The article describes the features of poetic form and content of epic products of the ethnicities representing the Northern branch of Tungus group – Evenki and Evens. The main purpose is to reveal the characteristics that allow building the historical typology of the epic, which should be based neither on the social characteristics of performers of the epic nor on the world represented in the epic, but on the objective formal characteristics of epic narrations. The tasks of the work are to identify the common features peculiar to the archaic forms of epic narrations, and not typical of more developed and chronologically latest forms of the heroic epic. The author recognizes the interrelations and interdependences of the epic and fairy tale, yet prefers to recognize that the myth and not-fantasy prose, epic and fairy tales form the triad built on the line between truth and fiction. Studying the repertoire of epic motives and drawing up the arch of epic motives allows separating epic motifs from fantasy motifs of fairy tales (despite the presence of motifs, common for these two genres), and using the structure of epic motifs for the historical and typological characteristic of specific texts. The author believes that the gradual evolution of epiclies in the increased quantity of the epic motifs, from some minimum to the maximum, which can be seenin its latest examples. Other features of the early epic are as follows: uncertainty of the ethnic characteristic of heroes; absence of concreteness of the image of an ethnographic reality; minimal poetic means, inducing to classify texts only by their content; such peculiarity of introducing a new characters to the text as when they first are heard as a voice, and only then appear in a narration in the visible space so that heroes can see the new character.The revealed features of the earliest epic works allow classifying as early epic narrations many samples of folklore of Paleosiberian peoples (Chukchi, Eskimos, Koryaks), in which folklore epic forms have not been found before or they have not been distinguished from historical legends with military plots.

This article analyzes texts of the Khakass and Shor heroic legends “Alyp Kuskun”, recorded by L. N. Arbachakova from narrator V. N. Tannagashev; “The lowest of khans Khan-Pergen” (“Kannan chabys Kan-Pergen”) in S. S. Torbokov’s self-record; “Ai karattyg Kаrа Kаn” in V. E. Tannagashev’s self-record; Khakass legends “Altyn Aryg”, recorded by V. Ye. Mainogasheva’s record from P. V. Kurbizhekova, “Albynzhi” in V. I. Domozhakov from S. P. Kadyshev; “Tyulgyu Khyzyl Alyp Khys”, recorded by D. I. Chankov and V. I. Domozhakov from M. K. Dobrov with the aim of identifying features of traditional wisdom associated with these peoples’ image of the world. The specificity of the Khakass and Shors’ traditional image of the world can be traced in peculiarities of the artistic space, time, and the system of characters. The author identifies and analyzes the most frequently recurring motifs and images, objects of the objective world, serving as a key to understanding important features of these peoples’ culture, and concludes that in the epic of the Khakass and Shor contains most important universals of culture, reflecting a system of concepts and way of understanding the world. Spatial representations of these peoples are the most clearly identifiable, and the artistic image of “own” space is formed through images of the mountain (ridge), steppe, great river, hitching post, and white yurt.

It is identified that the most important reference universals in the Khakass and Shor epic are earth, water (chir-sug), and the closely related images of mountain, steppe, yurt, and the hitching post. They have strong ethnic-cultural characteristics and reflect views of these peoples about the Universe and about “own” world; the ideas about man’s place in the world are fixed in them. The considered texts of epic tales testify that according to the Khakass and Shor views, in the tripartite structure of the Universe, the Under World is a kind of a “dark” mirror reflection of the Middle (solar) World.

Acknowledgements: The research is financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities, project No. 16-04-00332 (а).

The article analyzes the information from Japanese historical sources on how the descriptions of events in the first half of the 4th century (the corrected chronology) in the history of Yamato (the unwritten period) remained and were transferred till the time when they were recorded in the late 5th – early 8th centuries. It is found out that from the moment of formation of the Yamato state at a turn of the 3rd – 4th centuries, the historical material remained in epic and historical legends about the “deeds of old times” which are handed down by special story-tellers (Jap. katari-be). According to “Kuji-honki”, such set phrases about ancient deeds were said in the first year of the Emperor Jimmu`s reign (301 AD, the corrected chronology). It is established that there was a special clan of heads of story-tellers and keepers of ancient legends – Ama-katari-no muraji. The Chinese sources have kept the letter of the Japanese ruler Yūryaku of 478 AD in which the existence of epic legends on his ancestors is mentioned. Historical essays have examples of story-tellers, so-called “aged men” (Jap. furuokina). Elements of the epic legends were used in “mourning speeches” (Jap. shinobi-koto), in writing of official chronicles of the country, as well as historical-geographical descriptions of certain provinces (fudoki).

It is established that material of epic legends served a source for the describing events of the East campaign of Jimmu; the foundation of the Yamato state by him (at a turn of the 3rd – 4th centuries); the period of “eight rulers” (316-324 AD, the corrected chronology); and the restoration of unity of Yamato during the reign of Emperor Mimaki (Sūjin, 324-331 AD, the corrected chronology); and development of the Yamato state during the reign of Emperor Ikume (Suinin, 332-336 AD, the corrected chronology). Especially vivid signs of using the epic legends as primary sources of chronicles of early 8th century are found in descriptions of the Western and East campaigns of the prince Yamato-takeru, son of Emperor Ōtarashi-hiko (Keikō, 337 – apprx. 343 AD, the corrected chronology). The description of events of the reigns of Tarashi-naka-tsuhiko (Chūai, apprx. 343-346 AD, the corrected chronology) and his young spouse – Empress Okinaga-tarashi-hime (Jingū, 347-389 AD, the corrected chronology) is based on materials of the epic legends.

Thus, historical data on the deeds of great people of Yamato, rulers and commanders living in the first half of the 4th century (the corrected chronology) are based on the oral legends which have handed down from generation to generation and preserved by storytellers-aged men (furuokina).

Karakalpak national folk epics represent some reliable genetic sources of the marriage rituals, which explain numerous phenomena in the social life the ethnos in the earlier days of the establishment of the ethnic cultural group as a national unity. These works possess rich sources certifying the norms of ancient marriage.

The present article focuses on studying some earlier forms of the family – marriage relations basing on Karakalpak folk epics. The research of rituals and customs related to the wedding ceremonies with the use epic sources is important as it gives an opportunity to study thoroughly their genesis and certify their historical origins.

In this work, we studied a number of folk epics, analyzed the historical and genetic sources of the wedding rituals, and covered the ways of their transformation at various stages of the social development. Besides, we held some scientific-comparative analyses of literature on epic studies, ethnology and ethnography, concerned with wedding ceremonies. The epic sources were assessed from the social-historical point of view.

Basing on the epic materials, the author studied motives related to the tradition of choosing the bride and the groom, identified types of marriages, their ritual peculiarities and the basic conditions of marriage as “gures” – “wrestling”; “altyn qabaq atiw” – “shooting a golden pumpkin with an arrow”; “baygi” – “races, horse races”, etc. All these types of contests, set mainly by the bride, are aimed at testing the groom: whether he is worthy to marry him or not. The epic sources show that initially, the considered kinds of sports had an instant character to confirm maturity. Namely, at these contests, lads proved whether they were ready for the self-sufficient life. In their contents, such motives related to marriage in Karakalpak folk epics are characteristic of the matriarchal period. One of the characteristic features of this period is that the lasses-brides set some terms to a potential groom, and marries the batyr who carries out all terms, which were put to the groom. Before marrying, lasses tested the capabilities of their boyfriends chosen to become their husbands. They agreed to marry only those who won in the contest.

The research shows that the studied epic material associated with the custom of choosing the bride and broom was one of the earliest stages of wedding rituals, since they appeared, formed and developed on this base.

The novelty of the article is that earlier, the comparative studies of the Yakut olonkho with the Khakass epic considered only similarities in the composition and the plot, and the minimal structural units of the epic text, such as rhythmic syntax parallelisms, were not studied specifically.

The aim of the article is to identify, describe and compare the rhythmic syntax parallelisms in the Yakut olonkho and Khakass epic through structural and semantic analysis.

The article analyzes rhythmic syntax parallelisms of the Yakut olonkho “Modun Er Sogotokh” by V. O. Karataev and the Khakass epic “Ai-Khuuchin” by P. V. Kurzhibekov by means of a structural and semantic analysis based on the method of modeling. The comparison of the epic texts revealed a similarity in 25 rhythmic syntax parallelisms, which makes 4.6% of all parallels in the Yakut epic text. Of these, the most typical for most Olonkho constructs of parallelisms are chosen as examples the structural models, which are presented separately and described on the basis of the Leipzig glossing system.

As a result of the analysis it is established that in the compared epic texts, the main ways of forming rhythmic syntax parallelisms coincide, i. e. both in the Yakut olonkho and in the Khakass alyptakh nymakh, parallelisms are formed by the literal repetition of lexical units and word combinations that form the core or matrix of parallelism. The rest of the terms expressed by synonyms or context synonyms are selected by the narrators based on the lexical-semantic field of parallelism based on alliteration.

In the epics in question, in some cases the semantic load of rhythmic syntax parallelisms coincides completely: well-being for the road, a picture of the world, a talking horse, a heroic battle, a final victory over the enemy. In addition, in some of them, the structure also coincides. Probably, these examples contain relics of the archaic epic, and as a result, parallelism in both epics has been transmitted almost unchanged. It is assumed that in the extreme antiquity, when the ancestors of the Yakut people lived close to the Khakass people, active bilateral contacts were conducted, resulting in interpenetrations, which is evidenced by coinciding rhythmic syntax parallelisms in the compared epics.

Acknowledgements: The research is financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research, project No. 15-04-00496 (а).

In the context of reviving the epic Yakut culture, consideration of all aspects of this process is important, and the separate culture of listening to the epic of olonkho acts as its main component along with the narrative itself. The aim of the work is to find special academic and practical approaches to reviving the culture of listening to the Yakut epic olonkho in the modern socio-cultural conditions of the Yakut ethnos. The study uses both philosophical, phenomenological and ontological, and cultural philosophical, special interdisciplinary culturological approaches that make it possible to compare the narrator with the improvising poet and philosopher, and the listener with an integral personality capable of creatively mastering cultural information – using appropriate methods: information, logical, comparative analyzes, methods of analytical psychology, generalization. The components of the epic culture are designated, the novelemological structure of the hearing culture is developed, the hearing scheme, it is intended to introduce all this into the practice of revitalizing the olonkho as a special technology. The latter consists of the continuation of the study, and also the task of developing a model of the listener. The author comes to the conclusion that in order to actualize the local center of the olonkho epic it is necessary to have five phenomena or systemically connected elements of synergy: olonkho as an archetypal integral text of culture; the narrator-olonkhosut as the bearer of the epic culture and the subject of cultural creation; authentic tales of olonkholoosun as a cultural activity; the listener of olonkho as a subject of perception, consumption and co-creation of the product of epic culture; hearing of the truth as co-creation and creative supersensory perception of a work of high folk art with concomitant catharsis, mimesis and anamnesis through the three substances of the inner world of man’skut (soul).

Nowadays, there are no special researches connected with the problem of publishing song sections of Olonkho, though musicologists have studied published musical samples of the Yakut traditional songs and some tunes of olonkho. Separately, researchers studied a notation in music of folklore tunes. In this regard, the fundamental work of E. E. Alekseev “A musical notation of the folk music: theory and practice” stands out. Thus, the perspective offered in article is still topical. The purpose of the current work is studying the publishing of musical texts of the Yakut heroic epic Olonkho. The aim of the study brings the following tasks: to investigate the history of publishing olonkho tunes and the notation of song sections of olonkho. The publications of olonkho epic began in the pre-revolutionary period. It is known that all olonkho have tunes and there even exists sung olonkho samples in which the verbal text makes a small part of the entire piece. However, numerous editions of epic legends of the Yakut people still do not include musical interpretations of song sections with the verbal component only, though even pre-revolutionary had notation of songs. In the recent times, musical notations of tunes of the Yakut epic were included into the published collections of the Yakut folk songs. Since the 60-volume series “Monuments of Folklore of the People of Siberia and the Far East”, the notation of song sections of heroic epic has been included along with the verbal text. The notation of tunes of the Yakut epic represents an independent issue, as it involves introduction of special musical signs for designation of the sounds that are not present in the European notation, as well as choosing the placement of a melodic line on the page. Nevertheless, at all complexity of publishing olonkho with musical interpretations, such edition work needs to be continued.

In the last decade there was a surge in interest in the study of national epics, including the Yakut heroic epos of Olonkho. The interests lie in a comparative study of Olonkho with the epic heritage of other Turkic peoples, and a study of Olonkho as a method and instrument of perception of the world.

In ancient times the Olonkho served as a source of knowledge about the world and the ancient history of the people. The Olonkho is a poetic narrative that tells about the origin and the creation of the universe. The truth of the described events was beyond a doubt. This research is relevant, because the understanding of historical experience remains an important objective of the humanities. It includes studying all of the available sources, such as monuments of folklore, as in epics we find evidences of welfare and customs; they reflect the values of the people and their worldview. That is, each people is characterized by a certain heroic epic, in which national heroes and their feats are sung.

The main purpose of this article is to analyse Plato Oyunsky’s concept of the ancient history of people. The objective is to find examples in the “Nyurgun Bootur the Swift” Olonkho, which characterize and describe the ancient history of the people. The “Nyurgun Bootur the Swift” Olonkho is regarded by researchers as an initial text of the Yakut Olonkho heroic epic.

This article also discusses a theory that Plato Oyunsky perceived Olonkho as a literary genre or “an ancient literature” according to Mikhail Bakhtin’s terminology.

Plato Oyunsky introduced a new definition of the literary genre. He denoted the genre of his first major work “The Red Shaman” and dramatic work “Tuyaarima Kuo” as “Olonkho-toyuk”. In 1927 he puts “onohullan erer Olonkho” (“the arising Olonkho”) as subtitle to the “Great Centenary Plan” prose work.

The article considers the olonkhosuts and system of images in the olonkho texts of the Momsky epic tradition. The study was carried out based on the results of the folklore expedition in the Momsky district in 2017. The main purpose of this expedition was to study the traditions and modern existence of oral and intangible cultural heritage. During the expedition, more than 117 samples of different genres of folklore were recorded. Names of 32 olonkhosuts and olonkho performers are included. 12 new names of olonkhosuts, which were not mentioned earlier in the sources, were found. It was revealed that olonkhosuts did not go to families, but performed olonkho only at home or in clubs. The authors believe that for this reason the names of many olonhosuts did not spread over the Momsky district. The main characters of this tradition were defenders of their clan and family. In the image of the main character in the texts of the Momsky olonkho, we can find the features of a hero- hunter. The heroes of the aiyy of this tradition were distinguished by their accuracy and vigilance, that are the qualities of hunters. In addition, the main characters were distinguished by character traits, like quick temper, rudeness, cruelty, ruthlessness and severity. In the olonkho of Momsky epic tradition, the image of Udagans is wide spread. They were representatives of three Worlds. Udagans from all three Worlds actively helped the heroes of aiyy and changed the course of events in the olonkho plots. Opponents of the main characters in the texts of the olonkho of Momsky epic tradition are images of heroes and girls of the Abaasy. They are representatives of the tribe “Abaasy Aymaga” and lived in all three Worlds (Upper, Middle and Lower). In the texts of the olonkho of the studied tradition, the image of the Tungus hero Ardamaaan-Djardyamaan is characteristic of the opponent of the protagonist. The Tungus hero personified the image of an alien enemy. The authors conclude that the texts of the olonkho of Momsky epic tradition has its own peculiarities and differences that need to be studied.

Acknowledgements: The research is financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research, project No. 16-06-00505 а.