Сultural codes: Metaphors of the sky and celestial bodies in Evenk riddles

Riddles refer to a genre of folklore that embodies the anthropocentric nature of language. The relevance of the research is explained by the fact that metaphorical descriptions of celestial objects allow not only to trace traditional culturally determined figurative comparisons but also to reconstruct archaic mythological motifs and plots preserved in the texts of riddles. The novelty of the study is determined by a semiotic approach to metaphorical images of Evenk riddles, reflecting mythological ideas of Evenks about the universe and its structure. The aim is to identify their traditional ideas about the celestial sphere on the material of cosmogonic riddles. To achieve the goal, the following tasks were solved: to distinguish key metaphors (codes) that actualize images of the sky and celestial bodies; to mark elements of traditional Evenk culture in the texts of riddles; to recognize mythological motifs and plots fixed in the riddles. The methods of contextual-semantic and semiotic analyses of cosmogonic paroemias allowed us to reveal that Evenks reinterpreted the images of the sky and celestial bodies through anthropic, zoomorphic, object-based, natural, actional, and food codes. It was established that folklore texts conserved various illustrations of elements of the Evenks’ mythological worldview, verbalized in the images of people, animals, household items, natural and sacred objects. The following results were obtained in the course of the study: in riddles there are traces of the mountain archetype, mythologemes of the world’s vertical model and primordial waters; motif of cosmic hunting is distinguished; riddles reconstruct myths and narrative lines about the anthropomorphic and zoomorphic nature of the cosmos; texts reproduce the daily life and subsistence culture of Evenks. Elements of traditional culture such as a chum, pelt, headwear are used as metaphors for the sky; the new moon is pictured through the image of a shoe made of deerskin; sun rays are depicted as a maut – a traditional Evenk lasso. Overall, the results of the study indicate that cosmogonic riddles may serve an interesting material illustrating archaic ideas about the creation of the world, the structure of the universe, as well as the specifics of the landscape, culture, traditions, and the daily life of the ethnos. The prospects of the work are seen in the possibility to use the results of the study in further research on the problems of reflecting the mythological worldview and cosmogonic representations in folklore texts of different ethnic groups.

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