The phenomenon of anthropomorphization in traditional culture of the obsky ugry

The article is devoted to the analysis of anthropomorphous images of the Ob-Ugric peoples.In their culture an anthropomorphous shape was given to the ceremonial doll, childrens toys, images of spirits and the dead. On thebasis of correlation of the anthropomorphous images with certain age categories, five stages in life cycle of the person are allocated - prenataldevelopment, birth and infancy, childhood, adult life, life after death. At each stage a constructive description of images is given, theevolution of manufacturing materials is tracked; the functions and symbols are revealed. At the first and second stages the person is accompaniedwith ceremonial dolls. They are the first material form of the yet unborn child and perform the following functions: communicationof mother/child and the spirit of Xian, divination, purifying and guarding. The anthropomorphous image of the third stage is the dollwith psychological, social, world-view, creative and gnoseological functions. Two kinds of dolls existed: made of beaks and skins of a birdand made of a fabric. All dolls have no face, so that no spirits would enter them. Dolls clothes represent a mini-copy of outer clothing ofadults. The clothes are the embodiment of the external image of the person, its materialized substance. Thus, the doll symbolizes the externalshape of the person. The fourth stage is connected with images of family and local spirits. Male images of family and local spirits representwooden anthropomorphous images. Female images of spirits show more archaic features: their original base was the skin of an animallater replaced by metal images of animals and a fabric, and a piece of wood, which transformed into anthropomorphous wooden images.The characteristic feature of all images of spirits is the detailed study of face and use of conditional clothes, which distinguishes them fromdolls, in which the basic attention is given to clothes. It means that these images personify the spiritual component. The fifth stage is connectedwith ittermas - receptacles of the soul of a dead person. Two materials were used for manufacturing ittermas. One of them is wood,which first transformed into a mould, and then - into a metal cast. The second material is fabric and, later, clothes. A more modern variantof the image does without the fabric basis using clothes only. Images of the dead do not have a uniform rule of depicting the face. But allittermas have clothes. Thus, we come to a conclusion, that the given images should be outwardly similar to the person. It follows that ittermaswere thought of as the refuge of the soul, and its constructive characteristics underlined the material component in the person. So, in thetraditional culture of the Ob-Ugric peoples anthropomorphous images accompany the person all life long; at each stage they have variousfunctions and symbols. Limits of human life do not coincide with limits of physical existence. They are thought of more broadly and thusclose the cycle of life including the real and other worlds.

Keywords

Authors

References