E-mail: svetlananiz@mail.ru Tel.: +7 (8212) 20-17-02
26, Kommunisticheskaya str., Syktyvkar, 167982, Russian Federation
Researcher of the Folklore Sector, Institute of Language, Literature and History, Federal Research Center, Komi Scientific Center, Uralic Division, Russian Academy of Sciences
The work was carried out within the framework of planned research on “The Poetics of Folklore of the Peoples of the European North of Russia in Synchrony and Diachrony” (reg. No. 121051400044–2).
This article examines the image of the birch tree in the traditional culture and folklore of the Komi people. The image is formed from various signs which researchers often combine into semantic oppositions that define both real and “cultural” features: evergreen — deciduous, fruitful — infertile, blessed — cursed, pure — unclean, animate — inanimate, male — female, etc. The birch is one of the most common arboreal images in the rituals and folklore of various peoples, including the Komi-Zyryan. This article considers how the image of the birch tree is realized within the framework of the semantic features of the genre of riddle. Special attention is paid to one common plot of Komi riddles about a birch tree with its bark removed; it is compared typologically to riddles of other FinnoUgric and Russian traditions. The functional property of the tree associated with the extraction and harvesting of bark emerges as the most significant feature of the birch tree and is reflected in numerous variants of Komi riddles which include the image of a birch with its bark removed. In the tradition of Komi riddles, the image is realized through anthropomorphic coding and is endowed with male symbols; in particular, the birch tree is metaphorically represented by the image of a man in red pants. Semantic interpretation can be performed at different levels, both the everyday and the mythological. Plots in the Khanty and Mansi traditions of riddling were found that are very close to the Komi.
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