КАТЕГОРИЯ «СВОЕ – ЧУЖОЕ» В ШВЕДСКОМ ФОЛЬКЛОРЕ О СААМСКИХ НОЙДАХ

Abstract

The article is devoted to the search and analysis of the category «our – alien» in Swedish folklore about Sami noaidis a specific category of people with supernatural powers. We have selected Swedish folklore texts, recorded in the second half of the twentieth century, which had never before been translated into Russian. The idiographic, cultural-historical and thematic generalization method are used. It turns out that noaidis were partly «aliens» to the members of their tribe: the Saami believed that noaidis possessed two souls, one of which could be sent to the world of spirits. We establish that the noaidis, as the informal leaders of their tribe, seemed to the Swedes, claiming to have Sami territories, the greatest threat. The Swedes could not classify the Sami sorcerers as «their own» because of their rejection of their claim to possessing abilities that were contrary to the Christian worldview, but easily overcame their prejudice when they were forced to turn to the medicaster skills of the noaidis. Despite the high level of tension, the noaidis allowed the Swedes to be present during their autochthonous sacred rites and rather willingly made contact with people oriented assimilative politics towards them.