Article

Name: A game in the ritual event of the Mongolian peoples

Authors: L. S. Dampilova

Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation

In the section Study of folklore

Abstract: anging their functional and semantic appearance. This paper examines the rules of a «play» in modern ritual events of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples. The analysis of modern field materials in comparison with archival records for revealing a role of participants of a game in a ritual event is considered as actual and new. In ceremonial events, a ritual or sacred type of communication is realised. The depth of the sacral meaning of a sign in ritual events and accompanying texts is determined by the cultural tradition, by the nature of folklore thinking – thinking in complexes. The similarity between games and rituals was noted by many researchers. The plot of events in any rite unfolds according to a certain scenario, where game moments with scenic attributes of clothing and behaviour are agreed in advance. The whole action looks like a dramatic performance with the rules where mythological characters are of particular importance. The rite is always concerned with the establishment of links between the worlds by actualising the rules of behaviour causing an increase in semiotics. It is known that the idea of the dialogical nature of the relationship between a person and another world that is common for the folklore worldview is at the heart of the ceremonial events. The constant presence of «otherworldly» observers determines the symbolic «secret language» of shamanic texts and the game behaviour of the characters participating in the sacred event. Although there is no strict regulation of behaviour in the real space of the ritual, it is necessary to know «your place» in this situation and understand the accepted «game» codes when performing the ritual actions connected with sacral space. As a result of the study, the denotative meaning of the word is found to include the connotative semantics of the ritual complex. The ritual action episodes that were examined demonstrate that all events represent a conditional game of a magical character. These games constitute the essence of religious events that have a pragmatic function.

Keywords: shamanism, ritual кrite, chants, tradition, text, context, etymology, symbol semantics, sacred space, celestial deities

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