Article

Name: Tromagan Bear Feаst: Khanty rite recorded in 2022

Authors: Galina E. Soldatova

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of folklore

Abstract:

In August 2022, a Khanty Bear Feast was held as part of the museum festival program. The festival was organized by experts in the folklore of the Eastern (Tromagan, Agan, and Yugan) and Northern Khanty groups. This paper aims to describe and analyze this event historically, with consideration given to the Bear Feasts recorded from the Eastern Khanty over the last 40 years. The Bear Feast of 2022 is characterized by determining its folklore and musical peculiarities. The ritual included songs of awakening and putting the bear to sleep, sacred songs of deities sung mainly by singers from the Tromyogan river. The tunes of the Tromagan bear songs were found to be similar to the ritual tunes of the Northern Ob-Ugrians. Scenes on traditional and topical subjects were performed by Northern Khanty artists together with the rest of the Bear-Feast participants, including spectators and researchers. As part of the Bear Feast, a bear-head divination ritual and a reindeer sacrifice ceremony were performed. A comparison of the Feast under consideration with published materials recorded in 1988 (a film by L. Meri) and in 2016 (an article by S. Dudeck), allowed the rite to be identified as Eastern Khanty or rather a Tromagan one. Attention is paid to the importance of documenting the living ritual tradition of the Eastern Khanty. Deciphering the recorded texts, translating, and commenting on them with the help of connoisseurs of the tradition is also crucial. Otherwise, the materials stored in archives could prove to be practically useless.

Keywords: ritual, folklore, Khanty, Bear Feast

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