Monsters of Selkup folklore texts and shamanic incantations

Olga KazakevichOlga Kazakevichkazakevich.olga@gmail.com http://www.lcl.srcc.msu.ruhttp://www.siberian-lang.srcc.msu.ru

Prince GeorgePrince George, , UNBCUNBC,, 224.4.005.2014 5.2014

The paper was preared in the framework of the project “Corpus-oriented study of syntactic structures in oral and written texts of the speakers of endangered languages (a case study of Ket, Selkup and Evenki local dialects of the Middle -Yenisei and the Middle and Upper Taz)”, supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Studies, grant 14-06-10449.

My participation in the Congress has been supported by NSF PLR #1360365.

The Selkups are a small people residing in Western Siberia (Northern part of Tomsk region, Krasnoselkup and Pur districts of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous area, Turukhansk district of Krasnoyarsk territory)

Selkup belongs to the Samoyedic branch, Uralic language family

Selkup Corpora1) Texts recorded by G.N. Prokofiev (1925-1928) (Archive MAE RAS, SPb);2) Texts recorded by L.A. Varkovitskaya (1941) (Archive, MSU, Moscow);3) Texts recorded in the DSAL MSU expeditions (1970-1977) (Published in Selkup. Taz dialect. Part 2. Мoscow, 1993);4) LCL RCC MSU expeditions (1996-2013) (LCL Archive)

Selkup folklore texts and shamanic incantations describing shaman’s travels to the other worlds present a vast spectrum of monstrous creatures

Shaman texts

1) Description of the life of shamans;2) Shaman legends;3) Description of shamanic rites;4) Shamanic incantations

Shamanic incantations (with transcribed texts)

- Shaman Song (Prokofiev Archive, 1925)- Shaman way (Varkofitskaya Archive, 1941)- Songs of Vasily BayakinTwo , 1996)-Three Shaman songs, 1982 (Rudolf Archive)-Georgy Chekurmin Song (2013)

Tətypyl' song / Shaman SongMaksim Bezrukikh, recorded by Prokofiev 1925

(1) Kutyl’ təttonty korrymoallae qasysylyn, (2) Kutyl’ təttonty nyny na tarsymoatqolamty (3) suryl’ chunyt takty qasympyl’ suryl’ tamtyr (4) Lyparal’ qonulatytqo moqyn etyl’, surych chiponty;(5) Ukkyr piryl’ qumyl’ makyr najenta.

(1) To what land having turned you should stop!(2) To what land then start to unbind yourselves(3) The birds’ clan, which has stopped behind the birds circle.(4) With hanging ears, at the end of the birds line (5) very much alike, there is a peoples’ clan.

Sajyt oakty rypkymoatkunchityl’ suryt

Birds (animals) with eyes and mouths which do not blink (move)

Tətypyl' mәtty / Shaman waySemen Kusamin, recorded by Varkovitskaya 27.07.1941

1. Karrä illä sumpyqolamna.1. He began to shamanize down the bank. 2. Kossyntyl' (koštyl') tәttonty pais'qolamna.2. He began to go down towards the sacrefying (bad) land3. Surymity karrä įllä kurytqolamnɔtyt.3. His animals (his spirits) went down.4. Nyny takky mennympyŋa.4. Then he looked downstream.5. "Surymimy, qäl' tәttonty tulyčentymyt?"5. “My birds (animals), what land we reach?"

Naerqy topyl’ suryt

birds with red feet

Pįl' numyl' pelel' čontysyt peläqyt muntokty olykytyl' qumyt lətalymyntyŋa

In the night part of the sky (in the West) headless people are leaned everywhere  

Spirits are not regarded as monsters, but they often have signs of the other worlds

Fairy tales

Nyny nil'cyk qongyty - celymdy myta kos qaj takkytkungyty, nut pelaesh'sh'ang tin oly takkytkungyty - mondy myta qorqyl' moatyr tuenga.

Then he saw: the sun appeared to be covered by somewhat, as if in the sky a cloud has covered it – the Bear warrior has come.  

Creatures related to other worlds have abnormalities in their bodies (three fingers instead of five, no head, no navel (devil has no navel), no lice, abnormal size) or lack some unalienable human features (blinking, pronouncing words properly).

Stories about monsters seen or heard of

Two wicked birds

PatijakIt looks like a female grouse, people see it sometimes SychaIt has never been seen by anyone

In the whole, the more dangerous a creature is, the less is known about its appearance. E.g. people just don’t want to know how the ruler of the lower world kysy looks. The only information appearing on him in shamanic incantations is that he is frightening.

Thank youThank you!!