Культ медведя в народных традициях заболотных татар Гульсифа Такиюлловна Бакиева

Abstract

The article discusses the beliefs and practices of the Siberian Tatar people related to the worship of the bear. It presents a rich collection of ethnographic materials from remote villages in the Tobolsk region, including fairy tales, legends, epic poems, and oral histories about bear hunting and traditional medicine. Through the analysis of this material, the article reveals a complex range of beliefs about the bear as a revered animal. In the worldview of the Siberian Tatars of various ethnoterritorial groups in the past, there was a veneration of the bear as a totem. This is reflected in the ideas about the origin of individual generic units from the bear – ayu tugum. According to beliefs, people belonging to the genus of the bear did not eat bear meat. The reflection of the idea of the bear as a totemic ancestor that can influence the human world was expressed in the fact that various parts of the bear’s body served to scare away evil spirits and heal. The swampy Tatars have a plot about the cohabitation of a bear with a woman, which is available to other peoples and represents a special form of manifestation of a totemic cult. Representatives of other tugums could conclude a contract with the bear so that the beast would not touch their kind. Based on the external similarity, the Siberian Tatars believed that the bear originated from a human breed. Hunters specializing in bear hunting enjoyed special treatment from society. According to tradition, after their death, a pillar was placed inside the grave fence. According to the ideas of the swampy Tatars, it served as a protective sign that protected the grave from destruction by a bear. In general, it can be said that in the worship of the bear among the swampy Tatars, remnants of many archaic elements of early forms of religion have been preserved.