Daniel A. Wiget

Postgraduate Student, Intern Researcher at the Department of North and Siberia

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology named after N. N. Mikloukho-Maklay RAS

(Moscow, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2025-1-76-88

Abstract. The landscape of the Yugan basin is constantly changing in response to the development of oil fields in the region, and these changes are reflected in the views of the Khanty, their culture in general, and, among other things, their relationship with supernatural beings. These circumstances provide a rich field for analysis and allow us to bring up the question: "How do shifts in the landscape affect the Khanty sacral world, and how, in turn, do these changes affect the Khanty cultural landscape in general?" This article examines the cultural landscape of the Yugan Khanty based on the analysis of mythological creatures known as ‘mayachkas’, relationships with which influence the daily interactions of the Yugan Khanty with their immediate environment. The discussion and analysis in this article are based on field materials collected during recent expeditions along the Bolshoy Yugan River in the Surgut region of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, and on a comparative study of this material with the research of previous authors and the materials they collected. The rapid development of oil fields in the region and its impact on the indigenous Khanty population and their cultural landscape underline the relevance of this study. Thus, studying the Khanty world through the prism of the Yugan Khanty's own understanding of their interactions with supernatural beings and how these interactions shape and shift their environment sheds light on the mechanisms of cultural landscape changes and the consequences of these changes.
Keywords: Eastern Khanty, cultural landscape, Ugric studies, liminality, Yugan, mayachkas.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Wiget, DA 2025, ‘“Those Who Have no Barriers”: Mayachkas in the Cultural Landscape of the Yugan Khanty’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 1 (21), pp. 76–88, https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2025-1-76-88 (in Russ.)

References

1. Zen'ko, AP 1997, Predstavleniya o sverkhestestvennom v traditsionnom mirovozzrenii obskikh ugrov: struktura i variativnost' (Representations of the supernatural in the traditional worldview of the Ob Ugrians: structure and variability), Nauka publ, Novosibirsk. (In Russ.)
2. Karyalaynen, KF 1994, Religiya yugorskikh narodov T. I-II. Perevod s nemetskogo i publikatsiya d-ra ist. nauk N.V. Lukinoy (Religion of the Ugric Peoples), Vol. I-II, transl. NV Lukina, Izdatelstvo Tomskogo universiteta publ., Tomsk. (In Russ.)
3. Kulemzin, VM 1984, Chelovek i priroda v verovaniyakh Khantov [Man and nature in the beliefs of the Khanty], Izdatelstvo Tomskogo universiteta publ. Tomsk. (In Russ.)
4. Lukina, NV 2009–2010, Khanty ot Vasyugan′ya do Zapolyar′ya. Istochniki po etnografii (Khanty from Vasyugan to the Arctic. Sources on ethnography), Vol. 3, Yugan (Yugan), TGPU publ, Tomsk. (In Russ.)
5. Maranin, I & Tihonov, A 2024, Tayny Obi i legendy Irtysha. Mify, legendy i bayki s beregov bolshikh i malykh rek Zapadnoy Sibiri (The Secrets of the Ob and the Legends of the Irtysh. Myths, legends and tales from the shores of large and small rivers of Western Siberia), Svinin i synovia publ, Novosibirsk. (In Russ.)
6. Pesikova, AS 2006, Vzglyad iznutri kultury (A look from inside the culture), Poligrafist publ, Khanty-Mansiysk. (In Russ.)
7. Field materials by A. S. Pesikova, Tromyegan, 2024. (In Russ.)
8. Field materials by D. A. Wiget, Bolshoy Yugan, September-October 2023. (In Russ.)
9. Field materials by D. A. Wiget, Bolshoy Yugan, September-October 2024. (In Russ.)
10. Field materials by A. Wiget and O. E. Balalaeva, Ay-Pim, summer 1998. (In Russ.)
11. Field materials by A. Wiget and O. E. Balalaeva, Bolshoy Yugan and Maly Yugan, summer 1995. (In Russ.)
12. Field materials by A. Wiget and O. E. Balalaeva, Tromyegan, summer 1994. (In Russ.)
13. Rud, AA 2023, ‘Bozhestva i dukhi v predstavleniyakh khantov Surgutskogo Priobya (po materialam 2002–2017 gg.)’ (Deities and spirits in the representations of the Khanty of the Surgut region (based on materials from 2002–2017)), Vestnik arheologii, antropologii i etnografii, no. 4 (63), pp. 210–219. (In Russ.)
14. Rud, AA 2018, ‘Pozhary v kulture vostochnykh khantov: sovremennyye aspekty’ (Fires in the culture of the Eastern Khanty: modern aspects) VAAE, no. 2 (41), pp. 128–136. (In Russ.)
15. Rud, AA 2011, ‘Svedeniya ob antropomorfnykh izobrazheniyakh na derevyakh v Surgutskom Priobie’ (Information on anthropomorphic images on trees in the Surgut Ob region), KhantyMansiyskiy avtonomnyy okrug v zerkale proshlogo, Izdatelstvo Tomskogo universiteta publ, Tomsk–Khanty-Mansiysk, no. 9, pp. 339–354. (In Russ.)
16. Ingold, T 2000, The perception of the environment: essays on livelihood, dwelling & skill. Routledge, New York.
17. Jordan, P 2001, ‘Cultural Landscapes in Colonial Siberia: Khanty Settlements of the Sacred, the Living and the Dead’, Landscapes, no. 2, pp. 83–105.
18. Jordan, P 2001, ‘Ideology, Material Culture and Khanty Ritual Landscapes in Western Siberia’, in KJ Fewster & M Zvelebil (eds), Ethnoarchaeology and Hunter-gatherers: Pictures at an Exhibition. BAR International Series 955. Hadrian Books Ltd., Oxford, Pp. 25–42.
19. Leete, A 2017, ‘Landscape and Gods Among the Khanty’, Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, no. 11, pp. 19–38.
20. Schmidt, É 1989, ‘Bear cult and mythology of the northern Ob-Ugrians’, in Mihály Hoppál & Juha Pentikäinen (eds), Uralic Mythology and Folklore, pp. 35–112.
21. Wiget, A & Balalaeva, O 2011, Khanty, People of the Taiga: Surviving the 20th Century, University Press of Colorado.