Этнокультурные контакты предков хантов и манси по материалам игровой культуры

Abstract

Introduction: game culture of the Khanty end Mansi peoples has been developed over a long period of time, and it reveals different game plots, analogies of which we can find only in the Far East, Amur region, North-East of Russia and in North America. This allows us to determine the directions of the oldest contacts of migrations and cultural borrowings. Objective: to reveal common game plots in the culture of the Ob Ugrians and the peoples of the Far East and the North- East of Russia with following determination of the time and place of their emergence. Research materials: game plots published in works on the game culture of the Ob Ugrians, the peoples of the Far East, the Amur region, the North-East of Russia, and the Indians of North America. Results and novelty of the research: two games «The Snow Snake» and «Get Into the Ring With A Spear» were revealed, which linked the game cultures of Western Siberia, the Far East, the Amur region and North America, as well as at least three original stories: games with a large number of stones, various types of jumping, and jumping over sledges (narty) of the Khanty and Mansi peoples, which found analogies with the games of the peoples of the Far East and the North-East of Russia. The same type of rules, similar game equipment, and the male character of the games are observed. The author comes to the conclusion that the considered games originate from the oldest male rituals that came to America with Paleolithic migrants and have been preserved in the format of games. The games of the Eskimos, Chukchi, Koryaks and peoples of the Amur region, as well as the Ob Ugrians, indicate the existence of a common cultural space at a later time, but not earlier than the Paleolithic. Subsequently, the unity was destroyed: tribes and cultures migrated to the North-West (the ancestors of the Khanty and Mansi), to the North-East (the ancestors of the Chukchi, Koryaks, Evenks, etc.), and to the East (the ancestors of the peoples of the Amur region and the Far East). The novelty of the work lies in the fact that the game culture of the mentioned ethnic groups in a comparative aspect has not previously been the subject of scientific research.