used by shamans for treatment of the sick and for "conducting the souls of the

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 153

FIGURE 31. Pendant on a shaman's parka, a "sky bow".

dead to the next world," i.e., in all instances in which the shaman was faced with taking the "road to the lower world," especially when there was the prospect of "crossing the icy road, separating the visible world from the lower, invisible world." There, "it is cold, and the shaman went bent forward, covering his face with the handle of the staff so that the cold wind hit the face of the spirit-master of the staff." It is possible that this explanation is of later origin. Perhaps herein lies the desire "to deceive the spirits populating the lower world," who "would not permit a living shaman into their world, who would attack him." For, "the living must not penetrate the spirit world unpunished." This motif is very often encountered in folklore. "Penetrating into a different world," the Samoyed (Nenets or Selkup) hero, a living man, deceives "the spirits, the inhabitants of a different world," by displaying a knowledge of magical words, and an ability "to eat the food of the beings of another world," and so on, i.e., all "characteristics of the spirits, and with these he earns their trust." "The icy road" (the lifeless one), which according to the beliefs of the Enets lies between "the different world" and our earth, appears as a boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead. At the end of this road, the shaman penetrates into the land "where the dead ride around in copper boats." Confirmation of the idea expressed by us regarding the protecting of the face with that of the staff's spirit-master no doubt requires further investigation. The [present] extreme poverty and sketchy nature of the materials on Enets and Nenets shamanism does not offer the possibility of doing this. The role of the Enets staff was similar to that of the Selkup shaman's staff. According to the beliefs of the Selkups, the shaman's staff was principally his "tree of life," but at the same time it served as a true staff, that is, to help the shaman during the time "of the dangerous journey to the other world, the world of the ancestors." In Selkup shamanistic beliefs there is no icy road, and the staff serves the shaman during his "passage through the mountains and ravines which constitute the border between the world of the living and the world of the ancestors." During a performance, the shaman at the appropriate moment laid the drum on the hearth poles or gave it to the helper, who beat on it. The shaman himself

154 Je. D. Prokofyeva

FIGURE 32. Shaman's staff.

arose, took the staff, and jumped about the fire. This use indicates an independent significance for the staff, which at times replaced the drum as an equivalent attribute. As already mentioned, the lower end of the staff looks like a hoof, i.e., it preserves traces of a zoomorphic concept of the staff, it is an animal-staff, possibly a deer-staff. In other instances, when the shaman manipulated other shamanistic objects (fish, pieces of cloth, lobiche, and so on) his helper always continued beating the drum, i.e., the drum did not cease to participate in the performance, and was not replaced by other objects being han-

The Costume of an Enets Shaman 155 died by the shaman. We think it imperative to study the staff and the drum, these extremely complex and important attributes in the shamanism of Samoyed groups, that is, the Nenets, Enets, and Selkups. The definition and understanding of their significance may give us a picture of the different stages in the development of Samoyed shamanistic beliefs and a picture of the relationship of Samoyed shamanism with that of other peoples of Siberia. During the time of the Soviet state, the economy and way of life in the tundra, that of the Nenets, Enets, and other peoples who populated the [Soviet] Far North, have been altered radically. In the collectives in the tundra, Enets, Nenets, and Nganasan groups work amicably shoulder to shoulder. The process of consolidation of small groups of Samoyed peoples is progressing rapidly together with the growth of their culture—national in form, socialist in content. Shamanism, rites and beliefs in spirits associated with it, have been relegated to the remote past. However, the study of shamanism of Siberian peoples, of this birthmark of the departing past, must be carried on. In our article we have lightly touched on the question of shamanism and have given only a short description of the Enets costume of a female shaman. Further study of shamanism will not only provide valuable information for the history of the development of religion, but will also equip us with materials which may be used for a more successful struggle against religious prejudice, which is still preserved here and there among the Enets and other Samoyed groups, and thus will further speed the process of their cultural growth.

Notes and References 1. D. K. Anuchin, K istorii oznakomleniya s Sibiryu do Yermaka (Knowledge of Siberia prior to the time of Yermak), Trudy Moskovskogo arkheologicheskogo obshchestva, Moscow, 1890, p. 230. 2. This costume is in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Academy of Sciences in the U.S.S.R. in Leningrad, collection no. 5706. Besides the shaman's costume, the collection includes also shamanistic objects which belonged to Savone— representations of spirits and a shaman's staff. All objects are in an excellent state of preservation. 3. It is interesting that the Enets considered Ket and Selkup shamans of higher and stronger standing than their own shamans, and in special cases turned to them. The Nenets, however, recognized the shamans of the Enets as the strongest. About the best Nenets shamans it would be said: "He is a real mando tadebya"—"He is a real Enets shaman." 4. She "treated" the sick. The "rates" of pay for her "work" are interesting. Thus, in the 1930's Nikolay Gavrilovich Yamkin (from the settlement of lyriku), being ill, called Savone. For one visit Savone demanded from him a prime bull and "his last shirt." 5. Sometimes it is made from the hide of a fawn. 6. On the left bank of the Yenisey and farther to the west there are no garments in which the outer stitching is embellished with deer neck hair. On the right bank of the Yenisey and further to the east such a method of sewing is widespread among the Nenets, Enets, and Nganasans, not only for shaman's garments, but also for everyday clothing. According to the Nenets women, this way of sewing makes the seams warmer [i.e.] impenetrable to the wind. For the same reason, the Nenets pad [reinforce] the

156 Ye. D. Prokofyeva seam with cloth. Moreover, colored cloth also serves as decoration. Is it not likely that the ancient method of padding seams with deer neck-hair was later replaced by cloth padding? 7. Soot mixed with sturgeon glue (or other fish glue) was used for black dye. For a red color they used charred rotten wood (drift or deadwood with sulphur). The wood was burnt, the charcoal mixed with glue. Another way of obtaining a red color was from red swampy soil ("rusty earth"). This was dried, burned, and then mixed with glue. The pink color came from a mineral—"red stone." 8. The budtode shaman could shamanize also in the lower world. In the lower world there are also spirit-birds: loons, tawny owls, and others. The crosspieces of polar fox fur also indicate the possibility that spirits from the lower world gather there. It is the fox which the shaman uses to go down to the lower world. 9. Ye. D. Prokofyeva, Selkupskiy shamanskiy kostyum (The Selkup shaman's costume), Sbornik MAE, vol. 12, 1949. 10. Among the Enets the eagle was called allegorically minley, but its name libbe was so strictly tabooed that only a few Nenets and Enets connected the name minley with the eagle. Among the Selkups the eagle is called allegorically vark kutyl suryp, "the large-winged bird," or ezenyl suryp, "the ancestor bird," "the primordial bird"; the real name libbe was not uttered. 11. It is possible that here there is no difference between the image and its interpretation, for the bones of the skeleton are recognized as the most important part of the animal body as its "protection." 12. In the Enets language there is no word for "glove," but there is a word for "mitten" (noba). In translating we do not use the word "mitten" since, according to their cut, these are gloves, i.e., they have fingers. 13. Cf. Selkup anti, addu, addoka, "boat" (the Taz, Ob, and Ket river dialects, respectively). 14. According to the ancient traditions of the Enets, a special bone is located in the navel; as man reaches old age it becomes brittle. When this small bone breaks, the person will surely die. 15. Among the Selkups they were called just this, "the forward-looking sky-people." 16. Several substitute names existed for the bear. The brown bear was considered more sacred than the polar bear. The substitute names were recommended for use at home, in the tent, and had to be used during the hunt and especially during an encounter with a bear. The following names 'were used [for the brown bear]: (1) nedaray, "wood master"; (2) paneka paridya, "the black-clad"; (3) khebydya, "the sacred." For the polar bear they were (1) ser'khebydya, "the white sacred"; (2) yyavy, seryyavy. The general term for bear is vark. There were substitute names also for the wolf, used in the same circumstances; the general term, which was not used, is sarmik. The substitute names are: (1) pikhinya yyadertya; (2) nyleka, "the evil spirit"; (3) teva yyamb, "the long-legged"; (4) vesako, "the old one"; (5) yik nyanota-, (6) buró (in a comic sense, like a nickname of a dog; (7) tym khanonda, "the deer-killer," and so on. Also there existed substitute names for the arctic fox and for pinnipeds, except the seal. 17. The main pole in the tent on which were hung the crossbeams with usually hooks for the suspension of the kettle and teapot. 18. Sometimes shamans (in particular, the Enets female shaman Savone) used the so-called lobiche. This consisted of two or three rags sewn into a bundle. Usually they were brought from "a sacred place," having been torn off the garment khekhe syadeya. Savone's lobiche was brought from the region of Kakha makha. The shaman waved these rags over the sick, "creating a sacred wind which chased away the evil spirit from the sick."

A. F. ANISIMOV

COSMOLOGICAL CONCEPTS OF THE PEOPLES OF THE NORTH* Foreword MATERIAL PRODUCTION by its very essence is indivisibly linked with the conscious activity of man, for the laws of the external world from the very beginning have been for man an objective basis for the development of the processes of labor, and labor has, from the beginning, developed as a goal-setting activity of social man.1 In altering and adapting objects of nature for the satisfaction of his needs, man uses the properties of these objects in order to make them act in accordance with his goal.2 The invention and application of the tools of labor presuppose a practical acquaintance not only with the essential substance of nature, but also with the results of individual practically useful acts. Cognitive activity, however, is not only practical acquaintance, but also generalization and, in addition, creative application of the acquired knowledge in the course of solving vitally important problems. Cognitive activity was a natural necessity for society, for only under this indispensable condition was the development of social production possible. The author has written another work on this subject,3 which should be regarded as the first part of the work now being presented. In it, while studying the processes of the social-historical development of primitive mentality expressed in the remains [constructs] of material culture and language, we were also concerned with questions of the most ancient pre-religious views of primitive man; therefore, we shall not concern ourselves with this set of questions on nature in the present study. The object of our attention in the work at hand is the other side of this problem, namely, the primitive-idealistic concepts of primordial man concerning nature, conditioned by the socially simple level of development of labor [division] and consciousness among primitive peoples. At all times and under all conditions nature has been to man the immediate field of productive activity. The need to understand fully the surrounding world, to grasp the immediate meaning of nature, to represent it to oneself as an understandable picture of life—this striving and natural need led to the development of definite social concepts about nature. Being limited in his opportunities, primitive man could not grasp cognitively through experience all of nature. The labor practices of societies of that time could not discover causal links among the phenomena of nature, just as they could not fully refute the possibility of errors and deceit in this sphere. Nevertheless, the need to understand the objective chain of causation, overtly discerned by experience, evidently became more and more urgent for man, because the * [Originally published in book form, under the title Kosmologicheskiye predstavleniya narodov-Severa (Moscow-Leningrad, Izd-vo Akademiya nauk SSSR, 1959).]

158 A. F. Anisimov success of production for his material well-being depended to a large extent upon the condition of his surroundings. In these attempts to make sense out of nature, i.e., to imagine it as an understandable picture of life, the "intuition" of primitive man inevitably had to reach beyond the limit of his experiences [in order] to substitute imagined reasons for real ones. Under the impact of the feeling of impotence in regard to nature, the imagination of primitive man inevitably inclined towards illusory generalizations, endowing an object with supernatural powers. Oppressed by this feeling, the reasoning of primitive man lost its materialistic orientation, and his creative fancy, [although] oriented by experience to the knowledge of his objective world, transferred itself from real life to the world of the supernatural. The concepts of the supernatural, which arose as a direct emotional expression of the feeling of impotence of primitive man before nature, filled it with an imaginary world of spiritsmythical "first causes" and supernatural manipulators of nature. These mythological attempts by primitive man to gain an understanding of the world that surrounded him, to imagine it as an intelligible picture of life, we term in our work "primitive cosmological concepts" (from the Greek kosmos, "universe," and logos, "concept," "teaching"). As a process of an ideological reflection of social existence, the cosmological concepts of primitive man had to correspond to the stage of historical development of his society. Because they reflect this progressive movement of society, cosmological concepts had to develop historically, that is, "develop as a part of all existing concepts and subject them to further processing."4 But how and in what form this process took place under the conditions of primitive society, we still do not know exactly. Too little has been done in this field of research, and there is a complex of problems which must be studied in order to reconstruct scientifically the primtive's view of the world. So far, the achievements in this field have been made possible only as a result of joint efforts of several disciplines concerned with the study of primitive society, such as ethnography, archaeology, folklore studies, and others. In this work we are attempting to approach the study of these questions through the ethnographic materials. However, it is not our intention to study every form and variant of the cosmological concepts recorded by ethnographers among the various peoples of the earth. Such a goal might well result in an amorphous descriptive compilation, for it scarcely would be possible at the present stage to encompass all the material and to generalize upon it theoretically. In order to generalize about the material theoretically it must first be studied comprehensively from a historical point of view and this can be done only in the presence of solidly based ethnographic accounts of societies. Only in this way is it possible to discover the historical links concerning specific fundamental questions, i.e., to reconstruct the process of development in its different phases. Our investigation, on the stated levels, will be limited to the territory of Siberia. Principally our attention will be directed to ethnographic data on the peoples of the Siberian North, those known in the literature under the general term of the Peoples of the North. Before the Russians came to Siberia at the beginning of the 17th century, the small tribes of the contemporary peoples of the North were at a stage of primitive clan society. Tsarist colonial policy helped preserve this backwardness, dooming the peoples of the North to gradual extinction, as a result of which they continued to preserve, down to the Soviet era, many characteristic features of primitive, communal structure. Some of them nomadized over the broad expanses of

Cosmólogical Concepts 159 the taiga and tundra, occupied in hunting and reindeer breeding; others lived a seminomadic life along the banks of Siberian rivers and along the shores of the seas, fishing and hunting on dry land or fishing and hunting sea mammals—the seal, walrus, and whale. Because of the low development of the productive forces, failure in fishing and hunting, impoverishment, and starvation were inevitable and frequent occurrences in their lives. It often happened that all the efforts of man were not enough to wrench from raw nature the necessary bit of food. It is no accident that in Chukchi folklore one often encounters a portrayal of a fairy-tale dream, in the form of a miraculous piece of meat, from which one only had to nibble a tiny bit in order to be satisfied, and, the longer one chewed the meat, the larger it grew inside the mouth. The social concepts of these aboriginal dwellers of the North reached no farther than the clan and the tribe; the clantribal structures were reflected in the forms of their social awareness, and through these forms it consolidated itself in the social life. Elements of patriarchal slavery, and later those of social and economic inequality, gradually destroyed the ancient clan world, but it continued for a very long time in the forms of social awareness. During the Soviet period, the peoples of the North have become builders of a socialist society on equal footing. Because of the flexible forms of the [Communist] party's policy in regard to nationalities these peoples have been united with the Soviet structure and socialist culture, passing from clan society directly to socialism. As a result of the cultural revolution and the socialist reconstruction of the economy and the everyday life of these peoples, the archaic elements presented in this work have almost completely disappeared. The ethnographic materials of the peoples of the North provide the investigator with a highly valuable source for the study of historical problems of primitive society, including those of the primitive's view of the world. In order to see through this material the primitive state, concealed from us by the centuries that have passed, it is necessary to examine them retrospectively. This method of historical analysis of ethnographic materials, which we use consistently in our work, should now be explained briefly. Like the majority of the peoples called "primitive" in the ethnographies, the peoples of the North whom we have studied were not primitive in the true meaning of the word. Each of the elements of their culture was the result of a long process of development, receding with scarcely perceptible steps into the misty antiquity of outlived forms. Through the living chain of succeeding generations this antiquity came to us in its ethnographic setting as historical monuments of the gradual development of society, reflected in the forms of local historical process. Yet these monuments are only the vestiges of primitive life surviving ethnographically, but not the misty antiquity itself, that is, they are far removed in time from the present-day ethnographically surviving forms. However, if we are to study the ethnographic material by the method indicated, then in these forms, modified over time, we can discover to some extent the basic ties of their historical relationship. By following the traces to the sources of the phenomenon being studied, we can reconstruct scientifically the process of development in its various phases. Analysis in this case must, of necessity, become an attempt to account for origins; however, the comparative method, within the limits of this genetic account, will serve as a verification of the conclusions by way of juxtaposition and confirmation of the individual phases of development, mostly by use of other materials, basically from societies whose stages of development are close to the one in question.

160 A. F. Anisimov In following this method of stadial interpretation of the ethnographic material, we have taken as the basis of our study the concrete society of the Evenks,5 and from it we have moved to other sources. While the final chapter is somewhat independent, it is on the whole closely linked with the complex of questions under examination. It is concerned with a problem we regard as very important—the interrelations of the primitive's rational and illusory views of nature. In conclusion it should be noted that this work does not pretend to resolve all these complex and little-studied problems. It will only pose them as a problem, perhaps arousing others to continue from our beginnings, and to do this far better than the writer of these lines.

Chapter I Forms of ideology arise and develop as a reflection of man's awareness of the conditions of the material life in his society. In reflecting these conditions, these forms necessarily adjust to changes in the economic structure of a society. In their historical development, while linked with all of the existing concepts, the forms of ideology modify further the concepts that preceded them, in reaction to changes in the social mien. By preserving continuously a number of concepts, gathered during earlier epochs, they provide a truly objective criterion for the reconstruction of the dynamic process of their development in the various phases. Clear evidence of this process are the cosmological concepts of the Evenks, especially their mythological views of the worlds of the universe, which are arranged on a vertical plane, one above the other, and thus are called upper, middle, and lower. Judging by these concepts, a member of a clan society was affirming by his clan awareness his real, actual social life, and thus the forms of his social awareness preserved fully discernible traces of the various phases of development of clan society. These traces appear most expressively in the mythological concepts of the Evenks regarding the so-called "upper world" of the universe. The upper world, or ugu buga (ugu, "upper"; buga "world,""universe,"'land"), the Evenks imagined to be similar to the land inhabited by people. According to their mythological concepts about this, the life of the sky-dwellers was conceived of as analogous to that of the Evenks. Among the inhabitants of the upper world, first place was taken by the powerful supreme spirits, masters of the phenomena and elements of nature, of the taiga, animals, and people. Everything that pertained to people belonged to the deity Amaka, and everything that pertained to the taiga, to Eksheri (literary form, Ekseri).6 According to the concepts of the Evenks, Amaka gave people the domesticated reindeer, taught them how to use fire, invented the tools with which they worked, and created everything else which is on the earth. In the concepts of the Evenks he was depicted as an anthropomorphic being: a very old man dressed in resplendent fur clothing. On his succulent, mossy pastures countless herds of domesticated reindeer pastured, while in storehouses in the midst of the taiga lay treasures of copper, gold, and silver. Eksheri, in his turn, was recognized as the supreme master of animals, birds, fish, the taiga, and correspondingly, he was the "holder" of their threads of life, their fates: If Eksheri breaks this thread of life, the majestic peak of a cliff topples

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in a heap of stones; if he breaks another, the tree dries up to its roots; if a third, an animal or a bird dies in the taiga, or a fish in the water. If this were not so, the Evenks say, animals would not die, the roots of trees would not dry out, the high points of cliffs would not fall. The Evenks believed that all the local spirit-rulers of hills, rivers, streams, and taigas were subject to him. Eksheri was capable of changing the actions of these spirits, for instance, if a spirit sent an animal to the hunter, but Eksheri found that the hunter did not deserve success in the hunt, he drove the herd of animals away, in the opposite direction. Therefore, hunters with foresight considered it sensible to give sacrifices to both the spirit-rulers and the supreme deities. Eksheri was imagined as an anthropomorphic being, the owner of countless animals of the hunt. Of the other inhabitants of the upper world, high importance was given to the sun, Dylacha, who was believed to be master of heat and light, thoughtful with his good deeds of the people of the middle land. Upon awakening in the morning, Dylacha would send his younger son to carry a torch of birch bark to the edge of an opening, sangar,7 in order to give light to the people of the middle land. As Dylacha's son came closer and closer to the sangar, it became lighter and lighter on earth, and, finally, when he fixed the torch at the edge of the sangar, day began for the people on earth. The old man Dylacha himself labors unceasingly, gathering heat for the people. When fall begins, he secures his tent [chum] of reindeer hides more tightly, lights a fire, and collects the heat as it accumulates in a huge leather bag. Towards spring the bag becomes filled with heat, and Dylacha and his sons carry the bag to the sangar and shake out the heat upon the middle earth, to the people. Then the snows melt in the land of the people, the ice on the rivers breaks up, and it becomes warm. For this care of the people, a special prayer was said to the sun. At the time of revival of nature, the old man of the heavens Agdy (deitythunder) awakens. As soon as he awakens, he sets to starting a fire by striking a flint, and on the middle earth, among the people, this causes peals of thunder and, as the sparks fly, lightning, destroying evil spirits. Other dwellers in the upper world are also considered benevolent beings, but with less power than the supreme spirits. Therefore, they are not shown much veneration by the Evenks. They call them simply creatures of the upper world, heavenly people, dwellers-in-heaven. In Evenk fairy tales, heroes go to the upper land, to the kinsmen of the masters of the upper world, spend long periods living among them, and even marry their women. It is quite obvious that such concepts as "master," "ruler," and others, as well as concepts of treasures making up the personal property of these spirits, could not have arisen prior to the appearance in real life of masters, lords, and "powerpossessing" heads of families and clans, in other words, prior to the rise of the patriarchal clan. The general patriarchal mien and attributes assigned to the supreme rulers indicate the comparatively late origin of these concepts. Hence, it is natural to suppose that the form of the concepts concerning the buga, or worlds of the universe described above, was preceded by other, more archaic forms. In this connection, of particular interest are the Evenk concepts of the cosmic elk Kheglen (Kheglun), which are identified with the constellation of the Great Bear. Conformant with these concepts, the visible blue sky is nothing else but the taiga of the upper world. Within it lives the cosmic elk Kheglen. During the day the elk goes into the thickets of the heavenly taiga, and therefore is not visible from the land of people. At night he comes out onto the mountain peaks, and being the most powerful of the dwellers ( stars ) in heaven, may be seen by people

162 A. F. Anisimov from the earth. Judging by the fact that the constellation Little Bear is considered in these concepts as Kheglen's calf, we may conclude that the cosmic image of the elk is understood at the same time as that of a "mother-elk/' As only Kheglen and her calf go out to graze on the ranges of the heavenly taiga, the scene of a cosmic hunt is enacted in the upper world. Several variations of this theme exist, corresponding to the various stages in the development of this myth. According to a later one, the elk cow is being followed by three human hunters: an Evenk, a Ket, and a Russian. The three bold hunters apparently quarreled about which of them was the best, and decided to settle the quarrel by deed. They sought out the cow and her calf in the taiga and chased them through the snow. "Whoever is first to overtake and kill the animals is the best hunter," they decided. But this was not a simple elk, but a sacred one, bugady (lit. belonging to buga"). It was difficult to catch her. The cow with the calf and the three hunters ran across the dulugu buga, "the middle world" (dulugu, "middle"), and entered the ugu buga, the upper world. There the animals and humans were transformed into stars: in front (the four stars of the Great Bear) is the mythical Kheglen, and behind her (the three stars of the tail of the Great Bear) are the three hunters: the indefatigable Evenk hunter, behind him the heavy and clumsy Ket fisherman, and last of all the Russian, inexperienced in the ways of the taiga. The Milky Way is the track of the hunters' skis, the constellation of the Little Bear is the fleeing calf, and the visible blue of the sky is the taiga of the upper world. Only there, in the ugu buga, could the hunters settle their quarrel: the Evenk overtook the cow and killed her, outdoing the others. The following night the calf, which was still alive, came out with its progeny from the thicket on the sparsely wooded crest of the heavenly land, and the scene of the cosmic hunt was repeated in the same order.8 In the above variant, one thing is not clear: Why is this elk linked in the mythology with the change of day and night? In an older variant, the motif of the link of the cosmic elk with the sun is expressed more clearly and is motivated conformably. We have in mind the myth of the hero Main and the cosmic elk Kheglen. According to this version of the myth, Kheglen steals the sun from the sky and with this is linked the change of day into night. In the myth this link is developed as follows: Once upon a time Kheglen ran out of the thickets of the heavenly taiga and saw the sun at the top of a mountain crest. Kheglen ran under the sun, impaled it on one of its antlers, and carried it into the thickets of the taiga. In the middle world among the humans this resulted in an eternal night. The people were frightened and did not know what to do. Then a brave hero, Main, came forth. Putting on his hero's skis, Main sped to the sangar, entered the ugu buga, and set off on the chase of Kheglen. At midnight the hero overtook the swift beast and with an arrow from his heroic bow, he struck down the powerful heavenly elk Kheglen. While the great hero took the sun away from Kheglen and restored day to the people in the middle world, he himself could not return to the people. Having gone into the ugu buga, Main was transformed into a supreme spirit, becoming the guardian of the sun, the bearer of day, the source of warmth and life. From that day on, there has been the change of day and night on earth: in the evening the elk carries off the sun into a thicket of the heavenly taiga, and the benevolent being, Main, puts on his winged skis and follows the track of the elk until he reaches it at midnight and takes the day away from it for the people.9 In another version of the myth, the constellation of the Great Bear is interpreted differently: The four stars of the dipper of the Great Bear are identified

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with Kheglen's hooves, the three stars of the tail are the hero Main and the arrows released by him from his heroic bow—the very last one in the tail is Main himself, the next one is an arrow shot while on the run (it overshot the heavenly elk), while the star nearest the dipper is the second arrow, with which Main killed Kheglen. The epic image of the hero Main is interesting not only semantically but also in its mythological link with the world of the upper spirits, a link which can be traced with precision through the religious concepts of the Evenks. Among the Ilimpeya, Yerbogachen, and Barguzin Evenks, Main signifies the master of the upper world; among the Tungir Evenks, he is the master of the souls and fate of men.10 In this case he corresponds functionally with the sheveki (seveki), deity, Amaka, the supreme holder of human threads of life (fates), whom we mentioned earlier. The word amaka has two meanings among the Evenks. One is to denote the senior branch of the patriarchal clan (great-grandfathers, elder brothers of the father), the other denotes the sacred animal, i.e., the bear, the object of a cult common to the entire tribe. The word sevéki was used by the Evenks in the sense of spirit-master of the upper world (deity), but the word sevekichen, close to it genetically, describes the red deer [maral], in the dialects of the Evenk language. Since in the cosmogenic images of the upper world, the elk is identified with the maral,11 while in the religion of the Evenks the elk and the maral constitute cults analogous to each other, this fully explains the link (noted above) between Main, the heavenly hunter, and the image of Amaka. This transformation of ancient zoomorphic images to an anthropomorphic pantheon of upper-world spirits took place as a result of social-historical developments of the mythology. As the ideological expression of the development of social structure, ancient mythological images gradually lost their zoomorphic features and changed into anthropomorphic spirits and deities. Siberian ethnographic materials show that the link of the elk-maral image with the sun is one of the most ancient elements of the cosmological concepts of the peoples of Siberia. Archaeological materials also are witness to this, especially the rock drawings in Siberia, studied in this aspect by A. P. Okladnikov.12 Judging by these materials, the complex of concepts referred to above is not a phenomenon specific to the Evenks, but is characteristic of the majority of the peoples of Siberia.13 The motif of the cosmic hunt was a form of personification of the sun cycle which corresponded to and reflected the forms of economic activities of primitive man. It is noteworthy that the motif of the cosmic hunt was in its time one of the central points of the spring religious rites of the Evenks. Every year, as soon as the first green appeared in the taiga and the first foal in the herd, the Sym Evenks carried out special rites, which, among them, bore the name of ikenipke, "revivals."14 These rites of revival, rebirth, lasted through many days, and their basic content consisted of pantomimes, imitating the chase after the cosmic elk (maral). The mythical heavenly beast was "chased" by the entire group of hunters (the participants in the rite) across the middle and upper worlds of the universe until they finally overtook it in the heavenly taiga. In the course of further development of the action, the cosmic animal, killed by the hunters, miraculously came to life again, and together with it all of nature came to life: the ice broke up, the earth was freed from snow, fresh green appeared in the taiga, calving took place among the domesticated reindeer, and offspring came forth among the beasts and birds of the evergreen forest and among the water fowl. With the rebirth of nature, the

164 A. F. Anisimov blessings of man increased—the sources of his food and everything necessary for life in the taiga—but in order to secure these blessings for man, i.e., to ensure the possibility of his possessing them, the participants in the ceremony performed the following rite: they shot in turn into a wooden image of an elk-maral (beyun, "elk," "maral," large ungulate animal), which was then chopped into small pieces and divided among all those who had taken part, as a guarantee of further successes in hunting.15 In the rite and the first two versions of the myth, the participants in the ritual are humans. However, in the second, and in our opinion, the oldest, version of this myth (recorded by E. I. Titov among the Lower Angara Evenks of the Kindigir clan16), the role of the hunter of the sun, the elk-maral, is played by the cosmic bear Mangi. In this variant of the myth, the scene of the cosmic hunt is explained as follows: The bear Mangi pursues the sun-elk across the horizon from east to west, overtakes him, and kills him. The Milky Way is explained here as the track of Mangi's skis, the constellation of the Great Bear as the legs of the elk not yet eaten by the bear, the constellation of Orion as the elk's thigh joint abandoned by the bear. Having gorged himself with elk meat, the bear, towards the end of the journey, becomes so heavy that he is barely able to drag his feet along, as a result of which not one but two tracks remain in the west of the horizon. Among the Evenks this cosmic hunter-bear is identified with the constellations Bootes and Arcturus. When we compare this zoomorphic image with the anthropomorphic images of cosmic hunters—the Evenk Main, the Yakut Khallan Uola, the Altayan Kochute— it seems natural to conclude that the image of Mangi is older than those of Main, Khallan Uola, and ones similar to them, which are in harmony with the era of the patriarchate. The semantics of the word Amaka, meaning not only supreme deity (seveki}, but also bear, gives us a basis for considering this conclusion as fully justified. In the myth, the link of Main's image with Amaka seveki, mentioned earlier, confirms, in turn, the correctness of such a deduction. No less convincing evidence of this is the fact that the image of Mangi in the myth, as we have seen, is present in the form of a being of a dual (half-animal, half-human) nature: Mangi is a bear, but pursues the sun-elk on skis, like a man. Later we shall see that this dual nature, well known in a totemic mythology, comprises one of the most characteristic features of the image of Mangi. And this is not by chance: in Evenk shamanism, Mangi is the mythical first ancestor, linked with beliefs about the shamanistic tree turn (the ancient representations of totemic centers, modified by shamanism ) ,17 On the other hand, Mangi is linked in shamanism with representations of the transformation of the shaman's soul, recalling totemic views on reincarnation, and his link with the so-called "shaman's selection" recalls in many ways the rites of totemic initiation. In short, the image of Mangi-bear has in it traces of a series of successive stadial transitions. This is also confirmed by the semantics: mangi in Evenk means not only "bear" but also "spirit of the ancestors," "master of the lower world," "devil." Not only Mangi, but also other zoomorphic cosmic images (the elk and the maral), appear in the role of an evil being and are also linked with the lower world, in which case their totemic features stand out most clearly. In the language of the Evenks the lower world bears the name khergu^ergu buga (from khergu~ergu, lit. 'lower"). In Evenk mythology, the lower world is similar to the earth inhabited by man, except that in it everything is the reverse of what it is in the world of living people: a living thing becomes dead there, the dead comes alive, and so on. In turn, everything which moves from the lower

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world to the middle one also changes its essence: things coming out of the lower world become invisible in body; the deer, which dwellers in the lower world give to heroes, appear no larger than small pieces of rotten wood upon returning to the middle world; and so forth. Similar to the upper world, which consists of series [layers] of heaven-earths, the lower world is represented also as many-layered; there are found the nether, lower, and the lowest lands. On one of these live people (deceased kinsmen), on another the rulers of the nether world, on still others, the spirits of illness and death and evil spirits. The deceased kinsmen living in the nether world live, like the dwellers of the middle earth, in clans and tribes, and occupy themselves in analogous activities: they hunt, fish, lay traps in the taiga for animals and birds, go on fishing expeditions, wear clothing in the manner of living people, and are affected by the same fears and inadequacies. However, in this similarity there are also essential differences. The nether world is the world of the dead, buni (from bu-mi, "to die"). The dwellers there are without breathing, without pulsating hearts, without warm blood. Their bodies are cold, without the juices of life of the middle world. They are like a dry tree, a rotten stump. In this sense their substance differs completely from that of living people, and furthermore, they are the opposite of them in everything. Even their language is different—that of the dead being completely unintelligible to the living. The heroes of Evenk myths who enter the nether world are incapable of understanding the language of the inhabitants there; the inhabitants do not see the hero, and mistake his words for the crackling of the fire. Furthermore, the living human body is unnatural to this world to such a degree that its contact with the beings of the nether world causes them pain. For the latter a living human, a spirit of the middle world, is an invisible source of every possible tribulation, and even death. The hero who comes to the nether world from the middle world will be seen only by the shaman of the nether world. The latter sends the hero back to the middle world, to living people. And, on the contrary, if the dwellers in the nether world succeed in getting out to the middle one, they become just as elusive as a spirit. This changeable form in the concepts of the qualitative difference between the living and the dead, life and death, comprises the basic motif of all the myths about the nether world. Beyond the land of buni (the dwelling-place of the deceased kinsmen) are the lands of the rulers of the lower world, the khargi,18 mangi,19 shell,20 and dyabdar.21 These spirits—ancestor-rulers and masters of the nether world—have the same significance for the buni people as the supreme deities, rulers, and masters of the upper world, the so-called seveki, have for the dwellers of the middle world. In contrast to the ordinary "people," buni—the deceased kinsmen, the spirit-ancestors who dwell in the nether world—are thought of as beings of a dual nature, either in a half-human, half-animal form, or alternately living as one or the other of these forms, which are equally inherent in them.22 It is natural to speculate whether or not the mythical beings of dual nature mentioned above are the result of a transformation of the images of those mythical ancestors of half-animal, half-human nature, who at one time comprised the core of all totemic mythology. There are a number of reasons for such speculation. First, the image khargi proves to be identical with that of the spirit-ancestors (khargi, the spirit-ancestors of the shamans and the spirit-rulers of the nether world, i.e., the world of the ancestors of people). Second, khargi are thought of as beings of a dual nature (half-human, half-animal). Third, these beings of dual nature "perform" a cycle of transformation similar to totemic reincarnation: being

166 A. F. Anisimov transformed into a shaman's spirit (i.e., the animal-double of the shaman), they "come forth" from the world of ancestors to the middle world, to the people, while upon the death of a shaman, they revert to the shaman's world-tree, "changing" into an animal. Fourth, with this cycle of transformation among the Evenks are linked the concepts of the birth and death of the shaman. Fifth, the birth and death of a shaman were conceived in the form of topogentilic* concepts of the mother-animal, a maternal place of birth-giving, which were identified with the shaman's world-tree, turn. Inasmuch as the tree was conceived simultaneously as that of the clan, the concepts of the shamanistic mother-animal stood out in this complex as those of the clan, i.e., as concepts of the clan mother-animal, the clan maternal place of birth-giving. The complex of views just mentioned, linked with the "selection" of the shaman, had its place not only among the Evenks, but as Siberian ethnographic materials indicate, it was characteristic also of the religious views of the majority of Siberian shamanists.23 Among the spirit-rulers of the nether world, the image of the elk-deer was presented by the mythical being kalir. His function was to guard the mythical shamanistic clan-river, on which the shaman and his spirits traveled to the nether and upper worlds of the universe. In Evenk concepts kalir is the wild deer. His dimensions are enormous: he is as big as the earth itself. His strength is immeasurable: a kick of his hoof is capable of piercing the earth; with his horns he can rip through mountains, and vanquish and destroy everything obstructing his path. However, the remarkable features of this image lie not only in its strength and size, though these too indicate that this portrayal of the ruler of the nether world is also cosmic in origin. More indicative is the fact that this mythical deer of the nether world is represented as having the antlers of an elk and the tail of a fish. The former points to its link with the cosmic image of the elk, the later to the water element, the nether world of the universe. In Evenk concepts, beyond the farthest reaches of the nether world is water—the underground sea. In it swim fish of huge dimensions—two pike, two perch. And on the spines of these mythical fish, supposedly, rests the universe, buga. Since the mythical clan-river unites all three worlds of the universe—the headwaters originate in the upper world, while the mouth empties into the underground sea of the nether world—the mythical guardian of this river, kalir, naturally had to acquire corresponding attributes: the elk antlers (the cosmic image of the earth) and the fish tail (the cosmic image of water). The images shell and dyabdar are linked with concepts of the origin of mountains and rivers in the middle world ( earth ). Shell and dyabdar are the creators of the earth. In the beginning there was no middle world. There was water all about. There was no place for man to live. The mammoth shell decided to help man. He put his "horns" under the water and drew out so much nyangnya24 with them that there was enough for all people. The serpent dyabdar helped the mammoth to smooth the clods pulled up from the bottom of the earth. Where dyabdar crawled with his long body, rivers flowed; where the earth remained unsmoothed, mountains were formed; and wherever the mamoth trod and lay down to rest, deep hollows (lakes) formed.25 In the Dolgan folklore the mammoth also appears in the role of the creator of the earth's landscape: wherever he walked, rivers were formed; wherever he lay down, a lake was formed. Finally, the mammoth entered the nether world taking with him all his offspring.26 *[I.e., originating in or from a specific locality; topogenitural.—Editor.]

Cosmological Concepts 167 In the views of the Nenets, their god Num made the earth smooth, but the mammoth passed over it and spoiled it: wherever he rooted, mountains were formed, and the places he pressed down became lakes. Num became angry at the mammoth and sent him under the earth.27 The Khanty, according to P. Tretyakov, believed that the mammoth was formed from an aged wild deer: when the wild deer became old, he lay down in a grassy bog, and after lying there for a long time a mammoth was formed from him, which then sank under the earth and walked about in the nether world, crumbling river banks.28 The linking of the cosmological image of the elk (deer) with the image of the mammoth, functionally analogous, and, in turn, that of the mammoth with the views on the nether world, is characteristic of the mythology of most of the nationalities of northern Asia, and truly, it may be considered a common Siberian phenomenon. A. P. Oklandnikov has succeeded in demonstrating this with extensive comparative materials—archaeological, folkloristic, and ethnographic.29 Returning to the Evenk material, we note that among the sculptured representations of shamanistic spirits, those of the mammoth are especially remarkable for our case. It so happens that among the Evenks, as a rule, they always include both the elements of an ungulate, and of fish. In the collection of A. A. Makarenko,30 which was acquired by him from the Yenisey Evenks, the head of a wooden figure of a mammoth is crowned by the antlers of an elk, while to the body is attached the tail of a fish. The first must stress the link of the mammoth with the elk, and the latter the link with the nether world, and both together, the cosmic character of this mythical image. Judging by the materials of representational art of the peoples of Siberia, the functional semantic link of these images in mythology is not a specifically Evenk phenomenon,31 as is not the link, noted above, of the mythological images of the "rulers" of the nether world with their analogous zoomorphic images of "heaven-dwellers." The Nanay Khado^Khadu means, in one instance, the master of the nether world, in another, the North Star.32 Even in the religion of the Egyptians, Osiris appeared both as the sun deity and as the master of the nether world. The materials on the ethnography of the peoples of Siberia show that the universe itself was conceived of as a living being and was identified with images of animals in the concepts concerning it. Convincing evidence of this is the drawing of the Oroch shaman Saveliy Khatunok, depicting the universe according to Oroch concepts. In the center of the drawing is an elk without antlers, beuduni na, personifying the middle world of the universe. At the right edge of the drawing is a bear—the master of the animals. To the rump of a [additional?] lower elk is joined the mouth of a river, leading to the upper world, beyond the clouds. The headwaters of this river are in the upper world of the universe. To the east [right?] of the middle world is a fish of the salmon species, representing the island of Sakhalin.33 Among the concepts of the Evenks about the nether world there is one very characteristic feature—the link of these views with the image of an old woman, the mistress of the buni ( the world of the dead ). She appears most clearly in the shamanistic rite ananM—the guiding of the corporeal soul of the deceased to the world of the dead. When the shaman "conveys" the corporeal soul of the deceased thither on a raft, he is met by the mistress of the buni, on whom it depends whether the person will be taken or not taken (admitted or not admitted) to the nether world. By her order, one of the dead "sits down" in the birch-bark boat, goes out to meet the shaman, and takes the deceased kinsman from him. Analogous concepts are distinctive also of other peoples of Siberia. Among the

168 A. F. Anisimov Nanays, the mistress of the buni helps the shaman to carry the deceased into the land of the dead.35 According to the concepts of the Nivkhs, while on the road to the world of the dead, the deceased is met "by a woman who stands in the middle of the road."36 For us, these images are remarkable in that they are one with the image of the mistress of the universe. In the myth about Mangi-Dëromgo, which V. S. Pezhemskiy recorded among the Yerbogachen Evenks, the mistress of the heavenly land and of everything existing upon it is conceived of as the mistress of the universe.37 In a Dolgan myth, recorded by A. A. Popov, it is stated: "at one place they (the shaman-geese—Author) had to fly through a hole into heaven. Near this opening an old woman was sitting, lying in wait for the geese/'38 The old woman was the mistress of the universe. In the myth this is stated with unmistakable clarity: "Here I am dying," says one of the shaman-geese, because I thought badly of the old woman who is sitting by the heavenly opening. And she, it turns out, is the mistress of the universe. Let not a single shaman after us fly to this world; it is not pleasing to the mistress of the universe."39 Concepts close to these in meaning have been noted also among the Nivkhs. According to them, at the edge of our universe and the next, where the edge of heaven is raised and lowered, sits an old woman at the very rims of earth and heaven.40 Natural phenomena are linked in the mythology with the image of this mistress of the universe. When she sits at home and sews, the weather is calm; when she goes out of the house, the wind begins to blow; when she urinates, it rains.41 There are other things worthy of note in these images of the masters of the universe. They are pictured not only as custodians of the entrance into another world, but also as the mistresses of animals, as their mothers. Among the Evenks of the Podkamennaya Tunguska, Bugady enintyn^ eninintyn (lit. "their mother pertaining to the universe") is imagined as the mistress of the universe and at the same time as the mother of animals and people. The Ket female deity Tomam (am, "mother") is functionally similar to the Bugady enintyn of the Evenks. According to Ket mythology, Tomam stands on a rock in the spring, and, shaking her arms over the Yenisey, releases from her sleeves countless flocks of feathered birds, giving birth to them in this manner.42 Sedna of the Eskimos, the underwater sovereign and mistress of the sea-hunt, releases sea animals from her underwater tent with the same purpose.43 All of these are not only mistresses of the worlds of the universe, but also mothers of animals. As V. G. Bogoraz poignantly states, even the images of such sovereign-goddesses as Cybele, Astarte, and Artemis retain these features and are always called mothers.44 Finally, the highly characteristic fact that these mistresses of the universe are simultaneously imagined as both a woman and an animal should be emphasized. The Eskimo Sedna is conceived as a woman and as a walrus cow; the Evenk Bugady enintyn is conceived as a mother and an animal. The Evenk word enin is explained in Evenk-Russian dictionaries as having a dual meaning: (1) with a possessive suffix, "mother"; (2) elk-cow."45 If the mistress of the universe, the sovereign of animal herds, and their mother, appears not only as a woman but also as an animal of a definite gender ( Sedna is a walrus cow, Bugady enintyn an elk cow), then one may ask, wherein is the "motherhood" if each one of them retains the definite appearance of its species. And, evidently, it is not at all by chance that the stories about them, while emphasizing their motherhood traits and even calling them the mothers of animals, speak very dimly and rarely of motherhood itself. Graphic evidence of this is the

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image of Khosadam, one of the central personages in the mythology of the Kets. Khosadam is a being of dual nature, conceived as a woman, but leaving animal tracks. Only an experienced shaman is capable of differentiating this track in the taiga from that of an animal. Khosadam devours human souls uyvey, and this is the cause of people's deaths. But the souls uyvey are not destroyed thereby. After staying a certain time in the belly of the mother-animal, they emerge and are transferred to the wombs of women. The Kets suppose that because of this women become pregnant, give birth to children, and new people appear on the earth.46 Having its sources in totemism, the image of Khosadam reflects these ancient concepts in a generalized form, a form essentially different from that of clan totems. As the mistress and mother of nature, animals, and people, Khosadam is a later phenomenon than the totems, one which is linked with a subsequent socialhistorical development of the ancient images of totemic first ancestors. However, if this image continues to exist in the myth with attributes of motherhood, the conclusion follows that in the past this motif of motherhood was evidently one of the essential features of similar images in mythology and, further, that the image of the mother-animal at first was not applied to all animals, but only to the species of the totem-animal. And this means that concepts of the socalled mythical first ancestors, constituting the center of the entire mythology of the totemists, in all probability must have borne the image of a female spirit originally: the mythical ancestress-animal. The image of a female deity, mistress and sovereign of animals, regarded as a mother, but actually preserving only the attributes of motherhood, is a more generalized, contracted form of the initial concepts of animal-totems. However, faced by the opposite conditions of social reality (in a patrilineal clan, based not on matrilineal but patrilineal institutions), the primary image of the ancestressanimal (totem) must eventually have lost its function of motherhood since kinship was traced not by the mother's but the father's line. With the loss of motherhood, this image also lost something else—the significance of the mythical first mother, the ancestress of the totemic clan—as under the new social conditions it naturally broke out of the confines of the clan and became common to all clans. The function of the ruler of animal herds was not linked to a specific clan. The fusion of the initial archaic images into one generalized image of a female ruler was, in these circumstances, a completely natural development. In his example of the analysis of the folklore figure Baba Yaga,* Professor V. Ya. Propp showed this process of historical transformation graphically and successfully.47 In concluding this study, dedicated to the social-historical analysis of cosmological concepts, we shall investigate, in a similar manner, one of the most interesting myths in this connection—the Nivkh myth about two suns. The myth begins by pointing out that earlier there were two suns and two moons, and therefore everything born on earth failed to survive: "(there were) two suns—two moons; in the winter (also) it was cold, in the summer (also) it was hot; (also) no animal was born; whatever was born died of the heat, in the winter (also) it died from the frost."48 Two titmice brothers, living under the shelter of a hummock, were at that time the only inhabitants of the earth. The titmice lived for a long time, not knowing what was to be found along the river beyond their hummock. Then they decided to go and look. The younger brother went up-river, the elder down-river. As he went up the river, the younger brother saw a larch, "A thick larch rising to the very sky."49 At the foot of the *["The Old Witch of Russian fairy tales."—Editor.]

170 A. F. Anîsîmov larch there was food, grown and placed there by the "master of the larch," unknown to the brothers. The younger brother tasted the food and took some to give to the older one. The next day the titmice brothers proceeded together to the source of the food. There they met heavenly people—two little birds, a silver and a gold one, which had descended to the base of the larch and declared themselves the masters of the food. In the myth this is related as follows: "Come on, quit," said the younger brother to the elder, who had been eating the food at the base of the larch for a long time, "the owners are coming, they will fight with us." The fears of the younger titmouse brother came to pass. "When the elder brother looked up," continues the myth, "coming down toward him were (both) one small golden bird, (also) one small silver bird." Turning to the titmice brothers, the heavenly bird-people said: "Hey you, who allowed you [to eat]?" Seeing the heavenly people, the younger titmouse brother said to the elder: "You see, that is what I was telling you, that there is an owner, you did not want to listen to what I said!" Then, turning to the owners, the younger titmouse brother said: "You, heavenly people, if you want to fight, come on and fight!" And a battle with the birds began.50 In this battle, the small heavenly silver bird was the first to fall, and next the elder titmouse brother fell. Meanwhile the small golden bird rose up in the sky, and the younger titmouse brother rose after her. To save herself, the golden bird changed into a she-bear. But this did not stop the titmouse-hero. The titmouse, the myth relates, "changed into a bear and followed her." Then the she-bear descended to the water, and lay down on the shore. "Well, is your trek finished?" said the bear. Then he hit her with his paw, and she, changing into a seal, moved away, and the titmouse, turning himself into a male seal, followed after her. After a time she stopped again. He came up to her. "Well, is your trekking finished?" he said. He hit her with his paw, and when he looked, there was a female trout. The titmouse, turning into a male fish, moved away. Then the female came out on to the bank and lay down. When the titmouse reached her, he said: "Come on, keep going!" He came up to her and hit her, and this time she turned into a woman, moving away. The titmouse, now turned into a Gilyak, went after her, and entered a tent. "Well, is your trekking finished?" the titmouse asked. Then the woman said: "Yes, finished. I came to my fathers, to my mother. Where else can I go?"51 The point of departure for the subsequent (second) part of the myth is the intention of the Gilyak-titmouse to take the heavenly bird-woman for his wife. "Well," says the Gilyak-titmouse, "since I have come to the same place that you did, if only you don't pick up and go off again, I shall marry you."52 The little golden and silver birds (the usual companions of the solar myth as the symbol of the sun and the moon) were,53 it turned out, the daughters of the heavenly elder-master of the larch, which grew "reaching to the very heavens." In order to enter into marriage, the father's consent was necessary. The conditions he set for the hero serve as the motif for further development of the myth. With the image of the old man-master of the larch, together with the images of the patriarchal spirit-masters of nature, who ruled over the realm of all of nature—the seas, the lands, the taiga, the sky, and others—begins the ideational revision of the old matriarchal-totemic myth as viewed from the position of the ideology of the patriarchal-clan oriented society. The second part also serves this revision and new understanding of the ancient totemic myth, being wedged into the basic fabric of the story as an independent variant of the patriarchal treatment of the theme.

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Turning to the hero, the old man says: "If you will kill one sun and one moon, I shall give you my daughter."54 The hero replies: "Very well, in that case, I shall kill one sun, one moon."55 Having agreed, the hero departs to carry out his assignment, and after long peregrinations comes at last to the shore of a sea. On the sea, in the water, stands a tent. In it sleeps an old man, apparently the master of the sea realm, similar to the heavenly ruler who sent the hero on the expedition. "Look here, I've come to kill the sun!" cried the hero in the direction of the tent. A cod swims to the shore and carries the hero to the old man of the sea, sound asleep in the middle of the tent. Only by means of blows on the head with a club does the hero finally succeed in awakening the ruler of the sea. "Why did you wake me up?" the ruler of the sea realm asks him. The Gilyak answers: "In order to kill one sun, to kill one moon, I have come!" Explaining the reason for his intention to kill one moon and one sun, the Gilyak said that the two moons were acting as murderously with their cold as the two suns with their heat. "A newborn animal," the hero went on, "is dying from the heat, and likewise in winter, both the tree and animal that are born die from the cold; therefore I have come to you in order to kill one sun and one moon."56 The old man of the sea suggests to the Gilyak that he cut wood, lay a campfire, bring water, pour the water into a kettle, and place the kettle over the fire. Having done everything the old man has ordered, the Gilyak sits down by the fire, waiting for what will happen next. When the water begins to boil, the old man "picks him up with an iron spade, carries him to the kettle and sets him inside. It boils, and later all the water boils away, and neither bones nor anything else is left. Then he scrapes [the kettle], collects it [the scrapings], ties it up in a white piece of silk, and begins to throw it. After he has thrown it three times, an iron man appears. "Well, now be off, kill the sun and the moon!" (Thus the old man spoke) . . . "Horse, flying horse, appear!" After this a horse appeared from somewhere. Then the old man gave him three arrows and one bow: "Well, mount the horse, sit!" thus the old man spoke. And there the Gilyak sat, after mounting the horse, and the old man struck the horse. After that the horse took to wing and disappeared from view.57 In this fragment, which tells of the reincarnation of the hero, there is nothing which would recall the preceding forms of totemic reincarnation. The hero does not assume a zoomorphic form, as earlier, but, with the aid of a complex magical procedure, is changed into an iron warrior-hero. The old man arms this iron hero with an iron bow, iron arrows, and gives him as aid a heroic battle steed—a winged horse—which has to be struck only once and it takes to wing, disappearing from view. The iron hero battles on the winged steed with one supernumerary sun of the universe. Shooting an iron arrow from the iron bow, the hero kills the sun and once again returns to the old man-master of the sea, saying: "Well, I have killed a sun, help me and I shall yet kill a moon!"58 And the action is repeated again in the same order. The hero chops up the larch into firewood, lights a large campfire from the firewood, places a kettle over the fire, pours water into the kettle, and sits down by the kettle. The old manmaster of the sea scoops up the hero with an iron spade and again places him in the boiling kettle. For a long time he boils the iron man in the kettle, then scrapes together everything left of the Gilyak from the walls of the kettle, and folding it up in white silk, once again throws it three times onto the ground. A new iron man appears, capable of killing the second moon. The old man gives him a new winged horse, an iron bow, and iron arrows. Seated on the battle steed, the iron man flies away to fight with the second, superfluous moon of the

172 A. F. Anisimov universe. The victory of the hero over the second moon logically completes the theme of the solar myth, but the myth does not end with this. Instead, it begins again, once more with a matriarchal-totemic theme, which, all things considered, appears to have been the original one. To change the disastrous disorder of things in the universe, to have one sun and one moon remain, the hero has to go to the heavenly tree, the larch, and to take the superfluous heavenly bodies from the horns of the mother-universe. This unexpected turn of events in the myth is motivated thus: "Well, now pay for my horse!" says the old man of the sea to the hero returning from victory. "Very well," the Gilyak replies, and agrees to carry out the orders of the ruler of the sea, in payment for the horse.59 As the plot of the story develops, it appears that the ruler of the sea realm wanted to have as his wife the daughter of the mother-universe, the horned mistress of the heavenly land, who bore on her horns the heavenly luminous bodies—two suns and two moons. The master of the sea had this role in mind when he gave the hero a chain, puks. The myth relates: "That old man gave to that Gilyak a yellow (copper) chain."60 Thus the hero does not possess now a weapon of war, an iron bow, and iron arrow, but nothing more than a puks, a chain. But the term puks, as Shternberg notes, signifies in the Nivkh language also "leather belt," "harness," "lasso for the hunting of reindeer."61 These meanings of the term puks fully conform to what the hero must accomplish in his course of action. This time it is not necessary to boil the hero in a kettle, or for the old man to create an iron man from what is left. Nor does the hero need winged battle steeds. There is also no need for an iron bow for combat. The hero is already acting not as a warrior-hero, an invincible iron man on a winged steed, but as a hunter, armed with a leather lasso for the capture of reindeer. And so, with the lasso, puks, the hero departs for the universe to carry out the mission of the old man, master of the sea realm. "There that Gilyak went, he went up into a mountain, and after some time he saw a gnarled stick with offshoots protruding out of the earth."62 The expression tekhkhey intyp, "he saw a gnarled stick," in the given case signifies that the hero went to a certain dwelling, for tekhkhey, according to Shternberg's note, indicates a specific component part of a dwelling, "a gnarled pole with shortened branches, serving [as hooks] for the suspension of various objects. In an open space near a tent such poles are set into the ground, inside the tent they are braced over the hearth for the suspension of the kettle at whatever height is desirable."63 Judging by all this, it was just this tekhkhey of the hearth of the horned mother-universe that our hero was seeking. As he approached it, a woman's voice was heard out of the ground: "Oh mama, I shall go out and look around!" "No, no!" her mother answered. "Nevertheless, I shall go out and look around!" persisted her daughter. "Well, if you want to go out, go out!" the mother finally agreed.64 "And so that woman came out from under the ground and saw that Gilyak," the myth relates at this point. Turning to her, the Gilyak says: "Well, I have come to take you!" "Impossible," the woman who has come out of the earth answers the Gilyak. "Why impossible?" the Gilyak asks. Instead of answering, the woman points to the tekhkhey, saying: "This here (gnarled stick) is my mother's horns. Bind them with this chain!"65 Thus, the gnarled stick with offshoots protruding out of the ground, the tekhkhey of the hearth of the universe, was the horns of the mother of the woman

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who came out from under the ground in order to look at the Gilyak coming to their dwelling. Judging by the plot, the horned mother of this woman was the mistress of the universe, the ruler of the heavenly lights. As soon as the Gilyak threw the lasso and bound the horns of the mistress of the universe with it, it became dark: "Here this Gilyak bound those horns with a chain. After this it became completely dark,"67 it is told in myth. In a note concerning this part of the text, Shternberg accurately remarks that the darkness caused as a consequence of binding the horns of the underground woman shows that "the latter was the ruler of both luminaries, the sun and the moon."68 Having in mind analogous images of Indo-European mythology, Shternberg writes further: "It is interesting to compare the similar images from IndoEuropean mythology, for example, depictions on votive stones of Astarte in the form of a moon between the horns of a cow, not to mention the usual personification of the sun and moon in the form of a bull and cow.69 Once he had thrown the lasso over the horns of the mistress of the universe, the hero, in hunter's fashion, seized his catch: in grasping the horns of the ruler of the lights, the hero also extinguished (killed) the lights of the universe. This is indicated by the words of her daughter, who begs that one moon and one sun be resurrected. The myth presents it thus: "That woman said: Where shall we go in such darkness? There is no sun and no moon. You revive one sun and one moon, then I shall go with you!' "70 The hero agrees to revive one sun and one moon, but does not know how to go about it. "How am I to revive them?" he asks the daughter of the horned mother of the universe. "Over there is a larch tree," she says to him, "there is a sort of door, go there, open that door, there you will find a likeness of two suns, a likeness of two moons; then tear away one moon, throw it to heaven, tear away one sun, and throw it; after that, take one sun, take one moon, dig in the ground, put [them] there, lose [them], then I shall go with you."71 Thus the larch tree, known from the preceding as the cosmic tree, the top of which was in the upper world, was the place where the hero had to seek the dwelling of the horned mother of the universe. The woman also directed him there, indicating that it was there the door had to be sought—the entrance to the dwelling of the ruler of the heavenly lights. The lights, judging by the text of the myth, hung on the horns of her mother, the mistress of the universe. The hero had to go through the door indicated, into the dwelling of this horned mother, take from her horns one moon and one sun and revive them, throwing them into the sky. The hero does this. Thrown into the sky, the lights come to life, and as there is only one of each, they no longer act so destructively with their heat and cold as before, when there were two of each ( two moons and two suns). "Now," continues the myth, "there was one sun and one moon, and now the trees already began to grow, and the animals began to grow."72 Having revived one sun and one moon, the hero took from the horns of the ruler the second moon and sun. Since he was not to revive them, he did with them as he was advised by the daughter: "Carry out, dig the earth, place, lose [them]!"73 As is indicated in a note to one of the texts, this "placed, lost" should be understood as ''buried," for the term pykyzr, "lost," appears among the Nivkhs as a common expression, used every time the conversation turns to burials.74 To this it should be added that the larch tree, figuring in the myth as a world tree-universe (at first as reaching to the very sky, giving food to the titmouse brothers; at the end of the myth as the dwelling-place of the horned motherruler of the lights), finds its explanation in the totemic character of Nivkh con-

174 A. F. Anisimov cepts linked with the cult of this tree. In a note, Shternberg adds: "Notable is the mysterious role of the larch in all the most important moments of the tale; this is fully in harmony with the cult of this tree, to which the Gilyaks even attribute their origin/'75

Chapter II In one of the last works of L. Ya. Shternberg, "Kult orla u sibirskikh narodov" [The cult of the eagle among Siberian peoples], it was convincingly demonstrated that concepts of the so-called cosmic or world tree are peculiar to a very large number of peoples, not only Siberian but also Ural-Altaic in general, even including the westernmost Finns of Europe, and, further, not only Ural-Altaic but, additionally, the peoples of Mediterranean culture, in the broad sense of this term, that is [Eastern] Indians, Iranians, Semites, Greeks, Romans, and finally, Teutons.76 Shternberg is inclined to regard such broad dissemination of these beliefs as the result of past mutual cultural ties of the peoples involved. In his words: "Their presence (the beliefs about the world tree—Author) among peoples far removed from each other cannot be the result of convergence. They must have been derived as a result of close past commonalty."77 Within the limits of strictly Indo-European mythology, the possibility of such ties cannot arouse doubt, but the extended concept of them which Shternberg permits for the explanation of the universality of those views is scarcely probable and, in any case, has not been proved by any one thus far. In Shternberg's opinion, the Evenk turn (shamanistic tree) originated from the Sanskrit dru, taru (the holy tree of Buddha); the Siberian (Evenk) shaman^ saman originated from the Hindu (Sanskrit) sramana, samana, and all this in turn points to the origin for this complex of beliefs in India.78 Shternberg assumes that "the correspondence of the term shaman among most of the Siberian peoples with the Indian term Sramana, samana speaks for the fact that this complex had some definite common center of origin from which it gradually spread after long wanderings of the first people to adopt it and a long close contact or, perhaps, intermarriage with other Ural-Altaic peoples."79 However, as is known, the term shaman is not universal in Siberia: among the Evenks it is shaman~saman; among the Yakuts the term oyun exists for the expression of the same concept; among the Buryats, foo; the Mongols, poo; the Altayans, kam; the Chukchis, engenglyn; the Eskimos, akhlinalre; and so on. The common feature which Shternberg attempted to explain by the possibility of past cultural-historical links of peoples is in fact a development by common stages, similar in its historical universality to such phenomena of primitive society as exogamy and totemism. And this, in turn, means that the sources of the shamanistic tree turn must be sought not in the holy tree of Buddha of Indian mythology, but, on the contrary, the Indian concepts of the so-called bodhitaru are to be viewed as having their genesis in primitive concepts of the type of the Evenk turn. Material cited by Shternberg confirms this. By studying this complex of beliefs on a broad, comparative plane, from Indo-European mythology to Siberian shamanism inclusively, Shternberg demonstrated on the basis of sound materials that the concepts of the world tree uncovered by him among various peoples are the result of the gradual development of society: the images of Indo-

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European mythology belong to more developed, early [stages of a] class society, while the Siberian belongs to preclass societies (with a primitive clan structure and [one of] the various stages of its disintegration). Their indubitable stadial links reveal the developmental process of these beliefs in their different phases, providing the scholar with a factual basis for the study of their origins. Without repeating what has already been done on a comparative plane by Shternberg, we shall attempt to tackle this problem from a historical-genetic view, basing ourselves on Siberian materials. Of greatest interest to us are the ethnographic materials of the Evenks and we shall begin our study with them. K. M. Rychkov wrote of the northern Yenisey Evenks that "they recognize the earth as a woman and call it, both in everyday speech and in shamanistic usage nothing else but dunne enin "mother-earth."80 The Evenks of the Podkamennaya Tunguska called by the name "mother" the taiga, mountains, and rivers, and even their place of settlement, saying of the latter that it is their clan mother-land. In their relations with the mother-clan locale, the Evenks exercised particular precautions. When erecting a tent (chum) on a new campsite, the mistress of the household respectfully begged permission from the clan mother-earth to settle on the selected area within the territory of the clan. When lighting the fire in the new chum, the mistress of the household entreated the clan mother-earth for success in the conduct of household affairs, and begged that she defend and guard all those living in the chum from the machinations of evil spirits. When leaving a camp, the mistress of a household left behind on the abandoned site a small offering ( a piece of cloth, reindeer hide, or a thing no longer used ). When the mother-earth was "displeased" with one of her kinsmen, she deprived him of her protection, and he became sick, suffered from failures in his tasks, and so on. To placate her, the Evenks hung two pieces of cloth next to the chum: a black one, intended as a sacrifice to the earth, and a white one, intended as a sacrifice to heaven, i.e., to the "heavenly" clan mother-earth (of the upper world). It may be added that in the language of the Tungus-Manchu groups, the word buga~ bua~boa~ba signifies not only "universe" (the upper, middle, and lower worlds), "vault of heaven," "heaven," but also "homeland" (place of birth), "nature," "weather," "taiga," "locality," "space outdoors," i.e., outside the chum. As the semantics of the word buga show, the ancient concepts of the worlduniverse originally did not go beyond the borders of the natural surroundings closest to man, serving as the immediate field of his productive activities. This space outside (outside the chum) began for man with the place of action—the taiga—and was linked with the conditions of action—the weather; each of these was perceived, in turn, in unity with the social unit economically exploiting the territory. Reflecting the gens [gentilic] kinship structure of the social unit, the concepts of place, of nature, were associated with those of clan, birth, clanmother, while the concepts concerning the common clan group were associated with those of place, territory, nature. Such a lack of division in the mythological perception of nature and clan, territory and social unit which exploits it, is characterized by topogentilic views of totemism, known for their concepts of totemic centers and totemic reincarnation. Apparently at one time these totemic notions also had a place among the peoples of the North. In this scheme of a stadial genetic link of totemic beliefs and cosmological concepts among the peoples of the North, the Evenk views of the sacred clan trees and iocks—bugady (lit. "belonging to buga')— are of special interest to us.81 According to information related by the Evenks of the Podkamennaya Tunguska, in the past each clan had its own object of veneration—bugady. In some

176 A. F. Anisimov cases these were stones and rocks with zoomorphic features, in others trees of unusual size and form. These objects of the clan cult were the place of habitation of the clan's female spirits: the mistress of the clan lands, the so-called dunne mushunin (musunin), and the mistress-mother of the clan, the so-called bugady enintyn. The mistress of the clan lands was thought to be anthropomorphic by the Evenks, dwelling under the roots of the sacred clan tree or, in other cases, under a rock. Her life was thought of as similar to Evenk life, representing, as it were, a copy of their own social existence. However, in this copy there are certain deviations which are understandable as those of a matriarchal clan structure, but not at all conforming to a patriarchal form of organization. The mistress of the earth has a husband—the nameless shepherd of her herd. Together with assistants, likewise nameless shepherds, he tends countless droves of all sorts of animals which the mistress of the earth has at her disposal. In the family he occupies a position dependent in every way on the mistress, and people do not consider it necessary to refer to him in the performance of the various rites. All relations with the mediator of the people, the shaman, are carried out by the mistress of the earth herself. She gives the people their food—their catch—releasing from under the earth a greater or smaller quantity of animals. These animals are transformed into woolen threads, which the shaman supposedly brings out from under the earth into his drum, shaking them out onto the hunting grounds of the taiga. These magical woolen threads, shingken (singken), are then transformed into real animals, the hunters' objectives which supply the people with all the necessary means of existence. The thrifty mistress of the earth is exacting towards the people, her kinsmen, and solicitously provident towards the earthly welfare, the animal herds. She gives the people animals only if they observe the established prohibitions: not to defile the clan fire (hearth), not to kill animals beyond necessity, not to defile the catch, and so on. Carefully guarding the riches of the earth, she hides the shingken in a special small leather bag under her armpits. This sacred little bag, identified with the armpits of the mistress of the earth, figures in the shaman's narration which completes the clan's shingkelevun (singkelevun)-a special rite, similar in its objective to the totemic food-increase rite. The ritual shingkelevun was arranged by the Evenks before a hunt in order to ensure success. Judging from the narrations of the Podkamennaya Tunguska Evenks, in ancient times this rite was carried out by the entire clan, near their clan bugady. A detailed description of this rite and its documentation was published in one of our previous works.82 Therefore, there is no need to repeat it here and in the present case we shall describe only such details of the rite that are directly related to the theme under investigation, namely, that part linked with the "journey" of the clan shaman to the dunne mushunin, the mistress of the clan land, and to the bugady mushunin, the mistress of the clan. A few words should be said about the various names of these mistresses of the clan land and clan. In Russian-Evenk dictionaries, the word mushun (musun) is translated as "the spirit-master of natural phenomena." For example, mu mushunin, "spirit-master of water"; ure mushunin, "spirit-master of the mountain"; and so on. The word dunne in the Evenk language has a double meaning: (1) "land"; (2) "country." Consequently, dunne mushunin literally should mean "spirit-master of the land ( country )." Concepts linked with the image of this clan spirit have in view a mistress-ruler, calling her grandmother (eneke), while by the concept of land (country), they understand the territory of the clan with its

Cosmological Concepts 177 means for existence (places for the hunting of animals, fish, wild game, and so on). It is just in this aspect of economic use of the clan territory that the image dunne mushun appears in the clan rite shingkeleuun—the rite of magical increase of the catch (food). As for bugady mushun, the image of this spirit is complicated first of all by the many meanings of the word buga, referred to on page 175. If one bears in mind that the formative -dy is an adjectival suffix signifying relationship, then bugady mushun should mean literally "spirit-master of the universe and the phenomena of nature." But in the concepts of bugady mushun ( musun ), this spirit-master of the universe and the phenomena of nature is seen as a clan spirit-mistress, and further, the mistress not only of the buga (world, universe, phenomena of nature), but also of the clan. Contrarily, her image is conceived as having a dual meaning: (1) of a woman, mistress-mother of the clan, (2) of an elk cow (or the doe of a wild reindeer).83 Let us recall that in the Evenk language the word enin with the possessive suffix signifies mother, without the possessive, deer. The exceptional name for the elk cow, eneche, in origin associated with eni, "mother," testifies to the same thing. It is just in this zoomorphic sense of "mother of the clan" that bugady mushun also appears in the shingkelevun rite referred to earlier. As he begins a shamanistic performance, the shaman declares in his song that he is about to depart to the clan's spirit-mistresses of the taiga and animals to beg for a catch for his kinsmen. The ensuing development of the action then portrays the journey of the shaman to these clan spirits, and all that is connected with this journey. The shaman (that is the zoomorphic double of the shaman, his spirit khargi) departs for the world where dunne mushun, the mistress of the clan land, lives, by penetrating under the roots of the sacred clan-tree. Using his supernatural strength, and being helped by his spirit-assistants, the shaman surmounts all the obstacles in his path and appears, finally, in the dwelling of the mistress of the clan land. A prolonged conversation takes place between them, portrayed by the shaman in the form of a dialogue. The shaman begs the mistress of the earth to give the kinsmen animals for the hunt, and she replies, pointing out to the shaman that various types of prohibitions were trespassed by the people, for the most part petty ones, connected either with the cult of the hearth (the clan fire), or with the physiology of women. The shaman, with the active support (exclamations) of the audience, tries to dissuade the obstinate mistress of the land, and she finally agrees to release into the taiga a certain number of animals (i.e., to give them to the shaman so that the kinsmen may hunt them ). But it is then further explained that she can carry out this decision only if there is agreement forthcoming from the mother of the universe, bugady enintyn~eninintyn. The mistress of the land instructs the shaman how he can find his way to this maternal origin [birthplace] of the clan and find his clan mother of the universe, bugady enintyn. The shaman then departs on the quest, and as the action develops it becomes clear that the clan female spirit bugady has not only an anthropomorphic but also a zoomorphic aspect. Usually the Evenk concepts of the bugady are anthropomorphic. They appeal to her as to the guardian and defender of the clan, saying: "Grandmother bugady, intercede, help!" They entreat her, as the mistress of the taiga and animals: "Grandmother bugady, give us animals, send us a catch!" At the same time, during the shingkel-evun rite she appears as a zoomorphic being, merging completely with the image of an elk cow or a doe of a wild deer. Following the path indicated by the dunne mushunin, the mistress of the land, the shaman finally finds the maternal origin of the clan, the bugady animal herds,

178 A. F. Anisimov and along with them giant elk cows and does, bugady enintyn~eninintyn. Having sought out his clan mother-animal (the elk cow or doe), the shaman begs her to release animals for the kinsmen to hunt. The animal-mother of the clan permits the clan shaman to take a certain number of animals and he sets about to catch them with his drum, using it as a lasso. The animals captured by the shaman instantly turn into woolen threads, shingken, which the shaman hides in the drum. With these shingken, the sources of the future catch of the hunters, the shaman starts his return journey, carrying in his drum the released bugady enintyn of the animals. When he reaches the dwelling of the dunne mushun (mistress of the land), the shaman shows her the catch, and the clan guardian of the entrance into the other world permits him to return to the taiga, to the people. With this zoomorphic image of the mother of the clan in mind, let me indicate words close in origin to buga, that is, buku~bugu~bukhu, which signify in Tungus-Manchu languages an ungulate (deer, red deer [maral] ), and also a large strong animal, by which is meant, judging by circumstances, the elk. The genetic closeness of the indicated words to buga-dy throws considerable light on the character of the most ancient concepts of man about nature. We shall come to this in the course of further study. Now let us return once more to the shingkelevun rite, the most important source in the case at hand. Upon returning to the dulugu buga (i.e., to the middle world), the shaman goes to the taiga, to the hunting grounds of the clan, and there he shakes out the woolen threads, shingken, which he has brought in the drum. According to the shaman, the woolen threads instantly change into real animals, filling the taiga with the future catch of the hunters. However, the action of the shaman does not end with this. The kinsmen express fears that this catch will be inadequate for the clan, and beg the shaman to go again to the clan's female spirits. The shaman carries out the request of his kinsmen and once more appears in the dwelling of the dunne mushunin (mistress of the clan land). Here begins for him the most difficult and complicated moment of shamanism, the theft from the dunne mushunin of the quantity of woolen threads necessary. The shaman offers a service, to look for lice in her soft leather undershirt. The old woman, mistress of the land, agrees. While taking off the garment, she reveals the sacred little bag, in her armpit, in which the woolen threads of all the animals in the taiga are kept, and the shaman, without being noticed, takes the necessary number. When he returns to the middle world, to the people, the shaman shakes them into the taiga and instantly they are transformed into real animals. It is hardly necessary to demonstrate that the anthropomorphic images in the given complex of concepts are a secondary phenomenon; this is obvious enough. The [important] question is quite different, namely: What was the conceptual basis for the formulation of the generalized zoomorphic images of the mythical masters of nature and society who in the role of the clan mother-animal preceded the anthropomorphic images described above? Keeping in mind what was said about the clan mother-animal, it seems rather natural to regard this mythological image as a subsequent modification and generalization of ancient totemic beliefs concerning group kinship of people and animal-totems. In this case, the places of the ancient clan cult of the Evenks described above—the sacred trees and rocks bugady—may be placed in a single genetic line with the so-called totemic centers, and the concepts linked with these bugady about the mythical maternal origins of the clan, in line with the topogentilic concepts of totemism known by the term totemic reincarnation. The Evenk concepts of the sacred trees and rocks bugady are a subsequent modifica-

Cosmological Concepts 179 tion and generalization of those ancient topogentilic ideas of classical totemism, known from Australian ethnographic materials. The totemic first ancestors, to which the image of the Evenk bugady enintyn goes back in its origins, were depicted in the totemic mythology of the Australians84 as the beginning of the birth of nature (natural species) and of society (clan groups). According to the mythology of the Australians, the totemic first ancestors were beings of a dual, anthropomorphic-zoomorphic nature, which they sometimes combined in themselves at the same time, and sometimes could change alternately, i.e., they could adopt completely an animal or a human form. These mythical beings, which were at the same time humans and animals, humans and birds, humans and plants, and so on, wandered for a long time over the uninhabited earth, and the places crossed by their nomadic pathways later became the places of habitation of their descendants, i.e., groups of people on the one hand, and animal and plant species on the other, after whose names the [human] groups called themselves. The origin of both was conceived as a natural differentiation of the primary dual nature of the first ancestor, which, according to the mythology of the Australians, he could change alternately. After his wanderings, each of the first ancestors descended into the ground, and the place where he entered became the totem center. From this totemic center the totemspirits emerged and embodied themselves in the descendants of the original totemic ancestor (i.e., both in the new generations of the totemic group and in the animals or plants after which the group called itself). After passing a certain time in this differentiated form of their earthly incarnation, the totem-spirits reverted to their permanent habitat—the totemic center—to which the concepts of the dual (anthropomorphic-zoomorphic) nature of the original totemic ancestor are linked. The life of nature and human society, according to Australian mythology, is passed within the frame of this permanent [recurrent] cycle of totemic reincarnation. So that the cycle of reincarnation would not be broken, the Australians performed special rites in their totemic centers, "obliging" the totemspirits to carry out the "revival" of life in nature and human society in the way described. It seems, then, that there is every reason to suppose that the Evenk cult bugady and the characteristic concepts of the so-called bugady enintyn ~eninintyn were formed on the basis of analogous totemic beliefs, but subjecting them to further modification. With all their differences in details and in degree of social-historical development, they are alike in their basic features as a developed form in relation to the archetype. While preserving a certain fund of concepts inherited from the early forms of totemic beliefs, the Evenk concepts of bugady already disclose quite clearly a tendency to transform totemic images into the anthropomorphic forms of a polytheistic cult. The Evenk bugady enintyn, the mythical mother of people and animals, is conceived among various Evenk clans in one and the same zoomorphic image of an elk cow or the doe of a wild deer. But in the cult this generalized, common tribal image is still linked with the clan territory, and the material objects of the cult—the sacred trees and rocks bugady—are conceived as the place of habitation of the clan mother-animal (the totem in its archetype). Parallel with the generalized, modified totemic image there arise, as we have seen, anthropomorphic images of mythical old women-mistresses of the clan land and of the clan. Among the Orochs, a nationality related to the Evenks, at the center of analogous cosmological views stand images of two mythical old women—a tigress and a bear, living on the opposite halves of the moon-land, one along the tiger river,

180 A. F. Anisimov the other along the bear river. With this dichotomized mythological association, reflecting ideologically the dual organization of the matriarchal-clan society, there were also connected among the Orochs concepts concerning their mythical maternal birthplaces, common to both people and animals. According to the views of the Orochs the tigress-old woman and the bear-old woman nurse and toss onto the earth the spirits of people and animals. Thus, people and animals are born. When death comes, the spirits return to the tigress- and bear-old-women, making their way there along the tiger or the bear river. After their arrival, the spirits live for a certain time at the headwaters of one of these rivers, and then enter the "management" of one of the old women. The latter feed them on coals from the hearth, after which the spirit takes the form of a mushroom, and the old woman once again throws it onto the earth, to the people. After falling there, the spirit enters the womb of a woman and initiates the [process leading to] birth.85 To use the words of Marx, in clan society blood kinship was the umbilical cord by which the individual was welded to the clan just as tightly as an individual bee is to the bee swarm.86 Since in a matriarchate the only indicator of the individual's link to the clan was his kinship recounted through the mother's line, the identification noted above in the concepts of the mother, clan, birth, on the one hand, and of the spatial-mother and clan, clan and place, place and act of birth, on the other, seemed a perfectly natural phenomenon. This lack of division in the concepts or, more precisely, their identification is again attested by the Australian concept of the so-called totemic reincarnation. With the decline of the matriarchal clan structure, the totemic beliefs—the religious ideology of the maternal clan—are also changed in form. With this, the character of the images of the totemic mythology changes as well. If initially, in the early period of clan society, the image of the mother-animal was extended only to a definite species of animal-totem, now it becomes general for all clans. In severing itself from the umbilical cord of the clan, it loses thereby its former functions of motherhood, and it becomes a tribal object of cult rather than a clan object. As a consequence of this process, the image of the clan mother-animal is transformed by degrees into one of an animal-mistress, while the zoomorphic features of this image are gradually displaced by anthropomorphic ones. We saw this distinctly in the example of the Evenk images dunne mushunin, bugady mushunin, and bugady enintyn~eninintyn. Later, the image of the female deity is displaced by that of the male, reflecting the relationships of a patriarchal-clan society. Striking evidence of this are the Nivkh concepts of the mythical master of the sea realm. The spirit of the sea is conceived by them as an old man, living there as the head of a settlement of sea people. His yurt of whale bone stands encircled by the dwellings of his kinsmen, and in it a fish swims under the plank bed, whose scales the master throws into the sea, in order to provide a catch for humans. According to other versions, the master throws not scales but a fishskin: if he throws a fourth of the skin, there are few fish; if he throws a half, there are many; and when he throws the whole fishskin, a great number of fish come out of the sea into the rivers. So that the master of the sea might be better disposed towards humans, it was considered necessary to feed him berries and other foods. However, in a number of legends of the Nivkhs about the master of the sea, the dominating role is ascribed not to him but to his wife, who appears here in the role of the mistress of the sea-catch. The mistress lives in a separate yurt of grass, and a fish swims under the plank bed of her dwelling.87 These characteristics of dual meanings, characteristic of the transition from

Cosmological Concepts 181 matriarchate to patriarchate, appear distinctly also in the mythology of the Chukchi. In the views of the Maritime Chukchi, the spirit of the sea is conceived as living on the bottom of the sea in an underwater tent. All the good things of the sea are in his dominion. From these treasures he allots a share to humans for hunting. The catch allotted by the sea ruler is driven to the hunters by special assistants of the sea-spirit—the killer-whales. In the Chukchi collection of the Museum of Ethnography* there is a "board of incantations" used in rites for the attraction of a sea-catch. According to V. G. Bogoraz, on its left side is depicted a large open net and in front of it schools of fish and every kind of sea game, swimming in the direction of the net. The killer-whales, assistants to the master of the sea, collect in groups and push walruses and every kind of sea game towards the net, helping the hunters to take possession of the catch.88 Yet, the Maritime Chukchi have a concept of a powerful old woman of the sea, living on its bottom and ruling all the animals of the sea. In her mouth are two walrus tusks, and the Chukchi call her "walrus mother."89 It is rather obvious that the image of the spirit-master of the sea is secondary in this complex, having displaced in the mythology the female spirit, formed in the period of the matriarchate. With the transition from matriarchate to patriarchate, the image of the mother-mistress of the sea gave place to the image of the masterruler of the sea-catch. In this connection the linguistic materials—objective records of history—are particularly indicative. Among the Koryaks, a nationality close to the Chukchi in language and culture, the process of displacement of the matriarchate by the patriarchate preserved quite precise morphological traces sealed in many terms of kinship. This was pointed out by S. N. Stebnitskiy in his time, when he offered a course of lectures at Leningrad University on the ethnography of the Koryaks. In discussing the scientific etymology of Koryak kinship terms, he pointed out that the contemporary Koryak term yllagyn (father, male parent) is derived from the root ylla (mother, female parent). The fact that the root yllag (father) in the singular absolute case needs to be formed with the suffix - ( y ) i i s evidence of the later origin of the term yllagyn (father) as compared with the term ylla (mother). Moreover, the origin of a series of Koryak terms of kinship from the same root as the base ylla (mother) attests that earlier kinship followed the maternal line. Judging from the semantics of the Tungus-Manchu word bug~buga^ bua~ba, man's initial concepts about the world, as was demonstrated, did not extend in space beyond the limits of his nearest natural surroundings, with which were identified, in the perception of man, concepts of the place of activity and of such vitally important conditions for that activity as the weather, upon the state of which the success of providing for one's material well-being depended to a large extent. In the Evenk language the word bug has the following meanings: (1) 'land"; (2) "forest"; (3) "nature"; (4) "country"; (5) "homeland."90 In the Udege language, bua means: (1) "place," "locality," "country," "world"; (2) "space without" (outside the dwelling); (3) "sky," "weather"; (4) "god."91 In Evenk buga~bua~ba has the same series of meanings: (1) "firmament," "heaven"; (2) "universe," "world"; (3) "homeland" (place of birth); (4) "weather"; (5) "god" (ekseri~eksheri); (6) "devil" (khargi).*2 Also characteristic are the derivatives of this word: Udege, bua buy uni (wild animal), bua khueni (desolate unpopulated space, taiga), buadya (space outside something, exterior)93; the Even word bugla (phenomenon of nature), bugene *[Of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.]

182 A. F. Anisimov (elevation on the horizon), bugereni (to rise)94; the Evenk ugu buga (upper world, land), dulugu buga (middle world, land—the world where people live), khergu buga (lower world, land). As reflected in the semantics of the word buga, the world was originally perceived by man within the limits of his immediate natural surroundings, and in this perception the territory which was exploited economically by the clan collective (i.e., the ancient, primitive clan) stood in first place. Reflecting the matriarchal character of blood relationships, on the basis of which the social structure of the clans was formed, these ancient concepts of the world depicted the link of nature and society as cognitive, i.e., as matrilineal. The characteristic lack of division of: (1) totemic concepts, clan, birth, (2) birth, mother, clan, (3) clan, birth, place, are sufficiently demonstrative of this. Enclosed within the boundaries of the clan's territory, these early totemic concepts of nature could not paint the [entire] picture of the multiple worlds which we encounter in the mythology of the peoples of the North. Concepts of multiple worlds of a universe are the result of subsequent developments and corresponding revisions of these ancient totemic views of nature. What changed in this connection, and how, we still do not know exactly, since we lack solidly based historical studies. The materials of Siberian shamanism serve as one of the sources for the study of these questions. Of particular interest among these are the concepts of the peoples of the North concerning the socalled shaman's clan-tree which is at the same time a world-tree. With it there is linked a cycle of legends about the "selection" of shamans. These views are most clearly expressed in the shamanism of the Tungus-Manchu peoples, especially the Evenks. According to the Evenk shamans, each has his clan turn, literally meaning "support," "stay," "prop," "pillar." This turu is represented as a tree—a larch—and is conceived as common to the clan; not only the life of the shaman was bound up with it, but also that of the clan. The link was conceived as direct and was identified with the image of the mythical mother-animal, venerated as the chief of the spirits of the clan as well as of the shaman's turu. The mythology of shamanism, especially the legends about the "selection" of shamans by the clan's spirits, points to the sources of these concepts which are analogous to those of classical totemism. ( Cf. the views described earlier about the totemic centers, and the concepts linked with them concerning totemic reincarnation. ) In this connection the following points are essential in the "selections." First, there is the remarkable fact that this "selection" of the shaman by spirits is linked in Evenk concepts with images of the spirit-ancestors of the shaman, which are disclosed in the mythological picture of the "selection" as clan spirits and are identified with the image of both the shaman's and clan's mother-animal. In the views of the Evenks, the spirit-ancestors of the shaman come to their clan, to the descendants, and compel the kinsmen closest to them to take up the shaman's calling. Further, it is essential that the spirit-ancestors who dwell on special shamanistic lands, kherekshe (from khere, "bottom," "below"), be conceived as indivisibly linked with the image of this clan tree: they sit on its branches, guarding the life and well-being of the clan. When necessary, the spirits change their zoomorphic form, transforming themselves into people, kinsmen, assistants of the mythical old woman, the mistress of the clan's settlement of the spirits. This shamanistic locale of the clan is shown to be identical with the tree turu, at the roots of which the mother-animal of the shaman is supposed to lie, and which accordingly is represented as the source of birth of the shaman and of the clan

Cosmológica! Concepts 183 (the maternal place of birth-giving, common to the shamanistic khargi—the zoomorphic soul of the shaman—and to his clan group, people). When the clan spirits change their zoomorphic form, transforming themselves into human kinsmen, the shaman's mother-animal is transformed into the old woman-mistress, and the tree turn, accordingly, into her tent. In the shamanistic legends, which tell about the shaman's "selection," a similar metamorphosis is repeated whenever, in the course of action, the reincarnation (birth) of a shaman takes place. Judging by these legends, the anthropomorphic soul of the future shaman is led away by his spirit-ancestor into a world of shamanistic, zoomorphic spirits, dwelling in a nether world, in the so-called shamanistic lands, kherekshe, which are considered to be their clan territory. To this territory the spirits lead the anthropomorphic soul being initiated to the tree turn. There he is met by the motheranimal of the shaman (an elk cow or doe of the wild deer) lying among the roots of the tree. The mother-animal destroys ( eats ) the anthropomorphic soul of the shaman, giving birth in its place to the shamanistic khargi—the chief soul of the shaman, his animal-double—which is capable of assuming any zoomorphic form, and also possessing the anthropomorphic form normal to the shaman-man. In the Evenk language, khargi has a number of meanings: (1) "wild deer" (usual name, beyun), (2) "taiga" (usual name, agi), (3) "spirit-master of the forest," (4) "evil being," "man-eater" (close in meaning to the Nivkh word milk, which Shternberg, for lack of a more exact term, translated into Russian as "devil"). From the aspect of the concepts described above, this polysemantism of the Evenk word khargi becomes especially remarkable. It points to the character and direction of the historical transformation of totemic images, which in their social development grew beyond spirit-totems into more generalized images of spirit-masters, rulers of individual realms of nature. Reflecting ideologically the process of replacement of the matriarchate by the patriarchate, the generalized totemic images received features of ambivalence, and in this dual significance became one of the means of expression characteristic for that time of the ethical categories of good and evil. Returning to the archaic image of khargi, the mythical being of dual (halfanimal, half-human) nature, let us recall that this animal-double of the shaman was considered as the chief soul of the shaman, and its birth was conceived as an act of reincarnation, analogous to totemic reincarnation. In shamanism, these initial totemic concepts about birth as an act of totemic reincarnation have come down to us in essentially different forms, modified over time, but their general, basic sense has remained the same. In shamanistic mythology, the soul khargi, born of the mother-animal, was placed by the spirit-ancestors of the shaman in an iron cradle, which they then hung on the tree turn. Once in the cradle, the khargi found the anthropomorphic features of the shaman-man, while, at the same time, the entire background of the action was metamorphosed: a tent of reindeer skins appeared in place of the tree, and the mother-animal was transformed into the old woman-mistress of the tent; the zoomorphic spirits sitting on the branches of the tree were transformed into kinsmen of the old woman, helping her to develop the course of action. This transformation of the image of the mother-animal into the old womanmistress, and the shaman-tree turn into the dwelling of this mythical old woman, obviously is not fortuitous. The Evenk words genetically close to turn—viz. turumm,95 "post," "support," "pole for the reindeer tent"; turugan,gQ "door pole"; turngtm,97 "place of the mistress in the reindeer tent"—all indicate explicitly that these late images of totemic mythology were created as a fantastic reflection of

184 A. F. Anisimov actual relations of the matriarchal-clan society, in which the dominating position in the family and society belonged to the woman. This complex process of social-historical transformation of totemism into shamanism has already been examined by us in a previous work devoted to this subject.98 The materials of this work clearly demonstrate that: ( 1 ) these changes in the religious ideology (the absorption of totemic beliefs by shamanism as a more generalized form of religious concepts and cult) were brought about by changes in economy; (2) these changes are reflected in the ideology not mechanically, directly, but through basic changes—the transition from matriarchate to patriarchate; (3) the new form of religious ideology (shamanism) arising from these changes developed historically linked with all concepts which existed earlier (during the matriarchate), subjecting them to further modifications; (4) these modifications had the character of a complex transformation of mythological images preceding shamanism, their dichotomy, ambivalence, and so on, with the aid of which the victorious patriarchate revised ideologically the social concepts of the matriarchal-clan society. By analysis of Evenk concepts about shamanistic spirits" we have shown clearly how previously independent totemic cults were destroyed in their local setting and reduced to the role of spirit-helpers of the shaman. Moreover, individual totems (the elk, the wild deer, and the bear, which became objects of a common tribal cult) were elevated to become the chief shamanistic spirits. In both cases the former totems of the clans were detached from their clan base, becoming common to the entire tribe, and were differentiated into primary and secondary. In this way, a special world of shamanistic spirits was created, "subordinated," as it were, to the will of the shaman—the specialist of the religious cult. The communion of the shaman with these spirits became his prerogative. From this aspect it becomes understandable why the role of the shamanistic mother-animal is taken primarily by the elk and the wild deer. Like the bear, who takes the role of the master and chief of the spirit-ancestors in shamanist mythology, the image of the elk cow (or doe of the wild deer), venerated as the mother, arose in the process of displacement of many totems by one, and of its transformation into a common tribal object of cult. The concepts about the shamanistic tree, turu, have the same generalized character, which goes back, as we have seen, to the topogentilic views of the totemists. In totemic beliefs, these topogentilic concepts are linked with totemic centers, and are never removed spatially from the clan territory. Also in this territory, long ( shamanist ) paths are imagined and are conceived as the roads which the shaman takes to the worlds of the universe. Reflecting the character of the relations in a patriarchal-clan society, the former clan spirit-totems form a hierarchy, divided into higher and lower, superior and inferior. Accordingly, the complex of totemic topogentilic concepts are also differentiated spatially. This process of spatial differentiation of the ancient concepts may be discerned clearly in the Evenk concepts about the shamanistic tree, turn. In the latter, each shaman has a lower, middle, and upper turn. The lower one is conceived as growing in the lower world (khergu~ergu buga) and is identified with the place in which the shaman's spirit-ancestors dwell. These spirits are conceived as dual beings (half-animal, half-human), and the tree tutu linked with them is the place of birth of the shaman's khargi (his chief soul, the animal-double). Its birth is depicted in shamanistic mythology as an act of transformation of man into animal and animal into man, while the place where this transformation occurs is depicted as the origin of the shaman's birth and clan, the shaman's and the clan's maternal place where birth is given. The

Cosmológica! Concepts 185 anthropomorphic soul of the shaman goes there, to the mother-animal, is transformed into a zoomorphic being, and returns from there ( to the middle world, to humans) already a shaman-man. In the middle world (dulugu buga) the shamans have a middle turn. By this is implied that specific larch tree from which they splinter wood for the preparation of the rim of the shaman's drum. In the concept of the shamans, their external soul dwells in this tree, i.e., the animal-double khargi, which comes at the time of shamanizing at the call of the shaman and withdraws from him after the end of the performance. With this tree is linked the sojourn of the shaman in the middle world, that is, the shaman's life: if this tree dies, the shaman dies. In the upper world (ugu buga) there is a special turn (of the upper world). Clouds and the luminous bodies of the heavens are found on this tree, and at its base live the supreme spirits, which are benevolently disposed towards humans. To this tree the shaman "goes" when he shamanizes over the sick, transferring to the care of the supreme spirits the soul of the sick one, "taken away" from the illness. In the concepts about the buga (universe), these shamanistic turn form one world (cosmic) tree, of which the roots correspond to the lower (underground) world, the middle of the trunk to the middle (land), and the crown to the upper one (the sky). The views just indicated are distinctive of all the Tungus-Manchu peoples. Concerning the Nanays (Golds), Shternberg wrote that according to their concepts "there exist three world trees; one in the sky (in which all the souls live before they are born, in the form of unfledged duck nestlings); the second one, in the underworld, in the kingdom of the dead; the third on earth, that is, the birch tree with shamanistic appurtenances."100 In the evidence of P. P. Shimkevich, among the Nanays the tree of the upper world bears the name omiya muoni, because, in the concepts of the Nanays, human souls, omiya, live and multiply on it.101 N. A. Lipskaya-Valrond102 demonstrates that the tree omiya muoni was conceived as a clan tree, was specific for each clan, and the souls "descending" from it to earth "settle" only in women of that clan. The clan tree of souls was identified with the image of the female spirit Omson mama, under whose auspices was found that mythical birth-giving of the clan. Among the Nanays, these trees were depicted on wedding gowns together with figures of animals, birds, and also the luminous bodies of the heavens (in the form of a circle or a rosette with rays). According to S. V. Ivanov,103 the characteristic features of the Nanay clan trees on the wedding gowns are created by the depiction of roots and also of animals standing at the sides of the tree. Most often it is the ungulates that are placed under the tree. This is also indicated by the names of the figures: siru, "wild deer"; bocha, "Siberian stag" [maral]. The same complex of concepts is reflected in the drawings of other peoples of Siberia,104 confirming their universal (stadial) character among numerous Siberian nationalities. It is not necessary to review the extensive factual material of Shternberg,105 Ivanov,106 and others; we shall concentrate on a description of shamanistic "wanderings" through the worlds of the universe, as they were recorded by A. A. Popov from a Nganasan shaman.107 In telling of his initiation into shamanship, he emphasized that in his case, his selection by the spirits was linked wth the departure of his anthropomorphic soul to the lower world. There he was told that his shamanistic name would be Khuottoriye (loon), and that the process of transformation would take place in a tree, which would make him into a shaman. Wandering along the shore of the

186 A. F. Anisimov underground sea, the shaman came to a long hill and saw a naked woman lying on her side. This woman, mistress of the water, from whom the shaman was to receive the shamanistic gift, acknowledged the shaman as her child, and he began to suck at her breast. The woman took three fish from the bottom of the sea and threw them into the rivers of the earth, saying: "I shall provide all peoples with fish, so they may have their subsistence." After being nursed by his mother, the mistress of the waters, the shaman walked on the roads of all the worlds of the universe. The master of the lower world provided an ermine and a mouse as guides to the shaman. Continuing through the nether regions, the shaman encountered a settlement of spirits of illness, called at their tent, and learned the reasons for human illnesses. "I have visited all these tents," said the shaman, "and have learned the reasons for various human illnesses." Finally the shaman arrived at the place in the shamanistic land where his voice was to be altered. They led him to nine lakes. On seven of these lakes, a bird and its young were swimming (a loon, a duck, a swan, and others), while on one of the islands of a lake there grew a tree. In the top of it the shaman saw many people. From them he learned that he was destined to have a drum [constructed] from the branches of this tree. The shaman flew to the top of the tree together with the young birds on the lakes. The spirit of the tree in human form showed itself out of the roots, and said: "I am the tree that makes all people capable of living." The spirit gave him a branch with three offshoots for the construction of three drums: one for shamanizing over women in childbirth, the second for the sick, the third for the dying. Then the ermine and the mouse, the helpers and guides of the shaman, led him to a broad sea without end. Walking through sparsely growing trees, the shaman came to a high, muddy hillock. The hillock opened before the shaman and he entered it. As he entered, the shaman saw on the left (female) side of the tent two naked women similar in appearance to reindeer: they were covered with hair and had branched antlers on their heads. The shaman went to the fire but what he had taken for a fire turned out to be the light of the sun's rays. One of the women, who was sitting near the entrance, was pregnant. She gave birth to two fawns, and let them go to the path of the shaman; one [was] for the needs of the forest people, the other for the needs for the Tavgis. The other woman also gave birth to two fawns, saying: "Here I am giving birth for all people. . . . May they serve as food both for man and for animals." To this she added: "Let the one sent by me to the tundra, the timid one, be a wild deer. Let the one sent to the forest, the submissive one, be a domestic reindeer." Finally, each woman gave the shaman a fine hair plucked from herself, and said: "With this you will outfit yourself with shaman's clothing; go out as quickly as possible." The shaman returned to the middle world, to people, already as a being of special supernatural qualities, capable of hearing and understanding even the conversation of the grass growing on a small knoll. The tree from which his drum was prepared was regarded as the shamanistic tree of the middle world of the universe, and was associated conceptually with the image of a wild deer, reckoned as the spirit of the drum. In the story of the Nganasan shaman it was stated in this connection: "All of us, in single file, went around the tree three times. . . . By doing this we fenced in the wild reindeer, which was for me . . . the tree." The description cited of the shaman's "selection" shows that the Evenk complex of concepts about the shamanistic tree turn and the shaman's "selection" is

Cosmológica! Concepts 187 not a specifically Evenk phenomenon. As a definite stage in the development of the religious ideology of a clan society, these views are obviously just as universal as the totemic beliefs to which they trace their origins. Especially interesting in this connection are the beliefs of the Selkups ( OstyakSamoyeds) associated with the rite of "vivification" of the shaman's drum. This rite has been described in detail by G. N. Prokofyev,108 from whose work we cite below. Among the Selkups, the rite of vivification was performed upon the receipt by the shaman of a new drum and drumsticks. The shaman's equipment, prepared by the kinsmen, needed to be "brought to life," otherwise it would remain "dead," i.e., be without its corresponding spirit (the soul of the shamanistic object) and thus unfit for the performance of the rites. In this case the shaman was considered "not to have a road," and thereby was not capable of carrying out the functions of a specialist of the religious cult, linked in the shamanistic concepts with the necessity of numerous "journeys" by the shaman through the mythical worlds of the universe. As the universe was conceived as accessory to the image of the mythical old woman-ancestress, the so-called Ylyunda kotta ( according to Prokofyev's transcription—Ylynda kotta), this vivification of the shaman's drum and drumsticks was linked, in the rite, with the journey of the shaman to the lifegiver-mistress of the universe just mentioned. The mythical mother of the universe and of the "forest people," the Selkups (selkup literally means "forest man"), was thought to dwell in the cosmic swamp, where there grows the world tree of the universe with the heavenly luminous bodies placed on either side of the trunk. This motif of the cosmic swamp, the residence of the mythical mothers of the universe, figured also in the descriptions of the Nganasan shaman. Wandering through the worlds of the universe, the shaman finds himself in a swamp, goes to a swamp hillock, and this opens, showing the dwelling of the mother-life-givers, who give birth, in his presence, to that life which is [a part of] man's surroundings. Reflecting in mythology the dual structures of clan society, these mythical ancestresses live together in one common dwelling, and that which the shaman takes for the hearth of their dwelling turns out to be the light of the sun's rays. As depicted in the narrative of the shaman the giving birth to things of nature also emphasized the dual structure of the clan society: one of the mothers of the universe gives birth to a wild deer in order to provide animals for the hunt, the other to a domesticated reindeer, so that humans may use it in their economy. The ancestresses are depicted as beings of a dual, half-animal, half-human nature, as naked women, covered with the hair of a deer. Antlers grow out of their heads. In a word, these are women-deer, giving (bearing) life for the world of humans and animals. In the light of this deer form of the mother of the universe, the image also becomes intelligible regarding the place of the birth of life, the mythical swamp of the universe where these life-givers live. The fact is that the swamp, represented in the north usually by a mossy tundra, is the favorite habitat of the wild deer, and in the taiga, of the elk. Judging by the semantics of the Evenk words det^detur, this is a natural link of a zoomorphic species with its habitat, and lies at the base of the mythological concepts about the swamp of the universe —the place of birth-giving common to people and animals. In the language of the Evenks the word det signifies "swamp," "tundra," "mossy glade in the taiga," serving as favorite places for the pasturage and habitat of wild deer and elks. Among the Evenks of the Podkammenaya Tunguska, detur, a derivative of this word, means "the upper reaches of the cosmic clan's river," which flows through

188 A. F. Anisimov all three worlds of the universe: the headwaters are in the upper world, the middle course in the middle world, the mouth then empties into the lower world, where the dead kinsmen live. The middle world is the world of living people, while the upper world is the place of the souls of people and animals, a place which is identified in the mythology of the Evenks with the swampy headwaters of the cosmic river, and bears the name detur. On this mythical detur, rich with lush pastures (detule in Evenk means a "a high, mossy cover in the forest"), the soul of the deer graze, while in the dwelling omiruk (lit. "receptacle," "repository of souls, omi") placed near them, live the souls reincarnated into generations of people, which serve as the source of continuation of the human race.109 In the light of this, it becomes clear why the habitation of Ylyunda kotta is a swamp, in the same sense as it is pictured in Selkup cosmogenic views. Returning to the ceremony of vivification of the drums, let us note first of all that it took place, among the Selkups, at a specific time of year, namely in the spring, and the timing corresponded, as a rule, to the period of the spring migration of the birds. In the North at this time, the ice breaks up in the rivers, the taiga, numb with cold during the winter, comes to life, and countless flocks of every migrating bird imaginable fly day and night to their nesting destinations, filling the air with voices of returning life, disquieted by the instinct of reproduction. In the mythology of the Kets (the former Yenisey Ostyaks), this period of the "revival of nature" is identified with the coming to the middle land, to people, of the mythical mother-nature, whose eyes are like the sky, and whose cheeks resemble the dawn. This mythical mother of reviving life, called Tomam (from am, "mother"), is conceived as dressed in white clothing (down), while in her sleeves all the migrating birds are hidden in the form of bits of fluff. In the spring, Toman comes to the bank of the Yenisey, stands on a high cliff, and shakes her sleeves over the river. The down which falls from her sleeves at this time is transformed into birds—ducks, geese, swans, and others—which also fly to the north, to the people.110 On the first day of the Selkup ceremony of the vivification of the drum, a rite is performed depicting the "march" of the shaman to the forest to the place where the shamanistic tree grew. Then the shaman and his spirit-helpers collect all the little chips from this tree which remain on the ground after the drum has been made and put them in a heap, in the swamp where the old women-mistress of the universe, Ylyunda kotta, lives. The dwelling of this mythical ancestress of the tribe was thought to be located in that place in the universe where the courses of the two cosmic rivers came close together: Limpyl ky, "the river of the eagle," and Kassel ky, "the river of the thick-billed nutbreaker." The division of the tribe among the Selkups in two exogamous halves or phratries— limpyl kup, "the people of the eagle," and kassel kup, "the people of the nutbreaker"—indicates clearly that these rivers of the universe arose in the mythology as the ideological reflection of the dual structure of clan society. The materials relating to the field of social structure of the Selkups leave no doubt about this.111 The mythical rivers empty into the lower world, into the "sea of the deceased," and their upper reaches are in the upper world where the sacred tree grows, with the heavenly bodies placed on both sides of its trunk. And it is to this world tree of life that the path of the shaman goes. But it is particularly remarkable that the path is conceived differently for the shamans of different phratries: those who belong to the limpyl kup (people of the eagle) phratry make their way to this tree along the Limpyl ky (river of the eagle), and those who belong to the

Cosmológica! Concepts 189 kassel kup (people of the nutbreaker) phratry reach the same place along the Kassel ky (river of the nutbreaker). While continuing the rite on the second day, the shaman seeks the place in the forest where the "deer of the drum" was born, i.e., that wild deer with whose hide the shaman's drum was covered. While tracing the "road of life" of this deer, the shaman collects everything, down to the last hair, dropped by the deer, and carries it away to the swamp, to the dwelling of the mistress of the universe, Ylyunda kotta. Imitating the capture of a deer, the shaman catches the soul of the deer, with the assistance of seven wolves and their mother. The image of the mother runs as a connecting theme through all the religious concepts of the Selkups, appearing as the clearest survival of their maternal clan structure. According to Ye. D. Prokofyeva,112 the spirits of nature among the Selkups were female, and where the matriarchal female image was supplanted by a patriarchal male one, this process of doubling the image had a clearly expressed secondary character. Thus, the forest spirit-man was considered the master of the forest, but in the rites and concepts of the Selkups the female image continued to dominate: it was believed that the hunter was assisted and was given his catch not by the forest spirit-master, but by his daughter, also a patroness of the shamans. The Supreme spirit Num, pictured by the Selkups as a patriarchal ruler, had on the whole quite a diffused and indefinite character in comparison with what was said about the mistress of the universe, who supposedly lived with her daughters. She was conceived as the old mother-ancestress, the life-giver of the universe, sending the souls of people to the middle world. Writes Prokofyeva, This image is deeply poetic: Every morning the life-giving old woman sends to earth, on the point of the first rays of the sun, souls to people in childbirth. These souls are imagined as little birds. The word ilsat, "ray," also means "soul." The old womanmistress of the fire is the "old lady of the whirling fire," the mistress of snakes, selchi shut emysyt, is the mother of all snakes, and so on. In the folklore, the mistress of the forest is a sable, and she is also a woman, entering into relations with a hunter chosen by her, and he is [then] constantly successful in the hunt. The sun is also conceived as a woman, and so on.113

In brief, the images spoken of in the rite do not constitute some sort of exception in comparison with other religious concepts of the Selkups, which are matriarchal-totemic in the archetype. These features received their clearest expression in the third part of the ceremony of vivification of the drum, which was devoted basically to the rite of vivification of the remains of the deer whose hide covered the shaman's drum. The mythical personages acting in this part of the rites have a distinctly expressed totemic character. The raven-father and raven-mother appear in the roles of shamanistic spirits, performing the act of vivification; for this purpose they fly to the swamp to Ylyunda kotta, next to whom, in two whirlpools, are the water of life and the water of death. The raven's parents bring the water of life, sprinkle it on the remains of the deer, and thus revive the shamanistic deer—the drum. After this, the shaman erects next to the tent a sacrificial tree, which in the rite personifies the sacred tree of the universe with the heavenly luminous lights on the sides of its trunk. On this sacrificial tree the shaman hangs his new drum, which in the perception of the participants in the rite is fused with the image of the "resurrected" deer, replacing it, as it were. This short excursion to the cosmological concepts of the Selkups, which we have attempted, using the work of G. N. Prokofyev mentioned above, confirms,

190 A. F. Anisimov in its turn, our previous general deductions concerning the paths of the socialhistorical development of the cosmological images of mythology. As we have seen, these images have distinctly expressed totemic features at their sources, while the processes of their historical development have a social character just as distinctly expressed. In archetype, the ideological form goes back to totemism— the first religious system of primitive society—while the social base of this ideological form of expression goes back to the matriarchal clan structure, with which the development of clan society began historically. The totemic complex of cosmological concepts, known from Australian beliefs about first ancestors and totemic centers, adopts very complicated forms in subsequent development, as we have seen above. Nevertheless their stadial-genetic links with the archetype are clear enough. This is traceable most clearly in the Siberian materials on the complex of beliefs concerning the world tree. In the new materials published by Ye. D. Prokofyeva,114 we see that among the Selkups this world tree was conceived as growing on "the promontory of the Kedrovka [Nutbreaker] and Orel [Eagle] rivers, at the home of the ancestress," and was called, very appropriately: nomty tettonty nimyncharmyl kassyl po, "the sacrificial tree giving life to heaven and to earth." On this tree perch the eagle and the nutbreaker, totems of the phratries with those names within the Selkup tribe, and the sun and moon hang on its branches. According to other versions,115 this tree is conceived as growing from the lower world up to the sky, while the entire universe is divided into two halves, corresponding to the phratrial division of the tribe: the people of the eagle, represented in the universe by the Eagle river, and the people of the nutbreaker, identified in the cosmogeny with the nutbreaker river. Along the banks of these rivers, which reflect in the mythology the dual-phratrial structure of the tribe, smaller trees are growing, apparently representing the number of clans entered originally into each of the phratries, while the general world tree, growing from the dwelling of the ancestress, expresses in this instance the factual unity and common origin of the tribe. According to Prokofyeva's materials, the Selkups believed the world to be placed on two rivers, the Eagle river and the Nutbreaker river, which have their sources in a single common swamp, not far from the dwelling of the ancestress. These rivers flow parallel to each other, and empty side by side into a single sea. The Selkups live along these two rivers. At the mouths of these rivers is a swamp with seven holes, in which a tree grows, reaching heaven at its top. . . . Along the backs of these rivers there grow three trees each. One group of three belongs to the Nutbreaker's half, and the other to the Eagle's half.116 In connection with these concepts, the semantics of the Selkup word pelak deserves attention. As far as we can judge, it serves to designate the notion of a "phratry."117 Prokofyeva thinks that under this term "is hidden the concept of the unity of paired objects, the concept of the integrity of the pair. The social meaning of the word pelak is "one of two groups of people of the same order." Interesting in this connection is the Selkup verb peltyko, "to help," which literally means "to add one half," i.e., "to add to one half another, so that it becomes something complete."118 The Selkup mythological concepts of the universe, preserving quite distinct links with the dual-phratrial structure of the tribe, provide the basis for assuming that the sources and foundations of primitive cosmogenic dualism have a social character. The dual character of the primitive cosmogenic concepts arose historically as a reflection in the ideology of the true social existence of the dual structure of the clan society.

Cosmological Concepts 191 Chapter HI In describing the tenth and the last day of the ceremony of "vivification" of the drum, Prokofyev describes how on this day the shaman and his spirits "get as far" along the river as the locality in the universe where the mythical settlements of the shaman's brother-in-law and father-in-law are.119 These totemic images of the dual tribal organization, kassel ky nyktyya, literally "brother-in-law of the nutbreaker," and limpel kyn irai, "father-in-law of the eagle," figure already in the shamanistic rite as spirits, this being indicated by their common name, lozel kynirass kake, "the shaman's father-in-law and brother-in-law." Yet, this shamanistic modification of the ancient totemic images of the dual organization is clearly a later phenomenon. Shamanism, as a later form of religious ideology, naturally absorbed in itself these ancient totemic images, for, like every ideological phenomenon, it developed in linkage with all concepts preceding it, submitting them to further revision. While it preserved a certain fund of concepts, inherited from the epoch of matriarchal clan society, it gave them a more generalized character, as we have seen earlier, changing the spirit-totems into its shamanistic spirits, but even in this modified form it could not definitely remove the images of the totemic mythology from its social foundation—the dual organization of society. Even the institution of shamanism itself, which formed as a later religious system of a clan society, was obliged at first to preserve in its structure features of dual-phratrial organization, as evidenced by the ethnographic materials concerning the Selkups: The shamans belonging to the different halves [moieties] of the Selkups were different in many ways. It was thought that the shamans of the Nutbreaker moiety were weaker than those of the Eagle moiety. The shamans had different roads. Each "walked along his river." On the return from the world beyond the grave, the shamans of different moieties went by different roads. The shaman of the Eagle moiety "walked" with the sun, and the one of the Nutbreaker moiety against the sun. The shamanist paraphernalia were likewise differently constructed. The drumstick of the shaman of the Nutbreaker moiety was covered with the hide of a bear's paw (for shamanizing in the lower world) and with hide from a bear's forehead (for shamanizing in the upper world), while the drumstick of the shaman of the Eagle moiety was covered, accordingly, with hide from the forehead of a deer and hide from a deer's leg, and so on.120 In relating the subsequent events of the ceremony of vivification, Prokofyev mentions a remarkable detail: In the location thought of as the settlement of the shaman's brother-in-law and father-in-law, i.e., of the nutbreaker and eagle, after which the exogamic moieties of the Selkup tribe are named, the roads of the shamans unite: Limpel ky (the Eagle river) and Kassel ky (the Nutbreaker river) flow together, and the road of both the shamans becomes a common one. It leads the shamans to the sacred tree, described earlier, of the ancestress of the tribe, Ylyunda kotta, on which sit the nut tussymul suryp (lit. the "heavenly winged fledglings").121 This symbol of "dualistic unity" of the tribe becomes even more interesting if one keeps in mind that the term suryp signified in the past not only "bird" but also "animal" and in the archetype, apparently, the source of existence in general. Ye. D. Prokofyeva writes: "In the Selkup language there is no specific word for 'bird/ Suryp is 'animal' and 'bird/ In folklore they call even a fish ut kurytyl suryp, 'animal swimming in water/ but there also exists a word for 'fish,' kely. They call a bird timpytyl suryp, 'flying animal/ [However] the various species are usually named directly: duck, goose, and so on."122

192 A. F. Anisimov With this broad meaning of the word suryp, the spirits inhabiting the sacred tree, nut tussymul suryp, must have represented the spirit-totems of the tribe, and the tree inhabited by them the united tribe, composed of the two exogamic moitiés, i.e., phratries. Like these exogamic moiety-phratries, which together form the Selkup tribe, the mythological rivers of the universe, the Eagle and the Nutbreaker, flow parallel to each other through the halves of the universe of the same names, and finally merge, forming a common termination and beginning of the mythological cycle of life. In these concepts the end is linked with the lower world, where the mouths of these rivers are united, emptying into the great sea of the dead, while the beginning is linked with the upper world, where the upper courses of these rivers flow together, having originated as a common stream from a common source, the mythical Jlyunda kotta, venerated as the ancestress of the tribe and the mistress (heavenly mother) of the universe. The mythical ancestress is conceived as living beside this source, and the tree growing by her dwelling as the sacred tree of the entire tribe, giving life both to heaven and to earth. This cosmic tree has the sun and the moon hung on the sides of the trunk, and on its branches are perched, on each side, the totems of the phratries—the eagle and the nutbreaker. As the phratries are exogamic and marriages within them are forbidden, marriage in this case is possible only with a member of the opposite exogamic moiety of the tribe. Reflecting this dual character of exogamic marriage ties, the phratrial totems, the eagle and the nutbreaker, become brother-in-law and father-in-law in the mythological portrayal: at the place where the courses of the Eagle and Nutbreaker rivers merge, there live the kassel ky nyktyya, the nutbreaker's brother-in-law," and the limpel kyn irai, "the eagle's father-in-law," which in Selkup shamanism already figure as "the shaman father- and brotherin-law." It is rather obvious that this totemic picture of the universe, modified by shamanism, was once an ideological projection in a world of the dual organization of a matriarchal clan society. In the structure of the maternal clan only the female line of kinship was recognized, since with the predominant practice of group marriage, origin could be established with reliability only on the mother's side. In its structure the maternal clan was matrilineal, i.e., it included only the assumed ancestress and her daughters, with all the descendants of consanguineal kin of the female line. So long as members of a clan were consanguineal, marriages within the clan were forbidden categorically. The tribe was divided into two exogamic moieties, linked by reciprocal marriage relations. With this dualclan form of group marriage, each generation of women of one clan was, from birth, wives for the corresponding generation of men of the other clan and vice versa. As the marital ties in this situation had to have the character of crosscousin marriage, the wives of the group were sisters to each other and cousins of their husbands, and their husbands were brothers to each other, and cousins of their wives. As a beginning form of clan structure, the dual organization and cross-cousin group marriage characteristic of it were universal, contemporaneous phenomena in the history of primitive societies. Retrospectively this can be detected also through the ethnographic materials of the peoples of the North, for example, in an analysis of Evenk kinship terminology. Among the Evenks almost the entire kinship terminology had a clearly expressed classificatory character. The terms son, daughter, brother, sister, grandson, granddaughter, grandfather, and grandmother designated whole classes of persons, which arose in the past on the basis of the relations in group marriage.123 Among the Evenks a man called not only his own children sons and daughters,

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but also the children of his brothers. On the contrary, he called the children of his sisters his nephews and nieces. In her turn, a woman called the children of her sisters sons and daughters, but the children of her brothers, nephews and nieces. Judging by the kinship terminology among the Evenks in the past the entire class of men of one clan entered into group marriage with the corresponding marriage class of the women of the other clan, and vice versa. In addition, the men were group brothers to each other and cousins of their wives, while their group wives were group sisters to each other and cousins of their group husbands. With any other interpretation the meaning of a classificatory system of kinship which arose historically as a reflection of the ideology of actual relations of group marriage would become incomprehensible. Historical study of the familial marital relations of the Evenks124 confirms this conclusion, which becomes clear when their classificatory system is analyzed. This system, it turns out, finds comprehensive explanation in the norms of group marriage, traces of which were preserved among the Evenks to the very end of the 19th century. While investigating these traces with the data of the classificatory system, we attempted at one time to reconstruct, on a scientific basis, the dual organization of the Evenks, and came to the following primary conclusions.125 Among the Evenks group marriage was of the cross-cousin variety: the man had the right to marry his mother's brother's daughters, i.e., his cousins in the maternal line, and vice versa. As the Evenk ethnographic materials show, group crosscousin marriage existed in the past among them as the orthodox form of marriage: the children of brothers and sisters were already group husbands and wives from birth. To this it should be added that in the past among the Evenks each clan chose wives for itself only from the mother's clan, and in its turn, gave back the women of its clan to the clan of the latter. The two clans were linked by reciprocal marriage relations, according to which a specific generation of women of one clan were from birth [potential] wives for the men of the corresponding generation of the other clan, and vice versa. In the presence of such a permanent and obligatory link of two clans, the group wives of a class of brothers were of necessity obliged to be sisters to each other, and cousins in relation to their husbands; in their turn, their husbands were brothers in relation to each other and cousins to their wives. In the process of a natural segmentation of these two clans mutually linked in group marriage, clan exogamy spread quite regularly to all subdivisions of the clanphratry, and the dual organization of marriage relations of the two primary clans acquired the character of a phratrial organization. Within the framework of the two primary clans, which later became phratries, the dual organization was the oldest form of clan group marriage. But this clan form of dual exogamic group marriage was not the initial form historically. Judging from the Australian material, it was preceded by a more archaic system in the form of two marriage classes, which, apparently, was the initial form of exogamy of group marriage, coming to its conclusion with the establishment of the clan. Dual organization in the form of two marriage classes, as indicated by the Australian materials, was the beginning of clan organization in a society. In reviewing the Australian system of two marriage classes, Engels emphasized that it was founded on matrilineality and bore within it distinct seeds of the beginnings of exogamic, blood kinship.126 In the words of Engels the system of two marriage classes "excludes only marriages between brothers and sisters, between children of a brother, and between children of a sister . . . children of a sister and brother, on the contrary, may enter into marriage with each other."127 Characterizing this system as the most ancient form of exogamic group marriage,

194 A. F. Anisimov Engels writes further: "Here the entire tribe is divided into two large classes. . . . Sexual relations within each class are strictly forbidden; on the contrary, each man of one class is already from birth the husband of each woman of the other class, and the latter is his born wife/'128 As Engels demonstrated, the subsequent development of exogamic group marriage in Australia was linked with the formation of the four-class system, in other words, with the subsequent division of the two original classes into four,129 which led in turn to the complication of reciprocal marriage relations within the tribe: The first two classes are spouses for each other from birth; depending on whether the mother belongs to the first or the second class, her children fall into the third or the fourth class; the children of the latter two classes, upon entering into marriage relations, become part of the first and second classes. Thus one generation always belongs to the first and second class, the following one to the third and fourth, and the third generation once more belongs to the first and second.130 This long and difficult process of formation of the rudiments of the clan was consolidated ideologically by a system of kinship, which regulated the group marriage, already exogamic in principle. Additionally, this system of reciprocal marriage relations, characteristic of the process of clan formation, was consolidated ideologically by the concepts of the totem, which expressed in religious form everything that was linked with the concept of blood kinship. From the ancient marriage classes, traces of which were clearly preserved in the dual division of the tribe, the maternal clan arose as a higher form of exogamy. Marx wrote: "The natural suitability of the marriage classes for giving rise to the clan is sufficiently clear. . . . In Australia we see this in fact: here the clan is linked (in reality) with the preceding, more archaic organization, which continues to remain the unit of the social system—a role which passed later to the clan."131 An illustration of this is found in a most primitive Australian tribe, the Urabunna. This tribe is divided into two oxogamic moieties: Matturi, "the green snake," and Kirarava, "the brown snake." Each of the moieties is composed of a series of totemic groups. Since totemic groups within the bounds of the tribe are considered to be related by blood, marriages between them are not permitted. Marriage is permitted only outside one's tribal moiety: members of the first exogamic moiety ( Matturi ) enter into marriage with members of the second (Kirarava) and vice versa. But then it turns out that members of certain totemic groups in the first moiety of the tribe may enter into marriage only with certain totemic groups of the second moiety. V. K. Nikolskiy, who investigated the Australian materials from this point of view, writes: "A man belonging to one totemic group of the Matturi class can marry only a woman of the Kirarava class who belongs to a certain totemic group. For example, a man of the Dingo totem within the Matturi class can only marry a woman of the water hen totem of the Kirarava class."132 In his opinion, totemic groups formed as a stage in the transition from the archaic form of exogamy—the system of marriage classes—to a higher form—the maternal clan.133 In the example of the Australian tribe Urabunna it is clear that the totemic groups no longer appear as a subdivision of the two moieties, for the totemic groups within the limits of their moiety are considered related by blood. Apparently they arose in the process of the natural segmentation of the two primary exogamic moieties of the tribe, as a consequence of which they were considered

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within the limits of each of these moieties as related to each other. Blood kinship and exogamy, which passed on to them from their moieties, later pass on to the clan. The totemic groups are transformed into matriarchal totemic clans, while the dual organization with its natural suitability for exogamy adopts the form of the phratrial system. In connection with the phratrial system of the Iroquois, Engels wrote: "A more detailed investigation shows that these phratries for the most part represent the original clans into which the tribe was segmented at first, for with the forbidding of marriages within the clan, each tribe had to include, of necessity, at least two clans, in order to be able to exist independently."134 In this connection, the phratrial system of the Evenks, which existed among them in the past as an orthodox form of intratribal organization, seems particularly interesting. As applied in the three Evenk tribes of the Podkamennaya Tunguska which we examined (the Chemdel, Pankagir, and Kurkagir}, this intratribal organization appears distinctly as a dual-phratrial one.135 In the past each of these tribes was divided into two exogamic moieties or phratries. An Evenk called his moiety-phratry, dyalvi, "one's blood relatives,"136 and the opposite phraty, dankit or dandyak, which may be translated "place where marriage is performed," "place of conclusion of marriage."137 The clans which entered into the formation of the phratries were considered by the Evenks as subdivisions of one original clan, i.e., as clans arising because of natural segmentation. In the Kurkagir tribe, the clans of one phratry were considered subdivisions of their original clan, Kurkagir, while those of the second phratry were subdivisions of the [original] Cholkol clan. The Lupal, Dyurgo, and Yatoyal clans regarded themselves as subdivisions of the Kurkagir clan, and considered themselves nekunesel, i.e., younger brothers, in relation to the Kurkagir clan, and in conformity they called the members of the Kurkagir clan akinasal— older brothers. The Momochar, Kichel, Khorbol, and Sanyagar clans were considered subdivisions of the Cholkol clan. Since the clans of each of the moieties were considered subdivisions of one basic clan, exogamy (prohibition of marriage within the clan) spread also to its subdivisions. Inasmuch as among the Evenks in the past each clan took wives only from the mother's clan, and in their turn, the women of a clan were given in marriage only to the clan of the mother, the marriage relations of the phratries preserved the original dual form, characteristic for the two original clans: the Kurkagir clan took wives from the Cholkol clan, and the Cholkol clan from the Kurkagir clan, the Lupal clan took wives from the Momochar clan, and the Momochar clan from the Lupal clan, and so on. This dual division of the tribe, bearing such clear traces of the origin of the clan, still existed among the Evenks under the conditions of the patriarchal clan structure—the last stage of clan society. Conforming to these historical conditions the dual organization among the Evenks already had a patriarchal structure, i.e., it was patrilineal and patrilocal, while the genealogical myth explaining it already had to to with purely patriarchal personages who appeared in the role of clan leaders. "Kordoki lived, being five [persons]," one of the legends about the origin of the phratries of the Chemdel tribe tells us. "The first eldest brother was Kordoki, then [came] Momoche, Chemdoche, Nyushkache, and Macheche. At first, these five brothers lived together. Their grandfather, elder (the remote ancester), was named Chemdoche. While the five lived together they were called Chemde after their grandfather."138 In the same manner, the second phratry of this tribe is also depicted in the legend as consisting of the

196 A. F. Anisimov clans Cholkol, Sanyagir, Khorbol, Momochar, and Kichel. The origin of dualexogamic ties between these phratries is portrayed in the legend as follows: Kordoki began to seek people, in order to enter into marriage. . . . Kordoki came to a river, and saw the tent of Chelkoche on that [other] side. . . . Kordoki shot a marriage arrow. Chelkoche saw the marriage arrow, shot by Kordoki. Chelkoche himself took his bow, went to the river, and saw that Kordoki was standing on the [other] side by a tree. Chelkoche shot an arrow toward Kordoki. Kordoki looked at it and thought to himself: "Indeed, a marriage arrow." Chelkoche got into his boat and crossed the river to Kordoki's side. The two made arrangements to enter into reciprocal marriage relations.139 Then, in the same order, the remaining clans of the two moieties follow, while the system of dual-exogamic relations established between them is characterized as an ancient custom which should not be lost. "Do not lose the old custom, the name dankit is ancient," the legend cautions in regard to this. However, in this later, purely patriarchal treatment of the origin of the phratries there are a number of points which are scarcely in agreement with the general patriarchal trend of the legend. Upon entering into dual-clan marriage relations, the heroes of the legend, the male ancestors of the patriarchal clans, go to live in the settlements of their wives. The legend relates: "Kordoki went into the tent to Chelkoche, and stayed on; Chelkoche went into the tent to Kordoki, and stayed on to live."140 This standard formula, repeated in the legend in relation to all the clans of the tribe, is a reflection of that distant time when a man, upon entering marriage, took up residence with the clan of his wife. And this indicates that the patriarchal clan among the Evenks was preceded by a matriarchal one, with its typical matrilineality and matrilocality. The maternal clans, as is known, had totemic names, i.e., were named after animals, birds, and other natural species, considered as the ancestors of those clan groups, who were supposed to have started the natural species and the clan. In this connection, a remarkable fact deserves special attention: beyond the clan patronymics (designation of the clan by the name of its male ancestor) more ancient names may be discovered, linked with those of totemic animals and birds. Thus, among the Evenks of the Podkamennaya Tunguska, the clan Kurkagir, tracing its origin to the ancestor Kurkache, in the past bore the name of Dyukugir, "people of the otter," "clan of the otter" (from dyukun, "otter"). Among the Kurkagirs, the otter was considered a sacred animal, it was never to be killed, and the people, the Kurkagirs, did not hunt it. Along the Komo river (left tributary of the Podkamennaya Tunguska), nomadized the Kirektel clan, the "woodpecker people," "clan of the woodpecker" (from kirekte, "woodpecker"). The members of this clan did not kill this bird, and, if they found a dead woodpecker in the forest, they picked it up and "buried" it on a miniature platform, set between the branches of a tree (i.e., similar to human burial). Ye. P. Lebedeva, a specialist in the field of Evenk and Manchu languages, brought the author's attention to the following series of clan designations among the Evenks, whose names were derived from animals and birds: Tepureke (an Evenk clan of the Komo river in the Evenk [National] okrug) originates, in her opinion, from tepureken, "mouse"; Kharkigir (an Evenk clan of the Chunya river in the same okrug) from khargi, "wild deer"; Mukte (a clan of Chunya and Ilimpeya Evenks of the same okrug) from muku, "musk deer"; Irgel (same habitat) from irgekte, "gadfly"; Sichegir (a clan of Yerbogachen Evenks) from sichu, "pintail duck"; Siligir (a clan of Evenks in Katanga rayon) from sili, "heron"; Putugir (a clan of Yebogachen and Katanga Evenks) from pute,

Cosmológica! Concepts 197 "migrant duck"; Bukecher (a clan of the Tungir Evenks of Chita oblast) from buke, huge, "maral" ("Siberian stag"); Kongnokogir (a clan of the Tokma Evenks of the Katanga rayon) from kongnoko, "elk." These animal and bird names of Evenk clans are, of course, not accidental, but represent a survival of a once existing cult of totems. The numerous vestiges of totemism preserved in shamanism and the clan cults of the Evenks are confirmatory of this.141 With the transition to the patriarchate the structure of the clans changes radically: the calculation of kinship and clan membership begins to be traced through the paternal line, and residence becomes patrilocal. Male ancestors advance to the fore in the clan genealogy, and the ancient totemic designations of the clans take on features of typically patriarchal personifications. One of the legends relates that the brothers Chemdel dispersed in different directions and thus started the present clans of the tribe Chemdel: from Kordoki came the Korduyal clan; from Momoki, the Momol; from Machache, the Machakugir; from Nyushkache, the Nyushkagir. The oldest brother, Chemdoche, remained at home in Chemdaley, the clan village of the Chemdels, and this clan of the oldest brother became the senior clan of the Chemdel tribe.142 In religion, with the patriarchate is linked the dissolution of the ancient totemic beliefs and the displacement of the clan totems by tribal ones, [or] the transformation of a clan totem into a tribal, and later an intertribal object of cult, at the same time gradually losing its zoomorphic features.143 In the process of analyzing the cosmogenic images of Evenk mythology (see Chapter I) we have seen a cogent argument for this. Having become a tribal object of worship, the former totems, even in this generalized and modified patriarchal form, continued, nevertheless, to preserve for a time typical features of the images of totemic ancestors, with which the origin of men and of all cultural acquisitions of mankind had been linked in the past. In one of the myths of the Sym Evenks, recorded by G. M. Vasilevich, the bear says to a woman: "Kill me, cut me up, place my heart to sleep with you, place my kidneys in the chief place [place of honor] by the hearth, the duodenum and rectum place opposite, empty the wool into a dry pit outside, hang the small intestines on a withered tree, place the head beside the chief place." The woman does as the bear says. "In the morning she awakens and sees opposite her an old man and woman sitting, by the chief place two children are playing, beyond them an old man sleeps, outside reindeer are wandering, halters hang on the withered trees. . . ,"144 Like the mythical ancestors of totemic mythology (the alcheringi [Alchera?] of the Arunta, the dema of the MarindAnim, and others), the bear in this case also appears in the role of the mythical ancestor of men and the creator of human culture, but his image already bears a more generalized character: he is not linked, as they are, with a specific clan and tribe, but is common to all of the tribe and is regarded as the ancestor of 'uoisnj pue uopBzi|BJ9ua§ jo sain^oj oures oq; pa^ou 9A^q a^vv *s>[U9Ag[ 0q} jre growing into an image of an all-tribal anthropomorphic spirit, in our analysis of the Evenk concepts of bugady. The image of the mythical elk cow bugady enintyn is similar in this connection to the mythological image of the bear mangi. The sources and bases of both are totemic, and both, having become the object of tribal worship, undergo in the mythology the consecutive transformations at the same point. These two most powerful animals of the Siberian taiga, the bear and the elk, form in the mythology of the Evenks that paired unity of cosmological images,

198 A. F. Anisimov opposed in role, with which the life of nature and society is linked in the religious concepts of the Evenks. In the upper world of the universe the bear mangi pursues the elk kheglen, giving rise to the succession of day and night in the land of people. In the nether world the mythical elk cow khargi lies at the roots of the cosmic (world) tree, giving birth to animals and people for the middle world, while the spirit-master of the nether world, the spirit of the ancestors, mangi, takes the souls after death back to himself, to the nether world. In the middle world of the universe, the place of living people, the spirit lukuchen (an elk) fights with the other spirit of the tribal pantheon, khatala (the bear), and the victory of one of them foreordains, so to say, the leading position in the tribe of one of its phratries. Here these images of cosmological dualism are juxtaposed with their social equivalents—the phratrial dualism of the tribe—and the cosmological dualism receives its historical elucidation through the conditions of the actual social order. We have in mind the Evenk tribal rite of selecting a leader, in which the elk and bear appear as cult representatives of the phratries. In the description of this rite in one of the legends of the Evenks,145 the military leader of the tribe was elected in the past from among the leaders of the phratries. The question as to which of the two candidates should be at the head of the tribe was settled by a contest. The contest was carried out publicly, at a tribal assembly. An equal number of fighter-heroes was advanced by each phratry to assist the candidate. For the "support of their hearts," as the legend puts it, each phratry erected a special shamanistic structure on its side, called onang. Such structures were erected along the sides of the ground cleared for the ritual contest of the phratries. On one side was built the onang lukuchan, i.e., the onang of the elk, and on the other the onang khatala, i.e., the onang of the bear. These mythical patrons of the [respective] phratries apparently were the objects of an all-tribal cult. "From them," relates the legend, "the clans also hoped to obtain more game animals." As has been shown, the legend began with a story of how there were nine clans in the Chemdel tribe, of which five belonged to the Chemdeley phratry, named after their original clan, Chemdel, and the four remaining clans constituted the Bagdaliley phratry, which received its name from the oldest clan among them, Bagdal. Describing briefly, but expressively, the picture of the tribal assembly, the legend indicates that the Chemdel clan, the senior one of the tribe, was the initiator of this assembly, but that the four clans of the Bagdaliley phratry arrived first: The four clans came first to the place of the tribal assembly. Establishing themselves in a locale agreed upon, they completed all the preparations for the tribal assembly— they leveled the land, trimmed the trees, so that wherever they might meet it would be clean. They made two shamanistic onang; the name of one of them was khatala (bear). They placed it at the "left" tree (the tree on the left side of the cleared ground) and at the "right" one they made a lukuchen (elk) ; halfway between them they stretched tent hides. From the trees they stretched thong lassos; around one string (stretched thong) they wound ten thong lassos. Ten men for one half, and ten for the other, and halfway between two very strong men stood to hold.146 The participants in the ritual contest, selected in equal number from each phratry, stood at opposite ends of the ground, each team next to its onang. At the head of each team stood the representative of the phratry. At a signal the

Cosmológica! Concepts 199 teams hurled themselves against each other, and their heroic battle began. In the legend this is described as follows: On one side were ten ordinary warrior-heroes and on the other side ten ordinary lesser heroes (heroes of lesser rank).* There were two military leaders: one from each moiety. (These) two heroes ran toward each other from the [respective] sides; the lesser heroes ran behind them in single file. They tore the thong lassos exactly in half, the leather covering of the tent they broke exactly in half. The covering, and the thongs, each twisted about ten times, they broke as though they were twisting a string. . . . Then they grappled with each other. Bagdal was overpowered, and the other Chemdeley lesser heroes then prevailed over the Bagdaliley lesser heroes. Thus they overcame their relatives by marriage. The contest as a form of settlement of controversial questions linked with social recognition was a widespread phenomenon among the Evenks. The selection of the best singer, storyteller, orator, etc., was decided in the clan society of the Evenks by means of a contest. Even priority among shamans was established by a contest: the shamans shamanized in turn in the presence of their kinsmen, who watched them and decided which of the shamans was more skillful. The same method of verification, that is, either recognition or censure of the qualities of an individual, was employed in the selection of the tribal leader. According to legend, every leader of a phratry had an equal right to the post of tribal leader. As the social position of the candidates for this post did not give them any advantage, while the claims of each of the phratries were quite natural, the question of who was to be the leader of the tribe was decided, as we have seen, by a contest. He who won (i.e., proved stronger, cleverer, more enduring, resourceful, and persistent) by force of qualities which are necessary for carrying out the functions of the leader also took this post in the tribe. Praising the victors and mocking the vanquished with nicknames expressed the social attitudes of fellow tribesmen. Thus, the legend continues: From this assembly the leader of all the clans was found from among the Chemdeley, called Khilkiche. He was the most alert, the most warlike in another designation (in other words). The Bagdaliley lost to the Chemdeley. Their second name (nickname), i.e. of the Bagdaliley, became panngalekon (having only a bigger belly, but strengthless), and utuvulle became still another name for them (intending to do much, but incapable of doing anything) ,147 Such a form of settlement of controversial social problems was not contrary to the democratic principles of clan society. The social recognition of primacy, founded on the superiority of personal qualities, was indeed one of the manifestations of primitive democracy, characteristic of the social life of clan groups, phratries, and tribes. Given the dual structure of the tribe, the social forms of tribal life (assemblies, representation of the clans in the council of the tribe, the solution of common problems, and so on) naturally adopt dual features, while questions of the primacy of one of the moieties of the tribe, both of which possess equal social rights, adopt the character of competitions of the phratries. These features of dualism, permeating the social life of primitive tribes, are a generally known phenomenon. In this connection the earlier forms are most characteristic of the tribes of Australia,148 and the later, of the tribes of North America149 and Melanesia.150 There is a particularly extensive amount of infor* [In the original these lesser heroes are designated by the word bogatyrishko or bogatyrishka, a diminutive of bogatyr, "hero."—Editor.]

200 A. F. Anisimov mation about the ideological forms that reflect the dual organization in primitive beliefs; for the most part they are totemistic in character. Also, as a rule the totemic forms of dualism appear most clearly [in those conditions] where the dual structure of the clan society was better preserved. In Australia and North America, where dual organization is a universal phenomenon, the clan structure of primitive society retains at the same time all the most typical matriarchal features. At its sources, the dualism of totemic mythology is linked with the dual organization of clan society, while dual organization in its archetype constitutes the initial form of development of the matriarchal clan society. In the world-view of the people of early clan society, concepts of the dual structure of their social organization were linked quite naturally with concepts of exogamy, and the exogamous character of group marriage was linked with the concept of the totem, inherited by the clan group in the maternal line. Reflecting the dual structure of early clan society, the totemic worldview assigned this two-part division to all of surrounding nature as well. Explaining nature and society from these positions, totemic mythology, of necessity, adopted the character of a genealogical myth, within the limits of which the natural environment closest to man was also interpreted dualistically—animals, plants, and inanimate nature—as is amply evidenced this takes place in the totemic mythology of Australian tribes. The subsequent development of society—the transformation of territorial totemic groups into totemic clans, and of the two primary clans into two phratries—greatly complicates the primary dual structure of the clantribal organization. The two-part division is transferred from the two primary clans to the phratries, uniting clans which had detached themselves from these primary clans. The totemic genealogical myth breaks away from its dual-clan basis, and becomes dual-phratrial. In the process of dissolution of the matriarchal clan structure, the spirit-totems are differentiated, as we have seen above, into primary and secondary ones. From the multitude of spirit-totems, some are transformed into objects of common tribal cult, others become small, local spirit"rulers" of separate brooks, hillocks, and so on. Among the Evenks and other peoples of the Siberian taiga, the elk and the bear—the two most powerful taigadwelling animals—were found quite regularly in this role of the tribal cult.151 Under the conditions of the patriarchal structure, the clan-tribal genealogy, as we have seen earlier, adopts a clearly expressed patriarchal character, personified more and more in images of male ancestors, while the dual totemic myth, formerly genealogical, becomes for the most part cosmogenic. Distinct evidence of this are the images of the dualist mythology of the Evenks which we have studied: in the cosmogeny, mangi (bear) and kheglen (elk); in the genealogy, khatala (bear) and lukuchen (elk). The cosmic bear mangi pursues the cosmic elk kheglen, while the phratrial totem khatala (bear) fights with the totem of the other phratry, lukuchen (elk). The legend of the Evenks relates quite clearly this battle of the totems of the phratries: "There were two onang, one on each side; at the right was onang lukuchen (elk), on the left khatala (bear). These two animals supported the leaders, chosen by them." It is perfectly clear that the khatala and lukuchen appear in the given case as totems of the phratries. Reflecting in the ideology the reality of social existence, the spirit-totems mentioned oppose each other, like the phratries, and fight with each other, upholding the interests of their phratry. "They support the leaders, their hearts," as this is expressed figuratively in the Evenk legend cited earlier. In this connection, the participants in the ritual battle of the phratries recall, to

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a degree, the classical heroes of Homer, who fight like ordinary people, but who have standing behind their backs their divine patrons, helping them.152 Having in mind the genetic closeness of the images khatala-mangi and Kheglen-lukuchen mentioned above, it seems natural to suppose that in the past these dual images of Evenk mythology were one. Reflecting the dual structure of the matriclan society, narratives about the two totems of the phratries (in the archetype, the totems of the two primary clans of the tribe) originally had an undiiferentiated character, contemporaneously uniting both nature and society within the limits of one totemic myth. Not separating himself from nature, primitive man in his totemic mythology did not set human society against nature, just as in his concepts about society he did not set the individual against the collective. The sources of this primitive, fused mythological reflection were of a social not a mystical character. The realistic dependence of people on each other and on nature, particular to the times, received its ideal expression in totemic mythology. The dual form of the social structure was transferred to the totemic concepts about the rest of nature, while the cosmogenic myth was fused organically with the ethnogenic theme, as the early forms of the totemic mythology show. The universalism of the phratries within the boundaries of mankind grew in the primitive consciousness into their universalism within the boundaries of the universe. Not only all people but also all phenomena of nature prove to be distributed between two phratries. Hence the unity of the primitive ethnogenic and cosmogenic myths. The origin of people and the origin of the world are not separated from each other, and the creator-ancestors of each phratry are at the same time also creator-ancestors of the corresponding halves of the world.153

Another feature, characteristic of early forms of totemic mythology, is associated with this primary lack of differentiation of ethnogenic and cosmogenic myths. The immemorial time of the Alcheringa [sic] (earlier the Australian cosmogeny does not go) is the same real world which surrounds the Australian even now, only depicted with a greater intensity in those diffused images with which the Australian pictures his relations to people, animate and inanimate nature. The division of the world into two phratries also did not arise, it was given; and if, for example, in the genealogy of the Urabunna, green and brown snakes appear in the beginning (the creators of the Kirarava and Matturi phratries), the creation of myths of the Urabunna does not go back further than these snakes from the times of Alcheringa, but [already] appear from the beginning as a pair in the myths.154

The rise of concepts about the creation of the world is a later phenomenon. Developing originally within the limits of the totemic genealogical myth, the cosmogenic myth gradually separated from it, forming an independent cycle of mythological narrative. The differentiation is just as natural as is the segmentation of the two original clans, leading to the beginning of the dual phratrial organization. "Consciousness (dus Bewüsstsein) can never be anything else but conscious existence (das bewusste Sein), and the existence of a people is the real process of their life."155 Thus, for genuinely primitive views of the world, as discerned from Australian ethnographic materials, the unity of the primitive cosmogenic and ethnogenic myths is characteristic; for later stages, it is their differentiation and gradual isolation into independent divisions of the mythology. Under the conditions of a patriarchal clan structure, clan-tribal genealogy adopts a patrimonial character,

202 A. F. Anisimov and the ancient zoomorphic images of totemic ancestors are displaced by anthropomorphic ones of male ancestors, "the founders" of the patriarchal clans. But wherever, in actual conditions of a society, traditions of the maternal clan continue to be preserved to some degree, the images of totemic mythology continue also. Among the Evenks, with their system of cross-cousin marriage, matriarchal traditions continued to be preserved in the dual-phratrial organization of the tribe: each clan took wives for itself only in the clan of the mother, and in turn, the women of its clan were given in marriage only to the clan of the mother. In the presence of this reciprocal marriage link of the two clans, the dualphratrial relations acted to preserve the character of matrimonial ties, which were permanent and obligatory for all the clans of the tribe.156 Therefore, in the phratries the totemic images preserved the most complete character, but already with traces of significant modification. The latter was expressed in the fact that the former totems of the phratries, the elk and the bear, were no longer linked directly with the clan-tribal genealogy, which was [now] patrimonial in character. The elk and the bear, playing their roles in the ritual contest of the two phratries, already appear as generalized images of tribal spirits. But these zoomorphic images of the tribal cult still continued to preserve a dual-phratrial character, and, as cosmological images of mythology, features of a matriarchal clan society. Let us recall the anthropomorphic image of the mistress of the clan and universe, bugady, and the zoomorphic mother-elk, bugady enintyn, and also the matriarchal-totemic foundation of the ethnogenic myth about the bear, which we cited above more than once. . . . As we have seen, the images of the cosmogenic mythology also passed through an analogous process of social-historical modification. The majority of these concepts have already been described earlier. We shall dwell only on those concepts which were not touched upon in the preceding description or were discussed only very briefly, since these concepts, which are applicable to the problem being discussed at present, deserve more thorough study. Principally we have in mind the contemporaneous Evenk concepts of the mythical clan-river and the cosmic shamanistic river, which in the Katanga ( Podkamennaya Tunguska) dialect is called descriptively mumongi khoto* bira, literally "water road-river."157 In the interpretation of the shamans this mythical river of the universe was pictured primarily as a shamanistic road-river. Every clan, claimed the shamans, must have its shaman, and each shaman his special road to the universe. The shaman supposedly rides and sails along this road through the worlds of the universe, using his shaman's drum now as a riding animal, a reindeer, now as a birch-bark boat. The shamanistic river, connecting all three worlds, is depicted in the shaman's stories as rough and full of rapids, with rocky banks, while the shaman's paths of travel along it are filled with every possible danger and unforeseen difficulties. In passing through the lands of the upper world, the shaman suffers from the heat if he has to come close to the sun, he shivers from cold if he has to pass across the territory of the snow clouds; he depicts himself as soaked from head to foot if, in the course of action, he has to pass through the region of the rain clouds; he is swept from his feet by the wind, if he goes through the land of the winds. As he enters the region of the nether world of the universe, the shaman crosses step by step into the conditions of the gloomy * [Apparently misprint for khokto. See p. 203 of text, and also, G. M. Vasilevich, Evenkiyskorusskiy slovar, Moscow, 1958, p. 484.—Translator.]

Cosmological Concepts 203 polar night, which gets darker and darker, the farther he goes, until finally it assumes such a threatening character that the shaman does not risk going there alone, but sends one of his spirit-assistants to carry out his requirements, most often the loon, who can dive deep and stay a long time under water, or the lizard, the best walker underground. These fantastic descriptions, not without original and dismal grandeur, are clearly a very late phenomenon, connected with the ideological consolidation of the prerogatives of the shaman, the specialist of the religious cult. Just as the shaman became the high specialist of the religious cult "selected" for this role by the clan spirits, so the clan's mythical river of the universe became primarily a shamanistic one, and the spirits linked with it became shamanistic spirits. Among these was the mythical guardian of this river, the spirit kalir, represented in the form of a gigantic reindeer with elk antlers and a tail in the form of a fish; then came numerous spirits in the forms of fish, birds, and animals, guarding the shamanistic path through the worlds of the universe, and besides them the old women living on both banks, venerated as the first female shamans of the clan, later becoming the custodians of the shamanistic road in the nether world. It is quite obvious that this form of the concepts about mumongi khokto bira, modified by the shamans, arose on the basis of definite views of the world by the clan, views which preceded shamanism historically and were revised by it in conformity with new conditions, i.e., with the social needs of the religious organization being formed. But what was preserved in these concepts from the preceding epochs is highly interesting in the light of historical analysis. Above all, it turns out that although the cosmic river was considered to be the shaman's, yet it was considered as that of the clan, common for the entire clan and one and the same for all of the shamans linked by consanguinity. If there are several shamans in a clan, their paths in the universe meet at their common clan cosmic river which flows from top to bottom through all three worlds of the universe. The Evenks and the shamans told the author that it was from top to bottom because everything on the earth falls from top to bottom, and whatever falls from the upper world, heaven, goes out finally under the ground: the rain falling from heaven goes under the ground, the snow which accumulates in the winter flows in the spring in streams of water under the ground and in rivers, the ice goes down the river, while what remains in the rivers during the entire year— the water—flows also from top to bottom and goes out, in a common mouth, under the ground. The shamanistic tracks of the shamans of the same clan approach, like tributaries, this clan road-river. In setting out upon the clan river of the universe, the shaman and his spirits head either upstream or downstream depending upon which of the worlds of the universe, upper or nether, the shaman must go to as the course of his shamanistic action (i.e., of his shamanizing) develops. These older concepts in which the shamanistic river is one of the clan, common to all the shamans of the clan and to the kinsmen, are fully in accord with what is revealed to us by the shamanistic rites linked with the acts of birth and death. We have in mind the Evenk rite anan (escorting of the soul of the deceased into the world of the dead), and the rite omilatten (the journey into the upper world to obtain the soul for a future child, arranged at the request of a woman who wishes to become pregnant). The latter rite is sometimes supplemented by two others: khakumatten—the encirclement or enclosure of the place where birth is to be given with the objective of protecting it from the machinations of evil spirits—and kutulatten—ihe procuring of success and happi-

204 A. F. Anisimov ness for the newborn. About the latter we shall not go into detail here. In regard to our study, there is only one thing of importance for us to note in these rites: by place of action they are linked with the clan's cosmic river, and the underlying religious concepts are linked genetically with the topogentilic concepts of the clan, which in turn are close in their sources to the totemic complex or beliefs. When the shaman, performing the anan rite, "brings" the corporeal soul of the deceased kinsman on a raft (burial platform), he does not risk "entering" the [future] habitat of the deceased without permission from the mistress of the buni, the world of the dead.158 The shaman pulls up to the bank at the mouth of the river and shouts across the bay to the settlement of the dead [urging someone] to come to him and take the corporeal soul of the kinsman who has arrived. At the shaman's shout the mistress of the buni comes out of her dwelling and commands one of her kinsmen to bring from the shaman the corporeal soul of the deceased. The kinsman who has thus been conveyed across the bay settles in the dwelling of the mistress of the buni, while the shaman returns to the middle world, to living people.159 Thus, the nether world [connected by] the shamanistic river turns out to be a thoroughly clannish world: this is the habitat of the dead members of the clan, represented in analogy with the "earth" world. But in this analogy there are essential differences. In the real conditions of life, the partriarchate already prevails, while in the presentations about the world of the dead features of the matriarchal clan structure are still quite clearly retained, that is, if the inhabitants of the clan dwellings of dead kinsmen are the corporeal souls of dead people, then this matriarchal clan dwelling of the world of the dead is that maternal clan's place, to which the corporeal souls of people come after death. Refraining from further generalization, which would follow logically from an analogy with the matriarchal-totemic complex of beliefs, let us return once more to the factual material and attempt from it to come to the genetic conclusions mentioned. The upper course of the mythical clan-river, identified with the upper world of the universe, was conceived among the Evenks as the place of habitation of the clan souls orra, who initiate birth, the appearance of life.160 The souls of the people live in a dwelling called omiruk, literally "receptacle of souls,"161 while the souls of animals (reindeer, elks, and others) inhabit the taiga, which grows at the headwaters of the cosmic river. When the time arrives for a new kinsman to be born, the soul omi leaves the omiruk and from the upper world of the universe, as the Evenks say, kharandu bururen, "falls into the tent, into the hearth"162 where lives the mythical mistress of the fire, logo mushun, venerated as the guardian of the souls of kinsmen. From this mythical mistress of the clan hearth and, at the same time, the guardian of the souls of kinsmen, the omi passes into a woman's womb, initiating a new generation of kinsmen. The Evenk word ome> close to omi, means "womb," "uterus." The word ome in these meanings is used not only among the Evenks, but also among the Mongols, while the Nanay word omo means "nest," "lair," "burrow."163 It is characteristic that among the Evenks too, the soul omi turns out in the end to be linked with the images of the animal world and the concepts of 'lair," "nest," as this obviously follows from the ethnographic materials and the data of the Evenk language. In this connection the following is remarkable: the place where the omi souls live at the upper course of the mythical clan-river bears the name detur. This word is formed in the Evenk language from the noun stem det, meaning "swamp," "tundra," "marshy taiga along the upper courses of rivers," "mossy

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clearing in the forest," i.e., the most typical places where elks and wild deer live. A derivative of this word, deturing, formed with the suffix -ng, which emphasizes the belonging of something or somebody to a person, means "world of ancestors" in the Evenk language. Speaking eloquently for the same matriarchal-totemic meaning of the given complex of concepts are the following Evenk words, genetically close to each other: eninge, "parents"; enin with the meanings of: (1) "mother," (2) "elk cow"; entyl, "of the mother"; enty, "doe with calf." From this clan maternal place of birth-giving, of the origin of the clan, the soul omi comes then to the middle world to the people, in order to initiate a new descendant. When the soul omi enters a womb (ome, "uterus"), a human body comes into being there and its corporeal soul beyen. In the contemporary Evenk language, the word beye^beyen has the meanings of "body," "human being," "man," "male," "person," "self," and, in address, "friend." It seems obvious that the initial form in this series of meanings was beye, ''body," which with the possessive suffix -n acquired a series of derived meanings of personality, of attribute, of nature, of the essence of a definite aspect of relations, as this can be traced clearly in the materials of the Tungus-Manchu, Turkic, and Mongol languages.164 In the meaning of "corporeal soul," the word beyen, formed from beye with the personal possessive suffix of the third person singular, must have meant "living nature," "the essence of the living, as such," i.e., it must have expressed the concepts of the qualitative difference between the living and non-living, between life and death. Therefore, among the Evenks the soul beyen was considered indivisible from the body, and its destruction, ascribed to the interference of evil spirits, meant inevitable death of the body, the passing of the corporeal soul into the world of the dead ancestors of the clan. The soul omi, entering the womb of the woman from without, naturally was not identified directly with the body. From the moment of birth of the human, it became the visible double of his body and was identified with his likeness in the form of a shadow, as a consequence of which it was also called khanyan (from khanya, "shadow," "reflection," and the possessive suffix -n). When a human dies, his corporeal soul, beyen, departs into the world of the dead while his visible double, khanyan, becomes omi once more and departs for the upper course of the mythical clan-river, to the clan receptacle of souls, omiruk. As a form of ideological reflection of real social existence, these concepts repeat in thought that delimited world of the clan within the limits of which the entire life of man is passed. A member of a clan society was bound by the umbilical cord of blood kinship to the clan just as tightly as the individual bee to the beehive. This realistic link of relationship to one another was reflected in the form of the concepts of the soul described above and its transformations. And it is to these transformations, which are of greatest interest to us, that we shall now turn. It seems that the transfer of the soul omi back into the omiruk does not mean that the cycle of transformation is completed. After the shaman takes the corporeal soul of the deceased to the world of the dead, and the soul-shadow, becoming omi once more, goes to the headwaters of the mythical clan-river, the spirit of the ancestors, mangi, who inhabits the nether world, appears upon the scene as the principal actor. This mythical ancestor-bear discovers in the course of time that the kinsman who has arrived at the settlement of the dead does not have with him his reflection, his double, the soul-shadow. Mangi sends one of his spiritassistants after it, the goldeneye duck, but it is unable to carry out the mission^ and mangi is obliged to go to the headwaters of the river himself. When he comes

206 A. F. Anisimov to the detur, the spirit of the ancestors, mangi, finds the omiruk and takes the omi to the world of the dead. On the way to the nether world, the omi assumes the form of a bird and flies away from mangi to its omiruk, nest. From the omiruk it flies to the middle world, to the people, and mangi discontinues his search, while the soul omi, concealed in the womb of a woman, initiates new life. Thus, in the end we see before us the same dual images of mythology, common for both the cosmogenic and ethnogenic myths—the elk and the bear. In the concepts about the mythical river the images of the elk and the bear personify the upper and nether worlds of the universe. But since these images are identical in nature with the images of the dual-phratrial cosmogenic and ethnogenic myths, the division of the universe into upper and nether worlds is a direct reflection of phratrial dualism. This phratrial dualism, as we have seen earlier, is linked genetically with dual exogamy. The reciprocal marriage ties of two clans, of two marriage classes, in the archetype were the initial form of dual organization of primitive society, while the exogamous group marriage linked with them assumed a matrilineal reckoning of kinship and of consanguineal ties in the clan. In totemic beliefs these ties and relationships were reflected falsely in the form of topogentilic concepts of the so-called totemic reincarnations. These have come down to us in vestigial form in the complex of Evenk concepts of the soul omi and its transformations, which are close in meaning to totemic reincarnation. Among the Nanays, a nationality related to the Evenks, these concepts are linked with a mythical clan-tree of souls, omia boani or doonkini, close in meaning to the totemic centers of the Australians. If an attempt were made to generalize the known evidence of the sources related to this question,165 the concepts of the Nanays about the soul and its transformations might be set forth briefly as follows. Like the Evenks, the Nanays considered that every man has not one but several soul-doubles with which the phenomena of life and death are associated. These soul-doubles of man were believed to be three: the soul omiyacomia; the soul uksuki, identified with ergeni, "breathing"; and the soul fanya^panya, identified with a shadow. The Nanays supposed that every clan had its clan-tree of incipient life, i.e., of the souls omia. These souls, restoring life in the clan, lived on the branches of the clan-tree, and the tree grew in the universe, i.e., it was a cosmic tree. Therefore, among the Nanays it was called omia boani, from boa ("sky," "world," "universe"). The souls omia were imagined as tiny birds, omiani choka (choka, "bird"). These birds descended, in their turn, from top to bottom, from branch to branch, and when they reached the lowest branch of the tree, they flew to the earth people and became implanted in the women of their clan. Because this life-bearing tree was thought to be the tree of the female clan spirit, Omson mama, on whose territory in the boa (universe) it sprang up in archetype, this totemic reincarnation was conceived as matrilineal, founded on the recognition of the female line only. Passing into the womb of a woman, the omia vivifies the body of the human coming into being, which as a result acquires the properties of a living organism, the corporeal soul uksuki. If the omia will not do this and should it leave the womb for the clan-tree, omia boani, the body of the fetus will become dead in the womb and the pregnancy will end. Remaining in the womb of the woman, the omia causes a very curious evolution concerning which the shaman Bogdano of the Oninka clan told A. N. Lipskiy the following: "At first the feathers fall from the right wing, then from the left, and by the time of birth, the wings of the choka ( the bird in the form of which the soul omia entered the woman's womb—

Cosmological Concepts 207 Author) are transformed into the arms of the human."166 Thus from the omia choka arises an anthropomorphic double of the man, personifying in itself the link of the individual with the clan-tree of souls, omia boani, i.e., the ties and membership of the individual and the clan. At the moment of birth, the shadowsoul, called fanya^panya among the Nanays, joins itself to the body and accompanies it to the end of its days. After death, the corporeal soul, uksuki, remains by the body, while the shaman, after performing a small [preliminary] funeral, settles the soul fanya^panya in the fanyan~panyan, the dwelling of the soul of the deceased. This dwelling is made in the form of a wooden figure of a man, which is placed on the plank bed in the place where the deceased kinsman had slept. When performing the great last funeral, the shaman leads the soul fanya to the nether world, but this nether world, it turns out, corresponds to the roots of the cosmic tree of the clan, on the branches of which, as we have seen in the preceding account, the souls omia live. When performing the great funeral, kasa, i.e., the rite of escorting the soul fanya^panya to the world of the dead, buni, the shaman also brings back from there soul-fetuses future people, in order to start a new group of descendants. Judging by these details, the world of the souls of dead kinsmen and the world of the soul-fetuses, omia, are one and the same clan-world, identified in the concepts of the Nanays with the clan-tree omia boani. This tree is identical with the totemic centers of the Australians. Among the Australians, prominent objects in the clan territory—trees, cliffs, and others—served as these centers, and ideologically, the right of the clan to communal territory was identified with them. Among the Nanays, the concept of the place of the clan in the universe was linked with their clan-tree omia boani: every clan in the boa (world) has its tree of life, on the branches of which live souls, the source of birth, while under its roots dwell the souls of the deceased. In the concepts of the Australians, the objects of the totemic cult of the clan were conceived as a source of birth ( in the sense of totemic reincarnation) and as the center of totemic concentration of spirit-totems, i.e., souls of people and natural species (animals, plants, and so on). We find concepts analogous to these, modified in the course of subsequent development, also among the Nanays, reflected in their views about the clan-tree omia boani. In this connection, particularly indicative is the following detail reported by L. Ya. Shternberg. Concerning this ritual detail, he writes: "The shaman at the time of the erformance of the great funeral brings from the buni souls of sturgeons, malars deer], sables, and souls of children."167 Thus the cosmogenic concepts about the worlds of the universe were preceded by a stage of totemic views in which the mythical clan-world remained one and did not move away spatially, but stayed within the limits of the land inhabited by man. The horizontal orientation of the spatial concepts of the universe preceded in time the vertical division into upper, middle, and nether worlds. Even where the mythological concepts had already assumed a clearly expressed vertical division, traces of the horizontal forms of spatial understanding of the universe contined to be preserved for a comparatively long time, and quite clearly. Among the Evenks, for example, included in the names for the upper world is the word tymanitki, literally "to the morning" (to the east) and for the nether world, dolbonitki, "to the night" (to the west). Thus, in the world-view of the people of early clan society, concepts about the dual social structure were connected in a natural way with concepts of exogamy, while the exogamous character of the relations of group marriage were linked

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208 A. F. Anisimov with the concept of "totem." Reflecting the dual social structure, the totemic world-view applied this division to all of surrounding nature. Explaining nature and society from this point of view, totemic mythology accepted as a matter of course the character of the genealogical myth, within which the natural surroundings of man were interpreted. The totemic mythology of the Australian tribes serves as evidence of this. The subsequent development of clan structure— the transformation of the two original clans into phratries—complicated considerably the primary dual structures of the clan-tribal organization. The totemic genealogical myth, reflecting the dual structure of the two primary clans of the tribe, breaks away from its base, the confines of the clan, and becomes dualphratrial. Ascending to this higher degree of social development, it inevitably acquires a more complex generalized character, but also finds its expression in the gradual change of its original totemic-zoomorphic images into anthropomorphic ones. But since the phratry still remained exogamous for a long time, the myth continued to be genealogical in character. In the images of matriarchal mythology, the myth reproduces the dual-phratrial structure of clan society, as is the case, for example, in Ob-Ugrian mythology. V. N. Chernetsov has demonstrated quite convincingly that the ancient stratum of dual-phratrial mythology of the Ob-Ugrians has a matriarchal character, clearly expressed in the images of the two women-ancestors of the Por and Mos phratries.168 These anthropomorphic images are also pictured at the same time as cosmic images: one of them is considered the ancestress [of the phratry] of heaven, having given birth to the first woman, Mos, and the other the ancestress of the phratry of earth, having given birth to the first woman, Por. But these mythical mothers of earth and heaven, founders of the two phratries Por and Mos, preserve in themselves zoomorphic features. It seems that the archetype image of the ancestress of the Mos phratry was a goose and that of the Por phratry, a shebear. In analyzing the pertinent materials of Chernetsov, S. P. Tolstov169 emphasizes that the images of the Ob-Ugrian dualistic mythology have a very definite stadial character. Tolstov notes the following sequential order of these images: in the archetype, two totems, corresponding to the two-part division of the tribe; then a matriarchal genealogical myth about two women-ancestresses, anthropomorphic in nature, but still with perceptible traces of their preceding zoomorphic nature; this is superseded by a myth about two brothers, rising as substitutes for the two women-ancestresses. In Tolstov's opinion, in the Ob-Ugrian mythology it is possible to trace clearly how the plot of the totem-mothers of the phratries is forced out step by step by the plot of the two brothers, preserving at first the totemic aspect: Atop the most ancient matriarchal totem myth about the ancestresses of the phratry of earth (por), the she-bear who gives birth to the first woman per, and about the phratry of heaven (mos) and the goose-hare, is deposited the myth about two brotherheroes who retain a totemic aspect—Mir-susne-xum (gander) and Këm-wos-eika (bear). During this process of development of the original nucleus of the myth, the she-bear ancestress is replaced by the heavenly bear Numi Torum, while Kaltas (formerly mos, the female goose-hare, adopting, as a result of modification, the anthropomorphic image of the mistress of the earth, Kaltas—Author) is transformed into his sister and at the same time his wife, the mother of the brother-heroes. The myth develops even further, eliminating the irreconcilable contradiction of the image of the wife-sister with the norms of exogamy, and Kaltas is replaced by another wife of Numi Torum, who appears episodically (it is characteristic that this is a Russian woman, quite clearly a sign for the

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determination of the late intrusion into the myth of this essentially false figure), at the same time that the role of raising the brothers is retained for Kaltas.170 The evolution of the concepts of the supernatural also takes place in the same sequence of social-historical development. Concepts of the supernatural have varying content at various stages of social development, depending upon the character of the social relations which they reflect ideologically. Totemic beliefs, corresponding in stage to the early matriarchal clan society, are displaced to a considerable degree in the epoch of the developed matriarchate. All the diversity of the zoomorphic totemic spirits is replaced step by step by concepts of supernatural anthropomorphic beings, venerated as the mothers and mistresses of the phenomena and elements of nature. The cult of nature and the elements, with a vague concept of deities, constitutes the basic content of religion during the epoch of flourishing matriarchal society. When reflecting the conditions of the patriarchal clan, these images of the cult of nature find, step by step, patriarchal features. Differentiated into primary and secondary, the male spirit-rulers form a certain hierarchy: some of them take on features of deities, others remain in the position of spirits subordinate to them, local spirit-masters, rulers of smaller subdivisions of nature (hillocks, streams, particular parts of the taiga, and so on). The process of gradual change of the cult of nature and the elements into polytheism, i.e., the formation of polytheism, constitutes the basic substance of the religion of the patriarchal clan society. In the process of formation of the rudiments of a polytheistic pantheon, concepts of the universe acquire the complex character of a picture of a multitude of worlds. The worlds are arranged above and below the earth inhabited by man, and are called upper and lower, respectively. Both are populated by a multitude of all possible spirits, subordinate to appropriate dieties. Intercourse with this mythical world of deities and spirits becomes the prerogative of the shaman. Using the example of Mansi (Vogul) mythology, which we have mentioned earlier, we can follow this process through with great clarity. Using the materials of V. N. Chernetsov,171 we see that Mansi mythology recognizes the existence of six worlds (outside the earth): three upper ones, placed above the earth, and three nether ones, placed below the earth. Each of the worlds is conceived as under the personal rule of a corresponding deity, and is called by his name, and the deities, masters of these worlds, are considered to be related to each other. In this broad and complicated pantheon, Kashchar-Torum is recognized as master of the highest of the three heavens, or upper worlds, of the universe. He is considered the father of Kors-Torum and the grandfather of Numi-Torum, of whom one ( Kors-Torum ) is conceived as the master of the middle upper world, and the other (Numi-Torum) of that upper world of the universe which is closest to people, i.e., the heaven visible from earth. According to Mansi mythology, in his heaven of the universe visible to people, live the younger brothers of Numi-Torum: Khotal-Ekva (the sun) and Etpos-Oyka (the moon). KatshcharEkva (the earth) and Nay-Ekva (the fire) are considered sisters of Numi-Torum. The three lower worlds of the universe are placed under the earth in the same sort of tiers. Khul-Otyr is considered to be master of the lower worlds of the universe, and is the younger brother of Numi-Torum. But in this polytheistic Mansi pantheon the features of its original forms are still clearly visible: kashchar in Mansi means "chipmunk," and torum polysemantically signifies "weather," "sky," "world," "higher being," "master of heaven, of the universe."

210 A. F. Anisimov

Chapter IV The concepts of man about nature are formulated as a reflection of the conditions of material life and correspond historically [chronologically] to the degree of man's mastery over nature. With time experience has increased the rational element in the concepts of man, while limited experience has created the conditions for the illusory element. In the course of development of primitive society the relationship of these aspects has changed, but because of the near-absence of any solidly based analysis we do not know precisely how and in what forms these changes took place. The material presented in this chapter is intended to show, with definite examples, the struggle of the two aspects of the understanding of the universe among ancient peoples: of positive experience and of a primitively idealistic relation to nature—the two constituting the historic substance of the primitive worldview. In describing the life of the Itelmens, S. Krasheninnikov showed successfully that they are governed in practical life by rational considerations. Their technical inventions are high accomplishments in their own surroundings. The striking adaptations of their forms of material life to the local conditions show the tireless work of inventive thought and many-sided everyday experience accumulated over centuries. Their practical knowledge, associated with their way of making a living, is striking for the wealth and precision of their observations of natural phenomena. But their general concepts about nature which go beyond the limits of their experience are of such naive character "that, not knowing the Kamchatka fantasies, one at first thought it impossible that they could maintain such nonsense as the truth."172 Judging from the materials of Krasheninnikov, the Itelmens in their mythological perception of the external world, the mysterious "outward space," the universe, depicted it as accessible and simple, like a picture of the life of human beings. Identifying it with images of mythical personages, the imaginary first causes of their surrounding world, they endowed these [personages] with the same virtues and vices they possessed themselves. Since the chief source of experience for man was his practical life, he guided himself by this when attempting to explain the phenomena of nature. Krasheninnikov reports about the Itelmens: When it thunders, the Kamchadals say to each other: "Kutkhu batty tusker ed" that is, Kutkha or Bilyuchey is dragging boats across from one river to another, for in their opinion, the noise of thunder originates from this. In addition, they reason that \vhen they themselves drag their boats up to the shore, the same thunder is heard by Bilyuchey, and he, no less than the dwellers on earth, fears their thunder and keeps his children in his tent at that time. But when they hear a hollow and powerful clap of thunder, they believe that Bilyuchey is very angry and produces the noise and clatter by throwing his drum many times on the ground.173 Kutkh, the raven, known as a totemic ancestor also among other peoples of northeastern Asia and North America,174 was the central personage of the Itelmen mythology. With him was linked the appearance of people and the earth, the earth's relief, and all the cultural gains of mankind. Having created the earth, this mythical raven alighted on the territory of Kamchatka, where, supposedly, a son and a daughter were born to him, founding the Itelmens. Then Kutkh and his

Cosmological Concepts 211 numerous progeny departed from the human earth and settled about the regions of the universe. The casual relationship of the phenomena of nature was also identified, in the concept of the Itelmens, with the activity of these mythical personages, the imaginary first causes of the surrounding world. Writes Krasheninnikov: When you ask them where the wind begins, they answer, actually believing it to be so, from Balaking, whom Kutkha created in human form in the clouds, and gave a wife, Zagina-kugagt by name. Balaking himself, in their opinion, has very long curly hair, with which he produces wind, when he is in the mood. When he wishes to disturb a certain place with wind, he shakes his head over it as long and as hard as [is needed for] the amount of wind that pleases him, and when he stops, then the wind will quieten and good weather will follow. The wife of this Kamchatkan Aeolus always paints her face in the absence of her husband, so as to seem more beautiful to him on his return. When her husband comes home, she is happy, but when he happens to spend the night away, then she grieves and weeps because she has painted [rouged] herself in vain, and because of this days are cloudy until Balaking's return. In this manner they explain the morning dawn and the sunset and the weather connected with them, philosophizing according to their laughable reasoning and curiosity, and leaving nothing without an explanation.175 . . . The rain [Krasheninnikov continues] they consider to be the urine of Bilyuchey and of the Gomuls, his spirits, and the rainbow is considered to be his new overcoat of glutton fur* with trimming and in colors, which he puts on, after urinating.176 Taking this "nonsense" (in Krasheninnikov's opinion) as truth, the Itelmens saw nothing reprehensible or improbable in this. He writes that they "do not consider whether this is correct or not correct and whether this can or cannot happen, but they accept these explanations as fact."177 These mythological causative factors and initiators of natural phenomena were depicted as creators of everything on earth, including also the phenomena of social life, because social forces were just as incomprehensible to man, and a true reflection [understanding] of social life is just as diflBcult to grasp as a true reflection of nature. Starting with totemic mythology, the explanation of the phenomena of nature and society was linked with these cultural hero-creators; ascribed to them was the creation of social institutions, prohibitions regulating the behavior of the individual in society, and all elements of culture gained by mankind in the process of the progressive development of an economy. According to the mythology of the Itelmens, the first of the human descendants of Kutkh, a certain Tyzhil-Kutkhu, "began, with the increase of his clan, to think about better ways of supporting it, invented the net, using the nettle, and fishing whilst his father had already shown him how to make boats. Having also created the animals of the earth and assigned a certain Pilyachuy to be their shepherd (under whose charge they still are even today), he began to sew their [the clan's] fur overcoats and parkas."178 Expressing in similar mythological form the causal relationship of the phenomena of nature and society, primitive man strove to embrace in his mythology the surrounding world in its immediate wholeness, and, in correspondence to his everyday experience, to depict it as a picture of the life of humans. The Coastal Chukchis are a seafaring people, and the Reindeer [Chukchis] move the year round in wide spaces of the tundra, monotonous as the sea. The practical demands of their economic life are linked with the need to know the locality, the ability to orient oneself in it, and also to foresee the weather, in order *[Rosomachya kukhlyanka in the original.—Editor.]

212 A. F. Anisîmov not to become a victim of the elemental forces of nature. Their extensive everyday experience in this respect as well as their extensive practical knowledge are founded on many precise observations, including observations of the sky. According to V. G. Bogoraz, the Chukchis know the particulars of the stars in the sky so well that "they even distinguish the special movement of the planets, calling them the stars which go cross-wise/'179 And at the same time their concepts of the sky and the heavenly bodies are "a captivatingly beautiful fairy tale, similar among many peoples of the North."180 The constellation of Auriga represents the scene of travel on reindeer.181 The constellation of Castor and Pollux represents elks, fleeing from two hunters, each of whom is riding with a team of reindeer.182 The constellation Delphinus is a seal. The Milky Way is a river, called the Pebbly river. It flows westward, and in it are many islands. The five great stars in the constellation of Cassiopeia are five bull reindeer, standing in the middle of the river.183 In the "midst of mother heaven" is the immobile star secured with a stake, i.e., Polaris, around which the other stars move, nomadize. This center of the sky is considered the residence of the supreme being (he is also a raven, Kurkil), while the zenith itself is considered to be a female being.184 However, this figurative perception of the stars does not call for the elimination of that rational element which is linked with positive knowledge: it is founded upon numerous observations, confirmed by experience, and serves man reliably in everyday life. The constellations Arcturus and Vega are called in Chukchi "the heads" (Arcturus is "Front head," and Vega is "Rear head"). While traveling at night across the open tundra, the Chukchis determine their direction by the position of the two "heads" in relation to each other and to the North Star.185 The stars Altair and Tarazed of the constellation Aquilla are singled out by the Chukchis as a special constellation, Pegittyn. This constellation is considered to bring the light of the new year, since it appears on the horizon just at the time of the winter solstice.186 In Chukchi concepts, the wind is produced by the old woman of the universe, who is considered the mistress of the winds. In shaking the snow ofif her dwelling, just as Chukchi women do with their yarangas, the old woman gives rise to wind and snow on the earth among people.187 And at the same time the Chukchis know all the directions of the winds in their territory during all seasons of the year. Singling out the west wind on the Kolyma [river] and the southwest wind on the Chukchi peninsula as the ruling ones among these "beings," the Chukchis take note of a factual situation in a fanciful form; in both cases these are the most powerful winds in the respective localities.188 The Chukchis imagine the sun as a living being, who pastures his scintillating copper-red deer and nomadizes from region to region across the broad sky. They conceive of him as a man dressed in glittering clothes. He rides across the sky with reindeer or dogs harnessed to a sledge. Every evening he descends to his wife, who is called "Woman going around." She bore the sun a son, who was later kidnapped by the "Tree-pointing woman." The sun people set out in search for the missing boy, but the kidnapper obliterated her tracks with stabs of her magic wand.189 In the opinion of the Chukchis the sun can descend on one of his rays to the earth, to people, and can ride about the earth on his glittering reindeer. Once, supposedly, he did descend to earth in this manner and stole a girl for his wife. The story relates this in lovely poetic language: Once there was a girl and she rejected all bridegrooms. The Sun came while she was asleep, took her, made her his wife, and took her away on white reindeer. They drove

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along a sun ray, and reached the sky; they wandered about the sky and stopped on the bank of the Pebbly river (Milky Way—Author). "I shall go and look for a ford/' said the husband, "you wait here/' No sooner had he gone than Tangineut [Taguineut] crawled up and said: "Oh, be careful! Along the road the winged she-devil will attack you and will carry you off. Better let us change clothing; you put on my black clothes, and I shall put on your shining dress, and then he will be confused and will not know whom to seize."190 Tangineut, a small black beetle, transforms the human woman into a beetle, while she herself takes the form of a human woman. Having turned the wife of the sun into a beetle, Tangineut conceals her under roots of grass. Having transformed herself into a human woman, Tangineut becomes Sun's wife, and they ford across the Pebbly river in the course of their nomadizing. Unaware of the deception, Sun goes about the sky and pastures the reindeer, while his true wife cries out to him from under the tuft of grass. But as she is now nothing but a small black beetle, concealed by a tuft of grass to boot, Sun does not hear her voice, and passes by without noticing her. When the time comes to give birth, the clothing of the beetle falls away from her. The human woman regains her former appearance. Telling her son what has happened, she sends him to his father, Sun. The son finds his father, the deception is unmasked, and the human woman becomes the wife of the Sun.191 The Chukchis, as we see, with their own way of life in mind, ascribed to the heavenly bodies the same—that of nomadizing with herds of reindeer across the tundra. But this mythological image of the source of heat and light, nomadizing across the sky with herds of shining copper-red reindeer, did not obscure their practical observations of the objective regularity of the sun's movement. Judging by the materials of Bogoraz, the Chukchis can differentiate empirically more than twenty directions of the compass, each of which corresponds to a specific position of the sun and the time of day.192 Superimposed on this valuable empirical material was a thick layer of mythological concepts connected with a belief in spirits constituting, supposedly, the supernatural essence of the phenomena and objects of nature. In conformity with these concepts, in each of the directions [of the compass] there dwell special supernatural beings, taarano vayrgyt, meaning literally "to whom sacrifices are made." They personify these directions. The Chukchis place them among the "benevolent ones" and bring them sacrifices.193 In one of the Chukchi stories,194 Sun, Moon, Sky, Sea, Morning, Dawn, Darkness, and World are competing, courting the beautiful daughter of Earth. Among the suitors for the bride is also a man from earth, the shaman Ettygytki [Attigitki]. Together with the other guests Ettygytki sits down at the table, but is in no hurry to eat, observing the situation. He sees that the arms of the guests are covered with scars. Ettygytki notices that the host, testing the suitors, strikes with a long knife every arm that reaches out towards the trough of meat. The guests take away their arms, blow on the wounds, and thus heal themselves. Ettygytki acts more wisely: he lays his cap on his knees, and begins to draw air into himself. The cap fills itself with meat. Then the suitors set out after firewood. They go to a tree standing in the middle of the sea, but not one of the powerful elements, the suitors, succeeds in cutting off even one twig for as soon as a woodcutter climbs up the tree and begins to hack off branches with an ax, the spirit of the tree throws him down into the sea. Ettygytki foresightedly kept the meat with him, and when his turn comes he places it at the tree. While the spirit is eating the meat, Ettygytki succeeds in cutting off a piece of wood as large as a house. Similar to shamans, the suitors enter into a contest with each other. Sea sends

214 A. F. Anisimov waves and drowns them all. Sun burns with heat. Moon brings "sparkling rocks," trying to smash his rivals into pieces with them. Morning Dawn releases two white bears, ready to devour everyone. Darkness releases two black bears. Sky throws its hard outer crust at its rivals. World freezes its adversaries with northern lights. After each test the contestants return to life, but they cannot win over each other. When Ettygytki's turn comes he raises his staff and touches each of his rivals with it. From this touch half of their body is weakened, shrinks, and shrivels. Then they flee to their realms in horror. The legend relates: "Sun went to wander through Sky. Moon followed him; Sky mounted upward; Sea turned into his shores; Morning Dawn fled eastward; Darkness westward. World spread itself and filled the space."195 The beautiful daughter of Earth went to the earthly man, Ettygytki. Having become the wife of the victor over all the elements of nature, the man of earth, the daughter of Earth flies with him to earth, to the people. It should be noted that in other, analogous stories man invariably comes out the winner.196 The idea of the victory of man over nature confirms his belief in his own powers, the advantages of human reason, experience, skill, the all-conquering force of labor. Expressing the interests of society—its unswerving desire to conquer the powerful forces of nature—this idea was embodied in artistic form, the character of which was defined by the existing views of man towards the world. In constructing myths about nature, people gave the image of "earthly man" those qualities which, in their opinion, could give him an advantage over his rivals. As in real life the shaman was represented as capable of vanquishing spirits and traveling through the worlds of the universe, so the transference of these qualities to the mythological image of the earthly man becomes completely natural. The hero, in addition to this, is also endowed with "the shaman's art," and fights with his rivals, sometimes having recourse to shamanistic action, sometimes to the help of his magical assistants (the benevolent spirits). The rational element in this image is included in the very idea of the possibility of victory by man over the powerful forces of nature, before which he is often powerless in his everyday life; the latter also finds its reflection in myth. This motif is most clearly expressed in another Chukchi myth.197 Morning Dawn and Evening Dawn challenge an earthly man, the son Mutuvngi [Mulúwgi], to a contest. These natural phenomena act like shamans in the contest; and the son of Mutuvngi responds likewise. Turning to Evening Dawn, Morning Dawn reproaches his companion in group marriage for his involvement with the invincible earthly man, the son of Mutuvngi. "I warned you against talking too much! O, evil has befallen us! What is to be done about him!" says Morning Dawn to Evening Dawn. "Let's go and invite him to a match!" answers Evening Dawn. They go and challenge him.198 The son Mutuvngi agrees. And the contest begins. In the narrative about this contest, it is related: Cliffs towered along both banks of a river. Deep below, the river boiled. They placed a long pole from one cliff to the other. Morning Dawn and Evening Dawn ran along the pole, and from the opposite cliff the lad [the son of Mutuvngi] ran to meet them. As he ran he jumped over them and ran on. "Kako!" (an exclamation of dissatisfaction), said Morning Dawn to his comrade. "I told you, don't get involved!" "We did not outrun him, so we shall outjump him!" said Evening Dawn (i.e., in the contest we shall win by jumping). He blew. The river was gone. He blew again. The entire riverbed was set with knives. He blew once more. All the stones were covered with knives. Only two places [were left] where a man could stand. If you were to stumble [just] a little,

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you would fall down on a knife. Morning Dawn and Evening Dawn jumped, they jumped across to the other side, exactly onto the appropriate place. The lad turned around and jumped across the abyss backwards. "Kako!" said Morning Dawn. "Well, I told you, don't get involved! We did not outjump him, so we shall outleap him!" said Evening Dawn. He blew and there appeared a cauldron as big as three tents, with boiling water in it; out of the boiling water rose a tall tree with a sharp point, like that of a needle. He blew again. Next to it rose a tall larch with a rope hanging from its top. Evening Dawn leapt, grasped the rope, swung himself high over the cauldron, struck with his foot the sharp point of the tree, and vaulted a great distance forward. Morning Dawn leapt, grasped the rope, swung himself high over the cauldron, struck with his foot the sharp point, and vaulted a great distance forward. The son of Mutuvngi turned around, leapt, grasped the rope, swung himself backwards over the cauldron, struck with his foot the sharp point, vaulted a great distance forward. "O, evil!" said Morning Dawn, "I told you, don't get involved!" "We did not outleap him, so we shall outplay him at ball!" He whistled. A ball was brought—a head of a white bear, a skull with a bloody muzzle. [It is bloody] because when it is kicked it flies, and in flight it opens [its mouth], flies to its destination, and grips with its teeth. Evening Dawn threw the ball. It flew toward the son of Mutuvngi. Before it arrived, he waved the palm of his hand in the air, the ball turned around and struck Morning Dawn in the face. The bear jaws shattered his head. Evening Dawn grasped a spear, rushed at the son of Mutuvngi. The latter grasped the spear. They rose into the air, and started to fight, but Evening Dawn fell down very soon.199 Empirically the Chukchis knew in detail the annual cycle of the phenomena of nature, as all their economic activity, the production of their material needs, was connected with it in a practical way. The valuable material of numerous observations accumulated from this point of view is reflected in the Chukchi calendar, which indicates, first, all the changes in the economic activities ( chiefly the state of the reindeer herd), and second, the changes in surrounding nature most important for this economic activity. According to Bogoraz,200 the Chukchis distinguished the following months of the year (beginning with the winter solstice): First—"month of the stubborn old bull" [Old-Buck-Moon*]; second—"month of the shivering udder [Cold-Udder-Moon]; third—"month of the uncovering of the udder" [Genuine-Udder-Moon]; fourth—"month of the birth of calves" [Calving Moon]; fifth—"month of waters" [Water Moon]; sixth—"month of the appearance of leaves" [Making-Leaves-Moon]; seventh—"warm month" [Warm Moon]; eighth —"month of scraping horns [antlers]" [Rubbing-Velvet (antlers)—Moon]; ninth— "month of the frosts" [Light-Frost-Moon]; tenth—"autumn month" ]AutumnMoon]; eleventh—"month of limited meat" [Muscles-of-the-Back Moon]; twelfth —"month of shortening days" [Shrinking-Days-Moon]. The interval between the twelfth and the first month, from which the calculation of the seasons of the year begins, is defined very precisely by the Chukchis, who relate it to the three shortest days of winter. Additionally, they distinguish "the season of the first snow," "the season of the shortening of the days," "the season of the lengthening of the days," "the season of the first summer," "the season of the second summer/' and other analogous seasonal changes of nature. Of course, the Chukchis could not answer from their direct experience the questions of why these changes in nature take place. And, as always in such cases, imagination came to the rescue, supplementing everyday experience with conjecture. Starting with the externally grasped, objective regularity of the yearly cycle and the seasonal character of the economic activity of man linked with it, * [Names given in brackets are those used by Bogaraz in the English original—Editor.]

216 A. F. Anisîmov the Chukchis, with the help of imagination, supplemented these facts with mythology, thus answering the problems of how and why these phenomena of nature and of human society came about. The Chukchis created an artistic narrative about the moon, which was supposed to have wished to abduct a Chukchi girl but was unsuccessful, and was obliged to create for the people of the earth the seasons of the year as ransom for his freedom: There was a reindeer breeder, who had one daughter. She had a large draft bull in harness. Every summer the herd went out far away from the house, and every winter even farther, and she watched over the herd summer and winter, only occasionally riding home with the bull to eat. One night the bull in the herd said to her: "Watch out, watch out! The moon wants to abduct you!" She looked, he was descending with two reindeer. "What shall I do, he will take me!" "Wait, wait!" he (the reindeer) said. "I shall think it out for you!" (I shall think of how to protect you.) He dug m the snow with his hoof. "Sit down here!" (said the reindeer). She sat, he banked up the snow, cast a spell, and it turned into a hillock. The moon came, looked for the girl, walked around, but could not find her. The top of her head was visible, to be sure, but it looked like a hillock. What was he to take? The girl's bull knocked against his reindeer and heard: "Very strange! Where did she disappear to? Perhaps it is best to go now. I shall come to look around after a little." No sooner had he gone (when the reindeer) dug away the snow and the girl came out: "We had better go home! He will come back after a little while!" She sat down on the sleigh, the bull ran at full speed, and they arrived home. "Well, what shall I turn you into, quickly, before he gets here! Perhaps a stone block?" "He will know it." "Well, a hammer." "He will know it," "Well, a hair in the bed curtain." "He will know it, he will know it." "You know what, I shall turn you into a lamp!" "Good, good." "Now, sit on the fire!" She had just seated herself when the moon, who had akeady searched the herd, hurried to the house, tethered the reindeer, and went past the curtains; he walked around and around but could not find her; he also looked among the roots, he examined all the things, every hair on the hides, every knot of the bed-planks, every particle of earth in the corners of the tent—she was nowhere to be found; but he could not go to the lamp, as fire against fire. (The moon, like the sun, is similar to fire, and when one fire meets another they destroy each other—Author.) Said (the moon): "Strange, where is she then? Perhaps it is better to return home?" He went out, untethered the reindeer. Just as he was ready to ride away, she (the girl) jumped from the fire, leaned from the waist out of the curtains: "Here I am, here I am!" He (the moon) abandoned the reindeer, went back inside the curtains, and she back to the fire. He looked among the kindling, and among the leaves, and among the strands of wool, and among the particles of earth—she was nowhere. "O, how strange! Where can she be? Perhaps I had better go?" He had just gone out, untethered the reindeer, and she leaned from the waist out of the curtains: "Here I am, here I am!" Again he began to look, but he could not find her. Finally, he grew weary, he shriveled, his bone marrow withered (an artistic image, characterizing the phases of the moon—Author). Then she (the girl) leaned out all the way, grabbed him, threw him on his back, bound his legs, and placed him in the tent. "Woe to me," said (the moon), "She will kill me! Well, why not, go ahead, for I wanted to abduct you! If you want to kill me, kill me, only before I die, put me down" [inside the curtains for I shall freeze! How can you freeze?]* "Do not talk nonsense! You are always in the open; remain outside now. What are curtains to you?" "If I do stay forever in the open, let me go into the open. I shall be a luminary for your people. Let me go. I shall be an indicator of months, only let me go. I shall turn the night into day. I shall measure the whole year. First I shall be the Old-Buck-Moon, then the Cold-Udder-Moon, then the Genuine-Udder-Moon, then the Calving-Moon, then the *[The words bracketed here were omitted in Anisimov's text, and others inserted through typographic error. The correct words were taken from the original source.—Translator.]

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Water-Moon, then the Making-Leaves-Moon, then the Warm-Moon, then RubbingVelvet (antlers)-Moon, then the Light-Frost-Moon, then the Autumn-Moon, then the Muscles-of-the-Back-Moon, then the Shrinking (days)-Moon." "All right. But if I set you free and if you are rested again, and the marrow in your bones is fat and strong once more, will you not come after me again?" the girl asked him. "Oh I will not! I have had enough! Why, you are too spirited! I shall never leave my upper course again! Let me go, and I shall light up." She let him go, and he lit up.201 We may be amazed by these mythological "transformations," turning the narrative into a perpetual motion of forms: the girl, in hiding from the moon, changes into a hillock, then into a lamp, but may, judging by the text, turn also into a stone block, into a hammer, a pole, a sack, a particle of earth, and even into a short hair on the hides of the bed curtains. But in the views of the Chukchis such transformations appeared possible at one time. They supposed that nature was endowed with life, analogous to the life of man, and its transfer from one state to another constituted a natural phenomenon of this general creativity of life. Every material object can act according to its own will ( gekulilin, as the Chukchis say, i.e., "It has its own voice"). All animals are represented as having their [own] country and economy: the ermine is a stately warrior, clothed in white armor; the mice are a people living in underground dwellings; and so on. Changing their forms suddenly, they become actual hunters, warriors, shepherds, similar to man in every way.202 For this reason we encounter in Chukchi tales such strange, at first glance, phenomena as the transformation of a Chukchi girl, who puts on the clothing of a beetle, into a small beetle, while the beetle changes into a real human girl, and others.203 On the other hand, brave people of the middle land go into the upper and nether worlds of the universe, obtain wives from there and reindeer herds, and sometimes even stay there to live. Once reaching the upper world, they go for a long time on foot in the direction of dawn, getting there on a ray of the sun, flying across on an eagle, or even rising there by use of a thread from a needle thrown into the sky.204 In the upper and nether worlds all the vital blessings (animals, fish, birds) are the same as on earth among people.205 The worlds have a common passage piercing through them, through which it is possible to see the worlds below. In one of the tales, a woman, upon arriving in the upper world, looks through this hole at her land. Out of longing for her native land, tears fall from her eyes, and the dwellers on earth think that it is rain.206 These imaginary worlds of the universe are conceived as being populated by various kinds of spirits. The spirits live like people, but each individual nook or phenomenon of the world visible to man is represented, in this perception, as a special supernatural individual, a spirit, personifying in himself a corresponding phenomenon of nature that surrounds man. The life and well-being of man depends upon the will of these powerful beings, personifying the mysterious and inaccessible forces of nature. Their ill-will can change the course of things, and then the life of man comes under the threat of every possible deprivation and even death. It is only necessary to change the course of the ice in the sea, and the animals (walruses and seals) will not come at the right time to their rookeries on the shore, or only few of them will come. Yet, this is the basic source of existence for the coastal dwellers. Hunting sea mammals provides them not only with food, clothing, and footwear, but also with hides to make their dwellings, raw materials for implements (straps, etc.), and fat (blubber oil) for lighting and heating the dwelling. For those living in the tundra, the reindeer has an analo-

218 A. F. Anisimov gous importance, and ice-crusted ground and other natural calamities doom man to the same sort of ordeals as the absence of sea animals does for the coastal dwellers. These real cases of dependence and impotence of man before nature were also the objective basis which gave birth to a specific religious form of understanding the objective world. The religious form of understanding, that is, concepts about spirits of all sorts, arose as the direct emotional expression of the feeling of impotence of man before these mysterious, powerful, and terrible (in their destructive consequences) forces of nature.207 In studying the religious concepts of the Chukchis, Bogoraz correctly brought to his readers' attention their actual impotence before nature, caused in his time by the low level of development of industrial production. "Long blizzards/' wrote Bogoraz, "prevented the hunters from going out to hunt, and led to hunger, and, what was even worse, to absolute darkness. The lamps were extinguished one after another from lack of blubber oil, and the hungry people remained in darkness and cold."208 No less disastrous for the dwellers of the North was a poor catch of fish or failure in obtaining land animals. Hunger and death from starvation were frequent companions of ancient man in the North, and people supposed that cruel spirits would not release the animals to them, keeping the catch from the hunters. Or, the man who was out hunting was often threatened by the danger either of perishing in a terrible gale, or freezing to death in a howling blizzard in the midst of the tundra. Once again the spirits were regarded as the culprits in all these misfortunes. Like other forms of social awareness, these specific images of the reflection of nature and society developed and changed in the course of the gradual improvement of the life of man, for at their base they were the reflection of his social existence. Our brief excursion into the field of religious beliefs and the socio-economic sources of these beliefs had only one goal in mind: to emphasize their difference in principle from the forms of artistic personification of nature. What these forms of social awareness have in common is, from our point of view, that they are reflections of one and the same existence. Their link and correlation in mythology and folklore travels along the line of mutual influence of ideological forms. In depicting the phenomena of nature and society as an illustration of [human] life, artistic creation, naturally, cannot fail to reflect social concepts of the surrounding world, including religious concepts. Contrarily, the religious form of awareness, consolidated ideologically in artistic creation, strives all the more to use its means—artistic images—for the expression of its own ideas. With the aid of the artistic image ( sensually perceived ) it mobilizes the feelings, attention, and will of the people, turning them in the direction of the ideas expressed by it. This many-sided link of the rational and the illusory, of experience and conjecture, of artistic fantasy and religious forms of personification of nature, can also be traced in other ethnographic materials of the peoples of the North. In the mythology of the Oroks, the mythical hero Khadau once rode about the earth on a sledge and braked it with a pole, from which the rivers on the earth were supposed to have formed. Where the earth was harder, curves arose. From the strokes of the pole on both sides of the sledge, channels were formed. By braking with a pole along the path of his sledge, Khadau gave the earth its present natural look.209 The Nivkhis of Sakhalin imagined the origin of the earth's

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relief in analogous manner. In their views, Tairnana nigivyn, the mythical "Sea Gilyak," the master of the sea, came once upon a time to Sakhalin on a reindeer, and wherever the reindeer walked on Sakhalin, rivers were formed, while channels were formed from blows of [his] switch. At the river Lyarvo the reindeer fell down from weariness and was transformed into a white stone.210 The Milky Way is considered the road of this master of the sea, along which he goes from the sea to the sky. But this mythical perception of nature does not conceal the rational core of their experience, founded on observation. The Nivkhis, it turns out, notice that if in summer evenings "his road" (the Milky Way) follows the direction of the river Turnen, this forecasts a good run of fish, and a successful catch, but if it lies across the river, then one ought to expect bad fishing that year.211 According to the report of Shternberg, the Nivkhi fishermen "observe heavenly bodies at certain periods [of the year], because the migratory fish come with astronomic precision in specific months, on a specific day. But it happens sometimes that the fish are two or three days late, and then they try to observe with their rather primitive instruments whether or not some constellation has appeared, with which the appearance of the fish usually coincides.212 I. Veniaminov reports: The Aleuts are able to forecast the weather and especially the winds very well. The closest signs by which they learn the weather for the following day are especially the sunset and the following daybreak, by which experts can tell exactly what sort of day is coming. They watched the change of colors of the dawn so attentively that this was called, as they said, "to speak with the sun and the dawn." Besides that, they were also able to foretell the weather of the following months, for example, the mist which comes in January, and so on.213 As a result of precise empirical perception, people were able to amass large amounts of practical knowledge. Positive knowledge is the fundamental indicator of the success of man in his struggle with nature. As the result of experience and observation, folk knowledge was enlarged with every generation, reflecting the achievements of their historical and economic practices. The demand to develop public production turned human perception towards an active approach to nature. In the course of the development of social practice, the ascendancy of man over nature broadened, as did also his mental horizon. Reflecting the objective characteristics and relations of the surrounding world acquired through labor, positive knowledge expressed the active relation of man to nature, his endeavors to reorganize nature and progress in mastery; mythology expresses the relative character of this activity, not capable of refuting fancy and fantasy to which people resorted in their attempts to explain the phenomena of nature and of society. It is said of the Evenk hunters that not a single perceptible detail of a locality escapes their attention, and their skill in orienting themselves en route has amazed all the travelers who have had occasion to use them as guides. Once V. K. Arsenyev was faced with crossing and unfamiliar area by a long and complicated route. The Evenk who was to guide him was told about the landmarks by another Evenk, who had been in those parts many years before. With these words as his only lead, the guide led the party for six days across an area unfamiliar to him and brought it to the place where it was to be met by another party. The second party was led across the tundra by a guide who had also never been in that area.

220 A. F. Anisimov Nevertheless, the groups came together precisely at the point designated previously. In reporting this, Arsenyev added: "How can anyone remember his way through tundra, even for a single day. And yet this man remembered everything for six days, from the words of another. Evidently, for him the tundra is not as monotonous as it appears to me, and evidently a great number of features, which I never did notice, did not escape his attention."214 Recalling the route covered, he continued: "We went through an area as monotonous as can be. . . . I wish there had been some kind of an object which would have caught my eye and which could have served as a point of orientation.... This monotony fatigued me. I walked lazily, marked my path on the chart apathetically, and occasionally wrote down the single word 'tundra/ However, our guide behaved differently. He often looked about attentively and in all directions/'215 It is then further related that every evening the guide observed the stars and learned from them whether or not the party was following the right way and what direction was to be kept. Relying on their everyday experience and actual knowledge accumulated over centuries, the Evenks, as we see, understand their natural surroundings very well, and because of this, have an enormous fund of very precise and factual observations, including observations of the stars, and are capable of noticing phenomena which an "outsider" does not see. In telling about any direction in the taiga, the Evenks are able to describe the path with the indication of so many chracteristics and impressive details that this description becomes a reliable image "map" of the route, upon which one can always rely in journeys across an unfamiliar area. The guides are able to use this figurative map with such perfection that they can meet at a previously arranged place. In drawing familiar rivers and tributaries, the Evenks have proved themselves experts in this field, even astonishing the cartographer. In explaining a direction to someone who had not been in that area, Evenks can calculate precisely and explain where and on what side he should "hold" [observe] the heavenly bodies (the sun, the stars) at various times of day and night in order to come to the appointed place. All this was possible because of his knowledge and experience. But where he used to encounter deadly dangers and was at the mercy of "chance," such as dangerous mountain passes, rapids, and so on, his thoughts turned to images of the supernatural. As a direct emotional expression of this impotence of man before powerful and mysterious nature, there arose in his mind images of religious personifications. In this connection the following report by R. Maak about his journey through Siberia is very instructive: "When I reached the headwaters of the river Khaynga, from where I was about to cross to the valley of the Eyakit, upon arrival at the mountain pass, each of the Tungus accompanying me took out his knife and cut off a piece of reindeer hide from the saddle and hung it on the bushes standing nearby, which were already covered from top to bottom by similar sacrificial offerings."216 In fragile, birch-bark canoes, the Evenks moved with great mastery along the swift mountain rivers of the taiga, bobbing like shells across rapids and shoals. Necessary for this was not only a sharp eye, accurate estimating, endurance, and fearlessness, but also practical knowledge of each stream. The slightest negligence and the boat might be lost in the waves. But the fearless Evenk sails in his fragile canoe through these rapids and does not betray excitement by a single action, as though this were an ordinary matter not demanding any special fortitude. And so it is always, whenever it is imperative to keep cool in times of danger. But when he comes to a dangerous spot the Evenk, without fail, would throw something overboard as a sacrifice to the spirit, even if only a pinch of tobacco, because for him the concept of happiness and success consisted of a

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multitude of spirits, who were empowered to let him pass through "their place" or to let him perish in the raging elements. When caught in a blizzard, the Evenk did not lose his self-possession. Guided by experience founded on many centuries of everyday observations, he found the correct direction by groping with his hand along the wind-blown ridges of the snow. But, made powerless by the raging elements, he pulled out his knife from its sheath and threw himself with it against the wind, believing that this would help to frighten and drive away the blizzard. Thus, the realistic thought, brought about by practice, of the active relation of man to nature lost its optimistic base, and gave place to the illusory, the superstitious. Frightened by the fear of powerlessness, weighed down by a feeling of despair, fantasy overcame experience, creating a world of imaginary spirits. Enmeshing practical experience in a web of superstitions and rites impeded progress and led people towards a passive-dependent relation to nature. However, no matter how great the force and sway of the superstitions, work experience and the positive knowledge linked with it remained, unfailingly, a reliable basis of the factual domination of man over nature. It is this positive knowledge that he draws on primarily for his practical activity. While performing rites and paying tribute to superstitions, a man never relied on the "force" of magical incantations alone. When preparing for the hunt, he carefully readied his hunting equipment. In making weapons, he drew upon the experience of generations. When improving and inventing new tools, he was generalizing the achievements of [previous] practice through work. A fisherman did not go out to spear fish with a bent shaft. Just as he did not place his traps in places where the animals did not go. In his practical activity he had to proceed from the objective characteristics of the surrounding world and from the conditions of individual, practically useful, results of effort. If this were not so, man could not have completed the process of material production, and thereby have continued his existence. All the technical achievements of primitive man bear upon themselves the stamp of persistent effort and positive knowledge. The invention of tools, trapping apparatus, hunting and fishing methods, the invention of clothing, dwellings, and a multitude of other cultural acquisitions demanded a tremendous effort of [his] mental faculties. Material culture, as an objective historical monmument to the cognitive activity of man, unquestionably testifies to the material, objective orientation of this activity of man. From this, however, it does not necessarily follow that all concepts of man were correct. The further back into the depths of history we go the more mistakes and slips in cognition we discover. These, in the course of history, were overcome by cognition in the gradual development of society. Back of every step forward there were millenia of the active struggle of man with nature. In the unity of labor and knowledge his technological inventions and other cultural achievements were born. In this interaction of labor and knowledge man moved ahead slowly, gropingly, but more persistently and decisively with every step, driven on by the vital needs of the development of social production. In its movement through time towards the cognition of the characteristics and relations of its surrounding world, primitive mankind passed along an agonizingly difficult and lengthy path of development. In the words of L. H. Morgan: "It may well serve to remind us that we owe our present condition, with its multiplied means of safety and of happiness, to the struggles, the sufferings, the heroic exertions and the patient toil of our barbarous, and more remotely, of our savage ancestors."217

222 A. F. Anisimov

Notes and References 1. See Karl Marx, Kapital (Capital), vol. 1, Moscow-Leningrad, Gospolitizdat, 1949, p. 185; V. I. Lenin, Filosofskiye tetradi (Philosophical sketches), Moscow, Partizdat, 1934, pp. 181-182. 2. See Marx, Kapital, vol. 1, pp. 184, 186. 3. A. F. Anisimov, Problema naivnogo realizma v pervobytnom obshchestve—Ob istokakh i sotsialnoy osnove stikhiyno-materialisticheskogo otnosheniya pervobytnogo cheloveka k prirode (The problem of naive realism in primitive society—On the sources and the social basis of the elemental-materialist relation of primitive man to nature), Yezhegodnik muzeya istorii religii i ateizma Akademii nauk SSSR, vol. 3, MoscowLeningrad, 1959. 4. F. Engels, Lyudvig Feyerbakh i konets klassicheskoy nemetskoyfilosofii(Ludwig Feuerbach and the decline of German classical philosophy), in K. Marx and F. Engels, Izbrannye proizvedeniya (Selected works), vols. 1, 2, Moscow, 1952, p. 378. 5. We have in mind the Evenks of the Podkamennaya [Stony] Tunguska [river] in the present-day Baykit and Tungus-Chuna regions [rayons] of the Evenk National okrug, who were studied by the author in 1929-31 and in 1937, while in residence there. 6. Henceforth, the literary form of Evenk words will be shown in parentheses. 7. Sangar (lit. "hole") signifies in this case an opening—the entrance from one world to another. Among the Evenks living along the Podkamennaya Tunguska, it is identified with the Polar Star. 8. Prior to our version, an analogous version of the Kheglen myth was recorded in the same region (among the Evenks of the Podkamennaya Tunguska) by M. Osharov in his Severnyye skazki (Northern tales), Novosibirsk, 1935, p. 22. The same version was recorded by V. S. Pezhemskiy among the Yerbogachen Evenks and appears in the collection Materialy po evenkiyskomu (tungusskomu) folkloru (Materials on Evenk folklore), no. 1, Comp. by G. M. Vasilevich, Leningrad, 1936, pp. 173-275. 9. Prior to our report, this version of the Kheglen myth was recorded in the same region, among the Evenks of the Podkamennaya Tunguska, by Osharov (op. cit., p. 13). 10. Personal communication, G. M. Vasilevich. 11. Vide infra, pp. 164, 166, 167, 168, 177, 187. 12. A. P. Okladnikov, Istoriya Yakutii (The history of Yakutiya), vol. 1, Yakutsk, 1949, pp. 81ff. 13. A. P. Okladnikov, Neolit i bronzovyy vek Pribaykalya (The Neolithic and Bronze ages of the Cis-Baykal), Materialy i issledovaniya po arkheologii SSSñ, no. 18, 1950, pp. 272ff. 14. For greater details of this rite, see G. M. Vasilevich, Drevniye okhotnichi olenevodcheskiye obryady evenkov (Ancient hunting and reindeer-breeding rites of the Evenks), Sbornik MAE, vol. 17,1957, pp. 151-163. 15. Oral communication by N. P. Nikulshin, presented in the official report of the expedition to the Sym Evenks in 1936. The report was read at a session of the HistoricalEthnographic Section of the Scientific Research Association of the Institute of the Peoples of the North in Leningrad. For further details of this rite, see Vasilevich, Drevniye okhotnichi. . ., pp. 151-163. 16. Ye. I. Titov, Nekotoryye dannyye o kulte medvedya u nizhneangarskikh tungusov kindigirskogo roda (Remarks on the bear cult of the Lower Angara Tungus of the Kindigir clan), Sibirskaya zhivaya starina, Izd. Vostochno-Sibirskogo otdeleniya Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva, Irkutsk, 1923. 17. See A. F. Anisimov, Religiya evenkov v istoriko-geneticheskom izuchenii i problemy proiskhozhdeniya pervobytnykh verovaniy (The religion of the Evenks as a

Cosmological Concepts 223 historical-genetic study and the question of the origins of primitive beliefs), MoscowLeningrad, Izd. Akademii nauk SSSR, 1958, pp. 136-139, 142-146. 18. Among the Evenks khargi means not only "the mythical being of the nether world," but also "the wild deer," "the forest," "the spirit-master of the forest," "devil," "demon." Cf. G. M. Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy slovar (Evenk-Russian dictionary), Moscow, 1940, p. 152. 19. Mangi, in addition to that indicated in the text, has the meanings of "bear," "spirit of the ancestors," "devil," "giant," "monster," "legendary hero" (Vasilevich, ibid., p. 80). 20. Seli~sheli~kheli, "mammoth." 21. Dyabdar is a mythological snake (lit. "long"). 22. Cf. I. M. Suslov, Shamanstvo i borba s nim (Shamanism and the struggle against it), Sovetskiy Sever, 1931, nos. 3-4, pp. 89-152; Anisimov, Religiya evenkov . . ., pp. 136, 138, 145. 23. Cf. Anisimov, Religiya evenkov . . ., pp. 138-139, 145. 24. Nyangnya in the Evenk language means: (1) "dirt," "mud"; (2) "sky," "heavens," "air." Cf. Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy slovar, p. 99. 25. Prior to our recording, this myth was recorded by M. Osharov, who lived among the Evenks of the Podkamennaya Tunguska. Cf. Osharov, Severnyye skazki, pp. 14-15. 26. A. A. Popov, Dolganskiy folklor (Dolgan folklore), Sovetskiy pisatel, Leningrad, 1937, p. 85. 27. P. Tretyakov, Turukhanskiy kray, ego priroda i zhitelti (Turukhansk kray, its nature and inhabitants ), Zapiski Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva po obshchey geografii, 1869, vol. 2, pp. 414-416. 28. Ibid., p. 416. 29. Okladnikov, Istoriya Yakutii, vol. 1, pp. 8Iff.; idem, Neolit i bronzovyi vek Pribaykalya, pp. 280E 30. Gosudarstvennyy muzey etnografii narodov SSSR, Leningrad (The State Ethnographic Museum of the Peoples of the U.S.S.R., Leningrad), Collection no. 1331-23, a-g. 31. S. V. Ivanov, Mamont v iskusstve narodov Sibiri (The mammoth in the art of Siberian peoples), Sbornik MAE, vol. 11, Moscow-Leningrad, 1949. 32. L. Ya. Shternberg, Goldskiy etnograficheskiy slovar (Ethnographic dictionary of the Golds), in the Collection: Gilyaki, orochi, goldy, negidaltsy, ayny, Khabarovsk, Dalgiz, 1933, p. 519. 33. V. A. Avrorin and I. I. Kozminskiy, Predstavleniya orochey o vselennoy, preselenii dushi i puteshestviyakh shamanov, izobrazhennye na "karte" (Oroch concepts of the universe, migration of souls, and journeys of shamans, pictured on a "map"), Sbornik MAE, vol. 11, 1949, pp. 324-334. 34. Anan also means "funeral repast," "wake," for the deceased. Cf. Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy slovar, p. 13. 35. Shternberg, Goldskiy etnograficheskiy slovar, p. 519. 36. L. Ya. Shternberg, Otdelnyye materialy po etnografii sakhalinskikh gilyakov (Some materials on the ethnography of the Sakhalin Gilyaks),in the Collection: Gilyaki, orochi, goldy, negidaltsy, ayny, p. 330. 37. V. S. Pezhemskiy, Dve legendy yerbogachenskikh evenkov (Two legends of the Yerbogachen Evenks), Collection: Materialy po evenkiyskomu (tungusskomu) folkloru, no. 1, 1936, p. 274. 38. Popov, Dolganskiy folklor, p. 55. 39. Ibid., p. 56. 40. Ye. A. Kreynovich, Ocherk kosmogonicheskikh predstavleniy gilyakov ostrova Sakhalina (A sketch of the cosmogenic concepts of the Gilyaks of Sakhalin Island), Etnografiya, no. 1, 1929, p. 80. 41. Ibid.

224 A. F. Anisimov 42. V. I. Anuchin, Ocherk shamanstva u yeniseyskikh ostyakov (A sketch of shamanism among the Yenisey Ostyaks), St. Petersburg, 1914, p. 7. 43. V. G. Bogoraz, Osnovnyye tipy folklora Severnoy Yevrazii i Severnoy Ameriki (The basic types of folklore in northern Eurasia and North America), Sovetskiy folklor, nos. 4-5, Moscow-Leningrad, 1936, p. 41. 44. Ibid., p. 37. 45. Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy slovar, p. 187. 46. Anuchin, Ocherk shamanstva u yeniseyskikh ostyakov, pp. 3-4. 47. V. Ya. Propp, Istoricheskiye korni volshebnoy skazki (The historical roots of the fairy tale), Leningrad, Leningradskiy gosudarstvennyy universitet, 1946, chap. 3, pp. 61-65. 48. L. Ya. Shternberg, Materialy po izucheniyu gilyatskogo yazyka i folklora (Materials for the study of the Gilyak language and folklore), vol. Ill, Obraztsy narodnoy slovesnosti (Samples of folk literature), pt. 1, St. Petersburg, 1908, pp. 150flF. 49. Ibid. 50. Ibid., p. 151. 51. Ibid., p. 152. 52. Ibid. 53. Ibid. 54. Ibid. 55. Ibid. 56. Ibid., pp. 153-154.

57. Ibid.

58. Ibid., p. 154.

59. Ibid. 60. Ibid.

61. Ibid., p. 158, note 24. 62. Ibid., p. 154. 63. Ibid., p. 158, note 22. 64. Ibid., p. 154. 65. Ibid. 66. The ancient dwelling of the Nivkhs was a mud hut of the Kamchadal type, the entrance to which was through the smoke hole; the procedures of entering and emerging from the yurt (hut) were similar to descending into and coming out from under the ground. See Shternberg, Materialy po izucheniyu gilyatskogo . . ., p. 15, note 10. 67. Ibid., p. 154. 68. Ibid., p. 158, note 24. 69. Ibid. 70. Ibid., p. 155. 71. Ibid. 72. Ibid. 73. Ibid. 74. Ibid., p. 78, note 24. 75. Ibid., p. 158, note 25. 76. L. Ya. Shternberg, Kult orla u sibirskikh narodov (The cult of the eagle among Siberian peoples), Collection: Pervobytnaya religiya v svete etnografii (Primitive religion in the light of ethnography), Nauchno-issledovatelskaya assotsiatsiya Instituía narodov Severa, Materialy po etnografii, vol. 4, Leningrad, 1935, p. 125. 77. Ibid. 78. Ibid., p. 124. 79. Ibid., p. 125. 80. K. M. Rychkov, Yeniseyskiye tungusy (The Yenisey Tungus), Zemlevedeniye, bk. 1-2, 1922, addendum, p. 83. 81. From buga, meaning "world," "universe," "nature," "surrounding taiga," and

Cosmólogical Concepts 225 the suffix -dy, which is an adjectival suffix of relationship, i.e., bira, "river," birady, "riverine." 82. Anisimov, Religiya evenkov . . ., pp. 28—34. 83. For further detail on bugady mushun in the sense of "ancestress of the clan," see Anisimov, Religiya evenkov . . .' pp. 102-105. 84. B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The native tribes of Central Australia, London, 1899; idem, The northern tribes of Central Australia, London, 1904; C. Strehlow. Die Aranda und Loritja-Stamme in Zentral Australien, vol. 1, 1907; vol. 3, 1910. 85. Avrorin and Kozminskiy, Predstavleniya oroehey . . ., pp. 327, 330, et al. 86. Cf. Marx, Kapital, vol. I, p. 341. 87. Shternberg, Materialy po izucheniyu gilyatskogo yazyka . . ., p. 165, note 14; idem, Religiya gilyakov (The religion of the Gilyaks), in the Collection: Pervobytnaya religiya . . ., Leningrad, 1936, p. 34; A. M. Zolotarev, Rodovoy stroy i religiya ulchey (Social organization and religion of the Ulchs), Khabarovsk, Dalgiz, 1939, p. 97. 88. V. G. Bogoraz, Chukchi (The Chukchis), pt. 2, Religiya (Religion), Leningrad, Izd. Instituía narodov Severa, 1939, pp. 91fF. 89. Ibid., p. 30. 90. V. I. Levin, Kratkiy evensko-russkiy slovar (Short Even-Russian dictionary), Moscow, 1936, p. 22. 91. Ye. R. Shneyder, Kratkiy udeysko-russkiy slovar (Short Udege-Russian dictionary), Moscow, 1936, p. 21. 92. G. M. Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy (tungussko-russkiy) slovar (Evenk-Russian (Tungus-Russian) dictionary), Moscow, 1936, pp. 17, 23. 93. Shneyder, Kratkiy udeysko-russkiy slovar, p. 21. 94. Levin, Kratkiy evensko-russkiy slovar, p. 22. 95. See Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy (tungussko-russkiy) slovar, p. 129. 96. Ibid. 97. Ibid. 98. Anisimov, Religiya evenkov . . ., chap. 5. 99. Ibid. 100. Shternberg, Kult orla . . ., p. 122. 101. P. P. Shimkevich, Nekotoryye momenty iz zhizni goldov i svyazannyye s zhiznyu suyeveriya (Some aspects of the life of the Golds and superstitions connected with life), Etnograficheskoye obozreniye, vol. 24, no. 3, 1897, p. 1. 102. N. A. Lipskaya-Valrond, Materialy po etnografii goldov (Materials on Gold ethnography), Sibirskaya zhivaya starina, nos. 3-4, 1925, p. 149. 103. S. V. Ivanov, Materialy po izobrazitelnomu iskusstvu narodov Sibiri XIX-nachala XX veka (Materials on the pictorial arts of the peoples of Siberia during the 19th and early 20th century), Trudy Instituía etnografii Akademii nauk SSSH, n.s., vol. 22, 1954, p. 237. 104. Ibid. 105. Shternberg, Kult orla. . . . 106. Ivanov, Materialy po izobrazitelnomu iskusstvu. . . . 107. A. A. Popov, Tavgiytsy. Materialy po etnografii avamskikh i vedeyevskikh tavgiytsev (TheTavgis. Materials on the ethnography of the Avam and VadeyaTavgis), Trudy Instituía antropologii i etnografii Akademii nauk SSSR, vol. 1, no. 5, MoscowLeningrad, 1936, pp. 84ff. 108. G. N. Prokofyev, Tseremoniya ozhivleniya bubna u ostyakosamoyedov (The "drum vivification" ceremony among the Ostyak-Samoyeds), Izvestiya Leningradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, vol. 2, 1930, pp. 365-373. 109. For further details concerning these concepts, see Anisimov, Religiya evenkov . . ., pp. 56-66. 110. Anuchin, Ocherk shamanstva u yeniseyskikh ostyakov, 1914, p. 7. 111. See G. N. Prokofyev, Ostyako-samoyedy Turukhanskogo kraya (The OstyakSamoyeds of Turukhansk kray), Etnografiya, 1928, no. 2, pp. 96-103; Ye. D. Prokof-

226 A. F. Anisimov yeva, K voprosu o sotsialnoy organizatsii selkupov; rod i fratriya (Contributions to the social organization of the Selkups; clan and phratry), Sibirskiy etnograficheskiy sbornik (Siberian ethnographic collection), no. 1, Trudy Instituía efnografii Akademii nauk SSSR, n.s., vol. 18, 1952, pp. 88-107. 112. See Prokofyeva, k voprosu o sotsialnoy organizatsii . . ., p. 102. 113. Ibid. 114. Ibid., p. 107. 115. Ibid., p. 104. 116. Ibid. 117. Ibid. 118. Ibid. 119. Prokofyev, Tseremoniya ozhivleniya bubna . . ., pp. 370-371. 120. Prokofyeva, K voprosu o sotsialnoy organizatsii. . ., pp. 104-105. 121. Prokofyev, Tseremoniya ozhivleniya bubna . . ., p. 371. 122. Prokofyeva, K voprosu o sotsialnoy organizatsii. . ., p. 97. 123. For greater detail, see A. F. Anisimov, Rodovoye obshchestvo evenkov (tun gusov) (Tribal society of the Evenks (Tungus) ), Nauchno-issledovatelskaya assotsiatsiya Instituía narodor Severa, Trudy po etnografii, vol. 1, Leningrad, 1936, pp. 1-10. 124. Ibid., pp. lOff. 125. For greater detail, see Anisimov, ibid., pp. 22ff. 126. F. Engels, Proiskhozhdeniye semi, chastnoy sobstvennosti i gosudarstva (The origin of the family, private property, and the state), Moscow, Gospolitizdat, 1947, pp. 51-52. 127. Ibid., p. 52. 128. Ibid., pp. 51-52. 129. Ibid., p. 52. 130. Ibid., pp. 52-53. 131. K. Marx, Konspekt knigi Lyuisa G. Morgana "Drevneye obshchestvo" (A synopsis of Lewis H. Morgan's "Ancient Society"), Arkhiv Marksa i Engelsa, vol. 9, Moscow, Gospolitizdat, 1941, p. 20. 132. V. K. Nikolskiy, Antinauchnost burzhuaznogo mifa ob iskonnosti semi i chastnoy sobstvennosti (The non-scientific bourgeois myth about the antiquity of the family and private property), Uchenyye zapiski Moskovskogo oblastnogo pedagogicheskogo instituía, vol. 14, no. 1, 1950, p. 12. 133. Ibid., pp. 63-64. 134. Engels, Proiskhozhdeniye semi. . ., p. 101. 135. See Anisimov, Rodovoye obshchestvo evenkov . . ., pp. 107if. 136. From dyal, with the meaning of "relatives," "kinsmen," "consanguineal clan," with the reflexive-possessive suffix, vi. 137. From dan, "marriage," and the suffixes kit and dyak, forming the name of the place where the action is performed. 138. Anisimov, Rodovoye obshchestvo evenkov . . ., p. 173. 139. Ibid. 140. Ibid. 141. Anisimov, Religiya evenkov . . ., chap. 4-5. 142. Anisimov, Rodovoye obshchestvo evenkov . . ., pp. 171, 173. 143. See Anisimov, Religiya evenkov . . ., pp. 127flE. 144. G. M. Vasilevich, K voprosu o tungusakh, kochuyushchikh k zapadu ot Yeniseya (On the Tungus nomadizing to the west of the Yenisey), Sovetskiy Sever, no. 10, 1930, p. 140. 145. See Anisimov, Rodovoye obshchestvo evenkov . . ., pp. 175-179. 146. Ibid., p. 177. 147. Ibid., p. 179. 148. Spencer and Gillen, The native tribes of Central Australia-, idem, The northern tribes of Central Australia.

Cosmológica! Concepts 227 149. R. J. Olson, Clan and moiety in native America, University of California Publications in American archaeology and ethnology, vol. 33, no. 4, 1933, pp. 351-421. 150. W. H. R. Rivers, The history of Melanesian society, vol. 2, Cambridge, England, 1914. 151. In the taiga all the other animals flee in fright before the bear. The elk with one kick of his hoof can break quite a thick tree up to four chetverts (0.7 m.) in girth. This giant, having no equal in strength among the other ungulates, passes without difficulty through any underbrush and wind-felled trees. Its huge body provides up to 350 kilograms of meat or even more. But the hunting of the animal requires great skill and caution. The elk perceives the smell of man at a great distance, is keen-eared to every rustle, and if wounded, turns to attack and is extremely dangerous. "In a level place, death from him is inescapable, because no skis can carry one away. Not every tree can conceal the hunter, because the antlered one (i.e., the elk—Author) kicks its hind leg with such force that he knocks down a tree four chetverts in girth better than an ax, while, God forbid, if the hunter fails to dodge, it will trample him with its forelegs; even now in one village they remember vividly how one winter they found on the hoof of a killed antlered one, a Tungus frozen to death, with his stomach pierced through." Cf. Jochelson, Ocherk zveropromyshlennosti i torgovli mekhami v Kolymskom okruge (Sketch of the animal and fur industry in Kolyma okrug), Trudy Yakutskoy ekspeditsii, snaryazhennoy na sredstva I. M. Sibiryakova, dir. 3, vol. 10, pt. 3, Moscow, 1898, p. 94. 152. In Homer, Pallas Athena wards off the arrow directed at Odysseus, while Aphrodite saves Paris, whom Menelaus has caught by the helmet, by breaking the clasps on his helmet at the right time; to hide Paris from Achilles, Aphrodite envelops him in a cloud, and she likewise holds a shield or cover before the breast of Aeneas, defending him from arrows. One of the gods was constantly beside Hector, keeping death away from him. Diomedes remained unharmed because one of the divine protectors pushed the arrow which was to have pierced him to one side, and so on. Cf. L. Ya. Shternberg, Lektsii po evolyutsii religioznykh verovaniy (Lectures on the evolution of religious beliefs), Collection: Pervobytnaya religiya . . ., pp. 251, 348. 153. S. P. Tolstov, Drevniy Khorezm (Ancient Khorezm), Moscow, Izdanie Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 1948, p. 288. 154. Ibid., p. 297. 155. K. Marx and F. Engels, Nemetskaya ideologiya (German ideology), Sochineniya, vol. 3, Moscow, 1955, p. 25. 156. For additional details, see Anisimov, Rodovoye obshchestvo evenkov . . ., p. 23, 157. G. M. Vasilevich recorded in the Yerbogachen dialect yet another name for this river: engdekit, "the principal shamanistic river of the underground world," with the meaning of "world of the dead." Cf. G. M. Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy dialektologicheskiy slovar (Evenk-Russian dictionary of dialects), Leningrad, 1934, p. 165. However, the Evenk word enggun means "reindeer" (Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy slovar, p. 186), while the word enggechi denotes the constellation of the Pleiades (ibid.). In the cosmogenic myth about the heavenly bear mangi, which was recorded among the Lower Angara Evenks by Ye. I. Titov, the constellation of the Pleiades was interpreted as a part of the carcass of the heavenly elk, the Great Bear, not eaten by the bear, while the bear mangi is identified with the constellation of Bootes and Arcturus (Titov, Nekotoryye dannyye o kulte medvedya ..., Sibirskaya zhivaya starina). According to Vasilevich's dictionary the word mangi in the Yerbogachen and Nepa dialects means "bear," in the Katanga dialect, "spirit of ancestors," and in the Sym dialect, the constellation of Bootes and Arcturus (Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy dialektologicheskiy slovar, p. 128). Judging by all the evidence, engdekit is conceived as running through all three worlds of the universe, while the cosmic images of the elk and the bear connected with it are conceived as spirits of ancestors, living in worlds of the universe other than those of the living people (compare ëngë~ënge meaning "other," "different"). Along the line of the totemic features of this complex of concepts,

228 A. F. Anisimov the word engen in also interesting, having a double meaning: (1) "prohibition," (2) "comrade," "friend" (Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy slovar, p. 187). According to the totemists, the totem was conceived as a blood relative, a friend, a comrade, and at the same time as a tabu, forbidden to be used as food. 158. Additionally, in the Evenk language, buni has the meaning of: (1) "deceased," "dead man," "corpse"; (2) the adjectives "dead," "deceased"; (3) "place of burial," "grave"; (4) "death" (cf. Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy slovar, p. 25). 159. For additional details concerning this rite, see Anisimov, Religiya evenkov . . ., pp. 55-56. 160. Cf. the Evenk word o-mi, which has the meaning of: (1) "become," "come into being," "appear," "be generated"; (2) "originate," "create," "generate"; (3) "make," "execute," "produce"; (4) "begin," "arrive," "ensue" (see Vasilevich, Evenkiyskorusskiy slovar, p. 102). 161. From omi, "soul," "creation," and the suffix -ruk, serving to form [words] from nominal stems of names of receptacles: e.g., purta (knife), purtaruk (receptacle for the knife [scabbard]); pulka (bullet), pulkaruk (little bag for bullets), and so on. 162. In the Evenk language the word kharan has the meaning of: (1) "area," "place for a yurt," "place for the hearth"; (2) fireplace in the yurt"; (3) "nomadic camp," "camp site"; (4) yurt (see Vasilevich, Evenkiysko-russkiy slovar, p. 152). 163. Ivanov, Materialy po izobrazitelnomu iskusstvu narodov Sibiri . . ., p. 234. 164. In the Solon [language], bey, beye; Negidal, bejye; Evenk, bey; Ulch, Nanay, and Ude[ge], beye, bey en; Manchu, beye; Mongol, befye has the meanings of: "body," "person," "individual," "being," "attribute," "nature," "aspect"; Yakut, baja means "body," "carcass"; Altayan, Teleut, and Lebed, boy or moy means: "body," "torso," "self," "the one." Such a widespread existence in many languages and identity of meaning of this word constitutes the most convincing evidence of its antiquity and the phasic [stadial] character of its primary meanings. And it seems that even the subsequent, more abstract meanings also developed within the limits of not too great deviations, semantic or phonetic. 165. P. P. Shimkevich, Materialy dlya izucheniya shamanstva u goldov (Materials for the study of shamanism among the Golds), Zapiski Priamurskogo otdela Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva, vol. 1, no. 2, Khabarovsk, 1896; idem, Nekotoryye momenty iz zhizni goldov . . .; I. A. Lopatin, Leto sredi orochey i goldov (A summer among the Orochs and Golds), Vladivostok, 1912; idem, Goldy amurskiye, ussuriyskiye i sungarii/skiye (The Amur, Ussuri, and Sungari Golds), Vladivostok, 1922; A. N. Lipskiy, Elementy religiozno-psikhologicheskikh predstavleniy goldov (Elements of the religious-psychological concepts of the Golds), Izvestiya Gosudarstvennogo instituía narodnogo obrazovaniya v gorode Chite, bk. 1, Chita, 1923; Lipskaya-Valrond, Materialy k etnografii goldov; Shternberg, Otdelnyye materialy po etnografii goldov; idem, Goldskiy etnograficheskiy slovar. 166. Lipskiy, Elementy religiozno-psikhologicheskikh predstavleniy goldov, p. 80, note 1. 167. Shternberg, Otdelnyye materialy po etnografii goldov, p. 491. 168. V. N. Chernetsov, Fratrialnoye ustroystvo obsko-ugorskogo obshchestva (Phratrial structure in Ob-Ugrian societies), Sovetskaya etnografiya; Sbornik statey, vol. 2, 1939. 169. Tolstov, Drevniy Khorezm, pp. 296-297. 170. Ibid. 171. V. N. Chernetsov, Vogulskie skazki: Sbornik folklora mansi (vogulov) (Vogul stories: Collection of Mansi (Vogul) folklore), Leningrad, Gospolitizdat, 1935, pp. 20-21. 172. S. P. Krasheninnikov, Opisaniye zemli Kamchatki (Description of Kamchatka), vol. 2, 3rd éd., St. Petersburg, 1818, p. 107. 173. Krasheninnikov, ibid., vol. 1, pp. 269^270. 174. Called Kuykinyaku among the Koryaks, Kyrkyl among the Chukchis, lyel [Yehl] among the Indians of North America.

Cosmológica! Concepts 229 175. Krasheninnikov, Opisanie zemli Kamchatki; vol. 1, pp. 270-271. 176. Ibid., p. 270. 177. Krasheninnikov, op cit., vol 2, p. 107. 178. Ibid., pp. 101-102. 179. V. G. Bogoraz, Eynshteyn i religiya (Einstein and religion), Moscow-Petrograd, 1923, p. 29. 180. V. G. Bogoraz, Materialy po izucheniyu chukotskogo yazyka i folklora (Materials for the study of the Chukchi language and folklore), Trudy Yakutskoy ekspedttsii, div. 3, vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1900, pp. xii-xiii. 181. Bogaraz, Chukchi, pt. 2, Religiya, p. 25. 182. Ibid. 183. Ibid. 184. Bogoraz, Materialy po izucheniyu chukotskogo yazyka . . ., p. 5, note 12; idem, Chukchi, pt. 2, p. 30. 185. Bogoraz, Chukchi, pt. 2, p. 24. 186. Ibid., p. 77. 187. Ibid. 188. Ibid., p. 36. 189. Ibid., p. 22. 190. Bogoraz, Materialy po izucheniyu chukotskogo yazyka . . ., pp. 176-177. 191. Ibid., p. 177. 192. Bogoraz, Chukchi, pt. 2, p. 21. 193. Ibid., pp. 21, 73. 194. Bogoraz, Materialy po izucheniyu chukotskogo yazyka . . ., pp. 235-238. 195. Ibid., p. 237. 196. Ibid., pp. 190, 194, et al 197. Ibid., pp. 230-231. 198. Ibid., p. 230. 199. Ibid., p. 131. 200. Ibid., p. 42. 201. Ibid., pp. 178-179. 202. Bogoraz, Chukchi, pt. 2, pp. 4, 6ff. 203. Bogoraz, Materialy po izucheniyu chukotskogo yazyka . . ., pp. 176-177. 204. Bogoraz, Chukchi, pt. 2, p. 41; idem, Materialy po izucheniyu chukotskogo yazyka . . ., pp. 23, 220, et al 205. Bogoraz, Chukchi, pt. 2, p. 40. 206. Ibid., p. 41. 207. K. Marx and F. Engels, Sochineniya (Essays), vol. 14, p. 323. 208. V. G. Bogoraz, K voprosu o primenenii marksistskogo metoda k izucheniyu etnograficheskikh yavleniy (On the method of application of Marxist methodology to the study of ethnographic phenomena), Etnografiya, 1930, nos. 1-2, p. 4. 209. B. A. Vasilyev, Osnovnyye cherty etnografii orokov (Principal traits of Orok ethnography), Etnografiya, 1929, no. 1, p. 21. 210. Kreynovich, Ocherk kosmogonicheskhikh predstavleniy gilyakov . . ., p. 89. 211. Ibid., p. 91. 212. Shternberg, Lektsii po evolyutsii religioznykh verovaniy, p. 510. 213. I. Veniaminov, Zapiski ob ostrovakh Unalakshinskogo otdela (Notes on the islands of the Unalaska division), pt. 2, St. Petersburg, 1840, p. 258. 214. V. K. Arsenyev, V tundre. Iz vospominaniy o puteshestvii po Vostochnoy Sibiri (In the tundra. From recollections of travel in eastern Siberia), Novyy mir, 1928, vol. 11, p. 264. 215. Ibid., p. 265. 216. R. Maak, Vilyuyskiy okrug Yakutskoy oblasti (The Vilyuy okrug of Yakutsk oblast), pt. 3, St. Petersburg, 1887, p. 107. 217. L. H. Morgan, Drevneye obshchestvo (Ancient society), Leningrad, Izd. Nauchno-issledovatelskoy assotsiatsii Instituía narodov Severa, 1934, p. 330.

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