Article

Name: Motif of the Imprisonment on the Moon in World and Siberian Mythology

Authors: Limorenko Y. V.

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section The Plot in Literature and Folklore

Abstract:

This article investigates the semantics of the motif of imprisonment on the Moon, presented in the mythological narratives of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East, compared to the global background. Here are considered the reasons why the Moon can be perceived in mythological traditions as a place from which one cannot return of one’s own will. Transferring to the Moon means crossing the border between the world of people and the Heaven, which is pos¬sible only with the help of a supernatural power. It is shown which features with the traditions of Europe and Asia are retained by the Siberian variants of the motif and what are their differ¬ences. The semantics of the motif in its basic form includes the Moon as subject (agent) and a person as an object of transfer (patient). In European versions, the place of the agent is often taken by the God, and the Moon becomes the locus where the criminal goes.

In Siberian versions of monster narratives, as a rule, there are the two subjects: the Moon and a creature committing a crime, as well as objects, the people suffering from a monster. The Siberian versions of the motif, where the Moon is insulted or ridiculed, coincide in semantics with the basic European motif. In these variants, water is a frequent sign of the situation: ac-cording to the beliefs of many peoples of Eurasia, walking for water on a Moonlit night means being exposed to supernatural danger, for example, being carried away to the Moon. After investigating the variants of the motif of imprisonment on the Moon, recorded in the Si¬berian traditions: among the Ob Ugrians, Samoyeds, the Turkic-speaking peoples of Southern Siberia, the Kets and the Ainu it can be expected that all the motives fall into one of the two subcategories. One completely coincides in semantics with a number of European versions about insulting the Moon, as the second has no known analogues in other mythological tradi¬tions and is a unique South Siberian motif.

Keywords: motif, Moon, lunar myths, man on the Moon, Turkic mythology, motif semantics

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