A “CANINE” SHIRT FOR A BABY IN KAZAKH RITES OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD

Скачать pdf
Альманах
Key words
rites of infancy and childhood, child’s first clothes, mythological beliefs, aportopaic tradition, namegiving rite, Kazakhs
Author
JULIA N. NAUMOVA
About the Author
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0076-4628
E-mail: iulia.naumova@gmail.com Tel.: +7 (495) 250-69-31
15-7, Chayanova str., Moscow, 125047, Russian Federation
Postgraduate student, Center of Typology and Semiotics of Folklore, Russian State University for Humanities
Acknowledgements

This paper if supported by the Grant of the Foundation for Basic Research project No. 14-18-00590-П” Texts and practices of folklore as a model of cultural tradition: comparative-typological study”.

Body

The paper considers a complex of infancy cycle rites, namely the rites of the first forty days of a newborn’s life that are intended to protect it, help it overcome the liminal stage and include it into “this” world. Specific attention is given to the rite that marks the end of a forty-day period and ritual practices associated with changing the first infant shirt  —  “it koilek”, literally a “dog’s shirt” —  for new clothes that symbolizes true birth and change of status. Drawing examples from her field experience, the author aims to demonstrate how an entire rite that had existed once was gradually reduced and simplified, while the contemporary tradition retains only a name for a ritual object and some debris of the initial rite. According to earlier ethnographic descriptions and testimonies of the informants, before putting on the first shirt on the child, a puppy was wrapped into it or was put into the cradle. This highly apotropaic practice, initially involving a direct contact with a dog, apparently caused nomination of the first shirt of the baby —  “dog’s” shirt. In some cases, a direct contact with a dog became unnecessary, but the pet was brought into the house for the same protective purpose and the shirt was shown to the dog before putting it on the child. Subsequently, these ritual actions were reduced and completely ceased from the narratives about the structure of the rite. The name “dog’s shirt” for children’s first shirt is spread in the Kazakh folk tradition, preserving the memory about the ritual that existed in the past. 

References

Abramzon S. M. (1949) Rozhdenie i  detstvo kirgizskogo rebenka (iz obychaev i obryadov tyan’shan’skikh kirgizov) [Birth and childhood of a Kyrgyz child (from the customs and rituals of the Tian-Shan Kyrgyz)]. Sbornik Muzeya Antropologii i Etnografii (Kunstkamera) RAN [The Collection of Papers of Peter the Great Museum of anthropology and ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS]. 1949. Vol. 12. Pp. 78–138. In Russian.

Chvyr’ L. A. (2006) Obryady i verovaniya uigurov v XIX–XX vv.: ocherki narodnogo islama v Turkestane [Rituals and beliefs of the Uighurs in the 19th —  the 20th centuries: essays on folk Islam in Turkestan]. Moscow. In Russian.

Firshteyn L. A. (1978) O nekotorykh obychayakh i  pover’yakh, svyazannykh s rozhdeniem i vospitaniem rebenka u uzbekov Yuzhnogo Khorezma [Some of the customs and beliefs connected with the birth and upbringing of the child of Uzbeks of Southern Khorezm]. In: Sem’ya i semeynye obryady u narodov Srednei Azii i Kazakhstana [Family and family rituals of the peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan]. Moscow. Pp. 189– 208. In Russian.

Gorshunova O. V. (2006) Uzbekskaya zhenshchina: Sotsial’nyi status, sem’ya, religiya (po materialam Ferganskoy doliny) [The Uzbek woman: social status, family, religion (based on 
records from the Ferghana Valley)]. Moscow. In Russian.

Karmysheva B. Kh., Gubayeva S. S. (2006) Obryady, svyazannye s rozhdeniem i vospitaniem detei u karateginskikh kirgizov [Rituals related to the children’s birth and upbringing among the Karategin Kyrgyz]. Sredneaziatskiy etnograficheskii sbornik [The Central Asian Ethnographic Collection of papers]. 2006. No. 5. Pp. 149–164. In Russian.

Kondybay S. (2005) Kazakhskaya mifologiya. Kratkii slovar’ [Kazakh mythology. Brief dictio- nary]. Almaty. In Russian.

Konovalov A. V., Shahanova N. Zh. (1998) Rebenok v sisteme traditsionnoy obryadnosti kazakhov (Rodil’nyi i ranniy vospitatel’nye tsykly) [Сhild in Kazakh traditional rites (Childbirth and early educational cycles)]. In: Detstvo v traditsionnoy kul’ture narodov Sredney Azii, Kazakhstana i Kavkaza [Childhood in the traditional culture of the peoples of Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Caucasus]. St. Petersburg. Pp. 7–36. In Russian.

Lobacheva N. P. (2006) Otrazhenie etnogeneticheskoy istorii v material’noy i  dukhovnoy kul’ture narodov sredneaziatsko-kazakhstanskogo regiona (po  materialam serediny XX veka) [Reflection of ethno-genetic history in material and spiritual culture of the peoples of the Central Asian-Kazakhstan region (based on materials from the mid-twentieth century)]. Sredneaziatskiy etnograficheskii sbornik [The Central Asian Ethnographic Collection of papers]. 2006. No. 5. Pp. 47–94. In Russian.

Shakhanova N. Zh. (1998) Mir traditsionnoy kul’tury kazakhov (etnograficheskie ocherki) [The world of traditional Kazakh culture (ethnographic essays)]. Almaty. In Russian.

Snesarev G. P. (1972) Ludi i zveri (etnograficheskie poiski v oblasti kul’ta zhivotnykh) [People and animals (ethnographic research in the field of animal worship)]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1972. No. 1. Pp. 166–177. In Russian.

Toporkov A. L. (1989) Simvolika i  ritual’nye funktsii predmetov material’noy kul’tury [Sym- bolics and ritual functions of items of thingish culture]. In: Etnograficheskoe izuchenie znakovykh sredstv kul’tury [Ethnographic study of the iconic culture assets]. Leningrad. 1989. Pp. 89–101. In Russian