Женские образы нижнего мира в традиционных мифологических представлениях удмуртов

Abstract

The article is carried out within the framework of an anthropological and ethnographic study of the traditional Udmurt mythology. The article describes two categories of female mythological characters localized in the underground-underwater, forest world — the patron goddesses of the natural elements (Vumumy'and Muzemmumy) and forest spirits (kukri-baba, obyda, egypecha, telkusyos wife, kalmyk-kyshno, munchomurt-woman, vumurt-kyshno). The basis for the publication was field materials collected in 1997-2020 among the rural and urban Udmurts, as well as folklore texts and research works of XIX-XX centuries. Ideas about the appearance of female characters of the underworld in the Udmurt traditional worldview have been preserved in different ways. The appearance of the mumy is almost impossible to trace, which is due to the cultural archaic nature of the images. The degree of expression of these images in the modern verbal tradition is also quite low. Being the embodiment of the natural elements, they are maximally sacralized and move away from human everyday life. Forest spirits-kyshno, on the contrary, quickly adapt to modern social realities. They are more connected to the most important social function of initiation, which leaves them more intimate.