Center for the study of Religions, Russian State University for the humanities, Moscow, Russian Federation veges2011@yandex.ru
ABSTRACT
Introduction: in the Ob-Ugric narrative, an important place is occupied by the image of the youngest son (hero) of the spirit of heaven with many functions and names. In addition to the image of the Heavenly equestrian-bird, he is known in the guise of a bear, with notable role inversions such as “son / daughter of the spirit of heaven”, “victim – executioner”, “cannibal – hero”, etc. In the frameworks of the dominance of calendar realities in these images, it is appropriate to analyze them in the context of the features of the “algebra of kinship”, calendar and numerical aspects in texts and iconography of
the plastic cultures of the Urals and Western Siberia of the Early Iron Age.
Objective: to reveal the “algebra of kinship” of folklore heroes, calendar and numerical aspects of the myth about the Heavenly equestrian-bird, plots of mobile art, sacred attributes of the Urals and Western Siberia of the Early Iron Age.
Research materials: Ob-Ugric texts, encyclopedic publications and linguistic dictionaries, items of mobile art of the Iron Age in the region.
Results and novelty of the research: scientific novelty of the work consists in the study of the “algebra of kinship” and “bear” features in the image of a “hero”. Numerical codes used to describe the “algebra of kinship” and calendar motifs of the image are revealed. This is a numerical complex (NC) 1+2/2+1, used in marking a wide range of images, from “an ogre” to “a blond boy”. The dominance of NC “7-6” in the lyrics of Bear songs is shown (Mansi people). The analysis of the peculiarities and semantics of the “equestrian-bird” images on the bronze plastic of the Early Iron Age in the region is made. It is shown that the main feature of the image of the hero of the “middle” (= “the last hero”) in the Ob-Ugric tradition is the role of a mediator between the poles of light and darkness.
Key words: Heavenly equestrian-bird, calendar symbolism, calendar and numerical aspects, the hero of the “middle”
For citation: Vrtanesyan G. S. The hero of the “middle” – the equestrian-bird: notes to the origin, semantics and iconography of the image // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2025; 15 (2/61): 350–365.