Relationships in the folklore-epic heritage between the Tatars and Mordovian Karatais:

the case of folklore vocabulary

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the cultural phenomenon of the Mordovian Karatays against the background of their relationship with the folklore-epic heritage of the Tatars. The authors consider the rich and varied folk-epic heritage of the two ethnic groups inhabiting the modern territories of the Volga region. Tatar-speaking Mordovian Karatais and their culture are of great interest not only for linguists, but also attract close attention from historians and folklorists. Interest in the study of the relationship between Tatars and Mordovian Karatais in lyric-epic folklore is due to the fact that the echoes of the Turkic and Finno-Ugric traditions are preserved in the folk art of Karatais, forming a mixture in the folklore-epic heritage. An in-depth study of the problem of cultural mutual influence of Tatars and Mordovian Karatais is undoubtedly a step towards uncovering unknown pages in the spiritual life of these two peoples, which determines the relevance of this study.

The aim of the study is to identify interethnic ties in the folklore-epic creativity of the Tatars and Mordovian Karatais. Proceeding from the goal, within the framework of this study, the authors studied some components of ritual and folklore complexes present in the traditional culture of the Mordovian Karatais; parallels were drawn with Turkic, in particular Tatar folklore, especially with epic traditions. The study used the lexical fund associated with folklore and rituals of the Mordovian Karatais.

The subject of the study of the authors is the lyric-epic texts of the ritual folklore and epic legends that exist among the Tatars and Mordovian Karatais. The existence of the plots of the Turkic, in particular the Tatar, epic in the folklore of the Karatais is a rather rare phenomenon. However, the motifs, images, details of the Turkic-speaking dastans encountered in their folklore vocabulary attract the attention of researchers, which, in turn, creates favorable conditions for a more in-depth study of the issue in this aspect. The common Turkic epic layer found in the vocabulary of lyric-epic texts and oral folk art of the Mordovian Karatais ritual folklore served as the basis for the authors to pose the problem of interrelation and mutual influence in the folklore-epic heritage of the Tatars and Mordovian Karatais, which is the novelty of this study. The authors explain the presence of borrowings from the ancient epic Turkic-speaking vocabulary in the folklore of the Mordovians Karatais as the result of a long-term powerful cultural and historical influence.

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