Ritual poetry of the Yakuts. Working program "Yakut folklore"

Irina Belaya
Yakut folklore as a means of educating preschoolers

From the first years of life, a child should love his native land, ethnic culture with his heart and soul, feel a sense of national mountain achievement, as they say "Put down roots in the native land". Preschool age, according to psychologists, is the best period for the formation of love for a small homeland.

Yakutsk the land is rich in forests and rivers. You look at the beauty of the forests and do not see enough, sweet spring water you drink and not get drunk, and the fields, like a generous tablecloth - self-assembled, are presented with vegetables.

Among villages and towns are spread over forests and fields. Roads and paths ran from village to village, from town to town. They call the road on the way, and beckon to go and drive along the beautiful Yakut Territory.

There are many ways in this world to travel to near and distant lands, and among them known from time immemorial - a journey through fairy tales and various wonderful stories - a path that allows you to go along unknown roads for a magic ball that must be thrown to the ground and to tell: "Roll, roll, ball, unwind the silver thread, stretching along the ground in a clear path."

The ball will roll through forests and fields, through mountains, through villages and cities, and will lead you straight to wherever you want. A better guide on earth for a fairytale hero than a magic ball and its silver thread, perhaps, cannot be found. So, we throw a magic ball in front of us and hit the road ...

The feeling of the Motherland begins in the child with the relationship in the family, the closest people - to the mother, father, grandmother, grandfather. These are the roots that connect him with his home and immediate environment.

The feeling of the Motherland begins with admiration for what evokes a response in his soul. And, although, many impressions have not yet been deeply comprehended by him, but passed through the childhood perception, they play a huge role in the formation of the personality of the future patriot.

Have Yakut people, nature is an important factor education... In childhood, children learn about the plant and animal double of man, about the Ducks, as creators of the world and the receptacle of the human soul, the Deer, as a patron god, that trees give their energy to good people, and take it away from bad people.

Bringing up love and respect for animals, birds, trees, rivers, we use myths, legends, traditions, fairy tales.

Our region has a distinctive culture. Beautiful legends and fairy tales Yakut people always carry a charge of special warmth, kindness, morality. Each Yakut a fairy tale is a wonderful lesson in generosity, decency, kindness for a little citizen.

Yakutsk fairy tales attract the children's audience with their optimism and knowledge. This is one of the reasons that people do not forget their tales, do not part with them, they have a moral impact on the development of children.

Yakutsk legends and traditions played a big role in the birth of literature, various types of art and still have not lost their significance. They are the source education children have feelings of love for native land... Artworks Yakut folk poetry play an important role in the spiritual life of the people, the formation public conscience, philosophical, aesthetic ideas about nature and social life, v raising not only children but also their parents.

As long as the people live, it will develop and folklore and all kinds of arts. Folklore embracing in its many genres all aspects of our multifaceted life, it is one of the forms of social consciousness, an oral form of folk history, the memory of the life of ancestors who have gone into the past, a kind of folk philosophy.

True folklore always aimed at promoting good, beauty, focused on the formation of such a person who would direct all his energy and will to defend his homeland, a peaceful life and international friendship between peoples, the victory of good over evil, the achievement of social harmony.

Past experience contained in folklore, serves as an excellent and inexhaustible source in the preparation of the person of the future.

Yakut folklore- an integral part of creativity Yakut people ... For many centuries, this is the main educational tool.

Child folklore in all its genre richness (lullabies, songs, pestushki, jokes, chants, sentences, rhymes, teasers) is used in working with children preschool age at training Yakut language.

Baby folkloric works with their cheerful, perky poems, verbal play, vivid imagery contributes to the deep mastery of the wealth of the native language, the development of speech. A special place is occupied by lullaby songs.

More common view Yakut lullaby songs - songs with them-provisioned text:

The little child is sleeping

Father went to town

He will sell a squirrel, a hare,

Bagels, gingerbread will bring

Little baby will eat

Big will become.

In lullabies, the first seeds of poetry for babies are born - their tunes. Elements of imitation of the sounds of nature instill in babies speech skills and develop an ear for music.

Yakutsk lullabies are excellent examples of folklore. Through them, the child's primary vocabulary is formed, without which knowledge of the world around him is impossible, his thinking develops.

Therefore, when teaching children preschool age Yakut the language is used by the vernacular folklore which begins with the study of lullaby poetry.

The work is compiled on the basis of materials from folklore expeditions of different years with the inclusion of notations from the earliest recordings and presents a condensed anthology of Yakut song folklore, covering both ancient and modern layers, all its main styles and genres. In this work, for the first time, phenomena that were not amenable to notification were reported. The publication consists of a preface (by E. Alekseev), notated transcripts of folk songs with text and notes commenting on each musical sample. The book is addressed to employees, students, students of musical specialties, participants in amateur performances and all lovers of folk song art.

Responsible editor

Professor A.V. Rudneva

Yakutsk branch of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1981

Foreword

First, a few general methodological remarks.

The musical notation of folk songs is always associated with certain difficulties. By its very nature, music of the oral tradition, possessing a whole complex of specific properties, lends itself to fixation on music paper with great difficulty and a significant measure of convention. The point is not only in the variant freedom of folk tunes and their constant variability, especially in the samples of the improvisational warehouse. The very inner logic of folk melos, the very principles of its development, often do not coincide with the logic and meaning-forming system of the music of the written tradition. The European musical notation, which in many ways gave rise to this tradition and associated with its origin with the thinking of a very specific stylistic era, turned out to be ill-suited for recording oral musical speech, especially when it comes to cultures that are obviously far from European.

There is another fundamentally important circumstance that complicates the notation of folk music, and this circumstance is fully realized by our science only in recent times... The fact is that we are able to analyze and comprehend only what we have learned to more or less accurately record on paper. On the other hand, we can reliably and without significant risk distort the meaning of what is sounding, fix in the notes only that which, at least to some extent, was previously comprehended theoretically. Folk music is a complex object to understand, especially difficult to understand from the standpoint of the so-called "school", academic theory of music, still based mainly on European tradition composer thinking. Own theory of folk musical thinking, arising from its internal, autochthonous properties and regularities, strictly speaking, it is impossible to build, relying on notations made according to the norms of composer's music. Such notations of samples of folk melody are in essence always only their more or less successful "translations" into a fundamentally different, European-written musical language. Adequacy with such a translation is hardly achievable, and the relative reliability of the fixation is closely related to the theoretical comprehension of the deep laws of national musical thinking. A kind of vicious circle is formed, and each notation of a more or less complex folklore pattern is an attempt to break out of this circle.

It is therefore understandable what exceptional difficulties, which are difficult to overcome even at the present time, encountered from the very beginning the collection of the Yakut musical folklore... With the exception of a few, relatively simple everyday melodies, recorded by ear in the last century, in the musical fixation of the Yakut folk melody, despite all the efforts, little was achieved until the 1930s, when the first serious theoretical observations were made. Each subsequent decade brought its own achievements along this path, but until the 1960s there was no fundamental shift. And the main thing here was not at all the lack of technical possibilities for fixing (tape recorders, in particular), but precisely in the undeveloped theoretical ideas about the laws of national melodic thinking. And only a constructive understanding of the originality of the Yakut song, which until then was more felt than realized, made it possible to note rather complex samples of traditional melos.

So, before turning to the characteristics national identity of the Yakut song culture, an attempt to reveal which the musical texts presented in this collection represent, it is worth emphasizing once again

The conventionality of any notation of an oral folklore sample, which, in principle, cannot be translated into a fixed musical text without significant losses;

The related need to make adjustments to the very techniques of musical notation, one way or another adapting it to the specific features of folklore intonation;

Fundamentally analytical character of folklore notations, realizing the indissoluble connection between the fixing and meaningful functions of musical notation.

The listed general methodological circumstances (especially the last one) determine the essential features of the proposed publication and cause the need to preface it with a detailed, theoretical, preface.

The originality of the Yakut song is rooted in the peculiarities of the historical fate of the Yakut people, who, as you know, fancifully combined southern and northern components in their culture. Having once moved from the expanses of the steppe south to the far north and entering the intense culture Exchange with the nomadic tribes of the vast taiga and tundra lands (Evenks, Evens, Yukagirs), the Yakuts managed to preserve the still tangible traces of the steppe culture, transforming its ancient Türkic-speaking roots in a completely new way. Having created their own unique musical and poetic world over the centuries, they merged in it the freedom-loving impulses of the steppe people with the violent, irrepressible imagination of the inhabitants of the North.

The traditional life of the Yakut people has always been full of songwriting. There was, perhaps, not a single significant event in his life that did not find a response in songs, just as there was no activity that the Yakut would not seek to accompany with singing. The monumental heroic epic of the Yakuts - olonkho, which is the core of the traditional artistic heritage, is permeated with song. In these extended, sometimes several thousand lines of poetry, legends, a quick recitative narrative alternates with song episodes that convey the direct speech of numerous characters, often endowed with constant musical characteristics. The art of olonkhosuts, marked by obvious features of professionalism, required a complex, or rather, syncretically indivisible talent, combining the abilities of a poet-improviser, singer and actor, perfectly mastering the techniques of reincarnation, including vocal. Essentially, the olonkhosut should have the entire arsenal accumulated in traditional folklore expressive means - poetic, dramatic, musical. It is no coincidence that on the way of stage interpretations of olonkho, based on the practice of joint performance of legends by several olonkhosuts, which was encountered in the past, the formation of a national musical theater took place.

In an effort to cover the leading genres of Yakut song folklore, we naturally had to single out olonkho song fragments into an independent section of our collection. And it is appropriate to preface their musical characteristics with a general overview of traditional Yakut songwriting, for its main streams are intertwined in olonkho, in it the main song styles and manners of performance coexist and interact.

Song folklore of the Yakuts is notable for its diversity and genre and stylistic branching. Several musical dialects can be traced in it (we will talk about them later), but its main distinguishing feature is the existence of two different types of singing, according to the already established tradition, called song styles. One of them - "high", solemn singing - was named dyieretiy yrya(smooth, flowery song), the name has long been stuck in the people for the second degeren yrya(measured, moving song). Singing in a manner degeren- this is a more ordinary, ordinary, more common singing in everyday life, which, in contrast to dyieretiy yrya does not require special vocal skills.

Singing in style deyeretii, which concentrates the national sound-timbral ideal, essentially does not have any close analogies in other musical cultures. This creates significant difficulties both for its implementation in the composer's work, and for attempts at musical fixation. Much easier to correlate with academic musical skills is traditional style singing. degeren and mass contemporary songwriting based on it. This, first of all, explains the predominance of just such types of singing in previous publications of Yakut musical folklore.

One of the most notable differences in song style deyeretii- its saturation with characteristic falsetto tones - kylysakhs, which usually constitute a kind of decorating "counterpoint" to the sound of the main melodic line and create the effect of a specific "solo two-voice" - the bifurcation of the singing voice into two melodic lines independent in timbre. This quite original way of singing won the fame of Yakut folk singers almost less than the fame of the Tuvan "throat-singers", performers of the traditional two-timbral "khomei", which is also found among some other peoples. Something similar to the Yakut kylysakhs can sometimes be noticed in the singing of other peoples, but as a meaningful and systematically developed vocal reception they are unique.

We will dwell on the kylysakh technique in more detail later, in connection with the problem of their musical fixation. Now let's turn to the inner, deeper structure of singing. deyeretii related to the improvisational nature of this song style.

Generally speaking, deyeretii as a specific type of singing is the traditional way of existence of the oral epic poetry Yakuts. Its leading genre, which gave rise to the corresponding song form, is toyuki ( toyuk), which are extensive musical and poetic improvisations of an emphatically epic cast. Toyuki can be folded and chanted for virtually any sufficiently sublime occasion. Rather, everything that is sung in such a song improvisation, as it were, rises in our eyes, acquires a new high meaning, even if it is a subject that is emphatically ordinary and seemingly insignificant. So, in Yakut folklore, there are toyuks sung on behalf of an old, obsolete broom or worn out birch bark dishes ( "Sippiir yryata", "Yarҕa yryata", "Bөh chabychakyn yryata" etc.). Folk singers-improvisers, with their inspired art, are able to raise these seemingly little respectable subjects to the level of high ethical and philosophical generalizations. The creative inspiration of folk singers becomes all the more inexhaustible when it comes to really important and topical events of our time. We can safely say that none of them is left without the creative response of folk singers-improvisers. It has always been this way, at all times, and it remains so today - the Yakutskiyoksuts actively respond to all significant moments of social life.

Toyuk usually opens with a colorfully sung solemn exclamation ( "Dyie buo!", "Kөr boo!", "NS!" etc.). Its form develops as a succession of large musical periods-tirades corresponding to the natural division of the song text, each of which ends with a vocal cadence, as colorfully ornamented as the opening exclamation (which, by the way, can be repeated at the beginning of a new large section of the toyuk). Individual tirades include from 3-4 to 12-15 or more lines of verse (usually depending on the tempo of the song - the faster the tempo, the more lines the musical period can cover, the dimensions of which are ultimately determined by the inspiration of the singer and the breadth of his singing breathing). Each syllable of the improvised song text undergoes a systematic chant according to one of the selected traditional singing model-formulas. This rhythmic cliché, uniform for each toyuk (the formula for chanting syllables), which, of course, allows for quite free variant deviations, turns the chanted syllables of the toyuka into uniform musical feet, thereby rhythmizing any, even quite prosaic text. In combination with the developed technique of alliterative versification, which the singer-improviser must master, and under the conditions of the law of vowel syngharmonism that is steadily operating in the Yakut language, this determines the musical expressiveness of the toyuk and their often outstanding poetic merits.

Roughly the same, in the same performing manner, samples of the old ritual poetry- ritual appeals to the patron spirits, all kinds of algys (traditional glorifications, good wishes, parting words) and many olonkho song fragments. The songs of most of the positive characters of the heroic epic - the heroes of the Middle World, their entourage, relatives, their patron spirits, and often heroic horses - are performed in the style of dyeretii and in the form of toyuk. It is not without reason that many olonkhosuts were at the same time wonderful toyuksuts - creators and performers of epic song improvisations. But if the art of olonkho is clearly fading away (nevertheless continuing to feed the development of modern national poetry, music, theater), then the creativity of the Toyuksuts continues to function actively today. Now it is extremely rare to hear a detailed performance of the whole olonkho (it gives way to shortened versions and retellings, concert performance of fragments), but hearing a just composed toyuk is still not uncommon. The themes of modern toyuk are constantly updated, which have become a mobile form of oral civil poetry, not inferior in its ideological orientation to the literary work of professional Yakut poets. However, musically and stylistically expressive means The toyuka remained essentially the same: the technique of singing improvisation, perfected over the centuries, remains unchanged. That is why we considered it possible to present this traditional genre of Yakut songwriting with modern works - the famous epic improvisations of Ustin Nokhsorov ("The Day of the Great Victory", ar. 13) and Sergei Zverev (I praise the great Lenin, ar. 14). From the point of view of the purity of style and the specificity for the epic tradition of the two main regions of Yakut songwriting - Prilensky and Vilyui - these two toyuks can be considered classic examples of the genre.

The art of toyuksu requires special training, long and persistent improvement in the depths of an unofficial, but nevertheless very effective and efficient folk singing school. It is rare for someone to learn how to use kylysakh easily and, as it were, by nature. Singers have mastered this performing technique, and even more so the art of high poetic improvisation from childhood, listening to the masters and sometimes trying their strength among their peers. The time for public appearances and nationwide fame does not come soon for them. But if glory comes to them, then it spreads far and lives for a long time, not yielding to the glory of the outstanding olonkhosuts of the past.

Although the songs degeren and do not require the passage of a special vocal school, however, this type of singing has always had its own recognized masters ( yryahyttar), also loved and respected by the people. Their individualized tunes (in contrast to typical toyuk formulas common to songs of very different content) were usually more or less firmly associated with individualized song texts and had either a simple one-line or also a simple couplet structure. Rhythmically and intonationally melodies degeren often echoed the chants of the traditional circular dance suokai ( ohhuohai). Freely improvised texts of the latter are chanted in a general dance circle to stable melodic formulas in each region, based, as a rule, on the primordial Türkic choreic seven-syllable, which also occupies a key position in melodicism. degeren.

Genre and thematic range degeren yrya is not inferior to the substantial and genre variety of Toyuk. It includes both lyrics (of a very different kind - from contemplative-philosophical to love-erotic), and the area of ​​funny jokes and unassuming children's musical play. The song component is essential (also in the style degeren) in some types of fairy tales, in everyday humorous stories, in tongue twisters extremely popular among the Yakuts - Chayrgakhs ( chabyrҕah), in game folklore. Often, unusual, specific singing techniques are practiced, interspersed with a typical melody degeren special syncopated aspirations ( taqalay yryata, "Palatine song"), guttural wheezing ( habarҕa yryata, "Guttural song") or characteristic nasal sounds ( hoҥsuo yrya, "Nasal, nasal song").

Generally speaking, there are no strict boundaries between the two types of Yakut singing. And the point is not only in the presence of intermediate and transitional phenomena, which are difficult to attribute without hesitation to a drawn-out or measured song. The fact is that some song genres, depending on the specific conditions of performance, local traditions, or simply by coincidence of external circumstances (up to the singer's momentary mood), can be realized either in one or another type of singing. Just as Ustin Nokhsorov, for example, could perform the same verbal initiation osuokai with the same inspiration in the Vilyui or Amginsky manner, so many folk singers can, at will, perform the well-known song text in the style deyeretii, and on the motive of the popular degeren yrya, and often as a solo traditional dance... Both types of singing could sound tuoisuu yryata- songs of love chorus, sometimes monotonously endless road, travel songs ( suol yryata, ayan yryata), and sometimes lullabies ( bihik yryata).

A special group is made up of tunes that are somehow connected with shamanism ( oyuun kuturuuta, udҕan yryata) and with some morbid states of the psyche close to the shamanic sphere ( manerik yryata, enelgen yryata, kөgүs yryata, tүүl yryata etc.). Separate samples of this kind of songs, still occasionally found in the form of relics or imitations, are published here for the first time (more detailed information about them is given in the comments to the notations).

All of the listed types and genres of Yakut traditional singing, with the exception of osuokai, are emphatically monophonic, solo. The conditions for the formation of developed polyphony appeared only in modern times, which gave rise to mass forms choral singing and ensemble music making. Perhaps the exceptional development of solo singing among the Yakuts, its high level requiring even a certain specialization, the presence of a specific art of two-timbral singing (singing with kylysakhs) - all this to some extent hindered the development of polyphony in traditional Yakut culture. All the more indicative are the attempts to sing together in the style deyeretii, which are undertaken by folk Yakut singers as part of an amateur musical movement... Ensembles of toyuksuts now appear more and more often, and although their activity is fraught with fundamental difficulties (with attempts to preserve the improvisational nature of this song style in conditions of collective performance), some encouraging experiments of joint singing of toyukes certainly deserve attention. Doubtful as a promising form of collective creativity, collaborative singing in style deyeretii has some perspective as a collective form of performance of already canonized Toyuk. One of such experiments is presented in our collection (sample 15).

In the old days, joint singing was widely practiced only in osuokai, where the solo remarks of the improviser-lead singer were repeated by everyone who entered the dance circle, repeated as accurately as possible, but in reality it was always with some intonation nuances and heterophonic deviations from unison, due to timbre register mismatches of voices and all sorts of random moments (up to the absence ear for music and lack of voice control). The musical notation of such a spontaneous, essentially still disordered and poorly controlled polyphony is practically impracticable, and sometimes it is simply meaningless, unless one specifically addresses the study of the original forms of polyphony. However, in cases where joint singing, having not yet lost the character of the primary discord, nevertheless turns into a stable, traditionally legalized practice that generates a figuratively expressive result, attempts to fix such phenomena in musical texts become justified.

Olekminsky osuokai has long become such a well-defined practice of polyphonic singing, in which the attention of the dancers involuntarily switches to the harmonization of voices in a harmonic vertical. Like the circular dances of the Evenks and Evens, in the Olekma Osuokai, care about the verbal and textual side of the tunes actually disappears, since the participants in the dance limit themselves to chanting the refrain words devoid of specific semantics.

In this collection, we also give an example of another stable type of polyphony, which was established in the introductory section of the Vilyui variety of the Osuokai (Sample 16, Part I). This is the so-called kiirii toyuk, a slow opening invitation to the dance, performed by a small initiative group, which is gradually joined by other dancers, forming at the beginning of the so-called haamy үҥkүү(dance step, actually osuokai) a closed dance circle.

The musical interpretation of field recordings of such singing is often impracticable: the voices of an arbitrary mass of participants are so intertwined that the most sophisticated ear cannot separate them. Therefore, in order to reflect the real ratio of at least a few voices, a special experimental recording was organized. From the general circle of dancers, three participants were selected who knew the tradition and had the skill of performing osuokai together. As a result, in the tape recording made from them, it became possible to listen to the functions of each voice. The number of voices in the experiment could have been increased if at that moment there were technical possibilities for separate (multichannel) recording of voices. However, this notation, limited to just a two-part texture (one lead singer and two singers), is, in our opinion, of a certain value, because it gives some idea of ​​the fundamental nature of polyphonic performance in the style deyeretii, about the degree of his freedom and about the way of combining voices. For comparison, another fragment of the same experimental record (sample 16, part II) is also given - the beginning haamy үҥkүү, dance with a step, when the basic rhythmic formula osuokaya comes into play, which retains its shape in the final, jumping part of the dance ( kөtүү үҥkүү), usually characterized by a gradual increase in tempo (in our example, this part is omitted).

Since in the past, the intonationally expressive musical instruments were limited to the Yakuts mainly by the jew's harp ( khomus) and a homemade violin ( kyryimpa), on which folk musicians often reproduced the popular song repertoire (while successfully imitating the timbre features of national singing), we can reasonably consider the proposed selection of samples, including songs of various genres, sufficiently representative for traditional Yakut musical folklore as a whole.

In the traditional Yakut song, as already noted, there are several regional styles of singing, in other words, dialects. The leading ones are Prilensky (central) and Vilyui. The main difference between them lies in the nature of sound production and in the manner in which the verbal text is presented. Vilyui singers prefer rhythmically collected, energetic singing, clearly articulating each syllable ( ethen ylyyr). Prilensky (these include singers of the entire vast central group of districts - including Amga, Tattinsky, Ust'aldan) are inclined to a wide and free melodic chant, to fancifully ornamented singing abounding in kylysakhs ( tardan ylyir). This distinction relates primarily to style. deyeretii, but often affects degeren- singing.

The most talented representative of Prilensk singing was the already named Ustin Gavrilievich Nokhsorov (1907-1951), who, being a great master, also mastered other styles of singing, including Vilyui. The brightest representative of the latter was Sergei Afanasyevich Zverev (1891-1973), who created, in the mainstream of the Vilyui song dialect, essentially his own, individual style, which found numerous imitators and followers (not without reason now, instead of “singing in Vilyui”, they often say “singing in Zverev ").

Within the framework of these two, long-interacting stylistic traditions, there are, of course, cross phenomena: in Vilyui singing (primarily in the introductory toyuk to osuokay), extensively sung samples are found, in the folklore of the Prilensk regions there are clearly rhythmic tunes chanting every word (especially in dance, game genres or chabyrgakhs). Along with this, there are genres in which dialectal differences are less pronounced or even do not affect them at all. This supra-dialectal, common Yakut has long been (or always has been) the art of olonkhosuts, who use different types of traditional singing in their legends. Along with the main style for them deyeretii where monologues are sung goodies- tribe characters aiyy inhabiting the Middle World - olonkhosuts use tunes based on the principles degeren yrya... This is how songs of lyrical female characters are performed, in particular - of the good heavenly shaman (sample 3). Typical comic heroes of olonkho often sing this way. At the same time, special techniques of sound production are often used, designed to endow these images with a memorable confused stutter ( Simekhsin emekhsin, Soruk-Bollur- arr. 10, 11) or assertive and loud speech ( Abaahy udagana, arr. eight). The olonkhosuts also resort to onomatopoeic singing just as often, characterizing, for example, the appearance of the evil Ajarai (a representative of a tribe hostile to people abaahy) or imitating the neighing of a heroic horse (samples 5, 7, 12). Sometimes they also use the insinuating northern manner of singing, which is especially appropriate when it is endowed with the Tungus bogatyr acting in the olonkho.

In general, the gravitation towards a more drawn-out, spacious, calm manner of singing is still traced in the central regions, and towards a more elastic, chanting singing - in the Vilyui regions, despite the intensified mixing of these styles in modern amateur practice, leading to the erasure of local differences and to the development of general average singing style.

The northern style of singing that has developed among the Yansk-Indigir-Kolyma Yakuts, and, obviously, not without the influence of the indigenous inhabitants of the region (first of all, the Evens), still remains a little aside. In the Ust-Yansky region, for example, there is even a special term for the local manner of singing - muoraly toyuk("Sea tune", sample 22). A similar style of singing, distinguished by a soft, peculiar in timbre and flexible, rhythmically plastic manner of intonation, is represented in our collection of songs by the Abyiskan Prokopiy Yegorovich Sleptsov, but only partially, since his singing has expressive individual features and is distinguished by an active, creative attitude to tradition.

I will now dwell in more detail on the notational problems proper, which, as already mentioned, is directly related to their theoretical premises, and, consequently, to the need to touch upon the internal laws of the structure of Yakut songs.

All samples included in this edition, documents of whatever time they may be - from the first phonographic recordings of the early 20th century to materials recorded in expeditions in the late 1970s - are transcripts from tape recorders. Unlike previous publications of Yakut folklore, there are no auditory recordings, that is, songs recorded directly by ear, without the help of sound recording technology. This is fundamentally important because it increases the documentary accuracy of the notations.

It would, of course, be unfair to deny the documentary value of auditory recordings altogether, which have their own advantages. Made by an educated musician with a trained ear and tenacious memory, and even better - practically possessing the skills of folklore singing, they are able to achieve a high degree of generalization and, therefore, have great artistic merit. That is why many auditory notations by Fyodor Kornilov, Mark Zhirkov or Hrant Grigoryan still retain their intrinsic value and continue to serve as first-class material both for the study of Yakut folklore and for its composer's implementation.

However, not all genres of Yakut singing lend themselves to notation by ear. Just the epic-drawn-out songs most characteristic of the national culture in the style deyeretii, by their very improvisational nature, excluding accurate reproduction during repeated performance and differing in the unusualness and complexity of their rhythmic and tonal organization, no one has yet been able to write down to notes directly by ear. Thus, the real prerequisites for the scientific study of the features of traditional Yakut melody arose only with the advent of the phonograph, which for Yakutia coincided with the very beginning of the last century.

For a long time, the first phonographic recordings of Yakut singing were considered the recordings of Jan Strozhetsky, made by this exiled Polish revolutionary in Kolyma at the turn of 1903-1904 with the help of an apparatus sent by the famous Moscow ethnographer and anthropologist D.N. Anuchin. Four rolls with Strozhetsky's Yakut recordings are kept in the phonogram archive of the Pushkin House in Leningrad (Inventory No. 1234–1237). In the same place, as part of the collection of another famous ethnographer V.I. Yokhelson, four more rollers with recordings of Yakut singing were discovered relatively recently. As it was possible to establish from the field notes preserved in the archives, it is precisely these records that are actually the first in time: they were made two years before the records of J. Strozhetsky - at the end of 1901 or at the very beginning of 1902. Their condition is better than that of Strozhetsky's rollers, and their value is also determined by the fact that they are among the first experiments in Russia to use a phonograph for folkloristic purposes. Fragments of olonkho imprinted on Yochelson's rollers compare favorably with Strozhetsky's scattered shamanic records, first of all, by the imprinted material itself. Despite the unsatisfactory technical condition of the rollers and the lack of accurate certification, by their sound one can get some idea about the nature of the recorded olonkho and about its performer. Two of the three song fragments heard in these recordings turned out to be possible to notate. Our publications also begin with these notations (samples 1 and 2).

The first experiments on notation of Yakut phonorecordings were undertaken shortly after these recordings were made. In the appendix to his article, D.N. Anuchin placed notations of four excerpts from the spells of the Kolyma shaman Fyodor Vinokurov, performed on behalf of the commission by the folklorist A.P. Maslov. The quality of these notations could not be high, since it was almost impossible to understand the content of the fragments recorded on the rollers without any accompanying comments and descriptions. The notator himself emphasized the approximate nature of the transcripts and accompanied them with a cautious assumption that "the melodic singing of the Yakuts is at the lowest stage of development and, perhaps, survives only the epoch of the fourth." Unfortunately, in view of the poor preservation of the rollers, it is not possible to clarify the "approximate notograms" of A. Maslov (this is how SA Kondratyev later characterized them).

Attempts to notify the Yakut phonorecordings were made in the 30s and 40s, but the matter did not come to publication. It is known, for example, that Yakut songs in Moscow and Yakutsk were recorded before the Patriotic War with the help of a sharinophone, and in the first post-war years - on a discograph. It is possible that transcripts of some of these records are the notation of five fragments from the olonkho "Nyurgun Bootur the Swift" published by M.N. Zhirkov in the appendix to the bilingual edition of this olonkho edited by G.U. Ergis. If anything, they look too detailed for auditory notation.

The number of sounding materials in Yakut song folklore began to grow rapidly with the advent of the tape recorder (early 50s). But their study and publication were developed with a great delay. For by themselves, magnetic records, just like phonographic rolls and flexible celluloid disks, remained only an unrealized prerequisite for such a study, because such records become real material for researchers only when they are translated into musical text. Individual samples of tape notations gradually began to appear in print as examples in special theoretical works, but this already applies to subsequent decades. The only gratifying exception in this respect was the collection of S.A. Kondratyev, who made a significant contribution to the collection and study of Yakut songs. It is based on 52 tape notations of most genres of traditional and modern musical folklore of the Yakuts, including for the first time with great care made transcripts of episodes of the heroic epic and songs in the style deyeretii... In this regard, the publication of S.A. Kondratyev is the only valid "precedent" that we could rely on when preparing this publication. The collection is preceded by a detailed research article, most of the notations are accompanied by detailed musicological commentaries. The collection also includes selected auditory notations by M.N. Zhirkov and G.A. Grigoryan, extracted from their archives.

Much of the theoretical coverage of the materials published by Kondratyev does not satisfy us today. One cannot agree with some of the fundamental points of his notes. However, in general, it is necessary to pay tribute to the thoroughness and conscientiousness of the scientific contribution made to the study of the Yakut song by this remarkable folklorist. Without his work, it would have been impossible to take the next step - to try to switch to the analytical notations of the traditional Yakut melos. This is exactly the attempt that our publication represents.

Let us now dwell on the main theoretical aspects of the notations proposed below - on the principles of fixation and design of their pitch, metro-rhythmic, structural and timbre sides.

Perhaps the greatest difficulties for the researcher are associated with fixing the pitch side of Yakut singing, since the processes of initial formation of modes and the formation of stable scales are still actively proceeding in it. The relatively weak development of musical instruments (more precisely, the absence of instruments of a fixed scale) and the limited experience of ensemble singing in the past did not contribute to the addition of stable modes in traditional Yakut singing. This is associated with the high-altitude variability and fluidity of the traditional Yakut melody, and not only in epic improvisational songs, but often in songs. degeren... At the same time, this melody has a rather strict internal logic of inter-tone relations, which manifests itself in spite of constantly changing scales. If you do not try to penetrate into this relatively simple, but peculiar logic and do not realize the specific system of modal functions of traditional Yakut intonation, then detailed pitch notations can disorient the reader, creating the impression of a great complexity of the high-altitude structure of Yakut singing. Therefore, it is necessary, at least very briefly, to describe this scale system.

The most noticeable, outwardly impressive phenomenon of the Yakut scaled sphere is the so-called "opening frets" (G. Grigoryan's term). They are formed due to the smooth (sometimes so smooth that it is difficult to convey in semitone notation) displacement of the reference tones that form the melody relative to each other. This happens in the process of gradual development of the song melody, while maintaining its rhythmic and linear contours. Usually there is a gradual departure of neighboring steps from each other (hence the term proposed by G. Grigoryan), the distance between them can often reach two, two and a half and even three tones (without a fundamental change in the ladofunctional relations between the steps, which remain the same neighboring steps of the changing scale). Occasionally - at the beginning of a new major section of the song - a temporary return to the original, tight intervals is possible, but, as a rule, the internal proportions of these constantly evolving height rows always remain unchanged. In general, there is a tendency to either uniform ("self-tempering"), or to proportionally decreasing scales as the register increases.

Typical chant-formula deyeretii form only three, less often four steps, which have the following modal functions (in ascending order) - stable, non-voice and modal antithesis, which sometimes coincides with the “exceeding” (culminating) tone. Each of the tones may have its own falsetto sound-kylysakh, but in principle, it is with these basic tones-functions that the modal structure of the melodies deyeretii is exhausted, and this is despite the visible presence of a large number of sounds of different heights. For all their high-altitude diversity comes down to the variants of the listed three or four constantly evolving, mobile tones-steps.

Chants degeren can sometimes include a greater number of steps, including an additional lower reference tone (most often - in the form of a subquart). Many of these tunes now tend to shift to diatonic scales and even to seven-step major or minor scales of the European type, which have become established in the new mass Yakut song. However, among the former degeren-Chants are still not uncommon to encounter a fluid "opening" of the fret, which still makes them difficult notation. Like many epic toyuki, traditional degeren yrya therefore, they often appear in notes in a complex “modulating”, ultrachromatic form, or (in case of fragmentary recording) as a series of seemingly contradictory modal (in reality - scale) variants.

Thus, the Yakut melody is often really difficult to fit into the semitone scale of notations. In order not to distort its true meaning too much, one has to resort to microalterative refinements. In this regard, in this publication, as in a number of other folkloristic publications, a unified method of fixing micro-intonation nuances has been consistently carried out, based on dividing a semitone into three equal parts, corresponding to 1/6 of a whole tone. In addition to the indisputable advantages in the external design of notations and economy in signs, this makes it possible to record the smooth "opening" of the frets both in the conditions of two-timbral singing and in polyphonic samples.

The traditional Yakut melody is by no means easily translated into the commonly used major-minor system of modes, and even with the possible external coincidence of its scales with the scales of this system, the internal meaning of many Yakut tunes often turns out to be different. Therefore, it is often necessary to abandon the accepted practice of setting key signs in accordance with the fifth-circle of tonalities. In our notations, key signs (including "micro-intonation" ones) are displayed only in those cases when they actually occur in the song. At the same time, they are placed in ascending order and, as a rule, in the place of their actual sound. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the reader to avoid deceptive stereotypes of tonal perception.

The rhythmic structure of the Yakut melody is poorly studied. But, despite this, a sufficient number of misunderstandings have accumulated here. Contrary to popular belief, the Yakut song rhythm, even in tunes degeren is by no means easy to fix in notes, since the periodic metric of the choreic warehouse is often complicated in them by the flexible inter-beat variability of the rhythm. On the contrary, in the melody deyeretii, as a rule, a clear internal rhythmic pulsation is felt, seemingly contradicting the improvisational freedom of the meter usually emphasized by researchers and the free poetic stanza determined by the syllabic character of the song verse (regarding the periodic intrasyllabic chant in melodic deyeretii it has already been discussed).

In the notations proposed here, as far as possible sequentially, a method of their structural design, ordered by lines, is carried out - the so-called syntactic (or, as they sometimes say now, paradigmatic) ranking. The syntactic method of arranging bar lines is closely related to it.

The bar line is considered by us primarily as a dividing one - in contrast to the more common timing in composer music of the European orientation, in which this line is designed primarily to reveal metric accents. But since free syllabics prevail in Yakut songwriting, the initial verse alliteration (and not the final rhyme) and choreic (in broad sense words) rhythms, this method of timing, as a rule, does not contribute to the detection of not only caesura, but also metric accents. In those comparatively rare cases when these accents do not coincide with the beginning of syntactic constructions (emphatically syncopated or beat-to-beat rhythm), we either use special accentuation marks, or occasionally return to the accent method of arranging measures with a pre-struck bar value (sample 22). In any case, the syntactic markup of the musical text comes to the rescue - an analytical technique that is relatively new for domestic folklore publications.

It is not difficult to conclude what analytical musical notation is by the outward appearance of the notations - both the outer contours and the inner structure of the song stanza appear in them. The meaning of this editorial technique is easily understood by means of a simple analogy. Until the 18th century, Russian poetry in printing, as a rule, did not use the verse form of the arrangement of the poetic text. The poem was typed in "solid" and outwardly did not differ from the prosaic text (at best, the borders of the verses were marked with special dividing lines). Music texts, on the other hand, in the overwhelming majority of cases continue to be typeset according to the same principle, although their metrically clear “verse” organization is often self-evident. Of course, in special analytical works, the ordered ranking of musical lines has been used for a long time, but only as a deliberate research technique. In popular musical editions, this rank is still found only occasionally. The reader is left to figure out the structure of the song stanza for himself. It's good if the song is familiar or simple in structure. And what is it like, when it is required, when reading a "foreign language" notation, to comprehend the complex form of a stanza in an unfamiliar song culture? In this case, the paradigmatic marking of the stanza becomes irreplaceable, reflecting its understanding by the notator (or editor).

This task is not an easy one, given the free nature of the stanza in the improvisational genres of the Yakut song. And nevertheless, we tried to consistently carry the principle of syntactic markup through all musical texts - of all styles and genres. In those cases when the musical syntax came into conflict with the structure of poetic lines (and in some styles of singing, for example, in northern tunes, this is often found), the musical text was ranked based on the musical laws proper. Such moments are easily detected by the discrepancy between the continuous numbering of poetic lines and the numbering of musical lines - notation (see, for example, sample 2). In all other cases, we strove in the very configuration of the musical text to achieve a graphic transmission of the contours of the verse stanza.

An extended musical line does not always fit into the standard size of a sheet music page. In such cases, two or three of its parts are located "ladder". At the same time, the vertical ranking of measures becomes an effective means of revealing the internal motivational structure of melodies.

In short, the verse-like way of designing song notations, which is extremely convenient for the reader, is associated with a large number of analytical, editorial and, finally, printing complications. It is especially problematic in difficult and controversial cases, when we are dealing with ambivalent, transitional or unclear, unsettled or evolving structures that are quite often encountered in the songwriting of the Yakuts. Nevertheless, we deliberately disagree with some of the readers on certain specific points in the location of the musical text. And we are doing this in order to generally promote the approval of the only promising, in our opinion, analytical method of publishing folklore materials.

Let us now turn to the discussion of the for the time being delayed notation problem - the problem of fixing the kylysakhs.

The nature of the Yakut kylysakhs is not yet fully understood. Joint research by physiologists, acoustics and musicologists with the use of the necessary measuring equipment is still to come. Until then, one has to be content with the conventional notation of the kylysakhs, based on intuitive ideas about the vocal mechanism of their formation.

The notor and researcher are usually baffled by the real pitch of these falsetto overtones, which, as it turns out, often comes into conflict with the acoustic scale of overtones. The distance separating the kylysakh from the main tone rarely corresponds to the consonant intervals - octave, fifth, fourth or major third. More often there is a sensation of a newt or various untempered intervals, including the sixth and even the seventh. The interval here in general becomes a concept to a large extent conditional, because the significant difference in the timbres of the main tone and overtones makes it difficult to hear. One gets the impression that the kylysakhs lie in a different sound plane. Our ear is inclined to perceive them in a higher than real tessiture (on a single-timbral instrument, for example, a piano, the sound of the kylysakhs is more accurately imitated by short staccato beats an octave higher than the main singing register).

The fundamental and still unclear question is: what happens to the main tone at the moment when kylysakh "flashes" over it? Is its sound interrupted, but this break is masked by kylysakh (ie, the solo Yakut two-part is actually illusory), or the main tone continues to sound, experiencing a certain high-altitude "indignation" under the influence of kylysakh. Personally, I tend to hear the continuous sounding of the main tone, complicated at the moment of sounding the kylysakh with a characteristic startle, which is most closely conveyed in writing by fast (crossed out) grace notes, often double (mordent-like).

Another unresolved issue is the rhythmic conditions for the appearance of kylysakh. It is obvious that it has the character of a short accent strike, but it is not easy to determine with which moment in the sound of the main voice this strike coincides. Whether it falls exactly on the ikt time or is somewhat ahead of it, giving rise to the feeling of a grace note, has to be found out in special experiments. It seems that in reality we are not dealing with a grace note at all (i.e., not with the predictive nature of the kylysakhs), but with an accent blow, causing both the startle of the main voice and the emergence of kylysakh. In other words, the actual distance interval of the kylysakh should be calculated not from the main, supporting pitch of the main voice, but from its melismatic increase at the moment of a short accent strike. If we accept this as an initial hypothesis, then we can assume that the real height of the kylysakh is determined by three points: first, by which of the partial tones is the “basic” one that carries for the main timbre of the singing voice, and secondly, by the fact that which of the overlying partial tones becomes the basis for the emergence of kylysakh and, thirdly, what is the real interval of the melismatic shift of the main voice at the moment of extracting the kylysakh. The sum of the two corresponding intervals (the distance between the partial tones and the interval of "flinching") should give the altitude distance of the kylysakh from the melodic tone decorated with it. Of course, this assumption needs experimental verification. In the meantime, there is nothing left to do but to continue to rely only on the acuity and training of the notation ear, and, consequently, to bring our subjective sensations into the notation.

It would seem that it is not so difficult to introduce a special sign to designate the Kylysakhs (such a diamond-shaped harmonic sign has long been used by us in Yakut notations and is even sometimes borrowed by other researchers to indicate similar effects in the singing of other peoples), and then give everything to the acuity of hearing, which in principle can be reinforced or rejected by measuring equipment. However, in practice, everything is not simple, because we are not dealing with abstract acoustic phenomena, but with live musical speech, which carries meanings that are not always clear and always difficult to express in words and signs. What carries these hidden meanings in it for the time being, and what is secondary, external, perhaps accidental, although relatively easily imprinted in the notes?

The height of the kylysakh, as it seems to us, cannot be freely adjusted by the singer himself and, perhaps, does not depend at all on his desire. Nevertheless, it is certainly audible and is essential for the overall sound of the melody. Is it worth at all costs to strive to fix it in the notes, complicating the already difficult reading of them? And, on the other hand, how else would an outside reader imagine the real sounding of the song; How will an instrumentalist reproduce this characteristic sound on his musical instrument?

As you can see, there are enough questions about the Kylysakhs alone. And there can be no single answer to them. Since our notations have a certain "super task", which I would like to say in conclusion, it was certainly necessary to fix the kylysakhs in them. The question for us was only how to do it, and whether to do it always the same way.

As there are no two absolutely identical voices in the world, so you will not meet two completely identical kylysakhs. Even the same singer at different times and in different songs kylysakhs sound differently: in some genres it is emphatically sonorous, in others it is muffled and soft. And even when the same song is performed under different conditions, the sound of the kylysakhs often acquires a completely different character. If in some cases a special designation is needed, if in others a slight hint of kylys is enough (for example, using an unusually wide grace note), then in others it is appropriate combined method, reflecting both the kylysakh itself and the melismatic fluctuation of the main voice. The continuous scale of transitions, ranging from barely perceptible shudders of the voice to emphatically opposed to the main tone, completely isolated from it, dazzlingly bright kylysakhs, also requires a flexible variety of fixation techniques - from conventional melismatics to special signs that accurately fix the pitch, rhythm and specific falsetto tone of these characteristic ...

On the example of the Yakut kylysakhs, which cannot be entirely attributed to the performing side of song art, it is clearly seen how difficult, and often in principle impossible, to develop a single, universal method of fixing the seemingly one and the same, moreover, a rather characteristic vocal technique. Indeed, sometimes, during one performance, this technique undergoes such an evolution (and not always against the will of the singer) that the designation used at the beginning of the song becomes inappropriate at the end. One has to look for an opportunity not only to oppose the initial and final moments of such evolution, but also to reflect its successive stages. In such cases, the external and seemingly eclectic diversity of notations (this applies primarily to epic improvisations) is actually generated by the desire to reflect the complex internal evolution of the tunes, their flexible and difficult to perceive performing "disclosure".

Kylysakhs can be undefined in altitude or emphasized accurate; they can be syntactically loose, as if wandering, or repeated in strictly defined places of the melody, at specific metric beats of the beat; they can be single, rare ornaments of a melody or follow one after another with increasing speed, merging into a continuous pulsating chain of kylysakhs, into a kind of kylysakh trill, which is easier to describe in words than to fix in notes. And for each specific case, the notator should have a more or less adequate technique at his disposal - preferably individual signs or their conventional combination. Of course, there cannot be too many such signs, and they cannot be changeable in meaning. This would unnecessarily complicate the reading of musical texts. The problem, therefore, lies in the search for the optimal minimum of universal signs.

What has been said about the kylysakhs can be projected onto other notational problems as well. In any case, we see a way out not so much in the use of new signs (this is permissible only as a last resort), as in the flexible operation of the old and generally accepted ones. In this, as in everything related to the accuracy and intelligibility of notations (two properties, unfortunately, often come into dramatic conflict for the notator of folk melody), a measure is important, a deviation in either direction from which is equally detrimental to the main goal of any notation - for transmission of the figurative-musical meaning of a specific folk melody, its internal nationally characteristic content.

Realizing this, we deliberately lean towards greater detail in the notations, because the purpose of the publication is not just to achieve an unconditional artistic effect, but also to contribute to the search for deep national musical intonation specificity, which has not yet been fully revealed. And in this case, it is better to slightly exceed the measure of detail, so as not to miss out on what is not yet recognized as meaningful moments today. Each researcher will be able to simplify, make more generalized and less detailed our notations, if necessary. It will be more difficult if you need to make them even more detailed.

It would be great if our reader had at his disposal a record or tape with the sound of at least some of the published samples. Everyone could then be convinced not only of the complexity of the tasks facing the notaries and editors of musical and folklore editions, but also of the fundamental irreducibility of folk-song melody to just one note line. Only when combined, the musical text and real sounding make it possible not only to admire the folk song, but to delve deeply into its internal structure and comprehend the laws governing it. The latter is not at all necessary for an ordinary admirer of a folk song - it may even hinder an enthusiastic lover. But for a specialist - composer, musicologist, performer (for whom analytical hearing of music is professionally necessary), the addition of carefully prepared notations with the sound of a living folklore original is all the more desirable because the musical notation itself, no matter how much it is adapted to the needs of folklore, cannot convey much from what constitutes the essence of the national characteristic in the folk song.

That is why we are addressing our publication not to the mass reader and not directly to the amateur music community, although the latter (through its professional leaders) may find it useful. Not being able to attach a disc with recordings to the collection now, we hope that sooner or later this will be possible. In the meantime, the only thing we can do in this regard is to indicate the location of the sounding originals and copies, as well as, when possible, the numbers of the released records.

This publication has a predominantly musical profile. However, this does not mean that due attention is not paid to verbal texts. And not only because "you can't throw a word out of a song." Much in folk melody, especially in such as the Yakut one, in its imagery and expressive techniques, in its deep structure is difficult to understand without turning to the analysis of verbal material. Therefore, an important goal for us was as complete and accurate reproduction of the verbal texts at our disposal as possible. Of course, only a part of the problems arising in this connection could be resolved within the framework of a musicological publication.

It turned out to be the most difficult to fix the dialectal and individual performance features of the song vocabulary, phonetics, and the very way of pronouncing the word, so essential for the sound of songs. This applies to the greatest extent to olonkho, ceremonial folklore and some specific types of singing. In any case, we aspired, as in musical decoding, to the most accurate fixation of not only each word (often outdated and now very few understandable), but also extrasemantic moments - inserted chorus words and syllables, vocalizations, sound-visual techniques and just sound-timbre playing , which occupies a prominent place in Yakut singing. Usually most of this is omitted when verbal texts are published separately. In our case, the decoding of song texts grows into an independent problem that requires the intervention of competent specialists. Not every philologist can become such a specialist. It requires not only a thorough knowledge of folklore and subtle intuition, but also a lot of perseverance and constant ear tension, especially when it comes to relic genres and technically imperfect sound recordings. Most of the previous notations of the author of these lines were “textualized” (supplied with decoding of words) by Pyotr Nikiforovich Popov, who achieved great skill in this difficult and thankless task. With his participation, transcripts were made from phonographic cylinders of the beginning of the century, which were extremely unsatisfactory in technical terms, and from discographic recordings of 1946. He also deciphered the verbal texts and some of the expeditionary records of the last time. A significant part of the new tape recordings was verified by V.P. Eremeev, to whom the compilers of the collection also express their gratitude. The participation of other persons in transcribing and editing verbal texts is specified in the comments to the notations.

Moscow - Yakutsk - Boston, 2014.

FOREWORD Notes

The first notation of the Yakut melody was made by A.F. Middendorf in 1844 (see: Middendorff A.Th. Reise in den Äuβersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens während der Jahre 1843 und 1844, Bd. 4. - St. Petersburg, 1848.) Subsequently, the Yakut songwriting and musical life of the Yakuts were described in the writings of a number of travelers and political exiles.

Belyaev V. Yakut folk songs. - Soviet music, 1937, No. 9; Peiko N., Steinman I. About the music of the Yakuts. - Soviet music, 1940, no. 2.

It seems that with the beginning of the new millennium, the Yakut olonkho is gaining a new breath, having received international recognition - in 2005 UNESCO ranked it among the masterpieces of the oral intangible cultural heritage of mankind (

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Attention! The slide preview is used for informational purposes only and may not represent all the possibilities of the presentation. If you are interested in this work, please download the full version.

(Slide 1) (Music 1)

The purpose of the lesson: To acquaint children with the peculiarities of the sound of “dyieretii” (Geretii) and “degeren” yrya on the basis of examples of the olonkho opera “Nyurgun Botur the Swift”.

Tasks:

• educational: To acquaint children with the styles of “dyeretii” (Geretii) and “degeren” yrya, based on a comparison of the songs of the heroes from the olonkho “Nyurgun Bootur the Swift”.
• educating: To foster a culture of listening to music, a culture of behavior, as well as patriotic feelings, interest in Yakut folklore, in the olonkho epic.
• developing: To develop good musical data (memory, hearing, voice, rhythm) and outlook on Yakut folklore, mental activity.

During the classes

1. Organizational part.

Children enter the class with a call to the music of nature, where the Yakut national instrument, the khomus, is playing and go to their seats. A musical greeting is held in the Yakut language:

Utuokununen! (Good day!)

Utuokununen! (Good day!)

E5erde kyrgyttar! (Hello girls!)

E5erde! (Hello!)

E5erde Walattar! (Hello boys!)

E5erde! (Hello!)

2. Main part:

(Slide 2) (Music 2)

Guys, tell me, who is this? (What is this man doing?)

Olonkhosut (Storyteller olonkho).

Olonkho sings olonkhosut (narrator olonkho), he was a narrator and sang songs of all olonkho heroes.

What is olonkho? (Children's answers) Olonkho is a Yakut heroic epic.

Have you ever listened to olonkho? (Answers of children)

The olonkho tells the life of the ancestors of the Yakuts, their thoughts, traditions and customs, food, clothing, strong character, the concept of nature and the universe. The main plot of the olonkho is the powerful hero of the middle world, Nyurgun Bootur. He protects his land.

In the middle world, the Deities infuse people. Families bring up their daughters in a strict order, hide from prying eyes. When a girl turns 18, young men come from different uluses and compete among themselves for the girl's hand and heart. The winner gets the girl as his wife. During the height of fun, unclean forces (abaasy) emerge from the ground and forcefully take the girl into their world. The hero must save the girl. Olonkho ends with a wedding.

The name of the olonkho is determined by the name of the protagonist - “Nyurgun Bootur”, “Er So5otokh”, “Jiribine Jyrylyatta”, etc. The most famous and popular is "Nyurgun BoturStreetny". On November 25, 2005, the World Organization of UNESCO recognized the Yakut olonkho “Nyurgun Bootur the Swift” a masterpiece of the oral intangible heritage of mankind.

How many worlds are described in olonkho. (Answers of children).

(Slide 3) Olonkho is built on the basis of three worlds - Middle, Upper, Lower.

(Slide 4) Tell me guys, who lives in the Middle World? The middle world - aiyysire or orto doydu - is the center of the universe, a country where people live, and every living creature and every object has its own spirit - "icchi".

(Slide 5) Tell me, who lives in the Lower World? The lower world is Utugen or Yutyugen (underworld), or Nuken Woden (dark underworld), the world of evil monsters that interfere with the happy life of people. Their leader is Arsan Duolai.

(Slide 6) And in the Upper World? The upper world is the world of the gods, headed by Yuryung Aar-toyon. Good and evil deities also live in the upper world.

Who is the main character in olonkho? (Answers of children). Bogatyrs, beautiful girls, abaasy.

How do olonkho heroes talk to each other? (Songs)

It turns out olonkho is closely related to our music lesson, right?

(Slide 7, 8) (Topic, goals and objectives)

- Therefore, today, comparing the songs of the heroes of olonkho and Yakut national songs with each other, we will get acquainted with the two main Yakut styles of songs.

What is the most famous olonkho among the Yakuts?

- "Nyurgun Bootur the Swift".

If you've listened to this olonkho, who is the main character? (Nyurgun Bootur, TuyaarymaKuo)

Listening to the songs of the heroes, we will learn to identify the Yakut styles. Guys, we must carefully listen to the songs of the heroes, determine the tempo and mood of the song, determine the heroes, what kind of heroes they are (negative or positive). We determine the tempo of the song by the speed and slowness of the performance. We can also determine the mood of the song: fun or sad.

(Slide 9) - Nyurgun Bootur is a powerful hero of the middle world. He protects his land. Nyurgun Bootur most vividly embodies the features of heroic images in general: love for the Motherland and for the people, courage, determination, tremendous physical strength. Let's now listen to the song of Nyurgun Bootur from the olonkho "Nyurgun Bootur the Swift". (Music 3)

(After listening to the song of Nyurgun Bootur)

What is the tempo of the song? (slow)

What is the mood of the song? (Solemn)

What is the song about?

NyurgunBotur what hero? Negative or positive? Why?

Who protects people from?

Then the children tell what they saw before the eyes of a hero-hero who loves his land and is ready to go to protect the people of the middle world from the super-essential forces of the lower world of abaasy.

(Slide 10) - Describes who SorukBollur is. Reading the words of the song SorukBollura. (Music 4) Listening.

(Children should hear the mood of the song, where his song seems to stutter, out of breath.)

SorukBollur is a comic character, a herd boy. He is a cheerful, persistent, resourceful, young man, usually leaves his gentlemen in the fool. This touching hero, everyone's favorite, captivates with sincere spontaneity, folk-humorous character. Despite poverty and disadvantaged position, SorukBollur has an independent character: he is impudent and witty, he never misses the opportunity to laugh at his slow owners, deftly dodges punishment for his unlawful misdeeds.

The chant of the song SorukBollur is a typical example of a sharp-character song of a herd boy, revealing a cheerful disposition, humor, and cheerfulness of the youngest character of olonkho. His song contains an enthusiastic exclamation of the mischievous messenger, his agitated, fussy speech is expressively conveyed.

What is the tempo of the song?

And the mood?

Who does SorukBollur help?

He bad guy or positive?

Guys, we listened to two songs. Let's compare these songs. (Answers of children)

(Slide 11) - Guys, you said that the song of Nyurgun Bootur is slow, drawn-out, solemn. The Yakuts, like all peoples, have long been inseparable from the song. The need for musical self-expression was so strong that even their suffering during illness, the Yakuts often expressed through singing. Two styles of singing are particularly well known today. The first is the “high” style of “dyieretii” yrya, which is a drawn-out, flowing, solemn singing. It is of an improvisational nature, decorated with abundant kylysakhs (kyly? Ah). The main positive heroes of olonkho and olonkho opera sing in the style of drama. Songs in the style of dyieretii begin with the exclamation: "Dyie-buo!" (“Die buo!”), “Car boo!”.

(Slide 12) The second traditional style of singing is degerenyrya - a Yakut folk song with a measured melody, often of a mobile nature. Less decorated with kylysakhs than dyeretiyyrya. All domestic songs are written in the degeren style.

So, how many styles are there in Yakut songs? Which?

Now we will listen to the swami composer and Yakut folk songs and compare the Yakut styles.

Let's listen to Hrant Aramovich Grigoryan's song “Sahamsirebarakhsan” (My Yakutia) - listening. (Music 5)

What character's song can this song be associated with? (Nyurgun Bootur)

Children should determine that this is a composer's song sounds in the style of "dyieretii", but there are no kylysakhs - melismas. Through these two songs, children get to know the beauty and breadth of their native land, which must be cherished and loved.

Then they listen to the Yakut folk song “Ondoruuketietyeteybet” (Andryushenka is in no hurry) (Music 6) and then the children must determine that this song sounds in the style of “dyieretii”, but there are no kylysakhs - melismas. It is sung melodiously, melodiously and is a song of the lyric genre.

What character's song can you associate the song with? (SorukBollur)

3. Anchoring.

Now, we swami will listen to songs of olonkho heroes and Yakut songs. You listen carefully and determine the style, tempo, mood of the songs, and also determine the heroes.

1. Song of TuyaarymaKuo (Annex 1)- Kolukecheen Yakut folk song (Ozerko) (Appendix 2)- performed by the teacher;

(To tell that the song Kolukecheen (Ozerko) is a folk song that tells about the beauty and breadth of the Yakut lake, the Yakut taiga - the Yakut nature.)

TuyaarymaKuo - what is this image? In Yakut folklore, she is a symbol of motherhood, a positive image.

2. Song KyysKyskyidaan (music 7) - Hayysar, to the words of Chagylgan, melody of Kostin (Skiing) (Appendix 3)- hearing;

3. Song of WatUsutaaki (Music 8) - Tyynnaakhtarumnubatsylar, to the words of Odorusov, Boilokhov's melody (Appendix 4)- hearing.

What are the songs of KyysKyskyidaan and WatUsutaaki singing about?

Children should hear the mood of the song, where the songs of KyysKyskydan contain self-characterization: “I am so interesting, fleshy, ... I am fire, I have sharp nails, ... I am the loudest, bringing only strife and quarrels, the dirtiest and most tidy”. Aria KyysKyskyidaan is calmer in character than WatUsutaaki's. The song is sung in the degeren style.

Children should hear the mood of the song, where the song of Wat Usutaaki contains his self-characterization as an evil, bloodthirsty monster, seized by the passion of exterminating the people of Aiyy Aima5a. should define the style of singing "degeren".

(Slide 14) - The image of KyysKyskyidaan - what is she like? (Negative).

It is said that KyysKyskyidaan is the sister of WatUsutaaki, the image of KyysKyskyidaan is related to WatUsutaaki. She also appears as an evil bloodthirsty creature, but besides this, she is shown as a woman - a seducer, albeit outwardly ugly.

Wat Usutaaki? (Negative)

(Slide 15) It is said that WatUsutaaki is a powerful hero of the Lower World. An evil, ugly monster, one-armed and one-eyed cyclops, cruel and not clean. The eternal enemy of the human race, the personification of everything evil and hostile to man. An inhabitant of the Underworld, an inhabitant of a gloomy dungeon.

Why did we match the songs of the bad guys with the songs of the war theme? Because they wish us harm, are seized by the passion of exterminating the people of Aiyy Aima5a. Therefore, they are negative heroes.

Educational work is carried out among the boys of the class that they should be so kind and courageous as NyurgunBotur and protect the weak, love and protect their land from enemies.

4. Physical education:

Guys, now we are swami to rest. In order for us to move quickly, what kind of music will suit us (Answers).

Choose any fast music and dance rhythmic movements with the children.

V. Song Learning:

(Slide 16) Today we swami will learn a new song. After listening to the song, let's define the style of the song. Now we listen to the song very carefully. (Music 10) (Listening to the song)

What is the tempo of the song? And the mood?

What is the style of the song? Why?

(Slide 17) This song "Biirdemeniktuokhtaabyt" (Once a rascal ...) was written by everyone's favorite poet Pyotr Toburokov

Read the lyrics to yourself. Have unfamiliar words?

(Slide 18) - Guys, do you know what Bysychcha is? (Knife)

Song Practice (Music 10 (Minus Song))

Did you guys like the song? Why? What did the poet want to convey by this? (Being a naughty is bad)

4. Conclusion.

How many styles are there?

The song that we learned in the lesson today, what style does it belong to?

Which olonkho heroes did you like the most?

What image does love and respect for the Native Land convey to us?

What are we learning from olonkho?

About love for your land, fatherland, which must be protected, loved and proud of.

Well done!

(Slide 19) - Korsuohhedieri! (Goodbye!)

Korsuohhedieri! (Goodbye!)

References.

1. Alekseeva R.R. From folklore to professional music. Yakutsk, 1994
2. Baisheva M.I., Afanasyeva M.A.Olonkhomyndyryn - kyrachaannarga. - Gyokuuskai, 2004
3. Bogdanrva A.S., Petrova V.I. primary school... - M., 1980
4. Breeze T. Yakutskoe olonkho was recognized as a world masterpiece // Evening Yakutsk. -2005.-2 December
5. Burtseva DT Yakut epic olonkho as a genre. - Novosibirsk, -1998
6. Gabysheva L. Etiquette of olonkho performance // Polar Star, - 2002, №2, p. 92
7. Golovneva N.I., Kirillina Kh. I. Yakut musical literature. - Ya., 1991
8. Zhirkov M.N. Yakut folk music. - Ya., 1981
9. Krivoshapko G. M. Musical culture of the Yakut people. - Ya., 1982
10. The music of olonkho is taken from the disc of Ustin Nokhsorov

Folklore and traditional rites Yakuts

The folklore of the Yakuts includes poetic works performed during traditional rituals - regulated actions dedicated to various moments in the life of a human collective and its individual individuals. In the past, the Yakuts performed many rituals associated with the worship of the surrounding world, hunting, fishing, cattle breeding and crafts, as well as with the life of the family, clan, tribe, community, ethnic group, etc.

It should be noted that the Yakuts had both religious and non-religious rites. Unfortunately, their ratio has not yet been the object of research.

The attention of scientists was more attracted by the rituals associated with the traditional religious beliefs of the Yakuts. A significant contribution to the study of this problem was made by I.A. Khudyakov, V.L. Seroshevsky, G.V. Ksenofontov, A.A. Popov, I.S. Gurvich and N.A. Alekseev. Thanks to their efforts, the procedure for carrying out the rituals is mainly described, proceeding from the requirements of the traditional beliefs of the Yakuts, from the worship of spirits and deities, i.e. regulated by the Yakut mythology.

Less studied are non-religious rituals, which were based on the rational experience of the people, consolidated the customs that supported the cultural, social and gender-age relationships of the ethnic group. The well-wishes of the younger members of the collective, the well-wishes of the bride and groom, the well-wishes of the guest to the hosts were not the subject of a special study by ethnographers and folklorists. The specificity of the works of ritual poetry has been studied even less from the folkloristic point of view.

The first attempt to classify the ritual folklore of the Yakuts was made by G.U. Ergis. He identified the following groups of rituals: cattle breeding, commercial, family and household. From the field of view of G.U. Ergis completely lost the rituals associated with the craft. In addition, cattle-breeding rituals were not fully represented. Thus, the cattle-breeding group did not include ceremonies in honor of the patron deity of horse breeding Josogoy, ceremonies for the birth of calves and foals, and ceremonies performed during haymaking. In fishing rituals G.U. Ergis included only a part of the hunting ones. This group should include the rituals of fishermen, as well as rituals associated with the extraction of a bear, lynx and fox, actions taken in the event of a prolonged failure in the hunt. G.U. Ergis and family rituals. He briefly touched upon the cult of fire and wedding ceremonies. Among family and household, undoubtedly, one should include rituals carried out when asking the deities for a child, the birth of children, related to raising children, and funeral.

Due to the fact that ritual poetry as a genre of folklore of the peoples of Siberia was not a subject of deep study. The main editorial board of the series "Monuments of folklore of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East" held in 1985 a special scientific and practical conference dedicated to this problem. The conference was chaired by Doctor of Historical Sciences B.N. Putilov. A report on the classification of rituals was made by N.A. Alekseev, one of the authors of this article. The report indicated that many Yakut rituals were accompanied by the performance of works of ritual poetry. It is noted that among the Yakuts and other indigenous peoples of Siberia, spells, good wishes, hymns, round dance songs, curses, weeping, etc. were widely used. In addition, it was proposed to cover the rituals associated with hunting, fishing and cattle breeding, according to the calendar principle.

The book by S.D. Mukhopleva "Yakut folk ritual songs", in which the author, on the basis of a functional-poetic principle, conducts a genre classification of ritual songs. The work deals mainly with maternity, wedding, calendar song complexes and songs accompanying the ritual. Thus, only the first steps have been taken in the scientific study of the ritual poetry of the Yakuts.

The situation is more successful with the recording and collection of works of ritual poetry. But here, unfortunately, in most cases, only the texts of spells, chants of a round dance, etc. were recorded, and no attention was paid to the musical side. The recording of works of ritual poetry began in the 19th century. Of the pre-revolutionary researchers, the most notable contribution was made by political exiles I.A. Khudyakov and V.M. Ionov. The first studied the Yakut language, ethnography and folklore in 1867-1868. Among the works of oral folklore, recorded by him, there are examples of ritual poetry. They were included by I.A. Khudyakov in the book "A Brief Description of the Verkhoyansk District", published only a hundred years after it was written.

A significant number of works of ritual poetry in the Yakut language were collected by V.M. and M.N. Ionov. Most of their materials date back to 1894 - 1896, the time of the Sibiryakov expedition. The particular interest of V.M. Ionov showed towards the beliefs of the Yakuts, therefore religious incantations prevail in his collection. Most of the Ionovs' materials were included in the collection prepared for publication by A.A. Popov in 1940. These were spells associated with the veneration of the spirits of the Upper, Middle and Lower worlds, as well as with various aspects of human life. A.A. Popov made an interlinear translation of these materials. Unfortunately, the collection remained unpublished and is kept in the archive (AIV, f. 22, op. 1).

In Soviet times, a significant number of texts of works of Yakut ritual poetry were recorded. It is known that A.A. Popov carried out an intensive collection of material in 1925 in the Vilyui region of the YaASSR. His records are kept in the archives of the Kunstkamera (formerly the Leningrad part of the Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology of the USSR Academy of Sciences), but the leadership did not allow N.A. Alekseeva to these materials. Therefore, it was not possible to include A.A. Popov in this volume and give their folkloristic analysis.

The main fund of the Yakut ritual poetry was accumulated by the staff of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now the Institute of Humanities of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)) and lovers of folk poetry. The most valuable notes were made by S.I. Bolo, A.A. Savvin, A.S. Poryadin, G.U. Ergis, G.M. Vasiliev, I.S. Gurvich and others.

Speaking about the sources of ritual poetry, one should pay attention to the fact that before the 80s. XX century. researchers wrote down texts mainly by hand. And, as you know, works of ritual poetry are examples of not only poetic, but also musical creativity people. This gap in the fixation of ritual poetry to a certain extent was filled during the complex folklore expedition of the Institute of Philosophy and Physics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences and of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1986 (hereinafter KFE), when the members of the expedition recorded on a tape tape samples of various spells, good wishes and round dance songs -ssushhai.

A number of valuable tape recordings were made by E.E. Alekseev in the 1970s - 1980s. He first collected materials about lamentations in a dream, spells for initiation into blacksmiths, samples of shamanic rituals, etc.

The culture of the northern Yakuts has its own characteristics, therefore the volume includes samples reflecting the main occupation of this group - reindeer husbandry. Partially information about local variants is given in the comments to the volume.

Poetic works accompanying most traditional rituals, the Yakuts call algys. The ambiguity of this word was noted by E.K. Pekarsky: algys - "1) blessing, good wishes ...". In fact, the Yakuts used the word algys to designate various types of works of ritual poetry - good wishes, blessings, prayers, conspiracies, spells and hymns.

As you know, the Yakut rituals were divided into individual and collective. They had to be accompanied by certain poetic texts. Of course, not every Yakut performing the rite individually was a poet. In the course of the long existence of ritual poetry, a set of traditional clichés was formed, which had to be pronounced when performing specific rituals.

When performing collective rituals, the performance of the algys was entrusted to the most respected or the most gifted one, who had the gift of performing algys. The Yakuts called such people algyschyt (literally "spellcaster, well-wisher"). They knew the traditions of rituals well, skillfully performed Yakut songs in the style of dye-buo (see the musicological article). The Yakut Algyschyts apparently created a huge number of poetic works. A small part of them are included in this edition.

When composing the volume, we considered it necessary to start it with samples of spells in honor of the spirits of the masters of the earth (area, homeland). According to the beliefs of the Yakuts, each territory had its own mistress. With a respectful attitude towards her, she patronized those living on "their" land or those who arrived in her "possessions". In this regard, in the past, the Yakuts made sacrifices to her. According to custom, a special sacrifice to the spirit-mistress of the earth was arranged once a year - in the spring, when the first grass grew, the leaves bloomed on the trees. As a gift, they hung on the sacred birch bunches of horse hair, strips of cloth or salam - a ritual rope woven from horse hair, decorated with bunches of hair from a mane or ribbons, and treated the hostess spirit to dairy products. During the ceremony, a spell was pronounced or chanted. It usually began with an appeal to the spirit-mistress, then the blessings that were asked of her were listed: the protection of livestock and children, care for the multiplication of wealth and offspring (text No. 1). The size of the spell, as a rule, depended on the algyschyt's talent. For example, an appeal to the spirit-mistress of the earth, he could bloom with figurative descriptions of her appearance, supplement the spell with a colorful listing of dairy products offered to her, etc. (text No. 3).

The spring sacrifice to the spirit-mistress of the earth belonged to the preventive rituals of the Yakuts. The spirit-mistress of the earth was also addressed in those cases when the family was beset by misfortune. So, the rite of sacrifice to the spirit-mistress of the earth was arranged during epidemics. An example of an incantation pronounced in case of misfortune is text No. 4 in our volume. It begins with an appeal to the spirit-ruler of the earth, then the conjurer speaks of his misfortune and asks for deliverance from it.

Thus, the content of the spells of the spirit master of the earth varied according to the reason for which the sacrifice was made to her.

Note that rituals in honor of the spirit-mistress of the earth were also performed by those temporarily located on its territory. They expressed their respect for her and pleaded not to harm them.

Numerous works of ritual poetry were performed in rituals related to hunting and fishing. This part can be conditionally divided into two groups of rituals performed: 1) to get good luck in fishing or to preserve it; 2) with long-term failures in hunting and fishing.

According to the beliefs of the Yakuts, the result of the hunt often depended not on the skill and knowledge of the hunter, but on the will of the spirit-master of the forest Baai Bayanai, the spirits subordinate to him, as well as the spirits that hinder the hunt. Therefore, before the start of the hunt, the Yakuts made sacrifices to them, treated them with food or vodka, pronounced incantations in which they turned to the spirits with a request to be supportive and grant prey. The food and the request were based on the fact that all spirits, having a fantastic or zoomorphic appearance, supposedly could understand human speech, take food, i.e. likened to people in appearance and needs.

Sometimes, to make a sacrifice, an anthropomorphic image of the spirit master of the forest, an idol called hoiguo, was preliminarily made from a piece of wood. He was stuck in the ground and half of the hoiguo's face was smeared ("treated") with fat or fresh blood from the freshly caught game. The other half was promised to be smeared with luck on the hunt. A certain cunning can be traced here: the spirit was, as it were, enticed with the opportunity to receive the sacrifice again. It is with this custom that the phrase haannaah hoiguo is associated - letters, "with blood," "bloody hoiguo."

Before going hunting, they performed fortune-telling by casting lots for luck with some object: a wooden cup, a tambourine mallet, a deer hoof, etc. Fortune-telling began with casting a spell (No. 10 - 12). If the prediction was successful, the hunters went hunting in high spirits.

In conversations with each other, the participants in the hunt used allegorical speech. Bear - "old man", "forest beast", elk - "long-legged", etc. This specificity of the speech of hunters is reflected in the published spells. In them, the name of the animals in most cases is replaced by descriptive epithets. For example, the deer was called "branch-horned" - ergene muostaakh (No. 5); moose - “having convex knee joints” - tuora tobuktaah; beasts of prey - "with sharp fangs" - ardai abyylax (No. 6), etc.

In case of long-term failure in the hunt among the Yakuts, it was considered mandatory to carry out the Barylaakh tardar rite "Summoning (or attracting) Barylaakh". Here, the word Barylaakh "Owns everything", or "Abundant" allegorically refers to the spirit-master of the forest (for a detailed description of the rituals, see). In general terms, the ceremony was carried out as follows. A hunter or a specially invited shaman made a new anthropomorphic idol from a piece of wood about one meter in size. A treat was set in front of the idol: a bowl of boiled meat, a cup of salamat, a bottle of vodka. Then the performer of the ceremony would pronounce or chant a spell. It was in many ways similar to the spell of the spirit master of the forest before the start of the hunt. In addition, fragments were introduced in which the hunter asked the spirit-master of the forest what caused his displeasure, asked him to soften and generously endow him with prey (No. 12).

The ritual for the loss of hunting luck was carried out in the same way for all local groups of Yakuts, only among the northern Yakuts the khoiguo was called Chychypkan.

Yakutia is rightfully considered a country of thousands of lakes. The lakes are abundant in crucian carp and loaches. The rivers are rich in a variety of fish. Almost all types of river fish are found in them. Of these, nelma, chir, sturgeon, sterlet, muksun, omul, whitefish, lenok and tugunok (Sosva herring) are especially valuable. Lake fishing was of great importance for Yakut farms. This was due to the fact that fishing was carried out in the summer with the help of tops, fixed nets and rails. They were examined daily by one of the family members. The caught fish was immediately eaten. They caught fish in the seine in autumn and early winter. In early spring, crucians were caught on the lakes with a "large hair net with a long handle". In places of hibernation of fish, an ice-hole was drilled and through it they scooped out carp, sleepy and inactive. The catch was very rich. Fishing on large rivers was practically carried out by the rich Yakuts who had seines. Those living near rivers set up hawks on rivers flowing into large rivers, and fished with tops and nets. In the annual menu of the pre-revolutionary Yakuts, fish occupied a prominent place: by the spring the stocks of meat were running out, and the spring ice fishing saved them from hunger strikes. From early spring to the autumn cold, the Yakuts rarely slaughtered livestock for meat, they preferred to eat fish and game (hunting for migratory birds, catching ducklings that did not get up on their wings, autumn hunting for ducks, geese, upland game and hares). According to V.L. Seroshevsky, each Yakut family a year consumed from 320 to 480 kg of crucian carp and small lake and river fish. Thus, fishing played a significant role in the economy of the Yakuts.

Fishing rituals are in many ways similar to hunting rites. According to the beliefs of the Yakuts, fishing success depended on the will of the spirits who owned the lakes and rivers. Therefore, before fishing, the Yakuts made sacrifices to these spirits and turned to them with a spell, asking for a good catch. Thus, in text No. 17, the invoker complains that the spirit-mistress of the earth and his other patron-spirits have given too little of their "abundance" this year, that is, products of livestock, and asks the spirit-mistress of the lake for fish. In his address, he says that the spirit-mistress of the lake is the elder sister of the deities Aiyysyt and Ieyiehsit, i.e. she is more important than them. According to Yakut mythology, Aiyysyt and Ieyiekhsit belonged to the main deities of the aiyy - the patrons of the clan and tribe. Although the fishermen each time turned to the spirit-master of a certain reservoir, the analysis of the texts shows that they were in the process of forming ideas about the main spirit-patron of fishing. In text No. 17, he is called Toyon Eriehiye Bai. The one who uttered the spell called him the owner of the great river, waters, all alaas with lakes, taiga lakes, the patron saint of all fishermen: those who put the heads, and those who catch with the help of tethers and nets, and those who use boats for fishing. In text No. 25, the spirit-owner of the river is recognized as the steward of fish, as if she divides the fish between all its tributaries.

An analysis of the published texts shows, firstly, that the Yakuts had a mixing of the functions of the master spirits of the clan or personal territory and the spirits of water bodies. In some cases, the Yakuts asked for good luck in fishing from the spirit of the mistress of the area where the fishing was carried out. This was due to the fact that she was considered the owner of all who live on her territory - animals, birds and fish (No. 19). Secondly, the spells clearly show that the cattle breeder is making a request. In text No. 24, the fisherman asks the spirit-mistress of the river to become like the donors of cattle:

Boil with white milk

Always exude oil and fat

Spirit-mistress of my [river] - grandmothers! (lines 50 - 52).

In text No. 21, the fisherman treats the spirit-hostess of the water with the best livestock products: kumis, butter, cream. Sometimes in spells it is emphasized that the spirit of the mistress of the lake is a savior in difficult times for the herder - in the years of drought, lack of food, during periods of hunger strikes (No. 17, 20, 21, 23). In the past, at the end of winter, poor Yakuts often ran out of food supplies, and in early spring, before the greenery appeared and the arrival of migratory birds, seasons of forced hunger strikes began.

The mixing of the functions of the spirits-masters of earth and water can also explain the fact that in No. 24 the spirit-mistress of the river is equated to the epic spirit-mistress of the native land, living in the sacred family tree Aal Luuk May. As you know, she feeds some epic heroes with her breasts, endows them with heroic strength, letting them suck her breasts three times. In the analyzed text, the fisherman asks:

From your two breasts, like Elastic furs [of the skin] of rich neighbors, Give me a suck of milk, Carefully feed us! (lines 40 - 44).

In this case, as in the epic, the milk of the spirit-mistress of the river is presented as a magical means that gives strength or sustains life.

The spirits-owners of reservoirs, according to the ideas of the Yakuts, could, like the spirits-owners of forests, deprive the fishermen of their luck and leave them without a catch. This, as a rule, was explained by the “desecration” of a fishing gear by a woman, participation in a fishing trip of a person who had recently attended a funeral, and so on. ... In such cases, the Yakuts arranged a rite of purification of fishing tools with fire. The first part of the spell in this case consisted of asking for help from the spirit-owner of the fire (see below for more details), and the second coincided with the usual spell before the start of fishing, only a fragment was added with a request to forgive the committed sin [Ibid, p. 61 - 63].

In general, the worship of the master spirits of the land, forest and water bodies was associated with the need to establish a regulated relationship between man and nature.

An important part was made up of rituals related to traditional life and households. These are, first of all, the rituals performed during the construction of the Yakut estate and hearth. According to the customs of the Yakuts, having built a new yurt, it was necessary to recite a spell based on ideas about heavenly and earthly patron deities. It emphasized that the yurt was built at the behest of the head of the light heavenly deities Aiyy Toyon, who predetermined the owner to have children, to raise cattle and cattle, to create a prosperous cattle-breeding farm. Then they asked the patron spirits of light to protect from any misfortune. A significant part of the spell was dedicated to the master spirit of the hearth. He was begged to protect those living in this house from evil spirits. In conclusion, they turned to the head of the light deities Aiyy Toion with a request: "You sent your bright breath directly to my house." This was based on the belief that each Yakut is connected by an invisible thread with the Upper World, where the light deities of aiyy live. As long as this connection is intact, the person lives happily, if it is interrupted, the person will die. In other words, the owner asked Aiyy Toyon to take his dwelling under protection (No. 27).

The rite of sacrifice to the spirit-owner of the yurt was also performed when moving from the winter road to the summer road and back. The spell during these rituals almost coincided with the spell when moving into a new yurt. This ritual was part of the rituals carried out at the place of long-term residence, which were the winter and summer estates. This complex included ceremonies in honor of the spirits of the owners of the courtyard, the hitching post and the hearth. According to the beliefs of the Yakuts, the spirit-hostess of the courtyard ensures milk abundance, fertility and the safety of livestock, therefore, sacrifices were made to her on the day of arrival at the summer or winter road, as well as in cases when the livestock fell ill. The sacrifice was accompanied by a spell in which the spirit-mistress of the yard was asked for welfare for her cattle and their multiplication (no. 28).

The master spirit of the hitching post (serge) was considered a celestial. This, apparently, is due to the fact that the patron spirit of horse breeding, Josogoy, lived in the sky. The master spirit of the tethering post was recognized as the protector of the entire courtyard, i.e. his functions coincided with those of the spirit of the master of the court. In the spell of the master spirit, the hitching posts were asked to protect people and livestock from evil spirits (No. 29).

The most revered of the patron spirits of the clan and family was the spirit master of the hearth. Any fire, according to the beliefs of the Yakuts, had a spirit-master, more precisely, the properties of a living creature, an independent entity, were attributed to fire. Fire was recognized as a mediator - a mediator between people and spirits. Through the fire, spirits were treated to, which "were saturated with the smell, smoke and steam of the burnt treat", i.e. the sacrifice was transformed into a substance accessible to the spirits. Along with this, the Yakuts had a belief in the spirit of the master of the hearth, who was the protector of the family and clan from the wiles of evil spirits, from any misfortune. This polyfunctionality of fire led to the fact that in many rituals they first turned to the spirit-master of the hearth. For example, a shaman, before the beginning of the ritual, made a sacrifice to a smoldering fire in the fireplace, asked to protect those present and help them. The ritual itself went on in semi-darkness. Perhaps this was partly due to the fact that shamanic spirits were protected from fire, since, being angry, they could harm the inhabitants of the yurt, where the shamanic mystery was performed.

The spirit master of the hearth constantly guarded the dwelling; in the past, the Yakuts treated him to the first spoon and the first piece of cooked food. At the same time, aloud or inwardly, they asked him to eat and treat himself. In especially important cases, the host spirit was treated with a spell. The volume and artistic merit of spells depended on the talent of their performers. Here, the properties of fire, its power and greatness were often skillfully sung. For example, one of the published texts says that the sparks of fire are free, scarlet and huge (the size of a horse's head); its heat upwards reaches the three-layer high white sky, penetrates deep into the habitat of eight tribes of evil spirits, etc. Then the one who uttered the spell asked for protection from evil spirits and misfortunes for everyone, noting that the spirit-master of fire had protected the owners of this house in the past, begged to protect the owners now, and in the future and their descendants (No. 32).

The cycle of spells and good wishes refers to wedding rites. The main part of the traditional Yakut wedding was the rite of tyusya barar (literally, “to arrive to secure the conspiracy to marry”), which was arranged after the payment of part of the kalym - the bride's ransom, seeing her off to the groom's residence and a wedding feast at his parents' house (for more details, see) ...

The rite of tusya barar was performed in the house of the bride's parents. The groom came to the holiday, accompanied by relatives. The groom's train was led by his parents or a respectable elder relative who agreed to be the senior matchmaker. On the part of the bride, her parents, close relatives and respected, most often wealthy, people from her father's family took part in the celebration. The main part of this rite is an abundant feast for future relatives. The bride's father distributed part of the kalym to the invited relatives, who were to participate in collecting the dowry for the bride. The guests of honor from the groom's side, who, as a rule, contributed a certain amount of kalym were also gifted.

Note that all relatives took part in the payment of the kalym in turn, i.e. this was part of the generic mutual assistance stipulated by the customary law of the Yakuts. The most specific of the spells and good wishes performed during the tyusha barar rite was the spell cast by the groom when he treated him to the spirit master of the fire in the bride's house. It added to the traditional fire spell the groom's request to take him under protection.

After the feast at the rite of tusya barar, the bride and groom spent their first wedding night. From that time on, the groom received the right to visit the future wife in her house until the kalym (son-in-law) was paid in full. Only after that did the groom come to fetch the bride and take her away. This stage of the Yakut wedding was also accompanied by a feast and a number of rituals. At the feast, traditional pre-wedding good wishes were pronounced. The well-wishes of the bride's father said that he turned to future spouses on behalf of himself and his patron spirits, wishing them to become masters of a blessed house, caring parents of children who would be the successors of the family, owners of numerous livestock, “breadwinners for the hungry and warming for the freezing ones”. Especially in his incantation, the father noted the need for harmony in the family and expressed the wish that malicious forces would not touch the new family (No. 36). The bride's mother and other relatives also wished her happiness in her future family life (No. 37, 38). In the morning, before leaving, the bride treated the spirit master of the hearth, thanked him for his protection and said goodbye to him. The spell of gratitude was performed by the bride and at the departure of the wedding train from the ancestral territory. At the entrance to the groom's land, the bride treated the spirit-mistress of this land and pronounced a spell with a request not to offend her, considering her a foreigner, and to take her under her protection (No. 41). Sometimes this spell was pronounced by a member of the wedding train, possessing a poetic gift, skillful in performing ritual songs.

The final part of the wedding ceremony began from the moment the wedding train entered the alaas, where the groom's parents' yurt stood. In the distant past, ceremonies in the house of the bride's parents and especially in the groom's native alaas were a demonstration of the strength and wealth of the clans, united by family ties. This was most clearly manifested at the end of the 19th century. in the rituals performed upon the arrival of the wedding train at the groom's residence. As soon as the wedding train appeared on the horizon, a horseman rushed to it from the groom's house. Having approached, he turned around and rushed back. The man accompanying the bride, riding the best horse, set off in pursuit of him. If the owners were ahead, it was believed that they ensured the happiness of the future family, and if on the contrary, then the relatives of the bride.

The next competition was a fire carving competition. It was held at the entrance of the wedding train to the estate. The bride drove up to a special wedding tethering post set to the east of the house. None of the guests dismounted from their horses. Only one person from the bride's entourage jumped off the horse, ran to the door of the house and began to strike fire with a flint. His rival from the groom's side climbed onto the yurt and began to strike fire over the chimney of the fireplace. If a visitor was the first to strike the fire, he threw it inside the house towards the fire, and if the one standing above, then into the chimney. The one who was ahead pronounced a spell in which he emphasized that it was his family that bestows happiness on newlyweds (No. 42). Only after this ceremony did the greeters take the reins of the bride's horse and lowered her from the saddle, and received the rest of the guests with honor. The bride was taken into the house, here she was greeted with good will to become the mistress of an abundant house, to have many children, numerous cattle, etc. (No. 43).

A component of the wedding ritual was the ritual of the bride treating the spirit master of the hearth in the house of the groom's parents, introducing her to the fire of his family. Having treated the host spirit, the bride implored him to take her under his protection. In principle, this spell was a variant of the usual spell of the spirit-host of fire.

On the day of the bride's arrival, a feast was held, at which many good wishes were pronounced. Then, various competitions and games were held, osuokhai were started, olonkho "heroic legends" were sometimes performed.

As P.A. Sleptsov, the full range of wedding ceremonies was performed only by wealthy Yakuts. The less wealthy confined themselves to a festive dinner, but the execution of the spells of the spirit-master of fire and the well-wishes of the newlyweds were an indispensable component of any wedding. The Yakut wedding ceremony also had local peculiarities. We considered it possible to include, as a sample of wedding poetry, the recording of V.M. and M.N. Ionovs about the participation of the spirit of Bologur aiyyt as an honorary matchmaker (for a description of these rituals, see text No. 44). This material is also an example of the participation of black shamans in wedding rituals. In ordinary weddings, they did not play a special role. White shamans also did not always participate in the wedding, but only in those cases when the newlyweds were their close blood relatives.

Concluding the review of poetry associated with the Yakut wedding, we note that in Soviet times the foundations of this rite were observed. A feast was also held, often treated to the spirit of the owner of the fire, pronounced good wishes. In this volume, we have included only one well-wishes text at a modern wedding. His analysis testifies that the main outline of traditional wedding well-wishes has been preserved: newlyweds wish happiness, large families and wealth, only at the end it is added that they need to become leaders in production and famous people in the republic (No. 45).

In the concept of life of the Yakuts important role was assigned to the continuation of the family, the birth of children in the family. Large, healthy, mentally normal children were considered one of the components of human happiness. The souls of children (kut-sur), according to the beliefs of the Yakuts, could be obtained from the light deities of the aiyy, as well as from a tree with a vet-like crown. The main giver of the souls of children - the goddess Nelbei Aiyysyt - lived in the eastern part of the land, outside the territories settled by the Yakuts. She could give or not give a woman children. This goddess and the accompanying spirits-masters of herbs and trees determined the fate of the newborn: the length of his life, whether he will be happy, healthy, etc. After the birth of the child, the goddess Ieyieh-sit, the personal patroness of man, became one of his main defenders. The image of this goddess was close to the image of the goddess Aiyysyt.

In the spell pronounced at the birth of the child, both of them were addressed. The older woman, or the one who was giving birth, asked the goddesses to be supportive, come and make the birth easier. The spell during childbirth was usually of a sublime character, close to epic traditions; hyperbole and colorful descriptions were widely used in them. For example, the plaque on the Aiyysyt hat was compared in size to an ice-hole, and the breath of the goddess Ieyiehsit was likened to a warm wind. The description of the costume of the goddess Aiyysyt was as detailed as the description of the clothes of the main characters of the olonkho epic (no. 46). Note that this spell also contains a very archaic characteristic of the goddess Ieyiehsit. Yakuts in the XIX - early XX centuries considered her an anthropomorphic creature. At the same time, some of the myths say that she appeared to people in the guise of a white mare:

With a wavy tail

With a black stripe along the ridge,

With patterned spots on the shoulder blades ...

(lines 80 - 82).

The rest of the characterization of Ieyiehsit refers to her anthropomorphic appearance (No. 46).

If the birth went well, the Yakuts, on the third day after the birth, arranged the Aiyysyt farewell ceremony. (For a detailed description of the ceremony and the contents of the spells, see # 48, 49.)

When childbirth was difficult and the woman in labor could not get rid of the burden, the Yakuts invited a shaman. He summoned his spirits and performed rituals with sacrifice evil spirits abaasy, kidnapping the souls of children and interfering with childbirth. The spell said that the shaman catches these spirits and drives them back with the help of his helper spirits (see # 47).

In the case of a long absence of children, the Yakuts performed a ceremony of asking Aiyysyt for the soul of a child. It was performed by a white shaman (aiyy oyuuna) - a priest of the cult of the patron spirits of the family and clan (a short description of one of the variants of this rite is prefaced to text No. 51; for more details about this rite, see). The spells described the grief of a childless married couple, it was prescribed for this couple to live in harmony, without quarrels, and it was predicted that in this case the goddess would give a child. At the end of the spell, the performer of the ceremony asked that none of the evil spirits interfere with the fulfillment of his prayer (No. 51).

One of the Yakut rituals performed during the upbringing of children was the consecration of the cradle. At the same time, a spell was pronounced, in which they asked Aiyysyt to guard the cradle and the child, it was indicated that the nest (cradle) was on a sacred family tree, i.e. it is protected by the spirit-mistress of the tribal territory. In addition, in the final of the spell, the modesty of the owners and the person casting the spell was emphasized. It was noted that they rarely ask, and only on the days that are intended for sacrifices (no. 50).

In family life, in addition to the generally obligatory ones, there were rituals associated with various everyday situations. Occasionally, rituals of bewitching a girl, woman or man were performed. For example, V.M. Ionov recorded a rite of bewitching a departed wife. It is based on the archaic belief that trees are like people in everything - they talk to each other, get sick, die, visit each other, etc. One of the aspects of realizing the life of trees was the idea that trees growing together, as it were, embracing, have a magical gift to unite spouses who have separated, to restore the integrity of the broken, destroyed. In the rite, the abandoned husband makes a sacrifice to two trees growing together, entwining each other from the very root to the top. In the spell, the man colorfully described his suffering. In particular, he said that he had come:

With aching bones

From uneven planks on the bed ...

(No. 52, lines 28 - 29).

At the end of the spell, he asked for a magical remedy to soften the hearts of women and men, to tame the bad habits of cattle (lines 62-72). The analyzed record states that the trees heeded the request of the abandoned husband, gave a love spell, and he managed to get his wife back (# 52).

All ethnic groups included funeral and memorial ceremonies in family and household rituals. Among the Yakuts, according to traditional beliefs, death was a resettlement to another world, in essence, a change in the form of human existence. At funerals and commemorations in the 19th - early 20th centuries. special ritual works were not performed (see about funeral and memorial rites). Longing for the dead was expressed in individual cries. The peculiarities of this genre in the Yakut folklore studies have not been sufficiently studied. Apparently, there were three types of crying: cap tuonuu "lamenting the unfortunate lot", sulanyy "lamenting the fate", mun-atyyy "crying about their sufferings". These cries were essentially a form of individual psychological relaxation and at the same time performed a symbolic function corresponding to the ethical standards of the Yakuts, were an expression of bitterness from the loss of a loved one. According to the beliefs of the Yakuts, the deceased becomes a spirit and comes to the living if he is not accepted in the other world. In such cases, a shaman was invited, who performed a special ritual with the aim of catching him and sending him to the world of the dead.

An important part of the system of Yakut rituals were rituals associated with their main occupation - breeding horses and cattle. The Yakuts, the faithful descendants of their nomadic ancestors, were more fond of horses. According to Yakut beliefs, successful horse breeding depended on the favor of the deity Josogoy. The Yakuts made the first sacrifice to him in early spring, at the birth of the first foal. In prayer, they said that they were being treated to the best kumys and asked to multiply the number of horses belonging to the owner (No. 53).

The family rite associated with cattle breeding was the sacrifice to the spirit-mistress of the area, where they moved in the summer. She was treated to kumis and asked to give her well-being at this place, to ensure the offspring and safety of all livestock (No. 56).

The growth of a herd of cattle, according to the beliefs of the Yakuts, depended not only on the light gods of the aiyy, but also on the porosity belonging to this family. Proceeding from this, at the beginning of summer, a ritual of sprinkling a bull-producer with Suorat "Yakut sour milk product" was carried out with a request to increase the number of livestock (No. 57). According to the beliefs of the Yakuts, a herd stallion and a breeding bull, when slaughtered, could take the souls of horses or cattle with them to the other world. Therefore, before the slaughter of these producers, the Yakuts performed a special ceremony. They were slaughtered in the same way as sacrificial animals - their aorta was torn apart. At the same time, they pronounced a spell in which they asked not to take cattle with them, but on the contrary, in the future to grant a large offspring. At the end of the spell, they traditionally said that they had to score because of the onset of the famine year (text no. 60,).

The Yakut family labor rituals included rituals performed during the preparation of hay for the winter. Before the haymaking began, having arrived at the mowing site, they made a fire and sacrificed to the mistress of the area through the fire in the form of dairy food (they threw butter or sprinkled kumys into the fire), conjuring them to give a share of herbs for feeding livestock (No. 61).

At the beginning of the mowing, the eldest of the mowers performed the ritual of "drinking" the scythe. The scythe, according to the beliefs of the Yakuts, like any object, was recognized as alive. She was endowed with the ability to take offense, deliberately inflict wounds, mow better or worse, and also eat and drink. Therefore, when starting to mow, they treated the scythe with a drink made from sour milk. The person entrusted with this ritual mowed the grass three times, then took a bunch of freshly cut grass, dipped it in a drink and smeared the scythe. After that, the whole drink from the cup was sprinkled around in three doses on the growing grass and an incantation was made with a request for rich grass, sunny weather and successful haymaking. In the final part of the algys they turned to the scythe, begging it not to break or deteriorate (No. 63).

At the end of the haymaking, a spell was pronounced - Blessing of the great pitchfork. It was noted that the haymaking was completed successfully, and asked for the same prosperity in the future, during the life of nine generations of descendants (No. 64).

Part of the Yakuts in the process of developing the basins of the Olenek and Anabar rivers in the 17th - 19th centuries. began to engage in reindeer husbandry, combining it with hunting and fishing. The ritual poetry of this group of Yakuts has been poorly studied. This volume includes three spells related to reindeer herding (No. 65 - 67), performed by the shaman. Perhaps these are samples of spells during rituals performed by a shaman in extreme cases or for preventive purposes. So, the first spell refers to the beginning of the calving of reindeer (No. 65), the second and third are performed during epidemics (No. 66, 67).

Returning to the description of the rituals and works of ritual poetry of the main part of the Yakuts, it should be noted that in the autumn-winter period there were no significant activities related to cattle breeding. In case of cattle sickness, the usual ritual of cleansing with fire was performed, a sacrifice to the spirit-owner of the barn, or a shaman was invited to perform a ritual.

As well as family rituals of great importance in the life of the Yakuts were tribal, tribal, intertribal, communal and national holidays and ceremonies. The main one is the ysyakh, consisting of sacrifice to deities and spirits, singing or reciting a hymn in their honor, a feast, circular dances osuokhai, combat competitions, sports competitions and various games (see details).

The study of materials about Ysyakh shows that initially it arose as a clan and intergeneric holiday, in the 19th century. it was already of a communal and intercommunal character and began to be perceived as a common Yakut. During the collectivization period, the holiday was prohibited. The reason for this was that the Yakuts, like other peoples organizing horse races, loved to wager during the competition. In addition, during the Ysyakhs, there were card games. In the last year of the Great Patriotic War, the ban was canceled. Ysyakhs of Victory began to be organized in cities and villages. Since that time, Ysyakh has become a common holiday of summer and friendship for all residents of Yakutia.

According to Yakut mythology, the founder of Ysyakh was considered the ancestor Elley. The first hymn in honor of the spirits was sung, according to myths, by the son of Elley Labingkh Syuyuryuk, who became the first priest (aiyy oyuun) of the cult of the patron spirits of the clan and tribe. Apparently, until the middle of the 19th century. hymns in the Ysyakhs were pronounced by white shamans (No. 69). Later, respected old people, experts in folk traditions or skilled singers - masters of the performance of Yakut songs began to perform this function.

The opening ceremony of Ysyakh was carried out as a theatrical performance. The main character was the performer of the hymn in honor of deities and spirits. He was echoed by eight innocent girls and nine innocent boys. In the hymn, the performers addressed a prayer of thanks to the deities and spirits. At the beginning of the white shaman's spell, it was emphasized that all life on earth was created by the will of the head of the aiyy deities Yuryung Aiyy Toyon, his power was noted and the idea was expressed that the ysyakh was organized as a gift for his mercy. After that, the spellcaster listed all the deities and spirits, treated them and asked them for protection, begged them to give happiness, wealth and good luck, to protect them from the wiles of evil spirits (No. 69).

This structure, apparently, was originally inherent in the hymn recited at the opening of Ysyakh. At the end of the XIX - XX centuries. the performers of this hymn did not strictly adhere to the hierarchy of light deities. They could start with an appeal to Josogoy, the patron saint of horse cattle, or to Aiyysyt, on whose will the birth and life of children depended (No. 70, 72). In some cases, the spellcaster described the wealth, splendor of the organized Ysyakh: an abundance of treats, a large number of festive dishes, etc. Then the conjurer said that he was treating light spirits the best views dairy food and asked for their protection (No. 70).

After singing the hymn in honor of the patron deities and local spirits, a festive feast began, which consisted of treats with kumis, boiled meat and other dishes. In the old days, when drinking kumis, they sometimes listened to songs praising Ysyakh. The songs were performed by the best singers. They sang about the beauty of their native land, about how abundant Ysyakh is and that it is designed to ensure happiness for people and their future descendants (No. 75).

At the end of the festive feast on Ysyakh, circular dances osuokhai, horse races, sport competitions and games. Note that the circular dance osuokhai was performed not only in Ysyakh, it was an integral part of any Yakut holiday. It was probably originally of a sacred nature. In the past, in the song osuokhaya, as in the hymn at the opening of the Ysyakh, they glorified the light deities-aiyy, asked them to be supportive of people, emphasized that these gods give happiness and prosperity to the Yakuts (No. 76).

Perhaps the chanting of light deities was the theme of the first osuohai dance, which opened up hours of mass fun. On Ysyakh, one round dance was replaced by another. As soon as the lead singer finished his round dance, the next lead singer began a new one. There were cases when several round dances were started at the same time. The duration of the dance depended on the talent and desire of the lead singer. Experienced singers could dance for several hours. The most traditional in Ysyakh, in addition to chanting the deities of aiyy, were chants praising the coming of summer, praising famous horses and describing the beauty of their native land. Each topic was revealed by the lead singers in their own way, each created an independent poetic work (No. 77 - 86).

In that, we were not able to include the full texts of the songs of the dry. The main reason is the limited volume. Therefore, we have placed only samples of the ancient beginning osuokhay (No. 76), the beginning of the solo, performed by the famous storyteller, folk singer S.A. Zverev (No. 78), and deciphers of osuokhay chants recorded during a comprehensive expedition to Yakutia in 1986. Then the best osuokhay singers from the group of Vilyui districts were given the task of briefly performing the osuokhay chants, preserving their structure: the beginning, the main tune and the finale ( No. 82 - 86). These texts give an idea of ​​the specifics of the osuokhay solo song as a special genre of folklore. In addition, dry singers have their own local characteristics.

The osuokhai dance had several variants. Naiakhin dance was one of its varieties. In terms of choreography, this dance is close to one of the variants of the Buryat round dance-yokhor (for more details, see the article on ritual dances in this volume). In the song of the Naiakhin dance, the Niyakut word galin is repeated twice, apparently derived from the Buryat gal "fire". The etymology of another word tanki, incomprehensible to the Yakuts, is possibly connected with the Buryat onomatopoeic word tan, which expresses ringing (No. 79).

Traditional osuokhai consisted of three parts: the beginning, the main slow round dance and the energetic, fast round dance of ketuu (literally, "flight"). The initiation of osuokhaya was performed in the style of a drawn-out toyuk. At first, the phrase was sung by the lead singer, then it was picked up by the reporters - two or more participants in the dance, walking to the right and left of him. The success of the dance depended to a certain extent on the experience of the reporters. The main and final parts of the round dance were performed in the form of a seven-syllable.

The lead singer was obliged to strictly follow this size. If there were five or six syllables in the line of the text of the solo, then repetitions of the syllable of one of the words were added, or interjections were inserted between the words. If there were more than seven syllables in a line, then the extra ones were pronounced at an accelerated pace, and two syllables sounded like one. The initiation in the toyuk style provided a solemn, stately mood of the performers osuokhaya, and the main rhythmic singing of the round dance contributed to the unification of the dancers, the creation of a common aura of joy and fun, giving a charge of optimism, strengthening the unity of the participants of the holiday and having a beneficial effect on their psyche. It is no coincidence that the traditional refrain Esieheidir esie-hei, osuohaidyr osuokhai is used in the solo. He finds an echo in the soul of the Yakuts, tunes them to participate in a round dance. Along with this, this refrain was used by lead singers as a marker of the beginning and end of a separate theme in the solo and the transition to a new theme.

The Ysyakh holiday lasted from one to several days. The epic often speaks of the Ysyakh, which was held for nine days.

Researchers have long noted that “algys, more than any genre, is characterized by stability and conservatism. art form". This primarily affects the composition, structure of ritual songs and their functional purpose. Often, the names of those Ichchi Spirits are given at the beginning to which the one who utters the spell or algys refers. If this is a hunter, then he lists Bayanai, Ergene Bergen, Baai Baryylaakha and others, while the fisherman addresses the owners of lakes and rivers - Suule Baayu, Ebirien Baai Khotun, Uokaa Jaralyk, Kunyuleer Toyon, Dalgyra Khatyn, etc. Depending on the dialectal, ulus ethnographic characteristics, the addressees change, although there are also frequent ones.

The algyschit singer, to the best of his abilities and talent, endows each spirit with different epithets praising their power. It is generally accepted that the more colorfully the owner of this or that type of hunting is described, the more generously he gives good luck. After that, the essence of the request is stated, in which the names of the animals are given descriptively, since there is a ban on this. Sometimes an element of the andagar "oath of self-cursing" is introduced into a separate algys: "if I violate these or those conditions, let it be bad for me." A certain order also exists in the Ysyakh hymns. However, this does not prevent performers from expressing their talent as an improviser by varying the structure of ritual songs. But the language of Algys, his pictorial means remain common to Yakut folklore, and many of the cliché-definitions used in folk songs, and especially in the epic, are often found in the performance of rituals.

For example, in the spell of the spirit-master of the forest, as in the epic, it says:

Stepping on toes,

Belting in the middle

Using fire,

With head turning [in different directions]

Swarthy Uraanghai,

Yakut-man ...

(No. 8, lines 5 - 10, as well as olonkho "The obstinate Kulun Kullustuur"; "Kyys Debiliye").

In the next spell, the hunter asks:

Hide in your narrow [place],

Hide in your wide [place]!

(No. 9, st. 26 - 27, as well as the olonkho "The obstinate Kulun Kullustuur").

A variation on this cliché:

In your armpits hidden by you,

In your groin covered by you

(No. 17, lines 47 - 48).

In the spell of fishermen there are formulas:

I, having joints, bowing to you,

With vertebrae having a neck, bowing before you

(No. 17, lines 5 - 6).

Having a neck - I bow,

Having vertebrae - I bend

(No. 23, st. 13-14; see also olonkho "The obstinate Kulun Kullustuur"; "Kyys Debiliye",).

The stable formulas used in olonkho were also used in wedding spells.

Eight-free-eight-edged

To my primordial mother earth spirit master

(No. 19, st. 1 - 2, No. 50, st. 16 - 17, No. 69, st. 19 - 20; see also olonkho "The obstinate Kulun Kullustuur"; "Kyys Debiliye"; "Mighty Er Sogotokh").

So that on the eightfold-eightfold,

With strife, strife,

Decorated with humming greenery

The primordial mother earth ...

(No. 43, lines 84 - 87).

Another formula, which is also present in the epic:

Like the ribbed larynx of a white horse

Along the laid out,

The illustrious

A wonderful road with ...

(No. 37, pp. 57 - 60; see also olonkho "The obstinate Kulun Kullustuur"; "Kyys Debiliye", "Mighty Er Sogotokh").

In the hymns dedicated to Ysyakh, and in the tunes of osuokhay, there are also clichés characteristic of the language of the epic:

Looking there - smile,

Looking here, smile.

(No. 13, lines 20 - 21).

A variation on this cliché:

I turned in that direction - laughed merrily,

She looked in this direction - smiled touchingly ...

(No. 71, lines 8 - 9).

On the strong back of a horse,

Like a grouse bird

He took off and sat down.

(No. 78, pp. 40 - 42; see also olonkho "The obstinate Kulun Kullustuur"; "Kyys Debiliye"; "Mighty Er Sogotokh").

The coincidence of stable formulas in the epic and the works of ritual poetry was explained, apparently, for two reasons. Firstly, the mutual influence of the poetic system of genres: storytellers often used singing songs osuokhaya, and lead singers osuokhaya, undoubtedly, were present at the performance of olonkho and replenished their poetic arsenal from the epic. Secondly, by the commonality of the poetic fund: the creators of the epic were based on the achievements of other genres of folklore - they creatively interpreted mythology, weaved formulas of spells and good wishes, included proverbs and sayings in the texts, i.e. used in their work a well-established, polished set of poetic expressions.

Along with the stable formulas that coincide with the epic, in the works of ritual poetry there are clichés that are characteristic of this particular genre. A model of such formulas, first of all, should be recognized as a detailed definition of the spirit-master of fire:

Piebald shin,

Spotted side

The chest is a sieve

Neck - scraper

Gray beard

Terrible, eminent,

With gray hair

Scorching my lord

My lord is grandfather

Spirit is the master of my sacred fire!

(No. 30, lines 13 - 22).

Litter - ash,

Blanket - ash

Gray beard

Gray head

Silver face

Mr. Nohsol Toyon is my grandfather ...

(No. 33, lines 2 - 7).

The poetic description of the spirit-owner of the lake is close in essence and structure to the characterization of the spirit-owner of the hearth:

The master spirit of my lake

The shore is a half [yours],

The swamp is a litter

Slime is a blanket

Swamp is a courtyard,

Small crucian carp is the basis of [your] life, -

Green Bolloch

Toyon is grandpa!

(No. 2, lines 157 - 163).

With a home - a quagmire,

With a window - a crack,

With bedding - swamp,

With a blanket - duckweed

The master spirit of water ...

(No. 18, lines 5 - 9).

The descriptions of these two spirits, in contrast to the other parts of the spell, which were sung in a melodious recitative, were read with a tongue twister, i.e. they also had a general style of pronunciation.

A number of stable formulas in the works of ritual poetry were associated with a prayer for the mercy of deities, for protection from troubles and misfortunes. Thus, the offering of a sacrifice was sometimes accompanied by a request that has become traditional in form and essence:

Consider insufficient enough

Consider incomplete complete.

(No. 53, lines 31 - 32).

The fisherman's spell says:

With evil eyes

Maybe he looked

With sinful hands

Maybe he did

Evil tongue,

Maybe he cursed

With fiery eyes

Maybe he jinxed ...

(No. 22, lines 1 - 8).

Variants of this cliché are found in the spells of the goddess Aiyysyt:

Let the evil-tongued-scolding

Will not be able to curse

Let the slippery eyes

Will not look at close range!

(No. 48, lines 18 - 21).

Fiery-eyed

Let him not look at close range

Flat-eared

Let him not hear!

Angry-tongued

Let them not be able to curse!

(No. 51, lines 49 - 54).

Sustainable formulas for wedding well-being, for example, included the cliché:

Equestrian welcoming,

Leaving a pedestrian for the night,

Feeding hungry

Warming the cold ...

(No. 37, st. 47 - 50, 55).

Variants of this cliché:

Hungry feeding

Warming frozen

Helping Sirom ...

(No. 36, lines 57 - 59, 63).

Support the orphan

Give food to the horse

Give a pedestrian an overnight stay!

(No. 43, p. 81-83).

A similar formula is found in the spells of the goddess Aiyysyt during her seeing-off after the birth of a child; the spellcaster wishes the child to become a support for all:

Let him become a staff for the walker,

Let him become a whip for an equestrian,

Let the hungry feed him,

Let the emaciated be satisfied ...

(No. 49, lines 10 - 13).

In the hymns pronounced at the opening of the Ysyakh, the epithets of the light deities of the aiyy are repeated:

With a warm breath

With a blush on your cheeks

With a blessed speech

Our mother Ieyiehsit ...

(No. 71, lines 2 - 5).

These epithets are common in materials about the cult of the patron deities of the Yakuts (for details, see).

There are many common clichés in the ritual texts of the Ysyakh and in the songs of the osuokhay. So, they often emphasize that Ysyakh and Osuokhai were first arranged by the legendary ancestors of the Yakuts Elley and Omogoi (No. 75, stk. 9-11; No. 82, stk. 53-54).

Starting osuohai, traditionally the lead singer addresses the participants as follows:

For five fingers

As for the hinges, grasping,

Let's drive osuohay

For ten fingers

Mixing together,

Let's drive osuohay ..

(No. 85, lines 25-30).

Variations of this formula are found in the following texts, included in the volume:

For five spread out

Holding fingers

Like loop to loop, stringing ...

(No. 78, lines 74 - 76).

For ten fingers

Weaving them, holding on ...

(No. 81, lines 3 - 4).

In ritual poetry, the method of exaggeration is widely used. The spell of the host spirit says:

Spirit master of my sacred pole

With eight belts

Spirit master of my venerable six

With nine belts

The master spirit of my venerable wide fireplace

With seven belts ...

(No. 31, lines 5 - 10).

The Yakuts, on the other hand, pulled together the entire frame of the fire-place made of poles coated with clay with a belt in three places.

Hyperbole as an artistic device is also found in spells during the consecration of a child's cradle:

On the nine-edge-nine-edge

To my homeland

On its southern side, proudly grown

The mighty oak, in the middle of it, is

With nine hoops

My main cradle of oak

Don't let it collapse!

(No. 50, lines 24 - 30).

In the festive hymn, sung in Ysyakh, when describing the deity Josogoyi, it is said that he owns "midges from yellow foals", "gadfly from mouse-gray foals", "mosquitoes from red foals", etc. (No. 70, lines 88, 89, 91).

An analysis of the works of ritual poetry shows that the algys are intonationally different from other everyday songs, they are mainly dominated by a high style, since in this case the conversation and appeal is conducted with powerful master spirits. Therefore, often even passages containing certain requests are performed loudly, solemnly, especially when spectators are present.

The rhythmic structure of ritual songs is peculiar. Apparently, the fact that this genre was formed in antiquity, was performed by recitative and singing, affects, therefore, in most cases, the basis of rhythmization is "rhythmic-syntactic parallelism with a relatively free counting of syllables." The "Blessing when moving to the summer camp" (Sayylykka takhsarga algys) says:

Unaar saiyn of sultry summer

Uigutun somustaratgyn,

Let us scoop up the abundance,

Kueh sayin

Green summer

Kundu beeleedin ketehterentgun,

Give us a precious gift in our hands,

Utue sayin

Have a wonderful summer

Utue urdunen ur Aentgin

Give us the best cream ...

(No. 56, lines 20 - 25).

In this example, the number of syllables in the lines is 4 - 9 - 3 - 11 - 5 - 9, which indicates that the latter are unconditional. But if we take the total number of words in rhythmic-syntactic parallels (there are three of them), then we get quite comparable values: 13 - 14 - 14, i.e. approximate equivalence. This phenomenon goes back to the ancient Türkic written monuments of the 5th - 7th centuries. and is defined by some poetry as emotional repetition. But unlike other Sakha songs in ritual poetry, the principle of alliteration (consonance of the initial sounds of lines) is not strictly observed and usually extends from strength to 2 - 3 adjacent verses. In the algys "Blessing of the Fishing Countryside" (Elie algyba) we read:

Aaysyty abattar,

Feed the hungry

Syrdany sylaattar,

Quiet the hungry

Thordon Toroluttar!

Fattened up!

Chugas kere satyyr gyna,

So that you can see up close

Yraakh iste satyr gyna,

To be heard from afar

Dari dehei detirgitiyen kulu!

Always give us gifts evenly!

(No. 20, lines 24 - 29).

As you can see, the singer ignores the initial accords, but especially emphasizes the endings of the lines with grammatical rhymes and repetitions common in Yakut folklore. Here, as in all ritual poetry, the main rhythm of the work is created by a syntagma phrase, tirade combinations. When performed, another factor comes into play, and "usually the intonation periods are regulated by the volume of breathing."

From the genres of ritual poetry, the rhythm of Ysyakh's songs underwent a significant change. The examples of this volume also speak of this. In the "Song of the Old Dance" (Bylrgy ukkuu yryata, No. 76) there is no clear rhythm, and its performance, in all likelihood, was accompanied by movements and dance that were different from the modern osuokhay. Modern lead singers use this lingering motif only as the beginning of drying out, almost immediately switching to a seven-syllable meter.

The seven-syllable line is strictly maintained throughout the entire dance osuokhai, appearing in different versions: 3 - 4, 3 - 4, 2 - 2 - 3, 3 - 2 - 2. In some cases, the lead singers use fewer syllables, but then they are one syllable stretch, doing, as it were, two, and large quantity syllables are pronounced at an accelerated pace, while maintaining the basic rhythm.

In general, the language of ritual songs is more archaic, especially in the algys of hunters, fishermen, in the algys of the spirit of fire and forest. In them, a figurative system of comparisons, epithets is created on the basis of the names of everyday objects that have been used since ancient times. Over time, the language of ritual poetry has not remained unchanged. In it, just as in the modern Yakut language, there are borrowings from the Russian language and culture. In spells, for example, the word bokuluon is found - from the Russian "bow" (No. 23, stk. 12), luoska - from "spoon" (No. 36, stk. 16), alleyattan - from "alley" (No. 61, stk. 4) and others. In some texts, borrowings from Christianity are also reflected. So, in the spell of the goddess Aiyysyt it is said: “When I became young Instead of Nikola, you were for me” (№46, st. 10-11). The miracle worker Nikolai was one of the most revered saints among the Yakuts who were converted to Orthodoxy. There is a wish in number 48:

May Nikola-god patronize [you],

Let Christ the God take care [of you].

(lines 30 - 31; see also olonkho "The obstinate Kulun Kullustuur"; "Kyys Debiliye"; "Mighty Er Sogotokh").

It is curious that in the hymn at the opening of the Ysyakh there is an assertion that the spirit is the master of the fire “You have been lying motionless for thirty years” (No. 69, stk. 204 - 205). This is associated with the fate of the hero of Russian epics, Ilya Muromets, who could not walk until the age of thirty.

An in-depth scientific analysis of the works of ritual poetry of the Yakuts is the task of future researchers. We are forced to limit ourselves to only a brief general description of the traditional Yakut rituals and the layer of oral folk art associated with them in order for the reader to more easily comprehend the specifics of the unique samples of spiritual heritage included in this book.

ON. Alekseev, E.N. Kuzmina, N.N. Toburokov

Lesson type: assimilation of new knowledge with a generalization of previous topics

Lesson form: integrated lesson (literature, Russian, history)

Goals:

• Expanding students' understanding of folklore and the role of studying folklore by E.K. Pekarsky in compiling a dictionary
• Extension vocabulary students and the formation of the skill of working with the dictionary, instilling interest in finding interpretations of incomprehensible words
• Development of mental operations through observations, comparisons, generalizations
• Fostering a feeling of love for the history of the Motherland, pride in the high achievements of scientists of the past centuries

Equipment(class design): imitation of museum halls representing the life of the Sakha people of the 18-19th centuries.

During the classes

I. Good afternoon, dear guys, dear guests!

Today we are in the museum and learn what role folklore, everyday life, traditions, customs of the Sakha people played in the creation of the dictionary.

I would like to start the lesson with an epigraph - the statement of E.K. Pekarsky himself: "The language of the tribe is an expression of his whole life, it is a museum that contains all the treasures of his cultural and higher mental life." Listen, ponder these lines. This statement is also an epigraph to the Dictionary, since it is not just a dictionary, but a whole encyclopedia of the national culture of the Sakha people. The author managed to create such a dictionary as a result of 50 years of hard heroic work and on the basis of painstaking study of the language, life and culture of the Sakha people. He is known in science not only as the author of the monumental dictionary of the Yakut language, but also as a major ethnographer, as an outstanding connoisseur and collector of Yakut folklore. Our guide (pre-trained student) Nastya will tell us about the life and work of E.K. Pekarsky. (see Appendix # 1).

E.K. Pekarsky considered the main goal of his activity to be the creation of the "Dictionary". All this enormous material, collected over 50 years of painstaking work, makes an invaluable contribution. This dictionary is especially valuable for the Yakut people. It serves as a reference book for everyone who writes and reads in the Yakut language. Let's move to another room, where the guide Shura is waiting for us and find out how Eduard Karlovich compiled his Dictionary. (see Appendix # 2).

Along with the main work on compiling the dictionary, his activities in the field of collecting and studying Yakut folklore are of great importance.

What is folklore? Yakut folklore?

For many years the author has collected and studied a huge and varied material on folklore. He deeply understood Yakut folklore and knew it to the smallest detail. This helped him to give the dictionary the richest content. Anya will tell us about this. (see Appendix # 3).

II. In the last lesson we worked with the Dictionary. We got acquainted with the construction of a dictionary entry, methods for determining the meaning of words, studied several forgotten, not currently used words.

Now try using your most memorable words, using your knowledge and skills, to compose mini-dictionaries with a creative approach.

III. Let's consolidate what we talked about today. Let's conduct a quick survey by groups. (Medals are awarded for the correct answer).

1. Where did EK Pekarsky get the materials for the "Dictionary"?
2. What is the difference between EK Pekarsky's "Dictionary" and other dictionaries?
3. For what purpose did E.K. Pekarsky take part in the work of the Siberian expedition?
4. Why does E.K. Pekarsky begin work on "Samples folk literature Yakuts "?
5. Have the Samples' texts been translated into Russian?
6. How many words are there in EK Pekarsky's "Dictionary"?
7. Which school in the ulus is named after E.K. Pekarsky?
8. What kind of assistance did E.K. Pekarsky provide to the local population?
9. Who taught E.K. Pekarsky Yakut words?
10. For what was E.K. Pekarsky first arrested?

IV. Let's find out now which group learned the material better today. The Dictionary was compiled in the 19th century. Of course, after a century, many words have become archaisms. And here you are, children of the 21st century, let's practice with words. (5 obsolete words from the "Dictionary" are given to define meanings).

V... Now let's play historical lotto. In front of you are 3 tokens with numbers, you pick up a token with the correct answer. (There is a table on the board where the result of the answer is drawn up).

1. The main assistants of E.K. Pekarsky in compiling the dictionary:
   1) D.D. Popov
   2) V. V. Radlov
   3) V.M. Ionov
2. In what revolutionary society was E.K. Pekarsky:
   1) "Land and Freedom"
   2) "Narodnaya Volya"
   3) "Black redistribution"
3. The ingenious work of E.K. Pekarsky:
   1) "Yakut clan before and after the arrival of the Yakuts"
   2) "Dictionary of the Yakut language"
   3) "Samples of folk literature of the Yakuts"
4. How many years did E.K. Pekarsky spend in Igideysky nasleg:
   1) 18 years old
   2) 24 years old
   3) 13 years old
5. In what area of ​​the Igideysky nasleg did E.K. Pekarsky live:
   1) Kulaada
   2) Charan
   3) Dyierenneh
6. For belonging to which party EK Pekarsky was exiled to Yakut exile:
   1) the Bolsheviks
   2) socialist revolutionaries
   3) cadets

VI. I liked your activity, that you understood the meaning of this dictionary in the development of the language modern people Sakha. Let's reflect on:

• What have you learned, discovered for yourself?
• How did they work?
• What to look for in the future?

(At the end of the lesson, everyone is handed out commemorative orders about the lesson).