Academic literature on the topic 'Mongo Folklore'

Introduction. Oirat old-script texts tell us about the prominent historical figure of Noyon Galdma (Kalm., Oir. Һалдма, Һалдмба; Mong. Галдамаа, Галдамбаа), son of Khan Ochirtu-Tsetsen, grandson of Khan Baibagas of the Khoshuts and Khong Tayiji Erdeni-Baatar of Dzungaria. The image and memory of Galdama has been preserved in oral folklore of Mongols. Goals. The article attempts a review of studies to have dealt with Galdama, seeks to analyze the reasons underlying his popularity in Mongolic folklore traditions, and reveal peculiarities of the image characteristic of different genres. Results. The historical figure — the son of Khan Ochirtu-Tsetsen — is widely known in written and oral traditions of Mongolic peoples, e.g., Galdama is mentioned in Ratnabhadra’s Biography of Zaya Pandita and other narratives. Mongolists have been dealing with epic songs of Galdama for over a century already, a total of circa twenty legends about this hero have been recorded. The seventeenth-century Oirat nobleman’s name is nowadays integral to diverse Mongolic cultures, such as Kalmyks and Buryats of Russia, Oirats of Western Mongolia and China’s Xinjiang (Torghuts, Upper Mongols, Olots), as well as Alasha Khoshuts and Ejine Torghuts inhabiting Inner Mongolia (PRC). So, versions of Galdma-related songs number over thirty. Conclusions. The dissemination of folklore texts centered around the renown protector of native territories believed to have been a skilful warrior and chieftain of border detachments is associated with the theme of homeland defense that was most urgent during the lifetime of Noyon Galdama (1635–1667) — when all Mongols faced an increasing threat of Manchu invasion, and the Congress of 1640 developed The Great Code of Laws that proclaimed defense of Mongol-inhabited domains a supreme goal and virtue. Mythologization of Galdama’s image also attests to the significance of his personality in Oirat history, which can be traced in Oirat folklore heritage.

В статье проведено исследование жанров несказочной прозы, народной песенной культуры, малых жанров фольклора локальной группы бурят, живущих в Китае, в сравнении с фольклором российских бурят. Охарактеризованы локальные особенности традиционного фольклора зарубежных бурят, определены универсальные архетипы, общебурятские сюжеты и мотивы. Анализ этнокультуры бурят Китая на фоне общебурятской и в целом монгольской традиций позволил выявить общий пласт мифологии и фольклора, наличие типологических параллелей, существующих в фольклоре и культуре монгольских народов, сохранность и преемственность элементов материнской традиции. Рассмотренной в статье обрядово-ритуальной практике бурят Внутренней Монголии в сравнении с обрядами жизненного цикла российских бурят присущи черты общности и самобытности в проведении свадебных и погребальных мероприятий. Наряду с выявлением наиболее устойчивых компонентов в бурятских эпических произведениях, сказках, несказочной прозе, песенной культуре, паремийных жанрах установлено локальное своеобразие этих жанров в анклавной традиции. Сравнительный анализ сохранности и трансформации фольклора и культуры бурят в иноэтнической и материнской среде показывал общность бурятского и монгольского художественного наследия. При оценке буддизма как культурообразующего компонента бурят сделан вывод о наличии буддийских компонентов во всех традиционных фольклорных жанрах, в то же время в устной прозе зарубежных бурят обнаруживаются добуддийские представления и шаманистские составляющие религиозного сознания, связанные с культами неба, огня, воды, духов местности. Материалы «живых» традиций бурят Китая, обследованных как предмет фольклористики и этнографии, позволили дать семантико-функциональную характеристику текстам устной прозы. This article examines the non-fictional prose, folk song culture, and small folkloric genres of a group of Buryats living in China in comparison with the folklore of Buryats in Russia. It examines the local features of the traditional folklore of Chinese Buryats as well as universal archetypes, common Buryat plots and motifs. Analysis of the ethnic culture of Chinese Buryats against the background of Buryat and Mongol traditions reveals a common stratum of mythology and folklore, typological parallels as well as continuity of the elements of the parent tradition. In conducting wedding and funeral ceremonies, the ritual practice of the Buryats of Inner Mongolia and of Russian Buryats show both common and individual features. Along with identifying the most stable components in Buryat epics, fairy tales, non-fairytale prose, song culture, and paremic genres, the article establishes the local uniqueness of these genres in the enclave tradition. Comparative analysis of Buryat folklore and culture in both the foreign and the home ethnic environment shows the commonality of the Buryat and Mongol artistic heritage. Evaluating Buddhism as a culture-forming component of the Buryats, the author concludes that Buddhist components exist in all traditional folklore genres, while in the oral prose of foreign Buryats there were found pre-Buddhist ideas and shamanistic components of religious consciousness associated with veneration of the cult of the sky, fire, water, and local spirits. The materials of the “living” traditions of the Buryats of China, studied as a subject of folklore and ethnography, make it possible to give a semantic and functional description of the verbal texts of oral prose.

In the fairytale and epic folklore of the Siberian nations there are many similar motifs and storylines. One of these similar and quite wide-spread in the fairytale folklore storylines is the storyline of a “brother and sister”. This article gives the comparative analysis of the Altai and Buryat legends on the topic ‘a brother and sister’ in the context of epic texts of other Turkic-Mongol nations. Pointing out similarities and differences on the example of the specific texts, the author identifies the general story line that is almost identical in them. Consequently, the author comes to a conclusion that there are common archaic roots of the oral folklore of both nations that are separate not only historically but also land-wise.

Due to the insufficient amount of written evidence covering a particular chronological period, researchers are forced to resort, among others, to the help of folklore sources. In this article the author tried to identify the real historical basis of the plots of a number of Udmurt folklore works, which are often used to illustrate the history of interaction between the Udmurts and the peoples and states of the Middle Volga region in the period of the X–XVI centuries. As the research has shown, the considered historical stories and legends actually reflect historical events dating back to the period of the XVII–XIX centuries. In a number of cases, significant authorial interference in the plot of folklore works was revealed. Thus, the analyzed historical stories and legends cannot be used to highlight events dating back to the existence of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria, the Mongol conquests of Eastern Europe, as well as to the Golden Horde and Kazan periods of the history of the Middle Volga region.

Nel pantheongreco, a differenza di quello romano, la luna aveva un ruolo marginale e popolare, cosa che risulta sia dalle credenze ad essa legate così come dal suo culto. A partire datale percezione della luna, il presente articolo si propone di illustrare alcuni aspetti del folklore lunare greco, mostrando come certe tradizioni antiche siano vive ancora oggi, soprattutto in alcune aree dell’Italia meridionale. En el panteón griego, a diferencia del romano, la luna tenía un papel marginal y popular, lo que se manifiesta tanto en las creencias asociadas a ella como en su culto. Al señalaresta percepción de la luna, este artículo pretende ilustrar algunos aspectosdel folclore lunar griego, mostrando cómo ciertas tradiciones antiguas siguen vivas hoy en día, especialmente en ciertas zonas del sur de Italia.

Introduction. In folklore of Mongolic peoples, well-wishes are referred to as ritual poetry. This is one of the ancient, surviving and widespread genres to have essentially preserved the idea of word magic. It has undergone some changes but still articulates benevolent messages towards future. The Mongolian ерɵɵл (derived from Mong. ерɵɵ ‘bless, wish well, greet’), Kalmyk йɵрəл (from Kalm. йɵрǝх), and Buryat үрээрнууд address family life, nature, society, state, universe to narrate the history, lifestyles, culture, and philosophy of the ethnos. The article proves topical enough since yöräls by 20th century Kalmyk poets created on the basis of folklore analogues through interactions of oral folklore art and literature remain unexplored. Goals. The study aims at identifying and clarifying the genre differentiation of Kalmyk poets’ yöräls, thematic classification, poetics of texts. Materials and methods. The paper examines folklore and literary works from newspapers of the 1930s and 1940s. The historical/functional method shows perceptions of authorial yöräls through time. A comparative approach makes it possible to trace ties between folklore analogues and literary texts, investigates traditions and innovations — both in form and in contents — of the new yöräls by Kalmyk poets. The textual analysis reveals common features and differences of folklore and literary works of this genre. Results. In newspapers of those years, the work discovers yöräls authored by Kalmyk poets to be classified as ‘shin yöräl’ (‘new well wishes’) that served to reflect actual realities. Conclusions. While ancient yöräls had a short and spatial poetic form, the new ones of S. Kalyaev, Ts. Ledzhinov, L. Indzhiev, B. Dordzhiev, Kh. Syan-Belgin, M. Khoninov, D. Kugultinov, E. Kekteev, and K. Erendzhenov tended towards larger volumes, lexical diversity, sociopolitical and ideological orientation, thus showing a connection with modernity and enriching the genre system of Kalmyk poetry. Another scientific problem is Russian translation of the Kalmyk authors’ poetic well wishes.

The article examines the peculiarity of the concept of the linguistic style of the literature of Kyiv Rus, which is closely linked with the traditions of the scientific study of this very “red writing”. The specificity of Old Russian literature as medieval leads to its almost church character, and the specific "simplicity" in the structure of secular literary works of its own, such as "The Word of the Igor's Regiment," forcing researchers to engage in secular business texts, for example, the chronicles that are works of historical the genre. That is, in this case, the peculiarity of the concept of literary language reflecting the peculiarity of the notion of ancient Russian literature, which is by no means the "artistic" literature of the modern type, or fiction. Accordingly, the volume of materials that should serve to study the stylistics of literature of the Kiev Rus era is determined by the peculiarity of scientific ideas about the very literature itself and about the literary language in which it is created. These considerations make us propose as an auxiliary "meter" to study the style of literature of the Kiev Rus age the criterion of reflection or absence of certain poetics in the texts. As is well known, the phenomenon of poetics is legitimately extended to folklore, to contemporary business writing, and to non-folklore oral speech activity. Thus we get the opportunity to define in the same graffiti Kiev Saint Sophia's Cathedral style of church writing and oral canon, folklore and business law. But with such an approach, the bright feature of the stylistics of graffiti Sofia of Kiev in the comparison with the volume similar to the volume of graffiti texts of Novgorod Saint Sofia Cathedral is immediately striking: among the Kiev graphite there is practically no folklore of origin, not to mention the reflection of the pagan rituals that we find on the walls of the Novgorod Saint Sofia Cathedral. This conclusion can be reliably based on statistical data. But when the researchers find in the texts of the XI–XIII centuries. syllabic or "elements of sillabotonism", it is worth reminding of the very probable chance of an appropriate combination of sounds and syllables. It is much more reliable to refer some graffiti to the clerical poem. But we must not forget the hypotheticalness of such identification in general, as well as the fact that only the adaptation of the Byzantine poem to the Slavic language context can be considered.

The motive of parthenogenesis associated with the significance of the uranian factor in the beliefs of the nomadic societies of Central Asia and in the ideological attitudes of the ruling elite is considered. It is noted that the seal of the celestial origin of the steppe rulers — from the Huns to the Turks and Mongols — acted as the guarantor of the legitimacy and sacralization of their supreme power. A comparative analysis of this phenomenon is carried out using the example of the legends about Tanshihai and Ambagan — the founders of the Xianbei and Khitan powers, as well as about Bodonchar — the ancestor of Genghis Khan. Special attention is paid to the solar myth about Alan-goa, the ancestor of the khan’s clan Borjigin, as well as the legend of the birth of Temujin with a wonderful sign of chosenness, which has analogies in the Turkic-Mongol epic legends. The novelty of the research is seen in the attraction for the analysis of oral genealogical myths of different times and the written version contained in the “Secret Legend of the Mongols” and also revealing folklore sources. It is stated that all these plots related to different eras and ethnic formations are typologically close to each other, united by a similar motive of parthenogenesis. It is concluded that this circumstance testifies to a single Tengrian dominant in the worldview and ethnocultural tradition of the nomads, which determined the relevance of the idea of the celestial genesis of the rulers of the Great Steppe and was reflected in folklore.

The article proposes a cross-cultural analysis of the concept of continuity of burial traditions in the cultures of the protoTurkic and Turkic peoples of northern Eurasia, based on archaeological and folklore sources and ethnographic data of the Kazakh and Yakut ethnicities. Researchers use materials from archaeological studies of known and new sites of the Early Iron Age and Turkic time in Kazakhstan (Berel, Kyrykungir, etc.). The study of the topic requires the use of methodological approaches and developments of cultural and social anthropology, structural and semiotic analysis, deciphering the general appearance of similar cases in the spiritual culture of asynchronical, but mono-ethnic societies for the reconstruction of worldview ideas. When characterizing burial sites, the authors use traditional methods of archaeological description, chronological determination, stratigraphy, typological analysis, etc. New data have been obtained on the connections of elements of the worldview of tribes from the early Iron Age — the Middle Ages, enshrined in the burial rite of the Saka and Turkic population of the Eurasian steppes and materials of modern folklore of Turkic peoples (Kazakhs and Sakha Yakuts).

Introduction. The article examines a basic concept of any linguistic worldview — that of home (Mong. ger). Goals. The study aims at identifying and revealing semantic features of the concept in folklore texts of Mongolic peoples — Buryat, Kalmyk, and Mongolian paroemias. Methods. Folklore texts are analyzed with the aid of the structural / semantic and structural / typological methods that make it possible to consider different semantic aspects of the concept ger ‘home’. The analysis of Buryat proverbs shows the paroemias characterizing the concept can be divided into two groups: group one to include folklore texts that directly characterize somewhat general meaning of the word ger ‘home’, while group two is compiled from proverbs with an additional meaning manifested through the use of the concept ‘home’ depending on various life situations. Results. The work reveals the image of home — through the prism of proverbs — not only essentially expands its semantic content, but also characterizes specificities of ethnic worldviews inherent to Mongolic peoples, their mentality patterns. Our semantic analysis of Mongolic paroemias with the component ger ‘home’ shows the concept comprises quite a number of semes — from ‘house’, ‘dwelling’, and ‘hearth’ to ‘family’ and even ‘homeland’ (metaphorical meanings). The investigation of Buryat, Kalmyk, and Mongolian proverbs proves instrumental not only in revealing a universal nature of the binary scheme ‘us–them’ in cultural contexts, but also in an attempted characterization of the traditional nomadic worldview through the prism of specific economic and sociocultural activities.

En 1974 et 1981, deux musées nationaux d’un genre nouveau ont été fondés au Japon : successivement, le Musée national d’ethnologie dans le Kansai, et le Musée national d’histoire et de folklore dans le Kantô. Le premier expose l’ensemble des cultures étrangères ainsi que celle de l’archipel, à travers une approche ethnologique, quand le second se concentre sur l’histoire, le folklore et l’archéologie du Japon. Ce travail vise à analyser le processus de construction et la manière dont le Japon est (re)présenté à travers ces deux musées, en les inscrivant dans une histoire aussi bien muséale que disciplinaire. Leur création dans un Japon en plein essor économique et, par surcroît, qui venait de rejoindre les grandes puissances sur la scène internationale, les associe d’emblée à une volonté de positionner la culture et l’histoire nationale, afin de rendre compte de son particularisme, ou encore de son homogénéité ; théories alors largement répandues à cette période. Si ce contexte idéologique rejaillit en partie dans les choix muséographiques et programmatiques, ce n’est pas tant pour y adhérer que sous forme de tensions propres au caractère national de ces deux musées. La muséographie étant à la charge des chercheurs et non des conservateurs, ce sont d’abord des enjeux disciplinaires qui conditionnent l’exposition. La tension se situe aussi bien dans la peur de l’instrumentalisation que dans l’exigence de la rigueur scientifique pour se légitimer ; ce qui se traduira sous forme de négociations et d’ajustements entre l’autorité du discours scientifique et celui, plus politique, de l’État-nation
In 1974 and 1981, two national museums of a new kind were established in Japan : successively, the National Museum of Ethnology in the Kansai region, and the National Museum of History and Folklore in the Kantô region. The first exhibits foreign cultures, as well as cultures of the Japanese archipelago, using an ethnological approach, whereas the second focuses on the history, folklore and archeology of Japan. This work aims at analysing the process of construction and the way Japan is (re)presented in these two museums, while replacing them in both museum and disciplinary history. Their establishment, in the context of Japanese economic growth, in a country who had just joined the ranks of global powers is thus linked with a strong will to present national history and culture in order to show its particularism, or its homogeneity ; both such theories were widely prevalent in this period. If this ideological context is partly reflected in the museographic and programmatic choices, it’s not so much to adhere to them, but can be perceived in the form of tensions, pertaining to the national character of these two museums. Since the museography was left to researchers and not curators, it is first and foremost the disciplinary stakes which condition the exhibition. The tension arises from the clash of intrumentalisation, and the demand for scientific rigor to legitimate certain claims, materilazed by negociations and adjustments between the authority of the scientific discourse and that, more political, of the nation-state

La mia ricerca si concentra sul confronto di alcuni aspetti di due realtà montane (il Delfinato, area francese, ultima propaggine delle Alpi occidentali, e la Lessinia, territorio alpino a nord di Verona) a partire dall’analisi di racconti e leggende di origine orale rappresentativi di queste società fino all’epoca pre-industriale. Nella tesi in questione ho utilizzato strumenti di varia origine: all’analisi letteraria ho affiancato ricerche nel campo dell’antropologia, dell’etnologia e della sociologia per indagare più da vicino quale sia il peso dell’ambiente rispetto alla conformazione di una collettività. La mia tesi di dottorato si divide in tre parti: la prima si occupa di studiare e confrontare la scala valori di Delfinato e Lessinia; la seconda si sofferma ad analizzare la “réalité échappante” in cui vivono i montanari francesi ma, anche se in maniera inferiore, quelli lessinici; la terza affronta la tematica dello “straniero” all’interno di queste comunità. Per quanto riguarda la prima parte, i valori che ho preso in considerazione sono la famiglia, la comunità, il lavoro e la solidarietà. La famiglia risulta essere il valore più importante per entrambi i territori in quanto punto di riferimento fondamentale, capace di accogliere, di risolvere, di perdonare, di insegnare nonostante sia spesso messa a dura prova; l’attaccamento alla comunità (secondo valore) si esprime attraverso una serie di sollecitazioni che spingono la popolazione a non mancare alla messa domenicale, al filò, e agli incontri carnevaleschi; il terzo valore si identifica con il lavoro dei montanari, agricoltura e pastorizia su tutto. Occupazioni difficili, pesanti, legate per loro natura ad elementi che sono fuori dal controllo umano, come la grandine e la siccità; per quanto riguarda la solidarietà, quarto ed ultimo valore, accanto a notevoli atti di generosità “dovuti” in società come queste che si basano sull’autosufficienza, si legge anche come spesso essi non vengano elargiti o non siano gratuiti ma frutto del desiderio di ottenere una ricompensa divina. La seconda parte fornisce i connotati di questa relazione definendo “sfuggente” il quotidiano della popolazione montana. Questo perché i montanari francesi sono calati in una dimensione fortemente minacciata dal soprannaturale diabolico rappresentato da esseri di varie specie ma appartenenti tutti al mondo del Male. La loro vita quotidiana è minacciata dalla presenza, spesso o quasi sempre punitiva, di esseri immaginari (l’esprit domestique, il lupo mannaro, le fade, gli orchi…) che, proprio per essere frutto della fantasia, assumono man mano sembianze sempre più mostruose, crudeli e spaventose. La superstizione, in questo senso, gioca un ruolo di primaria importanza e fa da deterrente a qualsiasi tentativo di “ribellione”. Il soprannaturale è rappresentato però anche da esseri “umani” che si sono appropriati di poteri demoniaci vendendo l’anima al diavolo (streghe, stregoni, maghi). In questo “sistema” gioca un ruolo importante la paura del peccato. I montanari del Delfinato si sentono perennemente colpevoli e per questo meritevoli di vivere nella “valle di lacrime”, sicuri che nulla potrà cambiare il loro destino. La terza parte della mia ricerca ha come obiettivo quello di studiare i vari gruppi di “stranieri” che compaiono all’interno dei testi del Delfinato. Primo fra tutti quello delle fate, poi quello delle streghe riunite nel sabbat e, infine, quello dei francs-maçons. Questi appaiono all’interno dei testi come appartenenti al tessuto sociale ma isolati dal contesto generale in cui vivono per le loro “diversità”. Ecco, quindi, ad esempio, che le fate assumono i connotati dello zingaro, per la loro bruttezza, per le scellerate abitudini di vita, tra cui il furto, per la loro “diversità” linguistica, per le capacità divinatorie, per la “concorrenza economica” che mettono in atto nei confronti dei montanari. Gli altri due gruppi ad essere isolati sono costituiti dalle streghe e dai frammassoni che, a causa dei loro riti (considerati celebrazioni di carattere diabolico), vengono assimilati a gruppi di origine ebraica, o comunque, all’idea che i montanari avevano di questa cultura, o semplicemente a degli eretici. I dubbi e le domande a proposito di questi termini sono diversi. Essi si riferiscono all’universo della religione e sono utilizzati per definire dei gruppi “socialmente pericolosi”: perché? Forse è un tentativo di attirare l’attenzione dei montanari francesi sul carattere pericoloso degli ebrei e degli eretici? O, forse, l’utilizzo di questa terminologia legata alla religione serve ad etichettare coloro che non sono “allineati”? Tutti insieme, questi gruppi mi hanno permesso di fare un’analisi dei testi che descrivono abitudini, caratteristiche e peculiarità di ognuno di essi e di descrivere il comportamento dei montanari nei confronti dello “straniero” in generale che è di totale rifiuto nei confronti della diversità che impaurisce a tal punto la popolazione da assimilarla al Male e al diabolico. Alla fine del mio elaborato, ho riportato, in un’appendice, due interviste nelle quali Alice Joisten, moglie del defunto Charles, etnologo e raccoglitore dei testi del Delfinato, e Attilio Benetti, autore invece della ricerca che ha condotto alla pubblicazione dei due volumi sui racconti della Lessinia, hanno cercato di spiegare come si è svolto il loro lavoro “sul campo” alla ricerca dei testi e come si sono comportati nel momento in cui hanno dovuto trascrivere tali narrazioni. Nella seconda appendice, invece, ho fornito al lettore il materiale per seguire con più agilità il percorso della mia ricerca riportando per intero tutti i testi da me citati nella tesi. In conclusione, i punti di contatto tra le due società montane sono molti. Si tratta di due mondi oppressi dalla povertà, dall’isolamento, dalla solitudine, dalla paura del diavolo (ma anche, in fondo, di Dio). Nonostante ciò, qualche montanaro lessinico cerca di emanciparsi da un’esistenza che lo rende infelice e tenta (anche se inutilmente) di trovare una propria rivincita partendo per la città alla ricerca di una maggiore soddisfazione. Nei testi francesi, invece, ciò che prevale in modo assoluto è una rassegnazione accettata dalla popolazione che, d’altra parte, non saprebbe come gestire una libertà di azione di cui, peraltro, non vuole prendersi la responsabilità. Il risultato più importante ottenuto fin qui dalla mia ricerca è essere riuscita ad individuare una metodologia interdisciplinare che mi ha permesso di integrare la mia ricerca letteraria (realizzatasi attraverso l’analisi fedele del testo) con sollecitazioni legate al folklore e ad altre discipline già citate. Questi strumenti mi hanno permesso di andare al di là del testo stesso per esplorare un intero mondo, quello dei montanari e delle loro storie, certamente affascinante ma molto più complesso di quanto si possa immaginare.
My research concentrates on the comparison between some aspects of two mountain communities (the Delfinato, an area of Southern France, and the Lessinia, an alpine territory in the Northern area of Verona) starting from the analysis of tales and legends belonging to oral tradition that represent these societies until the pre-industrial period. In my study I used different instruments of research (literary analysis, anthropology, sociology, ethnology), to put in evidence the influence of environment on the character of a community. I divided my thesis in three parts: in the first one I analyzed the scale of values of these contexts; in the second part I studied the different forms of supernatural and the reactions of people facing their fear; in the third part I concentrated my attention on the reject of “strangers”. As regards the first chapter I tried to put in evidence how the values of mountain men (family, attachment to community, labour and solidarity) are all aimed at preserving order within society. So, even if family can know different crisis it remains, as tales underline, the context where everybody is accepted and loved whatever happens. This fact removes the problem of solitude deeply touching this kind of world, isolated and narrow minded. The community and all the ritual occasions as the Sunday mass, the filò (evening meetings where people can discuss, joke, work, etc.) and the carnival constitute some of the ways through which mountain people find important points of reference in order to keep stability and, again, not to feel alone. The labour, agriculture and sheep farming above all, make the life of men very difficult owing to the hardness of this work and to the uncertainty of results (storms, hail and drought can destroy the efforts of an entire season). The texts that concentrate on solidarity try to demonstrate that in these societies this value wasn't felt as one of the most important way for poor people (the majority) to survive. So, tales insist on encouraging solidarity as a possibility to preserve the world of mountain. In the second chapter I took in consideration all the fantastic beings (devil, esprit domestique, werewolf, fairies, ogres, monsters) and all the human beings whose alliance with devil allowed them to come into possession of supernatural powers (witches, wizards and some fairies). I studied all their features, the ways they appear, the ways to protect oneself from their attacks and from fear. The result of my analysis underlines how their presence in a big quantity of texts is used to create a sense of constant danger which allows to keep people in a situation of “paralysis” where nothing can be changed. They have to respect the rules if they want to survive. In the third chapter I faced the theme of the “stranger” within these societies that completely refuse to accept that “different people” can live and work in “their” own territory. Strangers are gypsies hidden under the wilderness of French “fairies”; they can also be recognized within some groups which are named sabbat or francs-maçons. Everybody thinks that these groups meet to celebrate satanic rites where even the devil in person appear. They gather in the woods, in the fields, far away from civilization. Fear of disorder, fear of supernatural being, fear of the stranger. The life of mountain populations is marked by the obsession and the respect of order. Some Italian mountain men try to get away from poorness and cultural misery to find their own place in another world, the town for example. But the pedagogical aim of the tales prevents these journeys to be successful. So, people from Lessinia are obliged to come back home, unhappy and unhopeful. French people seem to have already learnt this lesson. In fact, the Delfinato mountain men are all resigned, they never think to escape. They just live where God put them at the beginning and try to resist to the misery of their lives. They aren't interested in freedom because they are aware that it can be dangerous. Being free means becoming responsible of our own life, of our happiness, of our success, but also of our failures and our solitude.

Abstract Poems that are unwritten either because the cultures in which they occur are partially or wholly nonliterate (like the traditional native cultures of Africa, Australia, Oceania, and America) or because oral forms are cherished despite a population’s overall literacy. The exact scope of the term is disputed, but it usually also includes poetry originally composed and per formed orally that has reached us through written transmission, like some of the early epics. Some scholars also include poetry transmitted or performed by nonwritten media, such as broadcast performances or modern pop lyrics. Oral poetry takes many forms. Oral epics are widely found, particularly in Eurasia, from historic cases like the early Babylonian, Greek, and Indian epics to the later Finnish Kalevala and contemporary or near contemporary Asian examples like Kirghiz or Mongol narrative poetry or the modern Indian Pa buji epic. Ballads-shorter or more lyrical narratives-are particularly associated with Euro-American tradition but are found in arguably comparable form in various areas of the world.

Spiritual verses are a genre associated with an oral folk tradition, and they are often found in written form as part of handwritten spiritual verse collections, which were often accompanied by Russian “hook” notation. In Russian and Slavic folklore, they relate in content and style to church liturgy books and occupy a middle ground between such writings and folklore. Russian spiritual verses arose, most probably, back in the pre-Mongol period. Designed to support the spirit of piety in people, in the past they were performed by travelling singers, so-called “kaliki perehozhiye“. The Old Believers serve as custodians of the oldest examples of spiritual verses up to this day. The poems can be performed at a funeral, on remembrance, during a meal. They served as a particular link that connected the Church and everyday life for the believer. The article examines some types of the Old Believers’ spiritual poems, which are not infrequently compared to examples from eastern and southeastern European folk songs.

The European schprachund often uses well-known established translingual internationalllisms expressing common concepts, which occasionaly replace already existing cognates with similar or identical definitions. The most shining example is the Greek word ἥρως, which took root in most European languages (fr. Héros, eng. hero, it. Eroe, etc) and have mainly penetrated Eastern-Slavic languages via Polish. The Russian language is not an exception here, especially considering the fact that the unprecedented text of Mihail Lermontov “A Hero Of Our Time” obtained more associative culturological value for those versed in Russian culture than folkloric plots from “The Three Bogatyrs”. They became a definitive way to express the first concept despite the parallel coexistence of the words богатырь and ἥρως in different geographical areas. Even nowadays, words with the same roots are used in Turkic, Mongol and even Western-Slavic languages. Some Slavic languages, during the process of their formation, enriched their vocabulary by preserving synonyms with the same roots, especially the Serbian language, where the Serbian semantic analog јунак and the Turkic делија are more often used than the Greek херој. According to the axiom, every synonym has its own message in the genuine culturologic context, in this paper, we will analyze the deep etymologic semantics of these words in a culturological way, their distinctions and differences from their initial semantic roots, whose meaning has motivated the formation of their own national and Slavic concepts in the context of the lexico-semantic group “hero”.