Felt in the Ritual Culture of the Kalmyks

Abstract

The article deals with felt viewed in the synthesis of national rites and traditions. The subject sphere of the nomads formed by ethnic culture manifests the spatio-temporal picture of the world onto relics of rituals and traditions. Their preservation among the Kalmyks and other Turko-Mongols is clearly reflected in the subject symbolism, an important part of which is constituted by felt products. Traditions and rituals in everyday life and economic structures make it possible to identify the dominant constants of material and spiritual cultures of the nomads, to trace mechanisms of their functioning. The latter can be traced in artistic crafts accompanying the sphere of ritual culture. Despite common origins with other nomadic cultures, the traditional heritage of Mongolic peoples is original enough. This is the case with decorative patterns of Kalmyk felts preserving the archaic layer of nomad ornaments. Due to the natural and ethnocultural landscape, art is interconnected with ritual culture enriched with ethnic peculiarities of Kalmykia’s artistic traditions.

Keywords

• nomads
• kalmyks
• ethnic culture
• felt
• life cycle rituals
• artistic traditions