E-mail: v.klyaus@mail.ru
Tel.: +7 (495) 690-50-30
25a, Povarskaya str., Moscow, 121069, Russian Federation
DSc in Philology, Chair, Department of Historical and Philological Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences; Deputy for the Academician-Secretary of DHPS of the Russian Academy of Sciences for scientific and organizational work; Head of the Folklore Division, A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences
The study was carried out within the framework of RFS project No. 23- 18-00478, “Russian Mongolia. A Comprehensive Study of Culture in a Non-Ethnic Environment (Folklore, Ritual Traditions, Language)”.
This article analyses two family legends recorded by the author from Russian oldtime settlers of Mongolia which tell about the early period of the Russian settlement of western Transbaikal, where the ancestors of the respondents — Cossacks and Old Believers — came in the eighteenth century. The legends demonstrate the depth of collective memory and reflect the reasons, nature, and manner of resettlement, as well as relations with indigenous peoples. They also describe such things as family genealogy (up to seven generations) and peculiarities of the Old Believers’ faith. Despite some anachronisms and inaccuracies, from an historical point of view family legends often accurately reflect the Russian settlement of the territory of Transbaikal bordering with Mongolia
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