The Cheptsa River in the rituals and beliefs of the Northern Udmurts
English
journal number:
Journal’s Subject Headings:
History, ethnography, archeology
About author:
Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature, of the Udmurt Federal Research Centre, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Izhevsk, Russian Federation, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the Cheptsa River has a significant economic and social role in the history and culture of the Northern Udmurts since the ancient times. However, special studies on meaning of the Cheptsa River in the life of the Udmurts have not yet been conducted. An exception is the author’s work on the role of the Cheptsa Region in the formation of the Northern Udmurt population. Indirect data about the river are contained in the works on the archaeological sites of the Cheptsa River basin, the Cheptsa heroes’ legends, as way as the calendar and family ceremonies held near the river.
Objective: to define the role and significance of the Cheptsa River in the traditional religious and mythological worldview of the Northern Udmurts.
Research materials: author’s field materials of the late XX - early XXI centuries, archeological, folklore and ethnographic literature of the late XIX - early XX centuries.
Results and novelty of the research: for the first time, the role and significance of the Cheptsa River in the traditional religious and mythological worldview of the Northern Udmurts is analyzed. It is revealed that the Cheptsa River’s valley is understood (perceived) as a common (general) ethnic, family and tribal territory. It is traced that the Cheptsa River performs not only real economic, 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 the local Udmurts. General cultural (stadial and typological) and original (specific) features in the veneration of the river are revealed. Peculiarities of the Northern Udmurts worldview are the developed ideas about the creatures of the water world, the presence of a whole system of rituals and special places associated with cult of the owners of the water element. It is determined that the anthropomorphic image of the water sphere master occupied a more significant position in the Udmurt beliefs, archaic female personifications of these rivers spirits and other images of water creatures faded into the background. The author comes to the conclusion that the Cheptsa River is an important economic, landscape, cultural and mythological object for the Northern Udmurts.
Key words: Northern Udmurts, Cheptsa River, traditional beliefs, rituals, masters of water, semantics For citation: Shutova N. I. The Cheptsa River in the rituals and beliefs of the Northern Udmurts // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2023; 13 (1/52): 179-187.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the Cheptsa River has a significant economic and social role in the history and culture of the Northern Udmurts since the ancient times. However, special studies on meaning of the Cheptsa River in the life of the Udmurts have not yet been conducted. An exception is the author’s work on the role of the Cheptsa Region in the formation of the Northern Udmurt population. Indirect data about the river are contained in the works on the archaeological sites of the Cheptsa River basin, the Cheptsa heroes’ legends, as way as the calendar and family ceremonies held near the river.
Objective: to define the role and significance of the Cheptsa River in the traditional religious and mythological worldview of the Northern Udmurts.
Research materials: author’s field materials of the late XX - early XXI centuries, archeological, folklore and ethnographic literature of the late XIX - early XX centuries.
Results and novelty of the research: for the first time, the role and significance of the Cheptsa River in the traditional religious and mythological worldview of the Northern Udmurts is analyzed. It is revealed that the Cheptsa River’s valley is understood (perceived) as a common (general) ethnic, family and tribal territory. It is traced that the Cheptsa River performs not only real economic, 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 the local Udmurts. General cultural (stadial and typological) and original (specific) features in the veneration of the river are revealed. Peculiarities of the Northern Udmurts worldview are the developed ideas about the creatures of the water world, the presence of a whole system of rituals and special places associated with cult of the owners of the water element. It is determined that the anthropomorphic image of the water sphere master occupied a more significant position in the Udmurt beliefs, archaic female personifications of these rivers spirits and other images of water creatures faded into the background. The author comes to the conclusion that the Cheptsa River is an important economic, landscape, cultural and mythological object for the Northern Udmurts.
Key words: Northern Udmurts, Cheptsa River, traditional beliefs, rituals, masters of water, semantics For citation: Shutova N. I. The Cheptsa River in the rituals and beliefs of the Northern Udmurts // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2023; 13 (1/52): 179-187.
