V.N. Chernetsov and "The dances of Spirits [Gods]" in the Vezhakarakh: a Look through a Century"

V.N. Chernetsov (1905-1970) paid the main attention to studying of culture of the Mansi (Voguls). A specific place in his researches is held by an ethnographic phenomenon of Ob Ugrians that is the Bear holiday. He was the first who noticed and marked out its feature that is the division on sporadic and periodical. The research subject is the periodical Bear holiday of Ob Ugrians in the Vezhakary village. In Val-ery Nikolaevich's opinion, Vezhakary was a "congresses" place of phratry of Por members; and a holiday form is a cycle of the special ceremonial actions. He named those gatherings according to the ethnical terminology: Mansi's Yanygjikv are "big [main] dances" and Mansi term "Pupygjikv", Khanty terms "Lungkhyak", "Emyngyak", "Tongkhyak" mean the dances of spirits [gods]. Chernetsov had made two expeditions in Vezhakary for more detailed studying of periodic ceremonies. Valery Nikolaevich noted that a bear role is not the main in periodic ceremonies, though in key features the ceremonies reminded sporadic Bear holiday, but at the same time had larger scale. More than ninety years had passed after the first Chernetsov acquaintance with the Bear holiday. This determines the work aim, which is to compare by the example of Vezhakary periodic ceremonies of the century ago with nowadays mansi once and to introduce new information for scientific use. Now the periodic ceremonies of bear worshipping and spirits dances are lost, as outdated. They were necessary at the certain stage of northern mansi and khanty formation, as a consolidating mechanism for constructing of social groups of ancient Ob Ugrians. Nevertheless, new cultural forms, those preserve "congress" system remains can be found in the near past and nowadays customs and ceremonies. The difference is in transformation of that system from its initial appearance (the gatherings of phratry of Por members) into existing mansi and khanty ethnical cultures. Some remains also occur in the sporadic Bear holiday, no longer belonging to the periodic ceremonies. Research is focused on studying of traditional culture of mansi, and also on an origin and transformation of some its components.

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