The Transformation of the Folklore and Ritual Traditions of the Nenets and Khanty of Lake Numto in the First Quarter of the XXI Century

About 1.5 thousand forest Nenets live in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug–Yugra (KhMAO-Yugra). This ethnic group includes smaller local groups with their own dialect and traditions. As they have mixed with the neighboring Khanty, who outnumber them and with whom they now have much in common culturally, they have retained their ethnic self-consciousness and parts of their worldview. In March 2023, the author traveled to the village of Numto, located on the shores of the lake of the same name - one of the most revered sacred sites of the indigenous peoples of Yugra and Yamal and the area where there is close interethnic interaction between the Forest-Nenets and the Kazym-Khanty. The collected data testify to the active existence of folk traditions in this area and provide an opportunity to observe their changes, especially in the sacred sphere, which has a relatively conservative character. The folkloric materials are based on various legends about the origin of this “heavenly, divine” lake and its sacred island. The mobility of the folkloristic representations is due to the variable character of folk art. The author’s field notes and those already recorded by other researchers were used for the study, making it possible to trace the variability of the legends about Numto. Interesting is the sequence of transformations from the second half of the 20th century to the present day, the folk tale about the sacrifice of young men on the sacred island, which testifies to the smoothing of interethnic contradictions between the intermarried groups: the Numtov-Nenets and the Kazym-Khanty. Their cultural rapprochement was also facilitated by the cult of the Kazym goddess, whom both groups worship. In the Numto area, the sacrificial ritual plays an important role, performed by the locals and representatives of other Nenets and Khanty ethnic groups who come to pray at the local shrines. At present, the ban on visiting the sacred island has been somewhat relaxed and even lifted for Nenets and Khanty women who are related to the Nenets. The reason for this is that they have been assigned one of the tasks when butchering a sacrificial deer. Among the Kazym-Khanty, the taboo on visiting the sacred island, which used to apply to everyone regardless of gender, has also lost its force. In the cultural symbiosis between the Khanty and the Nenets under consideration here, the changes in the traditions of the Nenets are the most conspicuous, while they are more hidden in the culture of the Kazym-Khanty.

Forest Nenets, Kazym-Khanty, interethnic relations between Khanty and Nenets, changes in traditions, folklore stories about Numto, sacrificial rites at sacred sites