Этническая культура (Nov 2020)

The Sacred Landscape of the Northern Selcups: The Losyl-Lakka Sanctuary on Lozyl-to Lake

  • Olga B. Stepanova

DOI
https://doi.org/10.31483/r-96616
Journal volume & issue
no. 4 (5)
pp. 23 – 27

Abstract

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The article is devoted to the most famous ancient sanctuary of the northern Selkups – Shaman Mountain Lozyl-lakka on Lozyl-to Lake. The purpose of the study is to combine the information available about it in the scientific literature and in the author's field archive and to find out what this object of the sacred landscape is. The research methods were description, semantic analysis and fieldwork. The result of the study was the conclusion that Lozyl-lakka is a family sanctuary, where sacrifices were made to the spirits-masters of the ancestral fishing grounds, on which the success of members of the clan in the trade "depended". The memory of the sanctuary has survived to this day due to its location in a remarkable natural place. It was also found that the sacred mountain serves as an indicator of the state of the modern ethnic identity of the Selkups. It is characterized by the preservation of faith in spirits and strict adherence to a number of traditions that this belief dictates, therefore, the process of transformation of traditional culture into new modern forms among the Selkups, which is ongoing among the northern peoples today, is hampered by the vitality of some elements of this very traditional culture. A separate comprehensive study of the Lozyl-Lakka sanctuary, including the standpoint of the attitude of modern Selkups, constitutes the scientific novelty of the study. The publication of summary data on the sanctuary preserves it as part of the cultural heritage for future generations of Selkups and replenishes the data bank of ethnographic science.

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