The Image of Swan in Buryat Cosmogonic Ideas: Semantics Analyzed

Abstract

Introduction. In mythological worldviews of Buryats and quite a number of other Turko-Mongols, swan acts as a totem on the female part of the ethnic community. The article examines the image of swan in Buryat cosmogonic folkways. The semantic approach to the study of functions attributed to Swan Maiden in mythological worldviews of Buryats and some other Turko-Mongols of Siberia and Central Asia, and historical cultures of the region makes the work topical enough. Goals. The study aims to delineate cosmogonic and cosmological ideas in the plot of the genealogical myth of Khori Buryats, and seasonal holidays resulting from by the former. Materials and methods. The paper primarily explores writings by M. Khangalov, G. Rumyantsev, A. Okladnikov, and D. Raevsky. The main research methods used are the cultural/semantic, comparative, and historical/comparative ones (the latter instrumental in analyzing structural units of the myth that make it possible to reveal its links with Scythian cosmology and Indo-Iranian mythology). The chronological framework of the study covers the late 19th to early 29th century. Results. In the myth, changes in anthropomorphic and ornithomorphic appearances of swan maiden serve to model spatial and temporal parameters of the world. Three stages in the development of time correlate with the three stages of Swan Maiden’s life and attest to that mythological worldviews of the community contained no ‘death of time’ concept. The point of ‘disappearance’ of time simultaneously acted as a new beginning to be secured through the milk sprinkling ritual performed by women during seasonal arrivals and reverse migrations of birds. The historical and cultural essentials of the mythologemes ‘marriage’ (autumn rites) and ‘birth’ (spring ones) manifested in Bronze Age petroglyphs of the Baikal bays (Sagan-Zaba, Aya) and the Chuluut River in Mongolia illustrate a process of transforming the Scythian cosmogonic plot into that of a genealogical myth. Conclusions. The image of swan in mythological worldviews of Buryats and a wide range of Turko-Mongols serves a personification of the cosmological classifier.

Keywords

• buryats
• khori
• genealogical myth
• cosmogony
• swan
• space
• time
• seasonal rites
• scythian myth