Aleksei A. Rud’

Researcher of the Institute of the Problems of Northern development

Tyumen Scientific Centre of Siberian Branch RAS

(Tyumen, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2023-3-31-48

Abstract. The Surgut Khanty are part of the eastern ethnographic group of the Khanty, living within the borders of the Middle Ob region. Their traditional beliefs include ideas about supernatural beings lunket (deities) who influence people and their environment. The interaction between people and deities takes place through the ritual of sacrifice, which acts as a means of communication between the sacred and secular worlds. Some offered gifts can move repeatedly between sanctuaries, pass from one local group of Khanty to another. The main source base for the study was the materials collected by the author during the expeditions of 2002 – 2017 to the Khanty of the rivers Lyamin, Pim, Tromyegan, Big Yugan, Small Yugan, Demyanka. Materials from other researchers of the Eastern Khanty, starting from the end of the 19th century, were also involved. The purpose of the work is to study the gift exchange relations that arise in the process of sacrifice rituals to the deities of the Surgut Khanty. The first task of the study is to consider the specifics of the gifts currently used for sacrifices to deities. It has been established that today the composition of gifts addressed to deities is becoming increasingly symbolic in nature, while their material value is decreasing – instead of traditional food gifts people present the deities with purchased products. The next task was to consider the circulation patterns of the gifts involved in the sacrifice. As a result, there are the following variants of mutual exchange of gifts: from person to deity, from deity to deity, from person to person. The last task was to compare the custom of exchanging sacrificial gifts of the Surgut Khanty with the kula institution of the inhabitants of the Western Pacific Ocean, described by B. Malinovsky at the beginning of the 20th century. It was discovered that, despite significant differences, both institutions fulfil the functions of communication and integration of traditional communities living at a great distance from each other.
Keywords: Surgut Khanty, traditional beliefs, ritual, sacrifice, gift exchange, reciprocity, sacred place.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Rud’, AA 2023, ‘Gift Exchange Relations in Sacrifice Rituals of the Khanty of the Surgut Ob Region’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 3 (15), pp. 31–48, http://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2023-3-31-48 (in Russ.)

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