E-mail: nes.pilawa@gmail.com
Moscow, Russian Federation
Independent researcher
This article considers the manuscript named “The Bakshy’s Songs and Words” written by the Kyrgyz singer of tales and folklore collector TogolokMoldo, which has not been studied scholarly neither translated into Russian earlier. The bakshy’s, otherwise shaman’s image, techniques and vocabulary of their improvisations as well as genre characteristics fit in the general context of Central Asian shaman traditions represented by recordings made at different times and materials of the field research carried out by the author himself. Altered states of consciousness play a significant role during magic performances. Along with other rite elements, they also aim to plunge a person into a specific uncommon psychophysical continuum. In this context, it is crucially important to decode words and acts of the shaman called Shatan and he decodes them himself in the manuscript byTogolokMoldo under consideration. Shatan-bakshy’s behavior is characterized by an ecstatic trance when he identifies himself, partially or fully, with mythological characters and sacral animal helpers. The manuscript contains several fragments from special songs which are the basic genre of the shaman folklore. Observation of the modern spiritual and magic practices of the folk Islam allows us to suggest that contemporary spiritual blessings pronounced by performing persons on behalf of ancestral spirits or other sacral beings succeed to traditions of the shaman songs. It can be demonstrated by the similarity of metaphors they use and by common goals as prediction, healing and mental advice.
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