Tel.: +7 (8332) 67-89-46
26, Krasnoarmeyskaya str., Kirov, 610002, Russian Federation
Full Professor (Philology), professor of Russian and Foreign Literature department, Vyatka State University for Humanities
This research is supported by the grant of the Russian State Fund for Humanities, No. 14–04–00077 “Evolution of Ethnic Markers of Northern and Southern Contact Areas”.
The article is devoted to ethno-cultural stereotypes of expression of fear among Russians and Fenno-Ugric peoples. Perception and understanding of death and specific psychological condition, associated with it, are interpreted as one of ethnic markers, so the fear of death and of the deceased occupies the primary place in spiritual and ritual cultural traditions of given ethnic groups. Fear as the emotional state is multifaceted and it is manifested in different genres offolklore in Russian folk culture: proverbs, fairy tales, oral narratives (memorates, belief- and local legends), and last but not least in the funeral and obit tradition with its rich lament poetry. Fairy tales seem to provide the most vivid expression of fear of the dead.
There in ethnically specific traditional consciousness fear of death is related with fear of the supreme supernatural forces, which were believed to control each person before and after his death. Some aspects are related with both pagan and Christian concepts of Divine punishment. Fear of diseases and possible death caused creation of numerous incantations, prayers, omens and magic practices.
Concept of deceased, that appeared among Fenno-Ugric peoples of Volga Region, are characterized according to evidences, given by Russian authorities and ethnography scholars from the last half of the 19th — beginning of the 20th centuries. According to their perception funeral and obit ritual complexes of Maries, Udmurts and Komi-Permyaks, as well as alien impressions about “ethnofors” spiritual cultures got overendowed with symbols, taboos, utilitarian features that reflect strong fear of the dead. These evidences, being of great value for the history of Russian ethnography, demonstrate, that reception of alien spiritual culture, especially that of its such a deep and unopened category, as fear of death and the deceased, reflected to some extent also ethnic stereotypes of views about primitive “indigenous population”, adhered by educated Russians in the prerevolutionary period of history.
Baiburin A. K. (2001) Toska i strakh v kontekste pokhoronnoy obryadnosti (k ritual’nomifologicheskomu podtekstu odnogo syuzheta) [Anguish and Fear in the Context of Funeral Ceremoniality (to the Ritual and Mythological Subtexts of a Given Plot)]. Trudy fakul’teta etnologii. [Proceedings of the Ethnology Faculty]. St. Petersburg. In Russian.
Dahl’ V. I. (1984). Poslovitsy russkogo naroda. V 2 t. T. 1. [Proverbs of the Russian People: In 2 vol. Vol. 1]. Moscow. In Russian.
Dobrotvorskiy N. (1883) Klady v Orlovskom uezde [Treasures of Orel County]. Vyatskie gubernskie vedomosti [Vyatka Provincial Journal]. 1883. No. 13. P. 4. In Russian
. Gertsen A. I. (1954) Pribavleniya k «Vyatskim gubernskim vedomostyam». Votyaki i cheremisy [Additions to “Vyatka Provincial Journal”. Votyaks and Cheremisses]. Gertsen A. I. Sobr. soch.: V 30 t. T. 1 [Gertsen A. I. Collected Works: In 30 vol. Vol. 1]. Moscow, 1954–1965. In Russian.
Grof Stanislav, Halifax John. (1996) The Human Encounter with Death. Translated from English by A. I. Nekless. Moscow; Kiev. In Russian.
Inorodtsy Srednego Povolzh’ya [Indigenous Aliens of Middle Volga Region] (1901).
Zhivopisnaya Rossiya. Otechestvo nashe v ego zemel’nom, istoricheskom, plemennom, ekonomicheskom i bytovom znachenii. Pod obshch. red. P. P. Semenova [Picturesque Russia. Our Motherland in its Landscape, Historical, Ethnic, Economic and Everyday Life Dimensions. Ed. by P. P. Semenov]. T. 8. Srednee Povolzh’e i Priural’skiy kray [Vol. 8. Middle Volga Region and the Urals]. Ch. 1. Srednee Povolzh’e [Part 1. Middle Volga Region]. St. Petersburg; Moscow. In Russian.
Krayushkina T. V. Fiziologiya i psikhologiya personazhey russkikh narodnykh volshebnykh skazok [Physiology and Psychology of Characters of Russian Folk Fairy Tales]. Vladivostok. In Russian.
Kuznetsov S. K. (2009) Svyatyni. Kul’t predkov. Drevnyaya istoriya: Sb. izbr. trudov. S. K. Kuznetsov; Sost. L. Shemyer [Shrines. The Cult of Ancestors. Ancient History. Selected Works by S. K. Kuznetsov; Comp. by L. Shemyer]. Yoshkar-Ola. In Russian.
Pozdeev V. A. (2014) Fol’klor kak marker v vyatskikh etnokul’turnykh zonakh [Folklore as a Marker of Ethnic and Cultural Areas in Vyatka]. Vestnik Vyatskogo gosudarstvennogo gumanitarnogo universiteta [Herald of Vyatka State University for Humanities. 2014. No. 5. Pp. 101–106. In Russian.
Smirnov I. N. (1890) Votyaki. Istoriko-etnograficheskiy ocherk [Votyaks <Udmurts>. Historical and Ethnographic Essays.] Izvestiya obshchestv arkheologii, istorii i etnografii pri Imperat orskom Kazanskom universitete. Bulletin of the Society of Archaeology, History and Ethnography at the Emperor University of Kazan'. Kazan'. Pp. 176–177. In Russian.
Tolstaya S. M. (2011) Semanticheskie kategorii yazyka kul’tury: Ocherki po slavyanskoy etnolingvistike [Semantic Categories of Language of Culture: Essays on Slavic Ethnolinguistics]. The 2nd Edition. Moscow. In Russian. Yanovich V. M. (1903) Permyaki [The Permyaks]. Zhivaya starina [Alive Antiquity]. 1903. Issue 1–2. St. Petersburg. P. 95. In Russian.
Zelenin D. K. (2013). Kama i Vyatka: Putevoditel’ i etnograficheskoe opisanie Prikamskogo kraya [Kama and Vyatka. Travel Guide and Ethnographic Description of Kama Region]. Zelenin D. K. Izbrannye trudy. Sost. i nauch. red. V. A. Pozdeev [Selected Works by D. K. Zelenin. Comp. and ed. by V. A. Pozdeev]. Kirov. In Russian.
Zelenin D. K. (1915) Velikorusskie skazki Vya- tskoy gubernii: s pril. shesti votyatskikh skazok (sbornik D. K. Zelenina) [Great-Russian Folk Tales of Vyatka Province: with addition of six Votyak Folk Tales (Zelenin’s Miscellanea)]. Petrograd. In Russian.