Proto-Uralic religion explained
Elements of a Proto-Uralic religion can be recovered from reconstructions of the Proto-Uralic language.
According to linguist Ante Aikio, although "evidence of immaterial culture is very limited" in the Proto-Uralic language, "a couple of lexical items can be seen as pointing to a shamanistic system of beliefs and practices." The concept of soul dualism, which is widely attested among Uralic-speaking peoples, probably dates back to the Proto-Uralic period: the word *wajŋi (‘breath-soul') designated the soul bound to the living body, which only left it at the moment of death, whereas *eśi (or *iśi, *ićći) referred to the 'shadow-soul', believed to be able to leave the body during lifetime, as when dreaming, in a state of unconsciousness or in a shaman's spirit journey.
The Indo-Iranian loanword *pi̮ŋka designated a 'psychedelic mushroom', perhaps the one used by the shaman to enter altered states of consciousness. The verb *kixi- meant both 'to court [of birds]' and 'to sing a shamanistic song', suggesting that it referred to states of both sexual and spiritual excitement. If the etymology remains uncertain, the word 'shaman' itself may be rendered as *nojta, and the shamanic practice as *jada-, although semantic variations in the daughter languages make the reconstruction debatable (cf. Erzya Mordvin jɑdɑ- 'to conjure, do magic, bewitch', East Khanty jɔːl- 'to tell fortunes, shamanize', Ket Selkup tjɑːrә- 'to curse; quarrel').
A common creation myth shared by many Finno-Ugric peoples is the earth-diver myth in which a diver, often a waterbird, dives into the sea to pick up earth from the bottom to form the lands. In the Mordvin variant, the diver is the Devil (sometimes in the form of a goose), in the Yenisey Khanty variant a red-throated loon, and in at least one Finnish version a black-throated loon
Several Finno-Ugric languages have a theonym that can be derived from the Proto-Finno-Ugric word *ilma meaning sky or weather. These include Udmurt Inmar, Komi-Zyrjan Jen, Khanty Num-Ilәm and Finnish Ilmarinen. These theonyms suggest an early central Proto-Finno-Ugric sky-god.
See also
References
Bibliography
- Book: Aikio, Ante. The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford University Press. 2021. Proto-Uralic. Ante Aikio. https://www.academia.edu/40193033/Proto_Uralic.
- Book: Frog. Evolution, Revolution and Ethnocultural Substrata: From Finno-Ugric Sky-God to the North Finnic God-Smith Ilmarinen. International Symposium on Finno-Ugric Languages in Groningen. 2012.
- Book: Frog. Mythic Discourses: Studies in Uralic Traditions. Siikala. Anna-Leena. Stepanova. Eila. 2012. Finnish Literature Society. 978-952-222-376-0. en.
- Encyclopedia: Komi Mythology, Khanty Mythology, Mansi Mythology, Selkup Mythology. 2003–2009. Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies. Akadémiai Kiadó. Konakov. Kulemzin. Gemuev. Tuchkova.
- Book: Pentikäinen, Juha. Uralic Mythology and Folklore. 1989. Ethnographic Inst. of the HAS. 978-963-7762-64-2. Juha Pentikäinen.
- Book: Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot VII Part 1: 11. 1929–1933. Finnish Literature Society SKS. SKVR.
- Encyclopedia: Finno-Ugric Religion. 2017. Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. Honko. Lauri.
Further reading
- Deviatkina. Tatiana. 2011. Images of Birds in Mordvinian Mythology. Electronic Journal of Folklore. 48. 143–152. 10.7592/FEJF2011.48.deviatkina. free.
- Book: Hoppál, Mihály. Studies on mythology and Uralic shamanism. Akadémiai Kiadó. 2000. 963-05-7741-0.
- Hajdú, Péter (ed.). Uráli népek: Nyelvrokonaink kultúrája és hagyományai [Uralic peoples: Culture and traditions of our linguistic relatives]. Budapest: Corvina Kiadó. 1975. . (in Hungarian)
- Jauhiainen, Marjatta. The Type and Motif Index of Finnish Belief Legends and Memorates: Revised and enlarged edition of Lauri Simonsuuri’s Typen- und Motivverzeichnis der finnischen mythischen Sagen (FFC No. 182). FF Communications 267. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1998.
- Jones, Prudence; Pennick, Nigel (1995). A History of Pagan Europe. Routledge. pp. 178–183. .
- Konakov. N. D.. Black. Lydia T.. 1994. Calendar Symbolism of Uralic Peoples of the Pre-Christian Era. Arctic Anthropology. 31. 1. 47–61. 0066-6939. 40316348.
- Krupp E.C. (2000). "Sky Tales and Why We Tell Them". In: Selin H., Xiaochun S. (eds). Astronomy Across Cultures. Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science. Vol. 1. Springer, Dordrecht. pp. 20–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4179-6_1
- Kulmar. Tarmo. 1997. Conceptions of soul in old-Estonian religion. Electronic Journal of Folklore. 4. 27–33. 10.7592/FEJF1997.04.hing. free.
- Kulmar. Tarmo. 2005. On Supreme Sky God from the Aspect of Religious History and in Prehistoric Estonian Material. Electronic Journal of Folklore. 31. 15–30. 10.7592/FEJF2005.31.kulmar. free.
- Kuperjanov. Andres. 2002. Names in Estonian Folk Astronomy - from 'Bird's Way' to 'Milky Way'. Electronic Journal of Folklore. 22. 49–61. 10.7592/FEJF2002.22.milkyway. free.
- Leeming, David. From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2003. pp. 134-138.
- Limerov. Pavel. 2019. Some Motifs in Komi Legends about the Creation of the World. Electronic Journal of Folklore. 76. 29–38. 10.7592/FEJF2019.76.limerov. free.
- Lintrop. Aado. 2001. The Great Oak and Brother-Sister. Electronic Journal of Folklore. 16. 34–58. 10.7592/FEJF2001.16.oak2. free.
- Siikala, Anna-Leena. "What Myths Tell about Past Finno-Ugric Modes of Thinking". In: Siikala, Anna-Leena (Ed.). Myths and Mentality: Studies in Folklore and Popular Thought. Studia Fennica Folkloristica 8. Helsinki: SKS, 2002. pp. 15–32.
- Uliashev. Oleg. 2019. Perm and Ob-Ugric Relations in Terms of Folklore Data. Electronic Journal of Folklore. 76. 15–28. 10.7592/FEJF2019.76.uliashev. free.
- Valk, Ülo (2000). "Ex Ovo Omnia: Where Does the Balto-Finnic Cosmogony Originate? The Etiology of an Etiology". In: Oral Tradition 15: 145–158.
- Vértes, Edit (1990). Szibériai nyelvrokonaink hitvilága [The belief systems of our linguistic relatives in Siberia]. Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó. . (In Hungarian)
- Yurchenkova. Nina. 2011. About Female Deities in the Mythology of Finno-Ugric Peoples. Electronic Journal of Folklore. 47. 173–180. 10.7592/FEJF2011.47.yurchenkova. free.
