There are many sources of Mongolian music in Mongolian and Chinese oral and written sources, including the Tsuur. ” Echoes cannot be imagined without the organ of speech, and this is the main feature of their color imitation. This is because the evidence that a person used to imitate the sound of music before making music and then used his or her speech organs as music can be clearly seen in Mongolian throat singing and whistling. The percussion music retains elements of both the harmonica and the whistle in the structure of the melody, and the percussion method is based on the whistle. Even today, it is interesting to see when and where the percussion was played and in what order. It is not used for small weddings, love affairs, or music, but is usually used only for large ovoo rituals and large-scale festivals. We are proud that this tradition has been preserved in an almost ancient form and passed down to us. It also needs to be preserved and developed, and the source material is still open.

The translation has been done from the edition: Schorkowitz D. (2020). Mobility and immobility in the Mongol empire. Mongolovedenie . Vol. 12. 3. 430-445. The translator’s punctuation is retained in the text.

The image of the snake is one of the most common characters in the mythology of the peoples of the world. This image is also quite widely represented in the oral folk art of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples, has a variety of interpretations in its various genres. In this article, the author refers to the image of the snake as a tabooed sacred character in the folklore of the Altaians. In the popular consciousness, the snake was a sacred, especially revered creature. Altaians have a number of folk customs and beliefs associated with this reptile. As a result of the conducted research, the functions of the snake in the signs were determined, the interconnectedness and interchangeability of the functions of this sacred reptile were revealed. Of particular interest is the recoding of the snake image in different semiotic systems.

This research paper is dedicated to the famous Xinjiang jangarchi Javyn Juunai (1926–2017). He made a great contribution to the development of the art of epictelling. The author discusses the authenticity of the repertoire of the outstanding epicteller. Juunai’s father Zhav, like his grandfather Erhetei, was also jangarchi. Many researchers believe that Javyn Juunai, thanks to his education, may have composed the chapters of the epic «Jangar» himself. The author of the article refutes this opinion of the researchers and believes that Zhunai inherited the epic fund from his father and grandfather, who served as the “court” jangarchis of the Torgout Prince of Khobugsar. On the recommendation of Shalvan Geghyan Javyn Juunai was apprenticed to the famous keeper of the khan’s seal Olzat, where he received an education, knowledge about Oirat oral folk art.

The relevance of the study of archaeological sites of residence – a Bronze Age settlement in the Volga-Manych steppes – lies in the fact that in Russian science the place of residence has not been studied and studies on them have been published in small quantities, in contrast to funerary monuments-barrows. The main reason for this “inattention” on the part of scientists lies in the small size of these settlements, which is why they are usually referred to as “seasonal camps of mobile cattle breeders” rather than permanent dwellings. Nevertheless, a targeted search for settlements of the Bronze and Early Iron Age on the territory of our country was conducted and is being carried out by many archaeologists, including the author of this study. During excavations in the Volga-Manych steppes, hundreds of places of residence or sites were discovered. One of them is a settlement found in 1976 by E.V. Schneidstein on the territory of the Republic of Kalmykia, on the shore of Lake Zakhanata. Additional studies of the archaeological site, conducted by us in 2002, showed that there are two settlements of the carcass culture. In this article, we continued a detailed study of this unique cultural monument located in the Kalmyk steppe. The materials of the study allowed us to identify the general and special features of settlements in the Bronze Age in the Volga region as part of the steppes from the Carpathians to the Urals, to determine the type of farms of the tribes inhabiting this area, contributed to the formation of a more or less clear idea of the cultural and historical processes taking place on the territory in the historical period.

In Mongolian oral and written literature, you will not find a writer who has not written or spoken about his mother and father. In both ancient and modern Mongolian literature, parental roles and attributes have come to be seen in many forms and colors. Parents are the ones who wear them for the happiness and well-being of their children. When the word «father» is used in Mongolian language, the first words that come to mind with it are «mother», then «homeland», «son», «mountain», «god», etc., all of which highlight the meaning and essence of human life. Modern Mongolian literature contains thousands of works about the father. Analyzing about 60 works of more than 100 writers and poets on this topic, we can see many differences in the image of the father, age, mood, character, compassion, merit for his children, sincerity, etc. When expressing the role of a father in contemporary Mongolian literature, it has been embossed with the following six general characteristics: 1) the child’s inner desire to repay and respond to his or her father’s beneficence; 2) the sacred image of father and a precious memory left or kept in a moment; 3) cordial confession by children for their parents from a far place; 4) the expression of grief over the loss of a loving father; 5) the joy of rejoicing in the love and filial piety by father; 6) the expression of protecting or taking sides of father from any evil force.

The article is devoted to understanding the role and place of folk costume in the system of traditional art of the Kalmyk people. The relevance of this study is due, first of all, to the need to analyze the functional nature of women’s national costume, the decorative value of folk clothing. The Kalmyk costume, being an extremely multifaceted phenomenon, is distinguished by its shape, cut, quantity of details, color, embroidery, ornamentation, etc. The costume is considered as a marker of the class and gender status of a person, its social and aesthetic functions are revealed. Of particular interest is the inseparable version of the complete everyday-festive women’s vestments, namely, the two-piece basis of clothing, designated by the authors as a pair of “terlg-tsegdg”. Analogs of the Kalmyk sleeveless jacket tsegdg, the upper dress for women, are such types of dress among the Buryats as the khubaysi and uuzh (the latter is also available among the Mongols), chegedeks — among the Altai, and segedeks — among the Khakass. The authors suggest that some difference in the name of a single type of clothing is based on the well-known custom of tabooing the name among the listed peoples, associated with the prohibition of pronouncing the name of the ancestor totem. It is concluded that the inseparability of clothing is explained by the image of the progenitor bird in Kalmyk folklore.

Article reviews the Kalmyk oral stories about Buddhist deities and Kalmyk monks. Studying of the features of folk texts (epic “Jangar” and religious songs) shows that the Kalmyk folklore is unusually rich in its content. Considered religious oral stories reveal the spiritual culture and Buddhist worldview of the Kalmyks.

The article analyzes the views of the famous Kazakh historian Zh.O. Artykbaev on the problems of preserving and studying the historical and cultural heritage of the Kalmyks. In the works of the scientist, special attention is paid to archaeological monuments, Buddhist monasteries, memorial sites, cultural and natural landscapes associated with the ethnic history of the Kalmyks and Oirats, military events, and the life of prominent historical figures. The task is to develop systematically an integral concept for the preservation, actualization and scientific study of historical and cultural heritage as a new interdisciplinary field of knowledge at the intercountry, all-Russian, regional and local levels, taking into account the accumulated domestic and foreign experience, the optimal model of informatization of heritage, the use of environmental monitoring tools to modern the state of objects of historical and cultural heritage and unique territories. The national historical and cultural heritage of the Kalmyk people is the code of its self-identification. The essence of national self-identification is seen in the unity of inheritance and actualization of cultural knowledge and values accumulated by past generations. Today, more than ever, it is important to understand and realize the need to preserve knowledge about their cultural and historical past. The historical and cultural heritage of the nomadic civilizations of Central Asia, which includes a vast complex of old-written monuments, places of worship, archaeological artifacts and other various items of material culture, has a huge information potential and allows you to get to know the spiritual culture of nomads more deeply.

The relevance of the study is dictated by the increased interest in regional history and the role of bureaucracy in the process of integrating national suburbs into the general imperial space. The purpose of this article is to study the process of construction of stationary buildings for Government officials who represented the imperial power on the territory of nomadic foreigners of the Stavropol province in the second half of the XIX century. On the basis of the analysis of documentary materials from the funds of the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia and the State Archive of the Stavropol Territory, by using methods of statistical analysis and historical reconstruction, the legislative regulation of the conditions of stay of bailiffs and trustees in the territory entrusted to them, as well as the process of construction of stationary buildings for Government officials who represented the imperial power in the territory of nomadic foreigners of the Stavropol province and their significance in the life of the nomadic population of the second half of the XIX century are considered. The author pays special attention to the aspect of financing the construction of stationary buildings, as a result, comes to the conclusion that large sums were spent on the construction of these public buildings, from the funds of public capital, which placed a heavy burden on the foreign population. Using their official position, the officials of the foreign departments deliberately inflated the amounts for construction work and the maintenance of the rates, while these funds, according to imperial law, were primarily intended to be directed to improving the quality of life of nomads and introducing them to a sedentary lifestyle. Despite some negative aspects, the rates represented the concentration of socio-economic and cultural life of the steppe, where settled settlements appeared, not only immigrants, but also representatives of the autochthonous population.