Article

Name: The knife as a cretarion of strength and independence in settled Koryak’s folklore

Authors: T. A. Golovaneva

In the section Историческая память в фольклоре

Abstract: In traditional Koryak culture iron knife has a super-value. This attitude of the knife was reflected in traditional folklore. The possession of knife is solely only human benefit. In mythological tales of the Koryaks, the son of the Raven Kutkynnyaku, young Amamkut, not just owns a knife, but he is also able to produce knives that increase his exclusivity Amakute. The Big Raven dependences can only posses with a knife. In traditional narratives the comparison of the beauty of a knife repeats steadily: ‘knife like the Raven’s wing’. The Big Raven’s grandson, the boy Akatnu, has a twin: Ready-knife-Akatnu. Twin-knife protects the boy from the attack of the most powerful creature – the Wolf. The character who became a slave has no right to own with a knife. The oldest daughter of the Big Raven, the girl Tinianavyt, becomes a servant in an alien family. Instead of a knife she was given a seashell, which she must use. The knife shows the independence of character. Mythical alien-tribes of Kutkynnyaku’s family cannot own the knife. The knife as a gift was presented to them by the son of a Big Raven, the lad Amamkut. The knife as a gift operates in hunters rites. The Dead male –animal was given with the wooden knife – the imitation of the real one. Perhaps the echoes of this hunting ritual were reflected in mythological tales of the settled Koryaks. In Koryaks tales wooden, stone, mud and iron can be mentioned. The most valuable are iron knives. Due to historic information Koryaks got such knives after the arrival of the Russians in the mid-XVII century. The mention of the knife in the text of the Koryaks tales is always functional. In the traditional stories of the settled Koryaks stresses that the stone knives in their features noticeably concede to iron. The wooden knife is an exaggerated image of bad knife, which can be used by the poor lad. The mud knife is a parody of the real knife, designed to enhance the comic effect of the narrative. The Big Raven armed with the mud knife in the story with the mouse tricks. Ethnographic realities, which were the basis of the text content of the Koryak mythological narratives, go to the past. Detecting the ethnographic context allows you to understand the logic of folklore storytelling.

Keywords: Koryaks, Koryak folklore, mythological epos, Big Raven cycle, folklore tradition, author, ethnographic realities

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