The feast day of Saint Elias in the calendar myths of the peoples of the Urals and Western Siberia
English
journal number:
Journal’s Subject Headings:
History, ethnography, archeology
About author:
Center for the study of religions, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russian Federation, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Introduction: periods of weather change always were reflected in the calendar vocabulary, rituals and myth. One of the most significant dates of the summer calendar cycle in the Urals and Western Siberia is the feast day of Saint Elias (2.08). It is the period of intense thunderstorms and a turning to winter weather. Humidity, cold snap and drastic reduction in the length of the day are reflected in the state of flora (the beginning of leaf fall in the North of the region) and the behavior of fauna, which is reflected in the calendar vocabulary. The proposed interpretation of semantics of cult images on bronze of the Iron Ages of the Urals and Western Siberia is correlated with the seasonal features of the Sun behavior.
Objective: the analysis of aspects of the semantics of the feast day of Saint Elias in the calendar myths of the Urals and Western Siberia peoples.
Research materials: the set of components of the calendar myth, namely, the calendar vocabulary in the traditional calendars of the peoples of the Urals and Western Siberia, phenological features of the mid-summer season, calendar symbolism (animal-, phyto- and ornithomorphic), as well as the seasonal rites and rituals dedicated to the feast day of saint Elias.
Results and novelty of the research: lies in the study of the semantics of some plots of the Ural-Siberian bronze casting of archaeological cultures of the Iron Ages of the Cis-Urals, the Urals and Western Siberia (Kulai, Relkin, Nevolinsk, Lomovatovo, etc.).
Key words: the Urals, Western Siberia, the Iron Ages, the feast day of saint Elias, calendar myth, winter and summer «roads» of the Sun.
Acknowledgements: the author is grateful to the reviewers for critical comments and useful advice aimed at improving the quality of the work.
For citation: Vrtanesyan G. S. The feast day of Saint Elias in the calendar myths of the peoples of the Urals and Western Siberia // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2019; 9 (3): 533–544.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: periods of weather change always were reflected in the calendar vocabulary, rituals and myth. One of the most significant dates of the summer calendar cycle in the Urals and Western Siberia is the feast day of Saint Elias (2.08). It is the period of intense thunderstorms and a turning to winter weather. Humidity, cold snap and drastic reduction in the length of the day are reflected in the state of flora (the beginning of leaf fall in the North of the region) and the behavior of fauna, which is reflected in the calendar vocabulary. The proposed interpretation of semantics of cult images on bronze of the Iron Ages of the Urals and Western Siberia is correlated with the seasonal features of the Sun behavior.
Objective: the analysis of aspects of the semantics of the feast day of Saint Elias in the calendar myths of the Urals and Western Siberia peoples.
Research materials: the set of components of the calendar myth, namely, the calendar vocabulary in the traditional calendars of the peoples of the Urals and Western Siberia, phenological features of the mid-summer season, calendar symbolism (animal-, phyto- and ornithomorphic), as well as the seasonal rites and rituals dedicated to the feast day of saint Elias.
Results and novelty of the research: lies in the study of the semantics of some plots of the Ural-Siberian bronze casting of archaeological cultures of the Iron Ages of the Cis-Urals, the Urals and Western Siberia (Kulai, Relkin, Nevolinsk, Lomovatovo, etc.).
Key words: the Urals, Western Siberia, the Iron Ages, the feast day of saint Elias, calendar myth, winter and summer «roads» of the Sun.
Acknowledgements: the author is grateful to the reviewers for critical comments and useful advice aimed at improving the quality of the work.
For citation: Vrtanesyan G. S. The feast day of Saint Elias in the calendar myths of the peoples of the Urals and Western Siberia // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2019; 9 (3): 533–544.
