The Swan Image in the Traditional Worldview of the Buryats
https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2025-24-3-140-149
Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the study is to characterize the image of a swan in the traditional worldview of the Buryats.
Results. The first part of the study examines the Buryat lexical data on the swan. It has been established that the Buryat language reflects such biological features of the bird in question as its size, the color of its feathers, and its voice. The second part of the article highlights the relics of the totemic cult of the swan among the Buryats. It turned out that this cult, inherent in part of the Buryats, was associated with the effect of taboos on killing this bird and eating its meat, with the performance of a rite of worship in spring and autumn during its migration. At the same time, her murder was allowed only for the purpose of gift exchange. In the third part of the work, the symbolism of the swan is highlighted on the basis of the mythological views of the Buryats. It was revealed that in the representations of the Buryats, the white color of the operculum indicated its connection with the bright celestial forces. It is determined that this bird was endowed with celestial, solar, and aquatic symbols. It is shown that she had a feminine nature. This representative of the avifauna was associated with the ideas of heavenly grace and prosperity, and the motif of werewolfism. A sign of trouble and illness for people was perceived as a violation of its flight over the living space. It was believed that the swan is the messenger of higher powers, summer and winter. In the shamanic poetics of the Buryats, he was considered as a shaman’s mount and an assistant spirit.
Conclusion. The study shows that in the traditional worldview of the Buryats, the image of a swan has a positive connotation and is ambiguous
Supporting agencies: The study was conducted within the framework of the research project of the IAET SB RAS no. FWZG-2025-0003 “Ethnocultural and ethnosocial processes among the peoples of Siberia and the Far East in the 17th – 21st centuries: formation and dynamics”
About the Author
A. A. Badmaev
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Andrei A. Badmaev, Doctor of Sciences (History)
Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
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Review
For citations:
Badmaev A.A. The Swan Image in the Traditional Worldview of the Buryats. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2025;24(3):140-149. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2025-24-3-140-149
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