H. Yu. Ustyantsev. Concepts of the “otherworld” in the texts and practices of Mari culture

Introduction. The article explores the representation of the juxtaposition between the mundane and the “otherworld” in Mari traditions and rituals.
Materials and Methods. The work is based on the author’s field materials collected in areas with a compact Mari population from 2017 to 2022 (Republic of Mari El, Republic of Bashkortostan, Kirov Oblast). The primary scientific approach employed by the researcher is the semiotic approach to the study of tradition. The author also draws upon M. Douglas’s concept of the “unclean” in culture and the symbolic boundary between the conventionally “normal” and the “unnatural”, as well as E. Durkheim’s sociocultural theory of the “sacred” and the “unclean” in myth and religious rituals.
Results and Discussion. Based on interviews, memorial-ritual practices, and non-fiction prose texts, the author examines the dichotomies “living – non living” and “pure – impure” in contemporary Mari culture. The focus of the study is on the models describing the “otherworld” and the semiotic characteristics of its folkloric inhabitants, as well as the perspectives on the differentiation and liminality of mythological spaces. As indicators marking folkloric characters as “unclean forces”, the author considers their visual characteristics. The researcher is also interested in the tradition bearers’ views on the interaction with chthonic space and its consequences.
Conclusion. Contemporary Mari folklore and ritual practices represent notions of the dichotomies “living – non-living” and “pure – impure”. Maintaining differentiation between “pure” and “impure” loci is ensured by the existence of normative prescriptions and restrictions within the local tradition. Violation of this distance, contact with the “otherworld”, marks a person as connected to the demonic, as a source and simultaneously a victim of dark mythological power.

Keywords: Mari people, funeral rites, “evil spirits”, iya, keremet, ideas about the “otherworld”

Acknowledgments: The research was conducted within the framework of the Development Program of the Interdisciplinary Scientific and Educational School of Moscow University “Preservation of the World Cultural and Historical Heritage”, track “Models of Analysis of Languages and Cultures of Indigenous Peoples of Russia”.

For citation: Ustyantsev HYu. Concepts of the “otherworld” in the texts and practices of Mari culture. Finno-ugorskii mir = Finno-Ugric World. 2023;15;3:321–333. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.15507/2076-2577.015.2023.03.321-333.