HEALING PRACTICE OF THE RUSSIANS OF THE SOUTHERN URALS: THE TECHNIQUE OF «TRANSFERRING» AN AILMENT FROM A PERSON TO OTHER OBJECTS

DOI: 10.47026/1810-1909-2024-3-12-19

УДК 39+615.11

ББК 63.5 (2Рос.Баш)

Farida G. GALIEVA

Key words: the Russians of the Southern Urals, prayers and incantations, folk mythology, field materials, archival sources.

The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the folk medicine of the Russian population residing in the Southern Urals (Ufa province) is one of the poorly studied but most important layers of ethnic culture, in which continuity of ethnic traditions, the dynamics of worldview and religious identity are clearly manifested.

The purpose of the study is to identify the method of «transmitting» the disease from a person to a living or inanimate object in the healing practice of the Russians of the Southern Urals.

Materials and methods. The object of this study is the Russian peasant population of the Southern Urals, formed in the XVI–XX centuries from the natives of the northern, central, southern and Western European governorates of Russia. The chronological framework of the study is from the end of the XIX to the middle of the XX century, when ethnic traditions were still preserved. The sources were the author’s field materials and information on folk medicine of the Russians of the Southern Urals in published and handwritten works of R.G. Ignatiev, D.K. Zelenin, M.V. Kolesnikov, A.I. Kiikov, N.P. Kolpakova, B.G. Akhmetshin, Yu.G. Dinikeeva. Research methods: contrast of previously published and handwritten field materials on folk medicine of the Russians of the Southern Urals, comparison with other peoples and regions.

Research results. The «transfer» of the disease was carried out with the help of certain magical actions, as well as incantations and prayers. The objects of the ailments «transfer» were domestic animals (cats, dogs, chickens, roosters, goslings), as well as fish (pike), trees (birch), fire, stove smoke. Domestic animals were certainly turned to in the case of infants treating, allegedly because of violation of the prohibition for pregnant women to kick pets. «Leveling» some diseases with symptoms of redness (measles, rubella, erysipelas, stubble of the newborns) was achieved by using a red cloth. The actions performed during the treatment were associated with shaking the child, lifting him up and taking him aside, repeating the shape of the Orthodox cross, delineating the sore spot, wrapping (the trunk of a tree with the patient’s belt), spraying water through a burning splinter (in sores on the face).

Conclusions. The ways of getting rid of ailments by «transferring» to other objects in the Southern Urals by Russian settlers were passed down from generation to generation until the middle of the XX century, the period of preserving traditional viewpoints about their causes (violation of prohibitions and, as a result, penetration of harmful entities into a person). The ways of treatment are associated with the attributes of peasant life and characterize the religious syncretism of Russian peasants.

References

1. Arkhangelskaya A.M. Sobaka kak «nechistoe» zhivotnoe v traditsionnoi narodnoi kul’ture i yazyke [The dog as an “unclean” animal in traditional folk culture and language]. SLAVICA SLOVACA, 2020, no. 1, pp. 110–122.
2. Dinikeeva Yu.G. Narodnye sposoby lecheniya detskikh boleznei (po polevym ehtno-graficheskim materialam, sobrannym u russkogo naseleniya Bashkortostana [Folk methods of treating childhood diseases (based on field ethnographic materials collected from the Russian population of Bashkortostan)]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta, 2016, no. 1(32), pp. 54–59.
3. Egorova O.V. Ehtnografiya detstva chuvashei Volgo-Ural’ya vo vtoroi poloviny XIX – pervoi treti XX vv.: traditsionnaya rodil’naya obryadnost’ i sotsializatsiya rebenka: dis. … d-ra ist. Nauk [Ethnography of childhood of the Volga-Ural Chuvash in the second half of the XIX – first third of the XX centuries: traditional maternity rituals and socialization of the child. Doct. Diss.]. Cheboksary, 2010, 538 p.
4. Zelenin D.K. Cherty byta Usen’-Ivanovskikh staroverov [Features of life of the Usen-Ivanovsky Old Believers]. Bel’skie prostory, 2011, 1, Jan., pp. 93–108; no. 2, Feb., pp. 144–159.
5. Ignat’ev R. Narodnye primety i pover’ya v Ufimskoi gubernii [Folk signs and beliefs in the Ufa province]. In:Gurvich N.A. Pamyatnaya knizhka Ufimskoi gubernii. Svedeniya chislovye i opisatel’nye, otnosyashchiesya k 1882–83 gg. i tol’ko ves’ma nemnogie – k prezhnim godam [Memorial book of the Ufa province. The information is numerical and descriptive, relating to 1882–83, and only very few to previous years]. Ufa, 1882, pp. 328–342.
6. Kaginskie primety, pover’ya, zagovory [Kaginsky signs, beliefs, conspiracies]. Kaga, 2013, 27 p.
7. Kiikov A. O perezhitkakh drevnosti v pover’yakh i obychayakh sovremennogo russkogo krest’yanstva v BASSR [About the remnants of antiquity in the beliefs and customs of the modern Russian peasantry in the BASSR]. In: Kraevedcheskii sbornik, 1930, no. 3–4, pp. 65–69.
8. Kolesnikov M. Ehtnograficheskie ocherki russkogo naseleniya v Ufimskoi gubernii, v ego narodnom bytu, obryadakh, obychayakh i pr. [Ethnographic sketches of the Russian population in the Ufa province, in its national life, rituals, customs, etc.]. Ufimskie gubernskie vedomosti, 1888, no. 42; 1889, no. 1–3, 6, 9, 14, 21, 22, 25, 29, 32, 34, 36; 1890, no. 3–8, 43, 48.
9. Nikonova L.I. Traditsionnaya meditsina tyurkskikh narodov Povolzh’ya i Priural’ya kak chast’ sistemy ikh zhizneobespecheniya [Traditional medicine of the Turkic peoples of the Volga region and the Urals as part of their life support system]. Saransk, Ruzaevka, 2000, 156 p.
10. «NovyE» imena: istoriko-literaturnye i kraevedcheskie issledovaniya na Yuzh-nom Urale v XIX – nachale XX vv. [“New” names: historical, literary and local history studies in the Southern Urals in the XIX – early XX centuries]. St. Petersburg, 2015, 174 p.
11. Pashkova T.V. Religiozno-mifologicheskie vozzreniya karelov na bolezni ospu, krasnukhu, kor’ i vetryanku [Religious and mythological views of the Karelians on the diseases smallpox, rubella, measles and chickenpox]. Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i ehtnografii, 2024, no. 1(64), pp. 151–158.
12. Field materials of the author. 2019. Respublika Bashkortostan, Duvanskii district, Voznesenka. Informant: Igisheva N.I. (1936 year of birth).
13. Pokhoronno-pominal’nye traditsii na Yuzhnom Urale: sb. materialov fol’klo-noi ekspelitsii laboratorii narodnoi kul’tury [Funeral and memorial traditions in the Southern Urals: collection of materials of the folk exposition of the laboratory of folk culture]. Magnitogorsk, 2008, 223 p.
14. Popov G. Russkaya narodno-bytovaya meditsina. Po materialam ehtnograficheskogo byuro knyazya V.N. Tenisheva [Russian folk medicine. Based on the materials of the ethnographic bureau of Prince V.N. Tenishev]. St. Petersburg, Type A.S. Suvorin, 1903, 404 p.
15. Russkii fol’klor Bashkirii. Zapisi fol’klornykh ehkspeditsii 1938 g. Bashkir. NII yaz. i liter. pod ruk. N.P. Kolpakovoi (g. Leningrad) [Russian folklore of Bashkiria. Recordings of folklore expeditions in 1938 Bashkir. Research Institute of yaz. and the letter. under the direction of N.P. Kolpakova (Leningrad)]. In: Nauchnyi arkhiv Ufimskogo federal’nogo issledovatel’skogo tsentra RAN. Fond 3. Opis’ 12. Dokument 80 [Scientific Archives of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Archive 3. Anagraph 12. Document 80].
16. Sovremennoe sostoyanie predanii, chastushek i bylichek severo-vostochnoi Bash-kirii: sbornik fol’klornykh materialov [The current state of legends, ditties and tales of northeastern Bashkiria: collection of folklore materials]. Ufa, Bashgu Publ., 2013, 213 p.
17. Tolchanova T. Mir russkogo doma. Kniga narodnoi zhizni [The world of the Russian House. The Book of folk life]. Moscow, Belfry Publ., 2004, 592 p.
18. Toporov V.N. Mifologiya: stat’i dlya mifologicheskikh ehntsiklopedii [Mythology: articles for mythological encyclopedias]. Moscow, 2011, vol. 1, 600 p.; 2014; vol. 2, 536 p.

Information about the author

Farida G. Galieva – Doctor of Philological Sciences, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Chief Scientific Officer, R.G. Kuzeev Institute for Ethnological Studies, Ufa Federal Research Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia, Ufa (afg18@mail.ru; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1548-3012).

For citations

Galieva F.G. HEALING PRACTICE OF THE RUSSIANS OF THE SOUTHERN URALS: THE TECHNIQUE OF «TRANSFERRING» AN AILMENT FROM A PERSON TO OTHER OBJECTS. Vestnik Chuvashskogo universiteta, 2024, no. 3, pp. 12–19. DOI: 10.47026/1810-1909-2024-3-12-19 (in Russian).

Download the full article