Evil Forces in Traditional Beliefs and Folklore of the Forest Yukagirs

The article deals with the formation of images of evil forces in the traditional culture of forest Yukagirs (selfname "Odul") for a long time. Oduls live in the North-East of Russia, in Verkhnekolymskiy ulus (district) of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The chronological range of the study covers from the ancient period to historical modernity (late of XX century). They are attracted by data of archeology and ethnography, language, folklore, arts and crafts of Oduls. The work is written on the published materials and field data of the author, collected from the forest Yukagirs in the period 1996-2007. Classification of evil forces by category made V.I. Jochelson in early of XX century. It was the basis for comparison with the data obtained by us. The material of religious views and folklore reveals the semantics of evil images; causal patterns of their transformation in time. It is assumed that the initial formation of this category of external forces belongs to the pre-religious period. The oldest idea of the surrounding primitive man is not yet divided into cosmic forces and unnamed space, saturated with energy bipolar forces, revealed in the analysis of Yukagir concept Pon 'Something' (Rus. 'Nature'). There is no indication of the place of concentration of malicious forces in the mythopoietic graphemes of the two-level and early three-part Universe of the Neolithic-Bronze Age period. Malicious forces iuӨie are everywhere. Graphemes painted by red ocher on streamside rocks of Central Yakutia. The sign image of sky-father corresponds to the zoomor-phic image of the Earth-mother; at the same time there is an idea of the underworld of the dead. Graphemes are known in the jewelry of modern clothing of Oduls. With the addition of the shamanic three-part picture of the world images of evil forces are concentrated on its third level - in the underworld. This picture of the world with the concentration of evil forces of a class of kukul in the world of the dead is seen in religious and mythological views of Oduls and folklore. Hunters and fishermen of the Upper Kolyma who are now leading the economy, shamanistic views were received from the alien peoples. The article compares and contrasts the changes that have occurred in the views of Oduls on malicious forces within 100 years (XIX-XX centuries). The images of ancestors on the maternal (Solomina-Cherv’) and paternal (Ostrogolovy dedushka) lines inverted in evil are considered. Were wolves of these and other evil characters of mythology and folklore (Luna-ludoed. Myphichesky staric) are noted. In general, at the late of XX century there was a weakening of emotional tension in the perception by the evil forces of the surrounding world by forest Yukagirs and transformation of previous images into the field of etiological myths and folklore. We believe that one of the main causes of re-meaningimages are atheistic policy of the state. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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