The Aesop Ridge of the Evenk legend. Evenkia is an ancient and mysterious land. Toto and nako, people are birds

A long time ago - the Evenki lived in childbirth - the robbers changit wandered in the taiga. Changits killed all men, even boys. The Evenk hunter Koevai then had a son. He grew up quickly, like an elk, and soon became a hero.

Once he hunted in the taiga. He sees a marvel: a non-taiga man leans against a tree, holding a stick in his hand. Fire and smoke come out of this stick.
A lynx fell from the tree where the stick was pointing. The bogatyr followed the new man. He saw how he put a stick on his back (a rope was tied to the stick). Approached the dead animal. The man's face is thickly overgrown with hair. His hair looks like last year's grass in the swamp. And he is big, tall, wide. The man skinned the lynx. I took the skin. Went. Evenk is behind him. But he stepped on a dry bough. The man looked back. Evenk stopped. The man approached the hero. Asked:
- Who are you?
- Evenk-hero. And who are you?
- Russian.

He showed the Evenk a bow-stick. Evenk called the Russian to the chum. Feed him. The guest gave him a shooting stick. Gone.
All the taiga people began to envy the hero. But the hero did not want to have a shooting stick alone. He got a lot of fire sticks for the Evenks. A new friend helped him. Peaceful Evenki became very strong. The Changits were now afraid to attack them.

Once the Changits came out in peace to the Evenks. Gathered for a big party. Everyone began to live in friendship.

Evenki legend

Evenkia (Evenki district) belongs to the regions of the Far North. It is located in the northeast, occupies 32% of its total area, but at the same time, the share of the population of Evenkia is only 0.53%. This is one of the most sparsely populated territories not only in Russia, but throughout the world.

The relief of the region is predominantly mountainous, in the north there is a huge massif - the Putorana Plateau with an area of ​​250 thousand km 2. It is included in the Putorana Nature Reserve, which is listed world heritage UNESCO. The rarest Putorana bighorn sheep lives here, meeting with it is a rarity, where you can meet a brown bear more often.

It is here, among the bare peaks, that, according to Evenk beliefs, Khargi lives - the spirit - the owner of the Lower World, the rival of Seveki - the creator of the earth, animals and man, the spirit - the owner of the Upper World, the patron of people and deer. Presumably, the cult of Kharga was formed about 5 thousand years ago, when volcanic eruptions occurred in the area. Having left after a quarrel with Seveki in the Lower World, Khargi continues to send his assistants to the earth - evil spirits that prevent people from hunting, bring diseases, and send blood-sucking insects. Therefore, it is required to appease him with gifts, including berries.

There are a lot of berries in local forests: red and black currants, cranberries, lingonberries, blueberries and cloudberries. Forests are predominantly coniferous: spruce, larch, pine, Siberian cedar. There are birch, alder, bird cherry and mountain ash. A tenth of the territory is occupied by tundra. And permafrost is widespread everywhere.

In this realm of sharply continental climate, the duration of winter is eight months. December-February - the season of the most low temperatures sometimes even below -60°C. Spring and autumn are so short that they are almost invisible. Summer does not last very long: from late June to mid-August. The weather in summer is capricious: from sudden frosts to a heat of +40°С. The polar day in summer is gradually replaced by a polar night in winter.

The geographical center of Russia is located in Evenkia: near Lake Vivi in ​​the southwestern part of the Putorana Plateau. The center is fixed 16 km south of the Arctic Circle, while the lake is so large (88 km long) that it crosses the circle itself. It takes a long time to get here (2 hours by helicopter from the neighboring Turukhansk region), there are no permanent settlements here, no one lives, except for a bear, a fox and a deer. Even the exact depth of the lake is unknown: the Evenki say it is about 200 m. The lake is large - more than 30 rivers flow into it, and there is an abundance of fish in it: taimen, char, grayling, sigvalek (endemic of the Putorana plateau), pike, perch, lenok. Like all large lakes Evenkia, Vivi - tectonic origin. The exact number of Lake Evenkia is unknown, but we can talk about thousands.

Evenkia is located far from the main Siberian cities, there are no year-round roads on its territory, movement along the Lower and Podkamennaya Tunguska is possible for several weeks a year, and even then during the flood: all the villages are located on the rivers. The bulk of the cargo is delivered by winter road and by air.

Today, indigenous peoples make up less than a third of the total population of the region. In Evenkia, they are mainly engaged in reindeer herding and hunting. The population lives in a tribal community or unites in peasant farms.

From the Putorana Plateau through the Central Siberian Plateau, the territory of the Evenk region decreases from north to south, while most of the territory is uninhabited mountainous terrain.

Story

If it had fallen a thousand years earlier, a theory about the extraterrestrial origin of local reindeer herders would inevitably have been born.

Only in 1931, one of the most common self-names of the people - Evenks - was recognized as official, before that they were called Tungus.

The earliest information about nomadic reindeer hunters, who today are called Evenks, are found in Chinese historical chronicles of the 5th-7th centuries. But in general, until the XX century. Evenks were not a single people, but separate tribes living at a great distance from each other. At the same time, they were connected by a single language, customs and beliefs, which already indicates the common roots of all Evenks. The origin of the people has not yet been precisely established. Perhaps their homeland is Altai, Mongolia or Manchuria. Ethnographers offer dozens of theories.

As an administrative entity, Evenkia appeared in 1930, when Soviet authority created the Evenk Autonomous Okrug as part of Krasnoyarsk Territory. Residents of the district still celebrate their main holiday - the Day of Evenkia - on December 10 - the day the Evenk Autonomous District was formed.

From 1991 to 2006 the district was an independent entity Russian Federation, while remaining administratively and territorially part of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. According to the results of the referendum, since 2007, the Evenk Autonomous District has become the Evenk municipal district Krasnoyarsk region.

The village of Vanavara is no less famous: 60 km to the north and 20 km to the west of it is the epicenter of the explosion of the alleged Tunguska meteorite in 1908 with a power of up to 50 Mt. Recorded evidence of Evenks who personally observed an incomprehensible phenomenon has been preserved. The event gave rise to many hypotheses, none of which has yet been proven. For the first time, the idea of ​​preserving the site of the disaster for future generations was expressed back in the late 1920s. the first explorer of the "meteorite" Leonid Kulik. His dream came true after 70 years.

Today, the central estate of the Tunguska Reserve is located in the village of Vanavara. It specifically highlights an area of ​​about 2150 km2, which in 1908 was directly affected by the factors of the Tunguska explosion: a shock wave, radiation, a forest fire associated with the explosion. Here the ecological consequences of the fall of the Tunguska meteorite are studied. The documents of the reserve note that the site of the fall of the Tunguska meteorite is of exceptional interest as the only globe an area that makes it possible to directly study the environmental consequences of space disasters.

In the Central Siberian Reserve there is a natural monument Sulomaisky pillars: a canyon with slopes up to 150 m high, on which vertical stone hexagonal prisms with a diameter of about 10 m and a height of under 80 m are located. The pillars are the result of weathering of rocks.

Once a year, the village of Surinda becomes the venue for the traditional national holiday - the Day of the Reindeer Breeder. Representatives of reindeer herding brigades, including women and children, compete in races both on reindeer teams and on horseback - a reindeer intended for riding.

Another big holiday - Evenki New Year- Muchun, celebrated in June. Since ancient times, Evenks have been gathering on this day, talking about the past winter and making plans for a new winter. During Muchun, pagan rites of purification and fumigation of the kurekan, a fence for deer, are performed.

general information

Location : Central Siberia.
Administrative affiliation : Siberian Federal District.

Administrative status : municipal district and an administrative-territorial unit with a special status in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Administrative division : 23 municipalities(towns and villages).
Administrative center : pos`kjr Tura - 5526 people
Settlements : With. Baikit - 3312 people, with. Vanavara - 2913 people, settlement. Essey - 630 people. (2016).
Educated: 2005
Languages: Russian, Evenk, Selkup.
Ethnic composition : Russians, Ukrainians, Evenks, Yakuts, Selkups, Nganasans.
Religions: orthodoxy, shamanism.
Currency unit : Russian ruble.
major rivers: Podkamennaya Tunguska, Lower Tunguska.
Large lakes: Essey, Vivi.
Neighboring regions and subjects of the Federation : in the north - Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenets region, in the east - the Republic of Sakha and the Irkutsk region, in the south - Kezhemsky, Boguchansky, Motyginsky and Severo-Yeniseisky regions, in the west - Turukhansky region.

Numbers

Square: 763,200 km2.
Length: 1500 km from north to south 850 km from west to east.
Population: 15414 people (2016).
Population density : 0.02 people / km 2.
highest point : 1678 m, Mount Stone (Putorana Plateau).
Distance (Tura) : 5738 km east of Moscow, about 1000 km north of Krasnoyarsk.

Climate and weather

Sharply continental.
January average temperature : -36°C.
July average temperature : +14°С.
Average annual rainfall : 400 mm.
Average annual relative humidity : 70%.

Economy

Minerals : oil and natural gas.
Agriculture : plant growing (potatoes, vegetables, grain crops), animal husbandry (reindeer breeding), hunting for fur-bearing animals, river and lake fishing.
traditional crafts : dressing of reindeer skins, making clothes and decorative items.
Services sector: tourist, transport, trade.

Attractions

Natural

Central Siberian Reserve (Sulomaisky Pillars canyon, 1985)

Putorana state nature reserve(Weeping rocks and Shaitan Mountain, 1988)

Tunguska Nature Reserve (meteorite fall zone, Churgimsky waterfall, Kulik's lodge and Farrington, 1995)

Lakes Vivi, Nyakshingda, Agata and Severnoye

Tura village

Evenk Museum of Local Lore

Curious facts

The course of the local rivers is stormy, there are many rapids and rifts in the rivers. When the water rises in spring, characteristic stable whirlpools form on the rapids of the channel, locals they call them korchagi.

Evenk legends claim that Lake Essei has a second bottom. Most likely, if it exists, it is not the roof of the "water watchman" dwelling, as the legend says. Probably, it was formed in the same way as in the famous lakes with a double bottom - the trunks of drowned trees, held together by silt and forming a kind of crust. Cryptozoologists claim that under such a crust there may be undersea world era of the dinosaurs.

When the Evenki district was Evenki autonomous region, as of 2006, it was in last place among the subjects of the Federation in terms of population.

In the Vivi River basin there is a large impact crater - Logancha. It was formed as a result of a meteorite fall 40 million years ago. The estimated diameter of the crater is about 22 km. It has been significantly deformed by late geological processes.

Indicators of tectonic processes on the territory of Evenkia are the angular outlines of lake shores (they appear on the site of new faults perpendicular to the previous direction) and larches hidden by water (these are, for example, in Lake Agata, which indicates the modern subsidence of the bottom).

The village of Nidym, founded in 1940 and standing on the right bank of the Nizhnyaya Tunguska River, gained great fame in the USSR in the 1970s. It was here that the filming of the film "Friend of Tymanchi" (USSR, 1970) took place, and its action unfolded here. Local residents were filmed in the film about the friendship of an Evenk boy Tymanchi and a wolf cub named Ayavrik (translated from Evenki as a pet). The film, which contains unique ethnographic material, is the pride of the Evenks and part of their cultural heritage.

The official symbols of the Evenki region contain the main elements of the pagan cult. In the center of the flag is the national Evenki rug-kumalan, personifying the sun. The coat of arms is in the form of a ritual shaman tambourine, a symbol of the Universe among the Evenks, a gathering place for helper spirits that protect the Evenk people. The loon on the coat of arms, flying at sunset from sunrise, is the creator of the Earth, the patron of the people.

A. N. Varlamov,

Yakutsk.

The most developed, complete and complete cycle of myths about the creation of the Evenk creator deity Seveki has developed in the eastern region. Here are all the myths about the first creation of the earth,

man, animals are united under the name of the creator Seveki in a single complete cycle. His name as the creator of the middle land of Dulin Bug and all life on it in this region is the same for the Evenks of the Amur region, southern Yakutia, Khabarovsk Territory and Sakhalin. Due to the diversity of Evenki dialects, the Seveki of the “shacking” Evenks corresponds to “Sheveki”, the “hacking” ones - Heveki, and the “okays” - Scoops, Shovoki, Hovoki.

SEVEKI, khveki, sheveki, sevki, in the myths of the Evenks,

Evens and Negidals are the creator of the earth, animals and humans, the spirit is the master of the upper world, the patron of people and deer; his other names: Amaka ("grandfather"), Ekseri (Eksheri), Buga. According to the myths, in the beginning there was only water, Seveki and his older brother Hargi. Seveki took out some earth from the bottom (according to the variants, this was done at his direction by a loon and a goldeneye or a frog), put it on the surface of the water and fell asleep. Khargi, wanting to destroy the earth, began to pull it out from under his brother, but only stretched it so much that it took on modern dimensions. In the myth of equestrian groups from the Nerchi-Chita region, a frog was an assistant to the creator of the earth. She brought the earth in her paws to the surface of the water, but the evil brother of the creator (according to later versions - a heavenly shaman) shot at her. She turned over, and since then began to support our land in the middle of the water with her paws. Shamans hung her later image from their costume as a symbol of the earth. To this myth was added the motif of a fire, borrowed from the southern neighbors and spread across the taiga by reindeer herders. According to the myths of the Ilimpiysk, Ayan and Transbaikal Evenks, the earth grew, it burned for a long time, and rivers and lakes appeared on the burned areas. In the struggle with water, drained tracts of land appeared. Having created a stone and a tree, Seveki ordered them to grow, but they, arguing who would be higher, threatened to prop up the sky, then Seveki brushed off the excess with his hand, and since then the rocks have crumbled, and the overgrown trees have dried from the top. Then the brothers made figurines of animals (Seveki

– useful to man, edible, and the older brother is harmful); Seveki fashioned figures of people from clay and stone and, leaving them under the supervision of a sentry (raven, dog or bear),

retired to the upper world, from where he continued to monitor the behavior of people through his assistants. Ideas about the appearance of Seveki are very contradictory - an old man, an old woman, an elk or a moose cow. It was believed that during the annual spring ceremony (savekan, ikenipke) Seveki gave sacred power (musun) and souls (omi) of wild animals and domestic deer, ensuring the revival of nature, successful hunting, and the health of people and deer herds. In case of illness and failures, Seveki dedicated a deer of light color (sevek).

KHARGI, in the myths of the Evenks, the spirit is the master of the lower world, the elder brother of Seveki, who competed with him in acts of creation. Khargi created animals harmful to humans and blood-sucking insects, spoiled the figurines of people molded by his brother: having seduced the guard of the figurines with food (or warm clothes) and gaining access to the figurines, he spat (blew, smashed) on the statues, because of which people began to get sick and die . Having left after a quarrel with Seveki in the lower world, Khargi continues to send his assistants to the earth - evil spirits that prevent people from hunting, bring illnesses, etc. Some groups of Evenks also called Khargi spirits-helpers of shamans who had a zoo-anthropomorphic appearance and accompanied him while traveling to the underworld.

The texts about the creations of Seveki, collected in the Far East region, are not only united by the name of Seveki, but they represent a more complete and in terms of plots

picture of the creation of the earthly world:

1. The cycle of Seveki's deeds in the east ends with the fact that, before leaving for the upper world, Ugu Buga Seveki leaves commandments to the Evenks, called the term Ity, which means

"traditions", "law", "accepted order of moral behavior of a person".

2. In this regard, texts appear in the plots about the deeds of Seveki, where Seveki visits from time to time

earth. He visits the people he created, multiplied on

the middle earth in order to find out if they follow the rules - the precepts of Ita. Sometimes he does not personally "inspect" the earth and man, but sends his messengers for this.

3. The spread of Christianity in the Evenk environment brought amazing interpretations to this cycle of myths. Some Eastern Evenks later replaced the names Seveki and Khargi in true Evenk stories with Christ and Satan. It should be mentioned that the voluntary adoption of Christianity by the Evenks also has an exact historical date - 1684, when the Evenk prince Katana voluntarily accepted Russian citizenship, having arrived from Manchuria (the territory of China), then converted to Christianity - was baptized with all his household members. The idea of ​​the resurrection of Christ among the Eastern Evenki was interpreted in its own way. According to the worldview of the Evenks, the human soul was immortal. A person died, his soul remained alive, went to other worlds, but after a few days could not again fit into the same body in order to revive him. Having passed her certain circle, she could be reborn again, but in a different body, that is, a different person. The soul could not enter the mortified body of a person again so that the person would come to life. According to Christianity, it turned out that Christ came to life after a short time, this resurrection of Christ did not fit into the framework of the traditional Evenki worldview. But Christ came to life, so the preachers said, and the Evenki did not deny this, but came up with their own myth, confirming that Christ is alive, because. a fly saved him. The text was recorded in 1989 from A.S. Gavrilova in the village of Udskoye, Khabarovsk Territory: “Christos was caught to be killed. Tied to a cross. Then, in order to nail them down, they followed them. Then a fly flew in, saw Kiristos, called other flies. And then one fly sat on the forehead, two on the palms, two on the legs (feet). The killers are here. Flies sit - as nails seem from afar. Those: “Eh, why, we already nailed it!” - so to speak, gone away. Not nailed down. It was the fly that saved Kirista.” The plot of Christ's salvation by a fly is built in accordance with the logic of the cycle about Seveki: Seveki is alive, no one killed him - so Christ was not truly crucified at all, he did not die at all.

Evenk myths also require a certain

"interpretations" of texts, i.e. hermeneutic approach to the analysis of their creation, plot and the original text itself.

In the myths about the creation of the world by the creator Seveki, the game and the process of the game occupy an important place. In one of the options

the myth says: “Seveki evikerve olcha: beekerve, ororokorvo,

bingelve." - Seveki began to make toys: little men, Oleshki, little animals. In a text written in Evenkia in 1986, G.I. Varlamova (p. Ekonda) from Khristina Filippovna Hirogir, the following is said: “Seveki hemekerve, eviker-ke bingkil nonon, olcha: beekerve, beingelve, orororvo. - Seveki hemekery (ritual toys), toys used to be like this before, I started making: little men, little animals, oleshki.

In our opinion, these are the oldest texts of myths about the creations of Seveki, because the process of creating a myth is conceived as a game, and the future inhabitants of the earth are thought of as evikeremi toys. The game

here is meant as a magical action, as a result

which all future inhabitants of the middle land of Doolin will appear

The creator of Seveki is opposed by his antipode brother Khargi, who, repeating the actions of Seveki, creates, as it were, “not real”, things of nature that are harmful to humans. Harga's game of creating inhabitants and vegetation on the middle earth is negative character Everything he creates has a defect. Seveki creates the world and its inhabitants, Harga's brother also creates, he seems to "play" the same game with Seveki. The plot of the game: Seveki creates - Khargi spoils. And actually the general process of creating the world is set out in the process of competition between two brothers and it contains an element of the game.

The opposition between Seveki and Kharga is similar to the opposition between God and Satan. But the obvious opposition of Seveki and Kharga takes place during the final formation of the cycle about the creation of the world and the middle earth Dulin Bug. This is the later layering and characteristic of this cycle.

According to the Evenk worldview, life is always based on

- lies - binarity is laid. And the cycle about the creation of the world is initially binary, it is created by two.

In the early stages of this cycle,

obviously Khargi is not a figure like Satan. And according to the worldview of the Evenks, two principles coexist in the world, the world cannot be created without the principle of “unity of opposites”. This is how the world works, this is how a person and everything connected with him is arranged - and this is reflected in many worldview aspects of the Evenks. According to many versions of the well-known plots of this cycle, Khargi does not want to do evil at all, he does not even have this in his thoughts. On the contrary, he wants to help his brother complete the work of creating the world faster. He says: “Ke, bi yum targachina okta. "Well, I'll do the same." But, repeating all the actions of Seveki, he makes mistakes, and the result is a completely new creation. And not everything is completely bad that he creates. The alder and pine he created are beautiful and useful trees.

The main postulate in the Evenk worldview, based on the philosophical principle of "the unity of opposites", is the unity of the world, and this is reflected in the texts about the creations of the world by two brothers, Seveki and Khargi. Most of the texts of myths are neutral in assessing the actions of Seveki and Khargi, even more should be said - they do not contain any evaluative characteristics in the sense that Seveki creates useful, and Hargi creates harmful. The appraisal characteristics of the actions of Sevaki and Khargi is a later layering, when the following analogy arises with the introduction and spread of Christianity in the Evenki environment: Sevaki = to Christ, Khargi = to Satan. That's when a sharp opposition of Seveki and Kharga arises in the texts of Evenki myths. But in the worldview of the Evenki this is still not the case - Khargi (the master of the lower world) is also necessary, like Seveki, because the world is incomplete and incomplete, cannot be whole and united without the lower world, its owner and inhabitants. Many helper spirits of shamans are "khargi", they help him in his travels to the Lower World, when they treat a person from an illness.

If we turn to the etymology of the word “khargi” itself, then it is basically ambiguous, it did not initially contain an evil inclination. "Khargi" can mean: 1. Forest, taiga, 2. Land - among the Kurmian and Nerchinsk Evenks, 3. Wild deer.

Unlike the Evenks, the Evens' creator Sevki has many brothers and sisters. At the beginning of his creation of the world, he makes them natural phenomena and luminaries. Evenks do not have this very original act of creation by Seveki. Perhaps they once had it. The Even version is as follows: Sevki lives upstairs. He has brothers and sisters. The eldest of the sisters is called Neltek, the other is Beganar, the third is Gevak. The brothers' names are Dolbini and Kureni. Sevki decides to create and first of all asks everyone about his name and finds out why they are called that. The names of his brothers and sisters reflect their features and qualities. Having such names, they are all similar to their brother in appearance, but what appearance Sevka has is not clear from the text.

“Why were you called that? Sevki asks

Because I am darkness, I have no light.

Then you will go to work with me, - saying, he blows on Dolbini, and he becomes night. This is how night appears on earth - dolbini.

Gevak also asks his sister about her name, she

replies that she was given such a name because she has light.

Savki asks:

“- And you, Gevak, will you go with me to work on the ground?”

She agrees, Sevki blows on her, and she becomes a day on earth. Then he asks another sister, named Beganar:

“Why do you have such a name? What are you thinking of doing? -

I am the moon, my light is weak.

I'll give you a job. It's too dark at night, will you work by the moon?

Then he blows on her and speaks to her, she turns into the moon, the heavenly night star. Since then, it has been shining on people at night.

“Neltek, you must help me too,” Sevki says to another sister. “There is no sun on earth, you will be the sun.”

And Tuksani's younger brother was a crybaby, he always cried when Sevki and everyone else went to work. Sevki and adapted him to work, saying:

You will work as rain when you cry. The earth needs rain for everything to grow.

So there were clouds from which rain pours.

One of Sevka's brothers was called Kureni. He was a big prankster, he liked to put out the fire. The wind came out of him, he began to work with the wind.

(Recorded in 1990 by G.I. Varlamova in the village of Topolinoye,

Yakutia, from D. Golikova, a native of the Khabarovsk Territory).

The Even myth completes the picture of the creation of the world by the Evenk creator Seveki. Sevki changes his brothers and sisters - remakes, recreates them, and they become natural phenomena and luminaries that help a person to live in the created world. The Evenks did not preserve such a myth, but, apparently, something similar existed, since ideas about the sun and moon were preserved, testifying to this: a story about the sun as the mistress of the sky; about the moon as a younger brother; the sun as the creator of the seasons of the year; they explained the reason for the appearance of the moon at night by the fact that the moon - the wife forgot the hook for hanging the boiler on the roam, so she returned for it. AT

In 1985, a story about Seveki and Grom was recorded in the village of Ekonda, Krasnoyarsk Territory. Seveki needed water to let it into the empty riverbeds made by the heli mammoth. Seveki goes to

search fresh water, meets Grom and asks why

that's his name. He replies that his name is that because he has a lot of water. Seveki asks him for water and lets it into the empty riverbeds. And he makes Thunder himself a real natural phenomenon - thunder and thunderstorm. This Evenk plot, by analogy, adjoins the above-mentioned Even plots about Sevki.

The cycle about the deeds of Seveki is for the Evenks a sacred story of the origin of the Evenk man and his middle land

Doolin Bug. The sacred history set forth in a single cycle of myths about the deeds of Seveki has much in common with humanity and aspects of Christianity. Both the Evenks and the Christians consider man to be a “creation of God”, “a creature of the earth”.

Literature

1. Vasilevich G.M. Evenki. - L., 1969.

2. Varlamova G. I. Epic and ritual genres of Evenki folklore. - Novosibirsk, 2002.

3. Keptuke G.I. Bipedal and cross-eyed,

black-headed Evenk man and his land Dulin Buga: Myths - in Evenki and Russian languages ​​(Dyur khalgalkan, evunyki halkan, kongnorin dylilkan Evenki-bee taduk daldydyak bugalkanin Dulin Dunnengin). - Yakutsk, 1991.

4. Materials on Evenki (Tungus)

folklore. - L., 1936.

5. Myreeva A.N. Rays of Sigunder (Sigunder harpalin).

- Yakutsk, 1992.

7. Folklore of the Evenks of Yakutia. - L., 1971.

Legends and myths are an invaluable source of folk wisdom that has preserved in coded form information about the worldview and thinking of the ethnic group. Sometimes only thanks to these sources it becomes possible to shed light on many facts. There are interesting legends and traditions about the origin of folk musical instruments and their prototypes. This article contains Ulch and Evenk legends about how the harp appeared.

The legend ascribes the "invention" of the prototype of the Evens' wooden jew's harp to a bear. So, the legend says that once a young man Chuldun ran away to the taiga.

"Suddenly got up strong wind. The age-old larches rustled loudly. Here Chuldun caught quite different sounds in this noise and whistling. They excited him. They called me as if from another world. He got up and went towards the wind, towards these mysterious sounds. To his surprise, he saw a huge bear sitting by a stump left from a broken larch. Wood chips, similar to bird feathers, protruded from the top of the stump in thin plates. The bear pulled these plates towards itself with its paws and let them go. They made rattling, and sometimes melodic sounds.

Chuldun stood without breathing. Having played enough, the bear went into the taiga. The young man cautiously approached the stump. For a long time he did not dare to pull the elastic wood chips. The wind tousled his hair, trying to drive him away from this place. He pulled one chip and let go. A strange sound flew downwind towards the thicket. Chuldun began to alternately pull the tips of the wood chips and let them go. The sounds merged, were carried away by the wind, and after them new and new [...]

The young man broke off two thin plates, tightly connected them and, putting them to his lips, blew. A thin piece of wood chips, which was between the plates, rattled thinly. Chuldun blew quieter. The sound turned out to be similar to the whistling of the wind in the crevice of the rock [...] He cut off two plates from the stump. The third was cut so thinly that you could see the sun through it. The young man put a thin plate between two thicker ones and tied them at one end with his hair [...] Chuldun put an instrument he had made to his lips and began to blow into the slot, where the planed thin plate vibrated, making amazing sounds [...] ".

The Ulchi also made an instrument from dry bamboo brought from the Tatar Strait, thanks to which the jew's harp of this people got its name holdecto kunkai (bamboo sliver, dry bamboo). The Ulchi considered the holdecto kunkai to be their first musical instrument. N. D. Duvan cites the legend “Dry Bamboo” (“Holdekto Kunkai”) about the origin of the first musical instrument of the Ulchi - the jew's harp, told to her by the famous Ulchi shaman M. S. Duvan.

“Many years ago they lived in the village of Halal, which is near the village. Kalinovka, old people. Three brothers and one young sister lived in the same house. At the top of the cliff grew a long and thick
tree - larch. One day a bird flew in and sat on the top of a tree branch. The older brother decided to look at the bird, just opened the door, immediately fell back. After the second brother also went to look at the bird, also fell at the threshold. Then the third, younger brother, also wanted to look and also fell dead at the threshold. All three brothers were dead. Only one young sister remained. Old people from another village buried the brothers. Left alone, the sister cried day and night. One day she went outside, found a piece of old wood and made a musical instrument holdecto kunkai. She played and cried day and night until the instrument split in half. After that, she decided to make an iron musical instrument muhene. She was a great craftswoman. So living, playing and crying, one day she went down the Amur. People lost her, they heard that she got married and left for no one knows where.

Playing the lamellar jew's harp required special skill. The sound produced was quite quiet, and therefore this instrument was less common than the metal bow-shaped one. The performers on lamellar jew's harps were mostly men. The tool has the form of a plate (length -
12–15 cm, width - 1.5–3.5 cm) in the middle of which a tongue was cut out - a thin vibrating stick. The length of the tongue is up to 8–10 cm, the width is 2–5 mm. A cord from the tendon of an animal (currently a nylon thread) is threaded into the hole at the base of the tongue, from 18 to 35 cm long. The end of the cord was wound around the finger right hand or tied to a wooden stick. The instrument is held in the left hand. With sharp movements of the right hand, the cord twitches, setting the tongue in motion. The oral cavity serves as a resonator. Due to the articulation of the performer, melodic overtones of various heights arise against an ostinato background in the process of playing the jew's harp.

The Nanais believed that playing this instrument contributed to hunting luck. Some Udege believed that after the traps were set, the hunter needed to play on a lamellar jew's harp in order to ensure fishing success. Old Evens also sometimes still carry this instrument with them in the taiga and play it.

Svetlana MEZENTSEVA,
Senior Lecturer, Department of Theory and History of Music, Khabarovsky state institution arts and culture

The mouth harp is one of the most common musical instruments of the aborigines of Russia. Far East. So far, there are two types of jew's harps - lamellar wooden and arched metal. The lamellar jew's harp is more ancient. The instrument is made of wood, bamboo, cane or animal bone. The Nanais most often made a lamellar jew's harp from barberry, the Udege and Ulchi - from cedar and larch. Evens, following an old legend, are also made of larch.

Literature:

1. Trofimov, E. E. Bride of the North Wind: Even. myths, legends, legends / E. E. Trofimov. - Khabarovsk: RIOTIP, 2003. - S. 60–62.
2. Duvan, N. D. Musical instruments of the Ulchi / N. D. Duvan // Notes of the Grodekovsky Museum / Khabar. edges. local historian. museum to them. N. I. Grodekova. - Khabarovsk, 2003. - Issue. 6. - S. 59–60.
3. Sheikin, Yu. I. The history of the musical theater cultures of the peoples of Siberia: c. research / Yu. I. Sheikin. - M.. Vost. lit., 2002. - 718 p.

On Earth, black as the coal of an extinct fire, night has come; and a severe polar winter hung over the entire Middle World. It carried over its weather from Kharga's Nether. Then the Great Muhuchi decided to gather all the Evenks together for a suglan, call Khevaki and ask him for help to people and tell him that it had become completely bad for those walking across the ridges to live. There is no food, it is hard to get water, the deer have disappeared. Cold and hunger, disease and poverty reigned in the Middle Earth.
At the call of Muhuchi, everyone gathered for the suglan. Great shamans prayed and brought a sacrifice to Heveki with a request to help return people to their former happy and carefree life, return the Sun to people, it warmed them and allowed all living things to grow. Heveki answered the people: “It is your own fault, you behaved carelessly and missed your kuta (happiness). Now learn to correct your own mistakes. You have to fight for your happiness and protect it.” Having said this, Heveki left for his Upper World.
People thought hard after his words and decided that only one soning Main could help the Evenks. The people asked him to return the stolen Sun to the people of the Middle World. Main agreed and, standing on his heavy heroic skis, ran across the sky, looking for the trail of the heavenly moose haglan. The trace of his skis melted in the black sky and disappeared from view in the celestial ridges of the boundless Upper World. The blue-black night taiga of the Upper World hid him among their trees, like a summer gadfly in a deer skin.
And on the Middle Mother Earth, sleeping in a deep and heavy sleep, people continued to get sick and die in the midst of the eternal winter that had come - they were not used to such cold and frost, kese! (woe!). People had to break all prohibitions-amulets: chop wood in the dark and feed the fire. The mistress of the Lower World, Eni Buni, scolded Khargi: a lot of people were dying, and there was nowhere to hold their souls. Fell asleep and the shaman - the carrier dead souls. Souls not accepted into the Lower World started a war. They began to seize the possessions of Kharga's assistants - the spirits of disease, hunger and cold. The spirits of diseases became worried and went with complaints to the Mistress of the Lower World. Hargi realized that he had made a mistake, but was in no hurry to correct it. He laughed maliciously with the hoot of an owl, flying noisily over the ancestral bonfires, extinguishing the sparks and killing the Spirit of Fire - Togo.
Frightened people wrapped themselves more closely in their warm skins. Sending spirits of illness to a person, failures in hunting, or doing any other petty evil, he still dreamed of becoming the Master of the Universe! Ebay (scary!).
Dead souls continued to fight with the spirits of disease and evil, and there was no time for them to rise to the Middle World and send curses on living people. Meanwhile, in the Middle Earth, the great Muhuchi healed people with the power of his Spirit - the Word, and with the departure of each Evenk to the Lower World, the walls of his big heart became thinner, they were erased from worries for their destitute people. He felt like he had done everything he could. Already very strong was Khargi with his assistants, who had no number, like falling hairs from a faded deer skin. It's hard, enuke (it hurts). But he continued to treat people doomed to starvation and cold death. Crying like a wolf howl stood on the ground, and there was no end to the tears and grief of mothers and widows. The terrible war of people and evil spirits continued, and the shadows of the dead Han people (ghosts) were already roaming the Earth.
From the understanding that people are doomed, could not stand a big heart Muhuchi the storyteller exploded. From this explosion, a tremendous force escaped, illuminating
black winter sky with bright multi-colored flashes. Illuminated the whole taiga - this is how the Northern Lights appeared. People began to feed children and the sick in its light, it became warmer and brighter in the plagues. In the light of the northern lights, the former dexterity and luck returned to the hunters, the vigilance of the eyes, and good prey appeared. In the ice of the rivers, people learned to make holes and fish. Live a little better, however!
And all the time people remembered the great Muhuchi with a kind word. And in response, his heart sang a thin silver song that only a person with a good heart could hear.
Many cross-eyed people still hear it. Those who want to hear, but cannot, those whose hearts are covered with black shaggy wool, which is called Stupidity, Cruelty, Envy, Greed, Hatred, Malice.
The great storyteller died in the arms of friends, and they put him a high storehouse. In the distant argish to the Lower World, his friends were well seen off: they killed the funeral deer, laid a saddle with a pack, clothes, dishes, food. The funeral pyre made of rosemary and juniper branches burned out for a long time, and the Spirit of Fire was also fed with pieces of fat from funeral deer. People did not forget about Mother Earth, and they fed her with pieces of fat, and people remembered the Great Elk-Haglan. Haglan lived well all this time. The sun was a good host to her plague. But, despite the glorious nature of Dylacha-Sun, they are in recent times began to quarrel frequently. But is it possible to combine day and night?
After some time, Haglan had a small calf with a brightly shiny red skin, as she dreamed of - a sunny color.
And the ribbons of the Northern Lights, all wriggling, crawled and crawled into the depths of the Universe. It became brighter in the Universe, the hero Main saw clearly his cosmic path, and his heart heard the voice of the Great Muhuchi, who asked him to help people.
Suddenly he saw the chum of the Space Elk Haglan, a small sparkling calf was playing near him. Main fired a blunt arrow* that fell in front of Haglan's feet, announcing the arrival of a man. Having greeted her, Main asked: "Isn't it time for you, Haglan, to return the Sun to people?" From the loud animal roar of Losikha, a terrible rockfall began, high stones crumbled into red-hot volcanoes, and lava spilled onto the Earth. Main fired his heroic bow at Haglan's forehead, but she grinned, caught the arrow with her hoof and broke it. Then Main quickly raised his heroic spear-palm and struck Losikhe at the base of the head. Moose fell with a roar, breaking its branched horns. From this roar, the ice in the rivers cracked, and clear water appeared. Main freed the Sun and released him from the plague Haglen into the wild.
As Dylacha rose high into the sky, the earth became lighter and warmer. It became hot in the winter park and Mother Earth. She woke up, took off winter clothes, and streams ran on Earth, snow melted.
Main, however, decided to stay in the Upper World, and since then, cross-eyed people call him Heavenly Soning - the Guardian of the Sun.
People know this legend and pass it on from generation to generation.

Notes

A blunt arrow* is an arrow with a large wooden head, sheathed in soft fur. They hunted with her a small fur-bearing animal with valuable skins. It, getting into the head of the animal, caused a hemorrhage in the brain and a hematoma, a fracture of the cervical vertebra or skull, and thus the death of the animal, but the skin remained intact, there were no holes on it. If during hostilities one of the parties sent a blunt arrow - it was a sign of peace, truce, negotiations, in a word - a sign of unwillingness to fight. A sharp arrow spoke of the intention to continue hostilities.