THE TRAVEL MOTIF OF A NIMNGAKAN HERO AS A REFLECTION OF THE TUNGUS EARLY HISTORY PROCESSES

Abstract

The aim of the study was to identify the historical properties of oral folk art on the example of the typology of the plot-motif composition of the Evenki epic. The actual problem of folk historicism is considered from the position of an interdisciplinary approach, which draws on materials from related scholarly disciplines. To achieve the goal of the research, the methodological foundations of folklore historicism were used based on the material of the epic of Eastern Evenks. The problems of the early history of the Tungus-Manchu peoples were investigated on the basis of the analysis of the popular travel motif of the Evenki epic hero with the use of materials of oral folk art and ideological traditions of the ethnic groups of the Far Eastern region. The motif of the Nimngakan hero’s travel is the most widespread in the epic traditions of Eastern Evenks. The motif constitutes the compositional and substantive basis of the text – the main content of Eastern Evenks’ legends describes the travels and deeds of the Evenki hero in distant lands located to the east of the place of his birth. In his travel to the land of the rising sun, the hero fights against the hostile bogatyrs of the Under World, forms mutual and kinship ties with the natives of the eastern lands. The characteristics and ethnographic details of the cultural traditions of friendly tribes differ significantly. In addition to the carriers of cattle-breeding and reindeer-breeding traditions, the hero of the Evenki epic contacts with two main ethno-tribal groups: carriers of the fishing culture and sea hunting, as well as “ancient pig breeders”. As a result of the research, it is suggested that the motif of the Evenki epic hero’s travel is a reflection of the historical processes that accompanied the development of the ethnographic complex of Evenks and related peoples of the Tungus-Manchu group in the Amur region, Manchuria and on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. The Tungus formed strong historical ties with the groups, which should include the ancestors of the Nivkhs and the ethno-tribal formations of the Amur region, united by the ethnonyms Sushen’ and Mohe. This research is of interest to specialists in folklore, history and ethnography, whose scholarly interests include the traditions of folklore and the history of the Tungus-Manchu peoples.

References

1. Historical folklore of the Evenki. Legends and traditions. Compiler G. M. Vasilevich. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1966, 400 p. (In Evenki and Russ.)
2. Folklore of the Evenki of Yakutia. Compilers A. V. Romanova, A. N. Myreeva. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1971, 330 p. (In Evenki and Russ.)
3. Varlamova G. I. Epic and ritual genres of Evenki folklore. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 2002, 376 p. (In Russ.)
4. Varlamov A. N. Historical roots of the travel motif of a lonely hero: based on the materials of the Evenki epic. Izvestia: Herzen University Journal of Humanities & Sciences. 2009, no. 110, pp. 142–149. (In Russ.)
5. Varlamov A. N. Folklore plot and history: on the issue of contacts of the Tungus in the east. Philology. Theory & Practice. 2012, no. 1, pp. 33–36. (In Russ.)
6. Doolin buga Torgandunin = Torgandun of the middle world. Compiler A. N. Myreeva. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 2013, 856 p. (Monuments of ethnic culture of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East; Vol. 31). (In Evenki and Russ.)
7. Okladnikov A. P., Derevianko A. P. The distant past of Primorye and Priamurye. Vladivostok, Far Eastern Book Publ. House, 1973, 440 p. (In Russ.)
8. Bereznitsky S. V., Gaier E. A., Karabanova S. F. and others. History and culture of the Nanais (historical and ethnographic essays). Saint Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2003, 194 p. (In Russ.)
9. Derevianko A. P. Priamurye (1st millennium BC). Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1976, 383 p. (In Russ.)
10. Movsesyan A. A. Phenetic analysis in paleoanthropology in connection with the problems of race and ethnogenesis. Abstract of the dissertation of Doctor of Biological Sciences. Moscow, 2005, 50 p. (In Russ.)
11. Pevnov A. M. Linguistic ways of solving the Tungus-Manchu problem. Voprosy Jazykoznanija. 2008, no. 5, pp. 63–83. (In Russ.)
12. Okladnikov A. P. Neolithic and the Bronze Age of the Baikal region: in 3 volumes, vol. 3. Moscow, Leningrad, USSR Academy of Sciences Publ., 1955, 373 p. (In Russ.)
13. History of Siberia from ancient times to the present day: in 5 volumes, vol. 1. Editor by A. P. Okladnikov. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1968, 456 p. (In Russ.)
14. Bichurin N. Ya. Collection of information about the peoples who lived in Central Asia in ancient times: in 3 volumes, vol. 2. Saint Petersburg, Printing House of the military training institutions, 1851, IV, 179 p. (In Russ.)
15. Debets G. F. Anthropological research in the Kamchatka region. In: Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Vol. 17. Moscow, USSR Academy of Sciences Publ., 1951, 263 p. (In Russ.)
16. Levin M. G. Ethnic anthropology and problems of ethnogenesis of the peoples of the Far East. Moscow, USSR Academy of Sciences Publ., 1958, 359 p. (In Russ.)
17. Kreinovich E. A. Gilyak-Tungus-Manchu parallels. Doklady i soobshhenija Instituta jazykoznanija AN SSSR. 1955, no. 8, pp. 135–167. (In Russ.)
18. Taxami Ch. M. Some common features of summer vehicles among the peoples of the Lower Amur and Sakhalin. In: Material culture of the peoples of Siberia and the North. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1976, pp. 123–138. (In Russ.)
19. Taxami Ch. M. The main problems of ethnography and history of the Nivkhs. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1975, 238 p. (In Russ.)
20. Legends of the Eastern Evenki. Compilers G. I. Varlamova, A. N. Varlamov. Yakutsk, Yakut filial SB AS USSR Publ., 2004, 234 p. (In Evenki and Russ.)
21. Avrorin V. A., Lebedeva E. P. Oroch texts and Dictionary. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1978, 264 p. (In Russ.)
22. Startsev A. F. Ethnic views of the Tungus-Manchus about nature and society. Vladivostok, Dalnauka Publ., 2017, 232 p. (In Russ.)
23. Keptuke G. I. Two-legged and cross-eyed, black-headed Evenki man and his land Dulin Buga. Yakutsk, Yakut Book Publ. House, 1991, 52 p. (In Evenki and Russ.)
24. Derevianko A. P. Historiography of the Stone Age of the Amur Region. In: Materials on the archeology of Siberia and the Far East. Vol. 1. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1972, pp. 38–66. (In Russ.)
25. Smolyak A. V. Shaman: personality, functions, worldview: (Peoples of the Lower Amur). Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1991, 280 p. (In Russ.)
26. Nanai folklore: Ningman, siohor, telungu. Compiler N. B. Kile. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1996, 478 p. (Monuments of folklore of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East; vol. 11). (In Nanai and Russ.)
27. Evenki heroic tales. Compiler A. N. Myreeva. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1990, 392 p. (Monuments of ethnic culture of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East; vol. 1). (In Evenki and Russ.)
28. The names of the characters of the Evenk epic. Index dictionary. Compilers G. I. Varlamova, A. N. Varlamov, N. E. Zakharova, M. P. Yakovleva. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 2019, 360 p. (Monuments of ethnic culture of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East; vol. 37). (In Evenki and Russ.)