ПРЕДКИ: МИФОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ПЕРСОНАЖИ И ИХ НАЗВАНИЯ В УСТНОЙ ТРАДИЦИИ КОМИ-ПЕРМЯКОВ

Abstract

Ancestors as a special type of mythological figures take an important place in the Komi-Permyaks traditional beliefs. Publications as well as archival and field data of the late 20th – early 21st century contain various names for this category of the deceased; Komi-Permyaks use these names in mythological narratives in their native and Russian languages. Lexemes borrowed from the Russian language (roditelles, pokoynikkes) become the names of ancestral and collective ancestors. The nominations of the deceased requiring memorial ceremonies can be formed from microtoponyms, which designate the places of the alleged self-burial of the first settlers / ancient people. These names include the component vazh ‘old’ (vazh otir, vazhzhes, vaz-vazhzhes. In some cases, the first inhabitants of the region – Chud (Chuddez, Chudskey narod) may act as the collective ancestors. The difficulty of lexicographic description of such names is caused by the fact that they are generally used (mythologically neutral) words and phrase, for the most part; their mythological semantics is secondary and is actualized in special contexts only. The nominations of the dead in Komi-Permyak mythological narratives about ancestors acquire new meanings: ‘people who needs a memorial ceremony to get rid of punishment (myzha)’, ‘people who can punish (myzhyyny) and need a memorial ceremony’ and others. The analysis of the nominations and speech contexts clarifies the metacategory of ancestors in relation to the Komi-Permyaks tradition. In a narrow sense, it includes deceased relatives, in a broad sense – other deceased (including those who are separated by chronological distance or ethnically “alien”). All of them are united by belonging to the same territory and / or the presence of a burial place, which becomes the preferred locus of ritual communication on the part of living people. Interaction with ancestors takes place with the help of a memorial rite and is carried out for a preventive purpose or to get rid of the punishment they have sent.