E-mail: zhanna-yusha@yandex.ru Tel.: +7 (812) 328-08-12
3, Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
PhD in Philology, Leading Research Fellow, Department of Ethnography of Siberia, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
This article considers echoes of the cult of the sun and the moon in the ritual culture, folklore, beliefs and prohibitions of the Turkic peoples of Sayano-Altai. It is based both on previously published and new field materials. It examines descriptions of the Middle and Lower worlds in works of folklore, in which the presence or absence of the sun-moon is emphasized, and it considers the mythological perception of heavenly bodies as living beings. The article describes the ritual performed during solar and lunar eclipses as well as the significance of the lunar calendar in everyday life and in ritual. For example, in wedding ceremonies, marking a change in the newlyweds’ social status, they appeal to the sun and the moon for help and grace. Archaic ideas of the cult of the sun and the moon are also preserved in funeral and memorial practices. It is believed that the sun and the moon, which represent male and female essences, are obligatory components of the Middle World and intended only for the living. Thus the article presents both the general features and peculiarities of the sun and moon cult in the Turkic population of Sayano-Altai, all of which indicate the existence of a unified mythological system
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