The question of the correlation between the first and second parts of the Byzantine epic poem “Digenes Akritas” is still insufficiently covered in academic literature. Thus, for example, Byzantine scholars highlight both this work’s semantic-value integrity, and the fact that the folk songs serving as the basis of it had presumably been of diachronous nature. This determines the relevance of the poem’s axiological analysis, aiming to compare its parts with one another, as well as to clarify whether the artistic organization of “Digenes Akritas” involves a certain degree of inner unity and coherence.

According to the present article, the famous Byzantine epic poem, when systematically studied in such a manner, reveals itself as a work implying a fundamental difference between its various plot-compositional parts. Examining the poem in terms of the heroes’ motivational values – which are, as a consequence, decisive for the plot, – we have identified eight axiomotifs (one for the introduction, three for the first part, and four for the second one) and analyzed them successively. The results are of obvious regularity. Thus, the poem’s first part – the one depicting the main hero’s parents – presupposes a Christian value perspective (i. e., a plot emphasis put on the categories of neighbor, compassionate love, and the glory of God), while the life story of the protagonist himself focuses on such individualistic unchristian concepts as personal fame and personal honor. Digenes, even if depicted in the poem as a man of faith, turns out to be motivated only by his own interests, and never acts selflessly for the sake of other people, religious shrines or the glory of God.

As a result, it is possible not only to emphasize the fact that the epic in question has been created on the basis of different folk works, but also to establish that these works have been processed by at least two separate individuals – one of them a practicing Orthodox believer, while the other a person completely alien to Christian values – and combined mechanically only later. Consequently, an axiological analysis of the poem “Digenes Akritas” allows one to understand its genesis and its semantic-compositional structure in a more complete way, while creating prerequisites for similar studies of other Byzantine folk and literary epics, among them “The Tale of Belisarius”, “The Lay of Armouris”, and the more recent “Acritic Songs”.

The introduction of Theravada Buddhism has influenced the original narratives of rice origins among ethnic groups such as the Dai, De’ang, and Bulang. There are rich rice origin narratives in the creation epics from the three ethnic groups. This article aims to explore how the incoming Buddhism has enabled three distinct ethnic groups with different languages, cultures, and historical backgrounds to share some similar narratives of rice origin.

Taking the ethnographic fieldwork methods, involving participant observation and individual interviews with villagers, to collect and compare both oral and written narratives for analysis, the findings reveal that they share some familiar primarily manifested in three aspects: firstly, these ethnic groups share commonalities in their rice origin narratives, incorporating numerous elements of Buddhism. Buddhism has adapted these narratives by substituting vocabulary and transforming concepts to infuse them with strong Buddhist elements. Secondly, a new type of narrative appeared, where the rice god contends with Buddha and ultimately departs to the Dark World and then be brought back by Buddha. The theme of rice god versus Buddha mirrors the historical struggle between two faiths. Meanwhile, the theme of rice god’s departure to the Dark World and return fundamentally serves as a metaphor for seed germination and growth in the soil, representing a concession made by Buddhism to the worship of the indigenous beliefs. Thirdly, Buddhism actively participates in and promotes rice cultivation, such as monks reciting the Bu Huanghao to request blessings for crop growth, and performing rituals like washing Buddha pagodas to pray for rain. In conclusion, the introduction of Buddhism has significantly influenced local rice narratives, reflecting the conflicts and eventual reconciliation between the rice god and Buddha, as well as the struggle and compromise between traditional beliefs and incoming Buddhism.

This article touches on the problem of studying the interaction of folklore and literary traditions in the works of authors who came from the people, bearers of oral folk art. In Soviet times, in the literature of the peoples of the USSR, especially in newly written literature, folk singers played a significant role in poetic life. Their works successfully intertwined folklore and literary traditions: a certain synthesis of form and content occurred. In our work, we drew attention to the work of one author, Nikolai Stepanov – Nooroy, a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR, folk singer, olonkhosut, participant in the Great Patriotic War. The relevance of the article lies in the fact that until now the period of active creativity of folk singers of Yakutia, as authors, as creators of Soviet folklore, has been little studied. The subject of our research is the works of N. I. Stepanov – Nooroy, his songs and poems on Soviet themes. The work uses comparative, analytical, and analytical methods to reveal the interaction of folklore and literary traditions and the transformation of folk songs into original songs. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that this work studies the fusion of folklore and literary traditions, their interaction in the works of one author, a bearer of the traditional oral culture of the Sakha people. As a result of the study of the author’s poetic works on the Soviet theme, we concluded that in the poems, songs, and toyuks of N. I. Stepanov, the interaction of folklore and literary traditions is clearly observed. From the works of N. I. Stepanov it is clear that the folk singer, firstly, worked to preserve and transmit the traditions of folk art mainly in olonkho and toyuks, and secondly, he became one of the founders of a new type of folklore, a song genre called Soviet folklore. Stepanov’s songs about labor and workers can be considered historical, because they reflect reality and glorify real people. The writer’s poetic works on Soviet themes reflect historical facts and events of the Soviet period. His works have cultural value, and as works reflecting reality, they are a historical and cultural monument.

Important components in stability of the tradition are stable poetic descriptions and epic formulas, in the structure of which reference words and phrases are necessarily found. The study purpose is to identify and describe magical objects with the semantics of “healing, resurrection”, contributing to the development of a certain plot and motifs in the epic narrative of the Khakas people. The realization of this purpose provides for the solution of the following tasks: identification and description of stable poetic descriptions using the example of magical objects with the semantics of “healing, resurrection”, with the detailed analysis of specific magical attributes, similarities and differences in the texts of different storytellers, determination of the degree of reference to the epic plot and motifs. The category of magic items under consideration includes: triple-joint grass, white flower, living water, lake with healing water, white silk handkerchief, whip with a golden handle, feather. The introduction of magical objects with the semantics of healing and resurrection into the poetic texture of the epic contributes to the further disclosure of the motifs associated with heroic matchmaking, with trials and exploits of the hero/hero woman. Despite the fact that the analyzed magical objects are not mandatory attributes, they contribute to the development of a certain plot in an epic piece of work, the connection of various sections of the text, ensuring their semantic coherence. The study relevance is due to the lack of research on the poetic and stylistic system of Khakas heroic tales. In the study, the consideration of certain ethno-poetic constants is very important, since they play an important role in shaping the structure and content of an epic plot. In Khakas folklore studies, this problem has been studied on a piecemeal basis. The scientific novelty of the work is in the fact that for the first time ethno-poetic constants are considered on the example of magic objects. The novelty of the research is also manifested in the fact that the information, revealed from folklore works, will significantly replenish the factual base of research in the field of studying the motivational fund of the Khakas people’s folklore. To achieve this goal, descriptive and comparative methods were used in the work.

The investigation of Russian folklore has not yet been fully institutionalized in literature, cinema, and theater. In Russian literature, for example, there are no novels about Koshchei the Immortal, Ivan the Prince, heroes of Slavic pagan culture and many other characters of this genre. Meanwhile, these are deep, colorful images organically integrated into an equally vivid context. Many great writers, such as Thomas Mann, have written about such gaps. The goal is to identify the main typological characteristics of the Russian epic, which, in our opinion, has been studied in this sense very one-sidedly.

The methodology is a comparative analysis of various approaches (mythological, historical, structural, etc.) closely interconnected with the characteristic features and structure of epics. At the same time, considerable attention is the harmonious combination of various motifs of the epic: heroes, Kalik-passers-by, epic time, pagan influences, hyperbolization, etc. An attempt is made not to accept, but to take into account various influences on such studies (pre-revolutionary, post-revolutionary, inspired by the Marxist approach, structural analysis, which began to be used in the study of Russian epic since the 1970s).

The Russian epic, thanks to a huge number of historical, social, and cultural connections, naturally interacts with the epics of the republics (union and autonomous) that were part of the former USSR, which opens up wide opportunities for comparative studies of various types. Paths are outlined for a comparative analysis of the Russian epic with the epics of the East Slavic peoples, as well as with the Yakut heroic epic Olonkho.

The authors’ further plans involve continuing the study of Russian folklore in the genre of fairy tales and the field of culture of Slavic paganism. The first of them has been studied quite fully, but the structural and systemic approaches to research need to be further developed. The culture of Slavic paganism is a little-studied area where there are still no established approaches, and there are different points of view on many issues. Here you can apply the methodological approaches outlined in our monograph “Philosophy of Olonkho”.

The author deals with the text of an archival document discovered in the materials of the Second Kamchatka expedition led by Vitus Bering, in the collection of field notes of the expedition member, the German doctor and translator G. W. Steller. This fragment in Latin is a recording of a Yakut folk song of the first half of the 18th century. The purpose of this article is to introduce a previously unpublished archival text into scientific circulation by translating the text and describing its artistic features. As part of the research, the following tasks were set: to study the history of the text, give a description of the manuscript, transcribe and translate it into Russian and highlight the artistic means used. According to the fixation of Yakut folklore in the specified period is known to science the ethnographic work of J. J. Lindenau “Description of the nations of Siberia,” which contains the text of the algys ritual on the Ysekh holiday. There are also recordings of folk songs of northern nations performed by G. W. Steller, but this text has not yet been examined by folklorists. The work uses theoretical and practical research methods as: study of scientific works, the main research method is textual analysis, which uses the method of review, description, interpretation, connection, translation, decoding and analysis of the composition, artistic and visual means of the text. The author concludes that the ancient folk song has a developed syllable. Rhythmic alliterative verse, consonance of line endings close to varieties of rhyme, parallel constructions, constant epithets and comparisons as the main means of depiction demonstrate a fairly high level of development of Yakut folk poetry. The author sees the prospect of research in the discovery of similar texts of the specified period, which would allow more in-depth research in this area.

This article is devoted to the identification of universal and national values in the epic texts Mighty Er Sogotokh and Maadai-Kara. The relevance of the study of the problem is due to the growing interest in the comparative study of linguistic and cultural features in multi-system languages based on the material of epic texts. The following methods are used in the work: the continuous sampling method, linguistic and cultural and interpretative analyses, and the comparative method. The material for the analysis was extracted by a continuous sampling method from the original texts of epic tales, provided with a line-by-line translation into Russian. The purpose of the work is to identify and describe universal and national-specific attitudes in the value perception of the surrounding world, reflected in the linguistic units of epic tales. The study revealed that both texts enshrine such basic values as family, attention to people, safety, respect for parents, Homeland, justice, health, etc., which show their relative stability in the temporal and spatial dimensions. The vital, cultural, moral, spiritual, terminal, and other values available in each community exist collectively in one context. It is also revealed that the lifeaffirming imperative is translated from the position of the characters, for example, the father and mother of the main characters or on behalf of the mistress of Altai, who have significant experience in pragmatic communication with the outside world and the nature of the worldview of the inhabitants of the space of their existence. Thus, a general picture of values is formed for transmission to the inexperienced, the young, or those who are looking for value supports to know themselves and others, are in search of answers to the multifaceted questions of human existence, etc. The prospect of further work is seen in a more detailed and in-depth development of the dominant values that determine the norms of behavior in various discursive practices of related languages.

This article is devoted to the study of the custom of kyz alyp kashyu – kidnapping a girl, which has been preserved among the Karakalpaks to the present. The causes, forms and types have been identified. The peculiar features and place in wedding ceremonies are determined. Also, the article analyzes the historical and ethnographic motifs that testify to the ancient forms of bride kidnapping. Karakalpak folklore represents the most archaic layers of wedding rituals and traditions. In particular, folk tales, legends, and epics have preserved motifs related to marriage based on stealing the bride.

In the work, the author shows with the help of ethnofolklore materials that the early types of bride kidnapping preserved in the texts of the Karakalpak epics differ from modern times. The motif zhaylap alyngan ҳayal or olzha ҳayal (“trophy woman”) in the Karakalpak epics has an archaic character, which is inherent mainly in the military-democratic period. One of the main requirements of a military-democratic society is the custom of kidnapping the women of the defeated side and marrying them. In another way, predatory marriage, marriage by capture, kidnapping, abduction of women is a primitive, very common form of marriage, in which the marriage union is established by forcibly (actually or feigningly) capturing a woman. These motifs are found in various variants. One of the plots that is characteristic of Karakalpak folklore is the unauthorized departure of a girl to her lover or the staging of her abduction by prior mutual consent, which is widespread among Karakalpaks today. The abduction of the bride is staged with or without the consent of the parents.

According to the author of the article, the motifs associated with kidnapping the bride are peculiar not only to Karakalpak folklore, but also to other peoples and ethnic groups. This gives us the opportunity to discover the similarities and interrelationships of the Karakalpak people with other peoples. In addition, the author interprets the results of analyses of images associated with the motif of kidnapping the bride in such epics as Yedige, The Book of my grandfather Korkut, the legends Ketenler, Pedigree of Turkmen (Shazharai tarokima) and in field records conducted by the author.

The article analyzes the images of two main characters from the epic Ural-batyr and the olonkho Nurgun Bootur the Swift by Platon Oyunsky, which are based on ancient mythological ideas of people about life, about the world around them, ideas about the struggle between good and evil, etc. A comparative study of the following plots in the epics is carried out: the birth of boys; the upbringing of adolescents; the actions of the main characters, etc. The aspect of behavioral stereotypes of batyrs in three worlds, the features of service for the benefit of unity, freedom and happiness of the people are studied. The relevance of this study lies in the fact that the study of the behavior and actions of the main characters allows us to identify their common features, and for the first time a comparative typological analysis of two epic heroes of the Bashkir and Yakut epics is made. The scientific novelty of the study consists in an attempt to artistically comprehend the features of the images of the main heroes of the olonkho Nurgun Bootur the Swift by Platon Oyunsky and the epic Ural-batyr. Particular attention is paid to the methods and techniques by which the image of the main hero is created. The purpose of the study is to identify the ideological and artistic features and the typology of differences in the images of Batyrs from the main epic monuments Ural-batyr and Nurgun Bootur the Swift by Platon Oyunsky. The main task necessary to achieve this goal is to conduct a comparative analysis of the images of batyrs in the epics of two Turkic peoples. A comprehensive study of artistic images allows us to reveal the actions of the heroes, which have spiritual and educational significance. The study revealed that the images of the Yakut and Bashkir epics have a number of similarities and differences due to the peculiarities of the worldview, mythological ideas and views of the peoples. The common idea is that men serve goodness and justice.