RITUAL USE OF FLY AGARICS BY MODERN KORYAKS
DOI: 10.23951/2307-6119-2022-3-142-148
The article discusses the current use of fly agaric mushrooms in rituals among the Koryaks, a native people of the Russian Far East. It provides a review of previous research on the subject, including the Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733–1743) and rock paintings found in the Pegtymel River region of Chukotka. The article also examines the role of fly agaric and other mushrooms in the cultures of Siberia and the Russian Far East. It describes the main occasions, both sacred and secular, in which fly agaric mushrooms are used, and presents new field material collected by the author during an expedition to the Olyutorsk region of the Koryak Autonomous Area in 2004. This material includes accounts from informants of their own experiences with fly agaric mushrooms and those of their friends and relatives, as well as folklore texts known as “fly agaric songs” and “fly agaric tales” that were recorded after the use of the mushrooms. The author concludes that there are two parallel traditions of fly agaric consumption in Kamchatka – sacral and ritualized on the one hand, and common drug addiction (mostly in the city) on the other hand. The article introduces a vast new field material and may be of interest to ethnologists and folklorists.
Keywords: fly agarics, ritual use, ritual, the Koryaks, current state
References:
Bat'yanova E. P., Bronshteyn M. M. Mukhomor v bytu, verovaniyakh, obryadakh, iskusstve narodov Severa [Fly agaric in everyday life, beliefs, rituals, art of the peoples of the North] // Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniya. 2016. № 1. P. 46–58.
Gorbacheva V. V. Obryady i prazdniki koryakov [Rituals and holidays of the Koryaks]. SPb.: Nauka, 2004.
Dikov N. N. Naskal'nye zagadki drevney Chukotki. Petroglify Pegtymelya [Rock riddles of ancient Chukotka. Petroglyphs of Pegtymel]. M.: Nauka, 1971, 134 p.
Devlet E. G. Kayaki obryva Kaykuul'. Petroglify na skalakh Chukotki [Kayaks of the Kaikuul cliff. Petroglyphs on the rocks of Chukotka] // Rodina. 2007. № 3. P. 40–45.
Iokhel'son V. I. Koryaki. Material'naya kul'tura i sotsial'naya organizatsiya. [Koryaks. Material culture and social organization]. SPb.: Nauka, 1997.
Lindenau Ya. I. Opisanie narodov Sibiri (pervaya polovina XVIII veka): Istoriko-etnogr. materialy o narodakh Sibiri i Severo-Vostoka. [Description of the peoples of Siberia (the first half of the XVIII century): Historical and ethnographic materials about the peoples of Siberia and the Northeast] Magadan: Kn. izd-vo, 1983, 176 p.
Mal'tseva A. A. Golosa koryakskoy kul'tury: Aleksandra Kergil'khot. [Voices of the Koryak culture: Alexandra Kergilkhot]. Novosibirsk: Akademicheskoe izd-vo «Geo», 2019. 288 p.
Nymylansko-russkiy slovar'. Alyutorskiy dialekt. Chast' 1 [The Nymylan-Russian dictionary. The Alutorsky dialect. Part 1] / sost. Yu. Nagayama, V.M. Nutayulgin, L. I. Chechulina; red. Yu. Nagayama. Sapporo, 2017.
Skorik P. Ya. K voprosu o klassifikatsii chukotsko-kamchatskikh yazykov [On the classification of the Chukchi-Kamchatka languages] // Voprosy yazykoznaniya. 1958. № 1. P. 21–35.
Steller G. V. Opisanie zemli Kamchatki. [Description of the Kamchatka land]. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, 1999. 288 p.
Elert A. Kh. Alkogol' i gallyutsinogeny v zhizni korennykh narodov Sibiri [Alcohol and hallucinogens in the life of the indigenous peoples of Siberia] // Nauka iz pervykh ruk, 2007, № 2 (14). P. 106–123.
( 160.84 kB ) 
( 136.49 kB )
Issue: 3, 2022
Series of issue: Issue 3
Rubric: ANTHROPOLOGY
Pages: 142 — 148
Downloads: 775