Ritual Clothing of the Sakha People: tangalai son (Historical Memory and Semantics)

Abstract

The ancient ritual clothing of the Sakha tangalai son people in a broad historical retrospective through the prism of “remembering culture” (according to Ya. Assman), based on a wide range of folklore, linguistic and ethnographic materials, is examined in the article. For the first time, a detailed historiographic review of works devoted to the ritual clothing of the tangalai son was made. The main goal of this study was the reconstruction of archaic elements associated with the historical memory of the ritual. The interpretation of the semantics of the word is proposed. The analysis of the semiotic code of this garment is carried out. It has been established that in this ritual clothing, through a symbolic code, totemistic views associated with the archaic worldview of the people are clearly expressed. Semantic analysis of the name tangalai son showed that the Turkic-Mongol peoples had similar ideas associated with the bird cult and originating in ancient totemistic and shamanistic ideas. The image of a white bird / totem was revealed, which found expression in the symbolic design of the tangalai son, and the “fur code” was analyzed as an element of the ritual of the symbolic rebirth of the bride.

Keywords

• yakuts, ritual clothing
• tangalai son
• images and symbols
• totemism
• bird cult
• sign function
• semantics