Chuvash mystical stories: content component

Abstract

The work is devoted to the analysis of texts of Chuvash epics recorded from the end of the XIX to the beginning of the XXI centuries. in the Chuvash villages of the Volga-Ural region. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the content of the texts of Chuvash bylichek, to introduce them into scientific circulation. The study presents the classification of bulls compiled by the author. The work is based on archival and own field materials. The texts are analyzed in a descriptive aspect. At the same time, the author turns to ethnographic and linguistic approaches in the work. A distinctive feature of the Chuvash bylichka is its content: a description of the landscape, furnishings, traditional costume, jewelry, local cultural features. In addition, bylichkas are characterized by enumeration of endemic toponyms, details, the use of certain sets of plots, the mention of household items, tools, harness items, and the performance of various kinds of deeds. The most amazing are the narratives about the transformations of people with supernatural abilities into various household items (cloth, chair, pillow) or into animals (cat, dog, calf, lamb) and back into a person, the transformation of the mortgaged dead into horses, harness items. The ending of the epics often contains the syncretism of two religions: pre-Christian and Christian.

Keywords

• Chuvash folklore
• bylichka
• classification
• content component
• mythological character
• traditional existence