Non-fairy prose of the Yugan Khanty in field materials of the Institute of Philology SB RAS

The paper deals with the existence of non-fairy prose genres, such as mythological stories, cosmogonic and etiological myths, shamanic legends, in the folklore of the modern Yugan Khanty. The Yugan Khanty have largely preserved their traditional culture and, in particular, folklore. The research materials are the texts recorded by the author during the expeditions to the Maly and Bolshoy Yugan rivers in 2013 and 2019. Five texts were studied representing the current state of the folklore genres under study in this local ethnic group of Khanty. These are mythological stories about dreams, their possible interpretations and ritual practices associated with them, about fighting forest fires with the help of “home fire,” shamanic legends about shaman’s help with illness or other problems, the legend about a monster living in a lake. These previously unpublished texts are introduced into scientific circulation, with their textual and typological analysis carried out and parallels with already published folklore texts and scientific literature on this topic drawn. The paper presents the motives of the recorded cosmogonic and etiological myths about the waterfowl that provided the land for people and the origin of a bear. The definition of what is meant by non-fairy prose is given. A conclusion is made about the relatively high degree of preservation of these genres in Yugan, and the possibility for them to be further collected, studied, and published is discussed.

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