A tavak és az emberek kapcsolata. Az animizmus jelensége Jakutiában

Mészáros, Csaba (2016) A tavak és az emberek kapcsolata. Az animizmus jelensége Jakutiában. ETHNOGRAPHIA, 127 (3). pp. 391-411. ISSN 0014-1798

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Abstract

Sakha people in north-eastern Siberia are usually described as pastoralists, however, in Kebeeji region, abundant in lakes, located to the northwest of the capital, Yakutsk, lake economy seems to be more important than horse and cattle breeding. In his article the author argues that Sakha people in this region not only refer to lakes as mere economic resources, but perceive them as living and sentient beings – and to some extent as members of the local community, with whom human beings regularly communicate and exchange gifts. As a contribution to ongoing discourses on Siberian animistic ontologies the author adds the Sakha example, where the relation between human-like landscapes (especially lakes and meadows) and human beings seems to occupy a central position in local environmental perception. This intimate relationship between Sakhas and landscapes has been routinely described by ethnographers from the 19 century onward as a religious phenomenon, in the framework of which all earthly entities (animate and inanimate) have an ichchi (owner spirit). According to this approach if Sakha people communicate with non-human entities, ichchis mediate between the parties. From this perspective a lake or a meadow is an empty body, without intrinsic spirituality, and it is the protector spirit (a separate entity) that animates them. Based on his fieldwork experience the author argues that connection between landscapes and Sakhas may be more direct and intimate than the statements of this approach suggest. Sakhas in Kebeeji region often refer to lakes as live entities and they communicate with them without the help of a mediating spirit.

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