The Motif of Curse in Bashkir Folklore: Evidence from ‘Sak and Sok’ Mythological Bait
https://doi.org/10.22162/2075-7794-2017-30-2-77-83
Abstract
The article considers the motif of maternal curse through the example of the Bashkir mythological bait ‘Sak and Sok’ which is also widespread among the Tatar and Chuvash peoples. According to the plot, following a slight prank, the mother curses her twin children so that those immediately turn into birds and fly away. The conducted research has revealed two types of maternal curse: accidental and intentional ones. Accidental curse is that issued by mother by negligence, in a blaze of anger, wishing no actual harm to her children. Deliberate maternal curse could be found in various rituals. The curse issuing time is of special importance. In some cases, the curse is aggravated by mother’s milk which contradicts the Bashkir national mindset and the Holy Quran. The paper also considers variants of the bait that have been found among the Chuvashes where, like in Bashkir baits, in some cases maternal curse proves to be intentional. In a number of cases, children are cursed with magical rituals conducted by a wicked stepmother. There are also variants of the Bashkir bait where children are cursed by father or both parents. It seems that launching a feather hat in the wind is one of the curse rituals. The curse act results not only in the transformation of children into night birds but also has other consequences, for example, eyes get filled with blood. In some cases, maternal curse is empowered by supreme forces: a large oak falls on the children in the forest which might stand for the activity of punishing spirits. In one version, mother curses children with her tears since those had played with bread dough. God who watched this, sympathized with the woman and punished her disobedient children. The pair of black horses often mentioned in the bait, in our opinion, is one of the attributes that carry a person into the afterlife. Parents also suffer consequences of the curse imposed by them on children. In our case, the children turn into birds and can neither meet each other nor return home, and the parents - no matter how much they grieve - cannot return the words of the curse back. It is known that the Bashkir and Tatar peoples had a curse related to the names of these twins. Thus, upon examination of ‘Sak and Sok’ mythological bait, we see the intertwining of several rituals and types of curse. To date, the mythological plot of ‘Sak and Sok’ bait is the most vivid example of the use of curse in Bashkir national folklore.
About the Author
G. S. Khanova
Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ufa Scientific Center of the RAS
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
References
1. Abkhazskie narodnye skazki / per. s abkh., sost. i avt. primech. K. S. Shakryl [Abkhaz folk tales. Transl., comp. and comment. by K. Shakryl]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1971, 464 p. (In Russ.).
2. Basangova T. G. Spetsifi ka proklyatiy v fol’klore kalmykov [Peculiarities of damnation genre in Kalmyk folklore]. Gumanitarnye nauki v Sibiri (Humanitarian Sciences in Siberia journal), 2008, No. 4, Novosibirsk, pp. 120–123 (In Russ.).
3. Bashkirskoe narodnoe tvorchestvo. Obryadovyy fol’klor. T. I [Bashkir folklore. Ceremonial folklore. Vol. I]. Ufa, Kitap Bashkir Book Publ., 1995, 560 p. (In Russ. and Bash.).
4. Bashkirskie skazki i predaniya [Bashkir fairy tales and legends]. Ufa, Kitap Bashkir Book Publ., 1996, 208 p. (In Russ.).
5. Efi mova E. S. Bashkirskiy mifologicheskiy slovar’ [Bashkir mythological dictionary]. Ufa, Vagant Publ., 2010, 156 p. (In Russ.).
6. Kagarov E. G. Grecheskie tablichki s proklyatiyami [Greek damnation tablets]. Kharkov, G. P. Radovilsky Publ., 1918, 81 p. (In Russ.).
7. Nadrshina F. A. Bashkirskie narodnye predaniya i legendy [Bashkir folk tales and legends]. Ufa, Kitap Bashkir Book Publ., 2001, 468 p. (In Russ.).
8. Sila roditel’skogo proklyatiya po narodnym rasskazam Kupyanskogo uez. Khar’kovskogo gub., P. I., s zametkoyu N. Ya. [Power of parental damnation following testimony by residents of Kupyansky district of Kharkov Governorate]. Etnografi cheskoe obozrenie. IOLEAE pri Moskovskom univ-te. Kn. III [Ethnographic Review. Book III]. Moscow, Russkaya Press, D. Gintsburg Publ., 1889, pp. 41–53 (In Russ.).
9. Skazki i mify narodov Filippin / sost. i per. s angl. i tagal’skogo R. L. Rybkina [Peoples of the Philippines: fairy tales and myths. Comp. and transl. by R. Rybkin]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1971, 429 p. (In Russ.).
10. Slavyanskie drevnosti: Etnolingvisticheskiy slovar’ v 5 t. / pod obshch. red. N. I. Tolstogo. T. 4: P (Pereprava cherez vodu) — S (Sito) [Slavic antiquities: ethnolinguistic dictionary in 5vol. Edit. by N. Tolstoy. Vol. 4: P – S]. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniya Publ., 2009, 656 p. (In Russ.).
11. Smyslovoy perevod svyashchennogo Korana na russkiy yazyk. 1-e izd. / per. s arab. E. Kulieva [Semantic translation of the Holy Quran: Russian language. 1st ed., transl. by E. Kuliev]. Medina, King Fahd Glorious Quran Printing Complex, 2009, 1071 p. (In Russ.).
12. Tatarskie narodnye skazki / sost. T. Shakirova [Tatar folk tales. Comp. by T. Shakirova]. Kazan, Tatar Book Publ., 2015, 59 p. (In Russ.).
13. Trofi mov G. F. Fol’klor: bytovanie peita «Sak-Suk» [Folklore: Sak-Suk beit]. Sbornik «Chuvashi Priural’ya: kul’turno-bytovye protsessy» [Chuvashs in the Urals: cultural and common processes. Collected papers]. Cheboksary, 1989, pp. 113–122 (In Russ.).
14. Ural batyr. Bashkirskiy narodnyy epos [Ural-Batyr. The national epic of the Bashkir people]. Ufa, Informreklama Publ., 2005, 120 p. (In Bash.).
15. Fol’klor kurganskikh bashkir (materialy i issledovaniya) [Folklore of Kurgan Bashkirs (materials and studies)]. Ufa, 2013, 160 p. (In Bash.).
16. Fol’klor orenburgskikh bashkir (materialy i issledovaniya) [Folklore of Orenburg Bashkirs (materials and studies)]. Ufa, 2013, 192 p. (In Bash.).
17. Fol’klor uchalinskikh bashkir (kuvakantsy, tilyautsy, baryn-tabyntsy, kara-tabyntsy) (nauch. i uchebno-metodich. posobie) [Folklore of Uchaly Bashkirs … (research and study guide)]. Ufa, Gilem Publ., 2014, 252 p. (In Bash.).
18. Khanova G. S. Bait «Sak-Suk v bashkirskom narodnom tvorchestve» (po arkhivnym materialam kabineta fol’kloristiki BGU) [Sak- Suk beit in Bashkir folklore]. Materialy XVI Vserossiyskoy konferentsii [Proc. of the 16th all-Russia conf.]. Ufa, 2016, pp. 220–223 (In Bash.).
19. Khanova G. S. Mifologicheskiy syuzhet baita «Sak i Sok» i ego dal’nie izoglossy [The mythological plot of Sak-Sok beit and its remote isoglosses]. Rossiya i Vostok: vzaimodeystvie stran i narodov: Trudy X Vseros. s”ezda vostokovedov Akhmet-Zaki Validi Togana. Kn. 2 [Russian and the Orient: Communication between Peoples and Countries … Book 2]. Ufa, Institute of History, Language and Literature of Ufa Scientifi c Center (RAS) Press, 2015, pp. 472– 475 (In Russ.).
20. Khisamitdinova F. G. Mifologicheskiy slovar’ bashkirskogo yazyka [Mythological dictionary of the Bashkir language]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2010, 452 p. (In Russ.).
21. Khusainova G. R. Mifologicheskie pomoshchniki geroya v bashkirskoy volshebnoy skazke Mythological hero assistants in the Bashkir fairy tale]. Vestnik Kalmytskogo instituta gumanitarnykh issledovaniy RAN (Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the RAS), 2014, No. 4, pp. 155–159 (In Russ.).
22. Ekspeditsionnye materialy–2008: Baltachevskiy rayon [2008 expedition materials: Baltachevsky district]. Ufa, Institute of History, Language and Literature of Ufa Scientifi c Center (RAS) Press, 2010, 204 p. (In Bash.).
Review
For citations:
Khanova G.S. The Motif of Curse in Bashkir Folklore: Evidence from ‘Sak and Sok’ Mythological Bait. Oriental Studies. 2017;10(2):77-83. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2075-7794-2017-30-2-77-83
Views:
414
Email this article 