Article

Name: A systematic approach to studying the mythological concept of ichchi: the problem statement

Authors: Marianna T. Satanar

North-Eastern Federal University named after M. K. Ammosov, Yakutsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of folklore

Abstract:

The paper addresses the problem of studying the concept of ichchi (master spirit) of things, objects, and natural phenomena, representing a significant layer of mythopoetic representations in the Sakha culture. The research materials included both the epic texts of оlonkho and mythological texts, with some of them being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The novelty of the research is considering the concept under study as a subsystem of folklore, which adapts and reconstructs itself in response to social and historical realities. Moreover, it is suggested to regard the emerging ichchi of modern times as new products of urban culture. An attempt is made to verify the semantics of mythopoetic views by considering natural science theories and to rationalize the metaphorical language of the epic olonkho. The paper offers a comprehensive definition of ichchi, delving into the prerequisites for its emergence, genesis, and development and exploring the distinctive connection it has with human creative activity. It is stated that the creative individual plays a central role in converting natural elements into human culture, specifically in cultivating nature. In this process, the ichchi of objects, things, and phenomena are also somewhat “cultivated” and transformed into the focal points of an individual’s dual worldview. The author suggests a systematization of the varieties of ichchi based on the juxtapositions of two modes of existence: nature and culture.

Keywords: Yakut folklore, mythology, master spirit, epic olonkho, life-affirming principles, cultivation, dual worldview

Bibliography:

Alekseev N. A. Etnografiya i fol’klor narodov Sibiri [Ethnography and folklore of the peoples of Siberia]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 2008, 494 p.

Asadullaev I. K. Novyy materializm [The New Materialism]. Sociodynamics. 2013, no. 2, pp. 379–411.

Bravina R. I. Kontseptsiya zhizni i smerti v kul’ture etnosa: na materiale traditsiy sakha [The concept of life and death in the culture of an ethnic group: based on the Sakha traditions]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 2005, 305 p.

Ergis G. U. Ocherki po yakutskomu fol’kloru [Essays on Yakut folklore]. Yakutsk, Bichik, 2008, 408 p.

Frezer D. D. Zolotaya vetv’: issledovanie magii i religii: V 2 t. [The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion]. M. Ryklin (Transl. from English). Moscow, Terra-Knizhnyy klub, 2001, vol. 1, 528 p.

Gurvich I. S. Yakutsko-yukagirskie predaniya ob ospe: (K voprosu o putyakh formirovaniya demonologicheskikh obrazov) [Yakut-Yukaghir legends about smallpox: (On the question of ways of forming demonological images)]. In: Sotsial’naya organizatsiya i kul’tura narodov Severa: Posvyashchaetsya pamyati B. O. Dolgik [Social organization and culture of the peoples of the North: Dedicated to the memory of

B. O. Dolgikh]. Gurvich I. S. (Ed.) Moscow, Nauka, 1974, 249–269.

Iokhel’son V. I. Yukagiry i yukagirizirovannye tungusy [Yukagirs and yukagirized Tungus]. V. Kh. Ivanov, Z. I. Ivanova-Unarova (Transl. from English). Novosibirsk, Nauka, 2005, 675 p.

Ionova-Androsova M. N. Olonkho, pesni, etnograficheskie zametki, stat’i [Olonkho, songs, ethnographic notes, articles]. E. I. Korkina (Comp.). Yakutsk, Kuduk, 1998, 733 p.

Kagan M. S. Vvedenie v istoriyu mirovoy kul’tury [Introduction to the history of world culture]. St. Petersburg, Petropolis, 2003, 383 p.

Kapra F. Dao fiziki [The Tao of physics]. St. Petersburg, Oris, 1994, 304 p.

Kulakovskiy A. E. Nauchnye trudy [Scientific works]. Yakutsk, Yakut. kn. izd., 1979, 484 p.

Neklyudov S. Yu. Fol’klor i ego issledovaniya: vek dvadtsatyy [Folklore and its research: the twentieth Century]. Ekologiya kul’tury. 2006, no. 2 (39), pp. 121–127.

Neklyudov S. Yu. Bog kak vlast’ i dialog s nim [God as power and dialogue with him]. Antropologicheskiy forum. 2012, no. 17, pp. 121–133.

Oyunskiy P. A. Yakutskaya skazka (olonkho), ee syuzhet i soderzhanie [Yakut fairy tale (olonkho), its plot and content]. Yakutsk, Saydam, 2013, 120 p.

Popov A. A. Materialy po istorii religii yakutov byvshego Vilyuyskogo okruga [Materials on the history of the religion of the Yakuts of the former Vilyui district]. In: Sbornik muzeya antropologii i etnografii [Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography]. Moscow, Leningrad, 1949, vol. 11, 276 p.

Pukhov I. V. Olonkho – drevniy epos yakutov [Olonkho is an ancient epic of the Yakuts]. Yakutsk, NEFU Publ. House, 2016, 48 p.

Romanova E. N., Stepanova L. B. Antropologiya bolezni. Po sledam epidemiy Polyarnogo kruga: Polevye materialy I. S. Gurvicha [The anthropology of the disease. In the footsteps of the epidemics of the Arctic Circle: Field materials of I. S. Gurvich]. Vestnik Arheologii, Antropologii i Etnografii. 2021, no. 3 (54), pp. 218–230.

Satanar M. T. O strukture i semantike kosmogonicheskikh motivov v yakutskom i shorskom eposakh [On the structure and semantics of cosmogonic motifs in the Yakut and Shor epics]. Vestnik of North-Eastern Federal University. Series “Epic studies”. 2021, no. 1, pp. 140–149.

Savrukhin A. P. Priroda sveta [The Nature of light]. Forestry Bulletin. 2014, no. 4 (104), pp. 206–222.

Toporov V. N. Mirovoe derevo: universal’nye znakovye kompleksy [World tree: universal sign complexes]. Moscow, Rukopisnye pamyatniki Drevney Rusi, 2010, vol. 1, 448 p.

Troshchanskiy V. F. Evolyutsiya chernoy very (shamanstva) u yakutov. [The evolution of the black faith (shamanism) among the Yakuts]. Kazan’, Tipo-litografiya Imperatorskogo universiteta, 1902, 228 p.

Utkin K. D. Mifologicheskie osnovy yakutskikh olonkho [Mythological foundations of Yakut olonkho]. Yakutsk, Sitim, 1994, 32 p.

Vinokurov V. V. Ichchi (dukhi-khozyaeva) v yakutskom geroicheskom epose olonkho [Ichchi (host spirits) in the Yakut heroic epic olonkho]. Vestnik of North-Eastern Federal University. Series “Epic studies”. 2017, no. 3 (07), pp. 38–51.

Zhmud’ V. A. Vvedenie k edinoy teorii polya [Introduction to unified field Theory]. Automatics & Software Enginery. 2021, no. 1 (35), pp. 28–63.