Article

Name: Even epic tradition: collection, local specificity, characteristic features

Authors: Sardana I. Sharina

The Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of folklore

Abstract: The paper is devoted to the Even epic samples of nimkans, a stable and well-established system with an oral form transmitted from generation to generation by storytellers since ancient times. In the epic tradition of the Evens, the song-prose and prose epic coexist to the present day, while earlier there was also a true song epic, performed entirely in song form. Nimkan is the name of the whole epic, with the standard being a prose narrative with song form dialogues presented by a nimkalan. The Even epic tale samples have been present in the scientific turnover since the 18th century. The systematic collection and publication of Even folklore began in the 1930s. According to the recording place, dialectal affiliation, linguistic and ethnographic facture, the author systematizes and classifies local groups, including five types of epic tradition representation: the Okhotsky epic, the Momsky epic, the Kolymsky epic, the Oymyakon-Tomponsky epic, and the Northern epic. Epic works are described in terms of plot structure, poetics, and their relation to other genres (fairy tales and legends). One of the distinctive features of the Even epic is the plausibility of the content. There is no indication of the hero’s ethnicity or genealogy, there being many nameless heroes. The Even epic features a lack of poetic means. Unlike fairy tales, it was not influenced by the eastern and northeastern neighbors’ folklore – the Yukaghirs, Chukchi, or Koryaks. The Yakut vocabulary in the Even epic is not numerous and refers to borrowings associated with communicative practices.

Keywords: Evens, folklore, epic tradition, local specificity, content, poetics

Bibliography:

Bogoraz V. G. Materialy po lamutskomu yazyku [Lamut language materials]. In: Tungusskiy sbornik [Tungus collection]. Leningrad, 1931, iss. 1, рр. 1–108.

Bokova Ye. N. Evenskiy fol’klor. [Even folklore]. Yakutsk, Bichik, 2002, 215 р.

Burykin A. A. Tungusskie shamanskie zaklinaniya 18 veka v zapisyakh Ya. I. Lindenau [Tungus shamanistic spells of the 18th century in the records of Ya. I. Lindenau]. In: Sistemnye issledovaniya vzaimosvyazi dpevnikh kul’tur Sibiri i Severnoy Ameriki [Systemic studies of the relationship between ancient cultures of Siberia and North America]. St. Petersburg, MAE RAS, 1997, iss. 5, pp. 123–146.

Danilov Ye. A. Irkenmel, Oyinde, Metele [Irkenmel, Oyinde, Metele]. Yakutsk, Rozovaya chayka, 1991, 48 р.

Dutkin Kh. I. Umchegin (evenskaya skazka) [Umchegin (Even fairy tale)]. In: Voprosy yazyka i fol’klora narodnostey Severa [Questions of language and folklore of the peoples of the North]. Yakutsk, 1980, рр. 103–117.

Even fol’klora [Even folklore]. Lebedeva Zh. K. (Comp.). Yakutsk, Yakutsk Book Publishing House, 1981, 222 p.

Epos okhotskikh evenov. V zapisyakh N. P. Tkachika [The epos of the Okhotsk Evens. In the records of N. P. Tkachik]. Yakutsk, 1986, 304 p.

Lebedev V. D. Yazyk evenov Yakutii [The Even language of Yakutia]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1978, 205 p.

Lebedeva Zh. K. Arkhaicheskiy epos evenov [Archaic epic of the Evens]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 1981, 157 р.

Lebedeva Zh. K. Epicheskie pamyatniki narodov Kraynego Severa [Epic monuments of the peoples of the Far North]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 1982, 113 p.

Lindenau Ya. I. Opisanie narodov Sibiri (pervaya polovina 18 veka) [Description of the peoples of Siberia (the first half of the 18th century)]. Magadan, Magadan Book Publishing House, 1983, 176 p. (Dal’nevostochnaya istoricheskaya biblioteka [The Far Eastern Historical Library]).

Metele an Even epic tale by Darja Mixajlovna Osenina. Andrej L. Malchukov (Ed.). Seoul, Seoul National Univ. Press, 2020, 314 p.

Osenina D. M. Even nimkarni. Evenskiye nimkany Dar’i Mikhaylovny Oseninoy [Even nimkans by Daria Mikhailovna Osenina]. Aleksandra Lavril’e, Deyan Matich (Comps). Printed in Germany, Kulturstiftung Sibirien, 2013, 160 p. (Yazyki i kul’tury narodov Dal’nego Vostoka Rossii [Languages and Cultures of the Peoples of the Russian Far East]).

Otchet o nauchno-issledovatel’skoy rabote po teme “Sozdaniye audiovizual’nogo fonda “Zhivoye naslediye evenov”. Etap 1” [Report on research work on the topic “Creation of the audiovisual fund” Living heritage of the Evens”. Stage 1]. Yakutsk, 2016, 115 p.

Sharina S. I., Burykin A. A. Epos vostochnykh evenkov i epos okhotskikh evenov: k probleme obshchikh tipologicheskikh svoystv rannikh form eposa [The epos of the eastern Evenks and the epos of the Okhotsk Evens: on the problem of the general typological properties of the early forms of the epos]. In: Sibirskiy sbornik – 4. Grani sotsial’nogo: antropologicheskie perspektivy issledovaniya sotsial’nykh otnosheniy i kul’tury [Siberian collection – 4. Facets of the social: anthropological perspectives in the study of social relations and culture]. St. Petersburg, 2014, pp. 68–79.

Schiefner A. Tungusische Miscellen. Von A. Schiefner. Bulletin de l’Academie imperiale des sciences de St. Petersbourg 20. 1874: 2, pp. 247–257. (Melanges asiatiques 7. 1873/76, pp. 378–394)

Tayshina Ye. I., Robbek V. A. Nёltek. – Nӫltek (Na russkom i evenskom yazykakh) [Noltek (In Russian and Even languages)]. Yakutsk, Rozovaya chayka, 1992, 64 p.