Mäetagused vol. 90
Summary
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Cosmogonic conceptions of the Udmurt people in naming stars and their images in folklore
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Mythological character chokmor in the traditional worldview of the Udmurts
Galina Glukhova
Associate Professor
Institute of Udmurt Philology, Finno-Ugric Studies and Journalism Udmurt State University, Russia
galant@udm.ru
Keywords: Udmurts, calendar rituals, masquerade, commemoration, toponymy
Based on linguistic data and ritual practices of the Udmurts, the article explores the etymology of the word chokmor. The analysed material indicates that the term chokmor/chokmorskon is used in the local traditions of both southern (Kiyasovo district) and northern (Kez district) Udmurts during winter and spring-summer ceremonies. The study of the term chokmor in the traditional worldview of the Udmurts allows for the hypothesis that the word is derived from the term chek or cheke, and in this context, in the rituals of commemoration, it serves as a symbol of contact with the otherworldly realm. In the rituals of spring and winter masquerades, it personifies the soul of a deceased ancestor, “appearing” in this world in the form of a masqueraded character.
The ritual dish chek-chegey of Zavyatsky Udmurts
Denis Kornilov
Department of Philological Studies
Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Udmurt Federal Research Centre Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences
Izhevsk, Russia
denkornilove@gmail.com
Keywords: Zavyatsky Udmurts, Udmurts of Tatarstan, traditional culture, calendar rituals, Easter (Akashka), folk cuisine, ritual dish chek-chegey, oral history
The article deals with the ritual dish chek-chegey / shesheri common among Zavyatsky Udmurts. Chek-chegey is a pastry in the form of small dough balls, which are baked for the spring holiday Akashka (in local tradition it coincides with Easter). The dish is analyzed in comparison with similar dishes of neighboring peoples (Tatars, Kryashens). Local legends about the connection of the dish chek-chegey with the Akashka ritual are given. The article contains memories of informants about the peculiarities of cooking the dish and its microlocal differences. For the first time, materials from field research conducted by the author in 2021–2022 have been introduced into scientific circulation. In addition, the author cites his childhood memories associated with this holiday treat.
The song folklore of the spring ritual Bydzhynnal in the tradition of the Eastern Udmurts
Irina Pchelovodova
Department of Research in Philology
Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature
UdmFRC UB RAS, Izhevsk, Russia
orimush@mail.ru
Nikolai Anisimov
Department of Folkloristics, Estonian Literary Museum, Estonia
Department of Research in Philology Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature
UdmFRC UB RAS, Izhevsk, Russia
nikolai.anisimov@folklore.ee
Keywords: Eastern Udmurts, song folklore, spring rituals, ritual songs
The article is dedicated to the analysis of musical motifs performed by Eastern Udmurts within the framework of the spring ritual complex Bydzhynnal (The Great Day). The relevance of this study is justified by the limited exploration of the musical folklore of this local group. The primary sources for the analysis include field materials collected during the period from 2016 to 2023, as well as materials from the Scientific Archive of the Institute of Udmurt Philology, Ethnography, and Arts of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, along with expedition records by Udmurt ethnographer Ranus Sadikov. The research methodology is based on philological and musicological approaches, involving a plot-thematic analysis of poetic texts and the identification of features in the development of melodies in the context of their modal, rhythmic, and melodic characteristics. The results of the analysis indicate the diversity of motifs used in the examined tunes. The identified anhemitonic tonal systems suggest similarities between the calendar musical compositions of Eastern Udmurts and the musical tradition of Southern and Western Udmurts. The rhythmic structures are presented in two main types. The presence of melisma in the melodies has also been identified, which is explained by the influence of Turkic culture.
Folklore of the Bashkortostan Udmurts: Genre characterisation, collection history, peculiarities of modern circulation
Ranus Sadikov
Leading Researcher
Department of Ethnography
R.G. Kuzeev Institute for Ethnological Research, Ufa Federal Research Centre Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
kissapi@mail.ru
Keywords: publication, Bashkortostan, folklore, collection, current situation, genres, Udmurts, research
The article discusses the peculiarities of the folklore genres of the Udmurts living in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russian Federation, the history of the collection, publication and research of folklore, as well as its modern circulation. The folklore traditions of this ethnic group, separated from the motherland, have been subjected to Turkish influence, yet at the same time have preserved many archaic features. Loyalty to traditional folk beliefs adds uniqueness to their folklore. The folklore of this ethnic group has not been widely studied, and no collections or monographs have been published. Recently research into their folk prayers and ritual songs has started. Today, due to the shrinking of the authentic environment necessary for keeping it alive, folklore (mainly songs) has moved to the stage. Amateur ensembles, teachers of the Udmurt language and literature, staff of community centres, librarians, and local lore researchers play a significant role in the preservation of local folklore specimens.
Udmurt lullaby: Once again to the problem of the original source
Irina Nurieva
Leading Researcher,
Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature
Udmurt Federal Research Center Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
nurieva-59@mail.ru
Keywords: Kuzebai Gerd, Udmurt folklore, Udmurt lullaby, Grigori Vereshchagin
Udmurt lullabies are divided into two different musical and stylistic groups. The first one, similar to many Finno-Ugric peoples, includes improvised songs - the most archaic layer of song folklore. Improvised Udmurt lullabies are various rhythmic and melodic intonations that are meant to soothe or put the child to sleep. However, the singers I met during fieldwork often sang another lullaby based on the verse of G. E. Vereshchagin, “Chagyr, chagyr dydyke...” (Blue, blue pigeon…). All the variants of this lullaby form the second group. That lullaby has been recorded throughout Udmurtia, almost supplanting local improvised lullabies. Musical analysis of the lullaby “Chagyr, chagyr dydyke...” has shown that, unlike improvised lullabies, this tune belongs to a late music style.
The lyrics of the lullaby attracted the attention of philologists and literary critics, who tried to clarify the authorship of the verse. The verse “Chagyr, chagyr dydyke...” was published by the Udmurt writer and ethnographer Vereshchagin in 1889. The heated discussion around the problem of Vereshchagin’s authorship, which unfolded later on, lasted for several decades. Udmurt folklorist T. G. Vladykina put an end to the dispute, concluding that the author of the lullaby was Vereshchagin. As proof of his authorship, the researcher presented several convincing arguments, including the peculiarities of the functioning of this tune in the tradition (“memorized song”) and the strophic form with cross-rhyme, not typical of Udmurt ritual song folklore.
Vereshchagin’s verses spread among people thanks to the Udmurt scholar, poet, and musician Kusebai Gerd. Gerd published this verse several times under the authorship of Vereshchagin, adding the refrain “Iz, iz, nunye, zarni bugore!” (Sleep, sleep, my child, golden ball!) after each stanza and replacing some words. In this version, the lullaby spread throughout Udmurtia.
While in philological disputes the points of view of different parties are known, in ethnomusicology the problem of music authorship has not even been raised yet. The music was considered folk or attributed to Vereshchagin. The first musical notation of the lullaby with Vereshchagin’s lyrics was published in 1925, in a collection of Udmurt songs by Mikhail Romanov, who was a teacher at the Glazov Pedagogical Technical School. Apparently, he recorded it from his students, then reworked it for a four-voice choir. The lullaby was sung all over Udmurtia at that time. It was also sung by Gerd, who had a good voice and musical education. It can be assumed that Kusebai Gerd composed the melody to the verse of Vereshchagin.
The fate of the verse “Chagyr, chagyr dydyke...” turned out to be fortunate. Vereshchagin nominated it as a lullaby song heard from an Udmurt woman “laying her child down”. And it really turned into a folk song, acquired its own melody, becoming known in every Udmurt village. Thus, in the Udmurt folklore genre system the author’s work acquired the legal status as an autonomous folklore unit, practically supplanting lullaby improvisations.
The specifics and cultural significance of the modern Udmurt wedding ceremony
Tatiana Korobova
Department of Research in Philology
Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature
UdmFRC UB RAS, Izhevsk, Russia
oktan85@mail.ru
Keywords: Udmurts, wedding ceremony, traditions, ritual, transformations, current state, specificity, symbolism
This article aims to analyze the current state of Udmurt weddings. While remaining a vital tradition, their structure is undergoing changes. Customs and rituals that were originally intended to help participants adjust to new social roles are losing their symbolic significance. Many of these rituals are now seen as mere entertainment or have even disappeared altogether. At the same time, new customs and traditions are emerging, becoming an integral part of modern Udmurt weddings and forming a new type of celebration with its own unique characteristics. These new customs are becoming increasingly popular and are now considered traditional in modern society.
Some cultural meanings of Russian songs with movement in the Udmurt tradition of Varni village, Debessky district, Udmurt Republic
Svetlana Tolkachova
Senior Research Fellow
Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature
UdmFRC UB RAS, Izhevsk, Russia
svetlana-tolk@mail.ru
Keywords: Udmurt songs, Northern Udmurts, Russian round dance tradition, village of Varni
The aim of this article is to identify the specific features of the functioning of Russian round dance and dance songs in the traditional culture of the Northern Udmurts. Four songs in Russian, recorded from Udmurt performers by Tatiana Vladykina in the village of Varni, Debessky district of Udmurtia, in 1981 were chosen for the study: “My zaganem sem’ zagadok”, “Pri dolinke voda”, “…Tropitsa, kanapel’ kalotitsa”, “Chornyi voron vodu pil”. The correlation of these songs with Russian songs of the round dance tradition in the Kama-Vyatka interfluve allows classifying them as “songs with movement”.
The analysis of the musical and poetic stylistics of the songs and the cultural context of their performance reveals that in Udmurt folklore, Russian round dance and dance songs exist parallel to the well-established core of sacral clan chants specific to the Udmurts. At the same time, a trend of assimilating Russian “songs with movement” has emerged in the traditional musical culture of the Northern Udmurts, to the extent that some of them have acquired a sacral meaning.
These trends in the existence of round dance and dance songs in Russian in the Northern Udmurt dialect traditions are linked to a collective, unifying element, the festive atmosphere, and the perception of Russian round dance songs as a “borderline” genre. Yet another trend applies to the practice of performing round dance songs at a slow tempo. For the performance of these songs, singers demonstrate a more personal approach to the reproduced sonic fabric, expressing their individuality and uniqueness at the sound level. The singing of some slow Russian round dance songs by the Northern Udmurts turns out to be consonant with the performances of krezes in terms of musical-rhythmic parameters.
The third tendency, the incorporation of slow round dance songs with Russian lyrics into Udmurt rituals, is also connected with the inherent possibility of endowing the sound canvases of such songs with “special” timbral, acoustic, and metric-rhythmic qualities characteristic of indigenous Udmurt ritual songs and “harmonious” with the musical expression of Udmurt rituals.
Mikhail Kurochkin’s Contribution to Udmurt Folklore
Alevtina Kamitova
Senior Research Fellow
Department of Research in Philology Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature
UdmFRC UB RAS, Izhevsk, Russia
akamitova@mail.ru
Keywords: Udmurts, Udmurt folklore, kubyz, Udmurt songs
The work presents little-known and new facts from the life and work of the educator and teacher Mikhail Alekseevich Kurochkin. He made a valuable contribution to the preservation and popularization of the folklore heritage of the Udmurt people and the development of musical culture. Hardly accessible and interesting factual stories about his creative and life biography have been introduced into scientific circulation; these were identified during work with newspaper materials, documents from the archives of the Administration of Sarapul and the archives of the Mozhginsky Pedagogical College by Trofim Kuzmich Borisov. Some features of the song collection Kubyz (1925) with notes by Mikhail Kurochkin are described. The book was compiled by him on the basis of folkloric field materials collected together with students of the Mozhginsky Technical School. His pedagogical and cultural activities contributed to the development of children’s interest in their native culture, the formation of a musical direction in Udmurt science, and the education of new national personnel. The study of the life and creative biography, educational and folklore activities of Mikhail Kurochkin made it possible to determine his significant contribution to the cultural life of the Udmurt people at the beginning of the 20th century.
30 years of visits at the Udmurt people: What have I learnt?
Dedicated to Tatiana Vladykina
Eva Toulouze
Research Fellow
Institute of Eastern Languages and Cultures, Paris, France / Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, France
Department of Ethnology University of Tartu, Estonia
evatoulouze@gmail.com
Keywords: etiquette, reception of guests, world perception, status, the Udmurt
In my research, the Udmurt people occupy a central place. Today they are central also in my everyday life as I have paid visits to them already for 30 years because I felt that it was not enough to study only written sources and history. To understand people, their culture and mindset, you have to go to them, to see them in their everyday environment. In this article I would like to share what I have experienced when visiting them, and what I have learnt from them.
In memoriam
Igor Volke
9.01.1950 – 14.11.2024
Obituary from Mare Kõiva.
News in brief
Birthday greetings
Wolfgang Mieder (80), Jaak Jaaniste (80), Jurij Fikfak (70), Mare Kõiva (70), Virve Raag (70), Kristin Kuutma (65), Irina Nurijeva (65), Mare Kalda (60), Eve Annuk (60), Marin Laak (60), Art Leete (55), Aivar Jürgenson (55), Jonathan Roper (55), Madis Arukask (55), Reet Hiiemäe (50), Tõnno Jonuks (50), Renata Sõukand (50), Peeter Espak (45), Maili Pilt (45), Vladimir Sazonov (45), Sergey Troitskiy (45), Liisa Vesik (45), Nikolai Anisimov (35).
How to shape public opinion in crises?
Reet Hiiemäe gives a brief description of the project “CHRYSES: Mapping Environmental Health Crises – Public Understanding through Myths and Science”, starting in 2025.
Calendar
A brief summary of the events of Estonian folklorists from July to December 2024.
Book review
Udmurt folklore: Research and researchers (for the jubilee of Tatiana Vladykina)
“Mi um veras’ke – lul-sjulem vera…” / “Ne mõ govorim – duša govorit” [It is not us who talk – it is the soul…]. Izhevsk, 2023. 476 pp.
The book is introduced by Irina Nuriyeva.
System and Humanity
Eva Toulouze & Liivo Niglas. Collective rituals of the Eastern Udmurt: The example of Tatyshly district in Bashkortostan / Kollektivnõje ritualõ zakamskih udmurtov: na primere Tatõšlinskogo raiona Baškortostana. Tartu: ELM Scholarly Press / University of Tartu, 2024. 280 pp.
The book is introduced by Art Leete.
Tatiana Vladykina
Keywords: stars, stars in folklore, cosmogonic concepts, naming of stars, triad of heavenly bodies, the Udmurt people
Cosmogonic concepts of the Udmurt people can be detected through the names of stars, the nomination of which is usually based on mythological cognition. Additional and very significant information about space objects is contained in folklore texts. The images of stars are included in a stable triad of heavenly bodies along with the sun and the moon. Their constant feature is bright light, opposed to images of negative energy, forces of darkness – diseases or sorcerers. Therefore, images of stars are frequently used in conspiracy formulas, where they are presented as an insurmountable barrier to those who do evil.
The stars, along with the sun and the moon, become metaphors and comparisons in the song culture of the Udmurt people. They are used as analogies in the characterization of family and kinship ties, testifying to the relationships within the clan.
Stars/constellations as a symbol of unattainability and indivisibility are a kind of guarantor of the stability of the world.
The Cheptsa River in the Folk Culture of the Northern Udmurts
Nadezhda Shutova
Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Udmurt Federal Research Centre
Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Izhevsk, Russia
nad_shutova@mail.ru
Keywords: Northern Udmurts, Cheptsa River, traditional beliefs, rituals, masters of water, semantics
The Cheptsa River has played a significant economic and social role in the history and culture of the Northern Udmurts since the ancient times. There were hunting grounds, pastures and hayfields on the river’s floodplain. The river is a source of drinking and technical (industrial) water, as well as protein products. It serves as a means of a cultural, political and commercial communication. The river is an important mythological symbol, and also an element of sacred topography.
The purpose of the paper is to define the role and significance of the Cheptsa River in the traditional religious and mythological worldview of the Udmurts.
The research materials include the author’s field data from the late 20th – early 21st centuries, archaeological, folklore and ethnographic literature of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, and the late 20th – early 21st centuries.
For the first time, the role of the Cheptsa River in the formation of the ethno-territorial community of the Northern Udmurts is analysed. It is revealed that the river valley is understood and perceived as a common ethnic, family and tribal territory. It is shown that the Cheptsa River performs not only economic and cultural, but also metaphysical, irrational functions in the life of the Northern Udmurts. The semantics of the Cheptsa River is characterized as a symbol of the homeland, a road in real and mythological dimensions, a border between worlds, a means of getting rid of diseases, as a sacred value of local Udmurts. General cultural (stadial-typological) and original (specific) features in the veneration of the river are revealed. Peculiarities of the Northern Udmurts’ worldview are the ideas about the creatures of the aqutic world, the presence of a whole system of rituals and special places associated with the cult of the owners of the water element. It is argued that the anthropomorphic image of the water sphere masters occupied a more significant position in the Udmurt beliefs. Archaic female personifications of these river spirits and other images of water creatures have faded into the background. The author concludes that the Cheptsa River was an important economic, landscape, cultural and mythological object for the Northern Udmurts of the late 19th – early 20th centuries.