Representations about the cold and warm seasons in the mythology of Mongolian and Turkic peoples, and the role of astral objects in the formation of the calendar system

The article deals with the study of the significance of the Pleiades star cluster known to humankind from the very ancient times in the calendar system of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples. The article is based on the materials of the folk art of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples (myths, legends, fairy tales). Materials on the ritual of the hunting and cattle-breeding economic complexes were used. The data of linguistic analysis of the Mongolian, Turkic astral and calendar terminology were involved in the study. The Pleiades star cluster was well known to the peoples of Central and Inner Asia. Ethnographic materials of this vast region show the relevance of the luni-pleiadic calendar for different cultures with a dominant pastoral tradition, a mixed pastoral-hunting and cattle-breeding-agricultural type. In addition, the Pleiades became part of the 12-years cycle animal calendar of the Buryats and Southern Siberian Turkic peoples, determining the uniqueness of these local calendar variants. A significant part of the myths associated with the constellation of the Pleiades has a similar plot and imaginative basis and tells of the struggle of domestic animals with the Pleiades. As a result, a calendar system is established with two periods - winter and summer. This plot refers to a group of archaic myths "dispute over time". The center of concentration of Eurasian variants of "dispute over time" is the Sayan-Altai region. The main participants of "dispute over time" in the Turkic-Mongolian myths are domestic animals. The initial characters are a horse and a cow. These characters allow us to correlate an approximate dating of myth distribution with the development of cattle breeding in Central and Inner Asia. The image of a cow as the reason for the coming of winter in the region attracts particular attention in myths. The origins of this image are associated with the constellation of Taurus, which became revered in the ancient agricultural cultures of Eurasia more than 5000 years BC. An important part of this constellation and the initial stellar mark were the Pleiades. This star group, along with the other - the Hyades, was associated with the onset of the cool season and rains in the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia and Near East. The authors believe that the main relay of myths about the Pleiades are the Turkic peoples, and the "corridor" for the distribution of plots is the areas of the Turkic peoples, including the Yakuts. Ethnic groups in the zone of active interaction with the Turkic peoples or having a Turkic substratum in their ethnic composition became the custodians of this heritage of oral folk art among the Mongolian peoples, mainly Oirats and Buryats.

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